Hello, this is the cautionary tale of a boy, who ran from oppression and didn't look back and met a few women who would come to change his life...for better or for far worse.

Our story starts in the western wing of the Everfree Forest, where two children could be seen hastily gathering their things while desperately trying to wake a companion

“By the gods, Snips it's 5 o'clock in the morning what the hell is goin' on?" Sam complained.

That guy, that kid right there, is Samuel Everson but most people call him ‘Spike’. He’s at least 13 years old with a tan complexion and spiky emerald colored hair (hence the name) and probably just as strange radiant forest green eyes with pupils slit down the middle and razor sharp claws and teeth .

“C’mon Sam, you already know we can’t stay in one place for this long.” Snips reasoned.

Snips or Sterling Pivington was the shortest of the group and the “roundest” so to speak, with a mixture of blonde and brunette his hair gave off the color of pumpkins as the two colors battled for domination of his scalp.

“Besides, I’m pretty hungry and Snails seemed pretty spooked about this spot" he further explained.

"Well shit, that's understandable, remind me to care when i wake up 4 hours from now." Sam said sarcastically while rolling over.

"C'mon Sam, you know how i feel about this kind of thing." Snails finally chimed in.

Snails or Stephen Nellis was the tallest and densest of the group, with hair almost the same hue as Sam's and an all to stupid demeanor, but none-the-less he was right when he said that it was dangerous.

"Remember last time." Snails recalled. At that Sam was silent for a bit.

"Yeah.... Don't remind me." Sam said while rubbing his newly bandaged arm which they had made from the cleanest leaves in all of the yards in which the incident took place..

"So?" he asked in a huff.

"So, instead of waiting around to get shot, how about we get the heck outta here." Snips said, while Sam was ready and willing to go back and forth with him he gave in to the fact that it would delay his sleeping further.

"Ugh, fine, just let me pack up." he seceded. And with little incident the three got their mini caravan rolling. After what seemed like months of silence Snips decided now was the time to address the elephant in the....... Forest.

"So what's up with you?" he asked Sam.

"What are you talking about now." Sam said still angry for being woken up.

"I'm talking about your sleep talking." he Reiterated to which Sam cursed under his breath at his nocturnal activities.

".....Its nothing." Sam assured.

"Really, it sure doesn't sound like nothing, sounds to me that you're still thinking about CG." Snips said smugly.

"Dude, please stop, I'm fine, I've just been having bad dreams lately." Sam defended but Snips wouldn't let up.

"Hey man, if you still got a hard on for her that's no problem to me." he remarked in a nonchalant tone, okay that got under Sam's skin

"Look, I might've decided to take you guys along, but I could drop you at anytime." Sam said with deadly seriousness.

But snips had not picked up on the tone and continued on. " Woah, bro, lets talk about who made the plan, lets talk about about who busted us out, as a matter of fact lets talk about who was Luna's little bitch until we bust-" Snips was interrupted by a very sharp hand-claw burying itself into the thick tree behind him with Sam towering over the now petrified boy.

"Look, -" Sam said with obvious strain in his voice. "Obviously we've reached some kind of stalemate in this argument so let's review the facts." he continued.

"Now i know it was a SCARY experience dodging bullets n' crap from a bunch of turds with high-powered rifles.... But despite being covered in the blood of one of my only friends as I watched him take a bullet to the chest, for me, I made my- oh excuse me OUR way out of that goddamn prison." Sam seethed with anger.

"You know the only reason i'm not happy.... Its all the dead people it took to get here, everyone, or at least everyone who couldn't get away, is either captured or dead, so PLEASE excuse the cynical prick standing in front of you right now, He's having a bad DAY." Sam half yelled as he pulled his fingers from the oak bark.

Snips opened his mouth for a rebuttal but was silenced by a look Snails gave him. Snails didn't say anything but when his gaze met Snip's, Snips already knew and kept quiet for most of the trip.

After some time spent walking Spike saw that Snips was trailing behind obviously feeling bad so Spike decided that maybe now should be the time to reconcile.

"Hey..." Sam began but Snips didn't reply.

