For a long time, Eden Perkins believed she wouldn't find another human being she would willingly die for - she didn't want to. The past few months of her life, ever since the day the dead had started coming back to life - and maybe even before that...
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╔──────╝ ☠ ╚──────╗ xii. | TRUST ISSUES. ╚──────╗ ☠ ╔──────╝
TIRED WAS ONE WORD to describe pretty much every member of the group — Eden didn't need a second look at each of their faces to know. The last night had been full of troubled sleep (if any for some) and paranoia. Rebecca had woken up more than once while Eden was on watch, her breathing fast and her eyes wide in fear. She would only calm down when she had put one hand on her bump and spotted Alvin peacefully sleeping next to her. Judging by the pure horror that had been written across her face, Eden wasn't sure if she even wanted to know what kind of terrors haunted this woman at night.
Eden herself hadn't gotten much sleep either. The few hours she hadn't been on watch — Luke had woken her pretty late, she guessed he had been on watch for way too long when she noticed the growing shadows underneath his eyes — she'd caught some restless sleep tainted by images of Victor's face, blood dripping from her hands and Christa's screams. Eden knew if she could stay awake forever, she would choose that option instead of having to face these nightmares ever again.
The group had been on their way since sunrise. It must have been a few hours now and except for Sarah's excited chattering, the rest of them were rather quiet with the events of the past few days — and especially the loss of Pete — weighing heavy on their shoulders. Although, Eden hadn't known the man for that long, she knew what loss felt like and recognized the scars it left on each of their faces.
It wasn't hard to tell that it hit Nick the hardest. He was walking a few steps behind her, trailing after the rest of the group once again with his head hung low and the constant crestfallen expression on his face that made him look so much older than he actually was. With Luke's words and her promise to keep an eye out for him, Eden kept shooting the man glances to make sure he was still following the rest of them.
After a while, it seemed like Clementine had had enough of Sarah's constant babbling and caught up with Luke to walk alongside him. They started talking but Eden was too far away from them to be able to here what about.
Sarah didn't look bothered at all by Clementine's actions but Eden also didn't believe the younger girl meant anything by it. The two girls even seemed to get along pretty well, they were simply on different wavelengths but that didn't necessarily had to mean they couldn't be friends. Wondering how long it had been since Clementine had a friend her age, Eden remembered her mentioning the name Duck at some point but couldn't remember how long that had been ago. She'd just told her that he was a boy she used to play with and pull silly pranks on before they met.
When Sarah noticed Eden's eyes on her — she hadn't even noticed her look unintentionally darted to the girl, too deep into her own thoughts —, she slowed down to adjust her pace to Eden's so they could walk side by side. "Hey, do you know how long it is?" Sarah asked, the exhaustion evident in her voice. "I know Luke said the walk would take five days but maybe if we're extra fast, we could make it to these mountains earlier? I really hope we will. My feet hurt from all this walking."
