I trudge along the dirt road, I knew it was dangerous to stay on the path, but yet I continued on. Each foot in front of the other, each step followed another. I wiped sweat from my forehead untying my bandana from my wrist and tying my hair back. I felt the dust in my thick hair, I needed to find a river to wash it soon. The hot sun hammered down on me but I continued on.

A broken down gas station came into view on the right of the path, the old oil pumps long demolished. I raised my hunting knife, it was an older type from the civil war - at least that's what my dad used to tell me. The leather bound handle gave a nice feeling in my hand and didn't slip when I was sweaty. I approached the gas station slowly, passing a cracked tyre destroyed by years of sun. The glass door of the station was broken, glass splintered everywhere and I got reminded for the hundredth time why mom gave me these old work boots. I stepped slowly into the trashed convenience store. I saw what I expected, knocked down shelves and moulding milk in the fridge that probably hadn't work since the electricity shut off. I checked under a few boxes of cereal that wouldn't be edible anymore, and found what I hoped for. Cans. Cans of beans and chilli, I wondered how I got so lucky. I slipped my rucksack off my back and shoved the two cans in. Adding to the weight of my bag significantly but at least it was food. I swung the bag back onto my bag before rummaging through the cabinets and leaving with nothing else.

I left the old station and back into the insufferable heat and I continued walking on. Kicking up dirt and stones from the split asphalt. A pop sound from behind me made me quickly whip around, then a sound I hadn't heard in a really long time I almost didn't believe my ears. I wasn't mistaken though coming over the horizon was a running man trailed by a dog, it was a dog bark I heard. The surprise at seeing what appeared to be another human kept me frozen in my stance, my hand still gripping my knife. His shouts broke me from my rigid stance.

"Run!" Then I saw the couple of mods that were chasing him and the dog, so I did as he said and I ran, I took a sharp left into the trees. The mods weren't smart all we had to do was get out of sight and they would forget about us, We needed to find somewhere to hide. It wasn't long before the man caught up the me his dog on his otherside. His laboured breath told me he had been running for awhile, I saw the large pile of stones up ahead.

"Hide behind the rocks," The mods were far enough behind, so we quickened our pase and threw ourselves behind the boulders, not 4 seconds later the mods ran right passed us and down the hills. The man and I caught our breaths, coughing up the dust I kicked up. His dog took a final look around before lying flat on the grass, him too exhausted. The man shifted, sticking his gun in his holster and I put my knife away as well. The adrenaline finally wore out, and I took a good look at the man next to me. He was a lot younger than I first assumed, his growing stubble made him look older from afar but he looked early twenties at most. His light brown hair was a mess, but I'm sure so was mine, I don't even remember the last time I looked in a mirror. His body was lean but whose wouldn't be with limited food and constant running, if you were fit you were already dead. His dark eyes glanced back at me once his breaths slowed.

"What are you staring out?" He growled out, his eyes narrowed.

"I," I paused - not having heard my own voice in awhile. "I have't seen a person in awhile," His eyes softened, the angry look gone after I spoke. Just then I was reminded of the dog who had made his way over to me sniffing me over. I went to lift my hand to pet him but he skidded away from him.

"She was skittish before the fallout now, she'e just wary," He warned me, her coat was a mixed of everything, not any breed I assumed.

"Where'd you happen across the mods?" I finally asked him, as he went to stand up, offering his hand to me, I took it and he pulled me up. He towered over me but I was pretty short. Mod was short for Modifications which was the nickname from the radiation charged humans. Other their pale, rotting skin they still resembled people but it wasn't hard to tell the difference. The closer you got to where the blast originated the more mods you would find, people who never got to enter the bunkers to save themselves and were far too close to the blast to survive without one.

" ," He then paused, thinking. "What is left of is just a mile east of here, I was looking through the suburbs,"

"What were you doing there?" I asked, his face dropped and I knew I shouldn't have asked.

"Looking for a friend," He said simply, we both stood there. I wasn't rushing to leave, I hadn't seen another person in months and I needed the company before I went insane.

