The next day was rough. I ached from sleeping on uneven ground and my comrades did not look any better rested than me. I questioned if we would make it through this since with each day we would be worse for wear. We were also on a timeline because our supplies wouldn’t last longer than the six days we were supposed to be out here.

“Okay, so we all survived a big trauma together yesterday so could we at least chat while we’re hiking? I will probably lose my mind if I spend these silent,” a member of squad D said. His name was Haru and he controlled wind. He was Japanese and had dark hair and dark eyes. He kept to himself for the most part and his wind power wasn’t anything super special, but he was a quick thinker.

“We probably shouldn’t talk because of the Reapers right?” Levon replied.

“Well scientists said they can’t hear very well. They mostly sense us through smell and sight,” Haru countered.

“Then what topic would you suggest we talk about?” Jamison grumbled obviously not liking the idea. I also got the sense he was fed up with the silence as well.

“Well, where is everyone from? I mean before the meteor. We all know names and powers and fighting skills, but other than that we never talked much to each other during the training,” Haru suggested.

“We’re from Minneapolis,” Ash said gesturing to Seth and me.

“You all know each other right? You three are always together even during training,” Paul said.

“Seth and Ash are siblings. I met them three years after the meteor and we all stuck together after that,” I explained.

“I’m from Chicago,” Levon offered. Everyone offered up their hometowns and that spurred another topic of favorite restaurants to eat at in their hometowns. The mood seemed to get better as people talked to each other and it helped the time go by faster so I didn’t see any harm in it.

It seemed eerily quiet out, but I figured Ash would be able to sense them like she had yesterday. We had finally reached the area where we would have to climb. We were all getting our gear ready to climb when I looked at Haru, thinking of an idea.

“Hey Haru. Would you be able to use you wind to lift yourself up?” I asked him.

“Umm, I guess I’ve floated before why?”

“Can you float to scout the area for any Reapers?”

“Got it, boss!” He activated his power and floated away. I wondered if he could float with multiple people and that could cut down our trip by an entire day. I would ask him when he got back.

“Can’t the shrink just feel the Reapers coming?” Jamison questioned.

“The shrink?” Seth asked confused.

“Feelings girl here. She can sense all our feelings so she’s basically a shrink,” Jamison laughed and put his arm around Ash’s shoulders. I instantly grew angry but resisted the urge to pummel Jamison for his behavior. Ash shoved him away from her looking annoyed.

“I can feel them once they get a certain distance away. And just because I can feel emotions doesn’t mean I care all that much. Especially for you,” Ash snapped. She was not in the mood to play along with Jamison. I had to admit that she did look cute with such an angry face though. I couldn’t wait until we were safe again so we could go back to our normal relationship and I could touch her without worry again.

“I don’t know what you see in her Liam. She’s not very friendly,” Jamison scoffed.

“Only to you because you’re an asshole,” Seth laughed. He was getting a kick out of all this. He was always very even keel and could find the humor in anything. I had always admired him for that. There had been only a couple of times since I’ve known him that he had lost his cool and that was when Ash was hurt or in danger.

“Don’t some women like assholes? I mean I’ve never had a problem getting any before,” Jamison grumbled.

“Smart women stay away from men like you. Now would it help to imagine me as a man so you can stop pointing out I’m a woman every second you get?”

“Alright. If we can’t get along then we will have to stop the chit chatting,” Levon said in a stern voice. I was thankful he stepped up for that because I wasn’t very objective when it came to Ash. I was ready to jump in for her whenever she needed it.

Haru came back and landed beside me. “Coast is clear.”

“Can you float us up as well or would we need to climb?” I asked him.

“I could probably take one person at a time, but I don’t have the energy to get all of you up there before nightfall,” he replied.

“Alright, get started. We will split up. Take Seth up first since he would be able to defend himself on his own. Once you get four of us up there we will set up camp, rest and you’ll take the rest up tomorrow. This’ll cut our trip by a day so I do appreciate your power right now,” I said.

