The Runaways

Chapter 1

It was late at night, it was my turn to be the lookout. Everything was calm, so I wandered into the forest deeper than any other night. I came into this clearing and the sun was peeking up from the horizon. I knew I only had a few hours left before the others would wake up. I could tell exactly when my friends would wake up because I have been on the lookout for about three nights. I wanted to go deeper into the forest to hope to find something better suited to a home than one tent in a tree.

"I had heard a growl in the forest to my left"

I thought.

Must have been nothing. Looking around for the noise, I glanced at the sun.

It's nearly eight I thought

I'm running through the forest to find the tent. Jumping over the dead, rotted out logs on the ground. I happened to look up at this old tree, I found the tent. I climbed the tree, sat in the entrance, and waited for them to wake up.

Looking at all the tracks from different animals trying to name them all.

Deep in thought about the growl, I heard in the woods. Why would the animal vocalize while being so close? I thought the growl was from a wild dog. Too loud to be a cat. I wanted to do the next night shift just to see if I can find it again.

"HI"

Scared out of my deep thinking.

"WHO," I shouted as I fell out of the tent in the tree

As I slowly make the long climb back up the tree, I had realized that the sun was just peeking above the trees. I looked up and was met with Amber's worried gaze as I found out that she is the one who came to greet me. The sun was right behind her head. Her hair, glowed as bright at the embers from a nighttime fire.

"I'm ok don't you worry," I said up to the glowing ball of hair around Amber's head.

She and I were the only ones up at the time as Emari was still sleeping.

" I never understood how she could sleep so soundly," Amber said still half asleep.

"There are many things it could be, you gotta remember that she is still young, the young tend to sleep much better than people like us."

"I guess that's true, we kinda took her in at a time that she was young enough to still have an imagination and was able to learn that she was safe here with us," she said whispered as to not wake Emari.

"How was the patrol last night?"

"All quiet as normal nothing out of the 1-kilometer range that wasn't normal"

"What's wrong, you got a worried look on your face"

"It's probably there because I just fell out fo the tree is all," I said lightheartedly.

Just as I looked around to the top of the tree I had noticed that Enari was starting to get up.