(Unedited) Stage One: Hope in Darkness

Woods and ASL (A&L)

~~~~Annabelle

Lara's little mumbles of thanks were adorable. Her words slurred, becoming the soft snores of sleep. I smiled. I gave Hannibal a little pat before moving the chair I sat in by the window. I turned off the lamp and began the long wait until the sun would rise.

Lara talked in her sleep, random little things. The only thing I could understand was a name, Ryan. She kept saying Ryan. He must be really important to her. I had noticed it earlier when she had talked about him her eyes had lit up. She must really like this guy.

I switched between looking outside and watching her sleep. I felt a little creepy, stalkerish about it but I couldn't help it. She looked so peaceful. So real. Hours dragged on, around two am I started to get antsy. It was hard to sit still and do nothing. I pulled my pad out and started to draw. I sketched, looking at Lara and Hannibal curled up together. They looked so cute together. My two favorite things in all the world were right here in front of me. My picture started to take shape just as the sun was rising. The two of them on the bed. It looked good.

~~~~~Lara

I woke up as the sun rose over the horizon and I could hear birds chirping outside. Memories of what had happened the day before and I jumped up. She wasn't here. I didn't find her. I thought everything I had seen and done was wrong. A hallucination of my mind from everything that had happened. I looked around frantically and saw the cabin. I was sitting in a bed and Hannibal was laying next to me.

I was safe. I rubbed my face and moved, getting up and pushing through the pain I felt. I needed to get moving and get ready for the day.

"Annabelle?" I called though the house not seeing her anywhere in the room with me.

~~~~Annabelle

Lara's panicked voice reached my ears, she bolted up in bed. I left my little spot in the corner. Putting my hands on her shoulders I tried to push her back down. She needed her rest. We both were going to need to be in top shape if we wanted to get her friends back. Lara struggled, apparently she had other ideas.

~~~~~Lara

"Sorry. I'm not a good patient " I told her and rubbed my face to wake myself up more. I felt my stomach growling. I haven't eaten since before we were kidnapped. "I need food, and water. And I need to go to the crash...see if those rippers left anything behind" I told her. I didn't have any tools, they took everything. But if she had another idea I was all ears

~~~~Annabelle

What she needed was rest. Food and water would do her good but running back out into the fray in her condition was unwise. She was going to be stubborn about it I could tell. There would be no talking her out of going. I sighed and pulled out my metal bottle of water. I passed it to her followed by a big piece of jerky and a protein bar. I could at least make sure she ate before we set out.

She gulped down water, I could hear her swallowing. I wasn't surprised, she had lost blood and been running a lot the day before. She was ravenous as she tore into the food I had given her. I gave her a little space so she could eat. I went to the bathroom and closed the door. My clothes were dry so I started to get ready. We had a long journey ahead of us.

~~~~~Lara

I had eaten and grabbed my old clothes and pulled them on. They were gross but they were less likely to snag on anything since they were my size unlike the fresh clothes. I tied my hair up and after moving around my muscles got used to it and most of the pain had subsided.

"Which way to the road?" I asked

~~~~Annabelle

I smiled, Lara was quick to get to the point. Hannibal was off the bed, sitting on the floor waiting by the door. He was ready too. I moved the wagon, should I put him in? It would be slower but I didn't want his stitches to open up. I sighed, he had her people. The longer we took the worse it would be for them. I would just have to keep a close eye on the two of them. Looks like I'll be playing nurse until they heal.

I pulled on my bag and strapped Hannibal into his. Knife, bow, and rifle. I looked at Lara before handing her my rifle. I was a better shot but she needed something to defend herself. She could hold onto it until we found her something better. I opened the door and headed out, leading the way through the forest back to the town.

~~~~~Lara

I followed after her and watched Hannibal seeing he was hurt as well. I wanted to get to the crash sight but I wanted to be careful so nothing happened to him. I had to repeat Ryan's words in my head. 'Slow, and steady. Until you get caught then run like hell' I smiled slightly at it.

"Hey since we're walking you can show me some words in sign language?" I said to her, I was always doing something and learning multiple different things.

~~~~Annabelle

I smiled, the simple task of teaching her sign language would calm me down. I made a sign, then wrote its meaning in my notebook. 'Lara', names in ASL (sign language) were funny. There wasn't really any names, I mean you could spell them out but no actual names had signs. Names you had to make your own signs. For Lara's name I had made an L and with the same hand signed trust. Her name was the first sign I had ever had to come up with myself but it felt right.

I signed trust then wrote its meaning on my pad. I showed it to her, then signed them both again.

~~~~~Lara

I watched and then tried to sign it after her until I got it. After that she taught me to sign a lot of other words that we could use when in combat or when planning an ambush

~~~Annabelle

Lara picked up the asl quickly, it was a little hard to write, sign, walk and look out for potential threats at the same time but it was worth it. It would help us in the long run for her to learn the language. It also felt good, talking, even just through our hands again. We had been through so much. Changed so much. Years had passed. Yet this hadn't changed. Our friendship was still strong. After all this it was as if no time had passed between us.

I glanced at my watch periodically, between writing and signing. We had been at this for two hours. The road was close. I closed the notebook, I shoved it into my bag and grabbed my bow. I signed, silence, we're close.