Tori ran through the mud, keeping her head down and her threadbare blanket around her shoulders. She'd lost all feeling in her feet, as she hadn't found a pair of shoes yet, and her ears stung with the cold. She eventually came to an old bridge, where other people like her were huddled. The girl curled up in her blanket, still keeping her distance from the others.
Remus noticed the small child, however, and moved closer. “I’m not going to hurt you. Here, have some of my food. It’s not much, but it’ll keep that small stomach of yours satiated through the night,” he said, scooting to sit next to her and opening up his pack. He fished out some bread and cut off half of the chunk that remained, taking the much smaller half for himself and giving her the larger half.
The girl shook her head, backing farther away from the group. She handed the bread back to the man and sat down a ways away, just barely under the bridge at that point. She curled up again, trying to run her numb, shaking fingers through her matted hair.
“Oh, my child… you don’t have to be brave around me, dearest. You’ve been brave enough for everyone, you don’t have to be brave anymore.” he said, still insisting upon giving her the food.
Tori only shook her head again, still moving away until she was sitting out in the rain. The girl pulled her blanket up over her head, but it didn't do much help. She barely even felt the rain anymore, as she was so used to sleeping outside that it no longer mattered to her.
“Whatever is the matter, child? I only want to help you.” he said, but he shoved the bread back in his bag either way. If the kid wanted some later, she could ask for it. He’d provide.
Adam shrugged, noticing the interaction taking place between the two strangers, and just decided to build a fire, and if they wanted to come close, they would.
They were right in the woods, so Adam just took a few paces towards a fallen tree, and pulled so twigs off, he then walked a couple more feet and picked some more, thinking that it would suffice.
He threw the sticks down and brushed his hands off on his pants, and he pulled out some flint and steel. He strusk it, over, and over, to no avail.
"Damn," He whispered, slumping in defeat.
Christi rustled around in her bag and found a ration pack. "It's just dried jerky, and it tastes like leather," she said wrinkling her nose.
Still slumped on the ground, he looked over at Christi, "Thanks." He grabbed some jerky and bit, wel, gnawed on it. It was like wood, not very enjoyable. But hey, it was food.
"What do you think about those two over there?" Adam asked, getting more and more curious by the second.
He took another bite, well, gnawed some more, and, wasn't very satisfied. He tossed the bag back to Christi, still attempting to eat the block of wood.
"Little one's gonna get herself hurt," she said taking the food from him. "And the other one smells funny." The rain was messing with her senses and she couldn't place exactly what was wrong here. She though about taking another form, she'd be able to smell better as a wolf, but she didn't want to scare them off. It was kind of nice to have a pack again.
Adam shrugged, "D'you think I should try and get them to join our pack?"
Adam knew that Christi liked to center herself around the ideology of such things. He could tell by the way she spoke to him.
Adam thought, for some reason, he couldn't tell why, but he though that they would be useful, sometime in the future. He could sense it in the coming rain, he could sense it in the chilling air. This unlikely confrontation was for a reason.
Fate brought them together today.
Christi glanced at him thoughtfully, chewing on her jerky. She did want someone else to talk to, but she didn't want to trust these strangers. "Alright," she said finally. "But we're gonna have to get some more food. I'm afraid this is it." she motioned to the jerky he had tossed away. "Not enough for four people."
Adam nodded, preparing the charm in his smile before looking out at the two, "Hey guys, we are like you. I sense that you are running from something, and well, we are running from something also. We can do better if we band together, we can cover more ground, and combine our skills to survive."
It wasn't his best speech, but he was tired, cold, and hungry. It was the best that he could manage. He hoped that they would listen, but he knew they still might not trust him, "We only have some hatchets and knives, no guns. If you like, we can put them out in view. We don't want to harm you, we just want help."
Christi pulled out her hunting knife and threw it aside, trying to help, but she didn't really think it would work. If these people were going to join them they wouldn't care about a single knife made out of bone, not even a real weapon.
(Yes lol, there are some people in here who hasn't responded yet.)
