Author's Notes: These updates always take me forever to write because they are so long... Anyways I am glad so many people enjoyed part one of Chronicles, please enjoy part two.
10K hated walking, yet again Delta Xray Delta had found themselves walking along the road into a small town because their last vehicle had died in the middle of a barren highway. New Mexico wasn't a pleasant state to be stranded in during the high heat of summer, but they had been stuck in worse situations in the past. Originally they hadn't even been heading towards New Mexico, but when a horde cut off their original path through Colorado, south they went and into New Mexico which became their new route to California.
"Come on Kid, lets see if we can find some wheels." Doc said as they began to walk down a main road leading into the small town. The barren landscape had made spotting Zs up until they got to the city extremely easy and almost took the fun out of killing them.
"We go together, keep an eye out for Zs, look for a truck, and most importantly look for places to refill supplies, we are getting low on food and water." Warren said as she looked at her group for a nod of understanding. Warren and Vasquez lead the group in a scouting position, Addy and Murphy staying towards the middle she put up with his whining about the heat well enough, while Doc stayed towards the back to remain close to 10K.
10K believed that even though he insisted he was fine after leaving Jefferson City that Doc didn't fully believe him. 10K had met a few girls on their cross country adventure, though most he had only spoken to for a couple hours before they died or left in a hurry to escape Zs; Ash had been different. He had felt the soft touch of her skin, and smelled the sweet fragrance of her hair, in this twisted apocalypse he had actually found someone to be close with for even just a few hours. Then he had left her behind as a horde began to fall upon her position. Her death was pretty much guaranteed, but Doc had insisted that even in the few moments he had spent with her, that "that girl was not going to go down easy."
Warren had lead them towards a fork in the road, that had a diner and some more small shops scattered on both sides. She lead them towards the left, the side with the diner coming up first to parked trucks and cars in the lot, most of which looked as if they hadn't been touched since the start of outbreak.
"Warren!" Addy barked drawing 10K's attention away from the old looking mini-van with the empty car seat in the back, towards the younger woman in their company.
"Puppies and kittens, three o'clock." Warren said as she pulled her pistol from her holster.
"More like around the clock." Doc corrected, as he closed in on Murphy to guard him, even with his Z whispering ways the man was still a coward. 10K jogged up to a corner making sure to position himself to take out anything that could be lurking to close around the corner.
It was as he held his rifle up that he caught sight of the dark hair that came almost crashing into the muzzle of the rifle. "Holy... Don't shoot!" The voice cried as he looked at a girl who instantly sparked a memory in the boy. "10K?" Her voice quietening as she recognized his shaggy dark hair. In that moment the echoing of gun fire and moans of the Zs seemed to almost disappear. All his thoughts raced back to the moment in Jefferson City, she had simply said 'may they meet again' and here she stood, he hair pulled back in a loose and messy ponytail, her face dirty, her clothing a simple old shirt with the sleeves ripped off and ripped jeans. In her hand she held a single pistol, unlike the last time they had met she didn't seem to have any additional weaponry. He almost forgot to glance past her until he saw the movement, once again bringing his rifle up to attention and firing off two rounds past her, as she stood there almost unshaken by his action.
10K heard the sounds of Warren calling asking everyone's condition but 10K didn't respond as he lowered his rifle grabbing the strap and tossing it over his shoulder as he stepped closer to the girl in front of him. "Ash..." His voice was low as he reached out and found his arm wrapping tightly around the girls shoulders pulling her to his chest as she stood in shock still. Though in a moment he found she was returning the gesture.
"Who's..?" Warren began to ask Addy as she caught sight of 10K, surprisingly a good distance off from where the last few Zs had fell. The sight of the youngest member of Delta Xray Delta having his arm around someone was shocking, but the moment he pulled back and she stepped on her tip toes to place her lips against his was even more shocking. 10Ks arm lingering around her waist, hers around his neck, if the two teens hadn't had the guns it would like a scene from before the apocalypse. Two teens kissing on a street corner greeting each other after not seeing one another for some time. "Well then..." Warren said simply as she approached the pair with Addy by her side. Murphy staying close to Vasquez who seemed to still have his gun at the ready even though the danger seemed to have passed for the moment.
