The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

9

She was waiting in the cave, trying her best to be silent and unseen. Holding her breath. The large creature kept coming closer and closer. She could hear the sound of breathing as lungs far larger than her own exchanged air. Until it sounded as though it was right in front of the barely concealed entrance to the cave. She was cowering, certain that a horrific and bloody end was about to find her.

She remembered how the Hyena had always talked about bear shifters. Threatening that they would let one rape her as a bear if she kept acting up. Maybe they had found her and were going to follow up on that threat. She wouldn't go back, she gave up being silent, reaching for the mostly broken knife she had in her pocket. Trying to find the will to make her own hand open up her throat so she could die-

Then she heard a familiar cawing from just outside the cave. Then again. She opened her eyes. Setting the broken knife down on the cave floor. The raven called out to her again, over and over. Slowly and with great reservations she made her way to the exit of the cave, of all the possibilities of what would be waiting for her, she was not expecting what she saw.

An enormous elk was standing just outside the cave. The raven perched on one antler, most of a tree tangled in the other antler, the source of the dragging noise that had sounded through the woods. The raven cawed at her again. Bouncing on the antler and pointing its beak towards the tree. She noticed there was a small hatchet stuck in the tree.

Hesitantly, she approached the elk. It was massive. Far taller than she was. It could crush her under its hooves and barely even notice her. The elk bowed its head downward as she approached. The tree trunk had gotten wedged in the antlers somehow. She grabbed hold of the tree and tried to shift it up and out. It was almost too heavy for her to be able to shift on her own. The trunk too wide for her small hands to get a complete grip.

She tried her hardest to dislodge the tree. The elk moved its head, helping her try and free him, until the tree finally dislodged from the antler it had been tangled in and fell to the forest floor. The raven alighted from the antler it had been using as a perch and jumped to a nearby tree to watch.

The elk shook its massive head, grateful to be free of the weight. The large, noble animal looked at her with one eye, nodding once in her general direction and slowly began to plod away from her and back into the woods. The sound of song birds and squirrels starting back around her as she watched the elk walk away.

She remembered her fire, and jumped to toss more wood from her greatly diminished brush pile into the still glowing coals. Breathing a sigh of relief as the small twigs caught fire from the embers once again. She went to the tree she had dislodged from the elk. Wrenching the hatchet out of the trunk, she began to hack away at the tree, finally getting decent sized branches that would hopefully burn for longer than a few seconds.

She no longer had to go farther and farther away from her cave to find wood she could salvage. There was plenty nearby now that she had the means to split dead wood down to size. Now that she could access bigger longer burning pieces of wood, the pot of potato finally came to a boil. The potatoes eventually cooked and after a meal of boiled potatoes and apples she was exhausted. The night was cold. She put on extra layers as she got ready for bed. Wrapped herself up in her one blanket and was quickly asleep on the smooth floor of the cave.

The morning found her being awakened by the raven cawing at her. Her body cold and stiff from sleeping on the ground. She was safe, and dry, she ate the last of her apples for breakfast, filling up by drinking water from the stream. "A city?" She asked the raven once she had made certain that her fire was completely extinguished, and all her meagre supplies were accounted for and back in her bag.

The raven cawed and took off, and she followed close behind. She had two potatoes left, and no water with her. She hoped the raven would be able to bring her towards more food today. When the sun was high overhead, the raven had shown no signs of stopping. There was a new sound, one she wasn't able to discern what it was.

At least not until a low flying jetliner screamed overhead, clearly making a landing attempt nearby. The raven kept leading her until through the trees she saw a freeway and could now easily tell that the sound she had been hearing for at least the past hour was the sound of traffic on a busy highway. An airport and busy highway meant a city.

Surviving in a city would better align with the skills she had versus trying to rough it in the woods. She had been alone in a city before and survived. She continued to follow the raven all day. On straight stretches he would fly far away, was keeping his distance while never leaving her line of sight. She had not expected a wild raven to be so helpful, or enduring in offering assistance.

People made friends with corvids. Usually the exchange went the other way with people offering the intelligent birds food. Her raven was working to keep her fed. They reached an industrial park outside the airport. The raven brought her to a cafe whose only purpose was to have food available while the bulk of the businesses were open. This area had cheap rent. It was too far from the city and thanks to airport expansion the streets had become a disjointed maze. The Cafe had recently closed for the evening, and left all the unsold baked goods on a table in a cardboard box at the rear of the building, a plastic sheet draped overtop to protect the baked goods. A secret supply for those in the know that might be in need.

She was looking at heaven. Sandwiches, bagels, wraps, muffins and scones. The raven cawed and hit the box, flying up and away. She needed to be faster. She grabbed several random options, just one sandwich for now, a wrap for later and a couple of the sweets. The raven had her travel through several unconnected parking lots, emerging onto a street far from where she had started. She ate while walking. Quickly. It was going to be dark soon.

She was still too far from where people would be active after dark. She had never driven a car before and had no idea how to steal one. A bus would be ideal, but a bus needed money in hand. That was going to be a problem. She had no money, none. She had gotten lost in her thoughts. Surviving the woods she had been flailing and failing forward, only getting this far because a very friendly raven had decided to help her.

Considering what she would be willing to do to earn money. If it meant staying free of Gisella and the cackle, she might be willing to do almost anything. Shaking her head, she would cross those bridges when she had to. She looked up for the raven, and could not see it. It wasn't on the street light where it had perched. She had been lost in her own thoughts. She had stopped paying attention for a moment.

Fearing that she was absolutely on her own. She tried to stay calm as her exhausted mind and body took this set back too hard. A caw to her side. Immediately, she turned and walked towards the sound. Finding the raven sat on a back step to a not well maintained low office building. The raven jumped from the step bouncing off the top of a rusted, unlocked mailbox.

Once it was obvious she would do as the raven bid, he flew a safe distance away. She opened up the mailbox and found money. A small hoarded collection of coins and even a few bills. One of which she saw right away was a fifty. She grabbed one of the knit socks from her bag and took all of the cash. Counting as she went, it was close to one hundred bucks when she grabbed the last silver quarter. Tying the top of the sock in a knot and tucking it back into her bag. She looked for the raven and followed after. "A bus?" She asked quietly. Hearing a percussive caw in response.

The sun had just set as she arrived at a bus stop, several buses that ran until nine pm. She didn't have a watch but she thought it had to be earlier in the night. The city she was in was not one she was familiar with. Wouldn't ever hazard a guess to find it on a map. She didn't know which bus to take. The number three or seventeen? The raven flew overhead, dropping a twig that had three leaves attached.

Bus number three it was. She hoped it was the next one to come by. She needed to see how large this city was, figure out a plan. She looked up towards the raven, sat on a street light at the intersection nearest the bus top. He wouldn't follow her in the bus, and she wouldn't be able to keep an eye on him. This was going to be it. "Thank you." She told the bird. She had no clue why it had done what it had for her, she was deeply grateful.

It had been days since she escaped. The longest any previous attempt had been for any of the girls she knew of had been less than two days. For the first time, in such a long time, she felt something one might consider to be optimism. A spark of hope that she could manage to find a way to disappear into the city.