“She’s probably with some friends right now, around a fire like us, eating some fresh meat….” Jordan trails off wistfully. We’re all silent for a moment, save for the crackling of the fire.

“Hey, I never asked, what are you two doing out here in the not-so abandoned fields?” Annabelle breaks the silence.

“We sorta started running out of food.” I say, embarrassed, though I’m not sure why.

“It was Sebastian’s idea to come out here.” Jordan adds quickly, throwing me under the bus for his less-than-intelligent plan.

“I guess you guys didn’t expect it to be so dangerous out here, but other than the murderous gangs, it wasn’t a terrible idea.”

Jordan shoots me a smug look, saying with a glance that I should thank him for talking me up.

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“Well, I don’t know about you guys,” he says, yawning “But I’m tired, so I’m gonna go to sleep.”

“I suppose we should, we have another day of walking tomorrow.” I say, a little reluctantly, not wanting to end my conversation with Annabelle. Jordan and I had packed rather shortsightedly, only bringing a single schoolbag between us, which housed a change of clothes each. We realize how unprepared we are when we find we’d brought only one blanket. I would spend the night huddled against the chilly air, since Jordan contested that, as the one to pack the blanket, he should get to have it.

As I shiver in the breeze that had been scorching just hours ago, I contemplate our new companion. Sure, she had saved us, but there was still a part of me that didn’t fully trust her. She is beautiful though, and my teenage self couldn’t help but be excited by the prospect of having a girl around for the first time in years; but Annabelle is so far out of my league, entertaining the idea of dating her is just foolish. Nonetheless, I fall asleep to images of a nice, pre-apocalyptic life with her.