Until I Die(18+)

In Which She Doesn't Expect

          I memorise the route in my head, making sure Ben does the same. Both of us analyse the map on my phone, the battery blinking a dangerous red in the corner of my screen.

           It was mostly straight forward. We just had to follow the road for a good three hours by car (which we had yet to acquire). But I know we had to take a few detours when we came from John's farm because of blocked roads which extended our journey time...I just wasn't sure where they had been...

           Before I could try and make a guess, my phone shuts off, leaving me with a sense of we're on our own, now.

           I clear my throat and out of habit, slide it into my back pocket. I try and shake the unease from my bones. It would be so easy to get lost without a map...

          "My friends had a car," I think out-loud. We were back at the gas station now. "I don't know if they got the keys. Not that we can get back inside with all the Infected."

           "Probably not worth the risk," Ben agrees, leg bouncing. He sat on top of a stool we found behind the counter whilst I perched on a waist-height display. "We should walk until we find something."

            A vision of me and Mum running from a group of Infected flashes through my head. I swallow. "I-I don't think we have much choice. Sitting around here isn't going to get us a car."

            And I don't want to arrive at John's too late. What if they leave thinking I died with the others?

             A chilling thought occurs to me. If they'd seen the place was over run, there was nothing stopping them from jumping to that conclusion anyway. Especially with how weak I'd been – I wouldn't blame them for thinking I was dead.

            I shake my head. There was no point in worrying about it now. One thing at a time – first being get to the farm.

             "I think I saw a junk yard on the map," Ben was saying, breaking me out of my thoughts. He doesn't sound pleased with the idea, though."If we walk until we pass the trees and then take a left. It's worth a shot."

               I nod in agreement. It won't hurt to try. For a moment, I look at Ben. He was being strangely brave about all this – y'know, for someone who was hiding in a tree when I met him. "I'm surprised you're okay with this."

                "Oh no, I'm terrified," he nods with wide eyes. "But you're pretty bad-ass, and I can't live in the trees forever, right? Plus we'll be safer when we can get a car."

                I breathe out a laugh. Bad-ass? No, that's so not me. Butif it makes him feel better, I'll let him continue thinking it.

                 –

               We find a bag in the back of the gas station, stacked with thousands of pounds. Obviously something illegal. It was tempting to take it –I'd never seen so much money in my life – but what good was it to us now?

             The bag, however, was priceless.

            We stack it full of nutrient bars and some bottled water. We find some loo roll in the bathroom and take that too. Who knows how long we could be travelling for.

           Ben carries the bag. I comment How gentleman of you and he dead-pans it'll be easier for you to kill them this way. I snort. It amazes me how someone actually trusts me – me! - to keep them safe.

          It also makes me completely determined to make sure I succeed.

--

           It takes us two hours to reach the junk yard.