Winter | Seven Months After The Battle
The wind blows lightly, carrying occasional snowflakes with it. The snow piles around my ankles with every small step I take. The stag stands cautiously ahead of me. Every few minutes he takes a long stride forward, before stopping and looking around.
I carefully pull the string, aiming at the elegant animal. I steady my breaths, every exhale blowing small clouds in front of my face. I finally release the string of my bow. The arrow soars through the air. The stag is instantly alerted and prances away, leaping over the bushes and disappearing from my sight. The arrow slices into the bark of a tree. "Damn it." I mutter and make my way over to the spot my arrow got lodged in the tree. Where the stag was. I trace the smooth, thin stick of wood of the arrow, until I get to the tree that it's lodged in. With a quick yank I pull it out of the tree and find the shard from the end has stayed lodged in the tree. "There goes another arrow." I mumble to myself.
I've gotten used to living on my own, though, it did take a while to cope without anyone. To cope without Drew. I can barely explain how much I miss him.
Suddenly, I hear the bush beside the tree I stand near rustle. I immediately aim my bow, slotting in a new arrow and pulling the string within seconds. A small animal leaps out of it and I instantly release the string. It pierces the skin of the animal and kills it instantaneously. "Perfect." I say with pride. I would smile, but that just isn't something I do anymore.
With that I start up a fire as the sun sets over the horizon. The rabbit cooks over the fire. Once it's ready to eat I take the stick from the fire and pull the delicious fresh meat off of the stick. I'm about to begin eating it when something catches my eye to the left of me. It's moving slowly and crouched down. It's definitely an animal. I turn my head to look at the small animal. It's a small German Shepherd. That's easily identifiable by the common fur coat it has. It looks to be around five months old. Just a puppy still. Standing, it would reach up to my knees already. Being eighteen, that's pretty big for a small puppy.
We both just stare at each other. It's eyes are a beautiful brown that reminds me of Drew's perfect, deep, brown eyes. It looks up at me with a pleading look in it's eyes. I look down at the freshly cooked meat in my hands, then I return my eyes to the puppy ahead of me. It takes a small step forward, completely revealed in the glowing firelight. The puppy looks so thin.
Without another thought, I rip off a small piece of meat and I settle down with my legs straight in front of me. I throw the warm meat to the dog, afraid that it may become more aggressive for the food. It lands in front of the dog a few steps away. Crouched down, the dog takes the smallest steps forward, before it quickly scoops up the piece of meat and eats it with a grateful look to it's eyes. Unless that's just me thinking that maybe I made someone happy for once after what happened.
I feed the puppy half of what would've been my meal, while I eat the rest. The puppy sits down and watches me as I sit there for a while. I look over at the puppy, "Sorry, bud, none left." I shrug. After a little longer and the puppy doesn't move, I stand and walk around the fire, setting tripwires. The puppy watches me, curiously, as I do so. So, I begin explaining, "See, these are tripwires that, when tripped by an infected, will trigger a loud noise which will wake me up if they come by." I say, glancing at the puppy as I tie the last wire. It's head tilts a little, causing its giant ears to flop to one side. The smallest, quickest smile flashes across my face, but quickly disappears.
After I've tied the final wire, I make my way over to the puppy. It straightens up, before standing, alerted by my closeness. "It's okay, buddy. I won't hurt you. Ever." I say soothingly. I reach out a hand and the dog seems to hesitate, before placing a paw in my hand. I let out a breathy laugh and shake it's paw, "Nice to meet you, kind sir." I say in a posh voice. The puppy barks and I feel an immediate smile is plastered to my face. "Ah, yes, my name is, Jessica Holland." The puppy barks again, "Oh, I do like the name..." I trail off, thinking of a name, "Buddy." I finish. The puppy barks once more, as I let go of it's paw.
I suddenly realise, "Crap. I just named you." I say, standing up straight, "Well, I guess you can stay with me than." I shrug and give the puppy a small smile.
I then sit down, leaning against a tree. The fire crackles in front of me, lighting up the dark of the night. I tilt my head back against the tree and close my eyes. I hear Buddy walk up to me slowly and he sits beside me, settling down so he lays against me. I open my eyes and look down at the big puppy, carefully placing my hand on his soft, fluffy, fur coat and begin patting him as I tilt my head back again and close my eyes, finally falling into a comfortable sleep.
~-*-~
The flames rage high around me and all of the Infected roar and run around. For some reason, none of them come for me. It flashes by quickly and I'm faced by the IX. His eyes burn with flames. "Jess," I hear his voice and look around frantically. I see him on the other side of a wall of flames that rage high above as if never ending.
"Drew?" I whisper, before raising my voice, "Drew!" I yell to him. He looks at me and I see his deep brown eyes connect with my crystal blue eyes. "Drew!" I yell again, but a bit quieter. A distant barking catches my attention from close by. A dog? Here?
~-*-~
I wake up and immediately sit up straight. Half-hoping to see Drew again. I feel something tug at the long sleeve of my jacket. "I'm awake. I'm awake." I repeat until Buddy let's go of my sleeve. He tilts his head and sits down close by my side, as if wondering if I'm okay. I reach out and pat his head, between his eyes. He bows his head and his head presses into my hand.
I continue petting him a bit longer, but after a little while I finally stand and click with my tongue. I grab my backpack with my machete strapped to the side. That machete was my father's, Zachary Holland, and I plan on keeping it forevermore. My bow is over my shoulder and hangs at my side from my left shoulder to my right thigh.
Buddy follows me through the forest close by my side, trotting along at the same speed as me. He's such a quiet puppy, which is good because then he won't attract more Infected than I need right now.
~-*-~
