“We’re outnumbered, Megan. They have over double the manpower, or have you forgotten that? What if they catch us and beat us again?”
“Then at least we tried,” Megan replied darkly. “Every outcome could end with us dead. If we at least fight for our lives then we can die knowing we didn’t give up.”
Jake stared at the ground. He didn’t like the plan. He preferred the idea of sitting by the wreckage of the house and waiting for natural causes to take him. He didn’t want to fight bad guys anymore. He didn’t want to be humiliated any further. It would be so much easier just to slip away quietly, alone in the woods…
“This isn’t up for discussion,” Megan told Jake. Her hand was tight on his wrist, so tight that it felt like she was bruising his already battered skin. “This isn’t like you, Jake. You haven’t been in your right mind since we lost Aby. But I’m not letting you give up now. I know Aby wouldn’t want that, wherever she is. I ran into a burning house for you. Now do me a favour and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Let’s take back some control.”
It was the last thing Jake wanted to do, but she was right. He owed her this. She risked her life for him. Now he had to be willing to do the same, at least one more time.
He followed her as she began to walk uphill. He watched her examining the muddy ground, but he was too exhausted to figure out what she was looking for. Then he saw the deep shoeprints in the ground and understood. She was figuring out how to follow the gang. He shook his head. He’d overlooked entirely how resourceful she could be.
“Let’s follow these and see how far we can get,” she said. Jake managed to fall in step with her. His body hurt more with every movement, but some part of him felt numb to it. He was so disconnected from reality at this point that it almost didn’t matter that he was on his last legs. Adrenaline kept him going, his trusty friend. Megan seemed to be in a much better shape, marching fast with her teeth gritted. Jake wondered if she had always had such resilience in her or whether he was watching human adaptation right before his eyes. He guessed she was just more determined to survive than he was.
“Megan…”
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to say…I’m sorry.”
Megan pursed her lips. She obviously felt that she was owed an apology from the look on her face, but she was about to make Jake work for it. “For what?”
“For not trusting you. For acting like I’m superior. For bullying you into doing things my way. For everything. I know that I’ve been hard to handle. I know that I’m lucky that you stayed to help. I know that you deserve so much better than the way I’ve treated you...especially since we were split up from Aby.”
Megan sniffed, looking irritable. “Yes, well. You’ve been going through a lot.”
“You don’t have to defend my actions...I know that’s your default because you’re a good person. But Megan...you’ve put up with people treating you badly for too long. You should be angry. You should be questioning whether you even need me. I’m dead weight now.”
Megan looked pained as she glanced at Jake. “Don’t say that, Jake. You’re not dead weight. Just because you’re heavier to carry along now, it doesn’t mean I should drop you. How many times have you carried me on your back these past few weeks? That’s what we do for one another...through thick and thin, we keep one another moving. And I know what you’ve been thinking...you’ve been wondering when I suddenly grew a backbone. You’ve been wondering how I’ve changed so much. But you’ve changed too. We all have. No one can predict how this new life is going to change us. It’s taking strength away from the most resilient people and making the rest of us rise from the ashes. We just have to make sure that no matter how our lives change that we keep one another going. Maybe in a few days you’ll need to drag me along again. Who knows. Let’s take it one day at a time, okay? And maybe we can learn to appreciate each other more for the things we do for one another.”
Jake knew that he meant that she deserved more respect, and she was right. He had been wrong to treat her like she was just a burden. Not just now that she was showing her strength, but before too when she was crying half the time, always shying away from the fight. How could he blame her? She was only human. She was only acting like any normal person should when their world was turned upside down and they were forced to fight for their life twenty-four seven. Now he understood that really, she was the sanest of them all.
“I promise to start treating you better,” Jake said earnestly. Megan gave him a curt nod.
“Good. That’s a start.”
They fell silent then. They both knew that they needed to be a united front for their plan to work. Even if Megan was still angry with him and Jake was still processing his guilt, they had to put their feelings aside. Robbing from the gang wouldn’t be easy. They needed to be ready.
It took them around twenty minutes more to find the gang. It wasn’t hard when they’d lit a campfire like a beacon, leading them right to them. Jake shook his head. What fools they were. He exchanged a glance with Megan and saw her smirking at them too. The word was unspoken, but they were both thinking it.
Amateurs.
“They don’t have guns, from what I could tell,” Jake whispered to Megan. “But I saw one with a
