Out of their hiding spot and into the open, Emery scanned her wide eyes over their wooded surroundings with her crowbar wielded. She could hear their taunting words and the crunching of their footsteps, but they wouldn't come into her sight. They seemed too close to be covered by the bush. Her fear made movement difficult. When Rye asked her for suggestions, she swallowed the rock in her throat and murmured, "There's not much of a strategy we can pull off when we don't know where any of them are." Adjusting the grip on her raised crowbar, she said, "I think all we can do is try to slip away."<br/><br/>Emery stared at Rye as he spoke and tensed when he started talking loudly.<span style="font-style: italic">Is he challenging them?</span>she wondered as she glanced around again. Her brow furrowed at Rye.<span style="font-style: italic">No, it's like he's cursing all of them.</span>Her face dulled.<span style="font-style: italic">What an idiot.</span>She tugged at Rye's sleeve as she started moving away from the tree. "Come on, Rye," she said. "Just shut up. It's no use." She advanced deeper into the forest with a quick pace and wary eyes. "You think you can change these bastards with your prophetic words, Rye?" she muttered bitterly, looking back at him occasionally. "Like you can stir up some sort of revolution? Let me tell you something: you can't. You're nothing but a means to an end. The means being senseless killings and the end being entertainment. So stop wasting your breath on trying to get their attention..." Emery glared at him as she said, "... because you'll<span style="font-style: italic">never get it</span>."<br/><br/>Once she turned to face forward, a blunt but painful force strike her on the back sent her tumbling into the ground. She rolled around just as a boy came at her with his bat up. She countered his strike with her crowbar and pushed him back with it. She got to her feet just as another guy jumped in and tackled Rye, stabbing at him with his knife. "Dammit!" she muttered through her teeth, running over to get him off of Rye. The other boy didn't miss his chance and hit Emery on the side of her head. Bright lights flashed in her vision and she was overcome by lightheadedness, falling to the ground once again. She didn't even feel the other blows that the boy was putting upon her.