18;

The sun had completely set and the stars were out in their full radiance. Only the occasional street light they passed under managed to extinguish them at regular intervals.

They were walking along the same street they started out on over two days ago, leaving miles of road between them and the orphanage with much more lying ahead. The densest part of the city was well gone now, only spaced out homes and the occasional store were all they ran across in the tree-dominated countryside. A single worn asphalt road cut through the center of it all.

Ellie let her head fall back and stared into the clearest night they've had yet. "It's beautiful out here."

The sudden voice out of the prolonged silence startled Riley. "I guess. Kind of lonely though."

"Some people like that, you know? Besides, it's not lonely, it's… peaceful. People go camping just to have some of this. No city noises, no dirty cars, no having to deal with other people. Just the cool air and the stars."

Riley always appreciated that Ellie was the more emotional type, something she had trouble with herself. "The moon is… pretty."

"You tried."

"Whatever. We should take a break. It's been hours since we last stopped."

"Yeah, I could use some water."

"Alright. Over here."

They picked a spot next to a single tree amongst a never-ending line of them, slid their backpacks off, and leaned them against its trunk. Riley unzipped her bag's back pocket and pulled out one of the water bottles she stashed for the walk and tossed it to Ellie.

"We don't have much, so make it last."

"I know, I know. You've told me before."

Ellie twisted off the top and drank less than a quarter and handed it back to Riley who did the same and then shoved it back in with the others before zipping it up. She observed the area around them for a second before groaning.

"My legs have that weird tingling feeling."

"Mine just hurt." She began rubbing them out of reflex. "It's getting cold too."

"How much farther we going tonight?"

"I was hoping to make it about to the half-way point. If that even." She looked around again, more observant of the area this time. "Though I'm not positive of where we are now. We just have to keep heading along this road."

"...Riley?"

"...yeah?"

"Are we lost?"

Riley responded in an overtly faux-condescending tone. "No, Ellie, we are not lost. I know where we are… for the most part."

"I knew it, we totally are. Some truck is gonna find our bodies in the middle of nowhere with you still clinging to your pride."

"Wow… okay, so first off I am not that bad. I got us this far didn't I? Secondly-"

"We walked in a straight line!"

"Secondly! The street we turn on is only a few miles past an old wooden bridge. We have yet to come across it, so at least I know we haven't gone far enough."

"So you know somewhat where we're going. That's good."

Riley rolled her eyes. "You're an asshole."

Ellie smiled off the remark. "Pull me a scarf out of your bag would you?"

"Really? After that you're just gonna ask me for something?"

"Yeah. 'Cause I know you'll do it."

Riley grumbled before pulling the scarf from the bag's front pocket and tossing it to her.

"Told ya."

She exhaled in frustration through a mocking grin. "You've been promoted to bitch. Congratulations."

"Alright, alright, I'll ease off." She threw the scarf around her neck that they had taken from one of the stores before they left. "Thanks."

"We should probably keep moving. We'll stay a bit warmer if we do."

Ellie slowly nodded as she looked around the area one last time. "I hope we can find somewhere like this again. It'd be nice to sleep under a tree beneath the stars."

"We'll see."

They both picked up their bags, slung them over their backs, and carried on down the lone asphalt road. Within another hour they reached a point along a hill that served as a vantage point and allowed them to see miles in nearly every direction. Though in the darkness the only thing to be seen were packets of towns dotted throughout the valley which were only discernable by small splotches of light in an otherwise sea of black.

They tried hitchhiking, but few cars passed by that late at night, their taillights disappearing in the far distance a discouraging sign of how far they still have left to go. They eventually were met by a green reflective sign displaying the distances to upcoming towns and cities. At the bottom of a list of three names it showed 'Bristol' with a '73 miles' next to it.

"Fuck yeah. See? I knew it."

"Didn't doubt you. Though it is still a long ways."

"Yeah it is. Probably be at least a few more days if we can't get a ride from one of these assholes who keep passing us!" She practically yelled at the car that went flying by at that moment.

They continued on passed the sign with great effort knowing that they still had far to go. Exhaustion from both their walking and from the time of night did nothing to help their willpower.

They traveled in spurts of silence of which the current one was broken by Riley who wanted to distract them from their laborious walk and recent events.

"So… knock knock."

Ellie's face dropped from the undesired surprise. "Seriously?" Riley just raised her eyebrows and nodded. "No. Not in the mood, sorry."

Riley sighed and broke eye contact. "Look, I know we're in a really shitty… transition period right now. And what happened with… we can't just give in. I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

Ellie sighed at the awkward silence her refusal placed between them. "Fine. I guess I could go for some relief."

Riley smiled and regained some confidence. "Okay, so knock knock."