"Well looks like the Kid is finally growing up." Vasquez joked from a distance, whistling loudly drawing the attention of the pair and snapping them out of their own personal moment. He began to draw closer with Murphy and Doc by his sides as Warren approached with Addy by hers.
10K pulled away when he heard the whistle from Vasquez snapping back into the reality of the apocalypse instead of standing in his imagination. He looked down at Ash who looked down with a faint red blush growing across her face.
She had kissed him, after recognizing him and realizing that the moment was in fact real, she found her body moving faster than her mind. "I didn't think you'd..." Her words were quiet but he knew what she was intending to say, she didn't think they made it.
"I was sure that..." He replied back not fully knowing how to say he had also doubted her ability to survive horde in Jefferson City.
"10K." It was Warren's voice interrupting their awkward reunion. "Who's this?" She seemed still on edge as she approached the pair with the rest of the group closing in as well.
10K found the words stuck in his throat at first, "This is..."
"She's the hooker for Jefferson City." Murphy said grinning like the pervert he was over Vasquez's shoulder. "You dog." He said with a wink to 10K who turned and used his body to almost block Murphy's view of Ashlyn.
"Ashlyn Harper, ma'am." Ashlyn said stepping past 10K extending her hand to Warren. "We've met before..." She said simply, confirming Murphy's statement without having to directly answer to it.
Warren reached out grasping hold of the girls hand firmly. "So we have." Warren was surprised with the firmness the girl gripped her hand with in return. She pulled away from the gesture and re-holstered her machete.
"I don't understand, how'd you end up in New Mexico, last time we saw you you were on a roof about to be surrounded by a horde." Addy asked the question everyone was thinking.
"It was smaller than it looked, by noon the next day we were able to clear a path to the ground, and get in a truck. We stayed together for the most part but didn't really have anywhere to go so we just started driving. We ended up finding a truck stop on the other side of town. Place was fortified already and the guy who runs it he took us in as long as we agreed to do some work for him." She explained. "I was out scouting a few of the business and ran into a bit of trouble. Took down a few but when you have double digits surrounding you, you run, they cut off my route back to my truck so I decided to try to make it back another way."
"You have a truck?" Warren asked picking up on the words she cared most about in the girl's tale. Transportation.
"Don't you?" She asked curiously looking over the group of survivors.
"Died a ways back, been on foot since." Vasquez answered for her.
"Help me get back to my group and you can have it." Ashlyn's response caught even 10K off guard. "I don't need it anyways, Sarge has plenty of trucks, all he does is fix up junkers. I have two rounds left and I doubt I can make it back on my own." She reached in her pocket producing a metal key. "You get me back to my group, and it's all yours." She said offering the keys to Warren as a sign of good faith.
Ashlyn was no idiot, she knew that to survive compromises must be made even when it is with people you know and spent some time. She was willing to wager 10K, and perhaps the old man, would trust her on just her word, but the others hadn't been there when she offered help last time. Offering supplies just so they wouldn't go to waste in the hell hole of Sir's brothel. Last time she had saw the entirety of 10K's group she had shot a woman dead in front of them and threatened another man. She was not someone she would trust if she were currently in their shoes. Warren accepted the key from the young woman without much fuss simply taking it and nodding accepting the girl's offer without words.
"Just because the truck is a thing how do you know she is not leading us back to a trap?" Vasquez questioned from the passenger seat of the Ford the girl had lead them to as promised. Warren looked in her rear view to see the truck bed filled with Addy, 10K, and the girl that Vasquez questioned sitting, the girl seeming to hold a conversation with Addy.
"Listen man, that girl was the reason we got out of Jefferson City, she loaded 10K and I up with enough drugs and ammo to last us this entire time with stuff still left over." Doc said defending Ash from Vasquez's doubt.
"Wonder how many of the other hookers made it out." Murphy joked smirking at Doc who just laughed.
