"So what now?" Emily repeated her question as she sat on the grass, waiting for the blonde girl handcuffed to her to answer. It was fully light outside and Naomi was scanning the woods for any sign of people approaching. She was confident they were far enough from any roads to avoid being found by the people Emily had been with. She got to her feet, tugging Emily's arm up with her.
"We go back to the tent, get some sleep and start heading along the river this afternoon. Thomas will probably only just be telling the others now. We're far enough away from any paths that they shouldn't find us."

"I'm not going back to Henham!" Emily yanked her arm back down, pulling Naomi and knocking her off balance. She fell to her knees on the grass and fought the urge to pull her own back to return the favour to the smaller girl.
"I'm not taking you to Henham!" She snapped as she got back to her feet and made sure they were firmly planted on the ground in case Emily tried to pull her over again. "Look, I'm tired and I'm cranky. Can we just go back to the tent and argue about where we're going after we get some sleep?" The hike through the woods had left the blonde drained and she'd only managed a short nap before Emily's bid for freedom had woken her up.

Emily reluctantly gave in, but handcuffed to the blonde and exhausted herself she didn't have much choice. The pair of them managed to trudge back to the tent, though it took some getting used to as Naomi's long strides were hard for Emily's shorter legs to keep up with. Once they were back in the tent Naomi zipped the door shut behind them and turned her attention to the sleeping bags. "If we zip the two of them together to make one big sleeping bag then it'll be easier to sleep with the cuffs on." It would stop them from having to hang their arms out of their sleeping bags. Emily agreed and after a bit of careful manoeuvring they managed to zip the two together and climb inside. Naomi collapsed on her back, utterly drained and ready for sleep. As she closed her eyes she felt her arm being tugged as Emily moved as far across in the sleeping bag as she could. Suddenly there was a weight on her chest and Naomi's eyes sprang open again as Emily straddled her. Once again Naomi was staring down the barrel of a gun. Emily had retrieved the discarded pistol from the corner of the tent.

"What the fuck do you intend to do with that? Shoot me and drag my corpse all the way back to your camp?" The blonde twisted her face as she stared the younger woman down. Emily let out a disgruntled sigh as she tossed the pistol back in to the corner of the tent. She didn't make any moves to roll back off Naomi though and the blonde started to feel an uncomfortable pressure building between her legs. It had been a long time since an attractive girl had been straddling her.
"You said Thomas wouldn't have told them yet, not that you didn't think he would have woken up yet." Her husky voice held more than a hint of accusation. Emily was quick, she didn't miss a thing. She was already suspicious of Naomi so she decided honesty was the best policy.

"Thomas is a friend of mine." She admitted and Emily shifted so she was sitting more comfortably, though she still didn't attempt to move from Naomi's hips so the blonde propped herself up on her elbows. "We met in college, before the outbreak. He was with us in Bristol-"
"So why didn't he know Katie? If she's really with you- not that I'm saying I believe you."
"He left about a month after the outbreak. He went to find his family. We only met Katie a few months ago…" She trailed off, not wanting to tell Emily how she had met her twin. She didn't need to know what her sister had been through. "You don't have to believe me Emily, but you're stuck with me; and I am going back home, to my family, whether I have to drag you kicking and screaming or not!"

She glared up at the youngest twin and recognised the determined set of her jaw. Katie often had the same look when she was trying to hold her ground, unlike her older twin though Emily knew when to back down and she rolled off Naomi and on to her side. Naomi let out a sigh, glad she wouldn't have to carry Emily all the way back to Bristol. She rolled on to her side so that she was facing the smaller girl, trying to get more comfortable with her handcuffed wrist, but with her right hand cuffed to Emily's left she found it difficult to fall asleep with the metal digging in to her flesh. Emily didn't seem to be fairing any better as she shifted and grumbled under her breath.

Giving up on trying to fall sleep as they were Naomi sighed and sat up, rubbing her wrist. "Let's switch."
"What?" Emily turned over to face her with a scowl. She was just as grumpy as Katie was when she was tired.
"If we switch places it'll be easier to sleep." Emily did as she was told for once and with them both lying on their sides their cuffed wrists were lying on top of their legs. It was still uncomfortable though and Emily yanked her arm down in front of her, taking Naomi's arm with her too so that the blonde was pressed right up against her. Naomi would have objected, but she had to admit it was more comfortable and warmer, so she lay silently beside her with her arm wrapped around the smaller girl and tried to fall asleep. It didn't take her long.