Ellie exhaled, still resistant to the idea of joking. "Who's there?"

"Europe."

"Europe who?"

"No, you're a poo."

Ellie rolled her eyes and smirked. "That's stupid."

"Yeah it's lame, I know." Riley let her eyes wander. "What's another one? Oh! Okay, so a rabbi, a priest, and a redneck walk into a bar. They're all alcoholics and their drinking problems are tearing their families apart."

Ellie surprisingly gave in to Riley's dark sense of humor and chuckled. "That's horrible. Why is that even a joke?"

"'Cause it's funny. Got you to laugh."

"Yeah it did." She looked over at Riley who had her eyebrows raised again. "What?"

"It's your turn."

"I don't really know any."

"You suck at lying. Remember?"

"...yeah, alright. Fine. Um... okay. What are green, yellow, red, pink, and purple?"

"I don't know, what?"

"Colors."

"Really? You call my first one stupid and then you give me that?"

"Got another. Why did the waiter put rubber bands in the soup?" Ellie childishly smirked. "Because he wasn't a very good waiter."

Riley snorted. "Alright, that was funny. Stupid too, but funny."

"Yeah it was."

Riley bit her lip and remained quiet. "One more." She cleared her throat. "Have you heard about the corduroy pillow? ...I hear it's making headlines!"

She stared at Ellie with a stupid smile until she beamed back and they both burst out with a laugh.

"That's like a joke you would tell a five year old!"

"Oh, and the color joke is supposed to be sophisticated?"

"Well, at least it's more than 'Europe who'!"

"I've known that joke since I was a kid, it's gonna be stupid. Besides, you know you liked it."

"I did." She spoke through a grin and nudged Riley with her shoulder. Before she could get another word in Riley stopped short and her eyes grew wide.

"Oh shit!"

Ellie's heart skipped a beat and she stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"

"The bridge!" She pointed in the distance at a dimly lit overpass nestled between two hills rising slightly out of the ground with trees on each side. "I told you I knew where we're going."

"Jesus, Riley, you scared the hell out of me." She exhaled trying to slow her pulse from the sudden surprise.

Riley simply nudged her back. "You'll live. Besides, you could probably use some toughening up."

"Fuck you too."

"That's the spirit!"

Ellie grunted. "At least it's not far from here." She started rubbing her arms and looked over at Riley. "Any chance for a fire tonight?"

"I think I may have been overly hopeful when I said that. We'll just have to do what we did before and once we get to the refuge we can hopefully find some shelter."

"I hope so too. It's only going to get colder."

Riley kept looking straight ahead and spoke out of habit. "Yeah, but we'll be good."

They walked the last several miles at a faster pace anxious to reach their goal for the night and be able to finally rest. In that time, though already numerous, a few clouds had garnered enough strength and began giving off a slight drizzle, chilling the air even more.

The upper part of the bridge was of an old wooden construction and entirely covered by an enclosure that looked much like a long narrow barn. It was sturdy enough for a single car at a time but creaked and groaned under its own weight.

By the time they arrived they were exhausted, wet, and cold. They fell down on the grass near where the bridge and the hill met hoping to stay out of sight of passing cars and to avoid the elements altogether.

Their only visibility came from a dim mounted lamp on the side of the entrance to the bridge enclosure whose light trickled down through the wooden boards and support beams and reached them as scattered rays.

Ellie reached into Riley's bag and pulled out the water bottle that they had drank from already and some bread they took from dinner that was still in its napkin. She downed half of the remaining water and finished off the bread quickly. She wiped her mouth and looked up to notice Riley watching in amazement.

"What?"

"Nothing. Here, give me that." Riley grabbed the bottle from Ellie, drank the rest of the water, and ate one of a handful of unappetizing looking prepackaged fruit pastries she had grabbed from breakfast.

She threw the wrapper to the side and pulled over her backpack and dropped it onto her lap. She dug into the front pocket and pulled out a shirt, a pair of pants, and a couple of dry socks. She looked over and nodded at Ellie's backpack.

"You should change too. You're gonna be miserable in those."

Ellie watched as Riley, apparently without reserve, pulled off of her wet clothing in front of her and replaced them with their dry substitutes. Once done she threw on her other heavier jacket, arguably their most valuable piece of clothing.

Ellie followed Riley's lead and reached into her bag and pulled out the same clothes, a long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. She paused hesitantly and looked around for a moment which Riley noticed.

"Something wrong?"

"It's just... nothing. Never mind." She spun so her back was to Riley and quickly replaced her shirt with a dry one.

Riley rolled her eyes. "Here." She tossed the pants she left on her bag to her. "I think we're a little past the modesty stage, don't you?" She began pulling out the blankets and setting them up on the ground.