While Warren smirked, "If a little girl gets the better of us, then we aren't the right people for this mission."
"Sorry we didn't recognize you, I mean you saved out ass and we didn't recognize you." Addy apologized to Ashlyn as she finished telling her a bit about the escape she had made from the hotel.
Ashlyn pulled her hair that was whipping wildly around her face into a ponytail the best she could as Warren spend through the highway in the direction Ashlyn had told her to go. "It's fine, I mean last time we didn't really get to have a real introduction or anything." She said as she looped her hair through an elastic band she kept on her wrist. As she did she tried her best to keep her eyes off 10k who was two her right, he sat towards the gate of the truck while she sat towards the cab.
She hadn't been sure what to say as they had walked back to the truck, instead she just lead the way answering Warren or Murphy's questions as they came up. He had in turn said nothing to her, though she knew from just their short evening together in Jefferson City that he wasn't much of a talker.
The awkward air between them all originated from him pulling her to his chest after the recognized one another. He was probably just thankful to see a familiar face and yet she had taken it to an entire other level by placing her lips on his. She couldn't take the entire blame, he had kissed her back yet something still felt awkward about the situation.
"So what's the guy's name that runs this place?" Addy asked as she looked further down the road hoping to catch sight of the truck stop's large sign.
Ashlyn took her eyes off of 10K as he smiled at her, catching her looking at him to look to Addy who thankfully she believed hadn't noticed. "Sarge, he was a Sargent in the army or something. His hobby before shit hit the fan was to rebuild old cars, so he runs the truck stop and offers shelter for those who need it in trade for work and supplies." She said catching Addy's smile by the end of her explanation.
"Trust him?" She asked.
Her question felt like a loaded question. "Yeah, but seeing as you guys are toting around such a valuable package. I wouldn't stay long." She was being honest. She could tell her answer struck something in Addy that made her question their direction as she looked back to 10K who just shook his head slightly. Ashlyn wondered if it was a slight communication of if they should tell Warren or not.
In the distance Warren saw the metal reflecting the setting sun, as she pulled up to the gate she found the place to be much more guarded than Ashlyn had lead her to believe. She slowed the truck almost to a stop as Ashlyn stood up in the truck bed, hands raised. "It's me! Open up!" Her voice was loud but so young, it was a sound that echoed through the air in the apocalypse.
"Ash?" It was a younger man's voice as he appeared at the top of one of the guarded towers. Warren looked up along the tall fence and back in the other direction, it was much more like a compound than a truck stop, and it also was surprisingly reinforced. "Who are the people with you?"
"Friends from Jefferson! Just open the fucking gate!" Ash felt the eyes of Addy and 10K on her back as she glared up at Christopher, he had been here longer than her probably only a few years older than her but pretended like he ran the place instead of Sarge.
"Open the gate!" A loud male voice boomed before the gates came sliding open to reveal a burly older man with a huge smile on his face. Ashlyn hit her hand on the roof of the truck and Warren pulled into the fenced compound. When Warren killed the engine the man walked over to the side of the truck and before Warren could even fully remove the key from the ignition he was at the side of the truck offering Ashlyn his hand for her to jump out of the side. "Peanut, you had me worried, three days on your own out there." As she touched the ground the older man went back to smiling at the rest of the group. His graying hair and beard reminded Warren of a jolly drunk Santa from a mall. "Welcome travelers, the name's Sarge. Thank you for bringing my little peanut back." Warren was surprised the man had yet to ask them to relinquish their weapons or really inspected them at all. If they had meant ill intentions for the place they could have already turned the man into a Z. "My rules are simple. You contribute while you are in these walls, and you don't rock the boat. The people here are free to come and go as they please but if you are in here making trouble, you wont be in here long." Warren could tell the man didn't fear them, in fact his welcoming smile was a just like that of a mall Santa, while his military background shown through body language. "Names?"
"Lieutenant Roberta Warren." Warren began before his smile brightened, interrupting her introduction.
