The Runaways

Chapter 7

The smell of meat awoke me from my sleep much too soon. Cory was kneeling over me with a plate of squirrel and a few strawberries. Despite how desperately hungry my stomach was telling me it was, I was a little peeved that he had woken me up from a beautiful slumber.

“Here. Eat up. If you're still hungry, let me know. I'll give you more strawberries,” he offered.

“Alright,” I said with a sigh, sitting up and digging into dinner.

It was the most wonderful and filling meal we had eaten since Andrew's. The meat was good, and the strawberries made the entire thing. After he gave me my plate, Cory came in and sat next to me with his own. We ate silently, enjoying the food too much to talk.

“How was it?” Cory asked once we had both finished our second helping of strawberries.

“It was the best meal I've had in a long time,” I said. Cory agreed with a nod of his head.

“I think it was those strawberries. They made the whole meal,” Cory said.

“I know. It's amazing what some good fruit can do to a meal,” I said with a laugh.

“How are you feeling?” Cory asked.

“Alright. A little sore. And you?” I asked.

“I'm fine. I'm just worried about you,” he confessed.

“I'll be fine,” I assured him with a bit of a smile. “I've been thinking” I said.

“Oh boy,” Cory said with a smirk.

“Be nice,” I said, with a light slap to his shoulder. “Anyway, I've been thinking that we should move on in the morning.”

Cory's smirk wiped off his face immediately. “What? You have to be joking, right?” he asked seriously.

“Absolutely not,” I said. “We need to get going. It will be for the best.”

“You straining yourself would be for the best?” he questioned. “Sorry. Not in my book,” he said stubbornly.

“You can't stop me from going, Cory,” I reasoned.

“I can refuse to go with you,” he shot back.

“Cory, I don't know what you are making such a big deal about!” I exclaimed. “I'm fine, really.”

“Fine! You are not 'fine'. You need to rest at least one more day before we get moving again. End of story,” he said dismissively.

“Fine. I will rest tomorrow. But we will move on the next day,” I said.

Cory laughed without humor, shaking his head. “You are so stubborn,” he said.

“I learned it from the best,” I said with a wink.

Cory just shook his head even more, giving me a slight smile.

“Ally?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.

“What?” I asked, coming out of my own thoughts of how I wanted more strawberries.

“Can I tell you something?” he asked.

I gulped. “Sure,” I said.

“While we were planning this whole thing out...I realized that I have more feelings for you than just that of friendship,” he confessed, and although it wasn't news to me, it still surprised me that he was saying it at all.

“Oh,” was all I could think of as a reply.

Cory furrowed his brow in frustration. “Oh is all you can say?” he demanded.

“Well, I kind of, um, actually knew that already,” I confessed.

“How?” he asked in bewilderment.

“I overheard you and Andrew talking about it the night before we left him. That was kind of why I was ignoring you,” I said sheepishly.

“Great,” he said, shaking his head.

“Sorry,” I offered.

“It's not your fault. It's mine. I'm so stupid, I should have never brought this up. Forget it,” he said, scooting away from me, eyes blazing.

“Cory,” I said, eyes pleading. “I'm sorry. I just can't go there right now, okay? You are my best friend and only companion out here. I need you as a friend right now, okay?” I asked.

His eyes softened, but I could still see the hurt behind them. “I know. Like I said, forget it,” he said.

“I do love you though, I hope you know that,” I said. He gave a sad smile.

“I know,” he said, then he crawled inside his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

The next day I did everything I could around camp to try to prove to Cory that I was fit enough to walk the next day. Not that he saw much; he went out hunting for rabbits to smoke again. But I filled all the canteens, washed up our plates, and did some general picking up. My back hurt a bit, but it wasn't too bad that I couldn't work.

Cory got back around noon with two more rabbits, which he smoked once more. He had created a smoker out of branches, which he placed into the ground and connected at the top like a tee pee. He cut out a small window, allowing him to check on them and place more in.

“Aren't you sore?” he asked when I came back from gathering some wild onions that I had found downstream.

“Not a bit,” I lied, mostly because I wanted to move on tomorrow.

I sat down slowly, wincing slightly and Cory raised his eyebrows, questioning. I just shrugged, then turned to my wild onions, which I began to cut up.

“You are hurting, I can tell,” Cory accused.

“Only a little,” I fibbed.

“Liar. I can see it in your eyes. You need to rest. We are not moving on tomorrow,” Cory said firmly.

“Yes we are,” I said in a tone full of authority. Cory just gave a small sarcastic laugh.

“We'll see about that,” he said.

“If I go, you'll have to go because I know you, and you would never let me go off on my own,” I said matter-of-factly. He just laughed more sarcastically.

“We'll see about that,” he said.

“I'm going to bed,” I said, standing up abruptly and hurting my back. “Don't worry about my dinner. I'll be fine,” I snapped.

Cory looked taken aback, but I paid no mind. I stomped inside, crawled into my sleeping bag on my stomach, and tried to block out all the thoughts going through my head. Cory didn't bother me, and eventually, I fell into a restless sleep.