Chapter 6

{{ Xander's POV 🐺 }}
Xander’s only thought was to find a weapon. A sword would be nice, but honestly, anything would have been great. He traipsed through the leaves spread across the ground, peeking under shrubs and into holes in search of anything wielding metal. Sometimes there would be a thick black box made of plastic stuck underneath a pile of leaves or sticks, but they usually only contained small weapons like knives or little pieces of food. He supposed a knife would at least give him some sort of defense but they were so small and had such a short-range.
Eventually, the trees began to thin and a valley of green lay spread out beneath him. In the center of the valley were several large piles of the thick black cases, a few tents, and five people; two guys and three girls. The incline that led down into to grass was long and Xander’s vision wasn’t the best it could be, but he attempted to size them up anyway. If there was any way he could take them on or distract them, he could grab some of the weapons that were sure to be there and rifle through a few of the cases.
One of the boys looked pale, a thin, gangly thing with black hair, but the other was much larger. He looked to be at least six feet tall with broad shoulders and muscular arms. So much for taking them on. That boy alone looked intimidating enough, not to mention whatever skills the girls had.
He decided to find a spot to watch the group, maybe they would leave and he could run through and snatch something of use. He was just settling down by a cluster of large rocks when he felt the cold press of metal against his neck.
“I dare you to move.”

{{ Alexis' POV 🌌 }}
The sun was almost completely cloaked by the horizon by the time Alexis made it to the break in the trees leading down into the grassy valley. She stopped behind a tree and observed the scene down below.
Big black cases sat in stacks by a makeshift camp, presumably one made by the five people that sat circled around a blazing fire. She was pretty confident that she could take most of them on and take some of their hoard, but the smart thing would be to watch them for a while, just to make sure.
Soon the sun had been completely extinguished and the woods were filled with an eerie blackness. She knew sleeping on the floor would be a stupid idea so she stood and began looking for a suitable tree to scale. There was one a few paces away that had a sufficient amount of low, sturdy branches so with little effort she managed to haul herself up into the higher branches. It looked like most of the people in the valley had gone to sleep, but the fire still glowed bright orange and she didn’t feel like chancing a run-in with someone’s sword. As long as they followed the same dull routine the next day, she could slip through the dark and grab a few things.
Alexis wasn’t very suited for “slipping” anywhere though. Her tall, broad build was more attuned to fistfights and long sprints but it was all she had to work with so she’d make it work.
She settled herself against the tree’s trunk and, tucked in by its branches, drifted into a more peaceful kind of black.