~*~

The rain had stopped, and he put me down under a huge tree. My eyes never left his sight. 

“I’ll be right back.” He quietly said and walked away.

After a few minutes, he came back with small firewoods and put them down right in front of me. Then he sat down right next to me.

“What I’m gonna do next… might shock you.” He said. “I want you to relax and know that I swear I’m only doing all of these to help you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, because I really had no idea what he was talking about.

He closed his eyes shut and inhaled deeply before exhaling. He then focused his eyes on the firewood in front of us and held his hand out to them. Fire flickered on his palm and he directed them to the firewood with control. The fire stopped streaming from his palm and we now have a small campfire.

I gritted my teeth. I stood up immediately just to fall down again to my bump. “You liar!” I hissed.

He stood up and tried to walk closer to me, “I know, and there is a good reason I did that. I don’t want you to freak out. When I said I really wanted to help you, I didn’t lie about that part. If I told you what I was would you come with me?”

At this point I am scared. He just lied to me and we just met couple minutes ago. How can I trust him?

“ing liar.”

“Look. Let’s just start over. My name is Hendery and I am a firebender. It wasn’t a coincidence that I found you. I’ve been tracking you down-“

“Y-you were tracking me down??” I said in disbelief.

“Yes and for and only for good reasons, we want to save you.” Hendery said.

After he said that, tons of questions flood my mind. “From what?” I hissed.

“From—“

“And we?”

“Juli, please! Just give me a second to explain—“

“So…” I interrupted him again. “Will you be telling the truth from now on?”

“Yes!” He said immediately. 

“Then answer this… do you or do you not know anything… anything about those bastards who got me?” I asked.

The sound of the flickering fire filled up the air. He seemed to be hesitating to answer.

That was when I knew he knew. “So… who are they?”

In defeat, he gulped nervously. “They were a group bounty hunters.” 

“Let me guess, for people like me?” 

Hendery was about to say something but stopped himself. He looked so confused and he seemed afraid.

“Just ing tell me.” I  interrupted his thoughts.

“Not people like you, but you. They were trying to find you.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed out sharply.

“And they’ve found you. I’ve tried to— I— I got to put some of them down, but the rest got away, and now they’re trying to get back to you. We have to be cautious.” He said.

I let out a dry laugh. “There’s no we. You are going to get the away from me.” I said and I stood up from the wet ground.

“Please, You have to believe me. I’m not lying about when I said they’re trying to get back to you. They could target anything or anyone just to lure you to come to them. Or maybe ambush you again.” He said while tailing me behind my back.

My eyes widened realising something. What if they knew about my house? What if they knew about my family?

“You’ve gotta be kidding. Thanks for letting me know just now.” I quickly sprinted.

~

I ran to get back to the Safe Zone. As I got out from the woods and stepped on the main road, the infected that were scattered around the are noticed my presence and charged at me. One of them managed to tackle me down.

I didn’t have time for this. I still had a 5 minute walk to the Safe Zone.

Then suddenly the infected on top of me flew away by a stream of intense fire and I immediately knew who it was.

I looked to my left and found Hendery standing not far from me. 

I wanted to say thank you but nothing came out of my mouth. I gave him a look and got up to start sprinting again.

Now I had to go over blocks of an abandoned neighbourhood. I knew the place better than the woods and the main road so I knew where to go without making myself a dinner for the infected.

The streets were darker since there was no sort