[IC] Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

[freedomliveson]

Frenzied shouts of agony and triumph sang through the air, prompting Justin to pop his head out from behind the mound of sandbags just a few feet away from the entrance to command.
"Faaantastic." He mumbled a string of curses to himself as Jes's squad continued to unload their scant ammunition on the attackers, Justin fully aware that they were going to run out soon. It wasn't as if they had an arms factory to produce bullets and weapons en mass; in fact, if his memory served him correctly, the armory had been rather bare when Justin had secured a pistol. There was no way they could last in hand to hand combat, no wa-

"Justin." Ryken's gravely voice floated next to Justin, the scout turning his head to find the older man decked out in ebony colored knee pads and body armor that covered most of his upper trunk, a silver pistol in his right hand.
"Ryk, you shouldn't be out here."
"I won't let our people go down without making sure I make an impact first." He got down on one knee and handed Justin a bronze key as he told him:
"Get to the bunker just outside the city and I'll send a squadron to accompany you both. We'll make our stand here and send our survivors when we have a chance."
"Ryk..."
"No, Justin. I won't try to make a poetic stand and get us all killed. We'll have a better chance of sending some of us out now in the chaos instead of trying to wait this assault out." Ryken raised his pistol and fired over the sandbags, four bullets connecting with two targets that were attempting to flank Jessica's position.
"ALL OUT!" One of Jessica's men shouted, the same sentiment shared by another, then finally Jes herself, who followed that up with a string of curses loud enough to ensure that those who had fallen in the conflict would hear. Thankfully
"Jessica! Get your men back inside, recover whatever supplies you can find and accompany Justin and Cameron!"
"Sir?!"
"That's an order, Jessica!" The muscles in her neck visibly tensed as she waved her squad back into command to comply with the order, the wafting scents of blood and sweat seeming to coat the entire settlement. Smoke was billowing from the southern and eastern part of Omega, gunshots and screams dotting the night.

The squadron returned with duffel bags slung across their backs, faces attempting to mask their anger at leaving their fellow Omega citizens behind.
"Sir, I think this is a huge mistake." Ryken nodded in agreement.
"In any other situation, I would agree with you, but we're overrun, bleeding from every direction...we need to send our survivors out now before our attackers swallow us all whole. Now go." With that, Ryken left, gun held out in front of him. Justin looked to Cam, his gaze lingering for a few moments, indecision rooting him to the ground.
"Do I..." He looked to Ryken's shrinking form, then to Cam.
"I need to..."
"You need to respect that man's wishes." Jessica's hand shot out and grabbed Justin's arm.
"We move out just like he said. You know as well as I do that the bunker can hold almost all of us. There's still hope. We just have to keep moving." She smiled gently as she told him:
"All things work together for good, right?" He snorted.

They wormed their way out of the settlement through the shattered north wall, barely avoiding death several times from stragglers or wounded that felt like they needed to inflict one last kill before they went to their death. Jes took the lead as they forged north of the settlement. About twenty blocks of street were between them and the settlement when Justin pointed at stone steps that led to a thick wooden door.
"Right." Jes descended, Justin handing her the key as his eyes scanned the darkness as thoroughly as he could. Something just seemed...off.
"Cam." He walked to her before lowering his voice:
"The past five blocks I've just this weird feeling...don't know if someone's watching us or following us or if I'm spooked. Am I nuts or you feel the same way?"

[megatrash]

To be frank, the attack on what was left of Omega was a shit show. Cameron was running on pure adrenaline from the moment she took off with the man who got killed to until they reached the safe house that the crew she was with seemed to know of.

She had finally felt a cool sense of relief wash over her until Justin's words crept into her ears. Cameron immediately began to scan the surrounding area with wide eyes. "I think you're spooked, man," she whispered with a smile. She had an innate sense of awareness of her surroundings, and nothing had triggered her to think something or someone may have been following them. She understood the paranoia, though - probably better than anyone else in their group, so she promised herself to keep a watchful eye out on his behalf.

Cameron took a moment to truly absorb how lucky she had been to come across a man like Justin. She hadn't taken off on that four day walk with any hope for herself, let alone humanity. Now here she was, fighting side by side with the man who had not only saved her, but instilled a sense of hopefulness within her that she didn't know she could possess.

Jes unlocked the sturdy wooden door with a key she had hanging around her neck and pushed it open with great force until it widened to its capacity. "Come on," she signaled to the crowd behind her, but as they all began to funnel in behind her, a woosh split though the silent air, and immediately, Cameron felt a burning sensation in her side.

She swiveled around to see a primitive man lurking behind a staircase of an abandoned apartment building. All Cameron could do was point towards the man before she collapsed in pain and went to grip her stomach, only to be blocked by the stick of an arrow, it's sharp end buried in her flesh.

Her vision became blurry, and her hearing became muffled, and she only caught a glimpse of Jes jumping over her to attack the man along with the most of the group. "Kill him... They'll know... we're here if..." Cameron's attempts at forming a sentence fell flat. The warm blood pooling at her stomach began trickling down to her legs. Her consciousness was fading fast, and she looked up to Justin momentarily, only to offer a sincere smile. "Get up... to Portland... with or without me."

The black fuzziness that had been clouding her vision had now completely consumed it, and Cameron fell forward backward as she slipped into unconsciousness.

