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Waking up with the sun's rays hitting directly against your face is the worst feeling and it always made Angel get in a horrible and grumpy mood, growling vulgarities as he gets up from his king-size and closes the curtains only to return to bed and continue dreaming. Angel longs for that feeling, of going back home with his pet and forgetting all this mayhem. Ángel simply wants to return as he was before, without cannibals, without being alone all the time and being able to return to his family.

Now he's stuck in another country, with no communication with his friends or with his other relatives.

Angel doesn't flinch at the raw sound of bone breaking against the metal bat, despite having a weak stomach to this sort of thing, he had to get used to it anyway. With another swing from the bat, it went down with a grotesque gurgle and he was quick to end its life again with a final blow. Angel inhales deeply to calm his agitated heart and e uses the back of his hand to clean his face, all the small drops of blood splattered, always having that small rule on the back of his mind.

Close your mouth.

There were a couple of bodies scattered around him, then he checks his surroundings, making sure no one else approached with intentions to eat him, steal him, or kill him. His pocket watch indicated it was barely 10 in the morning, the dampness of the past rain combined with morning cold caused his skin to tingle, but Angel enjoyed it, knowing full well later the choking heat of Georgia would come. There's time for breakfast. A small smile tugged his lips as he heard the whining of his dog and approached the car. "Ya, ya, I'm coming." Dante jumps out like a bullet as the doors open, tail wagging, and tongue outside with a grin, excited to smell everything and his owner, after witnessing how Angel dealt with them alone. Dama was the next, also eager to check her owner was safe and sound, sniffing his pants over and then leaving to follow Dante.

His gaze lingers on both dogs, sniffing cautiously the corpse clothing just to make sure they're dead for sure. Angel turned his attention to the passenger still inside, tucked far away from the open door with fearful and unsure eyes.

"Are you going to come out?"

No response or head movement.

"You know I'm not holding you like a prisoner."

Still no response, the girl inch closer to the door. Angel's nose twitched; he didn't have a lot of experience with kids. Horrible past experiences forced him to distance himself from his younger cousins, and the children from his friends, simply wanting to avoid trouble. Perhaps a few tough words would get her out of her nervous shell.

"Listen, I'm going to eat right now. If you are planning to leave without eating something, believe me, niña, you won't last long out there." Angel step away from the door. "If you're going to leave, shut the door behind you." and he walks off. Is it cynical of him to behave like that with the girl? Maybe, but what else could he say? He isn't a soft person with children, he cannot deal with children.

Entonces, ¿por qué la salvaste?

"Coño..."

He opens the trunk abruptly, better concentrating on what he was going to have breakfast today, instead of dealing with his regretting feeling of rescuing a little girl. First things first, he needs to feed two large dogs. A frustrated sigh came out and he took the semi-full bag of dog food, along with the two bowls. "I need to go to those houses..." Angel whistled, kneeling to empty the food on both bowls, filling them to the top but also finishing the last bag of food for his furry companions. Angel straightened as he noticed the dogs' approach and turned to the trunk, pulling out one of the many boxes, and began to search his food only to pause at the blonde thing he noticed in the corner of his eyes.

"Ah, you didn't go?"

Angel's eyebrows went up to receive a tiny head shake. "Okay uhm, let me grab something for you and we can eat together,"

The girl nodded this time, but the man didn't see it, busy searching inside one of the boxes. She didn't want to be alone out there; she didn't want to walk all alone in the middle of the forest because she had no idea how to return to her mom and might as well stick around to the man who saved her from those two walkers instead of leaving. Her green eyes moved on the dogs eating, minding their business, and she got to the courage to ask.

"Who is Dante?"

"Uh, it's the Pitbull, the one with cropped ears."

A frown appeared on her lips and turn to Angel. "Doesn't that hurt to their ears?"

"Most people do it for the aesthetic. I didn't cut his ears; his previous owners did it," Angel handed her a bag of beef jerky, along with a container with a lot of nuts. "What flavor of juice do you like?"

"Apple."

"I prefer peach."

The girl offered a small smile as thank you and copy him, taking a seat beside Angel on the door of the truck. Opening the bag to savor one of the strips of dried meat while Angel ate a box of granola bars. The girl looked over her shoulder, her eyes roaming inside the trunk, and couldn't help to frown at how many boxes they were, the whole trunk was stacked with boxes! She couldn't tell if all the boxes were full of food.

"Something wrong?"

She shook her head and went for another strip of meat but stopped when she found a pair of brown small eyes looking at her. Dante was licking his lips, already smelling the scent of meat.

"Hi, Dante. "The blonde girl waved at the dog and asked. "Does he bite?"

"Nah, he's sweet and likes to give kisses, you can pet him." Angel opened another bar and munch on it. "But don't get near to Dama, she doesn't like strangers but she'll get used to you."

Green eyes glanced at the dog with black fur on its face and brown fur all over her body, the dog was sitting under Angel, not putting attention to Angel's and her food. She looked down as he heard a whine from Dante and Sophia grinned at the adorable eyes he was giving her.

"Is it okay if give him one?"

Angel nodded, going for his fourth bar. "Just one, he is a bottomless glutton." The dog snorted as if he got offended, the girl chuckled, and carefully gave him a strip of meat, which Dante didn't even chew but gobbled it down. She grinned at the dog who looked at her expecting another strip of meat, but she just rewarded him with a few pets on the head. Angel observed the interaction between the girl and his dog, she seemed comfortable with the presence of a dog and food, maybe he can take this opportunity to ask some questions. To understand her situation better.

"So, may I ask how did you end up alone in the woods?"

"I was with my mum and some others."

"Alright, so I'm assuming you got separated from her, right?"

