Missel Kid is tired and still crying, but we need to get moving so I just carry her on my back. She wraps her arms around me and rests her head on my shoulder, her tears slowly dripping onto my leather jacket. It's starting to get dark, and cold, so we decide to stop for the night. I tell Missel to go collect some sticks for a fire. She's calmed down a bit by now, so she goes. I put some rocks into a circle formation and dig a shallow hole in the middle of them, a makeshift fire pit.
Missel comes back in a few minutes, with an armful of sticks. I take them from her and place them into the pit, all but two, which I use to strike the fire. It ignites after about a minute of trying, and Missel and I sit close by it to keep warm. I don't have much food, seeing as the guys were carrying most of it, so I give some ti Missel and I go without. I save the rest for later. We're going to be out here for a few days, or so I anticipate.
A while later, the fire dies down. Missel is already asleep on my lap, and my eyelids are beginning to feel heavy. I lay on the hard dirt ground, being careful not to disturb Missel, and fall asleep.
I wake up just before sunrise. Missel is still sleeping; she looks so peaceful. It pains me to wake her, but I have to. We need to move. We restart our journey. I don't know where we are exactly, but I know what direction Zone 5 is in so I lead us that way. As we walk, we start to formulate an escape plan to break the Killjoys out of prison.
After a few hours of just walking, the sun is high in the sky and starting to set. We still have a while, though, so we keep going. We haven't seen any Dracs all day. We cross into Zone 5 around twilight, and try to get as far away from the border as possible because it's swarming with Dracs. It's dark by the time we get far enough away to start a fire. We repeat the same routine as yesterday: Missel collecting sticks, me creating a fire pit. Once the fire is lit, I give Missel some food. "Don't you want to eat, Mayday?" she asks.
"No, I'm fine, don't worry about me. We need to save what we have left.," I reply, though I am hungry. She still looks concerned but doesn't argue further. I fall asleep before she does.
I wake up around what I think is 1 or 2 in the morning. It's pitch black and the fire is out, but smoke is still rising from the ashes. Missel Kid is asleep next to me with one arm around me. I smile and go back to sleep.
When I awake, I am aware that I've had a dream but I can't remember it. Again, it's before sunrise and I am forced to wake up Missel so we can continue our voyage. I'm sure we'll be in Zone 6 by the end of the day. We walk for what seems like forever, still not seeing any Dracs until we reach the border. Zone 6 is Drac central, so we are especially careful when crossing over. We won't be able to have a fire tonight, because the chances of getting caught are more than double. My head begins to hurt some time after crossing into Zone 6. We stop a little early, because I feel like I can't go on any further. Missel can see that something is wrong, no matter how well I think I'm hiding it. She asks about it. I tell her I'm fine, but my head just hurts a little. Huge understatement. "It's from not eating," she concludes. It probably is, but I won't admit it to her. Instead, I tell her not to worry and I give her some food. "Mayday, please," she says as she hands it back to me, "You need this more than I do." I am about to protest when I feel a sudden rush of dizziness. It overtakes me and I black out, falling to the ground.