Trust Me

Whether You Like it or Not

I tried to slow my breathing.

One, two, three...

I counted to myself in an attempt to calm down.

"Are you okay now?" Jasper asked and put a hand on my shoulder from the branch beside me. It wasn't the first time this had happened.

"I'm fine now... sorry." I carefully untied the rope around me and stuffed it in my backpack. "Let's just get moving."

Jasper nodded and we climbed back down the tree. He pulled out the compass and quickly examined it before sliding it back into his pocket.

"The town is this way." he pointed to the right and sighed. "Hopefully there's some supplies left behind this time."

I looked down as I remembered the last failed supply run. We had traveled for miles to get to the town. When we got there, our hopes were high. It looked deserted, had barely any infected, and there were a bunch of grocery stores. What could go wrong, right?

Well, everything.

After seeing the empty streets, we figured we could let our guard down for a little while. So we waltzed right down the middle of the road talking and laughing. I mean, that was back when things were better between Jasper and I. Well when we turned the corner, we came face to face with the biggest herd I had seen up to that point.

Long story short, we spent all of our energy trying to slip away. But the worst part is that when we finally found the stores, they were all empty. That night we had to sleep in one of the stores that had nothing but a baseball bat behind the counter and money strewn across the floor from what I guessed to be an attempted robbery from early on.

It seemed like that was the point when he truly started to give up, and that was where things went bad between us. We had always been like best friends before, but now... what happened?

+++

While we trudged along the dirt road I hummed to myself and thought of the food I missed. There were so many! Pizza, Ice cream, cake, shrimp, spaghetti. When I got sick of the sound of my humming and then got sick of the silence, I thought I'd try some conversation.

"Hey Jasper, what food do you miss the most?" I looked at him, taking notice of the patches of hair becoming more prominent on his chin. Man, he needed to shave.

He sighed and thought a second. "I don't know. We should stay quiet."

I scoffed. "Oh, come on, you have to know what food you miss! Food is like...well..." I pondered a second, "Food is love, Jasper."

Not amused, he looked at me with his tired eyes and plainly said, "Oreos."

I smiled to myself. At least we were talking about something other than surviving for once. That's all it had come down to; survival. Having food, water, shelter, weapons, clothing, and a secure location. There was this vision of a safe haven in the back of everyone's mind, constantly nagging at you to try and find it. But the truth was, I was convinced such a thing didn't exist. How could it?

I decided to test Jasper's patience and start more conversation. "Well, I miss Oreos and milk. Maybe this town will have some Oreos, do ya think? They won't have milk though. I mean, they might, but it will be completely spoiled and-"

"Luna, please." Jasper let out a short breath. I scowled at him.

"What's wrong with you?" I shouted.

"We should stay quiet."

"No, no, no. I'm talking about you as a person. You use to be so kind and fun, what happened?" He turned to me and I scanned his face.

"Well excuse me for having other things to worry about than being a fun person, Luna. Things aren't like that anymore whether you like it or not." His words hit me hard.

"I'm not talking about that. You're just a crappy person in general lately. It's like you don't even care anymore. About me, or yourself, or anything else. This world is the way it is whether you like it or not, and it gives you no reason to be a total jerk, okay?" At this point I was getting really upset, and didn't even know why. Was I being dramatic?

Jasper sighed and ran his hands through the flop of curly hair on his head. "Luna... I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a downer. It's just so hard to stay positive nowadays."

I chuckled. "I manage." This made him smirk.

"And that's the difference between us. Maybe that's why we work so well together." He sort of smiled.

"More like worked." I frown. "I miss the days when we could just hang out like normal cousins. Now it's-"

Unexpectedly, he pulled me into a hug. It had been so long since he showed any affection that I stood completely still for a couple seconds. Then I eased into his grasp and hugged him back. He was about a foot and a half taller than me, so it was an awkward hug.

I pulled away. "So, are you back now?"

He thought a second, but then smiled. "I think so."