Rowan heard a tiny cry from inside the truck, and that drew his thoughts on to the oldest person in their troupe – Zoe. Stories like Zoe's were the reason that it was so easy to hate this world that they all lived in. After being homeless and without any family since five years old, she had just given birth to a son, and yet she only had two weeks – two far too short weeks – at most to enjoy him before she started towards death's doorstep.
As his thoughts started drifting towards Frankie and what he had been asked where the little infant was concerned, Rowan reined them in and sent them in a direction that was at least a little easier. Cambria. She was easy to talk to, to be around… and to look at. She seemed to be the sort of girl that would easily become your best friend if you let her. She had the capable maturity that came with her years, and yet she still managed to retain a bright personality, a sort of shred of the sunshine that encased Lei. Rowan couldn't help but be attracted to that personality in someone of his own age, and yet it was a little off-putting too, since it was so rare. Despite her honey-colored eyes and caramel hair cropped at her chin, she reminded him if his sister in a way – in her emotional connection to life that Rowan had come to consider so dangerous.
And then there was Ella. Rowan pushed a breath of air out of his lungs, resting his forehead in his hands as he considered Ava's frank question from earlier in the day.
You like my sister a lot, don't you?
Truthfully, Ella was a very beautiful girl, and, yes, he was attracted to her on a physical level. Yes, they connected mentally right now because of their shared single-minded determination to find their respective sisters, but was there anything beyond that, underneath the surface, perhaps? He didn't know, and he didn't think that he had known her long enough to be able to tell.
Suddenly he was ripped out of his reflections by the noise of a truck door clicking open. He jumped, nearly flying to his feet before he registered that it was just Lei climbing out of the vehicle. She shut the door as softly as she could before creeping towards him.
She paused a few feet away from him and her small voice floated across the fire murmuring, "Rowan?"
"Yeah?" He asked softly, relaxing once again. "Aren't you supposed to sleeping?"
She took a few more steps towards him, and he noticed the tears swimming in her black eyes as she confessed, "I keep seeing the faces of those two dead girls in the gatherers' truck. They were in my dreams and I woke myself up to get away. I don't want to go back to sleep."
Rowan sighed to himself. He knew all too well what she meant. "Do you want to sit with me for a little while?" he offered, getting an inkling that was what she had come to him for.
Lei nodded and swiped at her eyes before rounding the fire and sitting down beside him. She shivered and he – acting almost on instincts – opened the thin folds of his jacket to her. She snuggled close, leaning her head over on his shoulder. It hadn't really hit him until now just how small and defenseless she was, young in ways that truly had nothing to do with her age.
They just sat there together as an hour passed, both staring comfortably into the fire until he heard her breathing grow deeper and even as she drifted back off to sleep.
Once midnight came, he didn't want to chance waking Lei up by moving to go get Ella for her shift keeping watch, so he forced himself to stay awake and do the job himself. Twenty minutes later, though, Ella woke up on her own and jumped down from the truck bed.
She gave sleeping Lei a second glance as she approached the fire and asked, "It's my turn to keep watch, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm not going to move and wake Lei up; you can go back to sleep if you want."
"Do you think you could fall asleep where you are?"
"I think I could fall asleep at the bottom of the ocean right now if I had to."
Ella smiled as she settled down onto the ground across from him. "I hear if you stay down there long enough you start to sleep really well."
"Mm, haven't tried it; don't ever expect to."
"Please don't; I have a feeling that we'd all be a little lost here without you."
"Nah," Rowan shook his head. "You could handle running the show."
Ella sighed. "Funny you think so, because it feels like I'm floundering. Jenna was always the one who took charge, being the brave one since she's the oldest."
"Everyone of you girls from that truck are brave in your own way simply for the fact that you haven't let the experience hurt you to any extreme." His arm shifted around Lei as he added, "If nightmares are the worst thing that comes of this experience, then that's saying something."
Ella smiled shakily, "Thanks."
"It's true," he said, smiling lightly back at her.
"You better go to sleep before you get tired enough to say something truly sentimental, Rowan."
He chuckled, but obligingly lay down on the grass, careful to shift Lei as little as possible as he situated himself beside her, still holding her close.
He heard Ella whisper good night to him as his eyes instantly became heavy and drifted closed.
Three hours later, his eyes fluttered open when a cool hand traced its way down his arm.
"Rowan, wake up; it's your turn again."
Ella's voice dragged him out of his fitful sleep and he went to sit up before realizing the Lei had his arm trapped under her ribcage. He smiled with sleepy, something like paternal affection at the little girl and carefully disentangled himself from her. Feeling the coolness from the lack of her body heat, Rowan shrugged off his jacket and laid it across Lei, knowing that the same chill would hit her otherwise.
"Are you going to be okay here?" Ella asked, smiling gently at the way he had just handled Lei.
Rowan nodded, blinking away the last bit of sleep-induced blurriness out of his eyes. "Yeah, sure. You go on back to Ava."
"Thanks, Rowan," Ella said.
She surprised him, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek before she went back to her sister's side.
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