𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch. XL pt. II

oOo

She heard the church bells again, very faintly, like a pin dropping in the distance. She supposed they weren't chiming hourly like the ones in her village, so she had no idea of the passage of time. Summer and the high sun could do that to a person.

She was also thirsty as fuck, and so hungry she could morally eat a giraffe, and so full of period cramps that she was tempted to use her knife to carve the uterus out of her belly if only to be in less pain. Not to mention she had resorted to cutting the hem of her shirt to stripes to stuff in her underwear.

But not even all of that discomfort made her succumb to the church bells. It was an obvious trap. She was smart enough to figure that one out. Or maybe she was untrusting enough. Whatever, both worked in her favor this time.

Her legs trembled as she hitched her leg up high and hooked the back of her knee on the next branch. She pulled herself up, her biceps protesting the strain, and grabbed hold of the trunk once she was upright.

A look down showed her how far she'd climbed. She thanked her lucky stars for not giving her vertigo. It reminded her of when her family had walked up this antenna tower and her sister didn't go past the second level because of how scared she was. She'd laughed in her face and guided her back down. Oh, good old times. Bitter old times.

The sun had been high in the sky when she woke up and she'd realized she had no idea where she'd come from. Her wandering around in the dark had gotten her turned around, a shameful thing she would never admit to anyone.

She'd gathered the rope, kicked the walker at the foot of the tree, and began walking. First in a spiral around her sleeping tree, keeping it as a reference in case she needed to go back, then, when she realized it was a stupid idea, she just took off in a random direction.

She hiked until she heard the church bells for the first time. She saw walkers attracted by the sound and hid. Weak as she was, she didn't want to pick more fights than necessary.

When the coast was clear she set off again. She had stopped when she reached the edge of someone's property.

A mostly vacant vast plowing field at the front, a barn, and someone's home. She'd spotted tiny figures in the distance, living one's judging by the way they didn't walk around aimlessly and could successfully manage the oh-so intricate mechanism of opening doors and wheel around wheelbarrows.

She couldn't see any better from up on the tree, but she was hoping it would keep her camouflaged while she figured out what to do.

She couldn't go back... she didn't even know what direction back was. She couldn't very much just stroll up these people's front walk and ask for directions.

What she could do was scout the perimeter, look around for Sophia, keep the farmhouse as a point of reference. Someplace she could come back to once it got dark.

At this point, she had no hope of seeing her family again. She used to have trust in her skills, her immaculate sense of direction, but then again she'd never been lost in an unknown place before. How would they know where to look for her? Were they even searching? Why hadn't she seen any sign of them? Maybe they'd just decided 'good riddance' and left her behind.

She swallowed any sorrow and hardened herself. Fine, she'd learn how to live and fend for herself, she didn't need anybody else.

oOo

Felix's long legs could carry him ahead of anyone else he knew, that was true, but only if his heart was in it. His hesitancy to get to their destination made him lag behind even his sister.