I blink open my eyes and see Eric laying beside me. I snuggle up closer to him and he moans and blinks open his eyes.
"Morning." He mumbles streaking my hair. I mumble a good morning back at him and put my head back down.
"I don't want you to get hurt." I say looking up to meet his eyes.
"Raven I'm not leaving you again. You can't win this war on your own. Wether you wanna believe it or not it's the truth. If you fight I fight. I'm not letting you do this on your own." He says
"But what if you get hurt or worse die?" I ask
"Then you will continue living your life even without me. You will let me go and stay strong. You will continue to fight and take care of your family." He says
"Eric I can't lo-"
"You have to." He says cutting me off. I take a deep breath but nod.
"Ok." I say
"Promise me Raven." He says
"I promise. I promise I will let you go, that I will stay strong, and that I will take care of Josiah." I say
"Good. And I promise to stay by your side through it all even if I go down. I will go down fighting with you." He says
"Good." I reply and he smiles pulling me closer to him and placing a gentle kiss on my forehead.
"I love you." I look up at him after hearing it but he just has a blank look.
"What?" I ask and he meets my eyes.
"Nothing." He says and I nod.
Guess I made it up in my mind and believed it.
I sit up followed by him and stretch.
"We gotta get going. Josiah might be getting worse." I say and he nods in agreement.
"Let's go." He says and I nod as he grabs my hand.
"What are you doi-"
"You are not running away I know you are gonna try." He says pulling me along.
"I'm not gonna try." I say
"Uh huh ok." He says but doesn't release my hand. I sigh and let him pull me along as we start to walk again.
"When was he shot?" I ask
"About a day or so ago." He says
"What condition was he in?" I ask
"Weak, tired, argumentative, but alive." He says
"I hope he's ok." I whisper
"If not yet he will be soon." He says
"Ok I hope you're right." I say and he gives me a small squeeze as we continue walking.
Darkness starts to form in the sky above and I pull out a flashlight.
"How far away are we?" I ask
"Valerian!" He shouts. It echoes through the forest as we continue to walk.
"Valerian!" He yells again still with no reply.
"We must not be close enough." He says and I nod continuing to walk. We reach a break in the forest and something small lands by my feet. Eric's in front of me and is heading through the break. I take a deep breath and shine the light up and the biggest scream leaves my throat at what I see.
**
"Raven!" I yell and I spin around and rush back through the break in the trees. Her flashlight is thrown to the ground and she's on the ground her knees bent staring up at something. I rush over to her and hold the flash light up at what she's staring at.