"Always can recognize a fellow officer, I was a marine myself, served until they kicked me out..."
"Sarge," Ashlyn interrupted the older man. "These are friends of mine, can we continue introductions later, they have been out in the sun all day with low supplies..." She said her eyes dancing from one end of the ragtag group to the other.
The man let out a deep resonating chuckle before apologizing. "Of course! My apologies lets get y'all out of this heat and into the building, the fans don't keep it cool but its better than out here. Plus we have some pretty amazing cold showers that help with the heat." He turned waving an arm in the air to signal they should follow him, 10K watched as most of the group excluding Doc and Murphy looked to Warren for approval before following him reluctantly.
Addy came up to 10K's side grinning as she wove her arm through his nudging him slightly grinning. "Someone needs a cold shower, huh?" Addy teased quietly, 10K smiled back as they followed the rest of the group trailing behind a bit, he looked through the bodies a head of him to see the messy ponytail bouncing around wildly next to the old man. "You really like this one huh?" She asked curiously smiling with a clear dirty thought dancing through her brain.
10K shook his head, "just nice seeing a familiar face." He answered honestly that turned that dirty smile on her lips into a knowing look, she knew the feeling of familiar; Delta Xray Delta was familiar. They survived everything together, but how often did they ever stumble across someone else they found on the road, 10K could think of a couple times, but not many except the fellow members of Delta Xray Delta.
"It's okay to get close to someone," Addy sounded like the wise elder, or at least she tried too.
"Addy..." 10K started to tell her to stop it as she stopped him with her own words.
"I know you're going to say you know, but I saw the way you lost yourself in seeing her again, I bet you didn't even count the Zs you took out. Just know, it's worth every minute of pain." Addy pulled her arm loose of the younger boy and began to walk faster in front of him to distance herself to leave him with the thought to work through by himself.
He knew she had to mean the past failed romances of the members of their motley crew, Warren and Garnett, Addy and Mack, hell even his own with Cassandra that had never blossomed further than friendship but he remembered the pain he felt when she was gone, how he tried to convince himself that Murphy might have actually saved her, how the fact she was Murphy's slave was alright as long as she was alive and with them, but the more he tried to sell himself on the illusion the more he found himself hurting. While he doubted Murphy would bite Ashlyn in the face he didn't doubt the fact she was likely to end up dead or a Z like every other girl he had ever even smiled at in the past.
10K was surprised by how kind Sarge was turning out to be, he gave them a room in the truck stop, it used to be a storage cooler, but it was large enough for their group to all have their own spaces without the looking eyes of the people who lived at the refuge. He had watched as Ashlyn melted into the people so seamlessly, like she had been here since the start. Children, who were seemingly innocent compared to most of the children he had seen after the end ran up to her and tugged on her shirt to play with them. Armed men and women stopped her to talk about assignments and posts.
10k's watch must have been noticed by the old man who ran the compound as he sat atop of a truck cab, instictually keeping watch even in the secure compound. "If you want to be on watch I can give you a proper post, ya know?" The old man smiled as he leaned against the hood of the truck. His hands were dark from grease, Ash had been right, all this man did was fix broken down piece of junk so that travelers could leave with them. 10K shook his head, he didn't want to be on watch. He had too. He knew they were safe, at least that is what Warren had told him the first night they stayed but now, on day three he still felt like he needed to be on the look out for threats. "Old habits die hard right? Let me guess, you always volunteer for first watch." Sarge had hit the nail on the head. "I get it, protect the ones you love, protect the ones who protect you. Whatever it takes to keep your family safe." The old man's words were essentially 10K's exact thoughts on the subject.
10K growing tired of the man reading him like a book leaned his head against his rifle. "What's your point?" 10K hadn't intended to sound so short with his first comment to the man since he had approached him that afternoon.
