Chapter Eleven: Journey

Alex sat down on a dark wood stair block, resting her chin on her hands. Carlos was speaking in hushed tones with five other men, occasionally glancing around at the forest. Max sat beside Alex, on the ground, with a leather-bound book tucked under one hand and a quill in the other. He was observing a vixen and her kits, noting what they did in his book, fascinated.

Across the clearing, Scott was playing with a massive wolf-like dog, at least two times the size of Rex. He was throwing sticks and bones, laughing as the dog leapt into the forest to chase whatever Scott threw.

"Have you always lived here?" Alex asked Max as he sketched a drawing of the playing fox kits. Alex sighed. "Here in the forest?"

"Uh… not exactly," Max answered. He pulled a couple of the sweet-sour berries that grew in the woods from his inventory. He tossed one to the foxes, and ate another. "We're… well, Carlos calls us Nomads. We kind of… move around a bunch. We just kind of move to better grazing grounds for our sheep and horses. We've been in this taiga for a couple months, though."

"And you never meet anyone else?"

Max shrugged again, tossing another berry to the foxes, who were scrabbling around, digging for worms and mushrooms. "Sometimes we do. Not usually though. Mostly it's just us." He sighed again. "So, yeah. I always hang out with Scott because there's no one else."

"You must've seen some really cool things if you travel with your families," Alex inferred, tugging at the tunic she was wearing. It was made from brushed brown fleece, which made it itchy, but at least it wasn't as cold or ripped up as her other one.

"No," Max grumbled, sketching the mother fox in his book and adding a few notes. "We never go anywhere cool. And when we do, all the adults get to explore and Scott and I have to stay back and babysit."

"Ew," Alex wrinkled her nose.

"Exactly," Max sighed, noting a couple more things in his book and sketching the Vixen holding some of the berries he'd tossed over to them. The dog and Scott ran over to them, and the Vixen and her kits scattered, scrambling to flee from the fangs of the canine. Max sighed again, closing his book and putting it in his inventory before the dog drooled all over him.

"Here, boy!" Scott shouted, tossing a stick into the brush for the dog to chase. He laughed as the dog bounded off, barking. Scott came to sit beside the two of them, grinning. "So, how's life?"

"Unbearable," Max grumbled, but Scott ignored him.

"Fine I guess," Alex shrugged. "Did the adults mention anything about getting started?"

"My dad says we're leaving at noon. We might as well get an early start," Scott answered, grinning.

"You mean they're leaving at noon," Max corrected. "We're not going anywhere."

"Well, actually, my dad says that we get to come!" Scott crossed his arms. "And you better not ruin it with your cool, calculated villain-ness."

"That's not a word," Max muttered, but Alex and Scott ignored him, as Carlos walked over to them. He was being followed by the five men he was talking to before.

"Mrs. Blocker, we are going to leave soon. Gather your things, David's wife will lend you a horse," He nodded to a man with dark hair behind him. "You two," He pointed to the boys. "Better pack up the stuff you want to bring. We leave in an hour."

Alex nodded to Carlos, following David back to a large green tent, where his wife showed her to the family's herd of horses, and allowed her to use a broad-shouldered dappled mare. As they left the safety of the camp, Alex pulled her bow from her inventory and knocked an arrow, just in case they got into a dangerous situation.

This was going to be hard.

Actually, no.

That was a ridiculous thing to assume, because traveling through a spruce forest, and then a roofed forest was excessively boring. That is, until dark clouds rolled in over the horizon, and thunder rang out among the forest.

Soaking wet in minutes, Carlos pulled everyone together. "We have to find shelter!"

"WHY?" Scot asked. "It's just water?!"

"Charged creepers and lightning, to name a few dangers," Max muttered, kicking at the mud slightly.

"Spread out and search for shelter," Carlos instructed. "Alex, stay close to Max and Scott."

Alex nodded, and followed the boys through the freezing rain. Scott ran ahead, stumbling over all sorts of things, and looking around at everything he possibly could. Max stuck close to Alex, shivering in the rain.

All of a sudden, Scott came crashing through the brush, shouting excitedly.

"GUYS, YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I FOUND!"

Review Replies:

JimmyPenguin421: I didn't think that, but it works XD.

Moatazabou4: That… that is where it came from...

ElbertTheCookie: Oh no, they don't.