"I bet I can stay on the track longer than you," Alex said in a challenging tone once he saw Sun's expression drop in the silence. They had moved on from the large city and were once again making their way to Ryseden. Now they were walking along a railroad. Weeds had grown over the wooden planks, half burying the track back into nature.

Sun looked back up surprisingly at her companion. Her expression clearly showed that she was so deep in thought, she had forgotten Alex was there.

"What?" she asked him, her cheeks tinging a bit with embarrassment. He smirked towards her, looking forward and jutting his chin out.

"I challenge you! Whoever can keep their balance on the railroad ties wins!" he declared, looking at her out of the corner of his eye with a sly smile. She gave him a strange look, adjusting the grip she had on her backpack straps.

"Why?" she questioned. "What's the point?" Alex chortled, shaking his head towards her.

"You, my friend, don't know how to have fun! There's no point! It's just to occupy our time and give us something to do," he explained to her, hopping up onto the left side of the track. He brought his arms out a bit to help balance himself as he walked along the line.

"But won't that deter us from getting to Ryseden faster? We'll be so focused on not falling that we'll go slower," she pointed out to him, crossing her arms over her chest. Alex whined from up on his beam.

"Come on, Sun," he complained, a slight pout puckering his bottom lip. "Just this once? So what if we get a few hours behind. Live a little!" Sun bit her lip in contemplation as she looked at the bellyaching teenager. Without saying anything in reply, she jumped up onto the right railroad tie, teetering a bit. Alex whooped excitedly, rocking viciously when his balance was thrown off. Sun chuckled at his antics, before placing a foot in front of the other and continuing down the track.

"So, what's the prize for when I win?" she asked teasingly. Alex's mouth dropped in offense as he gave her a side look.

"When you win? Excuse me, but in my childhood, I was five times in a row winning railroad tightrope walker of my class!" Sun raised an eyebrow, not bothering to look up from her concentration on her feet.

"'Five time in a row winning railroad tightrope walker'? That's lame," she mocked. "I've won seven in a row!" she continued, a boasting smile stretching across her face. A harsh scoff came from Alex, and she peeked up quickly enough to see what he was doing before looking back down.

"Whatever, turd burger," he mumbled out. Silence stretched on for a bit, aside from the occasional squeal from either party. "The winner gets the chocolate bar I stole out of your bag a few nights ago."

"You what!?" Sun exclaimed, her arms turning into windmills as she fought to regain balance from her out burst. When she did, she turned her icy glare towards the boy who stopped parallel to her. A cheeky grin rested on his face. "You better not have touched a single piece of that delicious, chocolate-y goodness!" He raised his hands in surrender. He started forward again, and she trained her dirty look to follow him a few more steps before she started walking again.

"Don't worry, milady! I wouldn't want to start something personal with you," he said in a joking matter. Her scowl deepened as she continued walking.

"And the loser?" she asked. Alex hummed before silence once again ensued.

"The loser has to watch the other one eat the bar!"

"That's a stupid penalty," she muttered under her breath, but didn't reject the idea.

They continued on for a ways before her balance was sudden thrown off. Her arms flew around crazily counter-clockwise as shriek accidentally ripped from her lips. She started falling, but then suddenly she wasn't. She blinked in confusion a few times before realizing a hand rested on each shoulder. She looked up to see Alex. She then looked down to see him off his beam as well.

"Looks like we tied," Alex stated, steadying Sun. She looked back up at his face, noticing how he still hadn't moved his hands away. There were a few moments of stillness. Neither of them moved; their gazes locked on to each other. Then slowly, Alex started leaning towards Sun; his face angled a bit. She stiffened at his actions, but didn't move. She followed his movements before her eyes slipped shut involuntarily.

Now, she could feel his light breaths against her lips. Sun could practically feel Alex's lips against her's. Then a loud, feral snarl sounded followed by responding ones. The two of them shoved away from each other quickly, the soon to be kiss interrupted by their new assailants. They both readied their weapons, scanning the area that the sound came from. A nearby bush rustled, and Sun zeroed in on it. The unmistakable gleam of savage eyes shone out from the shadows.

"Shit!" Sun swore. She pushed Alex the opposite way. "Go! Closest tree!" Sun fired a few shots into the brush, thankful when a cacophony of yelps and cries arose from it. She darted off towards a large, nearby tree. She whipped around, shooting a few more shots towards the now emerging rabid, feral dogs. Alex was lagging a bit behind, since he insisted on carrying all the bags for a while but longer.

"Alex! Drop the bags! We are not going to lose them to a pack of dogs. We'll get them later!" Sun rushed out, ushering her companion to move quicker. As Alex began to hurriedly shrug out of the bags, one of the dogs lunged forward, latching onto his forearm. A cry of pain and distress leaped from his mouth as the canine began to slow him and drag Alex down. He reached for the handgun he had tucked into his waistband with his free hand, wrapping it around his torso to shoot the dog square in the face.

Sun jumped into action, shooting another beast that got to close to Alex as he finished removing the last bag. He sprinted after her, as they quickly climbed the tree.

Once they were high enough off the ground, Sun looked back down to the forested floor to see three dogs pacing back and forth at the stump. She took this time to really observe their appearance. Their fur was mangled and patchy. Dry blood and fresh blood alike slickened and tinted the fur in unnatural colors. Their faces alone were marred by scars. One dog even had an eyeball long missing. Sun couldn't help but feel pity for the dogs despite the constant snarling and snapping of grotesque, rotted teeth.

At that time, a deep breath inhaled sharply next to her, and she remembered that Alex had been bit. She quickly assessed his condition. He was holding a hand tightly against the wound on his arm. She nodded to herself curtly before raising her weapon and aiming it down towards the dogs that treed them.

"I'm sorry you turned out this way," she mumbled under her breath towards the dogs before firing a few quick shots, downing the threats immediately. She shimmied down the tree, kicking each corpse lightly to make sure they weren't still alive. Once the coast was clear, she gestured for Alex to come down before heading towards the abandoned packs.

She slung her weapon over her shoulders before grabbing a bag in each hand and started back to Alex. He rested against the a larger tree stump, panting in pain.

"This hurts like a bitch," he said, laughing breathlessly to try and lighten the mood. Sun rolled her eyes, taking out a bottle of water, some gauze, a bandage, and a towel.

"I don't have any alcohol, so we are going to have to keep an eye on the wound to make sure it doesn't get infected." With that, she unscrewed the bottle of water, dumping a bit on the wound. He hissed as she took the towel, dabbing and lightly rubbing the wound.

"You big baby," she commented, not looking up from the injury. "Luckily enough, this doesn't look so deep that you would need stitches." She assured him before grabbing the bandage. She laid it over the wound, pressing it lightly into it before wrapping the gauze around it a few times. "Too bad we don't have sugar."

"Sugar?" Alex asked hesitantly, not sure he wanted to know what she was going to do with said sugar. She nodded in response, packing up their materials.

"Yes, granulated sugar helps heal wounds quicker. I found this out when I was job shadowing a vet for high school." She smiled thinly at Alex. "It worked, but it stunk like roadkill."

"That's lovely," Alex muttered to Sun, watching as she finished putting away the materials. "Thanks for patching me up, doc."