Chapter Twelve

His heart pounded in his chest and roared in his ears. Her kind eyes looking back at him made things worse. She been so kind unlike anyone he's ever met. He didn't want to loose that kindness now. Soon they would be traveling together for three days. He couldn't bare the thought of having her angry with him the entire time. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Her touch and smell calmed him enough to keep his senses about him.

"I may have found your old home." When he opened his eyes she just stared at him.

"Wh-what?" He could feel his anxiety rising again as she stared at him.

"Well, when you came here," he tried hard to hide the shakiness of his voice. "I recognized your scent and didn't know why. So I went to the old ruins and there's a room covered in your scent."

"Oh," She looked away from him and back at the water.

He wished in that instance he could read her mind. They sat in silence as he watched her, unable to read her blank expression. He didn't want to bother her incase she was trying to process. She removed her hands from his and placed them in her lap. He watched as she began rocking back and forth. He began to feel regret for telling her and guilt for keeping it a secret. His throat felt tight and his breath was shaky. It felt like an eternity as he waited silently for her to speak.

"How long have you known this?" She suddenly stopped rocking and her voice grew cold.

"Well," he need to tell her the whole truth otherwise things may be worse in the future. "I've known about the room for a long time. But I didn't know it was yours till the your first night here."

She just sat there and went back to rocking. He looked at his hands trying to calm the shaking. He found someone who treated him like an equal. Who didn't look at him with disgust. He couldn't loose her now. His claws shined almost white in the light. Close to her skin color. Why did he find her skin color beautiful, but his claws horrid?

"Can you take me to this room?" He looked up to find her staring at him. She didn't seem angry or sad, but she also didn't seem happy.

"Sure, yeah. Of course." He quickly got up and help his hand out too her.

Her soft hands so small compared to his. He lead her out back to the entrance and started heading west. Just twenty miles there, and twenty miles back. Hopefully Alzie wouldn't think anything was up. He wanted her to trust him, he wanted her to keep being kind to him. He would do anything to make sure she'd stay kind to him. He couldn't ask for more than that. He knew last night was now a long lost memory. She most likely didn't even remember. She's human, he's a beast. When they got there, he had to carry her have of the time. She did protest a few times saying she could do it, but he didn't want to risk it. He could tell she been here before. She knew which turns to take and how far to go. When they got there, she took pause. Just staring at the part of the area that was gone. She then immediately moved to start crossing over to the room. He did think she could do that, seeing as she was smaller. He moved beside her, hugging the wall. She let out a gasp as her foot slipped. Without thinking he grabbed her arm and pulled her too him. He held her there, their bodies pressing together. She felt so soft and warm. He honestly never realized anything could be so comfy and squishy. Atleast not living.

He could feel her chest rising with each breath, her strange heart beat. It was slower than his, however, there were times where he could have swore it missed a beat. Everytime it did her breathing would either change a bit, or she would sigh. How many times did she sigh and it was just her breathing? She quickly let go of him and moved forward. She was being so cold to him. It was hard to not let it bother him. He watched her still against the wall as she just stood in the doorway. Her hand resting on her chest. He wished he had told her sooner. Then maybe they wouldn't have gotten so close. He looked up at the ceiling and just stood there as she stepped inside. He knew she needed space. She most likely would want to see and explore the room alone. After a while of waiting he inched closer and peeked inside. She was laying on the bed snuggled in the blanket eyes closed.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Hmmmm, for a second I thought if I opened my eye I wouldn't be here." Her eyes were still closed as if she still had a little hope.

"I'm sorry this must have been hard for you."

He just rested in the doorway unsure if he should move any further. She sighed and sat up. Looking around, she got off of the bed. He watched as she moved to a small cupboard in the left corner. She opened it revealing books. He had placed the small black book inside there. She reached for it and pulled it out. He could see what looked like tears in her eyes as her fingers ran over the pages. He wanted to badly to go to her, to comfort her. However, he didn't know if she would let him. He looked down at the floor, it was easier than watching her right now. He could hear her suffle about in the room. Her feet rubbing against the soft texture.

"Even my paints and journals are all still here." Her voice was quiet, and you could hear the pain in it.

"I thought about bring them too you, but I didn't want Alzie to know of this place."

Her laugh startled him and made him look back at her.

"Hahaha, I forgot about that." She looked at him a single tear rolling down her cheek. "Tell me why on earth would Alzie want to experiment on me? I'm just a little nobody human."

"Well..." He did know how to put it. She survived one apocalypse, and now she may have to try to survive another. "Do you remember how the world ended?"

"No I never got to see it end." She whispered it as quietly.

Never got to see the world end. He wondered if she woke up here before any of it ever even happened. It was a bit sudden, but it also took atleast a whole month. If that was the cause, she really couldn't help them. So the trip to the tangerine village would be even more useless. How was ge going to convince Alzie to not take her there? He puzzled in silence for a moment as she just stared at him.

"What year was it when you came here?" He didn't look at her. He needed to concentrate and couldn't do that looking at her.

"Well it was the year Twenty Twenty-two." She was still in a low whisper.