The First ~10K~ (book 3)

6.) Feelings

Ashlyn POV—

A few weeks passed and things were going well. Zoey was healing and we were getting closer. She was telling me all sorts of stuff about growing up. She explained it to me in ways that I would understand and answered all of my questions. She was starting to feel like a friend.

I would sometimes hear my dad and her arguing. I could never understand what, but I would overhear things like 'wanting to die' and 'leaving her all alone'. I had no idea what that could mean. The arguments seemed to be pretty exhausting, too. Once they finished, Zoey would appear and look really tired and disheveled, her cheeks and eyes red. My dad would follow shortly after, looking like he just lost 10 years of his life. I decided to not ask about it.

When they weren't arguing, they seemed to get along well and have a similar idea of things. They agreed on most stuff and seemed to see eye to eye. I would catch Zoey blushing when my dad would agree with something she said or my dad would clear his throat when she walked by him. It was funny.

One night, though, I saw something that made me wonder if something was going on between them.

I was trying to fall asleep, but couldn't. I was scared I would have a nightmare and didn't want to, when I heard a noise coming from outside.

I quietly crawled out from my covers and over to the tent flaps. I pulled one back and saw two silhouettes in front of the flames of the fire. It was my dad and Zoey. I could hear better now and could tell that Zoey was crying. My dad had his arms around her while she cried into his shirt, gripping on to his sleeves like she was falling through the ground.

They stayed like that for 5 minutes before Zoey wiped her face, kissed my dad on the cheek, and went to her tent. My das watched her the whole time, like he was afraid she would run off if he took his eyes off her.

I closed the tent flaps and crawled back under my covers. What was that about?

I didn't sleep a wink that night.

About a month later- Ashlyn POV

My dad woke me up in a hurry. He never does that unless something goes wrong, or something is happening.

"Get up, and get your stuff. Leave the unimportant things." He whispered.

I scurried to my feet. I packed my clothes, blankets, ammo, water bottle, and gun before stepping out of my tent. My dad was working on taking it down.

I helped him which made it 10 times faster. He folded it up and put it in a tent bag and slug it around his shoulder.

"Stick close to me and be quiet." He whispered, grabbing his sniper.

I obeyed. Zoey jumped out of a bush. When I say she jumped out, I mean, She. Jumped. Out.

She landed on her feet and panted. She looked at my dad.

"They're close. Like, they'll be on top of us in at least 5 minutes. We gotta go." She panted, grabbing her bag.

"Alright, come on, Ashlyn. Zoey, you okay with taking up the rear?" My Dad asked.

"Yeah, sure." She said. "Let's move."

My dad took my hand and we ran into the woods.

*

"Can we rest?" I gasped. We'd been running for...l don't know how long.

"We gotta keep moving." My Dad told me.

"Please? I-I can't run any longer." I panted.

"We should be ahead of them. We can rest for 5 minuets." Zoey said.