DISCONTINUED - Promise // Ray X Reader

24 | A Heart-To-Heart

"Too slow!"

"Are you shitting me? Full speed from the start? Emma, don't hit me. You'll fall behind and no kids are around, just us." I gasped out, before shutting up and letting myself get as much air as I could. As soon as we had left the shelter, we had started to run at full speed at a sprint, for him it seemed no more like an easy paced run, but even I managed to be ahead of Ray and Emma.

"Pfft! Look at you slow poke brats!" He laughed at us, looking behind only for me to be right at his heels, ready to trip him over if he spoke another word.

"He's a child on the inside!" Ray cried out, Emma huffing alongside him in agreement, as I worked on my pace, slowing down to save stamina, too the left of Ray and Emma on the right side of him.

"We're gonna get through this wasteland as fast as possible. There are no clear dangers or obstacles here. It's not completely safe, but there won't be many other places where they stay away by choice after this." Skunk spoke up to us behind, the sounds of our feet thumping through the dry terrain, leaving little poofs of dust behind us.

"We want to rush through areas when we can. We don't want to wander around the shelter either. We'll get out the wasteland and go directly east. That's when searching for Minerva at A08-63 will really begin." He smiled, before our run in long silence prevailed, and I gripped onto the pen in my hand, only in fear that it would pop out my pocket if I placed it in there, and I had forgotten to pack it into my bag before we left.

"If Gilda's words had an effect, the Geezer's going to kill two of us, and leave one of us alive." Ray spoke, looking at us both, and I wondered why they'd waste their breath conversing when they could be using it to not be out of breath so fast.

"Well- I think he'd rather just watch us die instead of murder. I don't think he has the heart to do that. I don't think he's a bad person. He's just suffering in silence, just can't do anything about it. I knew his story through my siblings, he's been alone and lost a lot of people, survivors guilt. I know how he feels, Ray." I gave a trembling smile, and I hurried my pace, so I didn't have to talk about the past anymore and hopefully drive away the migraines I had. I couldn't afford one more slip up, one more seizure; then I'd fall right into what Ray had just said.

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"We got out the wasteland faster than I expected, not bad." Skunk chuckled softly at us, as I gasped for breath, my hands on my knees as I hunched over, Emmas hand under my backpack and patting my back with her fingers, myself stifling coughs.

"We're going to aim for reaching our destination in four days. Our destination is A08-63, Goldy Pond. There's a detour to go slowly and easily on a somewhat safe path that'll take three weeks. But I don't want that. Rejected. Don't even think about it. Stay hydrated, first up is this forest. Where wild man-eaters live. If they find you, you're dead. Come on. We're getting through by sundown." And with that he started to walk through the forest, and I nervously clasped onto Emmas hand. This would be easier without many children to look after, but in the lesser numbers, I felt more alone without the warmth of their smiles.

"There are a bunch. They're wild, but they form packs. At least the ones around here. And they always move together. They watch out for each other. And all of the species are violent. Which means if they find you, you're dead. They'll call for the others, attack you all at once, and eat you together, down to the bones. The only way to survive if you're discovered by one, is to kill it before it calls the others. But that would be impossible for you weaklings." I let go of Emmas hand nervously, and clenched for my gun on my back, holding it with my left hand as we continued our path onwards.