Perhaps We'll Meet Another Day

Have Some Hope

Part 2

In silence, they trudged on.

Penguin and Shachi took up the rear out of pure habit, letting Law take the lead and allowing them to talk amongst themselves if they felt like it. But that afternoon, none of them were really in the talkative mood. Not out of any particular reason, no, it was just one of those days. Well, that, and they were all pretty hungry. Hell, that was an understatement too. The constant grumbling of their stomachs forced their thoughts on one thing and one thing only: food.

They still had a few cans left to their name, but Law refused to part with them unless they were genuinely starving, trying to prolong the supply as long as they could. While they hadn't quite reached that point just yet, it wasn't too far off.

Law was only half relieved that his two friends decided to lapse into silence for awhile, his ear having practically been talked off during the past few months. His migraine would have been a lot worse otherwise. It was a bit worrying to hear them so quiet, it wasn't like them at all, but considering that they were running low on supplies it wasn't all too surprising. They were all a bit on edge, fearful that they wouldn't be able to find anything else to sate their hunger.

From the path they'd taken so far, they'd passed into Ohio a few days ago, but the edge of the state didn't offer much in terms of residence or supplies. They'd been hopping from town to town, trying to find a more permanent place to stay with more options of sustenance, but nothing was really safe anymore. Worst of all, most of the resources like food and water had either gone bad or already been scavenged. Most places had broken windows and doors swinging wide open, graffiti all over them, indicating there was nothing left to take. An entirely destroyed and ruined town was more commonplace than the exception.

Law had been searching the map for any sort of promising places to go, but one after the other, they all turned out to be disappointments. So, their meandering path kept them naturally heading West, following the roads between towns, always on the search for a better place to stay, a better place to survive.

Shachi and Penguin weren't even sure what Law was truly looking for. It was as if part of his brain kept telling him that if they kept moving they'd find some sort of respite. Some sort of light at the end of the figurative tunnel. Additionally, and they wouldn't ever mention it, of course, but they had a strange suspicion their back and forth path always heading West wasn't a coincidence. Since a certain woman was heading that direction, it was no surprise they were heading that way too. Some part of Law was wanting to follow her. Maybe not even he knew it himself, but the two friends weren't blind or stupid.

Penguin's mind brought up the brunette once again, not the first time that morning, and he finally decided to break the silence after a long, good stretch of time. "It's been awhile since we've seen Lexi." He started, intentionally leaving it open to other comments.

Shachi latched onto the offered string of conversation and shrugged. "It's been, what, maybe three months?" Then, he turned to Law who hadn't spoken up yet. "How long's it been since we saw those bandits, Law?"

Their leader shrugged nonchalantly. "Like you said, a couple months."

"Can't believe she didn't stick around so we could thank her." The group was passing under a bridge, and they were enclosed in the shade from overhead. "I miss seeing her." Penguin admitted, glancing at Law subtly. He made sure the tiny smile didn't give itself away too easily.

Law glanced behind him at his two companions, wondering what made them bring up Lexi after such a long time of silence. Their faces, however, didn't give them away, and he turned back to the road ahead. Far off in the distance, they could see a small group of zombies wandering aimlessly.