Your Crying Shoulder

Taken care of

It wasn't long till our gas ran out and we hadn't made it very far from where we last were. I looked to mom and sighed knowing we'd have to walk from here. I grabbed my guns from the backseat, mom had the backpack with all our other supplies and started walking, abandoning our car. I lead the way for about an hour and It started getting dark so I turned to them,

"Let's set up camp here."

They nodded and mom started getting to work on the tent while grandpa had to sit down on a log. He was worn out.

"You alright?" I asked him.

"Ya just these old bones don't work as well as they use to." He joked as I handed him my canteen filled with water.

I smiled, leave it to grandpa to be in a zombie apocalypse and still joke about anything and everything. We had some extra rabbit that I caught a few days ago so we could cook that up for dinner tonight. I started the fire and mom began cooking. I was never good in the kitchen. Burnt almost anything I cooked so I left it to mom. When it was done, mom passed each of us a portion. They were small, but it was all we had. I actually hadn't eaten in days. I always gave it to grandpa because he needed it more. He needed energy and honestly I cared about my family's well being more than my own. Tonight was no different. I saw grandpa had finished quickly and I offered him mine smiling,

"Here"

"No you eat it sweetheart." He said.

"You need it more." I implied.

"Mae you haven't eaten in days" mom but in.

"He needs it more than I do." I smiled, "I'm gonna take first watch" I stood up and placed my share in his hands as I walked towards the tent.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see mom. I smiled to her and she smiled back standing right next to me.

"You need to eat." She said.

"He needs the food more. He won't have energy and won't have strength if he doesn't." I said.

"Neither will you. Sweetheart I know you are concerned about him, but we are both concerned for you. We need you. If you haven't noticed I'm not strong anymore." She sighed.

"Don't say that. You are the strongest woman I've ever met." I smiled.

"If I was so strong then you wouldn't have those." She motioned to my scars on my shoulder that were now exposed because my sweatshirt started falling off.

I quickly repositioned it, hiding them. "You didn't know"

"honey it's almost 90 degrees outside and your wearing a sweatshirt" she sighed.

"mom I don't need a lecture." Igroaned

"Mae just please start eating. We need you." She sighed.

I said nothing and just remained starring at the woods infront of me. It was like they went on forever. Like a black pit of nothing but death, darkness, and secrets. I heard my mother sigh,

"when's the last time you've had a full nights rest?"

I was about to reply when I realized I really didn't know when the last time I slept was. Sure I was exhausted, but I couldn't just sleep when we were in constant danger. Plus I haven't been able to sleep without nightmares in years.

"Mom I'm fine" I groaned.

"I'll take watch, you sleep" she said.

"mom stop" I said raising my voice annoyed.

I turned and saw her eyes widened at my tone in voice. Sighing I ran a hand through my hair, "mom please I'm fine, I promise"

"you need to take care of yourself too" she whispered as she finally walked away.