Darkness came, and brought great fear in its looming shadows and mysterious sounds.
Fear gnawed at and haunted her mind, and she shivered in the numbing cold as she waited.
This outcast land had been oddly quiet, as if it was waiting for some sound to occur, to fill the world with its horrid, jagged tones.
Angela was expecting a sound too, the sound as the mob dragged Smith from their primitive Interrogation room, screaming and undoubtedly gagging on his own blood, as the Interrogators relentlessly hauled him towards the darkest place in the forest. Where he would die, and die noisily, his ragged screams of horror and pain not only breaking the silence but shattering it, like thin glass.
She had waited for hours, and she was now almost constantly shivering, even though she had wrapped two frayed sheets around her. Angela didn't care; she would sit out here all night if she had to, even though the night was bitterly harsh.
At some point, exhaustion won, and she fell asleep as she waited, sitting on a worn, flat rock, her chin gently settled on her chest.
During her deep, weary rest, Smith returned, slowly, minding the twigs and branches which tried to get under his feet, for he could see Angela sleeping, and understood that she had fallen asleep waiting for him. He did not wish to wake her.
As he drew closer to the rough camp, closer to the sleeping, exhausted figure that was Angela, a branch managed to get under him and it whip cracked loudly as it broke, echoing sharply around, and her head snapped up violently.
Smith stood still, looking at her thoughtfully.
"Smith..." She said dazedly, getting up groggily from the rock.
She staggered towards him, her mind still half asleep, that half still trapped in the nightmare she had been having, and Smith saw that she was going to fall.
He stepped closer to her, with all the reflexes of a cat, and steadied her with a strong, sturdy arm as her feet tangled together and threatened to spill her onto the packed dirt of the forest floor.
She looked at him with awe and surprise, still being held up by his strength, and touched his face wonderingly.
"You're... you're alive." She said quietly, her eyes wide, her mind still trying to tell her she was dreaming. Of course this was a dream, only a dream could hold the possibility of Smith coming out alive.
"Yes." He said smoothly. "What did you expect?."
She looked away from him then, and shook her head slowly, as if she were trying to shake all the sleep from her mind.
When she finally looked up at him again, she seemed more awake, and seemed to realize that this was actually happening.
"Frankly, I expected you to be killed. I could see in their faces that was what they had set themselves to do, whether you were innocent or not. But... they... let you go." Angela said, frowning.
"Yes, they did. They questioned me; saw that I meant this place no harm, and that all I meant to do was live out my Vi... human life here in peace. They wanted to kill me, that was true, I saw it, like you did. But they did not. They have some respect for life, obviously, because, they had no reason to kill me, so they did not."
Angela smiled, clearing away the gloomy, weary shadows that had been residing there.
"What happened to Shadow?." She asked, but she was afraid she knew the answer.
"I don't know. They took him to a separate place."
She nodded grimly, but said nothing.
"Come on." Smith said comfortingly, pulling her gently as he walked towards the camp. "You waited for me... but now you shall rest."
Smiling but saying nothing, Angela allowed herself to be lead towards the camp in the thickening darkness.