A boy who's after one thing, his girlfriend. But along his journey, he meets a girl who's been through events most people didn't even know were possible. She's been living in a bus on the dangerous surface with her dog while everyone else was hiding...
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Always Protect
Everyday it was the same thing. Walking. That's it. Just walking. But how else were they going to get to Jenner Beach, it wasn't like they could book flights anymore. Joel was taking the lessons that Minnow and Clyde taught him and Rosemary was helping him out too. They still did target practice whenever they took a break from walking and at the moment, they were eating. Joel was sitting on a rock and Rosemary was sitting with her legs crossed on some tires. Boy suddenly came running over with some sort of dead creature in his mouth and Joel was the first to notice him. "Here he comes."
Rosemary looked up and saw Boy drop the dead creature by Joel's feet. Joel then started talking to him like Boy was an actual person and not a dog. "Aw, I'm okay. I'm just gonna...you can have that. I'll just stick to the beans." Boy nudged the dead creature closer to Joel. "I'm good. I'm not gonna eat that."
Boy picked up the creature and started chewing it. Rosemary had a faint smile across her face and Joel noticed it. "Why are you smiling?"
"It's just...It's cute how you interact with Boy. You know, you talk to him instead of babying him like I do."
Joel only got one thing out of that sentence which was, "You think I'm cute?" You can't blame him. Rosemary laughed slightly and shook her head. "No, I think that the interaction is cute." Joel raised his eyebrows and since Rosemary is a text book over thinker, she thought he might have taken it as an offence.
"I-I mean, not that you aren't good looking because you are. I mean, you're not. Not-Not that I'm like i-into you or anything I-I just think you look like a-a person who is attractive. Not-" Joel had a smile on his face and Rosemary caught on that he was messing with her. She sighed and said, "I hate you."
Joel knew she was joking so he had an accomplished smile on his face. That was the most confident he's been in a long time.
A little while later, the three had continued walking. What else would they be doing? They were still walking through the forest and it had become very, very creepy. There was some swampy area near them, old boats and life supporters every where. There was even a boat jabbed halfway into a tree. Rosemary's anxiety was through the roof. They kept walking until Boy just suddenly stopped. Rosemary has been with Boy long enough to know that when Boy is on edge, something dangerous was about to happen. He did have amazing senses after all.
Joel hadn't noticed that Boy stopped walking until Rosemary did too. He stopped walking and turned to face them both. "Hey, Rose, it's okay." He could see the worry and fear in her eyes. "We gotta keep moving." Rosemary nodded and her and Joel and Boy kept walking while Joel was still comforting her and sort of Boy as well. "I know. There's a lot of creepy stuff. Creepy boats."
Joel looked to his side and saw a swimming sign, but it had a drawing of a monster about to eat the sign person. "Kind of a creepy sign. But...nothing we haven't seen before. Just gotta be brave."
Boy stopped walking once again. This time, he was whining and pawing his nose. Rosemary stopped walking too and even took a few steps back. "What? Hey, what's wrong?" Joel noticed her shaking hands and her unsteady breathing. Joel took a few steps forward and held her hands that still wouldn't stop shaking. "Hey, hey, what's going on? What's with Boy? What's wrong?"
"Boy, hide." Boy ran right passed them and headed straight for a giant rubber duck. Boy hid underneath it. Rosemary's tugged one of Joel's hands and they both ran over to it as well. Rosemary pet Boy a few times for comfort and she was taking deep breaths. Joel was still very confused. "Hey, uh, I need some kind of communication here."
Rosemary put her finger to her mouth and Joel stopped talking. He then heard the weird noise that Boy must've heard. Joel looked around for it, but saw nothing. Suddenly, weird twig like things started coming out of the ground around them in two parallel lines. But they weren't twigs, they were ant legs.
Joel and Rosemary turned around to see a giant centipede face to face with them. Joel slowly grabbed his crossbow from his bag and an arrow. Rosemary did the same, but with her bow. The centipede was staying calm, so they were staying calm. That's bullshit, they were freaking out internally.
Both Joel and Rosemary aimed their weapons at the centipede, but something stopped them. The centipede's giant antennas started tapping their bow and crossbow. That was just a distraction. Suddenly, the two of them were sent flying back. Rosemary hit the ground and rolled a bit, but Joel's back hit a tree. The centipede started to surround the duck that Boy was hiding under and he was completely trapped. The centipede started to crush the duck, leaving Boy completely exposed. As soon as Rosemary saw this, her confident, badass side came out. Boy was the only person who had stayed by her side through all of this and the only person who has protected her. She wasn't about to lose him.
Rosemary immediately got to her feet and grabbed her bow and arrow. She pointed it right at the centipede and yelled, "Hey!" The centipede looked over at her and she shot an arrow right in it's eye. It let out a horrible screech and Joel had gotten to his feet as well, but she didn't know. The centipede came shifting quickly right at Rosemary and she was trying to get another arrow, but the centipede was too fast. To her luck, right before it got to her, Joel had shot it with his crossbow. He hit it right in the mouth and it fell to the ground right in front of her, dead. Rosemary thought she was about to die, but Joel saved her.
Rosemary looked over at Boy who was shaking a lot and stuck in the same place he was before. Rosemary went over to him and knelt down right by him. She started petting and hugging him while he was giving her doggy kisses and his tail was wagging. Rosemary had happy and relieved tears streaming down her face. She thought she was about to lose her best friend. "Hey, Boy! Hey, you're okay. You're okay."
Joel was still in a little shock that he didn't freeze up. It was like when he saw Rosemary in danger, all of his fear went away. Rosemary suddenly got up and ran to Joel. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him into a sudden hug. "Thank you so much, Joel! Thank you...Thank you." Rosemary still had tears running down her face, but Joel didn't mind. Joel wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back. Joel closed his eyes, relieved that she was okay. They stayed in each other's embraced for a few seconds until Rosemary pulled away. As soon as she did, Boy tackled Joel to the ground out of love. Rosemary laughed slightly and wiped her tears away. She watched Boy attack Joel with love with a smile on her face. It suddenly faded when she realized that she was going to lose little moments like this soon.
