Nyxie Pyro

Chapter 4

"Wakey, wakey, no eggs but we have bread!" Tammy chirped into the tent. I was anything but a morning person, especially when it looked like it was 3 am outside. I groaned. I flopped my head painlessly up. "Hey! My headache is gone!" I said to darkness. "Why is it so dark?" I asked out loud. "Oh, it's the trees! The stars and the moon are blocked out, so it's dark." She yelled back. "But don't worry I'm starting a fire!" My face twisted into confusion. "Huh?" I searched with my hands until I found the exit and I crawled out. "How are you gonna make- what the hell!" A fire sparked in a dip in the ground and crawled up the wood as I shielded my eyes. Once my eyes adjusted I finished talking. "How did you make a fire? I didn't even know you knew how to make a fire!" I said as I yawned. Slowly I saw the fire illuminate Tammy's face. "Well, I woke up early and couldn't sleep so I went walking as best as I could in the dark and found a bag." She reached behind her and pulled up a dirty old pack. She unbuckled it and dumped its contents onto the grassy ground. "I found a flash light, some old hard candy, a pair of guys clothes, and a fire starter kit." I stared in amazement. "This is awesome! How big are the clothes? Ricky might need some clean ones after falling at the mountains." She shrugged and stood up. She held the clothes up to me and turned her head. "Um,Tammy, I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not a guy, nor am I the size of Richard." She laughed and folded them up. "Well you could use the shirt and Ricky could use the pants. I was just seeing what matched. Your shirt is pretty gross", she said poking me with her finger. I scoffed. "I love this shirt!" I pushed her finger away and sat down. I slipped my hoodie over my head. "Fine! But it would look better on you than the potato sack you wear." I rolled my eyes. "By the way, I'm gonna try to make toast of you want some."
"How do you make toast over a fire?"
" I don't know but I'm gonna figure it out."
It was silent for a while, other than the crackling of the fire. I massive whine pierced the silence. Me and Tammy looked at each other. Ricky was up. "I'll make toast. You get to go tend to that." I said, She smiled. She quickly showed me how to make the toast and walked off into the tent and started talking to him. I heard muffling speaking and groaning. "Fine" I heard Ricky mutter. Tammy came out and told me that Ricky is on bed rest and she was going to look for more stuff lying around, with the flashlight. I waved a farewell and starting toasting the toast. "Hey Ricky!"
"Yeah?" He answered "Want some toast?"
"Sure." After a minute on the fire I fanned the toast to cool it down and bring him a piece. I opened the makeshift opening of the tent and the light of the fire flooded into the tent. The fire drew my attention to the spoiled bandages on his leg. "Damn Ricky! You're pants are all gross!"
"Yeah, the bandages aren't doing so well." I huffed and got the emergency kit and the pants and tossed them to Ricky.
"Want to me to fix up the bandages?"
"Nah," he answered.
I shut the tent and went back to the fire. So far our third day wasn't so bad. I heard rustling and Tammy muttering as she opened the tent. "Wait Tammy Ricky's-" Ricky yelled and Tammy squealed as she jumped away from the tent. "Ricky's changing Tammy." She glared at me. "I realize that now." She sat down by the fire and slowly relaxed. "Ricky you didn't bandage your leg right! Want me to do it for you?" I laughed as I heard Ricky cuss under his breathe. I have wonderful friends.
"No! I don't care, because it doesn't hurt!" He crawled out of the tent and over to the fire, wearing the new pants. The flames drew attention to the blush in his cheeks. I laughed under my breath. He munched on his toast until it was gone. "I-guess we should start again. If we work all day we might be able to make it to town tonight." Tammy and Ricky agreed as we started packing up. The last thing we did was put out the fire with some loose dirt and pack up the fire supplies into the new back pack. "Oh guys, I found twenty bucks when I was out walking!" Tammy slowly, and gently pulled out the bill from her pocket as if it was a thin sheet of fragile gold. "Yes!" Ricky said. We looked at him, confused. "Now we can buy food!" Tammy folded the bill and put it back again. Ricky jerked his arms around for a victory dance. We both laughed as we weaved our way through the maze of trees, our humor and good mood traveling with us. I drifted towards the front of the group and I heard Tammy arguing with Ricky. "The way I bandaged it is perfectly fine. Seriously, it's fine." Tammy sighed and started walking with me. "He is the most stubborn and aggravating person I have ever met!" She swung the pack around her shoulder for dramatic effect. I heard Ricky chuckle as we trooped through the woods, getting deeper and deeper into the green forest. "Nyxie!" Ricky bellowed, effectively breaking the peaceful silence. "What?"
