Surrounds (Bonds) (12 page)

But there was no arguing with Wolf, mostly because he couldn't argue back. Alasa climbs onto his back and in seconds he is running. It only takes about fifteen minutes for Wolf to travel out of the cave and into sunlight.

Closing her stinging eyes, Alasa places her face onto Wolf's back and hopes for an uneventful day.

They travel for a long time this go, Alasa finds herself enjoying the feeling once again, so much so she almost falls asleep. Him lightly nudging her off his back, reminds her she's actually on Wolf's back.

She finds herself in the middle of a camp, with a shredded brown tent and an empty fire pit. Things were left out, as if who ever had been here left in a hurry. Alasa stares at Wolf for a while, trying to see if he was responsible for any of this, but then shook her head. It was old, no one had been here for months.

Wolf watches her. She nods and pushes by the tents flap, peering inside at the two cots still sat up, sleeping bag, both green and wet on top of them. In between the cots was a plastic bin, with a blue top. She could make out clothing inside the bin. Glancing behind her at Wolf, Alasa ducks into the tent and walks briskly to the bin, opening it. It was mostly men clothing. She glances down at her ruined shirt, caked with dried blood. She takes one of the flannel shirts out of the bin, stares at it for a minute before folding it over her arm. She grabs a pair of sweats as well, hoping they wouldn't be to large.

Her attentions settles on one of the cots and its sleeping bag, contemplates taking one of those. They were wet and likely really damaged but... No, Alasa shook her head. It already smells inside the cave to begin with, no need for more funk.

She's about to turn and leave, but turned back, her attention on the bin again. She grabbed another shirt and a pair of pants before finding Wolf standing outside looking around. He's by her in seconds, scooping her up and bolting off this go.

Alasa yelps, nearly dropping her items.

A minute later, she finds herself in front of a lake. Alasa smiles. She thinks its going to be a good day today.

(O)

Chapter 25

Lacey

Lacey sighs happily, toweling at her hair, which was wet an no longer sticking to her face from sweat and filth. Apparently the warehouse has showers in the basement and Mr. Barkins was kind and offered it to them before their departure.

It was nice. Not hot, heck, not even warm, but it was water and soap. Lacey was happy with life now. Henderson is waiting for her outside the warehouse when she exits, already showered, with Mr. Barkins and Mrs. Agatha. The other occupants of the warehouse outside as well, happy with the nice weather. Henderson is holding both of their bags and obviously very impatient about finally leaving. He has his gun on his hip again, which has obviously put him at ease.

Mr. Barkins spots her first and smiles a board smile. "I take it you enjoyed it then? Its been about an hour since you went in."

Lacey sheepishly looks away. "Sorry about that..."

"Its no problem, we have a lot of water." He turns his attention to Henderson and holds out a hand, Henderson takes it. "I hope to see you both again."

"Oh you will." Agatha chimes in, gaze on Lacey, much to the girls annoyance. "I hope your journey is goes well. I hope you find Alasa soon, you may not have a choice."

Lacey flinches at the unfamiliar name. For a name the girl had never heard of before, it was awfully familiar.

"Sure... Thanks..." Lacey offers awkwardly.

"Yeah," Henderson cuts in. "Thank you for giving us a place to stay and a shower, really, we owe you."

"I hope you reach your destination safely," Mr. Barkins says. "I wish you could have waited a little longer. Hanna will be upset that you left without a goodbye."

Lacey winces, feeling bad about not being able to say bye to the nice girl. "Yeah, tell her I'm really sorry about that. Oh, and also tell her I didn't have a choice." The girl glares at Henderson.

Mr. Barkins laughs. "Can do."

(O)

Henderson drags her into the forest after she had fallen the fifth time. The howls of the creatures which they had unfortunately attracted loudly echoes out on their rear. It had only been a day since they left the Warehouse and already they were in trouble.

They had been spotted by a few of the men-looking creatures when they had been looking for shelter last night, the men had been on hot on their heels since then.

Lacey's lungs burn, her legs ache, and her stomach churns so badly she had been fighting to keep herself from stopping. They were lost, that was plainly clear. She was also certain that the creatures hunting them could have caught them hours ago. They were obviously being taunted.

Henderson stumbles and stops, Lacey's legs give out on her and she crumbles onto the ground. Henderson tugs at her arm.

"You have to get up, Lacey. You run and I'll hold both of them off."

