Peaceful Chaos

2. Shadowed

The crunching of our own feet on the ground keeps me alert in case I hear an extra set of footsteps. Beo is calm and determined in the night, my eyes strain in the darkness to maneuver with the only flame lighting little of the space around us.

"So what's your name" she exclaims, her voice interrupting the decollete sound of crickets and the steady hooting of an owl.

"Quiet" I snap from behind her.

She mutters the word touchy and I internally ask myself the question why.

After two more miles of silence I discover a good resting area, I stop the girl from moving forward and command Beo to check the area. I drop my heavy pack and begin to collect firewood, the girl stand motionless besides her eyes moving to follow my actions.

"You gonna help me or what?" I say, bending over and tossing a dry piece of wood to the growing pile.

"Sure, what do you need?" she asks openly. I stand straight up and stare for a moment at her, she stands still in the shadowed night.

"Go unpack the blankets and set up a bed near the fire pit" I command she nods and makes her way over to my pack.

Within minutes a small fire roars in the pit I dug, the girl has made a bed for what seems like the two of us, I mentally sigh a little.

With the fire built and Beo laying at the foot of the bed I sit down and take out a bag of beef jerky I've been saving, a few week ago I found my way into an office building and the took everything I could from the lifeless vending machines.

The jerky was more rubbery than usual and likely needed a bit of water to be able to swallow it. I open it and hold it in my lap, the heat of the fire warming me up, the girl still stands eyeing the bag and each piece I place in my mouth, "Hungry?" I say, she nods and I hold out the bag to her.

She quickly sits down beside me and grabs a big hunk of preserved meat and chews it with her back teeth. I notice the face of grimace she makes trying to swallow the rubbery meat, "Bonn appetite" I chuckle, she giggles.

"So then what's your name?" I find myself asking her, she looks over still chewing with a smile.

"Danica Smith" she states proudly.

"I'm Bex, mind if I call you Danny?" I ask her she nods with another smile across her face.

I know exchanging names is a mistake, getting to know this girl more is going to make it harder to leave her.

"Is that a nickname or something?" her tone seems playful and young.

"Bexley, but call me Bex" I answer, she nods, "So I assume your parent got taken by the plague then"

The plague was one event that claimed the lives of many, the other was the chaos that ensued after. The laws laid in shambles beneath the government's feet as they all died off, either from the first sickness or the crazed sprees of the infected.

The plague was called the haunting at first, but to most it was the end of the world. The weak were first to succumb within hours, they would become rabid shells of humans. The lucky ones, my family locked themselves away at the first signs of trouble. Months past, the sickness mutated and cities died.

The immune only survived, mostly the men but women like me had something in them to keep going. My sister and mother weren't that lucky.

Here I am looking for the thing that will give me answers, the person who abandoned me to save us all. My father has the answers and I intend to find him.

I regain my focus and see Danny nod, her family had been taken too.

"What about you?" she inches, I can tell she's trying to distract herself from painful memories similar to the ones I have.

"My mom died in the first few months and my sister was killed by one of the infected" I admit, she looks at me with a sense of understanding.

Silence falls on the both of us, only the crickets and the heavy snores from Beo.

I see Danny let a yawn escape her mouth, her eyes droop and my do the same, "Tired?" I ask.

She nods, I pull the heavy layer of blankets back and slid under, "Beo" I whisper-yell, he sits up alert and ready for my command.

"Keep watch" I say, he sits up and pants a few times before standing up on his four paw and circling the area once then return the the other side of me, Danny lays under the covers facing the fire, I lay next to her and Beo lays next to me.

The stars above my head create shapes and figure until the breathing of the girl beside me grows steady and my eyelids continue to droop.

Then a dark sleep takes me under as I dream a colorful dream.