It was rather hard for Mark to get some decent sleep. The issue wasn’t the lack of a bed or the lack of a roof. The guard rotation hadn’t bothered him that much either. No, what bothered him the most were the sounds. It’d been hard to notice at first, little creaks of wood and little noises here and there. And once, a distant shriek.

They were sounds that were heard only once, so faint one might have mistaken for the wind or something else. But Mark was sure one of them had been a scream. His imagination kept running wild with possibilities. Was there someone out there that’d been hunted down?

It grated on his nerves and it made his sleep restless.

It would be early morning when he jolted awake one last time. Mark looked around and found Veronica sleeping next to him, her back pressed against his flank.

It was early enough there were only the slightest hints of light touching the treetops; the air was cool but not cold, and the breeze brought with it the scent of pine and damp soil. Mark laid there on the ground, organizing his thoughts and summoning the strength to move. Veronica lay next to him, breathing with slow exhales. He couldn’t quite make out her features in the gloom, but the warmth of her body brought a second consideration on whether he should stand up.

Pushing his thoughts away from her, the redhead worked up the energy to sit up. His gaze moved across the improvised camp. Most were sleeping, arranged across the ground in a haphazard distribution of bodies. Mark could only shake his head slightly. There’d been no fire nor shared meal list night, everyone had been all too nervous the flame might draw unwanted attention their way.

Mark’s hand reached out for his backpack, pretending to open it to take out some food, his arm dug deep inside and through the stuffing of clothes he had added at the last second. He relaxed as soon as his fingers brushed against the metallic object at the bottom. A simple reassurance, he left it there. Instead, he pulled out a granola bar and wondered how much longer his supplies would last him. It didn’t look like he’d be able to survive for long, they’d need to find some new sources of food.

Might as well keep an eye out from now on.

“Hm?” The sound came from Veronica, the young woman rubbing her eyes as she sat up, looking around. A coy smile reached her lips as she glanced at Mark. “Sleep well?”

He rolled his eyes in response, turning away and looking for his brother. “Barry?” The call out made him realize he couldn’t see his younger sibling anywhere.

“He went ahead,” Daniel grumbled from the spot he was keeping watch from. “Said it was for the best since we’d catch up soon, anyway.”

And just like that he wasn’t sleepy anymore. Jolting to his feet, Mark approached the taller, balder man, glaring. “You let him leave on his own? Into the forest?”

“I wasn’t about to stop anyone wanting to do anything stupid.”

The words made Mark scowl harder.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“He took some of my paint, fuck.”

Veronica cursed, drawing everyone’s attention. They turned back quickly to Daniel and Mark. The older of the two just shrugged his shoulders and made a motion with his head towards one of the trees ahead. There was a white arrow that had been left on the trunk, a sign of where Barry had gone.

“Suit yourself, we’ll be heading out in half an hour tops.” The words came with a careless shake of the head.

“Fucking fine.” Mark growled and moved to shoulder his backpack, stopping to look at the young woman for a moment. Seated on the root, she was taking a bite out of an apple, grinning. He rolled his eyes in response. “You coming?”

“Sure.”

Ignoring the derisive snort that came out of Daniel, they set out in pursuit of the white arrows. Mark kept growling inside, wishing he could’ve been awake when Barry had left. When had it been? How had he missed it? He could only guess he’d been too tired to notice.

“You sure we ought to go without the others?”

“Don’t much care.”

“If you say so.” Veronica hopped over the fallen log, glancing at the painted white arrow that lay on the tree trunk they were walking towards. “He sure moves fast when no one else’s around.”

“Probably had a good head start.” How long ago had it been? An hour? Two? More? They’d yet to even spot Barry. Unless the younger sibling suddenly recovered, that should mean at least half an hour.

“What do you figure we’ll find, in the end?” Veronica spoke up, her eyes not really following Mark or the arrows but lingering in their surroundings.

“In the end?”

“You know, there’s all these monsters. What kind of civilization would be out there?”

“Fuck if I know. If it’s safe, I’ll be happy about it.”

The proclamation made Veronica shrug somewhat. “I think we should start hiding our scent.” She proclaimed.

“Bit late for that.”

“I was thinking about last night and those howls. They might decide to move after us after they’ve cleaned up whatever’s left of the bus.” There was a bored edge to her tone, as if she were talking about the weather. “Probably best we were ready to ditch everyone if things come down to it.”

“Not without Barry.”

The declaration came with a solid grunt of effort while maneuvering onto a root. His words made Veronica take a moment and frown, but she kept quiet, matching his pace, moving through the forest with greater ease. She almost made it look easy. They progressed one bothersome root at a time, following the white paint. Mark noted the number of white arrows were becoming sparser and spread apart at greater intervals.

Their silence did not last long. Within the span of an hour they’d spotted Barry. The younger Dodson was caught painting another arrow on the bark, not hearing their approach as he advanced. His steps were slow and methodical, the limp still there, but the young man clearly pushing himself to keep the pace.

“Hey!” Mark called out.

Barry turned, nodded at them, eyes lingering on Veronica for a moment before he turned to keep moving forward, a bit more slowly now.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Mark proclaimed as soon as he’d reached his younger brother.

Barry shook his head. “Going alone, figured the howls spooked whatever else might be out here. We need to cover the distance, anyway.” A little pause. “Also, there are hogs out here.”

“What?”

“Hogs, spotted one this morning, it ran off.” Barry was slightly short of breath, coming to a halt to recover.

“Good to know, I guess. Next time don’t go on your own, you moron.” Mark slapped the back of his brother’s head. “God damn it, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”

A bitter laugh escaped him as he adjusted his glasses, turning away. “Let’s just move.”

The tone surprised Mark. A frown followed. “Something wrong?”

Barry sighed. “No, nothing.” He turned to move again.

“I’ll want my paint back.”

Veronica reached out and snatched the can out of the young man’s hand before he could react. It only earned her a surprised look out of Barry.

“Whatever, the others must have started walking by now.” Mark shook his head, gesturing the way ahead. “Let’s keep moving, they will catch up soon.”