• "Me?" Zoe asked horrified.
    "Are you the oldest?" asked the short blonde haired man with a hint of impatience in his voice.
    "Yes, I am. But, I can't go. I have a family to take care of," Zoe barly choked out.
    "Well I'm pretty sure that you parents will be able to take over that," said the blonde, "we will give you 'till tomarrow at this time to get everything sorted out."
    Zoe could only nod because after the two soldiers left she burst into tears.
    "They can't take you Zo! They just can't!" cried the nine year old Margeret.
    "Who's gonna het our food?" asked tem year old Nick.
    "I-I'm not sure. Um, Jenny, do you think you can handle the responsibility?" sniffed Zoe, desperatly trying to pull herself together.
    Sensing how vunerable she looked, Jenny put on her toughest expression she could muster and said, "Yes, I can do it. You can count on me Zee."
    "Thanks Jen, I believe in you. Do you still remember what I taught you?" said Zoe, pulling her sister into a tight hug.
    "Yes, I'll make sure not to let this family starve. I know that's what you want me to do," said Jenny, squeezing her sister.
    Wiping her eyes, Zoe knelt down and told Tucker, Kathrine, and Nick to not give Jenny a hard time about what's on the menu, no matter what she brought home. "Just remember to be grateful that your getting food in your stomach's,"said Zoe, giving each of them a hug.
    After giving her parents a squeeze, she said, "I have to go warn Oliver. They may not have gotten to him yet." And with that she was out the door, racing to save Oliver's fate.
    The wind willed her forward, pushing against her back. The birds silenced their song as she passed, feeling the intense energy in the air, while some even flew beside her, encouraging her to run faster. The forest was her home, no matter how dangerous it could be at times, and she wanted to be able to stay here forever.
    But when she reached her best friends' house, she saw that she was already to late. Becauseas she was about to open up the door, the two soldiers who had been at her house just a little while ago, were now standing in the doorway of Olivers' cottage. Wordlessly, Zoe stepped out of the way as the men walked side-by-side down the path and into the dark green of the woods.
    Looking in through the door, she saw what must have been very close to how her family must have looked as the took the news of losing their oldest child. The child that fed the waiting mouths of five other children and two exausted parents. The child that was born first, loved first, cared for first, ws also going off to war first, and possible dieing first.
    Glancing up at the door, Oliver saw the girl that he had known his whole life. With a look of defeat on his face he said, "they didn't get to you too did they?"
    "They did," whispered Zoe.
    And with that, Oliver buried his face in his hands and sobbed.