The cool breeze of the morning woke Tish. She turned a little, hoping to catch a few more minutes when something shoved her face into the pavement.
Shannon stood above her, his foot prodding her shoulder. “Wake the fuck up, Tish!” He scowled, more than normal.
Tish rolled her eyes, let herself yawn, and crawled out of her bedroll. With an unsteady shove, she pushed off the ground and blearily blinked the day into focus.
Everyone was up and Shannon paced the camp. Tish couldn't be sure if there was any special reason for his bubbling rage this time. He is a bit of a prick after all. Their gear mostly packed and ready to go, Tish squinted through another yawn. Not far away Laurence leaned against a car, his head low.
“What's your problem?” Tish brushed her hair from her face. It was dirty, hard to manage but there wasn't much she could do about it. It'd been a long while since she'd had some freshwater, even longer since a hot shower. Tugging her matted brown hair back tight she used an old grocery elastic to make a ponytail.
“She's gone.” Reid shoved supplies into his small backpack. He looks pissed. Even more than Shannon, if that’s possible. Glancing up at Laurence she spied the flask and put the pieces together.
He got drunk again. Fell asleep on his watch.
“And we gotta go look for her. Like now.” Shannon grabbed Tish's bag and shoved it to her chest with a fake plastered smile.
“Hey, relax, she's half dead. Can't have gone far, right?” Picking up her jacket she shoved it inside her pack and followed Shannon closely. The others started to wake up, the commotion gathering more than a few confused looks. While fishing around in her pack Tish took note of the supplies but nothing seemed to be missing. Water, food. So she didn't rob us and leave.
“She's been gone for a few hours now,” Laurence admitted. His eyes were bloodshot and he continually rubbed his temple.
“Tish is right. She can't have gone far.” Reid tossed Laurence a bottle of pills.
“A few hours?” Tish narrowed her eyes, her bleary waking calm dissolved. “What do you mean a few hours?” Running us ragged, keeping the pace high and then he goes and gets hammered and we're the ones stuck hunting down-
“Come on.” Shannon nudged her shoulder. “We'll look while he babysits.”
---
Weaving between the cars, Tish and Reid remained relatively quiet, their attentions on finding Cazalla. Shannon, though, he wouldn't or maybe couldn’t shut his damn mouth.
“I mean I get it. This fucking sucks. We've been tailing that bitch for a long fucking time. We're tired. Hungry, thirsty, and I'm angry I’m still out here. But man... getting tanked on watch. He should have fucking woke me or somethin'. I wouldn't like it, but I'd be happier than I am now.” Shannon kicked a broken mirror on the ground and the glass shattered along the pavement. The sound ricocheted off the metal around them. Any other day Tish would have snapped at him but she couldn't disagree this time. He wasn’t wrong about Laurence.
“And he won't admit it. You know? He'll just stay all quiet and hope we don't call him out on his shit. I dunno. Maybe Laurence is a liability. I mean, no one wants to follow an old drunk out here in the dark.”
“Shut up, Shannon.” Reid walked on ahead leaving Tish to indulge her partner.
“That's right Lassy, keep walkin',” Shannon whispered just out of earshot of Reid. “Your nose is lookin' mighty shitty right about now.”
“Why do you have to be like that?” Tish whispered. “You know he's right. You’re way too loud.”
Shannon shook his head and snarled a little. “Fuck that. I'm not some lap dog. I’ll be as loud as I like! I’m not interested in being like him.” Shannon motioned at Reid as the distance between swelled. “As I see it, I’m only helping out as long as I get something from it. And right now, there's a whole lot of ‘fuck all’ included with this deal. And come on-” Shannon stopped and stopped Tish. His eyebrow cocked, his head tilted toward her, and his voice got real low. “You know I'm right about Laurence. He fucked up big here.”
“Making him look weak in front of the others isn't going to change that.”
“The fuck do I care what they think.”
She eyed Shannon. “They outnumber us.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not in guns. And Reid’s still a prick.”
Tish was surprised at the sound of her own laugh. The situation was shit but somehow Shannon didn't make it seem all that bad, despite the slur of cursing and complaints. He complains about everything, though. She watched him grin and they both turned back to the road.
Reid stopped up ahead, looked around the cars, and checked the ground. He was always too quiet for Tish and Shannon too goddamn loud. She didn’t mind Laurence when they’d started, but like Shannon said, he was getting sloppy. First tipping the girl back in the Glenn, the careless tracking through the Rouge, the tag-along families, and now getting drunk while on watch. We're lucky nothing worse happened.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Anything?” Shannon asked Reid with a loaded sigh.
“Well maybe if you shut up we can listen for her,” Reid barked.
Tish couldn't see a thing. Just more cars forward, more cars back. If that woman left the highway she'd be dead by noon, if not already. How did she manage to walk off like that? She was next to dead.
“It's quiet out here,” Shannon stated the obvious and Tish caught Reid rolling his eyes.
“She couldn't make it out this far.” Reid turned to face them. “I'm sure of it. We've been walking for what, ten minutes? Even if she had a few hours I can’t imagine she’d get this far.” He stopped short and frowned, looking past Tish and Shannon in the direction of their camp.
“So we backtrack, check another direction for a trail, right?”
“Yeah of puke probably,” Shannon added.
To the right rows of houses, only their roofs visible behind the tall barrier nearly reached the highway. The edge of Scarborough or what was left of it. She heard fires broke out about eight months back. Claimed half the area all the way up to Markham from Sheppard. With no one to stop it the houses burned real good and the fire raged. Anyone in the area hiding in houses or basements probably died; lots of wendigos too. Part of her wanted to walk to the overpass and take in the sight, that morbid curiosity tugging her on.
