But what other option did she have? She was growing even more weak and weary. She needed help. She needed a friend. She could walk for miles and not find anyone else before she finally keeled over...she didn’t know what to do.
But she was running out of time.
Two
Jake
Aby…
She was the first thing he thought of as he came around to consciousness. He couldn’t remember falling asleep, or settling down to rest, and a feeling of fearful urgency was resting in his heart. Where was he? What had happened?
His head was throbbing incessantly. It seemed that these days there was always something wrong with him. He couldn’t remember the last time he didn’t feel weary or hurt or full of fear. In fact, all of the emotions seemed to come hand in hand. But this time was different again, because he couldn’t really remember why he was feeling the way he was.
Jake opened his eyes. There was a blanket of dark sky above him with stars twinkling down on him. It might’ve been peaceful if he could remember why he was there. Beneath his back there was something hard and cold. When he turned his head dizzily to the side, he saw that he was lying in the bed of a pickup truck. He couldn’t remember getting there at all. Was the truck even his?
He turned his head to the other side and saw that Megan was out cold next to him. He couldn’t tell if she was sleeping or unconscious from pain, but she looked pretty beat up. Jake remembered that they’d been in trouble of some sorts, but the details felt hazy to him. He peered over her, trying to see if Aby was lying on the other side of her in the dark, but she was nowhere to be seen. The truck was stationary, though the world seemed to be spinning, so it wasn’t possible that Aby was driving them somewhere. Jake creased his forehead, trying to figure out what the hell was happening to make him so confused. Something must’ve gone very wrong to make him lose his memory…
He had to try and find out if Megan remembered anything. That might be his only way of getting back to Aby. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. At first, she didn’t respond, her body limp as he shook her. For a terrifying moment, Jake wondered if she was dead. But then she gasped for air, waking up with a fright. She looked ready to fight him, but when she saw it was a friend, not a foe, waking her up, she breathed out in relief.
“Jake...what are you doing?” she asked hoarsely. She sounded like she’d been asleep for some time.
“Do you know where we are or why?” Jake asked urgently. He sensed that they didn’t have much time to figure out what was going on. If Aby was out in the wilderness alone, they needed to find her fast. Who knew how much time they’d wasted…
Megan sat up with a groan, looking around in confusion. She shook her head.
“I have no idea...I’ve never seen this place before. And this truck isn’t ours, is it? Jake?”
He didn’t know. It was a question he couldn’t muster an answer to, for once. He was usually so sure of himself, even in the face of danger, but not now. He felt like someone had stolen his own thoughts from his head to prevent him remembering his own past. He rubbed his temple with his fingers, noting how tender his head felt. Had he sustained a head injury? Was he having some kind of migraine? Or was he waking up in a living nightmare, and the pain was just one side effect?
“Aby’s not here,” Jake said, trying to ignore the fact that even having his eyes open was painful for him. Megan blinked in surprise.
“She’s not?”
“Not in the truck, at least...if I could remember how the hell we got here…”
“Maybe she’s just gone to look for supplies...or for some help. My head hurts pretty bad, Jake...whatever happened has really thrown me off.”
Jake didn’t want to admit that he felt the same. He knew Megan was prone to panicking and that was the last thing he needed. He needed her to be calm and rational if they were going to find Aby. Jake held his hand out to Megan, gesturing for her to stay put.
“You wait here...let me see if I can find her nearby…”
“Why don’t we call out to her? If she’s nearby, she will shout back.”
“We don’t want to attract any unwanted attention,” Jake pointed out. They’d been in a fair amount of scrapes since the EMP began, and he was learning that they had a lot more enemies than friends. It didn’t appear to be anything personal...it was just everyone looking out for themselves and trying to survive alone in the new world.
The new world happened to be spinning uncontrollably at that very moment, which made it difficult for Jake to clamber out of the truck bed. Megan tried to help him by offering a hand, but she was just making it harder. Eventually, he half jumped, half fell off the truck and onto the tarmac. Pain shot up his spine and he suddenly realized that his whole body was hurting, not just his head. He began to wish that he’d just remained oblivious to the rest of his pain as he started hobbling around the car, looking for clues. He hoped that maybe Aby had left some sign of where she was, or where she’d gone...or whether she’d even been with them at all.
Jake continued to massage his head as he walked around nearby. His memory wasn’t becoming any clearer, and neither was the situation. He couldn’t understand how he and Aby could’ve been split
