Alex wasn't sure how long they've been cramped inside that carriage for. A few minutes? A few hours? When there's barely any room to move and you're constantly gasping for breath in the darkness, you tend to lose track of time. "I don't like being in here," one of the children whimpered. "It's dark, smelly, and hard to breathe in." Another child was hyperventilating, possibly from claustrophobia. Other than their scared whispers, the only thing that broke the silence was the coachman spitting and coughing about every five minutes.
Finally, the carriage stopped. "Are we finally there now?," asked Alex. "I don't wanna go to the other orphanage either," a small boy whined. "I wanna stay with Nancy. "The man riding the horse doesn't seem that friendly," a girl agreed. Suddenly, the carriage door opened, letting in a stream of sunlight that nearly blinded the children. Standing in the doorway was Anton, staring at them as if they were insects. "What are you brats staying in here for?," he snapped. "Get your asses out there!" The children quickly exited the carriage, taking in deep breaths of fresh air. Finally, they were out of that infernal contraption! But something wasn't right…
"Wait...this isn't an orphanage," said one of the children, looking around in bewilderment. Alex had to agree with her. They appeared to be in the middle of the woods, with no building or even other grown ups in sight. Suddenly, Anton jumped onto his horse and rode away, leaving the children behind. "Mister, wait!," a boy cried. Anton ignored the children's pleas and quickly vanished into the distance. The horse's hoof beats slowly faded away as well.
"...he left us," another girl whispered. "He...he left us!" "What are we gonna do?," the boy from earlier cried desperately. "We can't survive out here! We're gonna get eaten by mobs!" The other children began to panic and sob. "I don't wanna get eaten by a ghast!," a girl cried, not knowing that ghasts only spawned in the Nether. Alex didn't say a single word, staring into the direction of where the coachman went off to. As the other children began losing hope, a spark of fire suddenly appeared inside of her, an overwhelming urge to take control and survive.
Alex walked towards a nearby tree stump, climbed onto it, and gave a shrill whistle that caught everybody's attention. "Listen up!," she said, trying to replicate that tone of authority she heard Officer Jones use many times. "Panicking won't get us anywhere! We need to stick together if we want to survive in the woods! Nancy WILL come to rescue us…" At least, she hoped so. "...but in the meantime, we need to take care of ourselves! Understand?" The other children looked up at her in awe before silently nodding. "Good," said Alex, feeling pride well up inside of her. "Now first thing's first. We need to spread out and gather resources, then meet back here before night falls. We need to defend ourselves from the mobs!"
Empowered by Alex's speech, the children spread out and began searching for any resources. Unfortunately, there was a major problem: they were only children. They didn't know how to harvest wood, craft wooden tools, or use coal to make torches. By the time the sun began to lower, the children grouped up again, but with very meager resources at hand. All they managed to gather was some seeds from breaking tall grass, a few blocks of dirt, and an egg left over by a chicken. The children had no idea that they were supposed to gather wood as their first priority, nor did they realize that they were supposed to find coal for torches.
Before long, darkness fell over the entire woods, with only the moon providing any light, which was nowhere near enough to ward off the incoming zombies, spiders, creepers, and skeletons. Without a shelter or any weapons to defend themselves, the children began to panic again and ran around screaming. "Wait!," Alex cried desperately, trying to take charge again. "We can't separate! We have to stick together!" Unfortunately, the children were too busy panicking to hear her, and it wasn't long before each of them ran off on their own, separating in the process. Alex was forced to run away as well when the mobs began to get closer.
The zombies were loud and slow, so Alex had no trouble outrunning them. The other mobs, however, were a different story. The creepers were completely silent and almost blended in perfectly with the wooden area, so there were many times when Nancy nearly ran into one and sped off in the opposite direction before it had the chance to explode. The skeletons didn't even need to get near her in order to kill her. It was a miracle that Alex was able to dodge all the arrows that came her way. The spiders were the worst. They were fast, skittery, and were about the same size as herself. They also tried to pounce on her every so often, and if seeing a giant spider jumping at your face wasn't nightmare fuel, she didn't know what was.
