Perseverance ( completed! )

Run

Liam, Josh, Buddy and I began to head forward again. We we're quiet for the majority of the time today, there was no discussion about what would happen next, for fear of there not being a 'next'. Keeping our feet moving west and our heads up, our confidence began to increase, even if it was just in the slightest. We had made considerable progress and nothing bad had happened to us yet!

I definitely jinxed us.

After awhile of walking it was beginning to get dark. Catching my lip between my teeth, I glanced up at Liam with a curious expression present on my features. He seemed deep in thought about something, but he also seemed slightly sidetracked.

I cleared my throat carefully before speaking. "Erm, Liam?"

As if being pulled out of a trance, Liam glanced down at me quickly, confusion now evident on his face; as if he didn't know what had just happened.

"Yes love?" Liam tipped his head to the side as he looked at me, his face now more recognizable. Apart from the cloth covering his nose and mouth, of course.

I blushed, the tips of my ears going red. Even though he used those types of nicknames with me all the time it was still hard to get used to them. Or maybe I just blush easily.

Dropping my head to look at my feet, I spoke up in a soft voice, it being slightly more raspy than usual considering I was, to put it simply, exhausted. Again, I am not athletic, and I am for dang sure not used to walking none stop for hours upon hours at a time.

"I was just, wondering if we should find somewhere to rest..? Just because it's getting late and all," I mumbled gently, angling my gaze upward and towards him.

Liam seemed oddly shocked for a moment, his eyes widening and his lips parting as he looked down at me. But I couldn't possible see what I said that would have surprised him.

"W-What? Do you think we should keep going?" I sputtered in confusion, earning a curious glance from Josh as he watched us.

"Uh no, no, I'm sorry. Musta' dozed off for a moment there," Liam forced a chuckle, shaking his head with a smile. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but I didn't press him. I simply smiled brightly and nodded, happy knowing we would be able to sit down soon. My legs were killing me! But so were my arms; sure Buddy was light, but I've never had to hold him for so many hours in a row before. Plus I would feel absolutely awful making the poor thing walk!

Thankfully, only a short ten minutes later we decided to turn into a tall building that looked very deserted but safe all the same. Making our way in cautiously, Liam picked up a decent sized metal pipe that must have been knocked off of the plumbing structure somewhere throughout the bottom floor.

With Liam in the front, me behind him and Josh bringing up the rear we made our way up the stairs in search of the safest looking floor. Around floor six we came across multiple rooms with doors so it seemed like a pretty safe bet, we would at least be able to have the sound of a door opening to warn us before someone decided to attack us.

Luckily there was a window, allowing for the room to be illuminated by the moons soft and pale light. It was frankly quite peaceful, if you didn't think about being in the middle of an apocalypse of course. Setting our bags down, we settled ourselves beside each other. Liam resting to my right and Josh to my left, while Buddy decided to choose my lap a comfortable place to nap.

Slowly, I sunk into a deep sleep.

My heavy footsteps were muffled in the presence of sand as I fought to regain my breath. Head pounding and memory foggy I tried to remember where I was.