"Look man I'm sorry about going off like that but I've just had rough nights of sleep, y'know the whole waking up in a cold sweat kinda thing and i'm sure it was hard on you and Snails but we can't break down now so whatd'ya say?"

".................." Snips..... Repeated as Sam started to walk off.

'To hell with this I have better things to-' Sam was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of someone dropping to the floor which alerted him and Snails to see it was Snips dropped to his hand and knees staring at the ground at which they ran towards him.

"i-i couldn't save anyone....... They're all dead and it's my fault!" Snips lamented.

At this Sam just stood above him with a knowing smile then he tapped his shoulder, waited for Snips to look at him and said:
"Stop crying, you look like a little bitch, and we need to get somewhere safe before you break down like a pussy." he said softly never letting his smile leave his face as he walked away.

All Snips could do was look on in bewilderment as Sam nonchalantly tossed his emotions away and carried on.

And amazingly enough, it had its desired effect as Snips shuffled to his feet and went about his business.

The rest of the day went normally for them, after what seemed like weeks of walking due to the whining and complaining from the largest of the group , the three found a fresh water creek where it was home to a school of fish, so the children decided that they would camp here for now.

"Wow nips, I can't believe you ate that fish in one bite." Snails exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm full of surprises." Snips boasted.

"You guys..... Are morons." Sam said while slowly shifting his eyes between the two.

"Why?"

"Yeah why?"

"Well for one there was only 6 fish in that pond and if you ate one whole and you will eat another one tomorrow, your gonna run out of food- see, this is what I mean when I say you need conserve." Sam stated angrily.

"Oh come on Spike, it's not like the fish won't screw each other and make more." snips said indignantly.

"Oh yeah? And just how long will that take?" Sam asked while sporting a shit-eating grin.

"I........uh.....hmm?" he wondered.

"Look, I can see the sparks flying off your scalp, that's not how animals wo-." Sam was interrupted by a far off rustling in the bushes.

"You guys hear that?" Sam asked them cautiously.

"Yeah........." Snips replied. At that, they sat and stared at the bush for a good 7 minutes before Snails got sick of waiting and went over to check it out.

"Snails wait." Snips whimpered. But he just brushed it off and continued to the bush, when he got there he thoroughly stomped the poor bush into oblivion.

"Huh, must have been the Wi-." Snips were interrupted by snails shrieking in terror as a small rabbit jumped from off his head and into the open. Swiftly Snips and Snails were upon it with malicious intent.

"gotcha ya little bastard!" Snips yelled as he and Snails lunged at the defenseless animal at the same time.

With that Sam quickly scooped the rabbit up and left Snips and Snails on the same path as their faces met in a very painful way.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys!?" Sam scolded them. Sam then observed the animal and deduced that it was indeed a rabbit with a pure white coat upon spike's inspection he noticed that its coat was a brilliant white instead of faded like most jungle bunnies, but disregarded it.

"You guys need to be quieter, do you remember where we are!?" Sam yelled in a whispering tone.

"Oh yeah..." Snips commented with eyes shift to his surroundings. "But that bunny is a menace now hurry up and put it out of its misery so we can eat."

At that the bunny ran up from Sams' hands to hide in his hair, which Sam, as calm and collected as he usually was audibly 'awwwwww'd' at the display.

"Oh come on you guys we can't kill..... Him, he's cool." Sam said as he checked the rabbits "credentials" for confirmation.

"Spike, we're hungry, and that is grade-a meat you're holdi-"

"THE VOICES ARE COMIN' FROM OVER HERE!" a female voice rang out.

"Crap, we've been spotted!" Sam exclaimed as he and the other two began to run from the intruding voice.

As they ran they heard a horse coming their way and it wasn't long before the assailant had finally spotted them and was rapidly gaining on them just as she was right next to them Sam pushed the two boys into a row of bushes which Sam perceived to be soft, never in his short life had he been so wrong. The three had dove through bushes to escape only to be met with a perfect view over a ravine which they promptly fell into and did several individual rolls before coming to a stop inside the trunk of a large tree.

"YEEEEHAWWW, you guys are feisty, but maybe you ought a come out before I lose patience." the voice said, as the petrified boys sat curled up in their haven.

"ohmanohmanohmanohmanohman." droned Snips.

