𝙳𝙰𝚈: 18

𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙: 7

𝙵𝚘𝚘𝚍: 4 days

𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘: 62

***

The nuclear winter has settled a blanket of ash across everything in our path; it’s becoming harder and harder to see. To put one foot in front of the other.

Not to mention that Marco is getting restless, almost sinister. And probably because he believes that Mary’s death wasn’t an accident.

It’s almost hard to know who to trust anymore: Link rarely speaks anymore, since Nadia got lost at the beginning of the trip. Violet’s temper is easily triggered in like a volcano once it gets going. Leo’s jokes are tapering out. Lillian cries more and more each day.

And Aaron… Aaron. His guard is up 24/7. It’s like the boy I loved is gone and has been replaced with a stone cold imposter. Whenever I try to talk to him, he acts like I’m not there. That hurts me more than a constant pangs of hunger that rock my body, the searing pain of hot, burning ash on my bare feet.

I knew this mission was going to change our lives, and for some of us take our lives. I just hope that after this, even if we come back in pieces, we come back as ourselves. Not these ravaged mutants we’ve become.

“We’re low on food. We should stop,” a raspy voice, says, yanking me out of my head. I turn my gaze to the speaker, a brooding outline in the shadows. Aaron.

I nod. “We can hunt. I can go with you.”

Aaron looks at me. When he doesn’t say anything, I feel relief, see her through my body, numbing the feel of hot ash on my feet. He wants me to go with him, he wants—

“No.” A low growl. “It’s not safe.”

Disappointment replaces the fleeting excitement. “Are you still hung up on that?” I ask, bitterness seeping through my tone. “Are you still—might I add unsuccessfully—trying to keep me safe? Don’t you know we’ve lost so many—“

“Exactly,” Aaron says, matching my tone. “It’s not safe. Especially for a girl like you, Claire.”

“Whoah there, little buddy,” Violet puts in, stepping forward. She’s lucky she’s not getting a knife to the neck right now. Only she can call Aaron ‘little buddy’ and get away with it. “ we are perfectly capable of not dying, you sexist bastard.”

I have to hold back a laugh. The look on Erin‘s face, at least, as far as I can tell, is pissed. It’s the same expression he’s worn every day for the past two and a half weeks. He’s our leader, but lately he’s been hanging back.

“Fine,” he whispers. “I’ll just go by myself.” he turns to disappear into the canopy of barren trees, the forest of ash.

“Wait!” I call, and I pause until the rustling stops. “Be careful, Aaron.” The words are filled with lost emotion, memories of what we used to be. Maybe even… love.

Silence. And then: “Stay here.”

And he’s gone. Eaten by the suffocating storm.