Author's Note: Semi-short chapter. More to come. Thank you again for the nice reviews. I think I'm actually going to finish this story. How strange, huh? (Not soon though…no no…there's more shit to deal with yet.)
"Tyler? You want something to eat?" Ana offered, approaching him where he sat alone near the edge of the trees. "…You shouldn't be out here alone, you know."
Tyler looked up tiredly and regarded her with wary appriciation, taking a Power Bar from her hand. "Thank you." He muttered. "I'm alright. I was just…enjoying the view?"
"I'm serious…I mean we don't know how close those things are to us. And you're sick. You should be lying down." She motioned back towards the haphazard camp site.
He looked behind them up to the white fire, glowing in the dead light before he swallowed and turned up to face Ana. "No, I-I'd better stay out here."
"Don't be stupid, just come up and lie down. We're not afraid of you." She insisted.
With a sigh, his eyes found the stretch of the beach again, haunted by the ghost of recent memories and slaughtered-out hopes. "…yes you are…" he whispered lightly, knowing that she would be anxious if he ignored her. "Christ, I'm afraid of me…"
Ana thought of what he said for quite some time as she sat down near him. She knew exactly what he meant. …And she was afraid of him, even if she felt like an idiot to admit it. "What do you think about tomorrow?" she changed subjects, still aware of the numb sort of shock he seemed to be in since they found him.
"I don't know…" he answered honestly.
Another long press of silence before Ana continued. "Do you think we should go up there?"
He made an effort to respond, but in the end just settled for a vague shrug.
"Well I guess you already know what I think." Ana spoke, looking down at her hand and playing idly with some small, pronged twig. "What I really want to know is…if you're up to traveling. I don't want you to have to struggle to keep up."
He hesitantly nodded, scratching his thin beard roughly. "I'll do my best not to slow you down."
She felt her stomach drop at that statement, a bitter kind of guilt from the fact that he had taken her concern to be a warning. "Well…we'll do our best to protect you."
He glanced at her a moment and opened his mouth as if to speak, but he said nothing. Instead he just stared down at his nutrition bar, looking like he was perhaps trying to read the ingredients. She sincerely hoped he wasn't worrying about his weight at a time like this.
"You know, the others were probably right." She attempted to sway him with some kind of optimism, wanting to raise spirits when it was needed so much. "It wouldn't be that long a walk to make it to the resort… or whatever it was that Kenneth saw. I'll bet they have Tylenol, that'll take down your fever."
"Yeah. Maybe." He humored her, fumbling with the wrapper. "And running water…"
"And shaving cream." She half pointed to his wirey chin hair, rousing a smile from him.
"God, I hope so." He opened the Power Bar and stared at its thick, rubberish texture.
"I'm already starting to miss beds." She said, recalling the luxuries of the mall and watching him take a bite. Or try to.
"These thingsrr…impossible t'chewr." he muttered as he tore a chunk off in his teeth.
"They taste like cardboard, but it's about all we have. Unless you'd actually like some cardboard." She semi-jested at his plight.
Tyler snorted and grit his teeth against the grainy substance. "Don't know. Which one's better for you?"
"Probably about the same." She kicked a small mound of sand lazily and inadvertantly covered a small nearby sand crab. In brief horror, she brushed the sand away quickly with the tip of her foot and was relieved to find the crab unharmed. She felt foolish, but was so unwilling to see death again that even this small creature was a survivor to her. The disturbed crab took a moment to pluck its legs out of the sand before it wandered on without incident and she watched it distantly.
"So…just…out of curiousity…" Tyler began, not having noticed her encounter with the crab. "How much ammunition do you have?"
Ana was surprised to hear his interest, and she thought about the question for a moment. "I don't really know. Not much…hopefully enough. We've got a hand gun and a shotgun and those are going to have to last us until we can find something else."
"And what've you got besides that?"
She paused. "Our legs."
He smiled weakly and bowed his head, pulling out a wayward strand of hair from his scalp. "Alright…just curious…"
"Well we've gotten out of worse." She decided confidently, unwilling to give in to another silence. "They're stupid and they're clumsy—and they don't know what they're doing."
"Well they've already killed everyone. So what does all that count for?" he said flatly, eyes unfocused and tone calm.
Ana opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. She hadn't expected him to say that and she suddenly felt like a damn fool. How ignorant her words sounded at a second glance. Had she really assumed he was just stupid? Before she could help it, she felt tears gathering in her eyes and she looked down angrily, infuriated that she could be so pathetic. He'd only said a few words, and they weren't hurtful. Yet somehow they hurt anyway.
It seemed that what he had said had only just now occurred to him, and Tyler jumped a little, looking up. "Oh, Ana, I-I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to say that, I didn't think-"
"No, no, it's fine." She surprised herself by the façade of cheer in her voice. When she looked up again, she had successfully demolished her tears.
"I'm sorry…I shouldn't've said that, I just…" he shook his head.
"Don't apologize." She said, those words feeling strangely familiar.
He almost apologized again merely for that, but instead let out a short stutter and went back to staring into the sand. You're a real dumbass, Tyler. Did you forget that or something? He thought regretfully. He could feel how his bitterness stung her. These people tried so hard to keep a positive mood and here he had selfishly abolished their efforts with his own petty despair. The facts didn't need to be pointed out; the situation was clear.
"…Tyler?" Ana spoke, standing up slowly.
"Yes?" he looked up at her hopefully, willing to please if perhaps he could redeem himself from guilt.
"Come on. Come get some sleep." She motioned behind her.
"No I… I couldn-"
"Hey look," she put her hands on her hips casually, sucking in a breath. "if you stay out here, I won't be able to sleep. Do you want to be responsible for that? 'Cause I'm gonna give you a lot of hell in the morning if you do. Come on." She gestured for him to get up.
"O-okay." He nodded, forcing himself up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you worr-"
"Hey," she cut him off at his apology.
"Uh, right, sor…yeah." He gave a tired kind of grin that looked more like a grimace as he followed her back up to the circle.