"Tell us a story."
"Why?"
"Because I'm dying and Tammy is obviously bored," I looked over at Tammy and she shook her head furiously up and down.
"Fine." I sighed and grinned as I planned out my story. "One upon a time, 3 children traveled for miles to escape to a new land. On the way one decided she was going to trade the boy of the group for a girl at the next stop and hope that he didn't follow them because he was very annoying. The girls all traveled to the next town, set up living, and became rich explorers, and never saw the boy again. The end."
Tammy laughed, "That was a terrible story by the way," Ricky grumbled. We kept walking now, undisturbed by Ricky. Tammy kept looking behind her every now and then, who knows why.
*****
At about sunrise, after trying and giving up on small talk, Tammy randomly asks, "Can we get a dog?" I laughed at the randomness.
"Why?"
"well......One has been following us for a while, and I think he wants us to pet him."
We all come to a halt and turn around. I search the trees for fur or movement but I see none. The forest is completely and utterly silent and still. "Tammy, I think your seeing things." Ricky turned around and kept Walking. "Loony." He mumbled as a collie lunges out of the trees and straight onto him! We all shrieked as Ricky fell to the ground with the dog on top of him followed by a loud thump and a grunt. We quickly ran to help when we realised Ricky was laughing and the dog was showering him with kisses. We both laughed and sat on the ground we patted our knees and the dog went straight to Tammy. "So? Can we get a dog?" I drew my eyebrows together as if deep in thought. "Sur-" Tammy squealed so high the dog started barking in alarm. She jumped around the dog in a circle as it barked.
"What should we name her- or him- wait, is it a boy or girl?"
"Ummm. You could check, it was your idea."
"Ok. Fine."
Tammy scratched the dogs ears and she or he rolled over. It was definitely a she.
"Seriously though. What should we name her?"
"Well she responded to Loony."
The dog once again tackled Ricky, knocking him over.
"Eh. How about Luna."
The dog barked, as if agreeing.
"Luna it is!"
"What does that mean?"
"Moon! She could be like our little moon. Luna!"
The collie barked at Tammy happily wagging her tail.
"At least we know she won't run away any time soon."
"Yeah, but I wonder if she has another family, her fur looks pretty clean." Tammy brushed through her brown and white fur effortlessly.
"Or maybe someone else is around here."
"I hope not, I can take a bull, a snake, and a coyote. But I don't know about and old, fast hiker." We all laughed off our nerves about someone else living here and kept walking.
We walked, and walked, and walked. Very uneventfully, but not boring, thanks to Luna, the newest member of our crew. We followed the green trees, and the grassy ground turned to mud. Then the mud turned to dirt. The trees got smaller, and the sky got darker through the trees and started to burst with rain. The rain was gentle at first. We cried out in joy and drank as much as possible, we used leaves to funnel water into Tammy's canteen. But then it got harder. I started to feel like I was being attacked by freezing needles rather than rain. Luna kept up, even after her feet were caked with mud and she was soaked through. At what I guessed was about 10 am we found a small trail, which by 11 had led us to a small, old, crumbling shack. By then the rain was pouring and we all squeezed in. The roof, or more accurately, the hole in the ceiling was covered in an odd water proof material, which was nailed to each side of the small hut. We sat down and pulled out the flashlight for light, between the rain and the trees it was almost dark. Ricky yawned. We decided we would eat lunch then sleep. Sleep until we woke up, and hope the rain stopped when we were sleeping. We all munched silently on our crackers and bread, and eventually, giving up on making any kind of bed, drifted off to sleep.