Snow glistened the grass as Marceline continued her trek. She no longer talked to herself, nor thought about Simon. She kept her mind blank, and her emotions hidden. It had been weeks since she had seen a creature, so Marceline decided to walk and take in her surroundings. She had noticed things were beginning to regrow even without her help, she smiled at patched of grass and little sticks that had taken root into the earth. But this cold winter was stopping nature from growing, and it made Marceline upset.
At nightfall, she set up her cot in a small cave and decided to make a fire. Winter was coming quickly and there was no way she could stop it. The fire was small, but it heated the cave just fine. Marceline pulled her cot to the corner of the cave just behind a large bolder. It was warm and the echo was loud incase something or someone wanted to check out the fire young Marceline had created. She laid down and hugged Hambo tight before falling asleep.
She dreamt of nothing. Everything around her was dark, and she heard the distant cracking of the fire. She hardly slept, jumping up every time she heard the wind blew or a cricket chirped. Marceline was always ready to attack, with her knife in her hand and her guns not to far away. Finally, when the sun began to rise Marceline stayed awake and watched it climb over the horizon. Watching the sun rise and set was the only thing that kept her sane.
Being alone made her feel crazy, and she accepted feeling crazy - sometimes.
Marceline packed up her things and let out the fire when the sun was above her in the sky, but the sun did not help how cold it was. Today had seemed to be more cold than the day before, winter was coming fast.
She walked east because it was farthest from where she had been with the creatures, and anywhere was better than with the creatures.
When she finally passed the rolling hills, Marceline found a forest in front of her. She couldn't believe what she had found. A piece of nature had been untouched by the explosion, and was still thriving. She opened her sack where she kept Hambo and a few extra acorns, and began filling it with pinecones. She smiled and danced through the forest as she saw birds chirping and squirrels running through the trees. She had found it, she had found her sanctuary.
Marceline picked a few wild berries and sat down under a tree to eat them. The berries were sweet and stained her green pants purple, but she didn't care, she was eating something nature had made. As she ate her berries she heard movement in the bushes in front of her. She thought it might have been a squirrel or a snake, but she couldn't be so carefree. Marceline dropped her berries and pulled out her knife being very quiet. The bushes moved again and then kept moving. Marceline's heart started beating rapidly as she waited for the creature to reveal itself.
She saw a little animal nose stick out of the bushes, so Marceline relaxed knowing it wasn't a creature. A young pup walked out of the bushes and stared at Marceline. Marceline wanted to smile at the adorable pup in front of her, but instead her heart started beating rapidly again.
Where was its mother?
The young wolf began to walk towards Marceline, she knew it wanted her berries. "Stay back," Marceline warned, but the pup only looked up at her and continued walking towards her. She didn't want to kill the poor animal, but she didn't want to be attacked by its mother either. The wolf got to Marceline's feet and then stopped. Marceline looked around waiting for its mother to come leaping from the bushes, but nothing happened. Then Marceline realized the young pup was alone.
She picked up the berries and held out her hand, the young wolf happily ate the berries from her hand, and then licked her on the cheek. Marceline knew she couldn't let the young wolf stay alone, it needed someone to care after it. She petted the beast and the wolf responded with a nuzzle on her knee. She picked more wild berries from the bush beside her and fed it to the wolf.
As the sun began to set Marceline knew that she needed to go find shelter for the cold night ahead. She packed some more berries and petted the wolf who had fallen asleep on her lap. She had wasted a whole day just laying around, and she hated herself for it. She had moved a few miles but it wasn't enough. Marceline stood up and the pup wagged its tail excited and stared up at her. Marceline decided that if the wolf followed her she would keep it, and if it didn't, Marceline would continue her trek for somewhere to live.
She began walking and heard little feet behind her and she sighed relieved. At the edge of the forest, Marceline found a small dug out filled with a pond and a small cave inside the walls of the pond. Marceline climbed down and slid inside the cave. She dropped all her things and then held out her hands for the pup to jump in her arms. She laid out her cot and blanket and grabbed Hambo from her sack. Even though she didn't do much, she found herself exhausted. She laid down on her cot and the pup laid down with her snugging as close with her as she could. His warmth was welcoming to Marceline as she tried to get comfortable.
As she tried to fall asleep, Marceline realized the young pup needed a name.
Companion? No.
White? No.
Wild berry? No.
And then a name came to her head, at first she pushed it out ashamed that her mind even thought of the word, but the more she thought the more the named came to her mind. "I'm going to name you Simon, young pup." and the wolf she had named Simon turned to her and licked her in the face.