Removed

Atlanta

***Harley's P.O.V

   I make my way through woods, not knowing where I am or where I'm going. I had been in here for hours. I'd come across a few squirrels and had added them to the ones I had hunted earlier today. My head whips to the left when I hear something crashing through the underbrush. Sounded like a heard of elephants were heading my way. I duck behind a tree, but freeze when I hear a scream. A little girl's scream. I dart in the direction of the scream without a second thought.

   I see a little Asian girl running away from five or six or those things. I notch an arrow and take aim at the one closest to her. One by one I take them down and when she realizes that there's nothing chasing her, she stops and looks around on confusion. I make my way over to her and she whips in my direction in fear. I kneel down a few feet away from her. She couldn't be older than five or six. What was she doing out here all alone?

   "Hi, sweetie. What's your name?" That's all it took. She dropped her bags and came barreling towards me. Her arms wrap around my neck and she buries her face into the crook of my neck, sobbing. I freeze, not knowing what to do. Eventually, I wrap my arms around her, running a hand down her hair in an attempt to sooth her. "Shh. Shh. It's okay. You're okay."

   After a few minutes, she pulls away. "St-st-stacey." She stutters out.

   "That's your name?" She nods. "What a beautiful name. I'm jealous." I poke her in the stomach and she lets out a small giggle. "I'm Harley. How old are you?"

   "Six."

   "Why are you out here all alone?" She starts sobbing again and shakes her head. "Okay, okay. That's fine. You don't have to answer that. Did any of those things hurt you?" I give her a once over to see if there were any obvious injuries. I couldn't see any, but she did have a little blood splattered over her front. She shakes her head and I nod. "Okay. That's good. Do you wanna come with me?" She nods frantically and throws herself at me again, this time burying her head into my chest.

   "Please don't leave me!" She sobs into my chest.

   "I won't. I promise." I stand up and she clings to my shirt. I hand her her small book bag that she had dropped and pick up the nap sack full of food to sling over my shoulder with my other bag. "Okay. Let's go. It'll be dark soon, so we'll find a place to set up camp, I'll make us dinner and then we can get some sleep. How's that sound?" She nods. I retrieve my arrows and we start heading in the direction we had been going before I had heard her. I wince at every leaf and stick she stepped on. I eventually pick her up and set her on my hip. She and her bag really weren't all that heavy and it was worth not attracting any unwanted attention. If something was near by, I wanted to hear it before it heard us.

   We com to a small gap in the trees that I figured was as good as a place as any. I set Stacey down and lay out a blanket for her to sit on for the moment. We wouldn't be sleeping on the ground. It was too dangerous and we would be too vulnerable, but for the time being she should at least be comfortable. I start a fire and get to skinning and gutting the squirrels. I feel Stacey poke me and I look at her.

   "Yeah?"

   "Where's your mommy?" My lips thin and I stop breathing. What was I supposed to say? That she was torn apart by those things? I didn't care that they were dead, but she didn't need to know that.

   "She's . . . gone."

   "Oh."

   "Yeah." 

   She doesn't say anything for a few minutes and I almost think she's fallen asleep she's so quiet. Then I hear her small voice. 

   "Mine too." I look at her and see she's staring off into the trees with tears freely flowing sown her face, looking lost and heartbroken.