With every breathe it felt like minutes passed by. Both Zander and Rose had completely lost track of time. Neither of the friends knew how long they had been stuck up in the tree waiting for Alia to return to them.
All they knew was that what should've been a day filled with progress towards escaping the mountain was instead a day filled with hiding.
"Should we go check on her?" Rosy asked the boy sat besides her.
"I've already told you no." Zander said unfazed as he stared ahead at the wooded area where howling faded from hours ago.
"Yeah but the sun will be down soon. What if she's out there all alone and hurt? What if she needs our help?" The girl said getting worked up the more she spoke.
"This is Alia we're talking about. If there's anyone who can take care of themself, it's her. Besides she said she'll find us."
Huffing as she crossed her arms, Rose rolled her eyes as she sat back against the tree bark. She breathed deeply as her worried eyes never left the area, hoping to see the girl come out of nowhere.
They both sat in silence for an hour hoping to see any movement from that direction, but it was useless. They were only teased by the wind shaking leaves.
Eventually Rose's eyes made their way back to the boy besides her as he shifted in place.
His ankle had been propped up by some leaves he had gathered and piled beneath himself in a hurry to rest his sore leg.
While the bleeding coming from his ankle was at a minimum, it was still worrying to know he was in pain from it.
"How's your ankle doing?" She eventually broke their tight silence.
"It's alright." He said with obvious discomfort in his voice.
With his arms at his sides, Zander was shocked to feel Rosy suddenly get closer to him as she gripped on tightly to his arm and rested her head upon his shoulder.
He could feel her breathing heavily against his skin thanks to all the tears in his shirt.
Relaxing his shoulders the boy exhaled sharply as he laid his head against hers, both staring off into the distance waiting for their friend to return as promised.
"I hate it when we're separated." Rose muttered.
Zander seemed hesitant to respond as he withheld his tears. "I do too."
"I wish Alia were here..."
"Me too."
"...and Kaila." The girl said as she shut her eyes tightly allowing herself for just a split moment to believe that everything was back to normal. That they were all together again without a single worry of strange creatures out to get them.
Meanwhile, Zander sat in silence. It had been weeks at this point since they last seen one another.
It was getting harder to remember the way she smiled. Everything seemed to be getting blurrier as the days went on and their separation was hitting him.
"Do you think we'll be safe here for the night?" He instead asked.
"I mean I hope." Rose said softly. "It seems safe up here."
"Really? I think we should keep hiking."
"What?!" She said bouncing up from his side with a sad whine. "Why?!"
"Because that hunter knows we're here. If it comes back, it'll know where to find us. And it may bring back more of its kind. We're safer just going down a few more miles where we can find a new tree."
"But Alia-"
"-will find us wherever we go. Remember what she said. She told us to make it as close to the bottom of this mountain as we can and she'll meet us there."
"But-"
"Rosy please." The boy begged. With his big blue eyes the boy didn't want to argue about this.
He felt safer being away from the hunters. And this was his only solution. "It's Alia. She'll be alright."
The brunette puffed her cheeks as she scrunched her face. She knew for their own safety it would be beneficial to leave the area. But she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of guilt like she was abandoning her girlfriend to the monsters out to kill them. "You'd better be right." She eventually said from behind her teeth.
Without wanting to waste anymore time, Zander hugged his friend tightly before rushing down the tree. From what he could see from their vantage point—the coast was clear.
The suns rays were slowing starting to disappear, but without a doubt they still had another good half hour under their belts.
But the instant Zander applied even the smallest bit of pressure onto his ankle he couldn't help but squeal. While it wasn't hurting to the point of death, it was surely uncomfortable.
Limping as he leaned against the tree, the boy waited patiently as Rose followed after.
"You alright? You're looking kinda green?" She said seeing the nauseous look on his face.
"Yeah I'll be fine. Can I just hold your hand please?" He asked tentatively.
He knew it was his idea to leave the comfort of the tree but he didn't think it was going to be this uncomfortable to walk on his ankle.
But despite all else, he was thankful that the scratch looked like it would heal within the next few days on its own. He couldn't wait to not have to deal with it anymore.
And without even needing to think about it, Rose scooped his hand up and held it firmly. "We've got this." She now encouraged.
Giving somewhat of a hopeful smirk, the girl took lead as she held tightly onto Zander making their way down the mountain as safely yet quickly as they could.
The blue sky was orange and the bright green leaves were now dull. "How much further do you think we should go for today? I don't think it's safe to be down here anymore." The girl nervously said.
"Just a little further then we'll find a place to stay." Zander said while he was already in the work of finding them a new place to camp the night away. The last thing he wanted was to be trapped on the ground all night long by themselves.
That was just a recipe for disaster.
Using the last bit of light from the suns rays, the boy quickly spotted a decent looking tree in the distance with all the criteria they were looking for.
Sturdy branches for them to climb on, thick branches to sit on, and a top filled with leaves to conceal them from sight. It was perfect.
"Over there!" He pointed as the girl carefully lead him in that direction.
"Think you can make it up on your own?" She asked.
More confident in his abilities after being allowed to rest his legs during their walk, thanks you Rose supporting him, Zander nodded. If it weren't for her, the strain on his leg would've kept him grounded for sure.
