Glowing Embers

P

The sun was keen to reach the ground. To Willow, it seemed to gain more speed every passing second. Willow sighed as she continued trekking with Whitney. Her sneakers crunched the twigs and leaves on the dirt below her. Her feet was dirty and numb, and she had mud covering both of her legs. Her hands felt cracked and sweaty, and every so often, she scratched herself with her weapon, adding to the collection of cuts on her arms. Other than the sound of crunching forest ground and the breaths of the two girls, the woods were eerily silent.

Finally, both girls realized it was time to rest. They used their last steps to scavenger for a secluded sleeping spot in a patch of trees.

"Do you have ropes? Or something to tie us to the trees?" Willow desperately asked her friend. Whitney handed Willow a fish and bent down to scratch her legs.

"No. I mean, it kinda slipped my mind after hearing you scream. Sorry," Whitney explained, sorrowfully.

"What are we gonna do now? I fall out of my bed, Whitney. If this forest doesn't kill me, it'll be falling out of a tree," Willow argued anxiously. After glancing at Whitney's worried face, she took a deep breath and placed her branch leaning against a tree. "Okay, sorry. Just panicking a little," she apologized swiftly.

"No, no, it's okay. If I were you, I would be pissed at me. For dragging you into the middle of a forest, past rapid fires and mutated tigers. For handing you a raw fish as your only source of food, for not thinking this through enough. It's okay if you're furious at me," Whitney replied, hopelessly staring down at the fish in her hands. Willow gazed at Whitney like she was an alien with three heads. She approached her friend and patted her on the back.

"The fish is fine, I've eaten raw before. The tree is fine, at least we can be elevated. You didn't drag me here, I obviously am here because I wanna be here, not because I was forced. And none of us thought this through. We were trying to save our own skin. Don't you understand? Without you, I'd be dead. Or fatally injured. You need to keep your head up. Don't be me in math class," Willow encouraged, returning back to her tree. "Now I'm gonna go to bed. We gotta get some sleep. Put the extra fish by the branch, and climb up a tree. See you in the morning." Willow rapidly clambered up a tree and rested there peacefully. After a couple of tries, Whitney finally managed to climb up a tree next to Willow's.

"Good night," Willow commented softly. There was no answer from the other tree. Willow grinned and caressed her closed eyes on a nearby leaf. The dull of darkness lulled her to sleep.

---

"How foolish are you," an unfamiliar voice rang out. Willow sat up hastily and found herself staring eye-level with a boy her age. He had light chestnut hair and electric green eyes. He was wearing leaves as shorts and nothing more. Willow glanced at her sleeping friend on the other tree.

"Who are you?" she questioned bravely, finally returning her gaze to him.

"Call me Archer," he responded tersely, extending a hand for Willow to shake. Raising an eyebrow, Willow shook his hand and brushed her hair behind her eyes.

"Nice costume? Dressing up as Peter Pan?" she humorously asked.

"Ha ha. Very funny. And no, I'm dressing up as a survivor, thank you very much. And if you want to survive, you better follow my advice. First off, name?" Archer demanded smoothly, leaning one arm above Willow's head against the trunk of the tree.

"Willow. And that's my friend Whitney," she told him, nodding towards the resting girl. He didn't follow her gaze, he just stared at her curiously. Something about him intrigued Willow. Maybe his aura of mystery, or his sense of carelessness.

"Second, why are you sleeping on a tree with nothing to keep you from falling?" Archer released a short laugh, and glanced down at the ground over his shoulder. "Also, your stick was stolen. But obviously I'll give you mine." Willow, wide-eyed, looked down at the ground.

"Oh my god," she muttered. The ground was bare, only quadrupedal footprints leading away from where the fish and her weapon had been. She glimpsed back at Archer. "Wait, you said you'd give me your stick?"

"Oh Willie, one of my weapons. That stick was nothing," he explained to her, stifling laughter.

"That stick protected me from a tiger and helped me kill it," she fumed toughly.

"That tiger was nothing. Nothing compared to the other things in this forest," he whispered, leaning in towards her.

"Spill. Everything you know. It's two against one here, buddy," she commanded stiffly. Archer threw back his hands to fake a surrender.

"I like you. You know exactly what it takes to survive. But chill, I'm on your side here," he stated firmly.

"There are sides to this?" Willow asked confusedly.

"Of course!" Archer exclaimed in mock disbelief. "Isn't there always? The good and the evil. Now before you get all murderous on me, I'll explain. So basically, one day I was relaxing in my house when I smell TNT. Which is not normal, if you didn't know. I ran away, my house blew up. Family all dead. Other houses started blowing up. I had nowhere to go. So I went into the forest. I passed some weird shit but I'm finally here. And I want to survive," he declared proudly.

"That's kinda like our story. 'Cept it was a fire at our school," Willow replied, picking at her nails. "Obviously something or someone wants us dead," she synthesized. Archer shook his head.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't want us dead. It's weeding out the weak," he prophesied.

"Then shouldn't I have died a while ago?" Willow asked him, staring into his eyes. He returned the stare.

"No. Because you're strong," he countered arguably. 

All of a sudden, Whitney rapidly sat up from her sleep. She lost her balance, and tilted over off the edge of the tree. She couldn't catch herself, and was sent spiraling down towards the ground. Like a cheetah, Archer darted down to the ground and managed to catch Whitney in time. He looked back up at Willow with Whitney cradled in his arms.

"The only difference between good and bad is the intentions behind the doers. Do you trust me now?" he questioned Willow, glimpsing back and forth between the two girls. Willow hopped down from the tree and slowly walked over to Archer. She carefully planted Whitney's feet on the ground and returned her eyes to Archer.

"Yes."