[freedomliveson]

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Not leaving you, Cam. You're gonna make it. I promise you you're going to make it." As her eyes closed, Justin scooped her up in his arms and retreated back into the bunker. Jes shouted a few commands as her squad fired into the darkness of the city, one of her platoon falling to the ground with an arrow jutting out of his neck. Curses littered the air along with steady streams of gunfire, Justin using the chaos as cover to find a safe place to address Cam's wound. He leaned against the left wall of the entranceway, his shoulder finding a switch, which he activated by lifting up with the central head of the muscle. Dim lightbulbs flickered to life on the ceiling above to reveal the inside of what was once a tavern. The cherry/oak counter had been repurposed to house medical supplies, food and ammunition while behind the counter where panels of glass once stood were retrofitted weapon holders that held an assortment of melee weapons and a few worn-out guns that had been scavenged from old military outposts. Tables and chairs were scattered across the main room, Justin finding a table that was as sturdy as ancient furniture could be and laid Cam out, her legs dangling off the table. The arrow was embedded in the side of her abdomen, which meant that it was actually causing a lot of the bleeding that would've been occurring to congeal. Once he pulled that arrow out, she was going to start losing blood fast. As quickly as he could he rummaged behind the counter and withdrew a number of medical supplies, including some of the strongest distilled alcohol Mary could've brewed up.
"This is going to hurt like nothing else." He mumbled as he set the supplies on a nearby chair, Jes's voice floating in as he grabbed the length of the arrow:
"And that's why we're the best this world is EVER going to see!" She exclaimed, walking in triumphantly with the rest of her squadron.
"Got em all?"
"Yup. We did lose Saul..." She trailed off for a brief moment, the rest of her squad looking to her, which earned a quick glare from their fearless commander. Resuming her normal, exuberant state, she finished:
"But Saul would've wanted us to keep moving, so that's what we're gonna do." Jes walked next to Justin, a frown coming onto her face.
"Gonna need help keeping her down."
"I was going to ask you for it."
"Good. Not like I was going let you do this by yourself. You need a woman's touch." He chuckled as he grabbed the arrow, Jes placing her hands firmly on Cam's upper legs. In a swift motion, Justin withdrew the arrow out of Cam's side.
"I'm so sorry, Cam! Just hang tight!" He sterilized the wound with a pad coated in alcohol before placing a large bandage over the wound.
"Jes, her shirt."
"Right." She lifted Cam's shirt, helping Justin secure the gauze around her waist. Another few moments and they had her mid-section bandaged up as tight as they could.
"Hey...hey, you doing ok?" The question had an air of apology to it, seeing as he did just cause her massive pain.

[megatrash]

Cameron was brought back to consciousness by the feeling of a strong grip on each of her thighs, yet was still very groggy from the injury she sustained.

“What’s going – “

Her voice trailed off when she realized what Justin was about to do: pull out the arrow from her side. “Shit,” she muttered as she squeezed her eyes shut and bit into her left arm moments before used his strength to remove it. An involuntary shriek was released from her lips as it exited her stomach, and if it wasn’t for Jes’s arms holding her, she probably would have kicked Justin forcefully.

Waves of adrenaline, pain, and heat coursed through her body as her muscles relaxed, causing her to fall back down onto the table with a thud. Cameron didn’t move as the two worked to bandage her – only to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead – and felt relief once she was tightly bound by gauze at her waist.

Her eyes were closed, but Justin’s question caused a faint smile. “I’ll be fine,” she replied with a breathy voice. “Didn’t expect to go down that quickly,” she chuckled as she popped an eye open to look at him. “I don’t mean this as sarcastically as it sounds, but thanks for ripping that arrow out of my stomach.” She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath; she was dizzy from the blood loss and the pain of the extraction, causing her attempt to sit up to be futile. “Can you get me to a chair?”

She wrapped an arm around Justin’s shoulders and grunted as she hobbled over to one of the chairs near where the group had settled in.

“We need to be more careful,” a man spoke passionately. “We can’t afford to lose anyone else. Saul was one of our best fighters.”

“He’s right,” a woman chimed in. “At this rate, only three of us will make it up to Portland whole.”

Cameron’s thoughts focused on the possible survivors of Omega that were left behind. “How many attackers were there?”

“Looked to be about seven, maybe eight.”

She rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Is there a possibility that any of them escaped?”

“We have no way of knowing,” the passionate man spoke again with a scoff.

“Then whatever survivors trying to find us could be in danger. They’ll never make if if the savages know where our safehouse is.” Cameron looked to Justin with lips pursed in thought. “We should do something. They’ll get slaughtered.”

[freedomliveson]

"Cam, we can't go out there again. It's just the five of us and we would be shooting wildly in the dark. What would the point be?"
"Making sure that our people can actually make it." Jes shot a glare at Justin, who turned around to retort:
"Noble, yeah, but we would be gambling on all of us surviving. What if we don't? What if we try to make some nutty last stand and get eviscerated? We would lose out on a shot at possibly saving the entire nation!"
"Quit being the pragmatist, Justin!" She drew closer to him, muscles in her neck and arms visibly tensing as she continued:
"You and I both know that Ryk wouldn't want us to leave OUR people to fend for themselves! We go out there, provide covering fire just long enough for get themselves in here and figure out what to do from there, casualties and all." The squadmates that remained in Jessica's platoon nodded vehemently in sync with their commander. Justin looked to the wounded Cam, whose eyes betrayed a level of concern that he couldn't ignore. He wasn't going to do this for anyone else but her.

"Alright, alright. We can set up a two man rotation just outside the door. We've got natural cover from the cement barrier, so we can probably hold out long enough to suppress fire."
"I'll do the first shift with you." Jes told him, motioning for the woman in her group before commanding her to keep watch over Cam. The other squadmate was positioned on the interior edge of the entranceway to help with crowd control as Jes and Justin emerged into the pale darkness.

_________

Two hours.
Two long, crushing hours.

Justin placed his back against the concrete barrier and grit his teeth, suppressing the urge to let out a visceral shout. His hands, sticky, doused with blood, threw the emptied firearm onto the ground with resounding effort as he looked over at Jess, whose shoulders were slumped, leaning on the top of the barrier to catch her breath. There had been nothing for the first hour of their watch, but then survivors began to trickle down the roadway, eyes wide, hands carrying whatever scant possessions they could carry. About fifteen had come into the bunker without any resistance with twenty more visible in the moonlight.