"I'm heading in the direction of Chicago, where the government sanctuary is rumoured to be," His eyes narrowed.

"You believe that wives tale?"

"I'm also looking for a friend," I growled to him, his face dropped as well and my anger calmed. "I think everyone has heard the tale, I reckon whoever you're looking for will be heading that direction too," He whistled quickly and the dog rose and trotted to his side.

"I think if we are going to be travelling together we should get to know one other," He spoke, I smiled at him and we began to trudged on back north, towards Chicago. "You can call me Four," I looked over at him and he smiled. "Yes like the number. Her name is Polly," As I turned to look at the dog I was surprised I ever mistook her for a male, even her walk was feminine as she followed us along.

"My name is Tris," I said simply not really knowing what introduction included now a days.

"You said you've been alone for awhile now, how long?" I thought about the question for awhile, our feet crunching the leaves filled the silence.

"Nearly a month now. I left one of the settlements near Memphis," I told Four, I thought about how much my life changed over the last year. "What about you?"

"Right after the attack my friend and I moved away from the suburbs of New York to a small town. We managed to keep that town alive until four months ago," His voice trailed off.

"Is that who you are looking for? Your friends?" I asked, his cast down and he stayed silent. I left he subject alone. We continued walking, not long the terrain changed and as we looked around I saw the bodies of abandoned planes in the distance. "Must be one of the old airports?"

"We need to be careful, I mean there shouldn't be too many mods since we left behind us but still we should be careful," I told him, he just nodded in agreement. We kept walking in silence, the land scape constantly changing, we had to enter a few more urban areas but nothing too dense that we couldn't see around us. Plus Four promised me the dog would bark had she heard anything but I hadn't heard a peep from her since the mods in the forest. Finally we entered a more wooded area. "We should stop for the night here while there is still cover," Four dropped his bag in the flattest area we found. He kept his gun on him still.

"I'll check around, you stay here," He told me, I pulled a few logs to make low bench or somewhere to rest our backs, I threw a few twigs together and some leaves together, grabbing one of the many lighters I had from my rucksack. People never told you this but the first thing people grab when the world is ending is not lighters for a cigarette but that helped me. I never ran out of lighters because every station and store still had some even after an entire year. I lit a small fire leaning in to warm myself, as the sun dropped below the horizon the temperature dramatically dropped. I grabbed my sweater from my bag, pulling it over my dirty hair. I knew we were near the river and we would have to cross it anyway. My crumpled map was stuffed in the bottom of my bag, I only needed to check it at night it wasn't that hard to stay on track as long as I kept heading roughly north. Soon Polly joined me back at the fire as she curled up near the heat and Four wasn't far behind her.

"I killed two squirrels, looks safe enough to eat," He announced as he came to sit down on my makeshift logs. I check it over before grabbing my knife and skinning it quickly, I set a log across the fire and hung the meat over the log, it saved me using up my canned food. "Since we are all comfortable," He said looking over at Polly smiling. "Tell me your whole story," I looked at him curiously, his lips curled upwards. "Age? Family? Hometown? Come on don't be shy," He smiled at me, I just rolled my eyes.

"I guess I'd be 18 now. I grew up in Miami and that's where we were when the attacks happened, friends had a small bunker that kept us safe for the most part of the attacks. We stayed at our house for nearly 6 months after before we began having to really look for food. We moved to a large settlement West of Orlando and we were there for a good 3 months before the entire settlement moved as well. I think we were near Ocala for another couple months. That was before the govers came in, they took most of the adults to train them to manage this 'new society' or whatever they promised. I've been looked for my parents and brother ever since making my way up from Florida trying to avoid any major urban areas. I did see a few settlements and I've stopped a few times the last time was in Memphis for a few weeks but other than that I've been constantly on the move. The govers said they took them to Chicago to the sanctuary there but I don't know if that is even true," I told him, he didn't say much, just poked at the meat to see if it was ready to eat. He ripped a piece off and tasted it. He tossed a piece to Polly and she gobbled it right up. I took a piece and started chewing it, savouring the flavour. "What about you? I know you said you ran that town but what else?"

