Brody

Sleep wasn't in reach just yet. But it doesn't bother me because it allows me the time to take in the view for the second to last time before we have to set off in the morning.

Quietly collecting my notebook and pencil, I flip to a clean page.

The Watering Hole,

This is a place I stumbled upon with Chloe, the girl I met in sector six. There was a buck to greet us, and a mutual respect was shared in the process. The grass is like short strands of lime in the sunlight, it tickles your skin. The water was like rippling aquamarine in the gentlest of breezes, and there was an opening in the canopy for the sun to create a halo around it. The log was a perfect sitting area, and I'm glad I got to see it with Chloe. She needed to see something like that, I can see she hasn't had a lot of good either, but I don't want to push her. I'm glad we go to meet—

A small whimper sounds across from me, bringing me out of my writing. Inspecting the spot where Chloe's curled up, she's tossing over, brows scrunched up and a deep frown tugs at her lips.

She looks miserable.

Placing my things beside me on the floor, I'm already on my feet and walking over to her. Carefully lying beside her, my finger hooks a tendril of auburn behind her ear, thumb softly stroking the curve of her cheek. They're soft, and it compels me to repeat the gesture. Since we climbed out of that tree and shared close proximity, this is all I wanted to do; stroke her cheek and curl a loose lock of hair behind her ear.

Whatever she's dreaming about is upsetting her, and it doesn't sit well with me. We haven't known each other long, but I like her . . . there's something about her that just lures me in. She may be tough and keeps to herself, but there's a sweet girl in there who really needs someone.

As much as I do . . . even when she denies it, and I want to be the person to figure out why that is.

With a few more strokes over her cheek, she begins to relax. Brushing away her tears, Chloe sighs in response but never wakes up. As my hand falls to my side, a soft groan leaves her lips. They're slightly parted, and a breathy moan follows as she rolls over.

This woman has caught me off guard a few times, but this is on another level.

Was she having a naughty dream, or is it just an accident?

No other sound comes from her, yet the thought of the possibility is intriguing. Could it be about me? She mentioned a 'Macey' in her sleep, could that be a nickname for someone?

No, this isn't my business . . .

The way her beautiful green eyes trailed over my body when I was showing her the clothes earlier can't be a coincidence. She must have some sort of attraction toward me, the way her cheeks flushed when our arms brushed in the water, how her breath caught when I helped her out of the tree, and when I got carried away about her needing a bath . . . something is there.

But what can I do about it? When we reach sector seven, Chloe's going to want to split ways and leave whatever we make will be flushed down the drain. My breath catches at the thought, my chest tightening soon after. Taking a deep breath and pushing it the back of my mind for now, my eyes linger on her.

Finishing up my entry, everything's stored for the night, and I'm on my back facing the night sky, cloud watching. A few funny shapes pass by, my finger tracing most of them to work out the odd ones, but the two figures are easy to spot. Grabbing at them with my hand, I roll over with a deep sigh.

Sleep's crawling in, and I'll be up early again, so I can catch us another rabbit for breakfast. When there's no more noises coming from Chloe, my eyes drift shut, and I'm instantly falling into unconsciousness with open arms.

Chloe

Like the last morning, Brody caught us another rabbit. And just like the last time, it tastes delicious. While we eat my eyes are glued to the floor. My sleep started with a nightmare of what happened before heading off on my own; it was terrifying. And out of nowhere, Brody came along to help me. When my sleep came to a stop, it finished at the end of a very steamy dream involving me and a passionate Brody. My eyes flick over to see him already watching me as he pops a chunk of rabbit in his mouth.

A very passionate Brody.

Now I'm trying to avoid as much eye contact as possible because I know my cheeks will betray me. Never has there been intimate dreams or flustered cheeks in my life—not even back in sector three. But here I am with Brody, the man who seems to be able to accomplish the impossible, and now I'm worried about something, and I don't like it. What's he going to think of me? Hell, what do I even think of myself right now?

No. Go back to how it was last night before the dream. Casual, that's all this is. When we get to sector seven, we'll be splitting ways anyway, and I'll never see him again. This will be fine—

"You like it?"

My head snaps up. "What?"

He inclines his head toward the slice of meat in my fingers. "You've been staring at it with an odd expression for two minutes now. Do you like it? If you've gone off it, I can find you something else."

Waving my hand while quickly slipping the last piece into my mouth, I chew fast to get a response out. "No, it's fine. Sorry." Grabbing my equipment, I'm already starting for the trees. "I'm going to scout ahead, catch up when you're done."

