Breakfast(Alex, Rufus)

Seeing that the girl was beginning to stir awake, Glottack thought it best to leave. Surely his herd would be wondering where he had been all night. He took one last look at the poor creature lying on the ground then turned to head towards home.

Alex awoke early in the morning feeling well rested. For a moment she thought she was back home and all of yesterday's happenings were nothing but a dream. But when she glanced over to look at her horse, she knew that it was no dream.

Feeling her stomach churn with hunger, Alex felt that her first task would be to acquire some food. A rabbit would be her best bet since she was already in the woods. She went about her work fixing a snare a little bit further into the wood. While she sat waiting for her breakfast, she studied the forest that was hidden from her in the dark. The trees and thickets looked like any other that she had seen. She was even able to make out a path going leading into the dense underbrush, plainly used by deer or other large game animals.

Snap! Without much of a wait , Alex had her rabbit. She approached the poor creature with knife in hand so she could end it's life while it was still tied up.

"Well, I never..."Came the agitated words. Alex nearly fell over backwards she was so startled. Looking around her to try to determine where the voice came from. She saw nothing.

"Now I know I'm gong crazy,"she laughed at herself. " Your hunger must be causing you to hear things." She again approached the rabbit and stopped dead in her tracks. There in front of her was the rabbit struggling against the trap and - talking! "impossible, rabbits don't talk."

At the sound of her voice the rabbit looked up. "You there, silly girl, untie me!"

Alex stood there with her mouth hanging open. Her brain wouldn't function to give her directions in this situation. " You can talk?" she blurted out once her mouth moved.

"Oh, you are a smart one," came the sarcastic reply. "Now, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me."

Alex pocketed her knife. She couldn't eat something that was talking to her, it seemed to barbaric. While the rabbit babbled on about his predicament, Alex released him from the snare.

"Thank you," said the rabbit as he looked over himself to make sure all of him was out of the trap. "Rufus is the name. And you are?"

"Alex. Alex Milds." She extended a hand for him to shake and to her surprise he did.

Rufus looked at the girl more closely then. Hopping around her and looking this way and that. "Do they know you are here?" he asked.

"Who?"Alex began to eye the forest warily now, not sure of what the rabbit was talking about.

"That would be a 'no.' We best get you to the Keepers. They don't take to strangers in their forest, you know." Rufus began to hop off. Alex stood there looking after him. "Well, come along," came the harried order, "we mustn't keep them waiting. "

Alex tried to explain to the rabbit that she needed to collect her belongings but he wouldn't have it. "We must hurry or it will be the both of us for breakfast."

Not sure of who the Keepers were, she thought it best to heed Rufus's warning and hurry along. Hopefully, she would be able to find her way back to her things later on.

Alex tried her best to follow the rabbit through the thick forest. She was thankful for Rufus's constant chattering as it helped guide her when she would loose sight of him. Together they worked their way to the heart of the wood, a knot of anxiety forming in the pit of her stomach.

Breaking through into a clearing, she came face to face with the Keepers. With the previous day's turmoil and the lack of food, her body was unable to deal with the shock. She collapsed in a heap at the creatures hooves.