Winter's Burn

• XIV •

William had been walking forever, or at least it felt like it. He was more tired than he had ever been, even more than that time he stayed up for five days playing Hades.

The redhead was ahead of him, walking a few paces in front. She had said they needed to keep moving for a while and get as far away from that place as they could, and he agreed. No way in hell he was gonna stop until he was sure they would be OK.

"We should find a place to camp," the girl shouted to him. "There's a cave over there." She pointed to a small opening in a hill nereby. "I'll make sure it's clear." She transferred senka into William's arms and walked into the cave. After a few long minutes, she emerged from the caves mouth and waved him in.

He placed Senka inside, making sure she seemed comfortable. The redhead bent down, piling up sticks and making a fire. "She'll be out for a bit longer," She spoke as she worked. "A restful night will do her good." The stick she was holding began smoking, and a small flame arose from the pole. Slowly but surely, the cave became filled with the smell of campfire smoke. She sat back, sighing while pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes.

William sat on another side of the fire, not quite across from her but not too close to her. He still barely knew anything about this girl, after all. He had so many questions that he couldn't think of all of them at once. Who was she? Why did she help? If she could escape that easily, why didn't she do it before?

"I can practically hear you thinking, dude." She spoke up. "I know you have questions."

"Can you answer them?"

"Depends what they are."

Silence fell upon the two, the only sounds audible being Senka's shallow breaths as she slept against the cave wall.

Will mustered up the courage to speak. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure exactly. I know we're somewhere in Northern Maine, a few miles north of Haymock lake maybe? I'm not entirely sure where we are now, but the compound was close to there."

"How far do you think we walked?" Considering the condition of his legs, the condition being he could barely move them, he assumed it had been a while. He really should do more cardio.

"Probably a few miles. I'm pretty sure we've been going southeast, I know there's a state park around there somewhere."

William nodded, pretending he knew what the hell she was talking about. How the hell did he get to Maine? How will he get back home? Will he ever go back home? God, being on the run was confusing.

"If we're lucky, we'll find a highway or a nice person willing to give us a ride. If not, we've got a lot of walking to do tomorrow. Get some rest, I want as much distance between us and them as possible."

"How do we know we'll be safe? We aren't that far away. They might have eyes everywhere."

"My god." She sighed, irritated. "Calm down. As far as I know, that was the only compound and they work alone. We'll be fine for the night. From that shock you gave them I doubt they'll even get up until tomorrow."

"But-"

"Get some sleep, Will." She leaned back into the cave wall, closing her eyes.

He sighed in defeat, curling into himself as he tried to get comfortable. His training outfit didn't protect from the cold of the night very much, but he guessed he was going to have to deal with it. He struggled a bit until he found a spot that felt warm-ish, and closed his eyes.