Without giving him time to reply, I'm reaching the treeline. A part of me doesn't want to leave because of how beautiful this place is. One day, I'm going to make sure I come back, when there's a chance. The future's never certain, and that's what bothers me.

The crunching of twigs catches my attention, but the notion of it being Brody eases and disturbs me. At first, he's quiet. However, due to the time we've spent together, I've learnt that it won't stay that way for long—

"Hey, what's the matter?"

Glancing over my shoulder, Brody is hot on my heals with a concerned hue to his features. When his handmakes contact with mine, I flinch. The images of our fingers interlocked as he readies himself against me has my cheeks burning, but I'm able to turn away before he has a chance to see.

"It's hot, that's all. The thought of trekking through the heat is making me edgy," I say calmly, trying to navigate my way through the shrubbery.

The hefty leaves are annoying me because Brody doesn't know when the right time to check on someone is, and it pisses me off because I know he's trying to look out for me. When I catch his eyes, they hold a knowing glint, as if they know more about the situation than he's letting on, and I'm desperate to just have it out in the open.

But that's stupid because complicating matter isn't an option.

"Hey, hey, hold your horses," Brody calls after a few minutes, stopping in front of me, and my feet stop as well, knowing the sooner I hear him out the sooner we can carry on before a Rotter eats my target. "You know that you can talk to me, right? I won't judge you."

Biting my lip to refrain from scoffing and saying, "If only you knew what was on my mind," and say, "Can you drop it, for now at least?" instead.

After an internal debate with himself, he nods with a sigh. "Alright but know you can confide in me."

Then he rests his hand on my head and trails it down the length of my hair, and my body turns into a block of ice.

"Don't do that," I state harder than intended, and Brody's eyes widen before softening.

"I—"

I'm already marching off in the direction we have to go, my heart heavy with the memory of my mother's hand being the last to do that to my hair. Tears threaten to spill, but I'm fast to wipe them away, and my breathing is tight, but regulates after a few deep inhales and exhales. All I can think about is finding Barren Bennet, and make way Bill Sonders, when they're out the way then I can concentrate on the culprit that began this mess.

And I'll lose Brody on the way . . .

"Chloe," a voice whispers hastily before I'm tackled to the floor. "Careful."

Gazing up in disorientation, Brody's brown eyes bore into mine, his chest pressing lightly against mine as he breathes slightly faster, as if he ran to catch up with me.

"What's going on?" I breath, frustrated all over again.

"Sorry, but you were about to wonder into two Raiders, and to make it worse they have a dog each to roam with. They went that way"—he jolts his chin in the direction they went before looking down at me— "we can take them out by distracting the dogs."

Helping me up, I remain low as he stalks a head, waving for me to come over when the coast is clear. Concentrating the frustration coiling around my body into the task at hand, my senses remain on alert as my breathing calms into a silent intake and exhale, and my body is swift through the longer locks of grass.

Peering over to Brody, catching him reaching for his back pocket and retrieves something that fits in his palm. When he makes a calculated throw, the object hits the ground with soft thuds barely audible, and roll out of sight, yet the canines hear it. They sniff around with a low growl, their tan fur catching the glints of the sun.

Chucking another a little distance away, they snort and yap at each other before parting ways, the man and woman skulking about to the far left, scanning the contents of a small shelter.

Brody's about to signal me to act, but I'm already postured and ready, releasing the string and letting the arrow fly. The larger, broader German shepherd goes down, and the slimmer one is quick to notice. Before it howls out an alarm, I fire another arrow, hitting it in the chest. It goes down with a squeal, almost instantly silencing but not fast enough for the owners to miss it.

"Lucky, Penny!" the man calls, voice gruff. "Stupid dogs, probably found another hedgehog."

Not wasting a second, I shoot an arrow into the woman, catching her by the ribs, and it alerts her partner. Finishing her off, I watch Brody craft something that resembles a bolas, and he sets off and swings his arm in a quick steady pace and releases it as soon as the man starts running, his gun clattering to the ground.

Brody's swift to knock the bloke unconscious, and my heart manages to return to its natural pace after averting my eyes from Brody's hands working to collect the new item to his collection.

Knowing there's no need to stick around, my feet carry me off away from the mess, away from Brody, and in the closest direction to the path we were taking not so long ago before taking out the Raiders.

If they're roaming in groups of two, then that only means there will be more, and that means we're close to sector seven and Barren Bennet.