"You know, my Peanut was the same way when she got here. She was with three women and two men. She would stay perched up on the watch tower, waiting for all hell to break loose, then it never did." 10K noticed the man was no longer looking at him, but to the main gate of the compound. "So when her group went to leave, she decided she preferred her perch, watching over all of the people here instead of just her initial companions. I know one day she is going to leave, but until then she is keeping this place running. She goes out on more runs than any of the other supply runners, brings back the most too." He added to his comment. "Sometimes she comes home spotless, other times she is covered in blood and grime from head to toe, but let me tell you, one of those kids runs up and that smile of hers distracts everyone from whatever hell she went through to get that candy bar." He paused before directing his eyes back up to the raven haired boy. "Your friend Murphy told me how you all met back in Jefferson City." Murphy was a loud mouthed gossip who enjoyed the sound of his own voice, of course he would tell the leader of this place anything he wanted to know. "Surprisingly, most people here don't know about that, about what it was like for her and her original companions in Jefferson. I plan to keep it that way." 10K's eyes drifted down to the man's who had yet to stop looking at him. "Understand me, boy?" Eye contact that shot a cold chill up 10K's spine.
10K's eyes drifted back towards the dark haired girl who had his brain racing for the last three days. Sleep had been out of the question, his mind wouldn't shut off long enough. His thoughts continuing to drift back to that moment on the street corner. Addy had been right he hadn't even thought of his count for that moment. "Understood." 10K responded as he felt the old man's eyes hovering on him.
"Good," the old man said slapping his hand on the hood of the truck 10K was perched on. "Now get down from there and turn the ignition so I can figure out whats wrong with this junk pile." The man was back to his jolly Santa Clause tone, and 10K was no longer curious how this man ran a compound so large.
10K sat by himself after dinner perched up on one of the many trucks when the dark pony-tailed girl hopped up on the truck with him, sitting by his side. "Warren told me you all are heading out tomorrow." Ashlyn said as she sat down. 10K adjusted his rifle to put it on his other side farther from the girl to his right. "I thought I would say goodbye, I am heading out on a run at dawn." She said, his eyes had been cast downward until she said that he actually looked over to her seeing her eyes were also cast down. 10K looked back out onto the compound that was surprisingly sparse on people as they began to file into the different places they all lived.
Ashlyn bit on her lip as she sat next to the boy, "I'm sorry... About in town." She said looking over to the boy who hadn't seemed like he even cared she was sitting next to him. "Addy seems like a nice girl." She said looking away from him, only to hear his voice chime in.
"Addy?" The confusion in his voice meant she would have to continue with her apology.
"I didn't realize you and Addy were a thing." She explained looking back to the boy who's eyes were now intently looking at her.
"Addy and me?" He asked with an inflection of almost disgust.
"Murphy told me at dinner the first night, I thought it was best to keep my distance after that. I just couldn't leave knowing I wouldn't get to see you again with a proper goodbye this time." Ashlyn's tone was so sincere and 10K felt his blood begin to boil.
The only girl that had occupied his thoughts in recent weeks had been avoiding him because of something Murphy said. It was really going to be a miracle if 10K would be able to get him to California without shooting the bastard. "Murphy." 10K managed to spit out through gritted teeth, shaking his head slightly. "Fucking blue bastard." He spit out with just as much venom as he had spoken his name.
He stood up with the full intention of punching Murphy in the face until either Warren or Vazquez pulled him off, when Ashlyn reached out for his gloved hand grabbing hold of it. "Don't." She stated, realizing by his actions that Murphy had probably lied to her that first night. "It's not worth it." She said as he sat back down next to her, she must have realized by 10K's tone that Murphy had lied to her.
"You have no idea how good it would feel though." 10K stressed as he looked over to the dark haired girl who had held his attention from the first second he saw her.
"So just to be clear you and Addy are just friends?" Ashlyn asked with a smile to which 10K nodded in agreement.
Ashlyn found herself laughing much to 10K's surprise, she was doubled over laughing like he had told her the best joke of the apocalypse. "What's so funny?" He asked not seeing what she found so humorous about the situation.
"We met again, completely by chance, yet we only have a few hours again before we are split apart." Ash began explaining, "you would think the end of the world would kill ironic situations but here we are." She finished leaning back onto the roof of the truck. "Ever notice that the stars still look as beautiful and mysterious as before the start?" She asked as he looked over to her.