"Since I asked, I'd be 20 soon. I left my father behind in New York but yeah I kept that town going with my friends, it was mostly families and we had a lot of canned food but my friends and I learned how to be hunters. There was only 24 of us in this settlement but it was a lot of organisation. We got broken up by raiders, we didn't have enough weapons to fend them off. The raiders were insane I think the radiation got to their brain, they took a few of the kids so my friends went off to try and get back the kids and never came back. I waited for them with the families for weeks before the families gave up and went their separate ways. I've been looking for them every since, stopping at each settlement I've come across and they kept say the raiders always head north creating havoc," Four's voice was somber and I knew my situation was bad but so was his, so was everyones. Everyone has lost someone at this point. We'd finished the meat, throwing another piece to the dog and she seemed content.

"We should get some rest," I said finally and Four just nodded. I pulled my sleeping bag that I took from the Memphis camp, it was far warmer than my last one. It was the end of the world but I did have more than one set of clothes. Well I had two, day clothes and night clothes. I stood up quickly changing my shirt, and pulling off my bra. I did wash the clothes a few days ago, I was running really low on supplies I really needed to stop at a settlement soon for soap and new clothes. I turned to see Four staring at my back, my face went red. "Sorry I'm not used to having a guy around," I said, the blood rushing into my face.

"Sorry I shouldn't stare," He said and he went to pull off his shirt, exposed his defined stomach and large tattoos which I didn't noticed peeked out of his shirt, the long black flames covered his back but I couldn't see anymore as he laid down. I was the one staring now, the dog broke my gaze as she made her way over to where Four had his sleeping back and he threw a blanket out for her, pulling it over her. I lied down pulling myself into my sleeping, my eyes searching the tree above as sleep took over my tired bones and for once in a long time I didn't feel alone.

―――――――――――――――――-

I awoke to rustling and I quickly grabbed my knife and shot up from my sleeping bag, I then saw the back of Four and realised it was just him relighting the fire. The morning air was cold with the sun just rising and luckily still had my jacket on. The smaller branches rocked in the morning breeze.

"Morning," Four spoke without even turning and I just yawned in return. I walked a few meters away to change back into my day clothes that were really beginning to stink. I had a small bottle of soap still left but I also collected the leaves that you are able to make soap from. Four seemed to have hunted a small pigeon and was cooking it on the fire. The general rule out here was if it wasn't covered in rotting flesh or losing hair or feathers it was probably safe to eat. Everything touched by the radiation showed signs of it, much like the Mods. "We need to start moving soon, so eat up," He told me, I walked over to join him by the fire grabbing a few pieces of meat. It wasn't a lot of food but you got used to starving so this was better than nothing.

We both began packing up our few belongings, stamping out the fire and continuing on northwards towards our destination. The dog trailed behind us, searching the woods for anything dangerous. It was almost strange not being paranoid the entire time, with Four and Polly I could relax more and it was calming.

The same routine continued for days and we were sure we were making good progress but honestly it was hard to tell. We were sure we were approaching near Springfield and we had to head East to avoid the more urban areas. We were walking along prairies before we happened along a farm, we ducked under the wooden fence and across the corn fields. The corn towered over us, their leaves sharp against my arm. Just then we heard the bark and growl of Polly. Just as I turned and I looked in front of me and Four was gone. "Tris!" His voiced echoed far in front of me and I took off running. The barking continued, her growls loud but without sight I couldn't see how far she was. All I could hear was the corn rustling and I couldn't tell if that was me or someone else. The barking was still in front of me, and suddenly I tripped out of the corn and landing on the mud of the ground. I looked up to see three people staring down at me. Two were men and did not look friendly, their eyes were narrowed down towards me. The woman's eyes were soft but her stance said otherwise. Just then Four jumped out of the crops behind me, Polly still growling behind him, his gun was raised and quickly the two men raised their shotguns.