Returning to the truck empty handed, he shook his head to Megan. She covered her mouth tearfully.
“What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to find her,” Jake said firmly. He didn’t care how long it took him to find her. He’d carry on searching until they were back together. He still had no clue how long he’d been out cold, but surely it couldn’t have been that long? Surely Aby couldn’t have made it far, not on her own? Most people didn’t even have cars to ferry them around, so if for some reason she’d been taken in a car, it would still likely be nearby. It was all speculation, but Jake had to remain hopeful at least. He didn’t want to consider the possibility that he’d lost Aby forever.
He patted down his pockets, checking for evidence of truck keys. His pockets were empty. Cursing, Jake began to check around the car. Maybe he’d dropped them on the ground in his pained state, or hidden them somewhere on the vehicle for safe keeping...but he checked everywhere and found nothing. They weren’t in the truck bed, or in the seat pockets, or down the seat cushions. They weren’t in the wheel wells or under the chassis, or even still in the ignition. The keys simply weren’t anywhere to be found.
“Well there goes that plan,” Jake muttered to himself, hoping Megan wouldn’t hear him. She still had her head in her hands and was being distinctly unhelpful. Jake searched his brain for other answers, but none came to him. Maybe if this was a movie, he’d be able to hotwire the car, but he had no clue how to do that. Plus, finding a new vehicle was no easy feat. Most cars stopped working after the EMP hit. Trying to steal a working car now could get him killed, too, and he was in no fit state for a fight.
“It’s hopeless,” Megan sniffed. “We just run into trouble time and time again. We’re never going to get a break.”
“Not with that attitude,” Jake said. He was too worried about Aby to feel sympathetic toward Megan. He wished for nce that she’d pull herself together and come up with a solution instead of more problems. “Come on. We have to go and find her.”
Megan stared at him. “Are you insane? You want to just go wandering off in the dark when we’re both in this state?”
“Speak for yourself...I can do it.”
Megan snorted. “You forget that I can see you right now, Jake. You’re badly hurt. You’ve been out cold for God knows how long. If Aby is alive, she can take care of herself.”
“What if she’s hurt too?”
“Then it’s an even bigger risk for us to go out there...what if she’s making her way back here? What if she got hurt by someone who she met out there? There are a million reasons she could’ve gone missing, Jake, and none of them seem good...our best case scenario is that she’s alive and well and she’s coming back here to get us. The other option is that she’s got herself into trouble that we don’t want to walk into too. Our best bet is to stay here a while and see what happens. We can rest up, heal, and then go out there when it’s safer for us.”
Jake hated that this was the one time Megan had chosen to talk sense. She was right. Wandering around in the dark was a bad idea before the apocalypse, but it was even dumber now. From what he could tell, they didn’t have any weapons with them, or food, or clean water. How far could they get without those things?
But then again, if they stayed put and didn’t try to find supplies, they could die too. There was no winning scenari, but Jake wanted to take whichever path led to Aby. It was a risk, but he couldn’t stand the thought of her out in the wilderness alone. He knew that sense dictated they should stay put, but his heart was telling him to get off his ass and find his fiance.
“I can’t just sit here and hope she comes back,” Jake said, shaking his head. “She’s my fiance, Megan. You don’t understand...I have to go after her.”
Megan pursed her lips and Jake immediately regretted assuming that she didn’t understand. She’d been in an abusive relationship when they met only a few days before. It made it sound like he was saying that she didn't understand what it felt like to love someone enough to do anything for them. But before he could say anything, she cut him off by putting her hand up to silence him. The damage was already done.
“Fine. We’ll go. But I’m leaving at the first sign of trouble.”
Jake neglected to point out that Megan wouldn’t last five minutes without him. Though she was starting to grow a backbone in response to the new world around them, and she was becoming pretty nifty with a weapon, her fear and cowardice often held her back. She’d rather curl up in a ball and take a hit than face the horrors of the world. Jake remembered that she’d been doing that when he found her. He felt an ache in his chest for her, but he reminded himself that they all needed to get tougher if they wanted to survive. Even he did. His bravery carried him through most scenarios, but his pain endurance was low. It was going to be a struggle to keep walking when he was in so much pain, but he had to do it. He had to at least try for Aby’s sake.
Jake helped Megan down from the truck bed and
