Rex and Ahsoka had managed to find extra pairs of clothes in the one backpack they had left, since the other was at the bottom of that lake. Rex had just finished putting his armor plates back on, and he was hoping he wouldn't catch a cold or something after the little dunk he took in the freezing water. Ahsoka had packed up the sleeping bag and she shoved it the pack. Her coat and Rex's cloak were stiff as a board, so she made a small fire and melted as much snow from them as possible while Rex crunched on a ration cube. They only had enough food to last both of them for half the day, so they'd need to search for food or save it.
After the coat and cloak were now malleable, she put her coat on and put the hooded cloak on Rex. She reopened the pack and took out the contents, seeing what they had for sure. The few rations, two water canteens, a small med kit, a flashlight, and an incredibly basic survival kit was all that was there. She put everything back and slung that pack on her shoulder, "I think we should keep moving," she said.
"We could also stay near here and wait for someone or a ship to come. They'd see as better in the open,"
"Yeah, but there might not be one coming for a while. Who knows where Anakin's at,"
He sighed, "All right, we'll keep exploring,"
Ahsoka nodded at him and they went the long way around the flat plains, making sure they wouldn't run into ice again. That was something she did not want to repeat. It was frightening knowing that you could drown or get stuck underneath the ice. She was grateful Rex was able to stay afloat and get her above the ice safely. Her saving him was what he got in return, hopefully they wouldn't need to do all that again.
The came into the forest and it was a beautiful sight, but that thought in the back of their minds about being lost made it not that pretty. Ahsoka didn't realize that there was a bunch of thorn bushes around. A thorn snagged her coat, and another dug into her cheek, causing her to gasp. Rex looked at her with a confused expression, and she turned her head toward him.
"Ooh," he used his gloves thumb and wiped the bit of blood that was leaking from the small cut she had, "Sorry, I have my armor on, you should've told me there were prickly bushes,"
"Well I just found out. We can go around them,"
"Okay.... so, if we do by chance f—,"
"Wait a tick. Do you hear that?"
"Hmm? Hear what?"
"It...." she gasped, "It sounds like a ship! Oh, but it might be a Sep ship,"
Rex shrugged, "We'll kill the pilots,"
She gave him a look then tilted her head up, "Look!" Ahsoka pointed at the sky through the trees.
He looked up and the tree branches were bound together with very little gaps between them. It was hard to see, but the ship soon came into view, albeit a little farther away than they thought it was. Its engine roared, and it pounded through Ahsoka's montrals. She and Rex started to jump up and down, waving their arms frantically.
"HERE!" Ahsoka shouted above the whistling winds and the engine.
Rex threw off his helmet, "HEY!" He yelled, "Down here!" He had a thought and he fumbled with his Deece. He aimed it up at the ship and pressed the trigger. Click. Kriffing saftey. He turned the safety off and pulled the trigger again, but it wasn't working. He didn't know the answer since he never tested it, but perhaps the water messed up the pistol. He agitatedly banged it against his hand trying to get it to work.
Ahsoka's heart pounded and her pulse raced. All she wanted was for the pilot to look down and spot them, then they could be back in the comfort of warmth. With food. Both of them safe.
Her heart thumped in her chest, but it deflated when the ship flew past, now out of their line of sight. With hope and relief shattered, she slumped her shoulders.
"NO!" Rex yelled. "No, no, no, no," he kicked at the snow in frustration, "We were so close!" He said with arm motions, "Why didn't we just stay in the open field? They would've seen us then!"
Ahsoka felt as if she had just been stabbed with an ice pick. He was right. The trees covered their tracks, no one would spot them. It was all her fault they were in the forest. Dread ran through her. Anakin would be searching for them, right? Stang. He was sent off course, so that was most likely out of the question. But maybe he got back on track. She sighed, they could be in the middle of nowhere, most likely hundreds of klicks away from any civilization. And it was her idea to move away from the plains.
Rex combed his fingers through his hair as his heart rate slowly went down. He rubbed his face and glanced over at Ahsoka. His gut did a flip as he saw the look on her face. He realized what he had just said. He immediately felt guilty, "....Ahsoka. Ahsoka, I'm sorry, I'm just upset. I didn't mean—,"
"No. You're right...." she looked down, "it's my fault,"
He walked over to her, "No, it's not. Look, we're both hungry, cold, and anxious. I shouldn't have said that," he put a hand on her shoulder. "Whoever crashed the cruiser caused all of this. Not you. You shouldn't blame yourself, okay. And I'm sorry I yelled, I guess I'm not thinking straight. I haven't been getting much sleep lately, and that on top of hunger doesn't mix well. This whole thing isn't your fault, it's not mine either. Just relax. We'll be fine. Let's keep going,"
Ahsoka swallowed hard and nodded. Her head suddenly snapped to the left of her, "Do you hear that?" Her feelings left, as she was now aware of something stalking them.
Rex shook his head, "Hear wh—,"
"Shhh,"
He took some steps back and took out his DC-17. Ahsoka started to walk to where her montrals were picking up vibrations. She looked around a tree and scanned the area, she couldn't sense anything, so she shrugged it off. Maybe she misheard something. She turned around, "False alarm, I guess," then she saw Rex slowly raise his blaster at her.
"When I say 'now', you get to the ground," he said slowly.
"Why?"
"Narglatch,"
Ahsoka was shocked. A Narglatch? What was that doing here. She then felt something creeping towards her.
"Now!"
She dropped to the ground and Rex fired his pistol. It worked, surprisingly. The blue cat-like creature dodged out of the way and leapt over Ahsoka. Rex let out a tiny yelp as it roared and lunged for him. He got out of the way and Ahsoka grabbed her lightsabers, igniting them. The Narglatch snarled, bearing its large teeth. It then seemed to melt into a black liquid and it disappeared into the thorn bushes. Rex holstered his blaster, dazed and confused, "Did that just— am I seeing things?"
Ahsoka extinguished her 'sabers, "No. I saw it too,"
"It was a Narglatch, right? So why'd it turn into goo and disappear?"
"It must be some sort of shape shifting.... thing. We need to be on the lookout in case it comes back,"
Rex had so many questions. He blinked a few times, "We should get moving,"
Ahsoka nodded. It bothered her how she wasn't able to sense the living thing through the Force. It freaked her out. Maybe she was just losing her edge being surrounded by nothing but trees and snow with the thought of starvation, hypothermia, and dehydration running in the back of her mind. She hoped Rex was faring better, he seemed okay with the situation. But there was a fear kept hidden behind a wall he had put up, hoping she couldn't get to it, but she could.
Rex nudged her, "What's that?" He pointed to the left of them.
Ahsoka was confused for a split second then looked where he was pointing. She squinted her eyes a tad, trying to get a better look, "I'm..... not sure," she finally noticed what it really was. Relief hit her like a tsunami, "I think it's a cabin!"