The longer Alex ran, the more exhausted she felt and the more terrified she became. Tears began welling up in her eyes as she ran, blurring her vision. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and her legs felt like they were about to snap in two. Her lungs were on fire and it was only because of pure adrenaline that she kept on going. She was going to die. She was never going to figure out her past. She was never going to meet Nancy again. She was never going to be adopted and loved by a family. She was just going to die in the woods in the middle of the night and have her corpse feasted on by mobs, and over time, she was going to be forgotten. Like she had never even existed. Like she never mattered…
She was snapped out of her dark thoughts when she tripped and fell into a small and filthy pond. She resurfaced and gasped for air, then panicked when she heard the sounds of the mobs growing closer. Luckily, the pond had a small overhang above it, which served as the perfect hiding place for her. She quickly swam under it and ducked her head low so that only her eyes and nose were visible. For good measure, she placed a lily pad on top of her head.
Fortunately, she hid just in time. Although she couldn't see the mobs, she heard the groans of zombies, the hisses of creepers and spiders, and the rattling of skeletons stopping on the overhang just above her. The mobs seemed to make sounds of confusion, wondering where their prey had run off to. Alex held her breath, trying to make as little noise as possible. The silence that followed was the most tense moment she had ever experienced. Finally, when it felt like her lungs were about to burst, the mobs gave up looking for her and wandered off in search of different prey. Alex waited for another minute just to be sure that they were gone, then swam out from under the overhang and crawled out of the pond. She was now soaking wet, her body was covered in mud and grime, and she smelled like rotten flesh cooking in the sun.
Alex was close to sobbing, but held back in fear of the mobs hearing her cries and coming back for her. So instead, she curled up into a ball and wept silently. This day couldn't possibly get any worse than this. She thought of just lying there and waiting for the mobs to come back and finish her off, but something else, something deep inside of her, told her to get up and keep moving. Alex shakily stood up and wiped the tears away, accidentally getting some mud in her eyes while doing so. Then, she continued walking aimlessly.
To make matters worse, it suddenly started raining. It wasn't just a light drizzle, but a mighty downpour that could quickly turn into a flood if it kept on going. Alex continued trudging through the forest, the rain soaking and chilling her to the bone. She wrapped her arms around herself in a futile effort to keep herself warm while her teeth chattered. If she didn't find any shelter soon, she was going to freeze to death. But then, as luck would have it, she spotted a cave in the distance, and the inside of it appeared to be glowing. Her hopes rising, Alex dashed towards the cave, hoping that someone else was camping in there.
However, once Alex got inside the cave and out of the freezing rain, she saw that the light wasn't coming from a torch or a fire. It was coming from a small pool of lava on the far side of the cave, which was bright enough to light up the entire inside. There was nobody else in there. Still, that didn't stop Alex from running towards the lava and warming herself next to it. While doing so, she couldn't help but stare at the lava in fear and awe. She had never seen lava before in her entire life...at least, she didn't think so. It boggled her that something so bright and warm but also lethal and dangerous could exist. As she laid on the hard ground and warmed herself by the lava pit, listening to the rain pattering outside, she wondered how she was ever going to survive this before finally falling asleep. Despite the rather traumatic experience she just had, her slumber was surprisingly peaceful, with no dreams or nightmares.
When she woke up, the rain had finally stopped, but it was still nighttime. Her face and the front of her body felt very hot for some reason. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the pool of lava just inches away from her - she was about to fall into it! Alex screamed in fear and frantically backed away on her hands and feet like a crab. Her heart beat rapidly as she stared at the thing that saved her life by warming her up, then almost killed her.
