Elena knelt in the churned mud, hands shaking as she pulled the broken ends of her bowstring together. One end was frayed, half-burned where Billy's grip had snapped it like it was nothing.
Her fingers were slick — sweat, blood, she wasn't sure which — as she threaded the spare string through the nock with practiced motions drilled into her since she acquired one.
"Of all the times," she muttered under her breath.
Scarlett crouched beside her, wiping blood from her lip with the back of her hand. "Yeah, well, at least he didn't rip your arm off. Small fucking wins."
Elena huffed despite herself, tightening the knot and testing the tension. The bow thrummed softly, imperfect but usable. Not right — not yet — but it would fire. It had to. She rose slowly, rolling her shoulder as pain flared.
Whatever she'd been before this moment, whatever doubt still lived in her chest, it hardened into something sharper.
She raised the bow checking the string.
The forest closed in around them as they moved.
Branches groaned overhead, leaves dripping with blood and rain-damp sap, the air thick with the metallic stink of death and burned magic. Every snapped twig made Elena flinch. Every shadow felt like Billy watching.
Finn groaned.
Scarlett nearly dropped him.
"Oh for fuck's sake," she snapped, tightening her grip under his arm. "Off course You wake up now. After the fighting has finished — Cheers for the Help."
Finn blinked, pupils blown wide. "Did… did we win?" he croaked.
Scarlett leaned close, eyes narrowed. "Define win, you muppet."
He coughed, a weak laugh escaping despite himself. "Ow. That's a yes, then."
"You got knocked the fuck out," she said flatly. "that punch did you see it, connected cleanly with your lovely chin," she imitated a punch 'POW' letting out a little giggle. "I swear, if survival was graded, you'd be barely scraping the bottom of the barrel."
Finn winced as she adjusted her hold. "You can put me down now," Finn chuckled and "how come you carried me?"
"Don't flatter yourself," she shot back. Dropping him on the floor, flat on his face. "I dragged you. Like a dead deer. Consider yourself lucky I didn't leave you there your heavier then you look."
He lifted his head spitting leaves and dirt from his mouth, standing up brushing himself of. Memories crashing back in fragments — the punch, the pain, the screaming. His gaze landed on the ruined clearing behind them.
"…Blob?" he asked quietly.
Scarlett didn't answer straight away.
"Yeah," she said finally. "Very dead. Very messy. You missed the worst bits. But Billy survived and run away, Lucky bastard."
Finn swallowed. "Elena?"
Scarlett followed his gaze.
Ahead of them, Elena walked stiffly, bow slung across her back, hands faintly glowing — not enough to light the forest, just enough to notice. Enough to scare her.
Max stayed close to her side, not touching, but never more than an arm's length away.
"She's breathing," Scarlett said. "Which is more than we were promised today."
Finn exhaled slowly. "Good."
Scarlett eyed him sideways. "Don't get soppy now, were not out of the woods yet. It's unsettling."
He smirked weakly. "You carried me through a murder forest. I think we're past unsettling."
She snorted despite herself.
Max broke the silence first.
"You didn't lose control," he said gently.
Elena didn't look at him. "I killed someone."
"You defended yourself," Max replied. "There's a difference."
Her fingers curled, energy flickering brighter, then dimming again. "I didn't mean to do that. It just— it felt like something broke open. Like… I couldn't stop it."
Max nodded. "Yeah. That sounds familiar."
That made her finally glance at him. "It does?"
"My power went wild the first time I really used it," he admitted. "Nearly crushed a kid's skull by accident. Thought I was a monster since that day."
Elena frowned. "But you control it."
"Now," he said. "Not then. Its only recently changed."
They walked a few steps in silence before he continued.
"I used to hold everything back," Max said. "Because of my dad. His expectations. His voice in my head telling me what I should be."
Elena's steps slowed slightly.
"I didn't realise," he went on, "that the harder I tried to cage it, the worse it got. Power doesn't like being strangled."
She swallowed. "So what changed?"
"I joined you guys and finally, I let go," he said simply. "Stopped trying to be what he wanted. Started trusting you, and myself instead."
He glanced at her hands. "What you did back there… Elena, if I tried to channel that much force at once, I'd have torn myself apart. No joke. Internal bleeding. Possibly Brain damage. Even Death."
Her eyes widened. "Then how come i didn't?"
"Because you're stronger than me," he said without hesitation. "Stronger than any telekinetic I've ever seen."
She shook her head. "I don't feel strong."
"You don't have to," Max replied. "You just are."
She looked down again, but this time there was something steadier in her posture.
"I hope," Max added quietly, "that one day, I can do what you did."
Elena managed a small, broken smile. "Careful what you wish for."
"Wow," Finn said loudly. "Is this the part where we all hug and cry, or can someone tell me where the hell were going and why do my ribs feel like they've been rearranged alphabetically?"
Scarlett rolled her eyes. "You got hit by a psycho with a robot arm, genius."
Finn muttered. "That explains the ringing, but not my ribs. I got hit in the face?."
Scarlett put her head down having a small cheeky grin "I may have took my anger out on you a little, whilst i was dragging your sorry ass." She snorted again unable to contain it.
"What the fuck – Why?. Done more Damage than he did." Finn chuckled slightly till it turned into a cough.
Rain began to fall.
At first it was light — soft taps against leaves and armour. Then heavier. Colder. Soaking fast.
Scarlett swore. "Great. Because today wasn't shit enough. Now the gods are pissing on us"
Max looked up through the canopy. "We need cover. Storm's rolling in hard."
Elena scanned the trees, seeing the shadows of shapes in the distance. "There," she said. "Through the brush."
They pushed through tangled undergrowth — thorns tearing at clothes, mud sucking at boots — until a shape emerged from the trees.
Concrete.
Steel.
A half-collapsed structure swallowed by vines and moss, warning signs rusted and unreadable, the faint outline of old floodlights hanging dead above a reinforced door.
Finn squinted at it. "Please tell me that's a cabin."
Scarlett snorted. "Are you stupid, that's either an abandoned research facility or the start of another horror story."
Finn grinned weakly. "Please, No more horror stories."
Thunder rolled overhead.
Elena tightened her grip on her bow. "Let's get inside."
As they moved toward the entrance, rain pouring harder by the second, none of them noticed the shadows flicker briefly to life deep within the building.
Then vanish.