|| 𝐴𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 || [𝙆𝙖𝙧𝙡 𝙃𝙚𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙜]

Part 13

Aless continued walking in the forest. As time passed by, it became increasingly colder.
And she grew increasingly hungry.
There was almost nothing to eat in the forest. All the bushes and trees were still barren, and the snow hadn't completely melted yet, and Aless couldn't kill anything, she had no weapons.

She passed by the still frozen brook.
Aless looked and scavenged around, but there was nothing.
She continued on, although her legs were tired. She didn't allow herself any rest. She somewhat felt like she didn't deserve it, especially after her behaviour.

She screwed up everything. Nobody would love her or care for her again. All the villagers hated her, because she betrayed them and their trust.
She lashed out at the man she had so dearly loved, despite his reluctance to open up to her, and ran away.
She could feel a lump in her throat as these thoughts and memories, but no tears fell. She felt numb.

She stumbled onto a familiar looking place deep within the forest.
Wait a minute...

She ravaged through the bushes, pushing them away so she could step through. A part of her dress caught onto one of the thick, sharp, thorny branches and tore through.
"Damn it!" She cried. Her eyes shot down to the rip, analyzing the damage. It had ripped up to her knee.
The branch didn't just get her dress. It scratched her leg too, a thin line of torn skin with blood seeping out.
She sighed. It was most likely going to get infected, considering she had nothing to clean it with. But it was better to worry about that when it happens.
She went back to going through the overgrown bushes and vines, scratching her skin lightly every now and then. When she finally got all of the naked bushes and such out of her way, she saw a familiar little hut, built with sticks and thick fallen branches.

"Our enclosure!" She gasped.
It was full of overgrown plants, but Aless ran over anyways. She crouched down and crawled into it.
It still proved to be a well enough shelter. A bit small, but it could work.
She looked inside. Small bits of metal and tools and abandoned toys were pushed away in the corners.
She could see something yellow and rusty poke out of the piles.
Eyes widened, she pushed over the pile, searching for the object.
She found it and picked it up.
It was a small, very rusty, old painted metal duck. It was a winding toy.
She smiled weakly.

///

Aless panted, running to the enclosure. Her little feet pattered against the cold, earthy ground. When she arrived, she crawled inside.
Karl greeted her.
"Hahhh... what did you.. hahhh.. wanna show me?" She gasped, panting.
Karl sighed. "You should sit down first. You didn't run the entire way here, did you?"
Aless's eyes darted around nervously. "Ummmm... no?"
"Aless!" Karl cried "now you're going to be tired!"
Aless shrugged. "Oh well."
Karl facepalmed, and sighed.
"Anyway. I made something for you."

"Oooh!!!!!" Aless's eyes sparked with curiosity. She stood up in the enclosure, but Karl gave her a sharp glare in response. "Sit down. You shouldn't be standing up, you should be resting."
Aless rolled her eyes, and huffed. She went back down, sitting with her legs and arms crossed.
Karl giggled
"You look cute when you're mad."
"Shut up! I'm not cute!" Aless groaned, which made Karl giggle louder.

Karl pulled out a duck winding toy out from behind his back. "Ta-Daaa!"
Aless smiled.
"It's a winding toy; you turn the handle and this happens," he said.
He wound up the toy, and set it on the ground. The duck hopped, making quacking noises.
"Quack. Quack. Quack." The duck said, with each jump.
Aless looked at Karl, her eyebrows raised.
"Are you sure that's not a voice recording of you saying 'quack'?" She said, trying to refrain from laughing.

Karl's face fell. He looked at her unamused. "No."

Aless laughed hard, clutching her stomach and falling over to her side.
"I swear! It's a real duck quacking! Stop laughing!!!"  Karl cried.
Aless sat back up. She still let out a few quiet giggles.
"I know ducks are your favourite animal, so I made one for you. What are you going to name him?" Karl beamed.
Aless put up a finger. "First name, Karl, last name Heisenberg." She proclaimed proudly.
Karl jumped back in confusion. "W-why my name?"
Aless covered her mouth. She kept herself from laughing.
"Do you really want to know?" She said. Karl nodded.
Holding back laughter, she inched away from him. She knew he was going to kill her if she said this.
"B-because he sounds like you. Quack, quack." Were the only words she could get out.
Karl looked at her darkly and froze.

"I'm going to get you. Get back here!!" He yelled, chasing after Aless, who bolted out of the enclosure, exploding in laughter.

///

Aless wound up the rusty toy and set it on the ground. It looked like the jumping mechanism had broken, but the duck still made noise.
"Quack. Quack. Quack." Young Karl's voice crackled weakly.
Aless clasped the duck in her hand. Her heavy tired eyes fluttered closed.

Soon, she woke back up with a jolt.
The sun was nearly about to start going down.
"Oh, my god. How long have I been here?" She mumbled to herself softly.
Her dress was stained with dirt.
Putting the duck into her pocket, she slowly crawled back out. Raw hunger clawed at her stomach. She had to eat soon.

She continued looking around for food, but was unsuccessful. When the sun went down, the only source of light she had was the moon.
She shivered. It was horribly cold. She couldn't start a fire, the bushes and sticks around her were still damp with snow.
Suddenly she stopped.
An eerie glow from the distance moved through the trees. She ran and hid behind a tree, hoping the person wouldn't see her. The light stopped, then disappeared farther in the distance.
She slowly peeked around. When she realized the light was gone, she backed away from the tree, and tried to go back to the enclosure. It was her only shelter at the moment, and it was best if she went back.

She looked around, and tried to go backwards, only to realize she was lost.
Shit.

She heard low growling behind her. Whipping her head around, she was met with the sight of Lycans. Snarling and licking their lips, they slowly inched closer, ready for their next meals. Their eyes glowed.
Aless gasped. Oh no. No no no.
She had no weapons. Nobody to defend her. She hoped and hoped that the light would come back, that she would instantly smell the disgusting cigar scent or hear the familiar clanking of Heisenberg's hammer dragging on the ground, but she heard nothing.
The growling grew louder and louder.
Then one of them charged at her, and then another followed.
She couldn't really remember what happened after that. Everything went pitch black. She felt immense pain. She let out a bloodcurdling scream. And then the snarling went away.
The only other things she heard was walking around, and then people talking. Worrying, panicking, checking to see if she's alive.
She couldn't make out what they were saying.
She could only understand a few words.

"..oh my gosh... she's bleeding..."
"...is she going to be okay?"
"..Hey, hey. Shhh. It's okay. Everything is okay. I'm here now..."

Those were the last things she heard before the sound faded to a silence.