He thought the same thing, but about her. Her dark hair in the messy ponytail, the dirt on her exposed skin, the way her tank top was loose and worn, all of those things should have taken away from her beauty yet they didn't they just reminded him of how beautiful her hair was, how sweet it had smelled that first night, how beautifully flawless her pale skin had been that was now tanning ever so gently. "Yeah, I've thought the same thing." 10K said before he realized how long he had been staring at the girl, his eyes getting caught by hers lingering on her form and not on the stars above their head.
"Come on," she commented sitting up and standing up in the truck bed. She waited for him for a moment to stand and follow her before she climbed down back onto the black top of the parking lot.
"Can I ask where you are taking me?" He asked with a curious tone followed by a smirk he couldn't manage to wipe from his lips.
"Now what would be the fun of that?" She said grabbing hold of his gloved hand as he tossed his rifle over the opposite shoulder.
"Well damn, I thought the kids had given up on each other." Doc told Warren as they sat outside of the truck stop in old lawn chairs.
Warren looked in the direction Doc was looking to see 10K and Ash walking towards the outskirts of the compound, the area Warren knew Ashlyn to have set up her own space in a run down old school bus. "Our little boy is really growing up then?" Warren asked the old man with a smile.
"Ever think about asking her to come with us? She is a good shot, we could always use another fighter." Doc pointed out.
Warren shook her head, "I asked already, she told me she has her own mission, and who am I to tell her which mission is more important. She helps keep this place running, this place has children, when was the last time you saw happy children?" Warren asked, silencing Doc's question with one of her own.
"Poor kid." Doc said watching the two dark haired teens disappear from his sight.
Ashlyn pulled 10K over to an old ran down school bus, he had seen the seats from the bus all around the compound so when he entered and saw it was instead filled with stacks of books, a mattress, and a milk crate with a battery powered lantern sitting atop of it. He wasn't fully surprised. "Furnished it myself." She said with a smile as he placed his rifle down against the railing the blocked the steps from rest of the area. Ashlyn pulled the lever to close the door back as 10K walked over to the old mattress, sitting on the edge picking up the old tattered copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
"I would have never guessed," he smiled up at her as she crossed back to him. As he looked around, he saw she had a back pack filled with all the necessities in case she had to leave in a hurry, a pile of dirty clothing and possibly clean clothing and she had covered most of the windows with different cloth, nailing it the ceiling in places, and just taping it up in others. She walked over and sat next to him on the mattress. "I want to find all of the books, but I mostly just read them to the kids. I remember what happened in most of the popular series." She said as he put the book back on the top of the pile he had pulled it from.
"I never read them." He said simply as he looked back to her, their faces closer than he had initially realized. Neither moved for a moment until she took a deep breath and began to pull away when his hand went up to her cheek. "So," he started not knowing if he actually knew where to go from here. He knew he wanted to kiss her, he had wanted to kiss her since the moment she pulled away from him on that street corner.
"So," she responded back, biting her lip gently. 10K found himself staring at her lips, as he felt her thumb run along his cheek as her hand touched his face, then his attention went to her eyes as she leaned in closing them and closing the gap between their lips.
His hands found their way around her, pulling her even closer to him while one entangled itself into her dark hair and kept her lips pressed on his. This kiss was similar to his first with the girl, an almost desperate and primal need to feel her on him. He found himself pushing her slightly with his body so they both fell backwards onto the mattress, him hovering over her as his lips moved from her lips to her jawline. His actions becoming motivated by the way she breathed beneath him. She seemed to be coming undone beneath him with just the way his lips brushed her skin and the way his teeth nipped at her bruising her skin slightly. "Jesus, ten..." She tried to breath out as she pushed at him and he pulled away giving them both a bit of breathing space.
