I'm back guys! the story will be picking up, and Sophia will be growing stronger, I swear. But, sorry for the long wait, and I don't anticipate being a long wait between this chapter and the next. Thank you all for the favorites and reviews, especially the good wishes. Love you all. -Zoroark
Over the course of the next few days, Bella taught Sophia quite a few skills. First, they were scavenging the woods for food, not only the random camps they came across, but as well as the wide array of knowledge Bella knew about plant life.
"See, look at this tree." Bella pointed to a seemingly random tree in their path. She spoke quietly, carefully not to alert anything near them, but Ren and Sophia hung on every word. "What can you notice?" Sophia examined the tree, to be honest, it looked like every other tree around them The same dark bark, green leaves, towering over them, with no hope of them seeing the blue sky.
"I dunno. It has buds on the leaves." Ren pointed, and like he said, there were buds growing on the end of each branch. They looked kind of like green pods.
"See this sap here?" There was a hole in the bark, maybe about eye level for Bella. A milky-white substance was leaking out, and in a deep part of her memory, Sophia could remember maple syrup was from trees. "Its discolored, it should look like this. So, this way you know it could be harmful to you, and you can assume the growth on the trees are harmful too." Sophia nodded, now looking at the potentially harmful tree.
"Do you think its more dangerous to eat the tree, or have it fall on you?" Ren cracked a smile, grinning at his companions, and Sophia burst into laughter. Bella tried to hide a smile, and walked away, looking at the small amounts of undergrowth that managed to grow under the shade of the trees. "Bella, what's the answer?" Ren chased after her, and Sophia had to jog to keep up with them, laughing the whole way.
- - Sophia- -
"This is Amaranth. You can boil it, or eat it raw." Sitting beside their fire, Sophia was helping Bella fish the weeds out of the water. On the other side of them, Ren was keeping the fire going by adding some greens to the fire. It had rained that day, leaving the entire forest wet. But, the leaves they had received were relatively dry, as they grew on tree trunks, keeping the majority of the water off from the canopy.
Patting the leaves dry with a towel, Sophia took an experimental bite of the leaves, not finding it too terrible. It was better than eating the moldy food they had found the previous couple days. Sophia didn't even see or hear them coming, but before she knew it, Bella was standing, gun pointed into the darkness of the trees, standing protectively before Sophia and Ren.
"Ooo, look what we have here Bill." A scratchy voice chuckled darkly, and two men emerged out of the woods. Both were filthy looking, older than Bella by a lot, maybe her mother's age. The one who spoke had an unlit cigarette in between his lips, smirking at the children. The other was eying their campfire and watching Bella.
"You're a pretty lady miss. Don't see many of 'em any more." The other man, Bill, Sophia gathered grinned darkly, and his tone sent chills up the young girl's spine. Instinctively, she grabbed Ren's hand, and he was shaking.
"Leave, and I won't shoot. We've just got the one gun, not even much ammo. But, I won't fail to take you down." Bella's voice was firm, her hand steady as she faced down the strange men.
"Ah, look here girly. We're in charge. I think you need a big strong man to take care of ya. See, come with us, and you and your babies will be safe, we'll keep ya nice and warm." The man spoke, and miraculously, his cigarette didn't fall from his lips. He walked closer a few steps, his gun raised in a perfect reflection to Bella's.
Sophia huddled into Ren's embrace, cared of what these strange men would do. they didn't seem nice, they were scary. But, she held back her tears, she knew Bella would protect them.
"They are actually children, much older than babies. We are fine on our own." Her black hair reflected the light of the campfire, her voice strong as she clicked the safety off. "I'm serious, I will blow you and your friend away."
"Ha, little girl like you don't have that much of a reaction time. Or, would you like to test it, and Billy here can aim at your babies?" Billy took aim, and slowly, his gun moved to point behind Bella, this gun was much bigger than Bella's, much scarier.
"What's it gonna be little girl? Let Mark and I take care of ya, or we'll kill your little ones, and keep you for ourselves?" Billy smirked, and Sophia shrunk back. She knew she didn't understand everything going on, but she could see they were acting a lot like her father had always acted towards her mom, and she didn't like it. Slowly, Bella lowered the gun, and took Ren's hand in the other.
"Would you like something to eat?"
