Things will get better.

14

No ones pov

The next morning, Manny woke up to the sound of Axel's steady breathing. They were still cuddled up together in the small motel room. Manny felt a sense of comfort and safety in Axel's arms, even in this unfamiliar place. Axel woke up a few moments later and realized that Manny was already awake. He smiled at him and yawned softly.
"Good morning," he said, his voice still groggy with sleep.

"Morning," Manny replied, his own voice still thick with drowsiness. He sat up in bed, stretching his arms above his head. The cat they had befriended the night before was perched on the bedside table, watching them with curious eyes..

Axel glanced at the cat and chuckled. "Looks like we've got a guest."
Manny grinned and reached out to pet the cat, who purred contentedly.

Manny smiled at the sight of Axel with the cat. "Yeah, I think we do," he agreed. He stood up from the bed and walked over to the window, pulling back the curtains to let in some sunlight. Axel got out of bed as well, walking over to stand next to Manny at the window. They both looked out at the still-quiet town outside, taking in the early morning view.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Axel asked, running a hand through his messy hair.

"I guess we should figure out where we're going next," Manny said, turning to look at Axel. "We can't stay here too long. We're gonna run out of money soon."

Axel nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "But first, let's eat something. We can't think on empty stomachs."

Manny looked into his bag to see if he could find anything. He found a few cereal bars and gave two to axel but didn't get any for himself. Axel noticed that Manny only handed him two cereal bars and didn't take any for himself. He frowned and looked at him with concern.

"Hey, what about you?" he asked. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

Manny shrugged. "I'm not that hungry," he said, but Axel could tell from the look in his eyes that he was lying.

"Don't give me that," Axel protested. "You need to eat something. We've been walking and traveling all night, you must be exhausted."

"I'm fine," Manny said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "I don't want to eat any of our limited food, we need to save it for later."

"Seriously, Manny," Axel said, getting frustrated. "You need to take care of yourself. We can get more food later, but right now, we need to keep our energy up. You can't just skip meals."

Manny sighed and looked down at the ground, realizing that Axel was right. "Fine," he said reluctantly, taking one of the cereal bars from Axel's hand.

Axel smiled, satisfied that Manny was finally agreeing to eat something. They both sat down at the small motel room's table and ate the cereal bars in silence. After they were finished, they tidied up the room a bit and prepared to head out.

"Alright, let's get going," Manny said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Axel nodded and followed him out of the motel room. As they walked down the street, they discussed their options for where to go next and what their next steps should be. As they kept walking, they noticed a bus stop up ahead. They walked up to it and saw that a bus was scheduled to arrive in a few minutes.
"Perfect timing," Axel said, looking at the bus schedule.

Then they left on the bus, for the whole day they traveled from one bus stop to another, until finally making it to Salem.