Chaos Walking || Todd Hewitt x Reader

Ch. 3: It Was Dead

Todd and I had been walking for hours, my feet aching and Todd's noise signaling he was also tired.

"We should pause here." I tugged on his arm and pointed to a cave.

'She touched me.' "Yeah, sounds good."

We both sat down on the damp ground, the harsh winds making us huddle in a corner. I felt my heartbeat slow down as Todd's eyes closed. He rested his head against the cave's rocky wall, his breathing slowing down. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Well, neither of us did but he had been the one holding up the tarp, which had fallen with large amounts of water falling into it, causing him to lose hours of rest.

I watched him as he peacefully lay for a moment, but I woke him with a startled gasp when a small tongue started licking my ankles.

"Monche!" Todd exclaimed happily, his eyes droopy as he picked up the small dog.

This dog was so loyal. So loving towards Todd...

Todd laid back down and hugged himself as he tried to doze off. Monche curled into his side, leaving me sitting next to him with numb skin. The winters had never been so harsh...

I leaned back and looked over at Todd again who now snored softly, his noise showing images of Monche, me, food...

I readjusted myself to lean against Todd's shoulder, Moche making room for me as he rested his head on my thigh. I grabbed Todd's hand gently and held onto it, feeling him move slightly but squeezing my numb fingers as he offered his jacket tiredly. I smiled up at him, his eyes still closed, falling back into his jacket. It was...warmer. Still freezing, but better.

✘✘✘

"Go get the stick boy!" Todd played what he had called 'fetch' with Monche, throwing different sticks as we walked out into an open field.

"It's beautiful!" I started racing down the hills as the frozen flowers lay still against the snow, wild fury beasts in the distance.

I then felt a huge sting of coldness hit my back. I turned quickly to see Todd had thrown snow at me. I opened my mouth with surprise, him laughing as I laughed with him, picking up a ball of snow myself.

I hurdled it towards him but he dodged as he grabbed more snow, starting to throw more at me.

I laughed even harder when I finally got him, him tumbling to the ground while Moche tackled him.

I jogged towards him and offered a hand as he tried to hold back his bright smile. He grabbed onto me and I forced him up, dusting off his hair for him as snow clumped against his soft locks.

'Weird. I feel weird. That was nice. Weird.'

I looked up at him with a small giggle and pushed him away playfully as I started walking forward again.

We walked again in silence for a while, his noise replaying that small snow fight over and over again. 

Monche ran ahead of us playfully, me smiling at the joy the little animal brought my heart. Todd kept throwing him sticks, Moche loving it. I even tossed a few myself and even though it was pointless, it was fun! That was weird, something that didn't keep me alive but made me feel better --- something enjoyable.

"Monche really likes you." Todd smiled, looking up ahead to make sure nothing came out of the tall grasses we were walking through.

"Really?" I felt excited. "Well, I like him too."

'She looks better. Brighter. Her eyes are pretty. Stop -- I am Todd Hewitt. I am Todd Hewitt.'

I was about to speak when something moved behind Todd. It was large, hairy, hungry.

"Todd!" I pushed him away as the beast let out a huge howl. It launched itself at us but I threw snow at its eyes, making it blink in pain but it quickly got its sight back. It started racing back to us but Todd stopped it quickly as he grabbed his knife and impaled its neck. It growled in pain and pushed itself back, but quickly started to come at us again.

I grabbed a nearby stick and whacked its head with such force that its snout started bleeding. I hit it again but it grabbed the stick with its teeth. I then used my foot and kicked it in the gut, it whining in pain.

I felt terrible-

Todd used his knife again, going for its head this time. One swift movement and it was dead, Todd rushing back to me with a bloody knife.

'We make a good team. She can fight! I didn't know that -- that was cool...' "Are you okay?" 'Be a man. Be a man.' Todd shook my shoulder as I looked at the lifeless animal.

It was dead. Todd had killed it. I had helped him. I had never killed anything before. I always just made sure I wouldn't run into anything by not traveling much, and when I did, I hid.

I never attacked. I never caused pain...

"We should bury it..." Todd looked at me confused as I walked over to it, Monche letting out a small cry as he nuzzled the huge body.

'Bury it? It tried to kill us! I had to kill! Because I'm a man!' "Why?" 

"I don't know --- that just feels like the right thing to do..." 

Todd and I then spent an hour digging a huge hole, marking the death...I even put frozen flowers next to it, that being something that seemed nice.

'She's weird. Why'd she do that? That was stupid. It tried to eat us!' "We should find some food." Todd looked annoyed as we walked side by side.

"I'm sorry if that was odd to you but I've never seen anything like that. I just don't want to take a life so carelessly." He stopped and looked over to me, shaking his head.

His noise was quiet for a moment, which scared me.

"Whatever. Let's go."

✘✘✘

As we created another tent-like structure for the night, Todd laid down, opening his mouth to speak.

"I'm not bad..." I looked over at him puzzled and saw how worried his expression was. "I know that. Why would you say that?" Todd shrugged but his noise told me everything.

'Killing made you sad. Made you feel wrong. I killed. I did that. Does that mean you think I'm wrong, bad?'

I shook my head. "It was to stay alive, Todd. I understand that."

He nodded and reached his hand out. He slowly pulled a leaf out of my hair, smiling as he showed me what he had found. I smiled back as I snatched it out of his hand, playfully swatting at his hand.

"I used to have really long hair -- and every older woman in my village would love to braid it..." I paused, not realizing I had just relived a memory of mine, though it felt foreign.

"Really? You'd look nice with long hair. Though, I like it now." 'Her braids must've been beautiful. I wonder if she'll grow her hair again? Her hair's nice...she has a- I am Todd Hewitt. I am Todd Hewitt.'

I laid my head down and looked up at him. "Goodnight." He laid down next to me and offered his hand. I took it and curled into a small ball.

'Goodnight.'