"Thinking that the road was straight,
I encountered such misfortune,
that i could not, even in madness, imagine
anything  with which I could be satified for one moment."

Garcilaso De La Vega
[unofficial translation, sonnet XVII]

"Do we have everything we need?" asked Sophia waiting beside the truck.

"Yeah, I think so..."

"Marcus," said Tom with an exaggerated exhausted tone. "You checked five times already. That was a rhetorical question."

The young man looked down for a moment, dejected; he then looked back up with a never-seen determined expression. "Hey. The thing about getting my name wrong on purpose? It wasn't funny even the first time." Turning to the woman, he added: "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go say goodbye to my sister."

She half smiled. "Of course Marc, take your time."

As they turned around to give him some privacy, Tom mumbled under his breath: "He's getting sassy now, too". He took out of his pocket a pack of cigarettes that he had gotten from Vin's car. "It was funny. He just doesn't have a good sense of humor."

There was a time, during the first half of university, when he was quite the avid smoker; he stopped for a while, then went back to it full force, and in the end found a way to cut back. He hadn't seen a single cigarette in a while. It seemed like an appropriate time to start again.

He held one between his lips and got the box of matches in his backpack's side pocket. His hands were still shaking; Sophia took the box and lit it up for him.

"I'm driving for a while," she said.

"I'll stay in the back, then. We'll have to find a place to camp soon, it's gonna get dark."

"We can stay on the side of the road. We've got blankets, we'll manage. We've gone through worse."

Tom opened his mouth, on the verge of saying something; he instead took a long drag, before offering the rest of the cigarette to the woman.

They had never explored the South that much, especially after the beach incident.

In the north, it had taken them a while to find a couple of suitable places to spend a semi-long amount of time; that's when they'd had the idea of making a map of all the places they needed to remember. The result was rough, traced from existing maps onto pieces of paper taped together, but it was good enough for them to recognise roads they didn't know well enough yet.

For the South, they had only managed to explore the area surrounding the farm and the path to the coast, before being greeted by the unfriendly settled community.

In their experience, pretty much all the survivors left had settled, the actual number of nomads was low and decreasing over time. It was quite difficult for the average person to make it out there, it had been a miracle for the couple too, and the settled never made it any easier either, not welcoming or actively pursuing nomads, comparing them to wild animals as justification. The two had had multiple bad experiences: one time they had been held hostage and forced to execute Infected for the community. They were kept in separate places, used as leverage to push each other for a few days, before they were able to somehow escape. After at least one year, Tom and Sophia found themselves around those parts again. The twenty-something members group had been wiped out by the Infection, with few traces left for the world to remember them by.

There was still a big chunk of territory left unexplored inland, the safest option in that case to avoid Vin's friends and the other known settlement. The plan was to drive at a slow pace despite the incoming night, just far enough to hopefully ward off potential pursuers, rest a few hours, then venture in the unknown lands. With enough luck, they would find a good enough substitute for the farm to lay low in and be forgotten again.

The whole journey was silent, which was routine for the couple; with Marc in the equation, it felt unnatural. She had always taken pride in how comfortable she was with silence, in how she didn't feel the need to even be in someone else's company, because it meant that all her relationtioships and conversations were profoundly valued by her. And now she found herself craving for the boy to say something, anything, to alleviate the weight that the darkness bleeding from the sunset was pressing on her chest, squeezing her brain, taking the air out of her lungs. Sophia alone wasn't enough anymore; had she ever been, or had she just convinced herself she was, just to go on a little longer? She was sure Tom had already realized it: the loneliness of being around someone else was much more crushing than having no one at all.

They had been going for less than an hour when they heard her. At first, it was just something coming out of the woods, an animal perhaps; it was soon clear that was not it.

"Please... please... help me... please..." the voice screamed at the top of her lungs. "Stop... please, stop..."

The car stopped. Tom immediately hopped out of the vehicle, gun in hand, and walked a few steps toward the mysterious figure. His heart was racing, his mind flooded with anxious thoughts. For all he knew, the shadow could have been an Infected, or Vin's friend, someone from New Hope or the South Coast, or someone from a group of aggressive nomads ready to throw them in a ditch for a chance of taking everything they had – almost all experiences they'd gone through already. He heard Sophia getting out and staying beside the truck: that was his signal. Exhausted and irritated, he shouted: "Hands up and stay still, or I'm shooting."