"we'rescrewedwe'rescrewedwe'rescrewed." droned Snails much to Sam' displeasure.

"You guys pull it together, we'll f-figure a way out of this." Sam said, with his voice trembling.

"You heard her Spike, she's in this one for the haul and isn't leaving without us." Snips said in a panic. Sam was uncharacteristically silent.

"Yoo-hoo, come out already." the voice said sounding a little perturbed that made Snips start to cry.

"I don't wanna go back, I just got out and I.... Don't.... wanna........ Go." the 9 year old said in between sobs.

Sam then found only one ultimatum and decided on it. As he stood up and looked out a hole to see someone on a horse in the distance, he looked at his companions and prepared himself for his blind stupidity.......disguised as courage.

"Okay then, when you see me lead whoever this is away I need you two to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction, can you do that? Sam asked the younger kids.

"Spike what are you doi-" snails began as Sam darted off into the night.

"There ya are." he heard the voice say as it turned its steed around to give chase passing the tree totally. Inside the tree, the stupefied kids sat in silence.

"........ What just happened?" Snips asked finally looking up.

"......... We've gotta move now." Snails replied not giving him the answer he was looking for as they exited the tree.

"Where's Spike?" Snips asked wearily.

"Hopefully, far away from here." Snails said while looking deep into the direction Sam ran.

Sam doesn't know how far he has been running but he thanked his anatomy for giving him amazing speed and stamina.

She'd been behind him for about 23 minutes and didn't look like she was letting up any time soon, a duck into some bushes here, a jump into a chasm there and she still kept up, he gave himself a pat on the back for going as fast as he did on foot.

"Wow, you're a fast one ain't cha," she said as her horse steadily kept up. By now Sam was sick of her damn voice, her accent was driving a wedge in his brain and he just wanted to get away from this accursed woman as quickly as possible. He then heard the upholstering of something and decided that he had to cut this chase short, when suddenly Sam looked to his left and saw a waterfall.... You already know what happens next.

"Hey lady." Sam yelled, "you know what my favorite saying is?" he said between pants of breath.

Just then she saw him lean to the left, she quickly caught on to his plight and pulled out her gun as he leapt from the cliff.

"DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR~" he continued as he plummeted towards the waters. She then rode up as close as she could and fired three shots from her 357. Pistol, all the while watching as the boy plummeted to the waters below with a large splash accompanying him.

"hmph, guess I should start lookin' fer the other ones." she said to no one in particular. As she turned to leave, she heard a smaller splash that caught her attention.

So she turned around just in time to see the boy dart off into the forest. She couldn't believe it, the fall was a good 60 foot drop and knew from personal experience that no one..... No one could survive that fall; but here was this boy who jumped without caution, lived, and had enough left over energy to continue running. She smirked a little at that.

"Damn, this chase is getting rowdier and rowdier by the second." she said while laughing to herself.

'Oh god OH DEAR GOD why did I do that ARGH oh my god WHYY' this thought was the only three thoughts in Sam's mind as he ran through the forest covered in deep gashes.

"Goddamn it, why does everything hurt?" he asked himself knowing the answer, 'surely jumping off a cliff usually yields these types of consequences, you moron' he was sure he heard a voice which he perceived was his brain say. 'Now we are both going to die because you couldn't take the long way'. Sam ceded to his brain. But that's not the problem, Sam has slipped and cut himself a lot of times in the past making this a virtual cakewalk; the real problem was the 357. Round stuck in his ass and the fact that it was a straight shot to the left cheek muscle making sprinting a less than viable option, but none-the-less, like a true champ he ran on, hoping that Snips and Snails got out alright, and hoping that she was still on his trail instead of theirs.

After what seemed like eternity, Sam started to slow down and eventually came to a halt as his face hit the hard ground. He looked around and saw that he was pretty far from the fall, but spike didn't stop as he started to crawl away.

'Stop, you fucking idiot, what are you doing?' his brain and muscles yelled in unison, but he wouldn't have any of that, he had to keep going, he had to get away and he had to get back to those two because they'd be lost without him.....hell they probably were already lost without him.

