After several more moments of the interaction with the two animals, wherein they even allowed Lili to gently pat their heads, her stomach growled to remind her of why she had ventured away from camp in the first place. At the sound of the low rumble in Lili’s stomach, the two animals cocked their heads to the side curiously before turning away from Lili. She furrowed her brow a bit as she watched them slowly move a few feet further along the tree line before stopping to sniff at a patch of plant life and then glancing back toward Lili once more.

She bit her lip as she glanced back the way she had come through the forest before moving to slowly head for where the two creatures had stopped. Once she reached them again, the mother let out another soft bleat before she and her offspring went back to grazing nearby. With another curious look towards them, Lili finally moved her eyes to the patch of growth that had drawn their attention earlier. Upon closer inspection, and much to her own surprise, there in that patch of plants she found an entire batch of one of the edible forms of mushrooms that Jared had located months earlier. Smiling at the fact that they still remained undamaged by the colder temperatures, Lili took a seat on her knees, where she began picking and eating several of the dark pink mushrooms while casting another curious glance at the two creatures who remained not that many feet away, enjoying their own breakfast, as well.

Once she had finally quelled at least enough of her hunger to make the journey back to camp, Lili cast one more glance at her new four-legged friends before allowing a slight sigh as she began tracing her steps back to her current home. Much to her relief, another half hour or so found her back in the familiar portion of the woods where many of the trees had been cut down for not only the construction of the shack, but also for continuing to keep their fire going.

A few more moments passed before the shack came into view where Kyle had now awoken and was angrily shoving a few weapons into the waist of his since replaced jeans. He startled a bit at the sound of her footsteps, “What the fuck, Lili?” he growled the greeting as she emerged from the remaining trees.

“Nice to see you, too.” she returned, trying not to smirk at how upset he obviously was.

“You bitch and complain about me going out there alone, and then…” his voice then trailed off as his eyes moved to a place several feet behind her, “Get out of the way.” he stated quietly as he moved to reach for his own gun.

“What?” she asked, caught enough to immediately turn back in the direction that Kyle’s eyes had moved.

“Move.” Kyle repeated in a whisper.

Looking back the way she had just come, her eyes easily found what had drawn Kyle’s attention. There she let out a slight sound of amused surprise as she saw that the two creatures had followed her all the way back home, though at a distance.

“Get out of the way.” Kyle repeated more forcefully, waiting for her to follow the order before taking aim.

“You’re not gonna kill them, are you?” Lili asked worriedly as she turned back from where the creatures had since stopped, now more warily regarding Kyle, who Lili’s eyes had also moved back to.

Kyle just scoffed, “Um, we need food. Food has just walked into camp. Now move.” he repeated, still trying to speak too quietly to startle them.

“But why those two?” Lili complained, still not moving from her place directly in his line of sight.

Kyle scoffed more loudly, “We’re starving here Lili, and you have an urge to start keeping pets?” he just shook his head, “Move already.”

“Think about it, Kyle, that’s a female goat…thing, and the baby is obviously still really young too, and I think it’s also a female.”

Kyle shook his head, “Didn’t realize you had checked under their skirts.” he scoffed again, “But we need food, Lili, so kindly…” he finished, pointedly gesturing for her to step off to the side.

“And even more than food, I need milk, some kind of calcium. I’m no doctor but I know that much. And it’s probably why the morning sickness is getting worse. She’s a new mother. I think we have a better use for her than just meat.” she attempted to reason.

Kyle just looked back at her in disbelief, despite her making a valid point, “Ok, fine, we’ll pretend that mom will let us keep her, but baby’s goin down.” he added, raising the gun once more with another gesture for Lili to move away.

Lili scoffed, “You’re going to kill her baby, when she’s offering help to us? That’s unbelievably cruel, not to mention, wasteful.”

Kyle lowered the gun once more with another look of disbelief, “She’s a goat, or something, she doesn’t have feelings, and she doesn’t know the meaning of self-sacrifice. She’s a fucking animal.” he repeated, “Now, please.”

