Savior.

Travel.

Mia rose from her sleep and glanced at the clock, knowing full well it wouldn't be past 4 AM. She jumped out of bed and grabbed her bag when she processed that it was after 4. In fact, it was 10 AM. The sun shined bright through the see through pink curtains. She wanted to stay but knew she was already fucked. She wasn't going to get to Kansas in time. She was going to be behind schedule, her family would be worried for her!

She rushed down the hallway and down the stairs but was greeted by Bennet peacefully making breakfast. The hell? How did he have spices or eggs? She wasn't complaining, but it was just shocking. Mia approached the teen and went to tap his shoulder before Bennet pushed her hand away, not even glancing towards her.

"Good morning, ma'am!" He exclaimed happily. Mia smiled but straightened herself out and tried to tell him she was leaving. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off. "I'm making us breakfast, I hope you don't mind."

She glanced back down to the eggs in the frying pan and weighed her options. Breakfast with a traumatized kid who can't kill her, or go to Kansas and risk death alone. The former was much better, so she smiled. "No, I don't mind. But I need to leave after."

Bennet froze and lifted the frying pan off the stove. He turned his head to Mia and a look of despair washed over him.

"No, no you can't leave! Please, I don't know when my mom's coming back!" He yelped. Mia jolted back and frowned. She sighed as she slouched forward, leaning her side against the fridge.

She couldn't take sone random kid with her, but he was so nice. It was a gamble she didn't want to take, but felt obligated to anyway.

"Alright. Alright fine. I'll take you with me. We can look for your mom on the way, but after that you're coming back here."

Bennet smiled wildly as he prepared their plates. He shoved a paper plate with a scrambled egg and a fork on it in Mia's direction. He seemed so proud of himself. Mia looked down at her plate, not even thinking, before she ate like a starved dog. Bennet jumped back and looked at her in concern, slowly eating his food.

Mia shoved the fork into her backpack and tossed the plate onto the counter as she waited for Bennet to finish eating. The teen handed her his fork and set his plate on top of Mia's before hurrying up the stairs.

She dug through the kitchen cabinets once more and grabbed anything she could. Shitty expired cereal, plastic plates, and knives. She hurried into the living room and searched through drawers, smiling wide once she found a pistol in one of the side tables. Must be her lucky day!

Mia put the gun in her coat pocket once she heard Bennet frantically running down the stairs. He ran into the wall with a loud thud and weakly gave Mia a thumbs up. She hurried to the younger and helped him to stand before looking out the peephole on the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw nothing but dirt road and actually dead bodies littered about.

She looked toward Bennet amd nodded her head before slowly opening the door and peeking out to look side to side. She quickly and quietly left with Bennet following close behind her. She went onto the road and kept her knife in hand, while Bennet held his gun tight. Mia glanced to her side and looked down to how Bennet was holding his gun. She physically recoiled at the sight and quickly fixed his hand.

"Finger off the trigger, treat it like it's loaded, got it?" She instructed. Bennet nodded and did as she told. He looked down to her and smiled.

Mia quickly resumed their walking, checking every few minutes to make sure Bennet was still following her. She realized that he seemed to know nothing of the outside world and was absolutely enamored by dandelions. He always pointed out a patch of grass with dandelions growing. He was so much like a child, it was odd.

They walked for hours, taking occasional breaks to rest their legs before starting back up. Mia decided it was best to stop before sundown and set up a camp for the night. She brought Bennet far off from the road, deeper into the forest.

She set down a sleeping bag and started a small fire. She pulled out the gun she had and leaned against a tree. Bennet stood clueless, just staring at Mia, waiting to be told what to do. She caught on after a moment and pointed to the sleeping bag.

"You can sleep tonight, I'll take watch." She explained. Bennet nodded and quickly slid into the sleeping bag before looking up at Mia.

"Are we going to be OK?" He asked softly. Mia exhaled and nodded. Bennet didn't look convinced. "I've never been outside of the town, let alone state."

Mia kneeled down next to Bennet and nodded. "We'll be fine. Just go to sleep, alright?"

"Alright," He mumbled.

Mia went back to leaning against a tree, eyes trained on the dark. She cared more about her survival than Bennet, to be honest. He was just a kid, and she didn't want to purposely get him killed, but he was just deadweight.

She let her mind wander back to when she was found by her camp. She was a little over 16 and lost, desperately trying to find her way home. She didn't have anything except her clothes and a dull knife. She was horrified, every little noise scared her and she struggled to even kill one of those God forsaken zombies.

But then she saved her. Her mother saved her and gave her a home. She didn't have to fight anymore. She could live like she used to. She had a home, a family, schooling, hobbies, she was happy.

And now she was in the middle of nowhere with some kid following her like a lost puppy. She left everything behind just to see what it was like and she had to pay the price.

Maybe her and Bennet weren't too different. They both had no survival skills and were swooped up by someone who bothered to give them safety. Mia saw herself in Bennet. He was just a kid looking for his savior.

Mia quickly shook those thoughts from her mind and focused on keeping them both alive for the night. She wasn't like her mother, she wasn't supposed to save Bennet. He was going to find his mom and go back home. That was the only reason she brought him with her, so he wouldn't die on his search.