Ashlyn sat up and pulled her loose worn tank over her head as she stared at him. He found himself shrugging out of his vest as her founds the hem of his shirt and began to pull it over his head. He quickly found his arm wrapping around her as he flipped them around placing her on top of him in a swift and surprisingly smooth motion on the mattress. As his lips reconnected with hers she seemed intent on running her hands on every piece of exposed skin she could touch on him, he didn't want to admit how much just the touch of her finger tips was turning him on as she moan against his mouth as he squeezed her waist in his hands, holding onto her like she could disappear at any moment. He pulled back from her lips, as she made quick work to move her hot lips onto his upper neck. He let out a groan as she nipped his skin gently. "Ash..." He breathed as one of his hands slid up her body until it reached her chin, she pulled back from his neck without him having to do it for her with his touch. "Come with us..." He knew as the words escaped his lips he was going to fighting a battle he didn't want.
"I can't." She said lowering her eyes, refusing to meet eye contact with him. She could, he knew that, the real answer was she didn't want too. He reached up and brushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear as his thumb brushed her cheek. "10K, can we just... Can we..." She seemed to be stuck on her words as their eyes met, her crystal ones were almost shimmering in the minimal light just like the stars had been before they had came into the bus.
"It's Tommy..." 10K admitted as his thumb continued to rub her cheek, he could tell he had upset her with asking her to come with him, but the way her eyes seemed to light up even more when he said his name.
"Well," she said leaning forward to brush her lips against his, "Tommy." She finished with a smile on her lips that he could feel against his own. "We have until dawn," she breathed before he could resist the urge no longer and pressed his lips roughly against hers.
Ashlyn was pulling on her boots as she looked over her shoulder to see the dark haired boy sleeping soundly on her bed, her sheet draped over most of his body leaving his chest still half exposed. She had decided not to wake him as she prepared for her run, instead she leaned over and kissed his cheek causing him to stir slightly as she grabbed her bag and left the bus as quietly as possible. She saw Sarge standing out in the middle of the lot next to a running closed top jeep. "Good morning peanut." He greeted her as she tossed her backpack into the passenger seat. "Be safe," he told her as she climbed into the driver seat with a weak smile. "It's not to late to change your mind," Sarge seemed to remind her as another person approached the jeep. Christopher was annoyed as he climbed into the passenger seat after having to move her backpack to the back seat.
"We will be back tomorrow afternoon." She told Sarge simply, to which he just smiled at her and nodded. She knew he was offering her a way out to spend more time with the visitors. She knew Sarge wanted her to do what she wanted not to feel like she was trapped their by the community that had formed in the truck stop.
Sarge walked around to the gate and pulled it open and allowed Ashlyn and Christopher to leave in the Jeep, taking off down the highway passing a couple of stray Z's in the distance as he pulled the gate back closed.
"Jesus Ash," Christopher's voice invading her peaceful drive, "did you even sleep last night?" He asked as the girl slipping flipped him the bird. "I'll take that as a no," he muttered before returning back to silence as she drove towards the rising sun.
10K woke up to an empty bed, the morning air was still slightly chilled compared to the rest of the day as he saw a piece of paper leaned perfectly against the empty pillow next to him, he rolled over and grabbed the note and in a beautiful neat hand writing he read her note.
We will meet again. This is just another page in the journey.
Ash
It was then he noticed the note was written on a page from one of the books she kept in her space. He sat up in the bed and ran his hand through his already messy hair with a shake of his head. He was annoyed she had left him again, but this time they had actually gotten their time together.
When he met up with the rest of Delta Xray Delta later that morning he climbed into the truck bed without a word and leaned against the glass of the cab. Warren was thanking Sarge for all his hospitality, Addy was happily settling into the back seat of the truck with Murphy, as Doc climbed into the bed with 10K. Doc smiled at 10K with this understanding look that brought 10K some comfort as he leaned against the barrel of his rifle.
He knew he should be happy that he had just even the night with her, but instead all he wanted was to complete his mission so he could find her again, and this time he would be help her complete her mission so they could just escape together. He told himself he was allowed to be aggravated and upset until the truck came to a stop, and then he would focus on one thing. California.