Love Unspoken

At the crack of dawn in the forest, Alexander woke up. He blinked his eyes open and saw Quinn.

She was wide awake, her eyes clear, but her cheeks were a bit flushed.

Alexander reached out and touched her forehead. "You feelin' hot. Got a fever or somethin'?" Quinn didn't look at him, just swatted his hand away and looked elsewhere, mumbling, "Maybe." "Let's get down first," Alexander said.

He grabbed the tree trunk, made a few jumps, and finally caught a branch, then hopped down to the ground.

Quinn wasn't as nimble as him and had to climb down slowly. There were two branches that were far apart, and she wobbled her foot for a long time but couldn't reach them. Alexander stood below, sneaking a peek up her clothes.

What he couldn't see clearly last night, he could see clearly now.

It was black.

Quinn struggled a lot; her toes finally touched the trunk. But as soon as she let go, her toes slipped, and she fell from the tree.

Alexander, quick-eyed and deft, took a big step forward and caught her, and then they both tumbled to the ground together.

Quinn landed on him, heard his groan, and quickly scrambled up.

made Alexander, who was already

I press on your wound?" she

the ground for a moment, then slowly sat up. "It's

back to the cave," Quinn

five or six hours of daylight. When it was dawn inside, it was at least nine o'clock outside, and when it was five o'clock outside, it might already be

they were, and whether they could find the cave depended

walked slowly with

long they had walked,

pointed at the stream,

her and reminded, "Be

was the reflection of the

water, whose surface was covered with many leaves and some miscellaneous things.

soil on both sides was very soft,

looking at the stream, "Do you think there are alligators

there

do you know?"

his gun and said,

snake, lighter in color than the branch, hanging on a branch in