Suddenly, Alex froze in fear upon realizing something. While backing away just now, she had bumped into something, but it wasn't the wall of the cave. It was warm, furry...and moving. She slowly turned her head around to look at what she bumped into. It was a wolf with dirty, matted fur, sleeping on its belly peacefully. It must have been caught in the rain like Alex did and snuck in here while she was asleep to keep warmth. The wolf was awoken by being lightly bumped into. It stood up and let out a silent yawn, showing a row of sharp canines.
Although the wolf wasn't acting hostile, Alex knew better. She wasn't stupid. The wolf may have seemed adorable on the outside, but she had to remind herself that it was still a wild animal. There's no telling what went on in the wolf's head. The wolf opened its eyes and saw Alex staring back. It didn't seem startled or scared, however. Instead, it leaned in and sniffed her face curiously. Alex stood absolutely still, not moving a muscle. However, she had forgotten one vital fact about canines. They could sense a person's emotional state based on their smell. It is a little known fact that usually applies to dogs, but a wolf is really no different.
And the wolf could smell Alex's fear. It knew that she was afraid.
The wolf bared its teeth and began to growl, causing Alex to back away in fright. To the wolf, she gave off the impression of a scared, little sheep. And sheep happens to be a favorite on a wolf's menu. The wolf was about to pounce on its new prey, but suddenly stopped itself. Something wasn't right. Alex was right there, tired and defenseless, unable to fight back. And yet, the wolf felt its own hackles rise anxiously. Why was it feeling this way?
Suddenly, a strange figure appeared between the wolf and the girl, seemingly out of thin air. It wasn't like any human that the wolf had ever seen. It had a pitch black face, red eyes, a white hoodie, and a yellow, toothy frown. For some reason, Alex was still trembling in fear of the wolf, not seeing the ghostly apparition like the wolf was. "Don't hurt her," the figure warned. "Don't you dare hurt her." The wolf's ears perked up in surprise. Not only was the figure talking, but somehow, the wolf could understand EVERY SINGLE WORD IT WAS SAYING. "If you hurt her, I'll hurt you," the figure continued. "Don't think I can't do that, you stupid mutt. I'm more powerful than your little furball brain could even comprehend."
The wolf growled, and in retaliation, tried to scratch the figure with its claws. However, the claws only went THROUGH the figure with no visible injuries. To Alex, it seemed like the wolf was attacking the air between them. Kevin glared at the wolf. "You sure got a lot of pent up aggression, mutt," he said. "Maybe I should fix that." He suddenly dissolved into a red mist and flew into the wolf's ear, then came back out the other. Although the process only took a few seconds, Kevin was able to remove all of the wolf's predatory instincts. "There we go," he said proudly. "How do you feel now?" How did it feel? The wolf pawed at the ground in thought. It didn't feel that different, actually. Wait...it did! It didn't feel so hungry anymore! It didn't feel angry either! It felt...calm. Playful, even. The wolf barked happily, its tail wagging.
"That's good," Kevin chuckled, then turned serious. "Now listen up, mutt. This is very important, so pay attention! Do you see that girl?" He pointed at Alex, who looked confused as to why the wolf hadn't attacked her yet. The wolf looked at her and barked in affirmation. "She's very important, possibly the most important person in the world right now. And she needs to be protected at all costs. I'm very weak right now, and it'll take me a while to get my strength back. I can't protect her in my current state, but YOU can. I need you to always be by her side, no matter what. You have to protect her, play with her, keep her company, and bring her food if she ever gets hungry. Understand?"
At first, the wolf didn't understand. Why was this strange being telling it to do all of these things? Why should it abandon its lifestyle of running around and hunting for prey in favor of raising a child that wasn't even its own? It didn't make much sense to the wolf.
Kevin groaned in annoyance, knowing exactly what the wolf was thinking. "Look, I am your ALPHA now. That means you have to do what I say." The wolf's ears perked up at that word. Alpha. The wolf was no stranger to that concept. It was normal for a wolf pack to have an alpha leading them, after all. If this being was now its alpha, then the wolf would have to listen to its instructions whether it liked it or not. And that meant taking care of the girl.