And then they weren't.

Arrows tipped with blazing heads streaked through the air, hitting their targets with precision. Jes, Justin and Robert(the male squadmate) couldn't identify the attackers in the dim lighting, so they fired wildly, hoping to hit the assailants. Instead of confirmed kills, the trio had to face spears and arrows flung t their position as well as the civilians. They were pinned down and emptying all of their ammunition into the darkness, the crazed shootout ending seemingly an eternity later. The trio emerged onto the street to find that while they had been suppressed, the remaining survivors of Omega lay in the road, their goods plundered, their lives snuffed out.

They had failed.

"We could've...we could've gone out there." Jes mumbled.
"Sure. We would've been laying in the street along with everyone else." Justin winced at the harshness of his statement, adding:
"Sorry." She nodded, walking into the bunker, Justin following. The survivors that did make it were settled in and trying to make themselves as busy as they could, but that activity ceased when their defenders walked in with looks of defeat. They knew.

He looked for Cam's trademark ebony locks, but couldn't find her. Where had she gone off to?

[megatrash]

It seemed like Justin's duty as door guard lasted for much more than two hours, especially when she was left with the rest of the survivors of Omega in the safe house. It's not that they weren't nice - they were almost too - but Cameron had always had a black sheep complex, and currently, she was really struggling with it. Although she knew Justin wouldn't have told them anything nitty gritty about her background, she felt this paranoia that they looked down on her, that she wasn't the right fit for a wholesome group like themselves. And the leaders, they were all so courageous and wise; she definitely felt unworthy of the voice she had been given in the decision making process.

She sat in a room that was once a functioning, one person bathroom, that now was just a dark closet with a toilet and a sink. The conversational small talk only lasted so long to the point where she just felt awkward with the rest of the group, so she found her haven within a haven, or at least, until Justin came back.

He seemed to be the only person that she didn't feel so strange around. She knew that was probably because of all the time that they head spent together over the course of this journey, but also because he was truly not judgmental, a characteristic she hadn't known existed. Especially after living in Chesapeake her whole life. It was refreshing, to the say the least, but it also provided her with the only ounce of safety she had felt over the past few weeks.

Cameron was shaken out of her thoughts to hear voices rumbling in the main room, and she forced herself out of the bathroom to see what the commotion was. Amongst the gaggle of people, she spotted Justin who seemingly was looking for her, and she waved a hand above the sea of heads to get his attention.

One approaching him, her eyes scanned his facing, noting the sweat beading on his forehead and the overall appearance of exhaustion. "Rough shift, huh?"

"Alright, everyone," Jes' stern voice broke through the quiet roar of people talking amongst themselves, "we need a meeting."

The group all huddled in a sort of circle, some taking chairs and others, like Cameron, taking a spot on the floor. Her back rested against Justin's legs behind her as she sat criss-crossed facing Jes on the other side of the circle.

"None of us are going to make it up north if we knee getting attacked like this, but if we stay here for too long, we'll be sitting ducks." Jes' face, although putting out a strong expression, had a tinge of defeat mixed in. "Who has suggestions?"

A man spoke up. "We need back up."

A few others "Yeah!" -ed in response.

"Okay, but how do we get back up? Call them?" This caused a chuckle from the group.

"We'll go," Cameron called out as she stood up from the floor. "Justin and I. We've already gotten there and back, so we know how to navigate it. Plus, I'm the outsider, and, well, Justin had a talent for staying in one piece."

Another chuckle from the crowd.

"We'll travel up there and get assistance and supplies. Then, we'll come get everyone else." She looked back to Justin with an apologetic expression, but turned to Jes with a stern one.

Jes' eyes flitted from her to Justin. "What do you think about her proposition?"

[freedomliveson]

As the circle formed, Justin plopped down in a wooden chair, resting his back against the wooden support when he looked down to find Cam resting her body against his legs. He cleared his throat slightly, a chill creeping up his spine.

Be cool, man. Be cool.

His attention was thankfully diverted from the strange sensation by the survivors interacting with Jes. They had no means of communication with anyone, really, which meant that would have to make do with the people in their group. But then how would Omega keep going? They couldn’t risk throwing more bodies into a fight that was more easily lost than won.

It was at that moment that Cam stood up, proclaiming that she and Justin would head back. He wanted to object, but what other choice did they have? The survivors would need supplies and there was no chance Justin would be comfortable leaving them all here without any form of trained protection. The remnants of Jessica’s squadron could help train others while Justin and Cam were gone, living off of the supplies here until they got back. Ryken made sure that there was enough supplies in the bunker to last a couple of months, which would hopefully be more than enough time for the duo to make it back with…well, potentially a cure to the entire plight of the human race.
His answer was ready before Jes asked the question.
“No other way around it. Cam and I will get some rest here, load up and then we move out at daybreak. Hopefully those maniacs got enough of their bloodlust out and are headed back to their encampment. Should make things easier for us.”
“You’re sure about this?” Jes hissed through her teeth, approaching a bit closer.
“Nope. But we don’t have any other choice, now do we?” He uttered softly, looking to Cam with a gentle smile.
“At least I know I’ll have good company.”

The next hour was spent attempting to sort out sleeping arrangements and the logistics of managing fifteen people occupying twenty five hundred square feet, which thankfully included some private rooms that were probably a part of the owner’s living quarters. Justin had secured a large rucksack from the stash of supplies in the storage room at the very back of the bunker and had supplied himself with as much as he could without robbing them blind. He found himself in one of those private rooms, the one farthest down the hall from the main area, sitting on the laminate floor in the center of the room. There were a few cots tucked up against the walls with an antique dresser directly opposite the doorway. He wanted to sleep…he knew he had to. But the events of the past few hours…
“All that blood…could I have stopped that?” He mumbled to himself, laying back onto the cold floor.
“Is it going to get any better if we succeed?”

