The night was calm.

We cooked as much of the deer we could by the fire. In the morning Sam asked if we knew anywhere to find help for her sister, but I couldn't help. I didn't have my map anymore, and I didn't know what could help them. She then asked if she and her sister could stay with us, and I said they could. ‘Great, more weight.’

There's not much left of humanity is there, it's kinda weird. We built all of this, and when the world ended, we tore it all down. All this stuff we wrote down or made for the future generation. Is gone or missing a lot of itself. It's all just small pieces of what the world used to be like. I guess the future generation never mattered as much as the current one. 'It's their problem to deal with it cause we'll soon be dead.'

It's been two days. And Alice still won't talk, the snake still hasn't shown herself, and our cooked deer is gone. The grass has started turning white, it's a lot colder, and cloudy outside. But we didn't have anything to wear.

"So where are we going?" Sam asks.

I shrug "Hopefully south." 'Were going north.'

Sam's sister couldn't travel fast, she kept stopping to catch her breath, so we had to slow down to her speed.

"Can we stop, I think Maggie's tired." Sam whines, holding her sister. Maggie's stomach gives off a small rumbling, and she lets out a whine, covering her stomach. She hadn't eaten in the two days she's been with us. What does she even eat? 'souls' We haven't traveled far in these few days, because of Maggie, but none of us know where we're going anyway. It didn't seem to matter, as long as we found food, and shelter.

Silah drops the wood to the floor and starts lighting it, I grab a can of soup from my bag and get it open. I could see Maggie panting, shaking, as Sam kept trying to comfort her. Why does it feel like it's my fault? 'Because it is' I didn't do anything. Or is that why. Should I be doing more? 'we're lazy'

I look at Alice trying to distract myself, she's just staring off into space. I go to tap her on the shoulder to catch her attention, but her stomach rumbles. A loud, and disturbing sound. She runs away "Hey!" I reach out "Where are you going?"

The fire was roaring, it was dark, and quiet around us. There wasn't any shelter around us, so we were stuck to camp outside.

It felt really cold, but warm too from the fire, it's a weird feeling, having your front warm but your back cold. It felt interesting yet strangely unnerving for some reason. Maggie was wrapped around herself like a large hose, she barely even had clothes on, just a really torn white shirt. Kinda like Silah, except she couldn't wear shorts. I have my jacket and Sam has her sweater, I can't even imagine how cold the others are feeling.

"Where did Alice go?" Sam asks.

"I don't know." It was dark, we couldn't even find her if we tried. But none of us actually did try. Sam has her sister to watch, Silah didn't seem to care, the snake lady still hasn't shown herself, and I don't know how to help her. ‘Nor do you want to.’

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No one wanted to talk, all we could hear was a faint grinding sound. in the dark abyss of the night.

Sam looked miserable, and her sister looked... dead, pretty much passed out. 'Ask already' I really wanted to know. What happened to them? How did they escape? 'Then ask,' I shuffle closer to the fire, "Um Sam." She looks at me "I know it's dumb to ask but, what happened to you two?"

She looks back down to the fire, I don't think she wanted to answer. Maybe she didn’t want to remember ‘Like you?’

"I got taken a few weeks ago. Then I met Silah." I mumble, my chest shakes as I start remembering "After he broke me out, I really forgot everything. There were tests every day. It was like a prison. And the snakes, they just kept staring at me. I wanted to forget all that." I could feel a lump in my throat, closing it up. Silah gives a grunt, but it seemed like he was more annoyed than anything. "I'm just worried if we were the only ones." I mumble.

She slowly shakes her head "Din was nice to me. I wish he could help me with Maggie." She says.

Is Din one of the snakes? How does she know its name?

"I did tell you, one of them is watching us." We both realize the grinding had stopped, there was a dark figure standing just outside the light of the fire, It walks towards us, grinding its feet to the floor, like a zombie.

It was Alice, covered in blood, again.

She sits down next to the fire, trying to hide her face between her legs. There were dried tears across her cheeks. No one said anything, until she did "I keep remembering it again."

"Remember what?" She didn’t want to show her face. Hiding any bit of it she could, if not with the dark than with her own limbs.

"When I woke up." Her voice was coarse.

"Do you want to tell us?" I ask. She looks at me, but doesn't say anything, "What happened?" I look her in what little of her eyes I could make out, as she looks into mine scared.

"I woke up, in a table. I felt terrible, there were these scary people around me, and when I saw them... I lost myself. I attacked them. And ate them. I couldn't do anything but watch." There was a pause in her sentence.

"I keep forgetting, then I lose myself again. Why?" She moans. "Do you remember anything before that?" I ask

"No." She shakes her head.

"You sound like a zombie" Sam comments.

"She's eaten other people before. But if she was a zombie we wouldn't be here now." I say to her. Then an idea sparks, out of nowhere. I get up, and bring my hands up to my mouth "Hey. Snake lady. You wanted to know more about Alice, now return the favor. Tell us what's wrong with Sam's sister." I shout.

Sam looks at me disappointed. I still don't think she believes me. It made me feel so… Sour? Inside. Like I want to prove something, to show that I’m right, but the opportunity doesn’t want to show itself when I need it to. But to my surprise, out of desperation, or maybe just to humor me, she gets up and does the same "Please! help my sister, she's sick." There was still no response.

"Please." Sam begs.

There was a long pause, then a whisper "I am not your 'Din' little one. Why do you believe I would help?" She spoke in a calm soothing, yet creepy voice.

Sam flinches, but quickly gathers herself again "I'm not afraid, I know you can help... I trust you." Sam says with confidence.

There was more silence than she shows herself again, kneed down to Sam. Unwrapping the material from her face. "Care to help me inspect her?" She says in the same tone, Sam nods, nudging Maggie. She looks up letting out strange, distressed sound before trying to back away, Sam stops her by hugging her tight, and rubbing her arm. She calms down, holding onto Sam.

She looked at her arms, the small slits in her head that I assume are her ears, and inside her mouth. "There is little that can be done for her, here. Though I would suggest keeping her warm and fed." The snake concludes.

Sam looks at her, both sad and happy, then hugs the snake lady "Thank you."