Waste

Chapter 29

"Rose?" he asked, running one hand through his messy wet hair and using the other hand to help her up. Rose, freezing and soaking wet, she hugged him, looking for comfort. He recoiled, hesitant to human touch, but slowly wrapped his arms around the petite girl.

"I lost them... I don't know where I am," she mumbled to herself. "It's so cold." She was on the verge of tears from all the stress.

"I know." He covered her in his jacket, zipping her up with him to keep them both warm. "Damn, get your hair out of here, it's fucking freezing me." He flipped her hair out of the way.

Rose chuckled then stared upward. They started to advance toward shelter, a small rock overhang. "How'd you get separated from whoever you were with? Or were you alone?"

He sighed, "I was with Colin and Blue. We were being chased by this creature that resembled a bear. Blue said leave him behind so he could distract it while we ran away. I volunteered to be the bait and I made them take off. I think they went to the old camp."

Rose's eyes widened in surprise. "The old camp? That's where I sent Jewel, Wolf, and Spaf!"

"So that means Aria, Jess, and Sky are the only ones left." Chase sat them down on a small, elongated boulder that contoured to fit their bodies. It was awkward, their position, but it was necessary to conserve body heat. "Man, I hope they're alive..." he mouthed inaudibly.

Rose unzipped the coat, wiggled her backpack off, then searched the inside. She took out a piece of cooked rabbit. It was a day old, but still good. "Hungry?"

"Yeah," he replied, grabbing the meat she offered. "Thanks." She saluted him unknowingly in response.

"What now?" asked Rose. She was chomping on a rabbit leg.

"I don't know." Chase muttered. "I don't know. We wait for the storm to pass, I guess."

"Then we go find the old camp?"

"Yeah.

Rose yawned, exhausted from exerting so much energy in her day. She curled up and got as comfortable as she could and passed out. Chase didn't react, though it was still weird to touch someone for him. He just stared out at the rain, hoping he could drift off as well.

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Raindrops fell one by one off the canopy of leaves overhead. Though they'd been sprinting blindly, Jewel, Spaf, and Wolf made a good distance, their destination only a couple hundred feet away. They rested, Jewel spread out, panting on a log, Spaf squatting down while trying to catch her breath. Wolf fell over where he stood, exhausted.

"And... We lost Rose," Spaf smacked her wet forehead. The old camp was in sight, the storm had passed, but they forgot a crucial part of their group.

"Great," Jewel groaned. "This sucks."

Wolf seemed confused. "Why don't we just go get her?"

"We are going to, but we just don't want to get lost ourselves," Jewel explained, somewhat annoyed. The redhead shot up from resting on a log.

"Let's go- Is that Blue and Colin?" Spafina squinted to see the two figures hobbling towards the burnt camp. "Blue! Colin!"

Their attention grabbed, Colin and Blue switched directions and shambled towards Jewel and Spaf.

"He's bleeding really badly!"