[megatrash]

“Who really knows?” Cameron said with a smirk as she entered the room Justin was resting in and settling in a free cot adjacent to his. “Talking to yourself may be a bad sign though.” She assumed that the shift he took, based on the horrors she heard from the survivors, took a toll on him both emotionally and physically. The past few weeks had probably taken years off each of their lives due to just stress alone; the thought caused Cameron’s fingers to trace the bandage that was wrapped around her waist.

“I’m sorry I volunteered ourselves. I should’ve checked with you.” She unraveled her hair from the knot on her head and scratched at her scalp before continuing. “I think I've just been in this adrenaline-fueled save-the-world mode since all this shit started.”

Each foot worked the booth off the other, and once they were free, her legs swung up onto the cot, and Cameron rolled on her stomach to face him. “If you wanna figure out another arrangement, I’m all ears.” She felt bad to offer such a sentiment while knowing there was really no other choice for the two, but the need to say it had tugged at her. Of all the people she had ever known, Justin deserved to go through what they had the least. He was selfless and generous, unlike Cameron or those she was raised by. She always was taught to fend for herself and only herself, not to put others first or to risk her own safety for someone else’s. While it was all foreign to her, Justin’s characteristics were much appreciated, especially in such a hostile time.

Cameron smile faintly out of sleepiness and turned to her side, pulling the thin blanket she was provided up over her shoulders, more out of a feeling of security rather than a need to be warm. She wanted to enjoy the last peaceful night they would have for an indefinite amount of time, maybe the last peaceful night if they kept getting attacked like this. Death can only be escaped so many times.

“I think we’ll be fine,” she spoke quietly, more to reassure herself than anything. "We'll just have to be a bit better at laying low as we move. I don't wanna end up in an underground prison again."

[freedomliveson]

"But see, that's the problem, isn't it?" Justin sat up, looking over at the draped Cameron with eyes betraying a level of exhaust that he had never experienced before.
"I thought we WERE doing the best we could, I thought that I was doing a great job. There's a reason I got put in charge of the scouts at such a young age. I know what I'm doing and yet...yet they all died. All of em. I should've known that they would've followed, should've stayed back with Ryken...I should've known that we would've gotten intercepted by those animals in the clearing and I should've acted on what I KNEW." His hands curled into fists, nails digging into his hands.
"Instead, we..." He pointed at himself.
"No, I, I got the attention of monsters that were responsible for slaughtering all of the people that I claimed to want to protect. If we had just moved like I thought we should've, just kept going past their territory, then maybe we would be in Portland already and would be coming back as saviors of humanity. Instead, the last of Omega, what was supposed to be a beacon of hope in this forsaken wasteland, got wiped out. And who knows if we'll be able to make the sacrifices Ryken and the others made worthwhile? What if we go up to Portland and those scientists Avery says are alive are actually all dead and this 'life-giving fluid' is nowhere to be found. What if this is all..." Fists again.
"What if this is all for nothing?" He stood up, hands curling and uncurling into fists as he peeled off his shirt and shorts, flopping onto the cot in nothing but his black boxer briefs. The muscles in his upper leg were partially flexed, hands uncurling for the final time as he jammed his elbows into his upper legs, massaging the tension.
"Ryken always told me that faith was important." He dug harder into his quads, eliciting a groan from his throat, but he continued:
"That faith was going to be the one thing that kept us going. Without faith, he would say, we were of men to be most pitied." A sad chortle as his hands returned the cot.
"I believed him. We all did. And now, with him gone, I don't know if the god he talked about is as benevolent as he said he was." He paused for a few moments, gathering more of his thoughts.
"Of course, the god he talked about I believe in...and I, although you may think it's garbage, I believe that God led me to you. You're the best partner I've ever had...well, really, the only partner I've ever had, but you set the bar high enough to where no one is ever going to be able to leap over it." He leaned against the wall now, legs folded on the cot.
"It's nice to know that you're going with me to Portland. I really wouldn't want it any other way." He shot her a smile, eyes closing, mind still processing. It was then that he realized he had never asked her if she had any...romantic attachments. Why not ask now? Not like they'd have time at any other moment in time.

Why do you need to know?
Oh shut up.

"Hey, so, back at Chesapeake...anyone catch your eye, make your heart all fluttery and whatnot?"

[megatrash]

Although the level of anger and confusion Justin was feeling about what they had gone through so far was concerning, Cameron couldn’t help but smile as she listened to him talk about the time they’ve spent together. It was funny – out of all the chaos, destruction, and loss they had both seen and experienced, she had become a beacon of hope for him just as he had for her, although it was hard to believe. Cameron wasn’t positive like him. Her outlook on life was bleak. She was damaged and jaded. How would someone like Justin see something so great in her?

Before she could try to verbally reciprocate his sentiments, he hit her with another question. One that caused her to chuckle. “Oh, man,” she mumbled before laughing at herself. “I don’t think my heart has the ability to feel fluttery. I had, uh, flings. Nothing substantial. After word got out about the attack, half the eligible candidates wouldn’t even look me at me.” She rolled her eyes, as if to convince both Justin and herself that it didn’t bother her. Her life in Chesapeake had made her cold and distant towards men in general, which made it so strange to be around the men of Omega, who seemed to have no ulterior motive for their kindness. Although suspicion of them was a natural thing to Cameron, she was slowly but surely letting her guard down. At least, with Justin.

Based on how spiritual Omega seemed to be, she was curious how they viewed things like relationships and intimacy. Her knowledge of what they believed in was very narrow, but until she learned, Cameron decided to keep how she viewed the whole dating and waiting-til-marriage thing to herself for now as to not upset him.

