Shan sighed heavily, her shaky hand relieving the tension on her bow's string. She pulled the arrow from the well waxed string and gave her lover a scowl, which softened the second his eyes left her own. She worried about him, in his current state. Although she knew he wouldn't 'slip' on her, he seemed broken, and part of her wished that they could go back to the school, and try the whole survival thing again. At least he was okay, then…as best as could be expected.

She shook the thoughts from her mind with a small shiver, and followed him across the stream. Once close enough for him to touch her, she began rummaging in her small handbag, where she pulled out a handful of dandelions. She gave a small smirk, until he began rummaging for the guns. It was something she wasn't ready for him to address yet. She wasn't ready to deal with him moving on. Moving on meant he was a little colder, and a little more withdrawn. It meant losing a little more of who he was…

She gave a sad look, putting the dandelions in her pocket long enough to take the gun from his hand. Slowly she stashed it in her bag, careful not to cover it in pollen from her snacks, and then sighed and snapped at him. Waiting for him to look up, she placed one dandelion behind her ear, and then held the rest out, a small energy shot for him…and hopefully a sign of hope amongst the non edible forest.

She snapped one more time, wishing she could get her damn voice back for more than goose like honks and whispers.

"Hey…", she whispered softly, smirking.

----------

Travis woke up and nearly screamed, his head darting toward every corner of the tiny car he slept in. His hair had grown out considerably since he lost everything, and still…he had nothing. He hadn't eaten in days, and until the night before, he had nowhere to sleep. The world around this stretch of national forest was wet, and cruel. Without Shan, the woods were dangerous, and full of poisonous plants, waiting for him to kill himself.

It crossed his mind, every now and again. The few bullets he had left were saved, just in case he ever got the nerve. She was his only hope in this world, and she was either dead, or as good as dead, with her handicap. 

This was his morning, every morning. He thought about what went wrong, and the fact that he was alone. It wasn't that he cared about the people who had died, but she did…

The growls of the dead began to close in on him again, forcing him to open the door next to him and stumble out onto the gravel road. Staring out across the horizon at the mountain peak, towering above the tall trees. With a shaky sigh, he gripped his sore ribs, and began walking down the crunch gravel, backpack hanging off of one shoulder. This could possibly be his last day on this earth...