His eyes were getting used to the dark, so he was able to catch the movement following his orders. "Please... I have no weapons... no food... I have nothing..."

"Come forward, slowly". She did. The cloudy sky wasn't too favorable with the lighting, but at least she was stepping into the area illuminated by the headlights. She had a tote bag on her shoulder. "The bag. I want to see what's inside. Then your jacket. Then your shoes". She complied: her only possessions were a small round metallic object, a piece of paper, and an empty can. She really had nothing. He started relaxing a little bit and lowered the gun. "You can come closer."

When the two approached Sophia, she put down her gun too. "Where are you from and what do you want?"

"I just need to tag along for a while... You look like you have enough resources... I don't consume much, I promise..."

"You didn't answer the first question," interjected Tom, who remained right behind.

"Oh, yeah, really? Crazy, it's not like I did it on purpose or something..."

"What?"

"Honestly, if this is supposed to be like a good cop, bad cop thing, you guys need to make it clearer who's who, so I know what to do. This is just confusing."

After a moment of disbelieved silence, he chuckled. The woman was much less amused. "This is the second time in a week that I hear this reference. Is it that popular around here? I went many years not hearing it once. I don't get it," she said, exasperated.

"You just don't hang out with the right people," objected Tom, cocking his gun as a warning. "We've got a comedian among us, finally."

"Yeah, hilarious."

Neither could see well the face of the newcomer, but they didn't need it to know the move had the desired effects. "Oh God, I'm sorry... I didn't... I didn't mean to... I say inappropriate things when I get nervous... I'm so sorry..."

Sophia sighed. "Don't tell me you're from the bunkers, too."

"H-how did you know?"

Tom started roaring with laughter. "No way... No freaking way... is this some kind of new hip trend among the bunkees?"

"Bunkees?"

The woman sighed again, louder. "We are quite far from the main bunker nodes, how long have you been around?"

Tom intercepted again. "Don't think about it, just say it."

"I don't know, a couple of weeks?"

"Two weeks? Are you sure?" he insisted.

"Maybe a little more, I don't know."

"What's your name?"

"Anna..." she answered, hesitant.

"Anna. You don't look worn out enough for someone who survived out there for more than two weeks on their own with so little on you. Are you with a group?"

"I was..."

"Nomads or settled?" the girl didn't answer, but he didn't need to hear anything. "South Coast? South-West coast? Heard that's a thing too."

"No, it's not them..."

"Of course not... They're elitist pricks..." mumbled Tom. "Is it New Hope? Do they still call themselves that?"

"How... how do you know them?"

He looked at his wife; she looked back in horror. "Did they kick you out? If yes, why? Were there others with you?"

"This is starting to feel like an interrogation..."

"Just answer, Anna."

"There were five of us... three got infected before entering... one got shot, because they didn't want us there... you can imagine why the rest of us didn't stay much longer..."

"What happened to the last one?"

"He wanted to try with the coast since he had heard of it. I thought it was useless. So we split."

The two looked at each other again, then Sophia spoke: "I think this is a good time to camp for the night. We can decide what to do with you in the morning."

Tom paused for a few seconds. "Sure."

It wasn't camping quite in the traditional sense, but the word was shorter than saying 'sleeping on the side of the road with a couple of thin blankets'. They parked the truck against a big tree and let the two young ones get settled not too far. The clouds had obscured the moon, making it almost impossible to see a palm from their faces. It wasn't too bad that the light pollution was gone, anyone could see the stars from anywhere; being much more vulnerable to any possible threat was the only tiny downside.

"What do you think?" she whispered, as soon as Tom approached her, back against the door on the driver's side.

"Oh, so now you ask me what I think?"

"Don't be childish, it's not the time. What if she's still with them, and this is a trap?"

"Why would they send this random girl?"

"I don't know, why would they take us, lock us up, use us as bait?"