"Well at least it can't get any worse." Sam said and as if on cue it started raining, even under the everfree's thick canopy the rain utterly drenched him.

"....... fuckin' hell." Sam said as he fell unconscious.

Sam awoke to the sounds of birds chirping frantically as they fluttered away from his assumed to be lifeless body. He muttered something along the lines of 'damn birds' as he stood up with a little too much vigor for his body to handle as he hunched over now looking himself over.

His gashes had long since healed due to reasons unknown even to him, but the gunshot though healed was still giving him trouble pain-wise, he cursed the pain as he ran a finger over the wound to find the bullet still there.

"Damn it, well at least everything is fin-" he started before a sharp pain was felt in his neck and he took the cause out; as he pulled the dart from his neck he turned swiftly to see a female form walk into view holding a revolver in one hand.

"y'know yer a hard varmint to track, after that there stunt ya pulled when ya jumped off the cliff i'd all but given up hope until i got this from a little friend of mine." she said as she held up strands of his hair.

"Okay that's fair, but uh what's stopping me from running away right now." Sam said with a doubtful expression on his face.

"The 450 Ccs of tranquilizer I put in that dart." she said with a smirk. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Yeeaahh, no." spike said as he calmly walked away leaving the woman flabbergasted.

"Where in tarnation do ya think yer goin'?!?" she yelled after him.

"Away, from you." he said as he didn't even look back. "Guess it was a bad day to leave your big boy dart at home huh?"

She couldn't believe it, she had tracked him down with expert skill, chased him within an inch of the forest, and she didn't even have the means to capture him.

Sam thought that knowing he was unconquerable by conventional means she would give up and label the chase unsuccessful..... Again never had he been so wrong in his life minus the first time.

Sam labeled what happened next as one of the strongest kicks he has ever had the displeasure of feeling. As he tumbled the 8 extra feet the kick took he took stock of his already battered ribs as he coughed up a little blood.... So far they're all there but back to the problem at hand.

"sooo, that's a no on letting me go huh?" he asked sarcastically. He was already on his feet when he saw her get into a defensive stance.

"I don't wanna, but I'll fight ya if I have to." she said sternly as spike readied himself.

"Cool, that just means you're gonna get your ass kicked by a kid." he said as he charged her, slicing wildly with his now protruding claws. She threw a punch which landed steadily on his jaw and made him do a 360 but almost as quickly as he had been staggered Sam was on the attack again by turning the hit's momentum and using to spin back in an attempt to eviscerate the girl, stopping just short on tattering her shirt almost straight down the middle and leaving a small sliver of cuts trailing to her belly button.

After dodging claw after claw the woman readied another kick which was dodged by the boy now focused on her legs which seems to be where the bulk of her power is, after a rapid barrage with 1 or 2 kicks actually getting through Sam was getting a little weathered, sure that dart didn't slow him down but it siphoned off what little energy it could. So with that they began to lock hands in a test of might. The woman looked down at the now panting boy with a condescending grin.

"Looks like y'all are runnin' out of steam." she said with a grin

"Doesn't matter, i'm still walking away from this one." he said as she suddenly increased her power. But he would not give up as he summoned all the strength he had to give her a mighty push, as she fell onto her back Sam was sure that he had to end this as he charged wildly at her with intent to kill.

"Gotcha' now you son OF A BITCH-AUUUGHHHH!" he screamed as she shot him in the knee and watched him fall to the forest floor while clutching his now open knee. "THAT'S NOT FAIR, YOU FUCKING TURD!"

"hmph, why didn't ah just do that before?" she asked with a whistle as her horse came into view.

"Cause' you're a cheeky cunt!" spike countered in pain.

"Yeah, maybe" she began. "But ah'm a cheeky cunt who doesn't take shit from noqkids."

"..... Ok I'll bite, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU ANYWAY?!?" spike asked wondering why he put it off in the first place as she saddled him up and prepared for the long ride home.

"Names Jacky and we're goin' fer a ride."

END

Author's Note

no one told me it was going to be this hard, i mean seriously i started this story in august and am just now publishing.

Edit:Holy Shit, I didn't know what the fuck I was doing at all. I guess I finally got around to getting a proofreader. It's me, after like 7 years.