Ravenous

   “I met up with three others near the Sandwich line. We’ve picked up the rest along the way.”

   I bit my bottom lip. They hadn’t walked an overly long distance, but I thought they should have discovered more people in the area they’d covered, or at least I had hoped they would have. That hope vanished. The number standing across from me was depressing, and defeating. “We’ll walk with you,” Cade said softly.

   “Cade,” I whispered, dread filling me at the thought. They were the first people we had seen in a long time, I should be ecstatic to see them, and yet their plan terrified the hell out of me. I was weary of them and their intent. I didn’t even like drivingover the bridges, never mind ru

   “We’ll go with you for a little while,” Cade amended squeezing my arm gently. “If that is ok?”

   They exchanged quick glances. “Strength in numbers,” the man agreed.

   “Yes.” My heart was hammering, panic clawed at me. “There are others of us nearby.” Cade turned to me and gently clasped hold of my shoulders. “I have to find Je

   “Cade…”

   He was already moving away though, disappearing swiftly into the woods. I marveled over his grace, agility, and ability to move with such speed and ease. I focused my attention back on the group to find them watching me intently. They looked as beaten and terrified as I felt. I found my defenses crumpling; I managed a small smile for them. One that was only halfheartedly returned. “This way,” I said softly.

***

   It had taken Cade nearly a half an hour to find Je

   Bret worried over me as he cleaned my wounds with some of the water we had left. One of the members of the other group had bandages. I wanted to tell Bret to stop, wanted to tell him not to worry about me. I was certain that if he knew the truth about me, the last thing in the world he’d want to do was touch me. And I wouldn’t blame him in the least.

   But I let him worry over me; I could sense the fear and anxiety tightly wound within him. Helping me with my injuries was easing some of that tension. I forced myself not to turn away from him, none of this was his fault, it was all mine; I could not deny him the comfort he sought. I felt like a mummy with my hands wrapped up, but apparently my dive into the thorns had done more damage than I’d realized. “You have to be more careful,” Bret muttered as he finished tying the bandage.

   He looked at me in amusement. We both knew that was a near impossibility. After all, I was the girl who had tripped over her own feet and sprained an ankle last year. A fact that, until all of this happened, Aiden and Bret had found highly amusing. “I’m fine Bret,” I assured him softly.

   His clear green eyes were warm and caring as he squeezed my hand lightly. “You’re a train wreck, but I love you.”

   Guilt coiled through me, I shied away from the words. I wished he would stop saying them. It took all I had not to jerk away when he bent to kiss my cheek. I could feel Cade’s gaze burning into me from across the clearing, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I felt like the lowest form of life at the moment, and I wasn’t ready to deal with the fact that I was now a cheater. Ok well maybe I wasn’t a full blown adulteress, it had only been a couple of kisses, but I was still a horrible person and I knew it.

   I just wished that Cade wasn’t so damn irresistible, or that I wasn’t so damn weak.

   I went to grab the bag of food but Bret beat me to it. “Let your hands heal.”

   I wasn’t going to argue, there was no need. I fell into line beside Abby; she slid her hand through my arm. “I’m glad we’ve found others.”

   “Yes.”

   Though I still wasn’t certain how all of this was going to work out. Heading toward the bridges meant heading toward higher populated areas. Areas that would have a higher concentration of frozen people, and aliens. And crossing the bridges? We couldn’t, we simply couldn’t. Unfortunately, I knew that some people were determined to do just that, and I was a little scared that Je

   I didn’t realize I was staring at her, and Cade, until I caught him staring back at me. I blinked in surprise, my face colored, and I ducked my head quickly. Abby giggled softly beside me. “I think he likes you.”

   “He’s just a friend,” I responded quickly, perhaps a little too quickly.

   Abby stared up at me, her eyes widening slightly. She had only been teasing but my reaction to her, and my focus on Cade, had not escaped her attention. Abby might have written off the kiss she had witnessed earlier as the heat of the moment, temporary insanity, curiosity, or simple fear, but I could see the dawning realization in her gaze. “Bethy,” she whispered in horror.

   “How are you doing?” I asked softly trying to change the conversation.

   “Bethany whatare you doing?”

   “Nothing Abby. How are you holding up?”

   She stared at me for a moment longer, her dark eyes wide and caring. I could tell she wanted to say more, but eventually she decided to go with my change of subject. “Surviving, just like everyone else.”

   I wondered how we were surviving at all. How we were still moving and going and carrying on through all of this. I could barely think of our mother, I was afraid I would turn into a sobbing mess if I did think about her for too long. We were all exhausted, hungry, beaten, and terrified, and yet we continued to move on, continued to fight and struggle for our lives no matter how frightening, uncomfortable, and uncertain they had become. Abby leaned against my side, her head against my arm. She was strong, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to take much more. I wasn’t so sure any of us could.

   “We’re going to survive though.”

   I turned my attention back to Abby, forcing a smile to my face. “Yes we are.”

   I hoped that I wasn’t lying to her, but deep down I felt I was. We moved through the woods, skirting the roads, staying within the shadows. As we approached the Sagamore bridge I was surprised to see that all of its lights were still on, and blazing brightly. For a moment I stopped to stare, recalling all of the times that I had seen the bridge lit up like this. It was a beautiful, sweeping, glowing beacon against the dark night. Yet, even though it looked much the same, it was completely different.

   It was the middle of the summer and the bridge was completely deserted. Last summer the bridge had been packed with traffic, the sound of cars had filled the night as tourists came and went at a slow pace. Now there was nothing there except for the lights, and almost certain death.

   “The lights are on,” Je

   “We’ll try the Bourne bridge,” one of the members of the other group said.

   “The lights will be on there too,” I told them.

   “You can’t know that,” a woman retorted sharply.

   No, I couldn’t know it for sure, but it was more than likely true. They just didn’t want to believe it, yet.

   “We’ll go to the other bridge,” Cade said reasonably. “It’s not that far. If we stick to the edge of the woods and move quickly, we can get there before daybreak.”