Yes, that was one of the bad experiences mentioned earlier. Fear not, I will tell you all about it soon; in the meanwhile, you can gauge why she was much more hesitant to help than with Marc.

"Because they are nuts?"

"Because they see every nomad's life as expendable. She looks innocent enough to lure us."

"You think they would use her to pick people up or something?"

"I wouldn't put it past them. They are too superior and delicate to do certain things with their own hands."

"You are giving them too much credit. They are not that smart."

"Maybe... but can we afford to take this risk?"

"We took it with Marc."

She fully turned to him, crossing her arms. "Really Tom? We're going there again?"

"What I mean to say, Sophia the ill-intender, is that I believe you would deeply regret not helping this girl out, but if we help her and she tries to screw us over we're gonna be okay, because you will have predicted it, with your atomic-powered ultra-overthinking. That was a compliment, by the way."

"Why do you always have to speak in long-winded barely comprehensible sentences?"

"I do it on purpose, to spite you. That is, in fact, my whole life's mission."

"Obsessed much?"

"Obsessed or not, I'm right, and you know it."

She sighed and rolled her eyes as hard as possible. He was right, unfortunately. That did not make the choice any easier. "Go get some rest. You're driving tomorrow."

NEW HOPE

To truly grasp how difficult the decision was, it's important to know more about the infamous name that sent chills down their spines.

The couple had stumbled upon New Hope while exploring the layer of the continent that could be considered the southern central area; to be fair, the verb stumble isn't the most correct term for what happened, a more accurate expression would be 'found like wild animal finds out about the existence of human houses after accidentally stepping into a claw trap'. They had just survived their first winter, so they were only starting to get the hang of how that version of the world worked. The two had spotted a small town while walking down a road, and normally they wouldn't have paid it much attention, but unlike any other, it didn't look as abandoned as it should have, observation that prompted them to take a closer look.

Tom and Sophia, for the rest of their lives, never regretted a decision as much as that one.

They were found by those guarding the perimeter, knocked out, and thrown into the prison cell of the old local police station. With the courtesy of a thief letting you keep your ID after robbing you, they took all their food, water, and anything that resembled a weapon, leaving them with everything else that was in the backpacks. The man had been fixated on keeping track of the date since the beginning, so by using context clues he managed to calculate that they spent about two weeks in the town; if not for that, they couldn't have known, since they lived in the dark with no window, and barely any visitors – none of whom would speak a word.

The only times they were allowed to see the outside was to be used as Infected bait, while the guards cleaned up from a safe distance. One time they spent the entire night on the designated spot elevated from the ground, since those in charge couldn't be bothered to finish the job; the couple was so malnourished and dehydrated that they couldn't have escaped far even if they tried.

During the last few days, a new visitor would come into the station, sneak some extra food and water behind everyone else's back, and occasionally even talk to them, making promises about setting the two free, telling them about the town's story. It had started as a few military families plus acquaintances occupying the town, burning down the previous owners' possessions, and looting every supermarket and shop they'd find to the point of overabundance. At the very beginning, they would show tolerance toward newcomers, but quickly enacted a strict policy of incarcerating and possibly taking out anyone who wasn't in the original group, or who disagreed with the collective decisions.

The teen was critical of certain present choices but spoke about the past with pride, citing the importance of the strong leadership that saved everyone's lives. During the following visits, she took off the rose-colored glasses, and her mind changed: how could a group founded on replacing and stepping on those who came before, founded on utter disregard for human life and greediness, turn out to be the good guys in the story? Them using two people like that for their gain was no coincidence, no surprise.

In a world of bad guys, a single change of heart can make a big difference in someone else's life: it did on the couple, that by the mercy of that one fifteen years old girl were able to escape during a quiet night, their backpacks full of food and water.

Sophia felt personally responsible for the traumatizing events that had occurred, it didn't matter how much Tom reminded her that neither of them could have known. She vowed, right then, to do whatever it took to protect the two of them, with no hesitation. And she kept that promise.

"What if I had something interesting for you in exchange for my safety?" said Anna to Sophia as soon as she woke up. Tom and Marc were still down.