Over fifty miles away to the north Katie and Effy were just climbing in to bed themselves. Freddie had driven around the countryside for half the night. They couldn't really afford to waste the petrol but they had to ensure they weren't being followed. Then they'd had to explain to JJ and Panda why Naomi wasn't with them. It had been a long night and Katie was shattered, but as she stood at her door, looking at Naomi's unmade bed, she froze. The other girl was like a second sister to her; another sister she had lost. Her lip trembled as her eyes watered as her legs began to buckle. "Come on." Effy wrapped a firm arm around the smaller girl's waist and led her in to the room she shared with Panda.

She pulled back the covers of the double bed and climbed in, taking Katie with her. Fully clothed the pair of them lay cuddled up, with Katie quietly sobbing while Effy ran a hand through her hair. "Naomi's tough. She'll be ok." Effy mumbled in to the side of the other girl's head as she pressed her lips to her ear. Katie would have scoffed if anyone else had said it, but Effy didn't waste her words. She spoke with conviction and she was right. Naomi was the one who had kept a level head when the world had ended. She was the one who had helped Katie to keep it together after her ordeal in the woods. If they couldn't find her, then Naomi would find her way back to them.

"She'll storm in later and kick Cook's arse for not answering his radio." Katie chuckled, though the sound caught in her throat as she clenched her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears that were still coming. She wanted to believe that Naomi would just walk through the front door later, laughing and joking about what had happened; but a tiny part of her was wondering whether Minhas had been lying about people breaking in to the compound and taking the blonde with them? What if Naomi had stumbled on to something and they'd killed her for it?
"She'll be ok." Effy's voice was sure and certain as she pressed her lips to Katie's cheek, her lips lingering. "Did Naomi ever tell you why I joined with her and Cook?" Katie knew they had all gone to college together, but she'd never really questioned why the group had banded together. They all seemed so close it just seemed natural that they would have chosen to live with each other.

Effy shifted so that she was leaning on her side and carried on playing with the other girl's hair as she prepared to tell her story. It wasn't something she spoke about often; just ask Katie didn't talk about how she had gone from a borough in London to a forest on the outskirts of Bristol. "When the outbreak started they closed all the schools, the universities too. So my brother Tony came home. Mum fell sick first, so me and Tony looked after her. Then Tony got sick too…he'd been dead for days when Naomi and Cook came looking for me. I was a mess, I couldn't accept he was gone…she dragged me away from him, held me while I screamed at her. I screamed and screamed until I passed out; I hadn't eaten, hadn't slept in days. When I woke up she and Cook had dug a hole in the garden. We buried him and left…I would have died in that house if it hadn't been for the two of them."

"We need to find her. When Naomi found me in the woods…" Katie's throat felt dry and her words were choked as she nestled in to Effy's side. She'd made Naomi promise to never tell the others what had happened in the woods, but from the way Effy wrapped her arms around her she guessed she had never believed the lie they had spun the others. "There were these two brothers; they took Naomi like they took me-"
"Katie. You don't need to tell me this stuff." The intuitive girl could see how distressed Katie was and didn't want her to relive what had happened by sharing it with her.
"No." The smaller girl sat up, her eyes were red from crying, but they held a strength that Effy had never seen in them before. Katie had seemed so broken when she'd first shown up with Naomi and Effy had known there was something more to the blonde's overprotectiveness. Katie had barely left Naomi's side in the first few weeks she had joined them and it was only once they were isolated on the farm that she started to open up to the others; to Effy.

She'd been intrigued by the mysterious girl and had been jealous of how close she and Naomi were. She'd spent months trying to win her trust, with gifts like chocolate and other small favours, hoping to find out more about her. "I want to tell you. I need youto understand." Katie wiped at her eyes, drying her tears as she took Effy's hand in her own.
"They hurt me, and they were going to hurt Naomi too...I took her gun and I shot one of them. I killed a man to save Naomi when she was a stranger…so trust me when I say I will do anythingto get her back. Even if it means I have to stop looking for Emily; for now."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Effy climbed out of bed and sauntered over to her wardrobe. She pulled off her top and started to change as Katie stared after her. "We both know you're not going to get any sleep. So go pack a bag and we'll take the jeep and go out looking. Cook and Freddie can take the van after they've had some sleep. We'll cover more ground that way." She didn't need to tell Katie twice. The other girl grinned as she bounced off the bed and raced towards the door to go pack. She paused to give Effy a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you…for everything."

