My hero, my lover.

Chapter 24.

Chapter 24- Willow tree.

Alan was woken by the pelting sound on the outside of his tent, it was raining. Groaning he attempted to move from a very stiff night's sleep. Going over to his backpack he pulled out some food for his breakfast and began to eat and dress himself. Once he felt satisfied with his meal, he began to pack up and take down the tent again, if only he knew that his girlfriend was collapsed not too far from him. Pulling his hood up, he finished packing and set out again going in the eastern direction heading towards the stream.

Alan reached the stream, the rain not showing any sign of stopping anytime soon. Making his way carefully over the stream, he checked his watch. 11:15 am, he usually woke up earlier. Quite annoyed with himself, he continued his search.

Seconds turned in to minutes, minutes in to hours and yet he still had not found her. It was getting dark yet again but Alan wanted to keep searching. Trudging through the slushy mud he squinted more and more as the rain fell heavier and the dark beginning to cloud his vision. Pulling a torch out of his coat pocket he flicked the switch and used the light to scan the floor.

Coming up to 10 pm, Alan was closing in on the border. Stepping over roots of a rather large Willow tree, he rounded the corner and shone his torch yet again on the ground. Just as he was about to turn away, he thought he caught a glimpse of something shiny lying on the floor. His light reflected off something on the floor, Rebecca's metal zip on a piece of her clothing. Throwing his bag on the floor, he sprinted towards her screaming for her, she didn't move or even respond to him calling her. Lifting her off the ground and on to his lap he began shaking her, panicking.

"Rebecca?!" He repeated over and over, lifting her eye lids and not getting a single response. He placed her lent against the Willow tree and ran to his bag to, as quickly as possible, set up his tent for her to have some warmth from the cold and the never ending fall of rain. Once the tent was up Alan ran to her again and picked her seemingly lifeless body from the Willow tree to the inside of the tent and lay her down in a sleeping bag and zipped it up all the way to her face so that she could produce body heat. Searching through his bag, he searched for the heat pads he packed and began to snap all of them so that they could warm up and be placed in the sleeping bag with her. Once all the heat packs were in the bag with her, Alan set up the portable hob he had in his bag, he began to cook his dinner, slightly more at ease at the fact he found her. He was glad he found her breathing, but was distraught about the fact she was so cold and wasn't reacting to anything he did.

After frying his bacon, eggs and toast, he lay beside Rebecca, watching her. Pulling his arm up, he lightly stroked her face and was glad to see the colour returning slightly to her skin and warmth seeping from her ever so slightly rosy cheeks. Letting his own exhaustion take the toll on him, he fell asleep with his arms securely around her petite form, he was glad to have her back. Completely unaware that in her sleep she was lightly mumbling something. Almost inaudible.

"A-alan."