She forgot the bag of meat on her lap, both her hands petting the smooth fur of Dante. "We got stuck on the road by a bunch of forgotten cars, Carl and I were looking for things inside but then …" momentarily she got distracted by the dog inching closer to her lap, delighted by the attention on him but continued anyway, "Mr. Rick told us to crawl under the cars, I wanted to be with my mom but she was with Ms. Lori, covering her mouth and then, a bunch of dead people came out of nowhere and they were so many."

Angel noticed how the girl's shoulders drop, her features paled and her lower lip trembles, normally to comfort someone it was physical contact, a hug or pat on the back but Angel didn't dare to touch her, assuming it would make the girl uncomfortable.

"I thought they were gone, I thought they all passed but..." And here comes the waterworks, a quiet sob escaped from her lips and she tried to stop her tears with her hands. "I tried to crawl out of the car but one of them saw me — I thought they were gone! — I tried to hide back but it followed me and I ran away to - to the woods but they were still following me!" A sob wrecks her body and it pulls Angel's heart, forcing him to place a hand on the shoulder, something to reassure her and stop her crying.

"Hey, hey niña you are okay now. Nothing is going to get you now, you know? You're safe here with me and with Dante, he's going to protect you from anything."

Teary green looks up to him, the blonde was sniffing and cleaning her stained cheeks. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean it."

"Can you help me find my mommy?"

Angel's face went blank, not expecting it. He already saw it coming the girl was going to need help but he didn't know how to track people and he had rules, rules to keep him and his dogs alive. So, why is he risking his life to this girl? Angel opens his mouth to speak but doesn't find the words, Angel exhales deeply and nodded.

"I'll promise."

¿Realmente puedes cumplir esa promesa?

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After finishing his meal, Angel led her to a small stream he'd marked on his map, which he didn't expect to be deep enough. Brown eyes looked up when he heard the happy giggles from the girl, she and the pit bull were splashing and kicking in the shallowest part. Angel took the opportunity to clean his socks and underwear, he missed his expensive washing machine but he wasn't a stranger in cleaning his clothes with his own hands.

He knew well he should stop the girl, remind her they aren't in a safe place to be relaxing, they are in the open which could attract any type of danger but then he remembered how she may need this, something to distract herself from the ugly memories of almost dying by the hands of them.

"Angel, come here! The water is good!" she exclaimed from her spot; pants rolled up to her knees. Muddy shoes and dirty socks beside him.

"No thank you, I'm good."

"Please, Dante is waiting for you."

Angel glanced at the Pitbull who was drinking from the water unaware and returned his attention to the blonde with a deadpan glance.

"You know what I mean? Please come here!" She pleaded with puppy eyes. Angel shook his head with a small smirk, amused at how easily she became friendly with him, perhaps it was food for her to warm up to him and a long session with cuddles provided the pitbull. His eyes returned to his lap where he held out the map, a red marker in his right hand while Dama on his left side, sitting but alert nevertheless. He promised to return the girl to the interstate, investigate if her mother is still there, or at least check if her group but it's going to be difficult, he was anxious to go to those condos and find food for his dogs. The condos were further away from them, he realized, and luckily the interstate didn't seem that far from his location. Angel only needed to return to the road and follow the map, now that he remembers, if they were going to go to the highway, he should load up one of his guns since in his experience the road was always infested with them.

"What are you looking at?"

Angel saw her approaching, her blue shirt a bit soaked as well as her beige pants.

"I'm looking at the best routes to go to the highway. We are here, the Fayette creek, you mentioned your group got stuck on the highway, so you were on the interstate, yeah now I remember the abandoned cars in that part, it's not a good place to stay there, many of them go there."

"Them?" Sophia echoed.

"You know, the dead things; I was there looting and a few them caught me off guard," Angel explained briefly. Her big green eyes noticed the red circles and crosses on the map and most of the lines were around Fayette creek.

"What do the circles mean?"

"The circle means I might go there to find more stuff, food, clothes."

"And the x's?"

Angel's eyes briefly glanced at the red Xs, there were more of those than the circles. He frowns his lips, a little frustrated, and huff, a bit disappointed at the lack of resources. "It means those places are a lost cause." The blonde girl nodded, acknowledging the information, and named all the crossed-out places in her mind. Sale city, Waycross, Homerville, Fort Benning, and Blackshear. There were more crossed-out places but a wet Dante distracted her, showing her a stick in his muzzle, happily trotting in front of them. Bringing out a smile from both of them at the goofy display from the Pitbull.

"Angel, do you believe my mom still there?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's just – What if she's gone? What if everyone forgot about me?" Her voice quiver and her shoulders began to tremble. "I mean, I was supposed to go back as Mr. Rick said but I got confused and scared and -"

" Apapapa – stop, Basta, stop," Angel cut her off before she could fully cry. " What makes you think she'll leave behind? She's your mom!"

"But I -"

"You were scared and confused, okay? So, it's not your fault." Angel tried to appease with his words but still, tears were falling. "I'm betting right now your mom is making everyone find you at this moment."

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's - that's what mom's do, right? Find their children until they're safe and sound."

The blonde sniffs loudly while rubbing the corner of her eyes, preventing more tears from coming out. "Really?"

"Really, really," Angel assured while ruffling her short hair, earning a weak protest from the child. " But seriously, you don't have to worry about that niña, we'll find them on that road waiting for you."

Sophia sniffled loudly but frown a bit. " What does ni- nina mean?"

" Mhm? oh niña, it means girl in Spanish,"

" But that's not my name, it's Sophia, Sophia Pelletier."

Angel huffed at how she said, puffing her chest and he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Huh, that's a pretty name, it's nice to meet you, Sophia."

Ay, pero que adorable. Espero que puedes cumplir sea promesa tuya.

thank you for the sweet comments 3

Hope you'll like the chapter, read and review!

— SALEM