Sunny Days

Chapter 20

Notes:          

So, there are some WARNINGS for this chapter. I want to give people  the option of looking at them if they are concerned with possible  triggers, but still give those that want the surprise a chance to be  surprised. The WARNINGS will be in the author's notes at the end so  click or scroll down to those if you want those WARNINGS ahead of the  chapter. Hopefully, this is a good compromise? I'm trying.

            

            

Sunny's back ached. Her whole body ached. Every muscle was sore and  screamed at her with every step. Her eyes were heavy, the many sleepless  nights weighing them down, promising relief if she would just close  them.

The thought of reaching Alexandria was the only thing keeping her  going. A shower. A meal that wasn't a protein bar. A bed. All those  things were worth the struggle.

   You had all of those things and you, literally, walked away. If  you hadn't been such an idiot, this wouldn't be a problem in the first  place. 

A wave of overwhelming exhaustion overcame her. She started her trek  earlier in the morning at the first hint of light in the air. The  overcast sky and still air did nothing to help her mood. She could just  sit against a tree for a second. Her body needed a break. She could take  a bite of food and a little sip of water. Ten minutes. She would give  herself 10 minutes then she would get up and keep going. She was within a  day or so of Alexandria depending on how far she walked every day.

Sunny took off her bag tossing it to the ground and settled with her  back against the scratchy bark of a pine tree. Pulling the zipper, she  opened the black backpack to the dwindling supply of food and water. She  needed to find more soon if she didn't reach Alexandria. Maybe there  was a little town nearby that wasn't already cleaned out of essentials.

The skies above rumbled and a breeze picked up. It was fitting to her  mood. Never had she felt so tired. So defeated. What was little rain?  Maybe it would feel like a shower. Lord knew she could use one.

She took a bite of a protein bar which tasted faintly of the peanut  butter it purported to contain. It mostly tasted like chalk. It was hard  to chew and even harder to swallow. Nothing seemed able to settle her  stomach. The stress and anxiety of her world right now had set her  entire system on edge. What she wouldn't give for a greasy hamburger  from her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant in her hometown or even  the charred ones her dad used to grill. Those were the only things that  sounded appetizing at the moment

Her heart lurched thinking of her family. Her parents were weird and  strict, but they did their best. And though her upbringing was  unconventional, to say the least, would she have lasted as long as she  had without all they had provided? No.

She never should have left home. Her parents left and never came  back. Her sister too. Would she ever get to go home again? To be in a  place that felt like home? 

Sunny pulled her knees to her chest as thunder rumbled overhead. Rain  fell a few pitter-patters at a time before the skies opened up. She was  soaked within a few minutes. Instead of washing the dirt and dust from  her body, she was now covered in mud-like paste. She would be crusty  when it dried. Wonderful.

Lightning zapped across the sky, loud enough to make her scream and  cover her ears. Branches cracked and swayed violently as the wind  whipped through them. It had been years since her sense had been  assaulted so forcefully.

Huddling against the tree, she closed her eyes, resting her head on  her knees, shielding herself from the din surrounding her. She shivered  as the clothing clung to her, cooling with every gust. The creaking and  cracking of branches seemed to be getting closer. The wind groaning and  snarling at her. Too close.