"Good morning to you too..."

"I heard you arguing last night," she continued, ignoring her words. "I don't know what you guys went through with New Hope, but I get it, you don't have any reason to keep me around."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "You were eavesdropping?"

"I wouldn't call it eavesdropping, you were standing pretty close, and you're not very good at whispering. You haven't been around a lot of living people lately, have you?"

"You joke a lot for someone who's asking to be protected."

"Listen," enunciated the girl, joining her hands together. "I just need to tag along for a little while... You have a lot of stuff , so it wouldn't hurt you too much... and I know you think I am useless, but I do have something for you."

"Okay then, go on."

"Okay, first of all... are you and the guy, like, brother and sister or something? Or are you like, together? Do you argue a lot all the time? Because, like, yikes... you're not nice to each other... I want to know if you're breaking up and leaving us helpless kids out on our own soon, or if we're, like, good to go for a bit..."

"What?" Sophia whispered in a low tone, her head inclined. She then took two steps toward the girl, and before she could move backward, grabbed her by the arm, keeping her close. "Listen to me, Anna. We've been going easy on you because we know you people from the bunkers are delicate. But don't, for a moment, think you can just do and say whatever you want around here. Remember those nice people from New Hope? We can be just as nice as them, even more, if you come at us. Are you trying to, Anna? Are you trying to come at us?"

The girl shook her head, not even able to look at her in the face.

"Say it out loud."

"N-no..."

"Good."

Tom, who had woken up sometime during the conversation, got up to them and held his wife's wrist, the one still grasping the arm. "Why don't you tell us more about the thing you wanted to offer, Princess of Arendelle?"

Sophia let go right away, going back to her initial position.

"Uhm... After I got out of town... I, uhm, walked in the same direction the whole time". She paused for a moment, hesitant, looking at him. His expression was less harsh, but not gentle. "At one point I found a mall, about three days in. There weren't Infected inside... I explored it a little bit to look for food, but there wasn't anything edible... There was a lot of everything else, though. It's west from here."

"Can you point it out on a map?"

"I think I can..."

"You think or you're sure?"

"I can. I'll just need to trace back my steps."

Tom looked back at Sophia. She was still angry, it was clear as day; having been awake the whole night guarding couldn't have helped – it was the worst job when being out in the open. But she nodded. They didn't need any more words. "All right then, Cindy Campbell. You're staying in the front with me. Go on now. Marc, get up too. You're in the back with Sofi."

"Thanks. It could have gone much worse," mumbled the woman, eyes fixed on the two young ones getting ready for the trip.

"You just need rest."

She looked him in the eye for a moment, just to look away again. "We all do."

ROADBLOCK

"So... I guess we know now who's the good cop and who's the bad cop..."

It had been just about an hour since they had started the trip. Anna had been quiet, and Tom couldn't have been happier about it; at that point, though, it was clear she couldn't help herself. It almost seemed like she found comfort in his presence, which sounded too insane in his head to even consider – at least with his current personality - and made only sense considering that she was afraid of Sophia. But to be so comfortable to try and talk crap behind her back with him, that's what he couldn't comprehend.

He sighed, trying to channel his inner peace-seeking, diplomatic self. "You know, believe it or not, she's the main reason you're here right now, and not still on the side of the road."

"So I should be grateful that she grabbed me and basically threatened me?"

"Yeah, why not. She went easy on you. You have no idea of the type of people you could have found instead of us."

"Jesus Christ. They were right, you nomads really aren't normal."

He chuckled through the lit cigarette in his mouth. "Some things never change. Spoiled rich kids who know nothing about how the world works will always still want to hold the moral high ground."

"We weren't rich, just well-off..."

"I don't care, honestly. You know what I do care about?"

"What?"

"Someone expecting to be helped in a time of extreme crisis when doing so could cost great suffering or death... and also mocking the helpers, with a sense of superiority as the cherry on top. Doesn't sit right with me."

"It's not that I think I'm better than you... It's just that pointing your guns at me and telling me to not say certain things or you'll hurt me doesn't make you much different than those at New Hope."

