Life's return

Monster

TW:

New York sifted through the leaves on the forest floor. He looked for anything that could point to which direction America went.

Something shiny caught his eyes. A lighter, printed with the American flag.

"Tex! I think I found something!"

Texas tiredly walked over. His eyes fell on the lighter and he nodded.

"That looks like Dad's." He yawned and rubbed his eyes. Then froze. "We might need a gun."

He pointed to a log. The top was wet while the bottom was dry with some moss. Near it was a hole, just big enough for someone to lay in, and not very deep.

"What do you mean?"

"That log was moved recently." He pointed to a spot in the dirt. It kinda looked like a foot print. "And if I had to geuss, that's the track of a big man. At least a heavy one."

New York went quite for a second.

"I don't care if I have to save him from the devil himself. I will find him."

Texas gave him a questioning look.

"Why're you doing this?"

"He's my Dad!"

"Okay." Texas shrugged.

"What?"

"What'd you mean what?"

"Why are you questioning my motives all of a sudden? I thought you were on my side!"

"I'm just trying to make sure you're doing this cause you wanna, not cause you feel guilty."

"It's not like I forced him to eat it!"

"No, but you don't gotta convince me. Nothing wrong with wanting to set things right, I just wanna make sure you ain't going to break yourself in the process."

"You heard Dixie. Dad is out there suffering. The sooner we find him the sooner we can fix it."

"If we can fix it. There's no telling what state he'll be in once we find him, if we find him in one piece."

"What are you saying?"

"We don't got no supplies for a fight, let alone one against the dead."

"Since when are you a fucking pessimist?"

"All I'm saying is we can't go getting a into fights we don't have the strength for.

"Dad was a big man. Whoever picked him up is his size or bigger. And you're talking about going off and kicking a hornets nest before we even know if it's a bee hive!"

"Since when do you shy away from a fight?"

"Since I gotta keep my siblings safe with no ammo and my older brother wants to pick fights with anyone and their mother."

New York glared at him, then walked away.

"Where're you going?" Texas asked.

"Back to camp. We need to let the others know." New York sighed. "'My younger siblings might have a better plan than charging in guns blazing."

Texas smiled. "Least you've some sense left." He jogged to catch up with his brother.

"Oh fuck you!" New York punched him in the shoulder.

___________

"

Our camp has been found. I do not know by who."