“How ‘bout you?” her raspy voice asked lightly. “Were there any Mrs. Plances on the horizon?” After the words came out, she realized that if he did have anyone, the likelihood that she was killed in one of the multiple attacks on Omega was high, and she scratched her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. Though, would Justin have really asked without expecting the same question in return?

Why was he asking anyway? Cameron assumed they had moved past the point of small talk. Was he asking for another reason?

The thought made her cheeks flush a bit, but her inner voice spoke up before her mind could ponder it any further. ”He’s just being nice, Cameron. Chill out.”

[freedomliveson]

He let out an almost cackle at the question, leaning his head against the concrete wall as the laughter subsided.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just..." He sighed gently, looking over at Cameron with a wide smile.
"Dating in the remnants of the apocalypse can be pretty difficult. To be honest, most settlements are concerned about breeding and having a 'good time' rather than actually, you know, have a meaningful relationship." Realizing that Cameron had just shared, in confidence, that she herself had a few "flings", he added:
"And no offense to you at all. I understand where you're coming from based on where you were at, but most people...they just want the physical." He pinched his arm for emphasis.
"Who can blame people, you know? This place is a hopeless wasteland for the most part. Get what you can when you can. I get it, but I don't condone it." He shifted a bit on the cot.
"That's what made...no, makes, Omega such a unique place to be. We were never forced to 'mate' with other settlements to boost our numbers, we never had women marching up to Ryken or any other of our male leaders as a harem...you know, just...we had good relationships." He chuckled.
"But I haven't answered your question. There was one that I was very serious about, Mileena. Funny, warm, personable...she got killed in a raid on her settlement. Whole lot of em got slaughtered by raiders. After that, I kinda slept around." He made eye contact with Cameron, a slight sadness evident in his gaze.
"I dunno, I guess I just felt empty. Mileena gave me so much to live for and then she was just ripped away, so I kinda went off the deep end for a bit. Actually got involved with a pretty unstable gang south of us." He paused, adding:
"It was a few years ago. I was only twenty when Mileena died and it took me six months of doing really, really stupid stuff for me to wake up. Ryken saw some potential in me, worked with me, alongside me and now I'm here in my underwear at the brink of possibly the biggest discovery for all of humanity...or the total collapse of civilization. I like the pressure." He gave her a half-hearted smile before laying on the cot. A few minutes of silence passed before he spoke again:
"Hey, so...so if we get up there and everything works great, right? Like, we come back and everyone's saved, Omega gets built back up, maybe we're an actual United States again, I dunno...what do you think you're gonna do?" He propped himself up on his elbows to get a better look at her.
"I think I'm going to start a watermelon patch. Just eat those suckers all day. No meat, no vegetables, just watermelon because I can." He snorted a chuckle, noting how the faint light from the lantern posted in the hallways made Cameron's eyes seem to glow with a supernatural hue. It was her hair that he noted first, but now...now her eyes were taking on the same mystical quality. Was it the adrenaline crash or did it seem that Cameron was...so...freaking...attra-

Stop!

[megatrash]

“I’m sorry about Mileena,” she whispered to him with a saddened look on her face. Cameron couldn’t imagine that pain, and she never wanted to, which was the main reason that she had always tried to never grow attachments to anyone. Not in a hostile world like this.

“Well,” she began, propping herself up a bit, “you may need a little more than watermelon.” She smirked before scratching her head mindlessly in thought. “I really don’t know. I never really planned on making it this far, as awful as that sounds.” The last part of her sentence she mumbled. “I wanna get back into training and fighting. The past few weeks have been fun and all, but fighting for your life takes some of the enjoyment out of the sport.”

She laid back down and bed a sighed faintly. “Maybe I’ll work on your watermelon farm. Or who knows, maybe after we save the world, we’ll be crowned the king and queen of the United States, or however it works. I never paid attention in history class.”

Cameron wiggled her body into a comfortable position and let her eyes begin to flutter shut. “I think it’s best we get some rest, huh?” she whispered. “Good night, Justin.”

*****

A nightmare caused Cameron to pop upright out of bed in full panic, panting for air until she looked around at her surroundings, slightly illuminated by a single candle still burning from the night before. Her head snapped over to Justin’s cot, and she could faintly see the outline of his body underneath a blanket.

After lying back down in bed silently for a few minutes, she made the decision to wake Justin up. The sooner they began their journey up to Portland, the better.

She sat at the edge of his cot, and as his back faced her, she placed a hand on his well-muscled arm and shook him gently. “Hey,” she whispered, “Justin. We should probably head out soon.”

Cameron lifted herself from his cot and marched back to her to prepare her things to go. Her fingers worked at the laces on her boots to tie them, and next, they were desperately trying to wrap her long hair up into the bun that had become an all too familiar hairstyle as of late.

“I’m ready when you are,” she whispered once again as her hands dug through her pack, sorting things in an order they made most sense and taking out unnecessary items that may just weigh her down if she brought them along.

Cameron wasn’t sure that she was 100% mentally prepared for whatever laid ahead of her and Justin, but in reality, she didn’t have a choice. They had to do what they could to secure possible salvation for human, even if that meant sacrificing themselves in the process. Knowing Justin would be coming along did provide a sense of security that was foreign to her, but she gladly took the comfort she got from him. He was easy on the eyes, too. That she couldn’t complain about.

”Stop it, Cameron. Save the world first.”

Another reminder from her inner-voice. It was right though. There were no time for such trivial thoughts right now.

[freedomliveson]

Justin had sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes with his hands before swinging his feet down onto the ground, shoulders slumped forward. His eyes closed again, allowing the exhaust to swallow him once more before he heard Cam tell him she was ready.