She went in to her room and pulled out a bag from the bottom of her wardrobe. She filled it with clothes and a few essentials before she went downstairs to find Effy. She was standing in the kitchen, arguing with Cook about what they were planning to do. "No! It's a bad idea Eff! We're low on petrol as it is! We'll get some sleep and set off in a couple of hours-" Effy refused to listen to him. She knew Katie wouldn't wait a few hours and with the overcast sky outside it was likely to rain, cutting how many hours of daylight they would get to start with. Cook wouldn't risk driving in the dark, even for Naomi.
"The Jeep's got a full tank, we won't take anymore with us and I'll worry about it when it runs out. We're going Cook." She caught Katie standing by the door and nodded towards her as she hefted her own bag over her shoulder. "Ready?"

They kept the Jeep in one of the empty barns. They didn't use it as much as the van but it was useful to have a second set of wheels around. Effy checked the fuel gage and frowned at the little dial that was halfway between full and empty. They had less fuel than she thought. Just enough to get down to Exmoor Park, where Minhas had said the men who took Emily were camping. If they had taken Naomi too then it made sense to start looking for both of them there. They'd have to find some fuel from somewhere on the way or else they'd be walking back.

Effy wasn't too worried about it though. When the virus had really hit most people hadn't made it out of their homes and their cars were still sitting on their drives. While the cars in the cities had already been bled dry it was likely the ones in the smaller towns would still have fuel left in them. At a push they could change cars and ditch the Jeep.

The morning air was cold and crisp and Effy rolled the window down a crack to help keep her awake. She was used to living on little sleep, but she didn't want to risk nodding off behind the wheel and crashing. Katie was silent in the passenger seat beside her; she looked dog tired, but she was fighting her sleep. Effy kept her foot on the accelerator, they were going to run out of fuel anyway and she'd prefer it was close to civilisation, not halfway down the motorway. She also wanted to get as close to Exmoor Park as she could before it got dark. She wanted to keep moving for Katie, but she wasn't going to risk both of their lives by driving in the dark. The heavens had already opened and the rain was coming down thick and fast.

It was the sound of the rain that woke Naomi up in the early afternoon. The forest sheltered the tent from the worst of it, but the pitter-patter of rain was loud enough to rouse the blonde. She felt groggy and her entire body ached; especially her wrist. She was lying on her back, with her cuffed hand resting on her chest and Emily lying half on top of it. They'd shifted in their sleep and with the other girl lying on top of her Naomi felt too hot and bothered. She wanted to slip out from under her and get some fresh air outside, cool off in the rain, but with the smaller girl chained to her she couldn't exactly go far. Not without waking her up. "Emily." She used her free hand to try and rouse her by gently shaking her shoulder. "Emily- Jesus!"

The smaller girl's eyes bolted open and they looked wild and unseeing as her hand clamped around Naomi's throat. She was breathing hard and fast as she sat straddling her waist. She blinked a few times and seemed to finally remember where she was as she pulled her hand away from Naomi's neck and ran it through her hair. She was clearly on edge and Naomi made a mental note to never try and wake her again. "Fuck…" She rolled off the blonde and lay on her back, trying to get her senses and her breath back. She was still breathing pretty hard and she flinched as Naomi rolled on to her side to face her. She looked like a caged animal with nowhere to go. She looked like Katie; the second after she'd pulled the trigger and shot a man dead to save Naomi's life.

"What happened to you?" She didn't acknowledge that Naomi had spoken, but she was trying her hardest to get her to trust her, to believe what she was telling her; so she tried again. "Please, what happened to you Ems?" The nickname slipped out, she'd heard Katie call her it so many times that it seemed natural to say it.
"Don't call me that." Her husky voice came out as a low growl as she clenched her eyes shut.
"Because it's what Katie called you?" Her eyes snapped open again with the same madness as she pounced on her and suddenly the metal of the cuff around her wrist was biting in to the blonde's throat as she pressed down against her wind pipe and she growled in her face.

"You don't say her name! And you don't call me Ems!" Emily was angry, Naomi knew that all too well, but the blonde was hardly known for her patience and her natural instinct to fight back kicked in as she bucked her hips to dislodge the smaller girl. She rolled them over and pinned Emily's arms above her head.
"I thought we'd covered this Ems! Stop trying to fucking kill me!"
"If I was trying to kill you, you'd be dead by now!" Emily spat back with a belly of fire fuelled by grief and anger; but underneath all that rage there was just a scared kid who had lost everyone she'd ever loved.
"What happened to you Emily?" Naomi's voice softened as she pushed again for the younger twin to confide in her, trying to make a connection between them. Emily stopped fighting her and her wide eyes began to fill with tears as she looked anywhere but up at the blonde pinning her down.

