The hazy sky glowed softly with morning light, awakening the sleeping teens. Ryft, who had been on watch the most recently, was pacing and trying to wake herself up more. She needed to be focused if she were to help lead today.

Fang was the first to sit up. He said nothing, just looked disappointed that the sun was back to ruin his sleep.

Atlas, however, was a little more vocal. "I want food." She muttered even before sitting up.

Soon, everyone else was conscious and portioning instant ravioli.
The cold ravioli was not ideal, but they had no fire to heat it up with and building one would take too long anyway. Not to mention the risk of setting the dry corn fields ablaze.

"I miss microwaves." Whined Atlas, poking a noodle with her finger. "And air conditioning."

The dry, cracked road wasn't the most comfortable, either. Thankfully, the sun hadn't heated it up enough for it to burn yet. The cornfields around them were dead and broken, but sinister. After the raccoon incident the day before, no one trusted the expansive farmland.

"Me too." Agreed Jade, standing and holding a noodle in one hand and her sword in the other. "Guys, Watch this!"

Everyone turned to watch a happy Jade toss the ravioli square into the air and swing her sword at it. She missed by a few inches and the noodle landed on her face with a splat. She squeaked in surprise and picked it off hurriedly, embarrassed.

Laughter bubbled up from the group, Silver was especially entertained. Ryft, however, was not impressed to say the least.

"Jade, we don't have that much food." Ryft huffed, shaking her head in disapproval. "Don't play with it."

"Calm down, Ryft. It was funny." Silver smiled, still trying to get rid of her giggles.

"Whatever. Let's just get moving." Fang stood, having finished. His earlier smirk had vanished.

The rest of the group seemed to agree and stood in unison along with him.

As they were walking, Cricket was holding her wrist against her and visibly grimacing every once and awhile. Raven, who was in the back, noticed this and sped up to walk next to her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Raven asked her friend. It felt strange to start a conversation after so long of living in a state of shock, but she was desperate to move on.

"Yes- Well, mentally. But also no." Cricket shook her head. "The creature from yesterday scratched me through my sweatshirt." She reluctantly moved her hand to show Raven.

The scratch wasn't deep or large, but it was painful looking. Dried crusted blood lined the edges and it was starting to scab. The skin around it was red and irritated. Thankfully, there was no swelling.

"Geez.." Raven stared. "We should tell the others." All that went through her mind was all the rabies shots that she would've been put through if society was still a thing.

"Tell the others what?" Atlas slowed down to walk near the two, curious as to what was happening.

Just then, a strangled-sounding sneeze sounded from behind them. Atlas turned around to say "Bless you.", but no one was visibly present behind her.

"Uhh, guys?" Atlas raised her voice and stopped in her tracks.

Catching on to Atlas's concerned tone, the rest of the group slowed to a stop and turned with her.

There was a moment of silence until Fang seemed to understand what was happening.

"Show yourself!" Called Fang, his eyes narrowing.

Reluctantly, two very familiar figures stepped out of the surrounding corn stalks, eyes wide with guilt.

"'Sup, guys..?" Said the shorter of the two, her voice dying at the end.

"Spirit! Soul!" Silver gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth.

A silent pause. Ryft was predictably not happy about this.

"This is uh, gonna take some explaining, huh?" Soul mumbled awkwardly, pushing a strand of blonde hair away from her face.

"Yeah..." Ryft spoke up in a suspicious tone. "It is.."