"I thought that promises were valid for everything. You said you'd be fine. That's what I'm worried about - you not being fine. I know Trevor's death hit you hard and that's what has me worried." She shook violently as a cold wind swept over us. She peered at the soaked snow below us and whispered, "I know it's not much, but for what it's worth, the things you do might be stupid sometimes, but you somehow make it so it's not so stupid anymore."
"I remember that promise." I replied in return, my anger beginning to subside.
"That attack just got me all angry... Sorry." She apologized and gave out a long breath as if to calm herself down. I didn't accept or reject her apology - verbally. In my mind, however, I was extremely joyous. How could she remember something that happened so long ago? I didn't have that good of a memory, but the fact that she recalled something about me only made it much more heart-warming.
My mind harshly decided to do something drastic and I slowly leaned in towards her, kissing her cold cheek. She froze in place, startled by my action, but I didn't pull away from the short distance we had from each other. Not knowing the reason why I just kissed her, I froze as well.
"I guess you should be worried about me. I do crazier and crazier things by the minute." I grinned and watched as she returned the smile, but her eyes were starting to dim. A flash of panic crossed my mind. "You okay?" I asked softly, returning to my usual personality.
She nodded once, and from where I was crouched in front of her, she looked up at me with admiring eyes. It was a rare, but beautiful sight. Her slightly waved hair swiveled across her shoulders, hugging her face in the slightest. From the constant moving around, her hair lost its more straightened characteristics and looked a lot more wavier than usual. Still, as I watched her smile disappear and her eyes close, the warm feeling inside of me wouldn't leave. She fell forward onto me and I caught her, staining my arms with her scarlet-colored blood.
"I've got you." I whispered, pulling her up with me. I held up her limp body, hooked my arm under her legs, and propped up her back with my other arm. As I stumbled away with her in my arms, I searched for Samantha's figure in the distance.
I had only lost a little amount of blood and the scratches weren't too deep, but they were still opened wounds. At that moment, I wasn't worrying about where we were supposed to find Derrick in this winter storm. I only cared about getting our cuts healed.
As if on cue, I heard a sharp bark just a few feet to my right. The large mixed breed stood there, wagging its tail. I peered at it curiously, wondering why it was excited to see me. Samantha was just as confused as I was by the look on her face, but she ignored that and payed attention to the girl in my grasp.
"Is she okay?" She asked in alarm, raising her eyebrows at Angeli's tattered shape.
"It's probably just a lot of blood loss. We'll have to stop somewhere before we keep going." I stated, looking down at her relaxed facial expression.
"How about over there?" She pointed off into the distance, where gray and black shadows scattered themselves across the landscape. "It looks like those might be buildings. Want to give it a look?" The dog that was trying to kill me just moments ago started trotting towards the buildings, trying to lead the way to our destination.
"Looks like we have to." I chuckled, following after the rust-colored animal with Samantha doing the same a little back behind me. "Should we name him Burgundy?" I asked her, keeping my eyes on the shepherd.
"Burgundy? Wait. That dog attacked you." She cocked her head to the side and looked at me with an incredulous face.
"Yeah, and he's not attacking me now. We can play the obvious game later. Does the name sound good?" She chuckled lightly and shook her head slowly.
"You're really something, Mathias. I think the name's great." I nodded, approving of Burgundy's new name.
"And if he only sticks around for a while longer, then I'll just have to use the name on Angeli." This made Samantha laugh, but then her face turned serious.
"Hey, what happened? I mean, one second you're the most depressing person alive and the next, you're cracking jokes like you used to. Did something happen?"
"You could say that." I shyly replied, letting my eyes flicker down to my secret admirer. Not so much a secrecy, but a lot of admiration. After that, she didn't say anything. The smile on her face was enough to know that she didn't care what happened. All that mattered was that I was slowly starting to recover from Trevor's death. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The process is usually a lot longer, but I sped through it in less than a day. Maybe it was because my emotions weren't in check to start with, or maybe it was because the things around me caused me to go through this a lot faster. Whatever it was, I was glad this wouldn't last forever. I was ready to accept Trevor's death, but it could take a bit more time. The last step of acceptance wasn't going to pass by easily. Everything that made it easy was missing. Or unconscious.
---
"I think she's waking up..." I looked up from the journal I was scribbling on to see a mass of red-brown begin to move. I grinned lightly, setting aside my leather-covered book and scooting closer to the plain mattress.
"Augh..." Angeli murmured, raising her hand to the side of her head. Sam did say she might wake up with a headache.
"Mornin'." I lightly greeted, watching as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. She followed the sound of my voice and looked up at me, letting her mind realize who I was.
"Mathias." She croaked out, sounding a bit relieved. "H-how...?" I chuckled and motioned towards the large dog by her feet.
"This big guy brought us here." I rubbed his neck and he whimpered his approval. "Derrick wasn't in his right mind to take his medical supplies, so we did what we could to get you better with the things he left. Thank God Sam knows a few things, because if she didn't, we'd both be dead." She stared up at me, focused on the small scar now on the side of my face. It followed my jawline, almost as if my bone were to be protruding from my skin.