"Of course you are." He mumbled, eyes slowly opening, rising to his feet with a groan.
"I think..." He yawned widely before continuing:
"I think the past couple of days are just now getting to me. Sorry if I won't be much of a conversation partner today. I'm just...wiped. So. Wiped." He rubbed his eyes again, much harder. Another groan as he shuffled to the doorway, looking down to find two duffel bags. He knelt down, laughing to himself as he pulled out a fresh change of clothes.
"Bless their hearts..." He mumbled, slipping on a dark red t-shirt and loose fitting cargo pants with enough pockets to store half of the United States in. Other than a couple of outfits packed, there was dried food, a water filter, a canteen of water filled and two boxes of pistol ammunition each. Two modified pistols, one per bag, were also included.
"Like what they packed you?" Jes stood across the hallway, her impressive physique looming in the doorway opposite.
"Yeah...yeah, this'll do."
"It was just a few of them, the ones that lost family out there. They really appreciated what we did and wanted to send you both off the right way." Jes walked to within about a foot of Justin as he stood up, the squad commander eyeing him with an emotion that Justin couldn't necessarily identify.
"We don't have many of us left. Come back in one piece."
"No promises." Jes shook her head.
"You WILL come back in one piece. That's an order." She leaned forward slightly, looming for a moment before turning around, walking back into her room, a sigh echoing across the hall.

_________________________________________

It wasn't hard to trace their steps back up through the territory they had traversed earlier, making it back to the spot on the freeway where they had diverged into the clearing a few days ago. The body that had once been fresh had decomposed, sending out the stench of death from almost a quarter of a mile away. Once they cleared the body, Justin consulted the map they had originally used to reach this spot, grimacing a bit.
"We're going to have to go through Hartford. That was a major population center before this happened...I haven't had very positive experiences with places like that, but it's either that or go through savage territory again." He stepped forward a couple of paces and stopped, looking down the remnants of the freeway and blowing out a sigh.
"Take a look at this." There were rusting hunks of metal that served as obstacles on the road, but what Justin was more concerned about was the overturned tanker trailer a few hundred yards off.
"Those things are normally used to mark boundary lines. See the markings on the outside?" There were symbols barely visible painted in dark and crimson shades of red.
"Anything that large and immovable gets used as a marker by raiders or groups that don't want others crossing into their territory." He looked to Cam.
"Get your gun ready. I've got a feeling savages won't be the only group we'll be worrying about today."

[megatrash]

As they navigated through the heavily wooded terrain in silence, Cameron’s thoughts kept retuning to the conversation that her and Justin had the night before. While the story of Mileena and they pain that he had gone through was horrible, in a selfish way, her mind only fixated on the conversation regarding his beliefs and how he did not condone the actions that she had partaken in and chosen to tell him about. She knew his intention wasn’t to hurt her feelings, and she wasn’t quite sure if he had, but it did make her feel a bit self-conscious knowing that her only friend in the world probably looked down on her for the life style she chose to lead.

Cameron’s body broke out in goosebumps as they approached the familiar highway, and her small fingers pinched her nose as they approached the body that they had seen days prior. Memories of the savages and the prison they were captured in underground flooded her, and paranoia began to settle in, causing her eyes to dart around the area.

Justin’s voice broke the silence that had engulfed them for what felt like hours, and it both startled her and comforted her. She had been fighting the urges to find something to talk about, and instead, let the man’s mind relax for once. If what other people in her life had told her was true, then Cameron must have been exhausting to be around for long periods of time. And for a guy like Justin who had been through so much, she thought it was best to save him the energy of having to entertain her with conversation.

Although his voice was comforting, his words were not.

"Get your gun ready. I've got a feeling savages won't be the only group we'll be worrying about today."

Her hand subconsciously went behind her to the gun tucked into the back of her cargo pants, and she nodded as she took a deep breath. “That’s refreshing,” she mumbled as her eyes continued to scan the area around them. She adjusted the strap on her back and nodded to him. “I was getting sick of them.” Her tone was sarcastic, but lighthearted.

Cameron let Justin lead the way, making sure that she watched both of their backs as they pressed on towards Hartford. “Hey, if you need to, you know, rest or take a break, let me know. I don’t mind keeping watch.” Her voice was hushed as she spoke to his back.

As they plodded along, she could feel the pain in her stomach becoming sharper and sharper. “Hey,” she whispered as she lightly touched his back. “Two seconds.” After looking around, Cameron sat on a rock and lifted her shirt to examine the fresh bandage they had place around her torso this morning before they had left. Blood had orbed the wound, but it looked to be drying rather than fresh, which seemed like it could be a good sign. A few deep breaths later, Cameron grabbed Justin’s hand and helped herself up with it.

“Alright, I’m good,” she nearly whispered with a faint smile before nudging her head towards the direction they were headed.

Another half an hour of silence passed, and she found that she could no longer fight both her need for noise and curiosity. “So,” she began quietly, “Were your parents from Omega?”

[freedomliveson]

The breaks were a welcome break, seeing as Justin's legs were fatiguing at a much quicker rate than normal. He wasn't going to tell Cam that, of course...like she needed to worry about anything else. His silence, then, was more of a way for him to focus on his movements, ensuring that every step he took was purposeful and directed. He found that he needed the focus even more with the constant threat of being in unknown and hostile territory, a combination that he wasn't thrilled about taking on his weakened state. Justin didn't ACTUALLY know if the symbols painted on the tanker truck were indeed warning signs, but the faint coppery smell that wafted through his nostrils when they got closer was a good enough warning for him. He struggled with interpreting the jagged lines and circles with squares in them, but again, the smell of blood was a deterrent.

It took them a bit get past the trailer itself, seeing as the freeway led up to a bridge suspended by half rotten cables that swayed violently by the gentlest of breezes. Dodging under the bridge, they trudged through some ankle deep water before resurfacing on the other side and back into the forested area just off the freeway. He had mixed feelings about taking the paths off the main road, but it was either take a large risk by exposing themselves on the road or take cover in the jungle and pray vehemently that no one would hear them. Justin liked the odds of the latter.