Strangely enough, the wolf didn't seem to be bothered by that. It barked happily and wagged its tail. "Good boy," said Kevin before going back into Alex's head, with Alex being none the wiser as to what just happened. The wolf suddenly pounced on her again, but this time, instead of attempting to tear into her with its teeth and claws, it began eagerly licking her face. Alex let out a short scream that was quickly replaced with laughter. "Wait, stop! Stop!," she giggled, trying to push the wolf off. "T-that tickles!" The wolf obeyed and got off of her, panting and wagging its tail. Alex stared at the wolf curiously. "Why are you being so friendly now?," she asked. The wolf barked happily, acting more like a dog than a wild animal.
Alex slowly reached out with her hand to pet the dog. The dog gently pushed his head into her palm and allowed her to scratch his fur, seeming to enjoy it quite a lot. Alex smiled, glad to finally have a companion in this lonely forest. "If we're sticking together, you're gonna need a name," she said, thinking hard. "How about...Ellie?" The dog barked, seeming to be happy with the name. Alex giggled and continued petting her new dog, even though in the back of her mind, she wondered where or how she came up with that name. It seemed to have popped into her head for no reason. It almost felt like she heard someone say that name before…
Alex shook her head in order to clear her thoughts. Now wasn't the time to question her own mind. She had a dog to pet! Suddenly, her stomach grumbled loudly, causing her to wince in discomfort. It had been nearly a whole day since she ate anything, and she was starving right now. Ellie heard the noise too and suddenly ran out of the cave. "Ellie, wait!," cried Alex, not wanting to be left alone again. Fortunately, Ellie didn't run off. He stopped just outside the cave and turned back to face her while barking. It was as if he was saying, "Well, what are you standing around here for? Follow me! I know where we'll get some food."
Alex went outside to follow Ellie as he led her through the woods. By now, the sun was starting to rise, so she didn't have to worry about any mobs attacking them. Suddenly, Ellie ran towards some shrubbery and jumped into them, vanishing except for his tail which was still sticking out. Alex giggled. "What are you doing in those bushes, you silly dog?" Suddenly, she heard Ellie growling as well as what sounded like high pitched squealing. Ellie walked out of the shrubbery with a baby pig in his jaws, squealing fearfully. "Ellie, what are you doing?!," cried Alex, staring at the scene in horror. Ellie let go of the pig's leg and whimpered, his ears and tail drooping. "Bad dog!," Alex scolded, scooping up the baby pig and checking for injuries. Luckily, there was only a light bite mark on its leg. "You shouldn't hurt other animals, Ellie!"
Ellie whined as if to say, "But you told me you wanted food!" Alex shushed quietly and stroked the pig's head to calm it down. Then, she gently put the pig back down. "Go on," she said. "Go back to your family, little pig." The pig oinked cutely and ran off.
Alex sighed and sat down against a tree. "What am I supposed to eat now?," she asked worriedly. The poor girl didn't have the first clue on how to survive in the woods, let alone what she was supposed to eat. Ellie whined and scratched his ear with his hind leg. Why did his new owner not want a delicious, juicy pig to eat? Could it be that she was actually a herbivore? Ellie's own diet revolved around nothing but meat, so he had no idea what humans were supposed to eat. The dog decided to, as the humans sometimes say, "Wing it."
Ellie walked up to the tree Alex was leaning against and clawed out a small piece of tree bark, then offered it to Alex, who shook her head. "I don't eat tree bark, Ellie," she said. Ellie dropped the bark and looked around for something else Alex could eat. For the next thirty minutes or so, he brought her various things that she could possibly eat, ranging from a bone that dropped from a skeleton to a clump of grass that he dug up from the ground. Alex said no to each and every one of those things, until finally, he managed to bring her something that was actually edible: a red, shining apple. Alex smiled and took the apple, taking big bites of it until it was completely gone, even the core. She licked her lips and sighed in content.
