Just Beyond The Broken Bridge

Keep Moving

"Ana, we cant stop walking now. This road is dangerous." I say, knowing she was tired and wanted to stop. Hell, so did I. My legs were weak and the sun beat down on me and was clearly winning the match.

"Everywhere is dangerous. But if I don't get sleep, then it will be harder for me to fight back." Ana mutters behind me.

"If you listen to me then you wont need to fight. And don't think you can fight your way through everything. Some fights will be lost and I cant take that risk." I say harshly. Whether she took it as in insult or advice, Ana kept her mouth shut for another 6 miles.

The road was straight and seemed endless. But the white circle carved into a tree told me it was time to rest.

Some travelers a few months ago told us a white circle meant safe for stop. These circles were what kept me going. when I saw them I knew it was safe.

Safe enough, anyway. I learned nothing was all the way safe. This place meant 50% safety. I was Ana's other 50%.

After loosing my father last year to traitors and my mother back in the beginning, My sister was the only reason I was alive. The reason I was sane. She reminded me so much of both my parents. If she was alive, so was the memory of my parents, of our family.

"Carter, I can't walk anymore. Please, can we stop?" she pleads and I smile. Before she could ask why the occasion, her eyes moved to the tree with the white circle.

"oh thank god." she sighs.

We walk a good ways away from the road to set up camp. Dropping our packs, I begin to find wood for a fire.

After all was set up, we finally relaxed.

"Its going to be cold soon. what are we going to do?" Ana asks breaking the silence we held for quite sometime. During the set up of camp the sun had gone down and I could only see her face through the fire and moonlight.

Her question was what I had been afraid of for months. I didn't know how we survived winter 1, but I didn't think god would be as graceful this time around.

" I don't know yet. I'm working on it, we have more walking to do tomorrow, get the rest you've been begging for" I answer, trying the brighten the crappy answer.

She nods and turns over to sleep and I knew it would only be minutes until she was out.

And soon id be alone again.

I hadn't seen another person in two months. I haven't trusted a person longer then that either. But as much as I loved Ana, I missed human interaction. I missed human touch and conversations. But know I couldn't go near a person with out them being a threat. No one was good anymore. And this life was getting the best of me.

Only late at night did I have thoughts about me. My internal longings and problems didn't matter. Ana mattered.

Looking at the map with firelight, we had about 150 miles to go until we were at this said camp that was supposed to be for any survivors.

When I was younger, I remember seeing the shows, the odds of that camp being real was impossible, but what ever happened, we were always on the move. You never wanted to stay in one place long. The bad part was not knowing how "long" that long was. Hours? Days? Weeks? You didn't know, so you kept moving.