He stretched out, the vest only covered his torso. Luckily his lower garments were still wearable. He threw them on and moved toward a large bay window. The night air was stiff and cold, but the room was still warm and moist.

He wondered why that was. He looked back at Rose, she was re-braiding her hair. She was gorgeous standing in the mirror, making herself look presentable to her parents. Maybe they wouldn't be bale to figure out what happened if Travis could find a decent shirt.

Seth stopped walking. "No offense, but that is the stupidest reason to leave I have ever heard. And don't worry, after all this, I plan on going back to Iraq. I want to see both of my wars to their end." He turned around, still confused at her thought process. "I know it's not something you may agree with, but I can't get away from war. There's nothing else I'm good at."

"I know my logic is f***ed up. And you may not want to be in Iraq: that's where I'm headed."

"Can't do that. First off, that's even more reason for me to go. Second, I still have some of those men over there. I failed to protect them once, I can't do that again."

Seth walked back to the wall and leaned against it. "What business do you have there, anyway?"

"My... Mother..." Max set her jaw and grabbed the blade, cutting her hand."

"Okay, I've gotta say this out loud. That is a dumb habit. Why add physical pain on top of emotional? Life sucks, alright. Everybody has to learn to deal."

He didn't even bother to try to take it away. She was about, 39020349 times stronger than him anyways.

"F*** off, you don't care."

Seth got off the wall.

"You're wrong. If I didn't care, I wouldn't tell you the habit was dumb. It's that I don't understand, but you expect me to. So alright, I'll f*** off. For good."

He turned out the door, and kept walking. He wasn't going back to that.

He somehow found his was out of the compound. Let her handle Kane on her own. He walked onto the road, heading back towards where he felt he needed to go. Problem was, he didn't know where that was.

"Having fun?" Kane had her pinned in a second. Max tried to scream, but one arm was pressed against her throat. "Aww, sad you lived through all that to die now."

Rose finished her hair and stood up. "C'mon, let's go find them."

"Okay"

He hoped they were done with whatever they might or might not be doing. They both needed it, they were both just too damn stubborn to tell the other.

He threw his gun over his back and attached his sword to his belt loop, following the love of his life out of the room.

Rose suddenly froze. "Something's wrong."

Max gasped when Kane bit her. 'He's... killing me... and... I can't even... fight back...'

He threw the sword out of the sheath and clutched in his outstretched palm, almost pushing Rose against the wall.

"What is it?"

"MAX!" Rose moved too fast, trying to follow her scent.

Max was limp and didn't bother trying to move. Kane stepped back, his mouth smeared with blood. "Poor Max." He laughed.

Seth continued walking down the road. He kept trying to hitch rides from any passing cars, but it was in vain. Finally, a car stopped and let him in. He felt uneasy the instant he buckled himself in, but was thankful for the ride. As they continued driving, one of the men turned towards him. "So what's your name, stranger?"

"Seth."

The man grinned at the driver, and then pulled a long revolver from the glove box.

"I'd assume you're the ex-marine who fought with that crowd is half-breed bastards, vampires, and renegade lycans. You'll see your error now!" Seth threw his foot up and kicked the gun as he fired, making the bullet graze his shoulder. He winced in pain and punched the man once, twice, three times. Taking the gun, he shot the Lycan at the crown of his head. The blood splatter blinded the driver, and Seth went to take his chance.

Then the car hit the tree.

Seth, removing his seatbelt to fight, was flung through the windshield, slamming into the tree and getting knocked out cold. All he remembered was the last Lycan putting a ziptie around his hands and feet, and carrying him into the woods.

Rose busted into the room and growled. "Let her go!"
Kane grinned and obeyed. Max didn't move.