"Did your beloved friends ever tell you about how much they loved using people to bait the Infected so that they could shoot them without any risk for themselves? That they would starve them so they couldn't run away?"

She scoffed. "That's not a real thing."

"I don't have the energy to argue with you but let me tell you one last thing. Be grateful that you never felt the desperation and fear that make us do what we do now. You'd be significantly more selfish if you were in our position."

"Well, I guess we'll never know."

"Yeah, I guess so."

That was the end of the conversation. The following hour went by in complete silence. Anna seemed to want to speak a few times, stopping in her tracks every time. It was better off that way: mall or not, things were starting to get a little too crowded. It had been just the two of them for so long and now, all of a sudden, there were two new additions to the group. Many times, when they fought, he would complain about wanting someone else's company for a change; he wasn't too sure about it anymore. It was at least bearable at the farm, but on the road? He hated having someone else on the passenger seat. It felt wrong.

Like a prayer answered in a twisted manner, the trip came to an abrupt stop when, after a turn that cut into the woods, the road was blocked by a gigantic tree that had fallen across it. Needless to say, everyone's reaction wasn't too happy.

"I swear, I didn't know," lamented Anna looking at all of them, one by one, to make sure they were all listening. "I didn't use this road, I went through the woods. I didn't know it was blocked, I swear."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it!" Tom yelled while examining the obstacle.

"I don't think we can move it," observed Sophia.

"What about with the car?"

"It would just be a waste of fuel, we don't even know if it can work."

"We could, I don't know... burn it, or something..."

"We have no way to control the fire, it could spread like crazy."

"So what, our only option is to look for secondary roads?"

"Unless we want to abandon the truck and go on foot."

"Hell no. There is no way. It was bad enough with just the two of us, now we're also graced by the presence of super-boy and wonder-girl. Even if we had extra weapons and extra bullets they wouldn't know how to use them."

"I know how to," interjected Marc. "Sophia taught me."

"How do you know I can't use a gun?" complained Anna.

The man turned around and with theatrical gesturing, sounding on the verge of a meltdown, emphasizing every single word, he said: "Marc, you learned what a gun is a week ago. You have never shot anything in your entire life. I doubt you even know how to defend yourself in any way." He then turned to the girl. "And you... I don't even think you have self-preservation instincts. I would, honest to God, be flabbergasted if I found out you had that kind of skill. Do you know how to fire a gun?"

She looked away, defeated. "No need to be so mean about it."

Sophia intercepted the conversation before the window of opportunity could vanish. "Can we get back on track, please? We can't afford to waste time like this if we need to find a new route. Take out the map."

Tom, without adding a word, went to the truck and opened the door to the driver's seat.

"I still have it..." said Anna, hesitantly.

He went up to her, took it off her hands, and unfolded it.

Sophia grabbed it on the other side. "Where is this mall?"

He pointed somewhere west. "The second fastest way to get there from here would probably be going back here and taking this exit."

"Doesn't this go dangerously close to the South Coast territory? We don't know if they expanded."

"Not if we drive through this first part, then go around the city, and get back out from this other side."

"It will add how much, one hour?"

"If we don't find significant blocks on the path, and the asphalt is in good condition, sure. Realistically? It's closer to two hours or even more. It'll be around six hours in total."

The woman looked at the map, pensive. "Six hours... do we even have enough fuel? Can the truck make it?"

"Yeah, I think so. But is it worth it?"

"You think so or you're sure?"

"I don't know, Sof," he said, with an exasperated tone. "The engine seems to be doing well so far, but it's not like I'm an expert mechanic. Your guess is as good as mine. You'll have to accept I think so."

"No need to lash out, it's a simple question."

"A question I cannot answer with certainty, aka, a stupid question. Can we move on already?"

"It's impossible to ever have a conversation with you."

"Because I don't want to converse with you, your lack of communication skills is painful, it's like being stabbed every time you open your mouth."

"Okay, we get it, you hate me, now can we go back to the actual important thing we were talking about?"

Marc and Anna stood there, just a few steps away, awkwardly spectating the argument.

"Are they like this every time they have to make a decision?" she whispered to him.

"Well... There's a lot of tension, usually..."