Cameron nearly snorted at Justin’s question regarding finding her parents. “I mean, they’re either dead by now or abandoned me for a reason. I’m sure, if they are alive, they aren’t interested in me finding them. Plus, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Her mind began to ponder the possibilities. What would happen if she did find them? Why did they abandon her in the first place? What were the chances that they survived this long?

She shook her head to clear the delusional thoughts. The only times she allowed herself to imagine such scenarios were late at night, usually when she was in bed and alone, and it never ended well: Cameron would either end up crying, angry, or confused. Three things that she did not want to occur at the present moment. 

After a deep breath, Cameron continued following Justin, this time in silence. Her observant eyes scanned the horizon with nearly every step she took, but once they reached the road, they locked on to the city that seemed to be a quarter mile away. “Hartford,” she whispered as a chill went down her spine. 

The idea of travelling through a town that was (and still might be) so heavily populated was a bit frightening, especially with Cameron’s lack of knowledge on the different settlements in the north. From what they had seen, most were hostile towards outsiders. She had stories long ago about large cities like Hartford remaining more like cities than settlements – the main road was used as a market place where vendors lined each sidewalk with goods to barter with, and civilians fended for themselves rather than working collectively. From what she remembered, they were also very similar to the way Justine had described settlements before – pleasure seeking, selfish, and godless. Back was Cameron was younger, a place like that sounded like a haven compared to her home in Chesapeake, and it was a goal of hers to live in a city like that, but now the present Cameron didn’t even want to travel through it.

“Do you know anything about this place?” she whispered to him without taking her eyes off of the skyscrapers. “Call me paranoid, but after the past few weeks I’m a little hesitant on strolling through Main Street without a clue as to what might be awaiting us.” 

Cameron looked to the man to her right through the strands of black hair whipping her face in the wind. Her eyes scanned him quickly, and once she caught herself, she turned her head back towards the landscape in front of them. There was no way that she could allow herself to get caught in trivial thoughts like the ones she was just having, especially 1) since they were on a journey to possibly save the country, and 2) because of the type of person that Justin was. 

He had too much of a pure heart to, in her opinion, even entertain the idea of thinking of Cameron than anything besides his friend. Plus, someone who had been through as much as she had would probably only hurt him in the end.

Yeah, that’s it.

Cameron straightened her posture and swung an arm behind her to grab a piece of cloth in the side pocket, then she firmly secured her hair into a knot on her head. Once finished, she nodded at Justin. IT was now or never.