Lacey is seconds away from asking him how he was going to do that, when the two 'demons' appear in front of them, seemingly out of thin air. Both are hunched over and identical, with light brown skin, beady green eyes, and wide mouths and sharp fangs.

Lacey struggles onto her feet and unclips her machete from her hip, holding it out in front of her, arms shaking. Sweat trickles down her face.

With a dark laugh, the one closest to them bolts forward, right at her, going for who he thinks is the weaker prey first obviously. Out of instinct alone, the girl swings her machete, the thing obviously thinking it wouldn't be hurt by the weapon doesn't bother dodging it.

Henderson yells her name, the creature cries out in agony as her blade hits its left arm, it vanishes from his body. The beast quickly stumbles back in shock, staring at the area his arm use to be.

In less shock and more in panic, the girl swing the machete again, without even a moments hesitation, sending the blade through the beast's shoulder. It howls again, black blood squirting from it's mouth before its whole body vanishes into the air.

Panting, Lacey's attention lands on the other one, who is shocked frozen, no longer wearing his smug grin. Then his shock bleeds into anger, outrage, he attacks with a feral howl. He's smart enough to dodge her weapon and he tackles her, pinning her arms by her sides. He growls.

"You'll pa -" He's hit in his side and off Lacey, who, without hesitation swings her blade and sends into the creature as Henderson springs away.

Lacey pants, sinking back onto the ground. "I... told you... magical machete." The girl whispers weakly. "Your machete is a boss."

Henderson flops down beside her, haggardly breathing and holding his side. "I don't think so... I don't believe that's it." He quietly shakes his head.

(O)

Lost. They have no idea how to get out of the forest. It's been two days, days of walking in any direction which seemed right. It was all wrong. They had found a trail a couple of days back and had been following it in hopes of finding... something. A sign maybe?

Lacey froze, a shiver hitting her spine. Henderson looks back at her worriedly.

"What's wrong?"

She honestly had no idea. She couldn't tell if something 'was' wrong. She felt off, but not in a completely bad way. "I dunno... forget it, its nothing."

Henderson hesitates before nodding, waiting on her before continuing forward.

(O)

Chapter 26

Alasa

Alasa's rubs at her flaming cheeks, unhappily. Once again Wolf didn't understand anything when it came to privacy. She quickly tugged on her new flannel shirt, body still damp from her soak in the freezing lake.

Wolf had also taken his bath and now sat, naked as a newborn in underneath a blazing sun. Alasa was sure not to look at him, huffing as she tugged on the very big sweats, but they would have to do.

She finished dressing and waits for Wolf to finish his and put his piece of cloth back on, but only lounged around. Unable to take it anymore, Alasa scooped up her other pair of pants and other shirt and stomps over, face hot, eyes on the ground.

"Here," her arms holds out the clothing, "you should put on these."

Wolf says nothing, obviously, but Alasa was waiting on a growl. Risking a glance up when Wolf remains quiet, Alasa instantly regretted it, finding wolf standing in front of her, all of his business out in the open. She yelps and freezes.

Wolf pretends not to notice, taking the clothing from her hands and staring at them as if they were an enemy. He flings away the flannel shirt and awkwardly begins putting on the brown pants.

"See... they fit..." The girl observes nervously, watching as he fumbles with the button.

Alasa opens her mouth, only for it to clamp shut a second later. A shiver hits her and she feels something spark on inside her mind.

"Lacey..."

The name has been in her dreams many times, but never had it actually meant anything before. Her feet begin to move without her really notices, left towards a clump of bushes. Wolf appears in front of her, his face questioning. She goes around him.

He growls, she continues forward, pushing through a clump of bushes, finding herself along a trail. Wolf follows her, no longer attempting to stop her. She heads left, quickly down the narrow path. Her palms sweat and something inside her begins a steady churn. It's not a bad feeling.

Soon, Wolf jumps into a tree behind her, seconds before two people come into view in front of her. Wolf is still around, lingering out of sight, Alasa can feel him, as much as she can feel Lacey. She continues forward, long after both of the two people in front of her had stopped.

Finally Alasa stops, a smile tugging at her lips. "Lacey..." She once again says, sure of this more then she's sure of a lot of things.

Lacy's face goes blank and recognition appears on her face.

"Alasa" Lacey says after a full minute. "Your name is Alasa."

***

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