"Where did you get that apple, Ellie?," she asked. The dog barked and ran up to another nearby tree, scratching the trunk with his claws. Alex looked up at the tree and saw several red apples hanging from its branches. Alex let out a whoop of joy and ran towards the tree, but quickly went up against another problem. The tree was very tall and the apples were far out of her reach. Even if she tried jumping, she wouldn't be able to reach them.
At first, she thought about using Ellie as a footstool, but that was out of the question. The dog was strong, but nowhere near strong enough to support the weight of an adolescent girl on his back, unless he wanted to be squished into a pulp. As if he was able to read Alex's thoughts, Ellie frantically shook his head as if to say, "Don't look at me! I'm a dog, not a stool!" Alex sighed heavily. "Well, how else am I supposed to reach those apples?," she asked. "I could help," said a voice from behind her. Alex gasped and spun around to face the speaker, startled. "Oh, sorry," said the girl who spoke, giving a sheepish smile. "Didn't mean to scare you like that."
The girl looked slightly older than her and had a mop of red hair. She also had freckles all over her face and wore a blue shirt, red overalls, and for some reason, a white winter hat with a little round pom pom on top and ear flaps attached to the sides. "T-that's okay," said Alex, embarrassed by how she acted just now. "I just haven't eaten in a while and I can't reach those apples." The other girl smiled. "Well, that's what I'm here for," she said. "Why don't I give you a boost?" Alex smiled gratefully. "Thanks," she said. The girl walked over and bent down, allowing Alex to climb onto her and sit on her shoulders. "By the way, my name's Annie," said the girl, slowly standing up. "What's yours?" "Alex," Alex responded. "Could you hold still please? I don't wanna fall off." While Ellie just sat there and watched the whole thing, Alex reached up as high as she could, her fingertips barely scraping the surface of an apple. "A little higher?," she asked. "I can't go any higher," said Annie, her legs slightly shaking from the weight.
"Almost...there…," said Alex, just about to grab the apple. Unfortunately, Ellie was curious about the newcomer and decided to investigate by walking over and sniffing her feet. "Wha! No, stop! That tickles!," Annie cried, already losing her balance. The two girls fell to the ground with a thump and two oofs, barely avoiding crushing the dog. Fortunately, the impact of two girls falling to the ground was enough to shake all the apples from the tree. The two girls and Ellie ended up being buried in a small hill of apples as a result.
All three of them, one after another, popped their heads out of the pile of apples, with Ellie being the last. Ellie stared at the two girls and let out a single bark. That was enough to break the tension and cause both girls to laugh. After a while, they got out of the pile of apples and began picking them up. "Do you mind telling me what your dog's name is?," asked Annie. "Oh, right!," chuckled Alex. "His name is Ellie. He found me in a cave and was about to attack me, but he suddenly turned very nice, so I'm keeping him as a pet." "Wait," said Annie, blinking. "You mean Ellie was a wolf who somehow got tamed all of a sudden? Didn't you give him a bone?" Alex shook her head. "I didn't have any bones on me," she answered.
"That's weird," Annie murmured. "Usually, you need a bone in order to tame a wild wolf. Why would he become tamed with no explanation? And...why were you in a cave?" Alex shrugged in response. "I have no idea why he's like that," she said. "But I was feeling lonely and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. And as for why I was sleeping in a cave, well…" She explained to Annie everything that had happened in the past few days, including her orphanage being shut down, being left in the woods with the other orphans by a total stranger, and being chased by a group of mobs that ended up separating them.