Haru nodded and went over to Seth. They began to float up to the top of the rubble to the base of the meteor. It was risky splitting us up, but I figured this was the best way. I told everyone else to set up camp except the people that would be going up. I would send Levon then Ash then Paul up today and the rest of us would go up in the morning. I knew that Seth would take care of Ash, but I sincerely prayed we weren’t attacked when we were separated.

As I laid out my bed roll Ash approached me. “I’m not going up without you,” she told me.

“This isn’t up for debate Ash,” I replied trying to end the conversation.

“But I need to be with you so I can warn you about any Reapers.”

“No you need to go with Seth so you can warn them about any Reapers. I have a predictive power remember? I can handle it down here plus we will have Jamison’s fire.”

“This isn’t fair!” Ash was not going to let this die easily. She had that stubborn look on her face she would get when she was young and Seth and I would try to get her to stop doing raids. She would always cross her arm, jut out her hip and narrow her eyes when she was getting ready to argue.

I pulled on her arm to take her away from the group. Jamison made some snide remark about us going to make out as we left, but I wasn’t going to waste my breath on him right now. Once we were out of earshot I let go of Ash’s arm. “Listen, I know you don’t agree with me but I can’t have you questioning my plans in front of everyone. We are already on shaky ground with everyone not trusting each other. I want them to trust that my decisions are the best ones.”

Her expression softened a bit showing me she understood. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m scared and being around you calms me,” she sighed. Her voice was trembling a bit and I could see tears in her eyes. “Everyone’s fear and hopelessness is starting to get to me I guess and since I can’t feel your feelings it more calming.”

“Ash…” I pulled her into my arms and brought my hand up into her light brown hair. Her arms wrapped around my waist and breathed in slowly. “Sorry if I smell bad. I will be so happy to get a shower when we get back.”

She giggled a little. “You always crack jokes at inappropriate times. I’m serious about not splitting up though.”

“It’s only for the night. This isn’t really something we can compromise on. I’m sorry,” I said. Her green eyes met mine and she nodded solemnly. As much as I hated disappointing Ash I knew this was the best decision for all of us. I leaned down and kissed Ash lightly. God, how I missed having this type of contact with her.

“When we kiss I can almost imagine we aren’t here and we’re back in our apartment safe and sound,” she said.

“What I would give to go back there and be in our bed again. I should’ve taken advantage of all the time we had together before where I rushed or just fell into the motions. Next time we are stable I will not make that mistake twice and I will take all the time in the world to explore every part of you,” I smirked down at her suggestively.

“I’ll look forward to that,” she smiled at me and kissed me again. I didn’t want to part from her yet. Who knows when we would have another moment of peace like this? I wanted to stay in this moment for as long as I could.

...

Night fell and it was just Jamison, Haru, a member of squad D named Jeff, and me at the bottom of the rubble. I felt uneasy not knowing how Ash was. I laid on the bedroll and it was Jamison’s shift to watch out for Reapers.

“So how is she in bed?” Jamison asked me after noticing I was awake.

“Give it a rest would ya? This tough guy act isn’t fooling anyone and it’s not funny to talk about a guy’s girlfriend like that,” I growled at him.

He chuckled a bit. “Alright, I’ll stop. Maybe I’m a little jealous. At least if we die, you’ll be with your girlfriend. None of us have anyone else like you have here. We are all alone.”

I finally understood Jamison. He was just scared and that made him act out towards people. I understood why he was scared. We all were. “Listen, Jamison, when I was with the contractors I was very good at what I did. Whenever I would get into a team with other people I tried my hardest to make sure everyone made it through without dying or getting seriously hurt. I’ve only ever lost two people so far. One when I was with the Contractors on a job and then yesterday with Michelle. I think the odds are in our favor even if it does feel like a suicide mission.”

Jamison gave me a hard stare before nodding. I didn’t know if my little speech made him feel better, but I wanted him to know that I was going to try my hardest to not lose anyone else on this trek. “I know I talk a lot of shit, but you are amazing in the heat of the moment. Sorry I didn’t see that before.”

“It’s fine. As long as we understand each other now,” I stated.