"Alexis!"
Alexis jumped at the shout. Could it be…? No. She giggled as watched an off-balanced Walnut tumble out of the trees above her. She picked him up, pleased to find his backpack full of not only nuts and berries, but also with roots and herbs.
"Nicely done, Walnut," she said, formally shaking his paw before bursting into hysterical giggles.
"What's so funny?" the chipmunk demanded.
"Nu-nothing," she gasped, between giggles. "I-I jus-just never im-imagined that I'd, that I'd, shake hands with a, with a chipmunk!"
Walnut #!*% his head. "I don't get it."
Alexis took a deep breath, trying, but not succeeding, to stop her giggles. Walnut shrugged and grabbed a nut out of his little backpack.
That evening, Alexis watched the sun go down with a sigh. She shivered and wrapped her green cloak tighter around herself. But she wasn't cold; that wasn't why she was shivering. She was shivering from fear. Her time here at her safe-haven was almost up. It was almost time for her to run again.
Walnut climbed onto her lap and held up the nut he clutched in both paws. "You want my nut?"
Alexis smiled and patted him on the head. "Thank you for offering, Walnut. You're the sweetest chipmunk I know."
He #!*% his head. "Does that mean you want it?"
She shook her head. "No, thank you. You can have it, Walnut."
Walnut seemed to smile and shoved the nut in his mouth. "Ter's a wivage a foo mies fome heh," Walnut supplied helpfully through a mouthful of nut.
"What?" Alexis asked. "Could you repeat that?" Walnut opened his mouth to respond. "Swallow first," she added in a rush.
He gulped down his nut and repeated, "There's a village a few miles from here."
"A village?" Alexis exclaimed. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I didn't know until I saw it collecting nuts," he said innocently.
The princess smiled. "That's where we go. That's were I can get much needed help." She glanced down at the ground squirrel at her feet. "Not that you're not helpful or anything. I just need human help too."
Walnut nodded. "Sleep then. You rise at dawn."
Alexis sighed and obliged. Tomorrow morning she'd return to her old ways. Run. Run. Escape. Never stopping. Ever Running. Her last thoughts before falling into a deep sleep was I need help. Human help. I'm not going to survive much longer without the help of another human being.
