The Ruins

Chapter 63

They'd split up when they arrived at Alec's favorite hunting ground. She and Alec had stood in silence for a moment, looking anywhere but each other, the trees around them were slowly turning green again, it was a beautiful sight.

Eventually Alec huffed and grabbed his kit from the truck. "C'mon, let's get goin'."

Mal followed Alec's lead, walking further into the dense wood until they were completely surrounded by the trees. The only noise around was the cracking of twigs under her feet, Alec didn't seem to make any noise when he walked, hunched over, both of them seemingly listening out for a noise, changing direction when they heard something

"You ever been huntin' before?" Alec paused in his steps.

"Yep, mostly Lalon does the hunting but I manage."

They kept walking more, she went more softly on the ground, listening out for any noise that wasn't her own heartbeat. She was still stepping on twigs but it wasn't as prominent. It was relaxing in a way, to just forget the world and lose herself in the forest. They didn't catch anything, every now and again Alec would stop and raise his crossbow, swearing under his breath when there's nothing from the snares he used.

"Alright, let's try somethin' different. You ever set a trap before?"

She nods.

"So lets lay a trap here, catching whatever you want." Alec cautiously stepped away from the intricate trap that he'd built. "Then we wait."

Mal sets up a wire around the branch, using the other to hold the trap as Alec uses a big trunk of dead bark, holding the branch up, for that trap you can kill a badger or a bit bigger animal.

An awkward silence fell between them. They'd never been alone together before, Mal didn't really know what to say to her, especially he was there to save Mal from Floyd and Morgan. She'd thought about sitting next to him but the anxiety that haunted the back of her mind told her to stay away; just in case. The more the silence dragged the more she felt like he should say something. She approached Alec cautiously, taking calculated breaths to stop the urge to run from overwhelming her body.

"So... um... I realized I never said thank you."

Alec looked up at her, eyes piercing as Mal sat down next to him. "What for?"

"You saved me and well... yeah..."

"It's cool I get it. Just there's something else to it, something you went through already when they tried to you know and I know what you've kind of been through. Maybe I'm wrong."

Mal knew what he was asking, Alec's eyes betrayed a wisdom that his appearance contradicted. She wondered what had happened to make him so insightful, too many times she'd caught the man looking at him with a strange sadness on his face. What did he see in her? "Things happened. Things I don't like talking about."

"Shit kid, I'm sorry. Whatever it is... no-one deserves to have their childhood fucked with."

There was a hint of familiarity in his tone, an understanding that she'd not heard before. She wanted to ask him about it. It was sick, in a way she almost wanted to know how much Alec understood what she was going through. A tendril of hope unfurling, hoping that it might have someone to reach out to. "You know what it's like?" Guilt hit her even as she spoke, she knew she'd hate it if someone asked her such a thing but she couldn't restrain her brain's want to know more.

Alec didn't say anything for a moment but his body tensed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Mal backtracked.

"No." Alec finally spoke, his voice soft but commanding. "'s fine. Yeah, I know. Our Dad, he was... uh... not a nice guy. Bit too quick with his fists rather than his words, fightin' and beatin' me to be something that I am not, so that I'm not worthless and a faggot abomination. My sister tried to keep me safe from it, but she wasn't always able to."