Ark - A Love Story

Rey and Katherine

It was the third week since Katherine had been rescued by Rey. She made herself accustomed to the way Rey ran his base and was loved by his creatures. She was even to get over her fear and rode on the back of Rey's raptors constantly. Every morning she would join Rey in breakfast and would help him care for his creatures. He took her on a few of his missions for resources and dinosaurs, allowing her to see more of this crazy place called Ark. She had started to call Rey her close friend and never wanted to leave his side.

One day while they were doing a metal run with an ankylosaurus and an argentavis, Rey's shoulder pet, Dottie the dimorphadon picked up something in the trees. Katherine pulled the ankylosaurus to a stop as Rey pulled out his crossbow. He tossed her pike to her and climbed on the back of the argentavis. Katherine was frightened but felt safe and protected with Rey next to her. He motioned for her to join him so she slid off the back of their anky and joined him on the back of the argentavis.

They were about to take flight when an arrow imbedded itself into Rey's arm. He screamed in pain and turned to see a man in red painted metal armor holding a crossbow. He shot another arrow that barely missed Katherine's head. Rey took flight and grabbed the ankylosaurus in the argentavis' claws. Another arrow was shot that made its way into Katherine's shoulder. She cried in pain and turned around to face the man. She grabbed Rey's crossbow and aimed. The red man took off his helmet (probably to see better) giving Katherine a perfect shot at his head. She released the arrow and watched as it hit the red man. He fell to the ground and lay there motionless.

"Did you get him?" Rey asked.

"Yeah! We should go loot the body," Katherine said.

"Okay. But let's make it quick. We don't know if he had any friends or creatures nearby."

They turned around and looted the body. The man had a journeyman crossbow and ramshackle red-painted metal armor, along with essentials like food and water. They quickly grabbed his loot and jumped onto the argentavis. They returned home and unloaded their creatures from the metal and loot they collected. Once everything was unloaded and put away, Rey took off his chest plate to examine the wound the arrow had given him. When they looted the man's body they ripped the arrows out of their bodies because it hurt when they moved. All that was left was the wounds they left behind.

His mark was bloody but the flow of blood had slowed down. He grabbed a piece of cloth and water and bandaged the wound after washing it. Katherine tried to help but she winced as pain went up through her shoulder. Rey quickly finished tending his wound and helped Katherine pull her chest plate off to examine hers. Hers was slightly worse and still bleeding. He quickly washed the wound and bandaged it. He picked up her hide armor and let her change while he did the same. He put some food on the fire and while it cooked, he helped Katherine smelt their raw metal into metal bars.

The work station was small so they were pressed up close together. Katherine felt the heat rise in her face every time his arm brushed against her. She didn't know what this feeling was but she liked it. At some point, they both went to grab the same tool. Rey's hand had grabbed hers and they both stopped and looked up at each other. Rey quickly let go and turned to grab the extra tool. Both of their faces were red and they continued to work in silence.

When the food was ready Rey pulled it from the fire and served their dinner. They ate and talked until the sun went down. Rey put their dishes away and started to head upstairs to bed.

"Are you coming?" he asked.

"In a minute. I'm going to finish up the metal real quick," Katherine replied.

"Okay. Don't stay up all night though," Rey said climbing upstairs and collapsing in bed.

Katherine spent the next hour smelting the rest of the metal into bars. She snuffed out the fire and felt her way through the dark, up the stairs, and into her bed. She didn't want to light a fire in fear of waking up Rey so she struggled to get to bed. Once she did she laid down and tried to get some sleep.

As she tried to get some sleep, she thought she heard weird sounds outside. Something that sounded like cries of pain or the howl of a wolf. They continued and didn't seem to stop. Katherine pressed herself up against the wall terrified. She covered her face with her blanket and tried to cancel out the noise. She whined and cried from the fear until she heard the sound of footsteps. She held her breath, afraid someone was in the house. A hand rested on her shoulder and she screamed.

"Sh! It's okay! It's only me," Rey said.

Katherine pulled the blanket off of her head. She could barely make out Rey's face from the moonlight but still felt better knowing he was there. Then she realized she probably woke him up and instantly felt bad.

"I'm so sorry if I woke you up. There were strange and scary noises outside and I got so scared I-"

"Shh. It's okay. The noises woke me up. I thought you were asleep until I heard you crying. Are you okay?" Rey said, interrupting her rambling.

Another cry was heard outside and Katherine cried and jumped into Rey's arms. She cried into his chest as he held onto her. Rey held her close and rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.

"I'm sorry..." she mumbled.

"No don't be. It's okay. Do you want to come lay with me? We can push the beds together," Rey asked. She nodded.

Rey helped her up and together they pushed Katherine's bed up against Rey's. He held her hand as they sat down against the wall. They heard another noise from outside that caused Katherine to bury her head into Rey's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered calming words into her ear until they both fell asleep.