I woke Ash up after a couple hours and slept next to the dwindling fire. I had trouble sleeping. I was exhausted, like there was nothing left in me to keep going, but the anxiety was keeping me awake. I shifted, tossing and turning on the rough ground.
Ash scooted closer to me, holding out his hand. I stared at it for a long pause, wondering what he was doing. He rolled his eyes, and ran his fingers through my hair. I closed my eyes, comforted by the feel of it. It felt like home. His hand reached for mine and I let him take it. I fell asleep, the heat of his palm against mine, feeling the gentle beat of his heart in the soft skin there, lulling me to sleep.
When I woke up, it was daylight and Ash was eating a small breakfast of jerky. He held the bag out for me, and I took it gratefully, running a hand through my damp hair. My stomach felt sorrowfully empty after the quick meal, but there was nothing else. What little food we had needed to last the entire journey to Constance. We didn’t say anything to each other, besides to pass the water bottle back and forth. I was so tired. Each step felt like it could be the last, and I didn’t think I could take another, until I did. I kept pushing myself. I refused to ask for a break, and we kept plodding along, keeping the highway alongside us.
We didn’t see anybody else on the road; it was almost as if this major highway had been abandoned. I had driven this highway before, going back and forth between New York and Constance. I knew that there were always cars on here, especially during the day. And there were cars, but they were abandoned, empty, stuck in a traffic jam that would never move.
It was a devastating example of what the world had become. I wanted to talk to Ash, to remind myself that I wasn’t completely alone that I had someone with me, but it made me feel like we were the last two people on earth.
I felt like I was going to lose myself. I was already forgetting who I was.
Two days passed with no incident. We slept, watching watch over each other through the night, and walked as far as we could during the day. We didn’t talk to each other at all, except to ask questions that required short yes or no answers.
It was the third day when we ran into the pack of Awakened.
We were stumbling along the woods looking for a clearing to set up camp for the night when we bumped into them. They moved so slightly, and they had been sleeping. I didn’t even know they could sleep. Ash held his arm out to me, and I ran into him with a slight “oof” escaping my lips. He raised his index finger to his lips, his eyes wide. I counted the Awakened curled up together, using each other for warmth.
I wondered for a moment whether they needed it, if they even felt the elements. I shivered as we started backing up slowly. My eyes stayed on them the entire time, afraid they could hear me breathing, that they could hear my heart pounding like crazy in my head.
That was the perfect moment that my body decided to betray me. I tried to hold it back, but I couldn’t help it. I sneezed. Loudly. Great, I was going to die because I sneezed. Ash reached out for me, and we both looked hurriedly over at the Awakened. They seemed to still be asleep, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
We turned around and started making our way in the opposite direction. I was afraid to breathe too loudly, afraid that the crinkle of the leaves under my boots would alert them to our presence. I could tell Ash felt the same because our pace was hurried but careful.
We had made it at least a mile away when Ash let out a breath and I paused, leaning against a tree, waiting for my heart to calm down. I was hot and sweaty, whether from the walk or the panic I was feeling I didn’t know, and I peeled off my coat. I examined the cuts on my arm, relieved that they were beginning to heal. My nose wrinkled in disgust at the scars that seemed to be forming in their place. I was definitely going to look like a fighter from now on. My fingers ran along the jagged strings that ran through my face. I winced at how tender it still was.
“We should move on, Z,” Ash said, taking a gulp from his bottle and holding it out to me. I shook my head and turned to walk away. I bumped into something, something solid and cold. I looked up and screamed.
The Awakened had caught up to us, silently. They had probably been following us ever since we had left them in the clearing, letting us get further and further away from the highway and deeper into the woods. Ash and I both grabbed for our guns in our holsters but there was no time. They looked starving, and they were on us in an instant.
“Run!” I screamed.
Ash didn’t hesitate. We both turned and ran, sprinting through the woods, running for our lives.