Their bones were all that was left. We couldn't recognize them at all. The buildings were burnt to ash. The crops were all completely inedible. Ann is in a deep depression. I mean... Everyone she knows just died and the four of us might die too soon if we don't find food. Reed has been sitting by her side this whole time. It's already the morning after the fire. Me and Wick spent all night trying to find supplies. We gathered all the bodies we found. It was easy that it was only bones. I'd seen those before. I don't thick I could really look at a burnt body. Wick counted all the heads. There were twenty six people in the vilge minus us and there were twenty six skulls. That means no one else survived. Ann had just been getting worse the entire time. I walked past her a few times and heard quite mumbles. She keeps repeating how she wishes it was her and how she wishes she could kill herself.

  Me and Wick had only checked our closest areas for food. I went out past the fields to look in the barn. It was only partially burnt. If I'm lucky it'll have some left over bags of food. Wick told me he'd search the forest for berries. We just need enough to get to the next town. In the barn was piles of rubble. The roof had caved in. Mostly on the side with food. I dig in it for awhile. There was some bags with crushed food. I'll take them either way since it's food. After nearly ten minutes of searching I finally found a fully intact bag. It had enough food for a week. I head back with one crushed bag and the good bag. I get back to Ann and Reed talking. She seems to be cheering up. But I wouldn't want to ruin Reed's work, so I leave the bags there and head out to the forest for a small bit. I walk in the direction Wick went. The forest got thick very quick. The trees are all pink. Every tree around the vilge is normal. These are the only trees like this here.

  The forest is a creepy pce. I feel as if I'm being watched. It's been this way since I entered it. I call out Wicks name but I don't get any answers.

  "Wick! Where you at?... Wick!" I yell out.

  No response. Only the sounds of the forest. I walk deeper and deeper. around a three minute walk into the forest is wolves. Lots of them. I avoid them as much as possible. But their everywhere. Once I'm past the wolves a loud scream comes from where they just were. I start running back toward the screams. There is a pack of at least four wolves circling something. I charge in without a thought. If that is Wick I need to help. One of the wolves notices me running on. It opens it's mouth to bite me. I jump to the right and punch one that isn't looking at me in the back of the head. It's skull hurts my hand but the wolf falls down to the ground. The one that noticed me a second ago charges me. I kick the side of it's head. It does nothing to him. I feel my legs lock after that. Am I gonna die? I'm just standing here. It could kill me right now if it wants. Then a suddenly a small boy goes flying into the wolf. The other two chase after the boy. I step in front of him. Both wolves bite down on me hard. But they don't nd. A strange barrier surrounds me. I punch both wolves. Their heads nearly ftten completely. My hands have what looks like metal balls on them. But the color is blue and is translucent. I turn back to look at the boy. I had a feeling it was Wick. But it wasn't... It was just young boy. The wolf he is ying on was all sliced up. The boy has a small wooden knife in his hand. He sees me looking at him and dashes away.

  "Damn dude! Impressive." I hear from behind me. I look over and see Wick sitting in a tree.

  "What're you doing?" I ask.

  He starts to look around then he looks back at me.

  "I uh. I was just about to help that boy. Then you stepped in and I didn't want to ruin your moment!' Wick answers. I can tell he's lying out of his ass.

  "Who was that boy anyways?" I say.

  "No idea. We should probably follow him."

  Wick hops down from the tree and starts chasing after him. I follow Wick. We have to dodge a lot of trees since were really far from the entrance of the forest. But after a small while we end up outside of the forest. I ask Wick where he was going to. He said he had seen the boy the entire time. But doesn't know where he could've gone. Almost like he disappeared. I look back into the forest and then look up. There the boy was. Sitting in a tree. He get ready to jump. I sp Wick's shoulder. He look at the kid and runs to the other side of tree so the boy couldn't escape us. He just toward Wick he goes to catch him but misses and trips. I sprint to the boy and pin him to the ground. He looks terrified and I realize we look like kidnappers right now. I pick him up onto his feet.

  "Don't run!" I tell him.

  He doesn't run. He stands completely still for nearly a minute. Me and wick sit down. I motion for him to sit down too. This time if he runs he runs. I won't follow. He sits down. I start talking to him. Asking questions. He answered fast and his voice cracked. He was scared. I tell him he's okay. He doesn't need to be scared. We won't hurt him.

  "But... you... you look like the monster." He points towards me while saying this.

  "Monster?" I say shocked.

  He talks about a monster. Describing it as a burnt man. His flesh was mangled and his weapon spewed fire. I could recognize this. It was the burning man.

  "Hey wasn't that the figure a the vilge we saw st night?" Wick asks.

  "Yeah... The chief had told me about him. He's the burning man." I answer.

  I tell Wick about the how he was hero just like us. But he went crazy. Both Wick and the boy listened to the story. Once I was done the boy seemed to had calmed down. So I asked just a few more questions. He said his name was Malie. But I changed it to Mal. It fits him a lot more than Malie does. He's eight years old and both his parents died a month ago from an attack from the burning man. He said I have the same eyes as him. So I scared him. Me and Wick both agreed we should help Mal. So we take him back to Reed an Ann. Ann looks happy when we get back. Reed got her out of her depression and she decided to help us on our adventure. I introduce the two to Mal. Ann asks if taking care of an eight year old would help them at all. Reed doesn't care about his age. He said he'd help no matter his age. Mal hears them talk about it.

  "I'm a... a girl." Mal adds quietly.