Traveling through a birch forest was a young girl with her trusted steed by her side. The sun was at its peak and casting its rays upon the growing trees. She had a smile across her face while humming a silent melody. The grass beneath her crackled with every soft step and crunched with the horse.

It had been a peaceful day on this world. With not a care in the world, the young girl stopped to pick some flowers, placing the horse’s leash onto a nearby pole.

She appeared to be a woman in her late teens. Her silky orange hair tied into a ponytail that hung over her shoulder, bright green eyes that sparkled like gems as she admired the nature around her, and her contagious smile that shined with her eyes.

Everything about this woman seemed unnatural in a sense. At first glance she could come off as intimidating or cruel. Her green eyes, though beautiful, were small and demeaning. Her figure was rather muscular for the typical woman her age. She resembled an athlete that had also been tasked to look their best.

She wore a cotton green shirt and brown pants of the same material. On her back was a leather casing full of arrows, and a wooden bow had a situation called for them. She was well trained in the art of archery and wouldn’t flinch to take a shot.

The horse huffed and sneezed once it tried to sniff one of the flowers. A bee sprouted from the plant and flew off into the distance. The girl watched and laughed as the horse lowered its head. She walked over and began patting it’s mane, reassuring to it that it was safe. Her soft voice soothed the horse’s embarrassment.

This wasn’t the first time they’ve come here. Every once in a while, they would adventure out of the village in search for building materials and would often get distracted by the view. She couldn’t help herself most of the time.

“One day,” she said placing her forehead on a white spot laying on the horse’s head. “One day we’ll move out of the village. This will be our home.” She stepped back and looked into the horse’s dark brown eyes. “You won’t have to worry about anything ever again.”

She walked over to the leash and removed it from the pole. They continued their path towards a river going downstream. The girl pulled out a bucket from the horse’s saddle and reached for the water. Her reflection looked back at her with a nasty glare. Just as she was about to touch underneath her eyes, all of a sudden she heard branches cracking followed by a loud thud. She quickly reached for her bow and turned around, pulling back an arrow with her narrowed eyes.

There was no one behind her.

Now full of suspicion, the girl walked closer towards the forest she had just left. Her bow remained pulled and her hunting face on. She was scared of the unknown. As she struggled to steady her breath, her footsteps went silent.

Grunts came from the location of the thud.

“Maybe it’s a zombie?” She thought. She raised her head and looked at the bright morning sun shining above the clouds. There was no way.

The closer she got, the clearer were the sounds the thing was making. It’s steps crunched the ground beneath it. From audio clues, she could tell it was a sentient being. It’s vocal cues would occasionally grow to be as loud as a painful grunt, to as soft as a whisper. It didn’t move far from it’s location. Since the thud, it remained fairly in place.

Her heart started pounding. Upon every step she felt the impending doom of a bite that could leave her bedridden. She lost control of her breath; breathing straight from her mouth like she had a fever. Sweat ran down her head and her grip loosened. After a gulp of saliva, she reached the tree opposite to the unknown creature.

She took a moment to herself to breathe; in and out, to regain her composure. Keeping silent and not knowing what was on the other side, she pulled her arrow back.

She waited a moment to strike. Vaulting out from her hiding spot and shooting the arrow directly at the sound, she sharpened her glare and narrowed her eyes. The arrow darted from her release and was heading straight for the things shoulder.

She saw what was standing there. In the middle of the sun, a zombie in a cyan shirt and blue pants was looking away from her. The girl seemed confused. For a zombie to be standing in broad daylight, and for it to be in perfect condition too was impossible. She had a feeling that the ‘zombie’ wasn’t a ‘zombie’. Though it’s structure and clothing seemed to be exactly the same, the way it stood wasn’t… undead.

For the few seconds before it got hit, she studied it’s form. Unlike the common zombie, this thing was standing tall. A hand in a pocket and one on its forehead. Just like her, it seemed confused. It’s luscious brown hair set it apart from a zombie’s dark green. From its tanned nape she could tell it wasn’t a zombie.

It was like her.

Before she could shout out to the person, the arrow punctured straight through it’s shoulder. The person lunged forward in pain and held onto it’s shoulder. Cries and curses were being shouted from the person. It’s deep musky voice confirmed the girl’s suspicion, but rather than going out to help, she jumped back to hiding.

The person fell to it’s knees and turned to look at the trees. It’s breaths grew deep and shaky. Confusion riddled it’s face as it searched the area and saw nothing.

“Who are you?!” The girl shouted from behind the tree. Her voice was still shaking and her posture was stiff. The person dressed like a zombie turned to the tree. The forest of thin white trees didn’t do a good job of hiding the girl’s body. Like hiding behind a telephone pole, she stood out. Her ginger hair and pale skin were easily distinguishable from the green leaves.

