At Long Last
The remaining survivors had stood outside the unlocked fence of the horrific place
which had been fittingly known as Terminus, and watched it burn. They only watched for a few moments, before setting out to find some kind of shelter for the night. They had chosen to burn the place, even though it was so perfectly set up for survival, because they couldn't bear to live in a place full of the ghosts of such horrific acts. At first, they considered it fleetingly, but unanimously, they chose the opposite.
The following day, as they broke their fast with 2 rabbits, 3 squirrels, and a mockingbird, barely 3 mouthfuls per body, the haggard archer was alerted to footfalls in the trees behind him. In a breath, he was on his feet and aiming his heavy bow in the direction of the intruders. He could tell there were two.
Then he saw them. First the man, the mountain of a man, with a worn out expression and a fat, beautiful baby strapped to his chest. Then, from behind him, her. The most beautiful thing he had seen in such a long time. The one face he had longed for since the trip to the veterinary college, what felt like years ago, but had only been a month, maybe two.
As the two tired souls stepped into the clearing and saw the remaining members of their chosen family, all waiting with frightened, smoke smudged faces, the woman and the archer dropped their burdens, forgot there even were other people in the vicinity, and slowly drifted together.
It was like their feet were too heavy to run, though they wanted to. The moment they locked eyes, they both started sobbing audibly, and as they came within arms reach of one another, they began to reach out. The woman tilted her head up to his face, at the same time he tipped his down. Their bodies crashed into each other like two storm blown waves on an ocean. She crushed her face into his chest, and he buried his in her neck. Their arms weakly curved toward the other, both grasping their companion's clothing as if they thought the wind might blow them apart again. There they stood, weeping and holding each other, wordlessly pouring all of their losses and failures and tragedies into each other. They were so lost in their reunion, they didn't notice their ragged leader and his boy crying out and tackling the big man with the baby. They didn't hear them shout with joy nor see the tears soaking their grinning faces as they hugged the little one they thought was forever lost to them, and was returned.
All they knew for a long time was the touch and the scent and the tears, and the love of each other. Two halves of one soul had finally been brought back together.