After 30 Days

Thirty-Four - Day 57

The first thing I noticed as I pushed my way through the door was the smell of coffee in the chilly early morning air. As usual, I was the last one to wake up. Rubbing sleepily at eyes that still didn't quite want to focus, I looked around until I found the others huddled around a small fire that someone had started in one of the blackened pits.

Rex ran up to greet me enthusiastically and I patted the top of his head. At least he looked like he was feeling better today. That made one of us. As I approached the group, they all looked about as bad as I felt. Tired, and beat up after the day we'd had yesterday.

Shawn was standing near the fire and I came to a stop at his side. He smiled at me and indicated the fire with a nod of his head. "We saved you a cup. It's that instant crap that was inside, but it's better than nothing."

I wrinkled my nose. Coffee was nasty. I'd never understand why the rest of the world loved the stuff so much. "Thanks, but I don't drink coffee."

"Really?" He sounded as shocked as every other person who I'd ever told the same thing.

"Yeah. I don't like it."

"Weird."

"Well, I for one don't plan to look this gift horse in the mouth," Maya got up from where she'd been sitting in the dirt. She quickly dumped the rest of the dark drink in the stained metal pot into the mostly empty cup in her hands. "More for me." She flashed a smile, "I thought I might have died and gone to heaven when I got up and found Marcus out here making coffee."

A murmur of agreement went up around the fire.

The atmosphere was almost friendly as we all sat and watched the last of the flames die out. Maybe we were just enjoying pretending for a few more moments that the world was still normal. Whatever it was, it was welcome. Moments of peace were hard to find, and in the back of our minds, we all knew that when we left this place things were likely to get hard, fast.

When the others had finally finished their drinks we reluctantly gathered our things and loaded back into the truck. As soon as we started moving, the cold morning air cut right through the shirt I had on. It made me almost wish that I had drank some of the coffee, just for the warmth. Pulling the fabric tighter, I huddled down as far as I could and did my best to avoid the wind. It was going to be a long ride until the sun warmed the day up a bit.

All of us in the bed of the truck suffered in silence, except for Rex. He was loving it with his tongue lolling out one side of his mouth and his nose up in the wind, but we didn't have to endure for long. Already on E before we'd even started, we only made it a few more miles before the engine started sputtering. It carried us a little further up the road before finally giving up completely. The silence was deafening as we coasted to a stop in the middle of the road.

No one moved for a long second, before Shawn broke the silence. "Well, I guess that's that," he slid toward the back of the truck dragging his backpack along with him.

We'd know this was coming, but that didn't make the reality any more pleasant. Sighing, I grabbed my own bag and followed Shawn. Sam put down the tailgate and we began repacking the bags to get as much of our stuff crammed in them as possible. All of the extra supplies we'd picked up would have to go with us. Who knew if we'd come back through here any time in the near future. Or, if we did, if our things would still be waiting for us.

Maya yawned as she finished filling her bag and forced the zipper closed. She slid to the back of the truck and jumped down. When she hit the ground, she stumbled a bit and Bill had to catch her before she fell all of the way over.

"You ok?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I'm just really tired," she told him with a small grimace.

"I know what you mean," he let go of her and rubbed a hand over his face. "I must be getting soft, I could really use a nap."

We were all used to getting a full night of sleep most of the time, now that we'd spent so much time in the safety of Ned's community. Being back on the road, and having to split nighttime guard duty, was a harsh reality check. Zipping my own backpack closed, I swung it over a shoulder and surveyed the stuff that was still inside the truck.

"We'll have to leave the rest."

Sam was right. There was still an entire box of canned dog food, along with a sizable pile of medical supplies, sitting in the back of the truck. We were all already burdened by a lot of weight, there was just no way for us to take the rest of the stuff with us. Stifling a huge yawn himself, Sam picked up the heavy box and moved it to the cab of the truck.

When we had secured the rest of our loot as best we could, we began the long hike down the road. Before long we were strung out across the wide highway. Marcus strode along purposefully in the front. A step behind him, Sam trudged along looking absolutely miserable as he kept shifting his heavy bag around on his shoulders.

A dozen steps behind them, Shawn and I walked side by side. Rex zig zagged around in front of us, eagerly sniffing at the pavement. I was already exhausted, and watching the dog's antics was only making me more tired. Beside me, Shawn covered a yawn with one hand. He rubbed at his eyes, drawing my attention to just how bloodshot they were. I definitely wasn't the only one feeling the sleep deprivation.

Maya and Bill had lagged behind the group. By the time we'd walked a mile or two, they were falling further behind. I looked back over my shoulder to check on them and was alarmed by how far back they had gotten.

At some point, Bill had taken the heavy backpack from Maya, and he trudged along with a bag hanging from each shoulder. Even without her bag, it was obvious that Maya was failing in her struggle to keep up. As I watched, her one foot dragged along the pavement slightly, almost tripping her, before she righted herself.

Alarm bells sounded in my head. First she'd almost fallen when she jumped from the bed of the truck, and then, this. Something other than basic tiredness was wrong with Maya. I grabbed for the arm next to mine and tugged Shawn around to look.

"Something is wrong with Maya."

As we watched, she stumbled again. I glanced at Shawn to see him frowning. He looked over his shoulder toward the pair in the lead. "Hey," he called. Without waiting to see if they heard him, he started back toward our friends.

Maya had come to a stop, rubbing her eyes fiercely with both hands. Noticing that his wife was no longer beside him, Bill pulled up short and turned to look for her. When he saw her, he dropped both bags to the ground with a muffled thump that I could hear even at this distance, and took the several steps to get to her side. Swaying slightly, I could see that she said something to him, but couldn't hear it.

Picking up the pace, I began jogging to get to them faster. Shawn was jogging too, but I was ahead of him, almost to our friends, when Maya collapsed to the ground.