Winter's Burn

• XIX •

William was awakened with a jolt at the sound of rustling outside the shed. His assumption of it just being one of his group or some sort of animal was quickly shattered when the shuffles were accompanied with voices.

Aeron was awake too, of course, eyes wide as she glanced at Will with a look that said 'don't move.' He didn't know if he even could. He tried his best to quiet his heavy breathing as he listened to the commotion outside.

"They went this way, I saw them."

"Those little shits. I told you we never should've taken the soldier off of those meds. Screw the experiment."

William's gaze fell on Senka, the horror on her face as evident as he was sure was on his. He turned back to Aeron, her mouth forming a tight line as he could practically hear her trying to think of a way out of this.

The rustling grew closer, Aeron's face resolving to a determined glare at the door. William tried to grab her arm before she did something stupid, but a simple gaze at him made him sit back down as she rose, walking towards the doorway.

The men opened it quietly, likely hoping to catch the trio off guard, but Aeron was ahead of them. She wasn't going town without a fight.

With what looked like no effort, she grabbed the arm of one of the attackers, flipping him over her shoulder into the other. They groaned in pain, attempting to quickly get up, but that once again was foiled by Aeron stomping on their backs, causing them to sink back into the forest floor. She bent down to them, whispering something before kicking one in the face, then the other, knocking them out cold.

"He sent new guys, thought I would be that easy to catch huh?" Aeron mumbled as she dragged the men further from the shed.  "Get up, we need to move. There's always more of them. We should have gotten to the highway by now." Her glance to Senka didnt go unnoticed by Will, who quickly muttered that it wasn't her fault she was tortured. He also had to bite his tongue not to mention Aeron likely could have stopped the very thing that was responsible for Senka's torment.

Aeron's rush to get out left her a few yards in front of the tired pair as they walked, she seemed to be full of energy despite not getting a blink of sleep. Will and Senka, on the other hand, were exhausted. William was sure he would have been much worse without his training, but this still sucked. Keeping up with Aeron was difficult, so they made peace with letting her walk ahead of them, hopefully in the direction of some food. The trio hadn't eaten anything good in days. Aeron had found them a freshwater stream to follow for a bit, so they had had water, but not nearly enough to be satisfied. But they foraged ahead, because they had to.

After a few hours of hiking, they finally made it to the highway. Well, highway was a generous word, more like a two lane road labeled 95. Cars zoomed by, none seeming interested in picking up 3 kids off the road. Understandable. A few minutes passed before Will's stomach started grumbling again, and Aeron's outstretched arm, dangerously close to the road, finally caught the attention of a passing car. The white jeep pulled over, rolling down the windows to reveal a blonde woman, likely in her 20s. Her hair was tied into a messy bun perched on the back of her head, her sunglasses obscuring her eyes.

"Now what are y'all doing out here?" She said, a slight southern accent melodically singing with her words.

After making introductions, the group got into the car. Aeron sat in the passenger seat, Senka and William in the back. The ride was nice, the woman making small talk as they drove to the nearest city. She said she was on her way to Portland, and didn't mind taking the group to town. After about an hour, they were dropped into a small town. They said their goodbyes to the woman, whose name they found out was Bethany, and went on their way.