Justin had pulled out the map and was examining it to ensure that they were on the right path when Cam asked him about his parents. He looked back at her with a chuckle, telling her:
"My parents? No, no. They were...wanderers. Nomads, in a sense. When I was kid, we rambled along the roads picking up whatever scrap we could sell to other settlements for food and supplies. They DID settle in Omega when I was about eight, so I suppose you could say that they were technically 'from' there, but they didn't start off there. Glad they settled in that area though...without Omega, I would've just been a vagabond without a cause." Another laugh as he consulted the map, looking to the road and noting the curve before motioning for Cam to follow him.
"Just need to get up this embankment and we'll be right outside Hartford...I hope." As they found their way back to the road, Justin asked:
"You ever feel like going to find your parents? Could always give it a chance. Never know what you'll find out here...besides, you're the exploratory type, aren't you?" He gave her a playful nudge as they emerged onto the road, the normal sight of rusted husks greeting them in greater numbers than normal.

[megatrash]

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.

[freedomliveson]

He shook his head at Cam's question, telling her:
"Only rumors, whispers from friendly camps and loners that brag about surviving the North and living to tell about it. I've heard about pre-event goods being bartered around commonly like coffee makers and fully automatic weapons left behind by the military. Then, I've also heard that people refused to work with each other and are more than likely to kill you than to try and help you out. Suppose we'll see when we arrive." He didn't like going in this unprepared, it bothered him, but what else was he supposed to do? Yet, just ahead, a familiar sight aided in filling in the gaps of knowledge they had about the area.

Another tanker trailer with the same symbols on it about two hundred yards off. Justin withdrew his pistol, approaching the trailer with caution. The same coppery scent wafted off of the trailer.
"Same marking, same material used to make them." He walked around the trailer and advanced a few more feet when downtown Hartford became visible.

Chaos was the first word that sprung to mind when examining the ruins from afar. The streets were littered with debris, chunks of building and other unidentifiable objects strewn about with no distinct pattern. In that chaos were a few clearings with what looked like...wagons? He couldn't tell from the distance, but as they closed in on the entrance to the city, his suspicion was confirmed. Wagons lay out in the afternoon sun, tarps covering whatever goods were on them, which meant that there must have been other humans around. Somewhere.

Glass crunched underneath their feet as they walked past derelict entrances to subway stations and rundown apartments that could have been the height of luxury in downtown. There was always a curiosity Justin held whenever passing through a major crossing such as this. What were these people thinking when the event happened? How did they react? Did they have families? What could hav-

"Stop." A calm voice floated down the avenue, Justin scanning for the source.
"We're not here to hurt anyone. Just need to pass through."
"Uh huh." From the alleyways crept a group of men and women garbed in sweeping black and blue colored tunics, their pistols trained on the duo. One of them, a blond haired man, spoke as he moved to face both Cam and Justin:
"Not the first to drift through here claiming to 'just be passing through'. Where are you headed?"
"Portland." A snort.
"Stupidest decision of your life."
"I'd beg to differ." The blond's eyes examined Justin before looking to Cam, his gaze fixed on her for a few moments before returning to Justin.
"You know what's up there, don't you?"
"I assume you'll tell me?" The man's safety clicked off as he retorted:
"The Harbingers are there. All of them."
"Harbingers?"
"You don't know, do you? From the South?"
"Yes." His pistol lowered slightly.
"Most don't know what the situation is like up here. Most want to rob, pillage."
"Like I said, just passing through." A few beat of silence, then the man spoke again:
"It's not safe to talk here. Come on. There's an outpost we have about half a mile up from here."
"Why the sudden change in tone?"
"Because I've got a feeling about you two. Come on. Keep up."

[megatrash]

Cameron resembled a deer in headlights as the exchange continued between the two men before her. When the blonde’s attention landed on her, she slowly scooted behind Justin without thought as a form of protection. Although she was a bit embarrassed to be so skittish, it was better than being naïve and vulnerable with the new group of people before them.

When the man asked them to follow, her flight-or-fight instinct was triggered, but she had to ignore it; they either needed to cooperate or they’d be killed. Cameron remained behind Justin in silence as they were led to the outpost, keeping her eyes trained on the mysterious characters in front of them. What type of ‘feeling’ would he have about them that would change his tone so quickly? She was growing more suspicious with every step she took, but she made a conscious effort to appear confident.

The outpost looked to be almost a mile from the heart of the city, a small concrete, building surrounded by rubble. The structure itself didn’t look much better than the ruins around it, but it seemed to serve its purpose – a sun-bleached gray sheet hung over the doorway, and a rusty folding chair sat to the right of it. Cameron assumed it was for whoever was on watch, which was proven true when a man who had been at the front of the group sat, gun in hand, when the blonde man signaled them to stop.

“Search them,” he spoke quietly, and two guards began to pat the pair down.

“Watch it,” Cameron nearly growled as one of the guards patted her back down to her waist. The guard grabbed the small gun tucked in the waist of her jeans and tossed it to another man.

The man smiled at Cameron’s resistance. “You’ll get your weapons back. It’s just a precaution.”

Once the guards were satisfied, he nodded and waved a hand, telling them to enter the structure behind him. Cameron’s eyes flashed to Justin’s momentarily, attempting to read how he felt about the situation, but it was futile.

The room was dimly lit by a few candle lanterns hanging in the corners. The walls were covered with large, hand-drawn maps, detailing the land all the way from the east coast all the way to middle-America, areas that Cameron had never even heard stories of before. She knew, logically, that there had to be more than what those at Chesapeake taught her, but actually seeing it on paper in front of her was blowing her mind. Had they traveled this far and lived to tell the tale?

