The Road Ahead

Show Me.

The Road Ahead 

   "Show Me." Chapter For 

** ** ** ** 

   "Love is fire. But if it's going to warm your heart or burn your house down, you can never tell." Quote By: John Crawford 

   I sat in the mouth of the cave watching the fire, it was beautiful. The embers at the bottom flickered back and fourth with every gust of the chilly wind, a small blue fame caught my attention. It soon died out, my gaze went upward to the sparks that floated into the air. The small snap indicated that they had no heat left in them, then disappeared. 

   My body went warm. Earlier, I was freezing. Complaining to Giles about the cold weather Kentucky had to offer, after bitching for a while he looked at me with a straight face and said, "Where would you go in the world?"  I never answered his question, but it remained stuck in my skull. 

   Where would I go? Maybe somewhere hot, where I could lay out in the sun and tan. Cold, maybe? When I was young I always loved the cold weather, but after growing I found myself disliking it more and more. 

   Giles popped into my mind, I wonder where he would go. If he likes the heat over the cold, if he likes to swim. Maybe, just maybe, we would go to the same place. We would be together. 

   A pair of yellow eyes in the distance spooked me, but I watched as they inched forwards. It's head jerking back and fourth like it was dragging something. "Zero's back. I think she got something." I said standing slowly, my stomach growled. Giles brushed passed me, looking at me with a straight face. 

   "Just in time, our stomachs were mad." He wasn't talking to me, I later discovered. 

   Zero's black wolf appeared in the light the fire gave off, she was dragging a large buck. She held it by its neck, blood stained its fur and her as well. When Giles stood in front of her, she dropped it at his feet. Just like a dog. This made me smile. 

   Giles reached down, grabbed the dead animal by its antlers and dragged it closer to the fire. "Is fresh deer good?" I asked him, he tilted his head to look at me, but Zero chirped in first. 

   "Fresh venison is amazing, if you like steak, you'll love deer. If you want, there was a small pond back ahead, I can go dive for fish." She offered, it was a nice idea but I politely declined. 

   "No thanks, I'm really not that into fish. Thanks anyway, Zero." I smiled. My state of mind was at ease for the moment. 

   Zero walked into the cave Giles spotted and cleaned out, I heard her easy footsteps, then laughter. "You know, this use to be a bear cave." 

   "What?" I asked, frightened. I don't want a bear to come out and eat me while I sleep. I definitely don't want it bothering Giles, then I'd have to eat it. 

   Giles smiled, still working on the deer. "Bear hibernated here," Zero stuck her nose in the air, ", about four weeks ago. It won't come back." 

   "Good." Giles and I said at the same time, I smiled and sat down on the rock I had been resting on earlier. Zero went to the deer and started pulling off its skin, a small ripping noise came from it and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. 

   They worked together for a couple minutes while I leaned back and closed my eyes, I think I fell asleep because someone was shaking me when I opened them. It was Giles, "Here," He said handing me a stick with a piece of meat on it, "try this." 

   I took the stick in my hands and looked in his deep blue eyes, they stood out vibrantly in the dark. Then, I looked at the meat and took a large bite of it. 

   Juices flooded into my mouth and it made me purr, it was so good. A smiles spread across my face, as did Giles. He nodded at me, brushed my hair back with his hand, then went back over to the fire. I continued eating until my stick was empty, I walked over. My eyes on the deer. 

   Zero had a peice that looked like a leg, she wasn't even holding it on a stick. It looked like a bone, she saw me staring. 

   "It's the leg." She said, taking a mouthful. I chuckled at her then looked back at the fire. Giles sat watching me, he handed me another stick. I took it gratefully, my hand brushed up against his. More electricity coursed through me, he smiled faintly at me, which only made it worse. 

   Instead of jerking away from him, I kept my hand on his for a few seconds. Would he pull away? 

   The answer was no. He didn't. 

   When I did pull away his smile started fading away, as did mine. Instead, I sat down next to him and watched the fire with him. The occasional grunt from Zero kept my mind from steering off course, we sat like that in silence until the moon was directly above us. 

   "So, how we sleeping tonight?" Giles asked Zero and I, she didn't really respond any; I was afraid to. 

   "Did you set up beds for you two?" Zero asked. 

   Beds? You two? What will she do, where will she sleep? 

   "I'm a wolf, I don't need a bed." She said, reading the expression on my face. I nodded. 

   "Well, there's only enough for one bed..." Giles said letting his sentence trail off. 

   "Sleep together." Zero said easily, my face went red and a lump formed in my throat. Will Giles really be okay with that. 

   "Okay." Giles said. 

   "Wait, what?" 

   "Echo, you keep acting like this is strange." 

   "Because it is strange, Zero." 

   "Well, then it's strange to you." She replied. 

   Giles got up and set up a bed, which only consisted of a small tarp, and clothes. No pillow. I turned my back to him at one point and when I turned back around to face him he had his shirt off. 

   A tattoo peeked out from his pants, it wasn't the only one, but it certainly caught my eye. "What's that one?" I asked, stepping closer to him. My finger was a few inches from his skin, he looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "Show me that one." I repeated.