Alaska began second-guessing herself. She would tell herself that going into the jungle was a horrible idea. Now she had no way out. Nowhere to go. It would only be a matter of time before someone, or something finds her. She started to sweat as the thoughts in her mind went wild with what could be lurking around the next turn in the dense jungle. She wanted to head back to the hut, but it was too late. She was lost.

Instantly Alaska could feel the presence of something behind her. She gulps and takes a deep breath, slowly turning her whole body around. She begins to shake at the sight of a large golden jaguar standing in front of her. She could see the massive, mutated cat. I was unlike something she had ever seen before in her life. Its glowing eyes frightened her to the point that she became frozen in place. “Please… Don’t eat me.” She whispers to herself. Her hands began to shake, wondering if this was her last moment alive.

It stared at her with its many eyes, and teeth, like a saber-toothed tiger, protruding out of its top jaw. It stood there without making a sound as her heart began palpitating faster and faster in her chest. She decided to make a move and step back away from it.

As Alaska backs up, the jaguar begins to growl deep inside its chest, its eyes fixed on her as it lowers its head. It starts to turn around as if it was not interested at all in her. Alaska's hands start to tremble and her heart races as she realizes the massive beast is turning around away from her.

It walks away slowly disappearing into the jungle and then turns its head to face her one last time. It blinks its many eyes and turns its head back into the foliage and finally disappears into the dense jungle. Alaska gulps as she hears a footstep behind her. Someone quickly grabs her arm.

A deep familiar voice echoes wildly in her mind. “What are you doing out here?”

Alaska gives out a big scream and then calms herself down realizing it was Ruog. She almost loses her balance in the process. She looks down at his reptilian hand that held her arm. She gives out a huge sigh of relief knowing that it wasn’t Shintiro. Ruog pulls the hood of his cloak off his head revealing the rest of his face.

Alaska takes a moment to catch her breath and collect her thoughts as Ruog holds her gently by the arm. She is still shaking from fear and adrenaline, and it takes her a few moments to calm down enough to speak.

Finally, she manages to get out a few words, her voice barely above a whisper. "I was looking for my friends..." Her voice trailed off as she began to fully comprehend the gravity of her decisions, the realization of just how dangerous the jungle was.

Ruog looks at her sympathetically, his eyes filled with concern as he realizes what she's been through. He knows that she could have been hurt or worse if she had encountered any of the dangerous creatures that live in the jungle.

He pulls her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her to comfort her as best he can, trying to calm her down and make her feel safe. He speaks in a soft voice, trying to reassure her that she's safe now. “It’s alright. Take a deep breath. It’s a good thing I found you. But you shouldn’t be out here on your own and especially with an injured leg.” Ruog begins to whisper.

“I can’t just sit around at the hut forever, Ruog. I need to be out here looking for them.”

“The jungle is not a place for someone in your condition. No matter what the circumstances are, you will not come out of this place alive with your leg the way it is. You should have listened to me and stayed back at the hut where it is…” Ruog suddenly stops talking and shifts his head to the right. He holds out his hand gesturing to Alaska to not speak. He was trying to listen to something in the distance.

Alaska notices his abrupt shift in behavior. She wonders how he could even hear anything with the sounds of water from the river echoing throughout the jungle. He’s not completely focused at all on her. Something was worrying Ruog. Alaska could feel it. “I don’t like this…” He whispers slowly. “Come on, we need to hide, something is coming.”

“What’s happening?” Alaska wanted to know exactly what was going on, but with no time to waste, Ruog picks her up and then placed her down behind a large thick bush. They lay low as they look through the dense leaves of the jungle. Ruog scans left and right to see if he could find what was making him feel uneasy. He squints his eyes as Alaska tries to look through the foliage as well trying to make out what exactly Ruog was so scared of.   

Alaska begins to whisper, asking him again. “What’s wrong, Ruog? You’re scaring me.” She tells him. “What is it?” She asks him, as he turns to look at her.

“Something… Something is out there; I can feel it.” He tells her. He tightens his grip on his wooden staff, as he steadies his breathing.

A chill runs down Alaska's spine as his words confirm her worst fears. Before she can say anything back, she hears a rustle in the bushes nearby. Ruog's body stiffens as he looks in that direction, his whole being focused on the sound. Alaska holds her breath, afraid that any noise or movement would give away their position. She can tell that something is not right, despite her lack of understanding of the situation. She knows to trust Ruog's instincts and to stay perfectly still.

All her senses are on high alert, ready to react to any danger that may arise. She can feel her heart pounding in her chest, her blood pumping through her veins. “Is it… Shintiro?” She thought. In that tense moment, she wondered about her nightmare of Shintiro and if it was all coming true. Alaska thought that if Shintiro attacked them with his green raptor they wouldn’t be able to escape. Its razor-sharp teeth would break Ruog’s staff into pieces. All these fears crept into her head.

However, her thoughts slowly began to shift to other things. She starts to wonder if maybe even Ruog was hiding something from her. Why was he suddenly extremely scared of something? She thought. She knew how skilled he was with his staff. If anything, the scary one was him, a muscular tall strong alligator wearing a dark cloak, or so she thought. She trusted him but she had no idea who Ruog was.

Regardless of what the immediate danger was, Alaska was ready to hold her ground knowing that there was no way she could run with her leg in the state that it was. Even though she hated the thought of relying on others she had no choice but to depend on Ruog’s abilities to keep her safe.

“Do you see anything?” Alaska can see leaves shake from left to right, but nothing has revealed itself just yet.

Ruog, who is kneeling amongst the foliage answers her back, “No. And that’s what concerns me.” He turns his head slowly to look at her, “We must get out of this place. It is not safe anymore.”

Alaska nods. The two of them slowly made their way through the jungle. Alaska tries to use the cover of foliage and moves in the direction that Ruog tells her to go. They are moving with great care, taking every precaution not to step on anything they might trip on, which could cause a loud noise that could give away their position.

Once they managed to get close enough to Ruog’s hidden small hut they both let out a sigh of relief. At first, they didn’t say a word, but Alaska’s curiosity was just too great to not say anything. “So…what do you think was back there?”

“It isn’t important. The important thing is that you are alive and safe.”

Alaska stops in her tracks. Ruog notices and turns around to face her. “What is it?”

She wasn’t happy with his response. She looked concerned. “Look, if there’s anything you know about what exactly happened back there, I think I’m entitled to know. Did you sense a huge animal coming our way? …or something else? …or someone?” 

“I do not know what you mean. I just sensed danger, and we got out of there before it got to us. That’s it. There is nothing you need to know other than that.” Ruog’s tone of voice was defensive, something that wasn’t normal for Ruog to sound like whenever Alaska spoke to him in the past. His mannerisms had changed completely.

Alaska was beginning to feel as if Ruog was hiding something. She didn’t know what, but something in his behavior was completely different. He was tense, not relaxed like before. “You should not have gone out there. It was reckless what you did!” Ruog points to her as if he were scolding his child. He kept looking to either the left or right as if something was still pursuing them.

Alaska was about to point out the sudden change in his behavior but decided to keep it to herself for now. She just continued to the hut and went inside as Ruog watched her walk away slowly with her crutch.