The Messengers of Sanctuary

12 - River

River nodded at the runner who'd opened the door as he passed, feeling that part inside him squirm as it told him to growl at someone just to make sure the runners remembered him from last time.

River didn't do that, it was kind of a stupid suggestion anyway.

He was somewhat surprised that they had let Chicory inside the cabin, human stench was absurdly hard to get out of things quickly without using fancy chemicals. But then again, runners' noses were a lot less refined than nightstalkers, and they always did have little concern for who entered their homes.

As long as they considered her a friend, stayed decently far away, and let the cabin air out afterward, they would probably be perfectly fine.

River sighed and chose a corner near the door to lurk in. Yes, he was lurking, he had no disillusions to how the others viewed him. Each runner gave him a courteous glance, nodding at him with enough deference that it let the pieces of him that wanted to uphold his rank settle down.

Chicory noticed this but didn't comment on it, instead pulling a stack of letters from her bag and handing them out. The largest stack went to Loretta, the anxious artist who had hesitantly asked him to keep an eye out for chickens several months before. River could easily guess how their chicken coop had turned out, considering their scent was almost entirely faded.

He was fairly sure that Chicory wanted more than to just give the letters back, but he didn't really care, he was only here to check in with the runners for his bi-monthly check to make sure that they were still alive and sane.

They were.

He was tempted to leave at that point, but he fully planned on following Chicory for a bit to make sure she wasn't going to do anything weird. It took special guts to kick a nightstalker, either that or she was an idiot, which was also sadly more than possible.

"I'm going to head back to Sanctuary after this, so If you want to write a reply letter, I'll have to pick it up when I swing back over here in a couple of months..." she paused, clearly wanting to say more than just that, but she cared too much about what other people thought, so she was waiting to say it.

Loretta made a sad noise, "Oh, too bad, I guess I'll have to hold off on that then. How far away is Sanctuary anyway?"

Chicory grinned, "Just over in Alberta. Um, actually I was wondering if any of you wanted to come with me, you see-"

She then proceeded to outline her entire history, why she needed a 'route partner' to show to some guy so he would get off her back. River thought her solution was hilariously inadequate and short-term, but he just silently stood in the corner, wondering how long it would take the runners to realize that fact.

If Chicory took one of them with her, she would be slowed down exponentially. Perhaps she wasn't used to sane zombies yet? The fact that she was comfortable enough with them to even be in a room with four was another point towards her bravery -or stupidity- River still had no idea what was going through her head, it couldn't have been logic that's for sure.

Mmmm.

The runners were silent, and then one by one they made up excuses.

"I don't like traveling much," Jeren regretfully informed her.

"I need to finish this chicken coop design," Loretta said.

"I don't think it's a good idea to leave these two to their own devices," Raven said, pointing at them. Smart girl, blame everyone else.

What none of the runners had told her, and what River didn't feel like voicing, was that runners weren't the best for travel, they couldn't rely on live traps to keep their sanity and it was a lot harder to catch prey when one wasn't fast enough to get to it.

River let the silence hang for a long moment, clearly, Chicory had been expecting, or at least hoping that one of them would take her offer. After sufficient time had passed, when Chicory was just blinking there like an idiot, River took a step forward. Everyone looked at him.

"I guess I can go with you."

And now I just have to figure out what exactly I plan on doing. Hells, I hate spontaneity. The thought drifted through his head and River scowled at it, Chicory was already making absurdly happy noises, possibly thinking she'd convinced him to come. In reality, River had been planning on following her anyway, even if it was just her scent and trail since clearly, she had superhuman detection abilities as well as night vision, which was absurdly unfair.

"Really?!" Chicory asked, stepping toward him.

River slipped out the door before she could try hugging him or something equally as suicidal. "Yes, really. I don't just make jokes and leave."

Loretta frowned at his retreating form, "But you do. Literally all the time."

River held up a hand, raising his eyebrows, "But Chicory didn't know that."

Chicory walked after him in a distinctly Chicory-like way, "So you're coming with me then?"

River nodded and turned around, walking down the path that led northeast. "Well, I'd assume so. Stop questioning me else I change my mind, oh great and wise Chicory."

She frowned at the sarcasm but chased after him. Before they knew it, they were running at a steady beat. It irked him to realize once more that Chicory was faster than him, or at least had better endurance. She was purposefully holding back and he could tell that fact with distinct clarity.

They continued like that for several hours, and it wasn't until the sun began to rise that it really hit home to River that she didn't plan on stopping anytime soon. He shot her a curious look, wondering vaguely if she even intended to sleep. Being sleepless would be really useful.

But despite that, traveling with others was strange. In fact, traveling at all was strange. After turning, River had mostly just kept to Featherwood. Occasionally he would take off for a few months for some solitude, but he'd never truly gone full tilt for days on end.

As it turned out, Chicory did need to sleep, only about as much as River did, which worked out nicely. The two would stop somewhere for a few hours, and go their separate ways to sleep, hunt, or run. And then they would meet up again and keep running.

To his relief they'd stopped talking to each other a while into the trip, considering how much Chicory could get out of her mouth when she tried, it was a burden off his shoulders. Smalltalk was just stressful, doubly so after he'd turned. And considering that River had always been that one nerd in the background? Well, he'd never been all that great at it in the first place. 

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We're going into a new arc here in a bit, where people will actually have some idea of what's going on :D  

Thanks for reading this far, and as always I'll post the next chapter tomorrow around 6 am MDT, have a good day!

Here's a picture of River looking done with the world