“Maybe we can get a better look from up there?” She pointed to the overpass.
Reid shook his head. “Looks like we won't need to.”
Shannon and Tish turned. A figure running between the cars toward them. One of the kids.
“That one from last night, armed-and-hardly-dangerous?” Shannon leaned against a bent car door and chuckled at his own joke.
A huff erupted from Reid. “His name’s Ethan.”
“So? I don’t give a shit what their names are.”
Tish sighed and stepped forward. Heavy breaths burst from Ethan’s lips and he doubled over once he slowed to a stop.
“Go back to camp, kid. We can't look after you right now.” Tish waved him on but he shook his head.
“Well speak the fuck up,” Shannon snapped.
Tish smacked his arm and Shannon mouthed a ‘What?' at her with a shrug.
“He... Laurence... he found... her,” Ethan huffed.
Reid sighed from relief.
Shannon grinned greedily. “Well, put me in a dress and call me fuckin' pretty – these people are good for something!” Starting back, Shannon ruffled the kid's hair and slapped his back hard. Ethan pulled away from him and stepped aside as she passed.
“Thanks for the news messenger boy.” She grinned and gave Ethan a quick nod before following Shannon.
But the kid didn’t follow. Reid called out to Ethan and the two met up in the road. Though spoke quietly, too quiet for Tish to make it out. The kid shook his head, then nodded.
It was weird. Reid hadn’t kept his opinion to himself about the She knew Reid hated them being here. No one liked having kids around unprotected. Made her nervous, made them all edgy. That instinct to protect the weakest sort of thing. It just meant the world was more dangerous, that every time something bad was about to happen they wouldn't be able to think of themselves first.
“You guys coming?” Tish stopped and waited, hands on her hips.
Reid motioned for Ethan to move ahead of him.
“What was that about?” she pressed but the medic wouldn’t say. He just shrugged and kept walking. And that's why no one likes you, Reid.
---
Back at the camp, Laurence stood alone by the now dead fire. He looked closer to sober but with the small crowd forming around him Tish wondered if he could handle the commotion.
“Well, where is she? Our master of disguise,” Shannon demanded.
At first glance, Tish didn't see her but from the look that Laurence shot Shannon, she had a feeling that wasn't at the top of the list of their problems.
“Something going on?” Tish asked, looking between Laurence and the others.
“They wanted to share their opinions is all,” Laurence informed them with a touch of humour in his voice. Not a lot though. The drink was still nipping at his words and he braced himself against a small hatchback. His blank smile spelled a short fuse.
“Who cares what they want.” Shannon received his fair share of glares for saying so.
“I think you really should shut up, Shannon,” Tish whispered, but it was the glare Laurence levelled that quieted Shannon some.
Reid walked directly to Laurence, ignoring everyone. “Where is she?”
Laurence nodded his head to the car he was leaning against, pulling the shotgun in front of him and using it like a cane. Tish followed Reid's lead and looked inside the car to find Cazalla curled up in the trunk of the hatchback. She appeared no worse for wear, tucked beneath a blanket.
“Chandra Singh and her friends here, believe it's far too dangerous to be travelling with this woman and insists we ‘deal’ with her. Despite our previous conversation,” Laurence said.
Shannon's smile crept wider as he removed his gun. “Oh really?” He took a step closer to the group but Laurence shook his head. Despite the silent command, Tish grasped her machete’s handle.
“We understand you might want to protect her-” Chandra started.
“Let me stop you there because you really don’t.” Laurence grinned. Pulling out the poster, he unwrapped and handed it to Chandra. She read quickly and her eyes grew wide. “This is why we ‘keep’ her. This is why we're not going to let you or anyone else ‘deal’ with her.”
Chandra spoke quickly to the other adults before nodding and giving back the paper to Laurence's outstretched hand. Tish didn't need to see it to know what lay there. She had her own back at the college, they all did. The posters once littered the streets and were easily found in the garbage heaps through the city. Ashley Cazalla. She was almost shocked they didn't recognize her but few went looking for the woman who destroyed the world.
“All settled then? Because I don’t like repeating myself.” Laurence said.
Chandra nodded slowly, eyeing the hatchback.
“Good. Tish, see them back to their friends and help them get ready. We move once they’re packed.”
The tourists moved back to their camp with Tish falling behind. When she glanced back Laurence and Reid argued quietly as Shannon blew her an exaggerated kiss. Tish flicked up her middle finger in return.
“Is she really the one who did all this?” Ethan asked quietly. The teen seemed to stand out, in Tish's opinion. Not that he was anything special but he wasn't as afraid as the others. While the adults of their group argued about Cazalla, this kid was just curious. It was almost refreshing.
“Dunno, kid.” Her hand hovered over the machete. Chandra argued a few feet ahead of them. Sounded like some small power struggle between them on their course of action. Some wanted to go keep going, some wanted to kill Cazalla. One of the men, the eldest Tish guess, argued a little louder than she liked. And beside her Ethan watched them, eyes fixed in a glare.
“If she did or didn’t do all this, I don't really care. She's a way to get out of this place so what does it matter?”
The adults disbanded and started to pack up quietly, the kids following suit. Apparently Chandra still had a meagre hold on her authority, for what it was worth.
“Just try not to think about it, okay?” Tish said.
Ethan nodded and walked off as Tish stood guard watching not just for wendigos.