"How'd that happen?" She kept her eyes on the small wound.
"We'll, aren't you filled with questions?" I cheerfully teased her, not wanting this to turn into a steel-like seriousness. "Burgundy's little pack attack left us all hurt. It just so happened that you were hurt the most." My face fell suddenly, and so did my mood. "And it was my fault."
"We already went over this, man. Like a million times before this, I told you that it was no one's fault. That dog was just scared out of its mind." Sammy corrected me, restating something I refused to believe. It really could have been avoided.
"Yeah, well, Burgundy's this dog right here. Sure, he attacked me, but he's not rabid like the rest of them." Angeli sat herself up, groaning in the process. I supposed it was to get a good look at Burgundy, since her eyes were set on the mass of an animal he was.
"He's soft." She smiled as she ran her fingers through his rusty fur. "That's a good boy." She whispered. My eyes seemed to light up at this sight.
"He stayed around after attacking me, like if he was sorry. I guess he's sort of mine... But I want you to have him." I told her, seeing her head snap up.
"Huh? Why?" She was surprised, but overjoyed at the same time.
"I have bad luck with animals. Plus, you two are a lot alike. You both have the red-brown thing going." I explained, though it wasn't the real reason.
"Seriously." She grinned at my joke, but gave me a disapproving look. She knew I was joking.
"Consider him my eyes and ears for when they're not working the way they should." I cleared up my statement, though she was still left confused.
"Since when do they not work?" Samantha's worry came in vividly as she focused her attention off of Burgundy and on to me.
"Ever since I seriously lost it." I reached for my journal and stared at it for a few seconds. The girls watched me set it beside Angeli, but she didn't reach out to see it.
"Can I?" She asked. I rolled my eyes.
"Since when do you need my permission?" I smirked and stood up, leaving her to read it with Samantha at her shoulder. Burgundy perked up and followed me to the only window in the small room. "Start from Day 743." I stated calmly.
"Ok..." She flipped through the pages for a while until she came to the designated page. "Day 743. Location: On a boat, Denmark ocean. Was this when we were on the boat to Germany?" She looked up at me and I nodded in response. Looking back down at the book, she began to read it aloud.
"Angeli just fell asleep. Who knew she had motion sickness? I'll have to keep that in mind.
"So Derrick's taking us to Germany. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that this isn't going to end well. Yet... Why am I searching for something I already lost? Trevor's too far gone to change what he's done. Of course, he can't take it back. None of it was a terrible nightmare. It was all real, and I can't let myself forget it.
"I still feel like I'm forgetting something that was there. It had to be something important too. Otherwise, I wouldn't be trying to remember it so much. My head hurts. Ugh. Ok, maybe I shouldn't think about it too much. I'm tired anyway. Guess I'll start snoring like the girl across the room."
"Haha. Funny." Angeli sarcastically said after finishing the entry. "What does this have to do with anything?"
"Doesn't it seem strange to you that I can't remember things like my first girlfriend?" I said back, disregarding the look Samantha gave me.
"That's not your fault, Mathias. Your brain is wired to forget things that aren't mentioned to you frequently." Sam rebuked.
"Exactly. If you don't remind me about something, I won't remember it in the next month or so. That's why I have that journal. Still... I missed some days from when I was unconscious or I didn't have my things. That's not the only thing, though. I've had hallucinations. If I'm going insane, you both need someone to keep you company." I looked down at the dog curled at my feet and crouched down beside him. "You'll do that for me, wont ya?" I patted his large head as he looked up at me with his tongue lolling out.
"You're not crazy. You're traumatized." Angeli corrected.
"Same effects. They both cause strange things to happen in a person's mind." I repeatedly stroked Burgundy's back, where I was now sitting beside him.
"I trust you and I know you, Mathias. Nothing seems to break that soul of yours. You just keep standing up when you're knocked to the ground. You can't let this be any different." She softly responded.
"I can only hope that you're right." I returned, catching her stare. "But he's still yours."
"I'll have to make sure he doesn't crush me in my sleep then." She smiled. I gave the dog a serious look and then turned back to her.
In a joking tone, I said, "He's fired."
"No! Not him, please! I'll do anything!" She dramatically pleaded. Burgundy all of a sudden stood up and ran towards the room's door. Seconds later, there was a knock. It happened a bit fast, but the three of us stared at each other in silence. I lifted a finger to my lips and crept slowly to the door. Along the way, I grabbed one of my arrows as a weapon. Burgundy quietly looked at me, curious. I was sadly just as curious as he was.
Knowing that no one was supposed to know of our location, I carefully rested my hand on the doorknob as to not alert them. The three of us were residing in a cheap-looking hotel until Angeli got better, so being spotted wouldn't have been easy.
My hand was shaking lightly, so I steadied it for a few moments. Then, I yanked the door open without giving myself a chance to back out. I was instantly pushed back into the room and before regaining my balance, several thundering steps sounded around me.
