The Rabbit's Den

Long Journeys

Between Rhys' ability to navigate through the woods and Ester's knowledge of the City of Haven they thought they had a solid plan. Rhys' main objective was getting food for the group, while Ester's was getting medical supplies for them. She had strong faith in Trixie and Sadie's medical abilities. She knew damn well traipsing around in the woods was asking for trouble, especially her. Not knowing how to survive outside the city was going to make her prove herself. With Rhys at her side she felt it wasn't as risky. They traveled by day and set up the tent by night. It was brutally cold at night; she and Rhys held each other in the canvas tent shaking.

"Tell me again why you volunteered for this?" Rhys asked through chattering teeth. She could tell by the sound of his voice he was at least smiling. "I've never done anything like this, and I wanted to help." He laughed, "Well I've never been eaten by a bear, but I'm not going to go around trying to find one." Now she laughed. She had been lying with her back to his stomach, she turned. "I need to catch up." Rhys gave her a questioning look. "I've never done anything. I was born in the city, and we couldn't leave." He stopped smiling, "Prisoners in a gilded cage?" "Exactly. If Trixie hadn't offered for me to come with, I don't know how much longer I would have been able to bare it. And with my brother dead, I don't know what would have become of me." Rhys' expression became even more serious, "Do you hold any animosity towards Trixie? With her killing him?" Ester shrugged her shoulders, "No, he was a terrible person, and he did horrible things."

Ester studied Rhys' face, following the raised red burn marks along his face and neck. Before she realized what, she was doing she leaned into him and kissed him. It took Rhys by surprise especially since he could tell she was looking at his scared-up face. "What was that for?" He asked. Ester smiled, "I like you." Ester didn't seem like the kind of person to lie or be cruel, but he still didn't understand it. "Why? I look like a monster." Her eyes looked hurt, she shook her head and placed a warm hand on his scared face, "No you don't, I've seen monsters all my life Rhys. You look nothing like a monster. You're sweet and kind; and in this world that's a hard thing to find." He pulled her closer and held on to her, hoping that he wasn't just a lack of options for her.

In some places as they came down the mountain the snow was waist deep, Ester was shocked but still carried on. It became easier to navigate and move when they reached the further end of the valley. Rhys stopped and looked around, he smiled. "I know where we are!" Ester looked, but she thought it all looked the same except they were now on flat ground. "I'm glad you do, where are we going first?" Rhys turned and pointed, "That is away from the City. I think we should try to find transportation, that way we can carry more supplies." She looked at him curiously. "How would we get it up to the Nest?" She asked. He played with the idea for a moment, "Drive it as close as we can, cover it up and carry what we can. Then everyone that can travel can come back down to it and take it back up. We knew this wasn't going to be easy." She nodded, it wasn't like she had any better of an idea, it just seemed so time consuming.

Where they were at now was so much warmer then the tip down. "I didn't think any of the vehicles around here ran." Ester said as Rhys pulled open the doors of discarded cars and trucks. "No most would if they had any fuel, the electric ones are worthless unless you have a genny, then you still need gas to run that. Finding gas isn't that hard either, a lot of the cars closer to the city were just abandoned as people fled in, they usually still have gas in them. It's just risky to get one." Once again something Ester wouldn't have even thought of. Rhys was looking for something specific, a truck with a large bed, or an oversized SUV.

"When do the food trucks come?" Rhys asked her as he clipped red and black wires to a block under the trucks hood. She watched him intently, "First and third week of the month." He nodded and flipped the toggle switch on the box. "What are you doing?" She asked him as he climbed into the driver's seat and grabbed for the keys hanging in the ignition. "The battery is most defiantly drained; it needs to charge for a while. What week is it?" They looked at each other hard for a while before Ester piped up, "It's the second week of April I think." He motioned her to get into the truck, once inside he said. "So we drive the truck back into the tree line, and wait." She nodded, once again he at least had an idea.