When she was done, Annie was staring at her with her mouth wide open. "Holy crap…," she whispered. "That actually happened to you?" Alex nodded sadly. "Yeah. And with the orphanage shut down, Nancy doesn't have a job anymore. As for the others who got dumped in the woods with me and got separated...I have no idea if they're alive or dead right now…"
"...man, I'm so sorry that it happened to you," Annie said sympathetically. Ellie sensed Alex's sadness and whined, rubbing his body against her legs like a cat. Alex smiled sadly and reached down to pet him. "I could help you look for them if you want," said Annie. "You know, the other orphans." Alex looked at her in surprise. "Really?," she asked. "You'd do that for me?" "Sure!," said Annie, smiling. "But first, we should take these apples to my house."
"Your...house?," asked Alex, tilting her head. "Yeah, I live in the woods with my boyfriend," said Annie. "His name is Thomas, and trust me, he's the sweetest guy you'll ever meet. He'll definitely help us look for your friends." Alex could no longer contain herself and hugged Annie tightly, earning a surprised squawk in return. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"
"Er...right," said Annie, slowly prying the excited girl off of her. "Come on, you carry half of the apples and I'll carry the other half." After picking all the apples off the ground, the two girls walked through the woods with an armful of apples each, with Annie leading the way. Ellie followed behind them while excitedly wagging his tail. Eventually, they came across a cozy wooden cabin with smoke rising from a brick chimney. "That's where we live," said Annie, gesturing to the house with one hand. "Welcome to our humble abode, Alex. Mi casa es su casa." Alex stared at her in confusion. "...it means my home is your home," Annie explained. Alex let out an "oooh!" and nodded. Annie walked up to the door and knocked.
A pair of footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door. Then, the door swung open, revealing a rather tall young man with black hair slicked to the side, a black shirt, and black pants. "Hey Annie, you're finally back," he said, then saw Alex, Ellie, and the bushels of apples they were holding. "Who's the girl?," he asked. "And the dog? And where did you get those apples from?" "Thomas, this is Alex," said Annie. "That's her dog, Ellie. And as for why they're here...well, it's a long story." "I've got time," said Thomas, leaning against the doorframe. What followed was a long explanation of how they met and where they got the apples from, as well as Alex's side of the story and where she came from. When they finished, Thomas was shaking his head in disbelief. "Man, the shit that people are willing to pull," he grumbled. "Welp, guess I'd better help you two look for the other orphans, then. But let's store the apples away first." After putting the apples in a chest, Alex, Annie, Thomas, and Ellie went out to look for the other children. But after hours of searching, there was no sign of them, and they couldn't continue due to the sun lowering. Alex couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself.
"Hey, don't feel too bad," said Annie, seeing the disappointed look on Alex's face. "We'll try again tomorrow. And the next day. We'll keep trying forever if we have to. Right, Thomas?" "Huh?," said Thomas, who appeared to have been lost in his thoughts. "Uh, yeah. We'll keep trying or...whatever." As Thomas walked ahead, Alex whispered to Annie, "No offense, but Thomas doesn't seem like 'the sweetest guy I'll ever meet' that you said he was." Annie sighed heavily. "Sorry about his behavior," she apologized. "He's just been kinda...down lately. I'm not sure why. He never told me. But I'm sure he'll cheer up sooner or later."
Unbeknownst to both of them, Thomas was glaring straight ahead of him, his nails digging into the palms of his hands hard enough to draw blood. His teeth were grinding together and his eyes resembled those of a madman's. It looked like he was about to snap. He hadn't snapped though. Not yet. But the pressure was building up inside of him and the stress that tormented him day after day will eventually triumph. He will snap soon...very soon...
Meanwhile, in an entirely different part of the woods, the baby pig from earlier finally arrived in front of a certain treehouse and jumped into the arms of a certain boy who was about the same age as Alex. "Reuben, there you are!," Jesse cried with relief. "Don't ever run off like that again! Axel and Olivia will be so happy to know that you're back. Come on, let's go get you a carrot." Reuben oinked happily, eager to gorge on a delicious, juicy, orange carrot. However, before entering the treehouse with Jesse, the baby pig looked back in the distance, wondering what a little girl and a wolf were doing so deep in the middle of the woods.