Lili angrily shook her head as she moved forward to take the gun from Kyle’s hand, “Really?” she asked him simply.

“Gimme the gun back, Lili.” he returned in frustration, still watching to make sure that the two animals didn’t wander off again from the spot where they surprisingly remained still, regarding the two humans with continued caution.

“So, if she doesn’t have feelings, and she doesn’t wanna help us, then prove it.” Lili retorted smartly, still refusing to return the gun, as she held it behind her back, still looking up at Kyle huffily.

“Prove it?” he exclaimed in further disbelief, “No offense, Lili, but I think the thin air and the lack of food, and sleep, they’re really starting to get to you.”

“No, prove it.” she repeated plainly.

Kyle scoffed loudly again, finally turning away, running his hands through his shoulder-length waves in frustration, “And exactly how should I do that, oh delusional one.” he added more quietly.

“I heard that.” she scowled, though only shook her head, “And I think you should be quite capable of proving it, shouldn’t you?”

“What?” he asked, finally turning back to her.

“Well, you can read minds, can’t you? Tell me if she doesn’t want to help us, and if she doesn’t care if you slaughter her baby.”

Another loud scoff, “You really have lost your mind, haven’t you?” he returned, trying not to sound like he was all that serious in his accusation, but it was difficult not to.

“I’ve lost my mind? You’re the one who can read thoughts, so go ahead and do it. Prove that she’s just a dumb animal, with no real feelings. Prove it.” she repeated simply, once more.

Kyle looked down at her with further worry, before finally attempting an answer rather than another attack on her apparently frail mental state, “That only works on humans, Lili.”

“Aside from the fact that humans are animals,” she began with a mumble, “have you ever tried it on another ’lesser’ animal?”

“You can’t be serious.” he shook his head again.

“Well if you’re so positive you’re right, then prove it.” she told him once more as she glanced back at the two creatures who still waited nearly twenty feet off.

Kyle just looked down at her with continued wariness, “And why are you so positive you’re right?” he finally asked.

“Are you really that terrified of ever being proven wrong?” she smirked up at him.

Another scoff, “It’s not about that. I’d just like to know where you’re getting this ‘not quite sane’ theory of yours.” he offered the question, though cautiously.

“Call it intuition. Now, go ahead, prove me wrong, prove there’s nothing in that animal’s head.” she prodded further.

He shook his head once more, casting her one more glance before moving a few steps past her, finally moving his eyes back to the creature in question. After another moment of holding the mother in his sights, Kyle looked a bit startled as he looked back toward Lili.

“Ok, so when did you get psychic?” was the only response he could come up with.

Lili grinned widely as she glanced at the creatures, who now took a few slow steps back toward she and Kyle, at last, “I don’t know.” she offered with a slight shrug as the mother reached her, gently nudging at Lili’s hand once more, “She helped me find food earlier, then followed me back. It’s crazy, I know, but that’s what happened.” she whispered softly as she gently patted the animal’s head once more.

Kyle swallowed a bit as he watched the mother’s interaction with Lili, before finding his voice again, “Crazy is an understatement.” he breathed, moving to ever so slowly reach out and pat the creature’s head as well, while the baby then moved to nudge at his own leg in greeting, After another moment of Lili smiling down at the two animals, Kyle spoke up again, “They helped you find food?”

“Yes, there’s still mushrooms about half an hour west of here, loads of ’em.” Lili smiled.

“Fish and mushrooms, and oh yes, goat’s milk. Now we’re livin the high life.” he smirked slightly as the creatures moved to gnaw upon some nearby grass.

“There’s more though.” she smiled up at Kyle again.

“I sure as hell hope so, though I can’t imagine what.” he returned, awaiting her further explanation.

