Day 2 6:03 AM

As the sun rose from the east, Bennie said "We have to move fast." "I agree," I added while stretching, making sure I wouldn't pull a muscle on the way to the town. "To where?" Abigail asked.

"To the border town," I answered. "You're thinking what I'm thinking, right Big Ben?" I asked Bennie.

"Yeah. Whatever's happening in the border town. We have to get ahead of it or things will only get worse. A lot worse." he answered. Oh, we know what was gonna happen alright. If in the smallest possibility what Abigail said was true. Even it's hilarious to think about. We will see the signs eventually and oh boy, a lot of things will get bad to worse, really, really fast.

If you are thinking, why are we so calm about this? I mean look at it this way. Something happened that is so fucked up that it caused information to black out to the point that the men in uniform can't contain it in the border town, resulting in civilians seeking shelter at the mesa? We are talking about soldiers with proper training and equipment here. So are we gonna fiddle our thumbs and wait for all of this to blow over? No. we need to move somewhere safe until it blows over. If it'll ever blow over. The final nail in the coffin was what Abigail told us. Oh, we knew what was happening, we just didn't know the severity of it and neither of us wanted to openly admit that this was happening because yeah impossible until proven otherwise. We haven't seen any clear evidence about them but somewhere along the line, Murphy will rear its ugly head. That is when we are truly fucked.

Bennie and I slowly followed the river downstream towards the border town. Approximately 4 kilometers give and take. "Wait! Why are we going towards the town? We are supposed to stay away from there right? " Abigail asked while stumbling to follow us. "Let me guess. The message your friend sent you. You either ignored it at first or you didn't check your phone last night." I asked.

"Yeah? I guess. I was working overtime so I haven't checked it last night." she answered. "Check again." I added. "it's wet and it won't turn on." she bellowed. "Right," I answered while I was slapping my forehead. I forgot about that. I was lucky to have my phone survive that fall. Man, you gotta love these waterproof phones in the market right now. Most modern smartphones labeled as 'waterproof' are only designed to survive slight accidental exposure to water, such as heavy splashes or brief immersion but lucky for Bennie and I, we are obsessed about our phones getting wet to the point we bought them even if they're quite expensive. Have you ever experienced holding your phone only to slip towards the bathroom sink? Or dropping it after looking at it after a nice warm bath? Come on now. I'm pretty sure everybody experienced it. Everyone is just so obsessed with smartphones nowadays that we don't let go of it most of the day.

"There was no signal for the past couple of hours. No internet connection. No local network signal to call the police. Nadda. kaput, gone." I explained.

"But" she was about to argue and interject but I raised my voice a bit higher and said "Listen, Abigail, I won't bullshit you or pretend we're friends and anything in between. You're not the higher authority right now and never will. We won't force you to come with us or care if you want to go somewhere but apparently, someone shit on the fan and it blew all over our faces. I won't explain why we are going to town because it will take some time to explain everything. That will include wasting energy. Energy that could've been used to do more useful stuff. It's either you figure it out yourself eventually or keep asking us questions that we don't know the answers to." I explained. "The point is, follow us or don't. Move now and ask questions later. When we are somewhere safe. Capeesh?" I added.

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"Yes. Okay. I understand." she replied downtrodden. I wouldn't blame her. If I was in her situation I'd do the same. Just look for some outlet to let all that confusion and worries out. That outlet isn't us right now. So I've got to bring her down a peg or two. To make a point that letting her emotions lash out right now would only make things worse for us.

A few hours to our trek, "Road?" I asked Bennie. "No go. Too much foot traffic." Yeah, he's got a point. We have to steer clear of main roads just to be safe than sorry. "Provisions?" he asked. "None," I answered back. I looked at Abigail, clearly struggling to walk on her heels. " Abby. give me your heels." I called out.

She looked up. "I haven't allowed you to call me on a nickname basis mind you," she answered while making an effort to be as dignified as a secretary as she can be.

"Give me your heels. PLEASE." emphasizing on the please. She slowly walked towards me prim and proper, removed her heels, and handed it over to my outstretched hand. I grabbed the heels by the toe and smashed them into a rock. *Thwap *Thwap. Effectively removing the heel part of her footwear. "There. So you can be more comfortable walking." I handed the heels, more like sandals now back to her.

She looked at it a bit sorrowful. Yeah, I bet that's expensive. "I guess a proper thank you is in order," she replied. " I haven't even given you my name yet. How do you even know my name?" she replied suspiciously.

"It's in your goddamn ID pinned to your chest dimwit and you're welcome." a bit sarcastic in my tone. "Oh," she replied. Acting as if me noticing her ID wasn't the problem.

"I haven't thought of that," Bennie added. "That's why I'm the brains, my guy," I said while puffing up my chest. "More like only brain no muscle at this point." he rebutted. We chuckled while continuing our trek.

"What is she doing now?" Bennie asked in confusion. There, we saw Abigail scooping down some water from the river drawing it closer to her mouth. With the intent to drink it.

"Don't drink that Abigail," I warned. She looked up, clearly shaken, and looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Why? I'm quite thirsty. Is it common sense to drink when your throat is a bit dry?" she argued.

I sighed. "Abby. What do you think is the number one cause of diarrhea?" I looked at her amusingly. " Oh," she exclaimed. Yeah, that's what I thought. She forgot about something so basic. I don't blame her. We were quite thirsty ourselves. Small amounts of dirty water may not be the cause of stomach-derived diseases but we are not risking it especially now that we are nowhere near a hospital or clinic. On the off chance that we get sick because of some contaminated water. It will only lead to more problems. Problems that we are trying to avoid right now.

A few hours later, we can see the few high rises the town built a couple of years ago. It's still quite a distance but the sandy hill would give us a good vantage point to scout the state of affairs over there. "Ready," Bennie asked. " Ready as I will ever be," I answered with conviction. Our resolve was disturbed by a wheezing voice behind us asking. "Are we... there yet?" Abigail said while gasping for air. Looking more disheveled than the night before this shit storm.

We both look exasperated towards her but still climbed the sandy hill in front of us.

For a moment we just stood there. Stunned, amazed even. Abigail caught up to us while holding her knees, taking deep breaths she asked " Why did we stop?" As she looked up towards what we were seeing and she added, "Bugger."