The forest was a blur around Jenna as she sprinted through the shrubbery and dodged trees. She could hear her feet thudding against the ground accompanied by her brother's footsteps. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the stranger's group would realize that he hadn't returned from his scavenging trip and that no excuse they gave them would matter once they found him dead. James, her older brother, had never even swatted a fly in their life before shit hit the fan, and now his knuckles were bloody and raw from beating a man to death. Once they were sure they had put enough distance between them and their old camp, they stopped for a moment to take a drink from their last water bottle.
"Just let me look at it, Jimmy" she panted when she saw him look down at his trembling hand. He just shook his head and wrapped the hand in a dirty t-shirt.
"We ain't got much sun left. If we don' wanna be vulnerable, we gotta find one of them old barns." His eyes wandered over the thick forest and he let out a sigh. Jenna had been interested in photography ever since she could remember and their mother had always bothered her to go out to the country and take photos of the old barns. She tightened her grip on the camera bag she never let out of her sight as she took a look at their surroundings as well.
"I know where we are" she mumbled jerking her head to her right, "There's an old barn maybe twenty minutes from here. Momma dragged me out here a couple years ago…"
She trailed off when she saw the look on James's face at the mention of their mother. He pushed past her angrily and started cutting down the shrubbery that was in his way with his machete. The whole way to the barn, Jenna was beating herself up for mentioning their mother to James; she knew it upset him. Nearly a year had passed since they last saw their mother and it wasn't a pretty picture to remember. James never got over what they saw in Atlanta and any mention of the woman they had failed to save made him uncomfortable. Luckily for her, she had overestimated how far the barn was. After making sure the small building was free of roamers, they moved to the loft and made beds from the old straw left there by the previous owners. James had moved to the small window in the loft and stared out to the now dark night sky seemingly deep in thought when Jenna decided to address his detachment to their dead mother.
"We can't just act like she never existed" she mumbled making James turn to face her, "She may be dead, but we can't let her memory die, too."
"Shut up" was all he replied. Jenna bit her lip nervously as she stood to her feet not taking her eyes off of his.
"I can't be walkin' on eggshells around you anymore, Jim." She continued, "If I wanna talk about her, I'm gonna do it. She was our mother—"
She was cut off when James slapped her hard across the face.
"I said shut up."
Her cheek was hot and she could feel tears welling up making her eyes sore. Just as she was about to reply, a loud gunshot rang in the air around them. Frozen with fear, Jenna stared out of the small window half expecting someone to crawl through it. James seemed to worry the same thing; she saw him tighten his grip on the machete.
"How far off do you think they are?" Jenna whispered not daring to pull her gaze away from the direction of the gunfire. James shrugged.
"Hard to tell. It was only one shot, so it was probably someone takin' out a roamer." He sighed and went to lie in his makeshift bed. Though her cheek was still hot and her mind still focused on the people who fired the gun, Jenna followed his lead and went to bed though she would spend most of the night awake and frightened of every noise made outside.
When morning came, Jenna let out a sigh of relief; she had survived another night. But, how many more would there be? How much longer could she just barely get by? The world had changed and the people had changed with it, even James. With these thoughts clouding her mind, she casted a nervous glance at her still slumbering brother and sat up slowly. The mystery of the lone gunshot was still nagging in the back of her mind. It must have been this that made her absent-mindedly wander into the forest surrounding the musty barn they had holed up in. Just as she reached the point of hearing what she believed to be voices arguing, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she turned quickly only to see James glowering down at her.
"It ain't smart to be out here by yourself" he grumbled, "I shouldn't have to keep an eye on you—"
"Who the hell're you?" a gruff voice interrupted and Jenna turned to see a crossbow aimed right in her face.
