When All is Lost

Chapter 27

"Are you okay?"

I hadn't expected the question – especially from Ray. It was the question of the day, however. I should have known it was coming.

The truth was none of us were okay. Sitting for hours on end with a dead body could do that.

I'd been sitting by the door for some time, keeping a lookout. I could see the wind kicking up flurries of snow, making the pure white ground look as though gentle ripples were gliding across its surface. It was beautiful in the sunlight, but the sight of it tied my guts up in knots.

No words could have expressed the dread I felt. I was so cold my bones ached and I was sure the temperature had dropped to below freezing. Stepping outside to be exposed to the elements was the last thing I wanted to do.

We can't stay.

Even if we chose to move Lindsay, it still wouldn't make staying the right option. We needed better gear to stay warm, even if it was blankets. I also wanted us to make more distance between us and the movie theater. While I doubted that the pair would come after us, I wanted to take no unnecessary risks.

"I'm good," I told him, ignoring the pit in my stomach. "Is everyone almost ready?"

After our best attempt at a funeral, I'd pulled Carlos and Paula aside. Only the three of us carried some spare clothing and I easily convinced them to give theirs up. Between the three of us, we had enough to give everyone in the group an extra layer of clothing to put on. It wasn't much, but it was all we could do.

Ray turned back to the room as though he needed to double-check. "Almost."

I turned my head to follow where he was looking when I caught sight of his bare hands. "Where are your gloves?" My brows creased as he rung his exposed fingers on his crowbar. "The ones Paula gave you?"

Ray tried to tug his sleeves down over his hands in a sad attempt at creating a barrier between the metal and his skin. "I gave them to Jamie."

For fucks sake.

I could hardly argue with him for his act of kindness, but his weapon had nearly given him frostbite not that long ago. His sleeves weren't going to cut it.

Taking off my red scarf, I passed it to him. "Wrap it around your hands. Don't let your skin touch the metal. We can cut it if we need to."

He took the fabric and felt it between his fingers. "Are you sure?"

"Yep." I left him before he could thank me, wishing I didn't feel the small loss of giving up the scarf I'd made. I needed to focus on getting us to move faster. We didn't want to be outside when the sun set and more than half the day was gone.

I walked past Ian, Misty, and Jamie and the three of them looked ready for the trek. Misty had taken one of the long-sleeved spare shirts and had made it into a kind of hat for Jamie, tying the sleeves under his chin. Ian gave me a nod as I passed.

Prisha was busy filling her unicorn backpack with the paper that was used to stuff shoes in their shoe boxes. She'd been at it since earlier in the morning when she'd realized a good amount of it wasn't the waxy brand. Without a word to anyone else, she'd gone through box after box to find all she could.

It was clear that Prisha was still dead set on lighting a fire and she was thinking ahead, but it bothered me she was doing it without consulting anyone. I was tempted to confront her about it but it was neither the time nor place.

"Almost ready to go?" I asked her, forcing her to pause what she was doing.

"Yeah, I can be." She took one last bundle of paper, flattened it out, and then folded it before putting it in the backpack.