“They weren’t the only animals there. There’s herds, literally, only half an hour away. Their grazing area is right on the other side of this patch of forest I just came from. There’s hundreds of them, Kyle. So, no, you don’t have to kill these two. You’ve got plenty of choices, aside from them.” she assured him wryly.

“Hundreds?” he asked with a raised brow.

“Yes, and I found them, alone. Me. A girl. Imagine that.” she told him smartly as she finally handed him back his gun with another smirk before heading back inside once again.

With Lili’s new discovery, finding meals for the rest of the day was a lot easier than it had been previously. Though despite that fact, and the fact of their new companions, after dinner, Lili’s mood seemed to grow darker once more. Kyle sighed slightly as he finished cleaning the hide of the deer-like animal they had shared that night, and rubbed his hands together to chase away the cold from the extremely chilly river water. He then made his way back inside after Lili for the night.

“So, you think they’ll actually stay without like being inside a fence, or something?” he greeted her as he moved to their sleeping quarters where Lili had already wrapped herself in several covers to ward away the dropping temperatures of the night.

“Hmm?” she asked absently, not having really glanced up at his arrival until he had spoken.

Kyle just shook his head as he moved to claim a place next to her, pulling the covers around himself as well, “We’ve got a field full of food, and hot and cold running milk, if they stick around,” he had to add, still having a little trouble with the idea of a creature such as that ‘wanting’ to help them, despite his own peer into it’s mind seeming to confirm just that, “so, why so upset now?”

Lili just shook her head, “Yeah, you and I are doing slightly better now, if the animals stay around here, but…” her voice just trailed off as her eyes returned to the floor.

“Soldier man and telekinetic-scientist boy? I think they’ll do a lot better than you’re giving them credit for, at least when it comes to finding food.” he attempted to assure.

Though Lili remained silent for several moments, sniffling a bit as her thoughts continued their current path. Finally, allowing herself to glance up at where Kyle still awaited her agreement to his previous statement, she spoke, “Do you know what today is?”

“Um, Sunday?” Kyle offered after a moment.

Lili shook her head again, “I meant the date.”

“The eighth, isn’t it?” he offered in thought.

“Yeah, December eighth.” she sniffled again.

“Um, ok?” he responded, creasing his brow a bit.

Lili just continued to look down dejectedly before managing to tell him the answer that had been in her head, “It’s Ian’s birthday. His twenty-fourth.” she added more quietly.

“Ok…” Kyle agreed, still not quite following her entire train of thought, as celebrating birthdays wasn’t exactly high up on anyone’s list of priorities these days, the present, of sorts, that he had received on his own, aside.

Lili breathed another sad response, “I promised him I’d tell him happy birthday, remember?”

Kyle was the one who shook his own head then, “So, is all this sentimentality, is that cause of the pregnancy? Cause I thought that part was supposed to start later.” he added with an attempt at a smile.

Failing to see the humor in his statement, Lili added, “Who knows if he’ll even have another birthday. If any of us will.” she added as she wiped at her eyes once more, attempting to beat the tears before they formed.

“Lili.” he sighed softly, placing an arm around her under their now shared covers, rather than making any further statement.

“I promised him. And I may never be able to keep that promise. How is that not something to be upset about?” she whispered back.

Kyle allowed another slight sigh at how morose such a little thing seemed to be making her, despite the possibility of her fears eventually becoming true. Forcing himself to make an attempt at empathy, which was a feeling that was usually quite foreign to him, considering his own strange life, as short as it had been, he finally made her a gentle offer, “I could tell him for you.”

“Tell him?” she asked, looking back up at him, thrown a bit by the words.

“Remember, I’m a radio, as Jared called it.” he smiled gently, “It may not be you telling him, directly, but at least he’d know you remembered your promise, right?”

Lili then managed to smile up at him, placing a soft kiss over his lips, “Thank you.” she whispered through the kiss, hoping that just maybe being left there with just Kyle, as young as he still honestly was, maybe it wouldn’t be as terrible a thing as she had originally feared it would be, after all.