“My name is Connor,” his voice seemed to boom in the small room. “We’re a brigade of Hartford’s military.”

“Military?” Cameron mumbled under her breath.

His eyes snapped to her. “Yes. Of sorts. A group of gun-wielding assholes with a collective goal.”

She couldn't help but chuckle.

He began to pace the small space in front of him. “So. You want to tell us why you’re heading to Portland? I mean, I have my suspicions, but I’d rather hear it from you.” Connor turned on his heels and faced his body to Justin.

[freedomliveson]

"As long as you tell us how you got fairly detailed maps of the middle of the country. No one has been there, you know that, right? I mean, no one that I know of. All I've been able to fi-"
"Right, yes, yes, middle of the country got hit the worst, we can get to that." Connor retorted, pointing at the both of them with index and middle fingers, respectively.
"Don't forget, we're the ones that let you stay. Right now we're very suspicious of anyone that isn't working for us. And when I mean suspicious, I mean we normally shoot on sight. Consider us letting you in here a gesture of good faith." Justin wanted to offer some kind of rebuttal, but opted against it. The scout decided he would try to stay in the good graces of a potentially valuable source of intelligence.
"Sorry. We're headed to Portland...well, for reasons that might seem like fictional, but just hear us out."

Justin regaled Connor with the events of the past few days, attempting to include every relevant detail he could think of, which included having Cam chime in to fill in the gaps. He finally ended by telling Connor:
"Avery and her people are going to need that liquid so that they can attempt to build up their settlement, attract all these wandering clans and nomads together and maybe, just maybe, we can build something great." Connor chortled, shaking his head.
"You don't have a friggin clue, do you?" He looked to Cam.
"No, you don't either. Alright, brief history lesson." He walked to the map, pointing at some of the longer lines with arrows at the tips, said lines snaking their way from the area labeled "New York metroplex" to "Portland coast".
"See these? They're supply lines we've been tracking for close to six months now. Had to intercept the lines at various points to figure out what was being transported, but when we did..." He barked out an order to bring in "some of the cargo", a young lady who looked no older than 17 walking into the room, rifle slung over her back. In her hands were two grapefruits the size of softballs. He took them both from her, the woman exiting as he held them up.
"Fruit. Vegetables. Grains. Water. All the stuff that we got told was gone cause of some crazy disease that infected our soil, our water? It's allll here, just not being handed out cause the supplier has an agenda." He placed the fruit on the table before pointing at the coast:
"When we got the drop on the first supply caravan, there were three of them, armed with just pistols. Got one of them to talk briefly, told us that they were contracted by a group called The Harbingers, said they were in Maine before he suddenly grabbed one of our guy's pistols and shot himself in the temple." He circled the Portland Coast with his finger.
"Security on the lines got tighter. Bigger guard presence, heavier weapons, made it almost impossible to take head on. Sent a few of our guys up the coast to scout out, came back with some goods and talk of a walled off complex, thick barriers, guard dogs, patrols, the works. Also said there were settlements south of there that were just...exploding with life. We got excited, made our way up, armed to the teeth, wanting to reason with them, ask them how they were doing this. We got to the first settlement and were greeted with a wall of armed guards, one of them in a steel suit of armor that I've never seen before. High tech stuff for this day and age. Told us that the Harbingers wouldn't have us disrupting their plans any longer, told us that the rest of the nation would 'have it's chance' when it was ready and then tried to shove us off. No dice. We fought hard, but too many casualties, so we fell back." He spit on the ground, slamming his fist against the wall.
"To know that they got everything we need and wouldn't do anything for us, that they were going to decide for the rest of the people out here that are suffering made my blood boil." He approached the table, hands resting on the surface.
"Tried to branch out to the middle of the country. Scouts still out there, some came back, most still there trying to see what's left. Right now, though...right now we want the Harbingers dead."

[megatrash]

As Connor spoke, Cameron’s mind couldn’t help but link the information he was giving them to the settlement that was opening their doors to Omega’s remaining survivors. The logic behind it all, though, she was unable to really put together. Why would Avery and her people choose them, but not Hartford? They seemed like such wholesome people – would they really deny the rest of the world food when they showed such compassion towards her and Justin?

When he finished his explanation, she straightened her posture and took a step forward. “I understand your frustration with the, uh, Harbingers, but us,” she signaled to Justin and herself, “and the rest of our people are in no position to assist in battle. They’ve been through enough.” She scratched at her head in thought. “I’m barely able to travel as it is,” she explained as she lifted up her shirt enough to show the bandage wrapped around her torso.

If her injury wasn’t enough to conjure any sympathy from Connor, Cameron decided to play up her exhaustion from the trip so far, and she spoke in a pathetic, feminine voice. “It’s a lot of information to take in. Do you mind if I have a word with him?” She pointed to Justin.

Connor’s eyes narrowed as he paused for a moment, but he eventually nodded and waved at his men to exit the room. Cameron forced a thankful smile until the two were alone, and it drooped back to a concerned expression.

“Justin,” she whispered as she positioned herself to directly face him, “I think they’re talking about Avery’s group. The food, the machinery…” Cameron’s head swiveled around to make sure no one was listening. “We can’t let them know that’s where we’re heading. They’ll definitely kill us if they don’t decide to already.”

She used her forearm to wipe the sweat off of her forehead as she began to pace the room. “And, we gotta figure out why Avery chose us and not all of them. It could be for much worse reasons than we thought.”

Cameron didn’t enjoy being so paranoid, but at this point in her life, she had learned it served her more than being naïve and trusting those she met. Now, they’d have to figure out a way to leave Hartford whole, without an army behind them.

“I think you should handle the diplomatic shit with them. You’ve got a poker face like I’ve never seen.” Cameron couldn’t help but flash a faint smile as she said it. “Feel free to tell me if I sound crazy, but I think there are too many coincidences to ignore them.”