Kat sat by the window staring out blankly absentmindedly sharpening her pocket knife. This was the fourth day that James was gone, and she knew that something had gone wrong, it took Kat less than a day to walk into town, and James could do it in under 2 hours. He has promised to be back 3 days ago "at the latest", but he wasn't. Kat felt her eyes prickle with tears, and she blinked them away, sniffing her constantly running nose. She hadn't had anything to eat since she finished off the baked beans yesterday morning, her tummy was aching already. 

Kats hands worked rhythmically, sharpening the blade on her small pocket knife. James had been in the army, he had taught her the most important part of survival was to look after your tools. She knew she would have to leave the cabin today, and she'd have to do it soon if she wanted to make it somewhere safe before nightfall. She checked her satchel, previously is had been used for school books, now it had ammo, wire, string, hooks, and other trapping material. She snapped her pocket knife closed and slipped it into her pocket. She pushed her hair out of her eyes, it needed cutting, the uneven pixie cut had gone several weeks without a trim, and the tips of her fringe dangled over her eyes. 

Kat slung the satchel over her shoulder, and checked the hunting rifle was clean before carefully slinging that over her shoulder also.. James words ringing in her ears "ALWAYS treat the gun as if its loaded." For a 7 year old Kat had a pretty good shot, and she'd been practicing for hours when James was here. Tears began streaming as she walked away from the house. She had never done this trip alone before, James had always been there. James was always there. Until now.
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3 hours later Kat arrived at the first "safepoint" that her and James had check out together. It was a small house on a quiet street, one of the old houses that backed onto the forest. Kat scanned the street carefully, she remembered what James had told her "You're small so stay down, hide and watch for at least 10 minutes. Be as silent as you can. If there is any movement, leave straight away and go to the next safe house. Don't ever try shoot them unless they are already attacking." after what felt like hours she silently zipped across the lawn, and onto the back porch. The small piece of red paper James jammed in the door every time was still in place, so no one had used that door to get it. Kat peeked in all the windows, and then finally, exhausted and cautious she entered the house. 

15 minutes later she had checked every room, and was ready to eat. The house had been untouched since she had last been there with James, which meant that he hadn't been here either. Kat felt helpless, she was 7, how could she find him? Was he dead already? How would she survive on her own? Kat silently started crying, finally letting the tears she'd been holding back pour down her cheeks. What would she do?