The person stood up with a heavy breath.

“Are you the one that shot me?!” He shouted back. Surprised to hear a response, the girl’s eyes widened. “Where am I? Where are the others?”

“Answer me first!”

“You know I can see you?”

The girl drew another arrow and turned back to the person. With her arrow ready and posture as stiff as a rock, she was ready to attack. She looked into the dark blue eyes of the tanned man. His stubble beard and the scar resting on his left cheek caught her attention. Now more curious than anything, she wanted to know more.

“Answer me, or else.”

The person looked into the girl’s mean green eyes in shock. Her narrow glare and furious temper scared him. With a step back, he flinched.

“Who…” she drew her arrow further back. “Are you?”

“…” The man didn’t know how to respond. Every second he waited, the hazier his memory got. “My name is Steve,” he answered.

“What business do you have here?” She asked. “If you’re a new Wandering Trader, we told the last guy that we don’t want your shit!”

“Wandering what?” The guy replied. He tried moving his punctured arm and felt the staggering pain from the arrow plunged in. He immediately dropped his hand and grunted. “Listen,” he said through his teeth, “why don’t you tell me what’s-?”

“Quit stalling!” She interrupted. “Tell me what you’re doing here. Are you a spy?”

“No- what?! I don’t know!” The both of them gradually increased their tone while yelling back and forth.

“You don’t know?! How don’t you know why you’re here?! That makes no sense!”

“Says the one that shot me for no reason!”

“No reason?!” She shouted back while nudging her bow down. From the gesture, the boy looked at his clothes. “Are you a zombie?” He raised his head in confusion.

“No!” He shouted. Steve looked at the girl’s mean eyes. “Do I look like I’m a fucking zombie?!”

“Why do you look like me?” She asked again. The heavy footsteps from her horse slowly approached the two while they conversed.

“What do you mean?!”

“…uh,” the girl didn’t know how to respond. Something about him felt different compared to the people she saw every day. He resembled her image more than anyone else in the village. His clothes were different, physical structure and skin tone were unlike the villagers, and the way he spoke was in modern English. This is the first time she encountered someone like this, and it creeped her out.

“You don’t look like the villagers,” she said nervously. “Where are you from?”

“I… don’t know.” His answer caught her off guard. “Last thing I remember is a dark void.” Confused, the girl lowered her bow and stood up. Steve got a full view of her and looked away. “Do you mind telling me your name?”

The girl rested a hand on the horse’s mane and started rubbing it. “I’m Alex.”

“As in… Alexandra?”

“No.” She shut him down. He continued to name off female versions of the name Alex while getting her angry. A noticeable vein appeared on her forehead while she struggled to keep calm. Steve stopped as soon as he noticed.

“Just Alex?” The girl nodded. “Right…” Steve chuckled. “Just Alex.”

Alex slid her bow back in its pouch and reached for the bucket she returned to the horse’s saddle. Steve watched while clutching onto his shoulder. The pain was starting to get to him, causing blunders in his speech and disabling him from thinking straight. The blood that had caressed it’s way down his spine began to dry out, leaving a dark red stain on the back of his cyan shirt.

After equipping the half full bucket, Alex walked towards him. “Stay still,” she whispered while dropping the bucket next to him. Alex grabbed the bottom of her shirt and forcefully pulled it apart.

Steve watched as she dumped the cloth into the bucket and rolled it around. He didn’t know what to do but watch. When she stood up, he grabbed a hold of the arrow. Steve flinched from the pain of feeling it move in his shoulder, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. Alex was impressed by his fortitude, but knew she couldn’t just pull it out. Steve attempted to put up a strong front, but he wasn’t tricking anyone. Even the horse could see the tears forming in his eyes through every deep breath.

“It’s in pretty deep.” Alex said trying to get a reaction out of him. “Takin’ it out will hurt a lot. Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Steve whimpered. “Just… hurry it up.”

Alex chuckled while reaching for the cloth. The water remaining on it poured back into the bucket, leaving it as a soaking mess. After a little twist, she asked Steve to take a deep breath. His heart started pounding through his chest. He had a feeling he knew what she was going to do, and feared for his life.

In between his first deep breath, Alex pulled the arrow right out of Steve’s shoulder like pulling a tooth. He pushed his stomach forward in pain and cried from the top of his lungs. Hastily, Alex took the wet cloth and wrapped it around his shoulder from his armpits to his collarbone, tightening it up like a Christmas present.

The tough act that Steve was putting up fell flat as his eyes released enough water to fill the bucket. Alex’s green cloth quickly turned red from the blood, but slowed down just as fast. She fell back and exhaled with a feeling of accomplishment. Her light “phew” somehow managed to get on Steve’s nerves while he cried in pain.

“You’re evil, you know that?”

