A loud, sharp yelp awoke Noah in an instant. It was so warm with Hannil in the sleeping bad that Noah hardly realized it when he awoke; neither the small amount of sweat nor the weight on his back and side nor the feeling of Hannil's even and long breaths bothered Noah, none told him anything was wrong. Noah was numbed from their kissing and touching. His body alive with joyful electricity that reminded him of caffeine at the very idea of Hannil being near, he was lightened and calmed by him being truly flush against him.

Not a thing was wrong until he heard another high-pitched yelp followed by whimpering from a hurt animal. It reminded Noah of a dog that had been hit by a car outside his house when he was a child. It sounded dog-like, he thought as it continued to cry, but he hadn't seen any place for a dog to be when they were driving or setting up their tents.

Hannil's heat kept lulling him back into sleep; he wanted to fall onto him, to lean back on his chest and feel his steady breathing. The rain had stopped, dawn was approaching. Noah was calmed by it until he heard even more panicked whimpering from the dog.

"Hannil," Noah whispered when the animal only cried in the distance.

He didn't move, his breath continued on Noah's neck told Noah that he was sound asleep. Even after Noah wormed his way out of the bag, he didn't change. He was hard to wake, Noah considered as he shivered at the cold morning. 

He regretted leaving the bag yet he smiled at the sight of Hannil rolling onto his back and sighing gently. 

Noah called out to him again and again; he shook his shoulder and tried to wake him without waking the girls but Hannil was unfazed. The dog sounded alone and vulnerable and Noah felt he couldn't sleep the more it cried.

Maybe, he thought, the dog was just scared and he'd be able to bring it to the tent and go right back to sleep. He could explain it to Hannil when he naturally woke up. Still, Noah tried to wake him several more times as he put on his shoes and small coat.

Noah had a lump in his throat when he opened the tent and was a bit surprised by how light it was in the early morning hour. The forest was covered in dew and fog, but it was not thick enough for Noah to not know what was a tree and what was a figure, instead it was a beautiful dusting and reminded Noah of paintings and lights one might compare to that of angels. The serenity was broken when the dog wailed; it was so desperate that Noah considered if it was truly injured. If it was truly hurt and needed Hannil to help him. Noah couldn't handle an injured dog, he knew that, but he could wake Hannil either. 

After Hannil didn't awake again and the dog only wailed, Noah took a step toward the forest and stopped when he felt something fall from his pocket. The same dark rock that was in his pocket from Father Antoine's church lay in the twigs and leaves. With a sigh, Noah stooped to retrieve it.

It was neither the rock nor picking it up startled him, nothing about it was abnormal from when he had seen it the night before. He looked it over for marks and it had none. Nothing had changed until Noah looked out into the forest once again. It was scenery startled him; it was trees. All trees. There were no tents, no burned out campfire, no stakes, no car, no road; they had all vanished.

"Hannil!" He cried as he turned around again and again in on the leaves and twigs, the mud squished beneath him, his heart ran into his ears. He called again, then for Ines and Celeste; if Hannil couldn't be woken, they could.

Yet another noise greeted him, the yelp from the dog was much, much closer than it had been. If he could find it, camp could be found.

Noah raced through the branches toward the whimpering. He didn't stop to move through them carefully. He had an uneasy feeling that Leuthold was still near him, that he was suddenly transported back to it; he had the same taste in his mouth Leuthold gave him. He had to escape it. His eyes searched for not only the dog but anything blue that didn't belong in a forest; he had almost complained about the ugly color of the tents, now he was glad they were so out-of-place.

The yelp of the dog was all he had to guide him through the fog and trees. The dog's yelping made him feel hopeless. Dogs weren't known for getting lost, he thought, if it was lost, he was doomed. Noah too began to shout, both for the dog to hear him and call out to Hannil or Celeste or Ines or anyone to hear him.

Before his legs tired, he found himself tumbling down a small cliff that he hadn't seen amongst his tears and the fog. He landed in a bed of thousands and thousands of pebbles, the mud and sand gave little leeway to his rough landing. The mist rolled over the small creek and Noah swore into it as he sat up onto his ankles.

It was then that a noise told him that he was not alone. There was a movement on the other creek bed and Noah feared the worst: the figure, Berg, Mi Na, Leuthold itself. Instead, he saw a dog pull itself away from him, limp in its hindquarters and bleeding from its side. It had red fur and spindly legs, large ears and tail. It looked frightened; its round eyes pleaded with Noah to be left alone.

Noah wanted to leave it alone and go about his way but it was so badly injured he simply couldn't look away from it. It collapsed only a short distance away from where it began to leave him and began to cry once again, closing its eyes and begged for mercy; it was the dog that had woken him. 

"It's okay," Noah calmly said to it as he moved over the creek. 

The dog tried to move further away from him, whining and crying to be left alone, a trail of blood followed it. Noah caught up to it and squatted near its back. It froze beneath his touch. Noah knew little of dogs, his father had been too allergic for him to have one. It had soft yet coarse fur and was warmer than he thought they should be.

After it settled, Noah looked back over his shoulder knowing that his camp was near.

"Hannil! Celeste! Ines! Aidez moi!" He called out.

For a moment or two, he was quiet and listened to the forest and the dog panting beneath his hand. It was quieter than he ever imagined a forest to be; he strained to hear something but nothing greeted him. He patted the dog's head, trying to reassure it. 

"They're nearby," he told it, "you're going to be fine. Be still. We're almost finished."

 The dog looked at him, sharp eyes that had an intensity Noah felt he knew them. They were similar, but he knew those eyes.

Before Noah could call out once again, the dog abruptly turned and sunk its sharp teeth into his hand. Noah let out a loud yelp and jumped backward. Instead of falling the matter of inches he expected, Noah fell long enough for him for him to panic and landed not on mud and rock but on solid tile.

It took a moment for Noah to look above him, to open his eyes as his body ached all over, his breath tight in his throat, and his head hammered. He felt evermore frightened as he recognized the lights above him as those Ms. Rae had blocked out with her body; he had not seen them since he left the infirmary.

[ A/N: end of this chapter! Let me know what you think by voting and/or commenting! :) ]