But as the small girl released her hold on him, Zander stepped forward as he grabbed on tightly to the branches before hoisting himself up the tree side.
Several branches and weak grunts later the boy had finally made it to the top. Rose wasn't too far behind him as she soon reached the top as well. The two of them waited no time to get comfortable in their new home for the night.
As they peered from out of the leaves, they couldn't help but stare in the same direction Alia had failed to return from yet.
"I don't think she's coming back for the night." Her girlfriend said sadly.
Feeling tears rising, Rose leant back into Zander as she let them fall gracefully down onto his shoulder.
Zander frowned as Rose wept into his torn up shirt. Placing an assuring hand on her back the boy comforted her as best as he could.
"I'm sure she's found herself a safe place to stay for the night as well. I know she wouldn't want to be walking around when it's dark and she can't see what's lurking around every corner. She'll more than likely find us when the sun rises tomorrow."
"I really want to believe that's what's going to happen." She cried out. "How can you be so optimistic right now?" She asked with a broken heart.
"Because if I'm not then what do we have left." He admitted. "This whole situation sucks. If we don't believe we have at least some hope then we'll surely die here of starvation. Or we'll be unlucky and the wolves will get us. Either way, I want something to hold onto to remind myself why we're doing this to ourselves everyday. It just makes it easier I guess to make it through the day."
Taking his words to heart, Rose shut her eyes as tightly as she could as she let those words ring through her ears.
She let his voice be the last one she'd hear for the night as her exhausted brain finally allowed itself to shut down momentarily to recharge.
But the next thing she knew the poor girl was shooting up from Zander's shoulder as a random sun ray shined directly into her eye as it peered through the surrounding leaves.
Panicking when she didn't see Alia besides her, the girl sat up in a frenzy. "Wake up!" She nudged the sleeping boy besides her.
"Zander wake up!" She shoved him again as her quick eyes made a fast assessment of the environment around them hoping to see Alia nearby.
However, that wasn't the case.
"Wake up!" She shouted for the last time. "Alia's not back yet!"
The girl said as she anxiously pushed against Zander's shoulder harder than she had anticipated, startling waking him awake.
"Huh?" He jerked as he wiped his tired face.
"I said Alia's not back yet but the suns already up! We have to go find her!" She said already beginning to descend down the tree before Zander's eyes were even open.
"I'm sure she's fine. She's probably-" he was cut off as he peaked through his tired gaze seeing nothing but the empty tree top besides him. "Rosy?!" He jumped with adrenaline.
"Let's go!" She shouted from the bottom of the tree already looking around frantically for her girlfriend.
Not wanting her to take off without him, despite the still uncomfortable feeling in his ankle Zander caught up with her as fast as he could.
"What're you doing?! Hunters could been down here!" He shouted in a whisper.
"And so could Alia! You've got to help me find her!" She shouted back more concerned than anything.
"But she said she'll find-"
"Forget what she said! I want her back!" Rose shouted much to Zander's dismay. Not knowing what or who could hear her was unsettling.
"Stop shouting someone will hear you." He warned.
'Shouting' the girl instead smirked as a thought crossed her mind. Almost as if taken over by a completely different person the girl turned away and cupped her hands around her lips and shouted, "Alia!"
Zander cringed as he covered his ears. "Rose stop!" He softly shouted back.
"Alia! Where are you?!" But his friend only proceeded on. Not only was she shouting to her hearts content, but she was walking in the direction of the wolves last known location.
No matter how much Zander begged of her to stop with this nonsense the girl persisted.
"Alia!" She shouted high and low looking for any indicators of the girls location.
All the while Zander slowly trailed behind her knowing his words wasn't going to get to her, but he wasn't going to let her face the potential consequence of her actions alone.
"Alia!" She shouted for the hundredth time.
Only this time she got a faint response. "Rosy." She could hear echoing from a distance.
"Did you hear that?" She turned to Zander with a huge smile on her face.
"No. Hear what?" Too deaf from listening to her constantly shouting besides him Zander cocked an eyebrow.
"It's Alia!" The girl took off in the direction of the voice.
"Rosy wait!" The boy yelled for her as he limped as fast as he could behind her.
"Alia!" She shouted.
"Rosy!" The voice became louder the more she pressed on.
"Alia!" The small girl shouted as she could hear something in the distance approaching her.
"Rosy!" The all too familiar voice shouted for the last time before finally the girl they had been waiting for appeared from behind a tree.
Before Rose could even reply, the girl in the distance began sprinting. Embracing her girlfriend the moment they reunited, Alia twirled Rose around loving the small giggle she made.
"I'm so happy you're back." Rose cried out as she buried her face into her girlfriends chest.
"I'm happy to be back." Rose felt a gentle kiss on her head.
But their sweet moment was too short as they were broken up by a sheepish scream from the boy who finally caught up to them.
Looking up in terror as she shot her gaze over to him, Rose could see the fear in his eyes.
"She's bleeding!" He shouted as Rose slowly turned her gaze back to Alia, backing away in horror to see her girlfriends entire lower half engulfed in red stains.
Some looking old and dry, while others were rather new as they still rolled down her legs.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off