"I guess." Ellie less hastily changed out her damp pants and stuffed them into a separate pocket in her bag to prevent the dry ones from absorbing the moisture of the wet pair.

Riley took off her shoes and laid them to the side of their makeshift bed and crawled in between the covers. She pulled the top blanket up and laid her head on the bottom one through which she could feel the stubble of the grass. Ellie crawled in after changing and unexpectedly rested her head on Riley's stomach without a word.

Riley gave her a minute before softening her tone and bringing up the blatantly obvious issue herself. "Talk to me."

"About what?"

"Really? You're laying on me. Doesn't exactly scream 'I'm fine'."

"Maybe I find you really comfortable."

"Maybe you should just tell me. Come on… what is it?"

Ellie shut her eyes and sighed after a long pause. "Isn't it obvious? This. Everything. I've been in an orphanage my entire life, and to suddenly not be in one… to be homeless… it's scary. It really is. Not only that, but we're just jumping straight into something completely unknown."

Riley freed her left arm from between Ellie and herself and began to absentmindedly run it through the girl's hair. "Isn't there like a saying that home is where the heart is? So... you just have to want to be wherever you are and you're never homeless."

"I don't think that's how it works."

"Yeah, me neither. But it sounds nice doesn't it? Anyway, I've been in this situation before. So it's not like we're jumping into this head first with no... experience, I guess you could call it."

Ellie opened her eyes in surprise. "Really?"

"Really."

"How come you've never mentioned it?"

"Really?"

She unexpectedly grinned. "Yeah, really."

"Well, I mean, come on, it's not exactly something that just comes up, you know? That and I try to avoid talking about it in general."

"Could you now? I want to hear." Ellie fidgeted, adjusting herself to be more comfortable.

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Everything. How long were you homeless?"

"I don't know exactly, time didn't really mean much. Seven, maybe eight months? I won't lie, it sucked. But I managed. And we'll definitely do better together. Besides, it's not like it'll be like this forever, it's only temporary." She took a long pause and sighed. "Remembering that really helped me get through it."

"How'd you get out of it?"

"Pure luck. Remember when I told you that going to a different orphanage wouldn't work?"

"And you told me to just trust you on that."

"Right. Well, when I was about eleven, the orphanage I was at was run an abusive caretaker… who now seems like a damn saint compared to who we just escaped from. Anyway, one day I just packed all my shit and ran, no idea what I was doing. My first thought was to go to another orphanage. Which I did. Well apparently, once you're in the system, you're stuck where they assign you. So once I got there, they immediately shipped me back out to my old one, despite my begging and pleading... despite telling them about Evelyn. They didn't believe me, or didn't care. Sound familiar?"

"Very. Who was Evelyn?"

"Caretaker."

"What then?"

"What do you think? As soon as I was dropped off and the car drove out of sight, I just ran again. I took off towards downtown. It was okay for a while, I mainly survived through the soup kitchen with whatever money I could scrounge up. Or if I couldn't afford it, either not eat at all or find people's leftovers." She rubbed her temple with her free hand. "Disgusting, I know."

"Anyone try to help?" Ellie yawned through the words and re-closed her eyes.

"Eventually. But initially, I was an idiot and stubborn as hell. I grouped up with a couple others for a little while, but I never trusted them so I left. I turned down what little help was offered and ran from the cops who would try to bring me back. After months and months of this I was malnourished and really thin. I just didn't have the energy to fight anymore."

She took a break and sniffed in the moist air that carried with it the strong scent of fresh rain and wet grass. "A couple found me on the streets and offered their help. I accepted, reluctantly, and they bought me food and sat and talked with me for a bit. In our talk they told me they were trying to start a family and wondered if I'd think about being a part of theirs. All I knew is that if it got me away from the orphanage and off the streets I'd do it."

"I'm guessing that didn't last." Ellie spoke tiredly, almost inaudibly.

Riley scoffed. "Yeah, you could say that. They fostered me and moved us a city over. It was good for a little while, nice house and all that. But on their way to dinner one night they were both killed in a freak car accident. Pileup involving a bunch of cars. After that I was stuck back into the system. They brought me back to the same orphanage, only this time Evelyn was replaced, and, well..." She laughed at how depressingly comical it was. "Fuck, here I am again."

She waited for Ellie to say something but instead there was only silence. She moved her focus from the bottom of the bridge downwards to see the top of Ellie's head unmoving on top of her.

"You awake?" Riley closed her eyes at the lack of a response and deeply yawned. "Night, Ellie."

She lied there listening to the ambient pattering noises of the light rainfall, the creaking of the wooden boards above them, and the slight howling noise of the wind as it passed through the bridge's gaps. It was cold, but the blankets, jackets, and shared body heat made it bearable.