“I pride myself.” Alex replied lifting the bucket. “This world doesn’t reward softies.” She stood up with a grunt. “You’ve gotta toughen up to survive.”

“What do you mean?” Steve’s eyes followed Alex as she made her way to the horse. After patting its head, she hopped on its back and looked to the sky. The sun was still high and showed no signs of falling anytime soon, which seemed to have relieved her a bit.

“It’s dangerous to roam the woods at night. Monsters lurk every corner, ones that can end you in a single move.” Steve seemed confused while listening to Alex’s warnings. He couldn’t tell if she was being serious or trying to be creepy. After all her talk about monsters, she leaned in on the horse’s back and rested her chin on it’s head. She carried a smug smile and examined Steve’s body from head to toe. “I can’t let you stay out here alone, Steve. Come with me.”

Creeped out, Steve winced back. “You don’t plan on doing something weird to me, do you?”

“Depends on what you consider to be weird.” Alex answered as the horse turned around, continuing her track to the river to fetch some water. Steve watched as the ginger and her brown spotted horse walked into the forest of birch trees.

He didn’t know if he should follow the girl that shot him, but then again, what else was there for him to do? He had no idea where he came from and where he suddenly appeared. Even his identity was slowly blurring the longer he remained in the forest. Before long, the threats Alex was telling Steve about the monsters got to him. In fear, he ran towards Alex in an effort to follow along.

Alex giggled when she saw Steve approach her side with his brows furrowed and eyes towards the ground. Her teasing and playing only further lowered his opinion on her.

“Where are you taking me?” Steve asked under his breath.

“We’re getting some water for the village.” Alex replied with a smile.

“Is that where you live?”

“Yeah, It’s been where I call home for as long as I can remember. Some of the people living there have been taking care of me. They supply me with food, water, and shelter for the expense of running a few errands for them.”

“Are they different from us?”

“Oh yeah!” Alex chuckled. “Not a single one of them can grow a strand of hair on their heads. They’ve got unibrows thicker than my thumbs, and noses bigger than a squid’s. Most of them can’t talk straight, only capable of a few grunts and hums, but the librarians know our language better than I do.”

Steve was fascinated while listening to Alex talk about her home. It was like listening to a fairy tale about some mystical land, even though she was just making fun of the people sheltering her. She told several stories about her learning ventures. The more she spoke about it, the more he wanted to experience it himself.

From listening to her, Steve took the mindset that the village was a place of safety and serenity. A place hidden in plain sight that housed dozens of strange human-like creatures and a few stone guardians. Alex was overjoyed while telling her tales, with her smile reaching both her cheeks.

Once they reached the river, Steve took a seat and leaned in towards the clean water. Seeing his reflection surprised him. Alex has been saying that the two look alike, but one glance at her reflection canceled that idea. Every aspect of their character refuted the idea of them looking alike. Alex was shorter than Steve, granted only by a few inches, but it was a noticeable difference. Their skin tone, facial features, eyes, hair, and body, nothing was the same.

The smile across Alex’s face as she shoveled the water, along with the stories she told on the way gave Steve the idea that he’s the first actual person she met. The thought of that made him smile in return.

“If we leave now,” Alex got up and put the bucket in the horse’s saddle. “I think we can make it before the villagers get out of work.”

Steve stood up and walked up to her. “What happens if we get there late?”

“Nothing really,” she answered. “The villagers can supply you with some tools to start. If you really are like me, you can do whatever you want.”

“Do whatever I want?” Alex nodded as she hopped on the horse. “Do the villagers not have free will?”

“I ask myself that every day, but they do.” The horse began its trail east and Steve walked alongside it. It kept at a steady pace as not to drop the bucket. “They never want to do things with me. They say what I do is taboo, and that I should rely on the workers to get what I need.”

“What kind of stuff are you doing? I can’t imagine doing their errands being taboo.”

“Breaking down trees, starting farms-”

“Those are taboo?” Steve interrupted with a laugh.

“No, it’s the traveling part that they don’t like.”

“They don’t want you walking around?”

“Yeah. They think I’m attracting the monsters to the village because of my adventures. One of the librarians said that my arrival to the village was when things started hitting the fan for them.” She looked at the horse’s mane and began patting it with a soft smile. “Had I not left, I wouldn’t have found Beverly.”

The horse stopped in its tracks to raise its front hoofs with a neigh. Alex laughed like a child as the horse nearly threw her off. Steve couldn’t help but laugh along. The bucket on Beverly’s saddle nearly fell off, but luckily only ended up dropping a handful.

The two continued to make friendly conversation with one another. As Alex shared her stories on her life in the humble village, Steve listened, eagerly waiting for the next one. As they reached the top of the hill, and just before Alex could point in its direction, they noticed a great deal of smoke coming from it’s direction.

Standing under the sun with her eyes narrowed and mouth open, he worriedly stared ahead.