Guardian's Redemption

Chapter Twelve

The atmosphere was drier than the Sahara Desert in the midst of its summer season. The sun was beating down hard this second day after the encounter with the cannibal old couple. Not a single breeze to cool the two companions, only the refreshing moisture around them when Ben deemed it almost too unbearable.

The man said that he needed to conserve his power and didn't want to give away their position when Ashley made multiple comments about the heat. Both of them were hungry and irritated from the events that had recently transpired. Ben had noted a group of people moving far from their left. He had made the decision to move to were the group had left in an attempt to find food.

The two travelers walking side by side into a small town only slightly larger than the one that Ashley had been in. It was fairly maintained, better than hers also. Shingles on the tops of the roofs barely hanging on and the siding looking extremely weather worn but the walls and roofs were intact. The buildings in this small town actually doubling the town Ben had found Ashley in.

Ashley wasn't really paying attention to her surrounding as she stared in hope at the buildings. Hope that there could actually be respectful people here, even if Ben had stated that the town was empty now.

Ben on the other hand was constantly looking at ever crack and corner, searching for any signs of life. When entering thaws small communities that he labeled as towns, he never would scry with this mana for fear of being discovered as a Naturalist. That would usually make things more complicated. Being out on the edge was far more wild and the people did not like those that could bend the elements to their wills.

The woman felt safe with Ben next to her. He had now twice saved her from the horrors of this apocalyptic world. The man just wasn't the same person that he had used to be. This world had changed him. For the better? Ashley didn't know. He spoke far less than he used to and there was something in his eyes that gave the feeling that the man was almost truly heartless.

"I don't like this," Ben softly whispered.

When he spoke low like that Ashley's initial reaction was to talk back, but in their experience, she now nodded in agreed. After the incident from a couple days ago, Ashley wanted to always go with the man's instincts. The nightmares of people clawing at her with their burnt and shattered bodies was something she prayed to never see again. The two of them stopped just past the first two buildings. They stood in the middle of the street staring around, Ashley was now more alert than before.

"Doesn't seem like anyone is home," Ashley softly commenting on their surroundings. Off to her left was a building with a bar sign hanging in the window. The woman's eyes squinting to see if she could see anything in the large tinted window.

"There isn't," Ben replied in a normal tone. "This must be were that group of people were staying. But why leave?"

Ashley glancing at him then went back to the surroundings. There were cars left in the streets, overgrown and too broken to move. She could care less about the vehicles. The woman was more irritated at how the town seem to be more kept up than the hell hole she had been in. There were glass windows, which only one building in her town had; the bar. From the ruggedness of the place Ashley could help but think this may have been a better spot to live.

"Should we look for anything useful?" Ashley questioning him as the idea sprang to her mind. Water wasn't a problem with her Brother in Law in tow, but food was depleted and her stomach seem to knaw at her spine. With Ben he always complained about creating water for her, stating on multiple occasions that it could give them away. Ashley could tell that the man didn't like to force nature when he didn't have to. "Be quicker if we split up."

Ben gave her a frown. She knew he didn't like that part of the idea. The man having spent years looking for her and then completely destroying multiple lives two days ago to keep her safe. Then again he was also hungry and the image of food was constantly on his mind. He gave her a struggling nod.