RAIDE

It wasn’t quite dark when she heard the gunshot. When Riley sat up—unable to sleep anyway, since Jade had insisted they sleep on the ground—Jade was already awake. The trees around them held a nightly fog, whispers of the grounded clouds dancing around the corners of their vision. The residue of the sunset painted the sky a brilliant dark blue, making the fog around them almost pulse with the color. Riley pushed the blanket away from her shoulders and crossed her legs, reaching for the revolver on the ground to her left.

Riley was a kind girl, though she would surely never say such a thing about herself, ridden with guilt as she was. Black hair curled down to her shoulders and a little past, and her vibrant, steel-blue eyes stared into the darkness around her. Those eyes once held much more life than they did that night, they once held hope and love. Now, they held only a shadow of what they used to shine so brightly with.

“Well?” she asked, her own voice startling her. It was weird speaking to someone real. Jade stood alert near a tree, back to Riley.

“Three, maybe.” She turned and faced the woman on the ground. “Maybe.”

Jade was also a kind girl, though it was hidden beneath a hard exterior and harsh decisions. She had seen people die because of mercy, and she had grown harder because of it. Her eyes reflected Riley’s harshness, but they held hope. They held determination. They held hate. She had a reason to live, and it had rubbed off on Riley.

Riley nodded at Jade’s words and swiftly began gathering their things. Jade turned back around, having most of her belongings strapped to her body. While Riley was clothed in items loose and easy to travel in, Jade was covered with a bullet-proof vest, thick magazines wrapped around her forearms, and boots to keep her feet dry. Riley had seen the sense in it when they first met in the city, and seen Jade in action. Jade said she spent most of the time in the company of cement trees, because she wasn’t a good hunter. She was a better scavenger than anything. Once they made it to the trees and away from the hundred-or-so horde that was after them, Riley saw the truth of Jade’s words. The woman was more worthless than a baby when it came to hunting. She simply wasn’t patient enough. Her bright red hair didn’t help much, either.

Tapping Jade’s shoulder, Riley asked her if she had heard anything else. Jade let her hand fall to the small walkie-talkie on her hip. She frowned.

“No.”

“You’ll find them.”

Jade’s emerald eyes shifted to Riley’s. “Sure. Let’s get going.”

In silence, the two turned and started away from the gunshot. Neither of them talked much, both of them being uncomfortable with the truce they had made. Eventually, they found another spot to camp out.

Jade began rolling out her mat and dropped her backpack to the ground. Riley scoffed.

“You’d be safer in the trees.”

“There’s a storm coming.” Jade sat down on her mat, near a tree. “More tree for you, anyway.”

Riley rolled her eyes and scaled a tree with relative ease. When she reached a thick enough branch, she lay down, put the blanket over her, and tied herself to it.

Both pretended to sleep. Maybe they both did, at one point. But with another person close enough to kill you, would you sleep well?

Morning came early, but at the same time, much too late. Both roused sluggishly, exhausted from a third night of not sleeping. Riley noticed Jade grab the katana from the ground, the only time she had ever seen the woman leave it off her body. Jade noticed Riley’s hands as she untied herself.

“We should eat.” Jade said.

“Thanks to you I’m out of beans.”

For the first time, Jade’s usual look of irritation faded from her face. A smile hinted at the corner of her lips. “I’m talking about hunting.”

“You’re shit at hunting.”

Jade cracked a smile. Was it just Riley, or was Jade relaxing a little?

“Fuck you. You go hunting for animals, I go hunting for Eaters. Maybe one of them has something on them.”

Riley blinked. That was officially the longest sentence with the most emotion Jade had ever spoken.

“Well?” Jade said, rolling up her mat and stuffing it into her bag. She slung the backpack onto her shoulders and looked up at Riley. “I believe in you. Go get us something not infected.” She strode into the morning mist, bright with the sunrise. While Jade strode towards the sounds of moans and groans, Riley jumped down from her tree.

            That was certainly strange. She thought. Maybe she did get good news about her group. Would that make her so…not exactly chipper, but happier?

She expected a response but was met only with silence. She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and went hunting.