"They found me one night, when I was camping in the woods, not long after I'd ran. Michael and some of Minhas' men, they dragged me out of my tent by my hair and shoved a gun in to my mouth. Michael pulled the trigger before I could even take a breath…it jammed…that's what fucking happened to me Naomi!"
"Emily I…I'm sorry." Naomi let go of her wrists and sat so she was to one side of the other girl. Her blood was boiling at hearing what had happened to Emily and if she ever met Michael again she would shove the barrel of her gun so far down his throat that he would choke on it. Emily hastily wiped at her eyes, her defences building back up again as she stopped herself from crying.

"We should get moving. I'm sure you can't wait to get me back so you can collect your reward from Minhas-"
"I'm not taking you back there. I swear you will never have to go back there." Naomi saw the flicker of something close to hope on Emily's face. She wanted to believe her. She wanted to believe that her twin was alive and Naomi was one of the good guys, but the world was no longer a place for sweet trusting seventeen year old girls and Emily had learnt that the hard way. It would take more than empty words to win her over. "…Katie has a birth mark on her left thigh." For a second Emily's expression softened and Naomi thought she was getting through to her. Then her face hardened and her voice came out even harder.
"I told Mandy about that."

Naomi sighed and decided she wasn't going to get through to her any time soon. They packed up the sleeping bags and the tent in silence, struggling to move without yanking each other's wrists. By the time they started moving again neither was in a particualry good mood. The sky overhead was still cloudy and though the rain had eased off a bit the ground was wet and slippery beneath their feet as they followed the path of the river. If Naomi remembered right then the river would take them to Simonsbath, a small coastal village that would hopefully offer them food and proper shelter; and a hacksaw to get rid of the cuffs. She had no idea how far along the river they were, or how long it would take them to get to the village, but she set her mind on getting there before nightfall.

Emily was silent for the full hour they were walking and only spoke when they stopped for a break and Naomi asked her what flavour crisps she wanted. Thomas hadn't exactly packed for a long trek through the woods so they had to settle for crisps and biscuits. "I haven't had Munster Munch in years." Naomi was almost startled by the sound of her voice, she'd been quiet for so long.
"Pickled onion." Naomi wrinkled her nose at the other girl's choice of snack as she munched on a chocolate biscuit. "Could you breathe the other way please? They're disgusting." The inconvenience of being handcuffed to the smaller girl had gotten a whole lot worse.

"Katie hates them too." Emily smiled absently then seemed to catch herself. "She did hate them."
"Marmite too." Naomi added, still trying to convince the other girl she knew her twin well. It would be easier to get home if Emily wasn't fighting her the whole way back. "And pineapple."
"I hate pineapple too." Emily admitted with a perfectly straight face and Naomi cracked up.
"Fucking weird, the pair of you! How can you not like pineapple?"
"How can you not like pickles?" She snapped back though she was grinning.
"I love pickles, just not pickled onion." Naomi pulled a face and finally drew a laugh out of the redhead.
"You're weird."

Emily ducked her head as she caught Naomi's eye and they shared an awkward smile. Naomi felt heat radiating in her cheeks as she looked the other way and blushed, suddenly feeling like an awkward fourteen year old again. "We should keep moving while the rain holds off." She stood up and slung her pack over her shoulder but Emily didn't budge from the rock she was perched on and Naomi's wrist jerked as she tried to walk away. She looked down at Emily expectantly and once again found herself staring in to the eyes of a scared kid.
"I want to believe you." Her gravelly voice was hoarse and she bit down on her lip as she carefully considered her next words to the blonde. "I want to believe that Katie's alive, and that you're taking me to her and everything is going to turn out ok; but I can't. I've lost too much to put my faith in anything anymore… In anyone."

Naomi nodded in understanding. Katie had been much the same when she had first found her, but bit by bit she had slowly gotten through to the oldest twin. She was determined to do the same for Emily and she held out her free hand, the one not chained to the smaller girl, to help her up. "I don't know what I can say to you to make you believe me. Maybe there isn't anything…so come back with me. Let me show you instead. Take a chance Ems."