A world split

Chapter 4

    "Let's go! Time to move! Let's start picking up these tents!" He yelled.
    "Mmmnn. Why are you being so loud?"
    There was no response so I began to stand up but wasnt able to finish doing so because my tent collapsed in on me. I flipped out and started throwing things off of me like I was opening a present but from the inside. When I got outside the man was sitting on the ground laughing hysterically.
    "Did you do that?"
    "I dont know what you're talking about." He said standing up.
    "Really?"
    I shoved him hard. He kept his balance and raised his gun to me.
    "Do you wanna start this? The only reason I haven't shot you yet is because you can carry my pack. Do I need to kill you now?"
    "No. I'm sorry I was just upset."
    "Well maybe you could calm your temper. Pack your tent and let's get moving."
    I did as he said and soon we were on our way, his baby was on his back, and his gun in his hand. I had both of our bags on my back and my gun in my hand.
    He looked at me to find that I was super far behind him and stopped.
    "Will you hurry up?" He said.
    I stopped and looked at him. "Really? You want me to hurry up? You're shitting me, right?" I looked him in the eye feeling an anger I couldnt describe. "I mean. I am carrying all of your shit and you want me to walk faster than you? Maybe you should slow the fuck down!"
    A gun shot sounded and a bullet hit the sand at my feet. I looked into the Man's eyes with a fury you can only understand if you have felt it. The arm that held his gun dropped and his expression changed from anger to almost regret. Somehow the way I looked at him held power over him.
   "Look," I said. "We are all we have right now. We need to stop fighting. How about we take turns carrying the baby and the packs."
    "You will not be touching my baby. You can carry the packs while I carry my baby." He said with a lick of poison more deadly than cyanide.
    I stared at him with the same look.
    "You wanna carry the baby? Fine, you go right ahead. I'm not carrying your shit anymore." I walked over to him, dropped his bag at his feet, and started walking forward.
    He must have really wanted to be around me because he caught up to me with his baby, his pack, and didnt day a word about anything else the rest of the time we walked that day.
    We chose a nice flat spot to pitch our tents and started a fire. When the man was able to get his baby to sleep he looked at me as if sizing me up for something. This went on for a while before he said anything.
    "You know. Earlier today when you talked back... I just want to say that I admire your courage."
    "What's going on?"
    "I guess I'm thanking you. You kinda opened my eyes a little. But this means nothing in the long run. You and I will go our eventual separate ways. But for now, thank you."
    "You're welcome."
    "What's your name?"
    "Elizabeth. What's yours?"
    "John."
    "That's a nice name. What do you have for food?"
    "I have a couple days left of M.R.E.'s. How about you?"
    "I'm out." I said said holding my bag upside down and shaking.
    "Well you can have some of mine. We'll just have to start hunting off the land soon." John handed me an M.R.E..
    We ate our food in silence just like normal but when we finished John kissed me. I pulled him back in and kissed him. Now we were on the ground kissing each other wildly. John raided my shirt of my body and I led him back to my tent.
                                     ...
    The sun rose and woke me up. I was still naked from the night before, I rolled over and woke up John who then kissed me again. This kiss held more emotion than he had ever shown me. I pressed myself against him.
    "Are you doing okay?" He asked.
    "Oh, yes. I'm not sure why but I feel amazing."
    "Well don't get used to this."
    "What?!?!"
    "Do not yell at me," John stood up, got dressed, and left the tent.
    I followed suit but when I got outside I was taken aback by the scene outside. There were women on my right and men on my left slinging lead over our heads.
    "John," I dropped down beside him.
"What do we do?"
    "We pack up and we get the fuck out of here."
    I took down my tent and he took down his then we packed everything in our camp and left. We slowly drug ourselves across the ground until we were out if the middle of the firefight. We crouched walked to the top of a hill and we walked until we found a forest.
    "We are going to cross this forest and then we're gonna start taking down these trees and build a house. It's not gonna be big, but just big enough to give us each a room." John said.
    "Okay. Let's go."
    We began our crossing. It was not easy. We got stuck in thorn bushes, the baby would not be quiet, and we had a pack of wolves try to attack us. In the end we got to the otherside and the view was spectacular. There was a waterfall to our left and cliffs to our right and to our immediate front was a beautiful grass hill that rolled down to the bottom of this massive expanse of beauty.
    "I wanna build down there." I said.
    "No. Too many snakes. They will kill us before we reach the bottom. That tall grass right in front of us," he pointed my head to the hill. "Snakes live all the way down it. But it's beautiful so this is where we are going to live."
    "What? We cannot raise a child next to this much danger."
    "First, there is no we. And second, he needs to learn how to understand the danger some beauty can hold."
    I stared into his eyes for a second but eventually walked up to a tree and began shaking it with a hatchet.