I quickly recognized the long tailcoats and the hoods over their heads. "It's the Riches! Run!" I yelled at the girls, hoping that they hadn't been caught in their grasps already. Burgundy, on the other hand, was murderously biting into the legs of the strangers invading his territory. It no longer crossed my mind as to why he was seemingly helping us. The only sense that came out of it was that he was repaying me for not killing him when he almost killed me.
"Samantha, jump out the window!" I heard Angeli hurriedly yell out at her as I used my arrow to stab into the various people surrounding us.
"I can't, they're blocking the way!" She loudly answered back. Angeli gave a cry of frustration and in a flash, she threw three of her knives at the men blocking the window. When had she gotten her knives out? Probably when I was sneaking towards the door.
"Don't let them escape!" A man ordered his troops and then looked at me. I couldn't see his face, but by the looks of it, he wasn't going to let us go easily.
Without warning, he dashed at me with a long blade in hand. My measly arrow wasn't going to be near good enough. I dodged away from him and ran towards our supplies, hoping that something would be there to help me. A shiny, black piece of metal caught my eye and I swiftly reached for it, already knowing what it was.
"Don't move!" I said in a voice so loud, everyone instantly froze and turned in my direction. Holding the gun firmly to my temple, I stared at the large man where his eyes would be under his hood. Angeli gave out a sharp scream of alarm at my action.
"Mathias! No!" She repeatedly called out my name as she was being held back by two other men. Samantha was just about to jump out the window before I yelled out and she was pulled right back in before getting the chance to escape.
"Let them go or I pull the trigger. I get the feeling that it's me you want, am I right?" The man chuckled deeply.
"You're smart, but you won't do it. You're not the kind of-" I cut him off by pulling back the hammer and a distant click echoed in the room, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. The only other sound was the soft sobs that Angeli let out, her eyes red and bloodshot from her tears.
"Let them go, and I'll come quietly. There's no need for me to blow my head out if you need me unscathed." He shook his head.
"I'm afraid that won't help you. We don't need you all and if you died, it wouldn't make a difference. We could just take the little ladies and that'll be enough to satisfy the cause." I stared at him for a while longer. I was physically shaking, but on the inside, I was calm. I slowly set my finger on the trigger and closed my eyes.
Just before I squeezed my hand together, the man said in alarm, "Fine! Fine!"
"Your bluffing can't fool me, sir." I grinned, opening my eyes. "You need all of us, then?" He nodded, though it was very hesitant. "Ok then. Let's make a deal. I won't kill myself if you give us a little head start. I'm sure you can catch up." I smirked, watching him stand still as if to weigh his options.
He mumbled, "She's gonna kill me for this," And leaned back against a wall. "We'll give you five minutes to get as far away as you can, but when time's up, we're coming for you. Don't you try to pull this again or we'll just have to do things the hard way."
I smiled. "Fine by me." Sticking the gun into my pocket, making sure to switch the safety on, I started gathering the things we had previously been using before the intrusion. Other scrambling noises signaled that the other men had released the girls and they were following in doing the same thing that I was.
I stuffed what I could into one of the three backpacks and hurriedly looked around for anything else that could be left behind. Burgundy softly stalked towards us, the fur on his neck bristling. He hadn't gotten hurt, but his mouth was stained with the blood of his victims. He approached Angeli and sat beside her, waiting patiently for us to leave as he stared at the many men still glaring at us.
I didn't look at them while we exited the hotel, going at a hurried pace. They were shocked into silence while I was set on getting as far away from that place as possible.
"You guys ok? They didn't hurt you, did they?" I asked casually, not very sure of where I was going. The silhouettes of distant larger buildings told me that maybe it was closer to Reims than ?any other direction.
"I... I can't believe..." Angeli stammered quietly, holding a distant gaze on the horizon line. At this point, only Samantha had a jacket and I could visibly see the girl shaking. However, it didn't mean that it was from the cold.
"Hey, you know that wasn't real, right?" She looked up at me. "I might have thought about it in the past, but I can't give up now. There's still questions left without answers." I then looked down at her, my eyes soft and slightly distressed. "And then there's you. You'd basically die without me." I chuckled as she raised her eyebrow.
"Oh yeah? And what if the tables were turned?" She grinned, but didn't expect the answer I gave her.
"Yeah, I think I'd die without you too. I mean, you are the only other person I have left besides Samantha, but..." I looked over at her, where she was silently listening in on our conversation. She noticed the pause and looked over.
"It's not the same." She finished my sentence. I nodded, appreciative of her agreement. Angeli's cheeks matched the color of her hair as we continued on. No more words were spoken between us, but I was happy with the way this conversation turned out.
I was fairly proud of myself, seeing as how I escaped the Riches so easily. All it took was something they didn't want happening to be traded for something less worse that they also didn't want happening. It had to force them to let us go, though they didn't give us much time. I could see the splotches of black beginning to emerge out of the hotel and I picked up my pace to something faster than a jog, but slower than a run. Our only destination had to be the large city-like buildings towering high above the rest. Burgundy led us there, his bushy tail swiveling lightly in the breeze like a red banner of our only savior left.