I glance at Dani, who still seems to be struggling for words, but she eventually nods as well, mirroring their sentiment. Nearly moved to tears by their eagerness to help, I smile at them. "Thank you, everyone. Unfortunately, with my sister's concussion, I don't think we'll be able to leave soon without risking brain damage," I glance at Octavia, who looks a little nauseous, "well, any more brain damage than she already has."

Octavia pouts. "Hey!"

"So until she's feeling a little better, it looks like we might be sticking around a little bit longer." 

Josh and Sparrow exchange excited grins, Sparrow patting me on the shoulder. "Awesome! Well, less awesome because of the concussion thing, but awesome that you're sticking around longer! You guys have so far been the most interesting people I've met in the apocalypse."

Josh pouts mockingly, putting his hands on his hips and casting Sparrow a glare. "There's no need to be rude; I know Dani's pretty boring, but pointing it out is only gonna make her broodier."

Dani casts an incredulous look at Josh, incredibly offended, and I can't help the laugh that bubbles up from me. 

"I'm not boring!" Dani claims. "Or broody!" 

Josh gives casts a knowing look her way, glancing between Dani and me. "Casting glares and always looking pissed off is pretty broody to me, and you never talk about yourself; boring!"

"I don't know," I chime in, giving Dani a considering look. "I think her stubbornness about not wanting to talk about herself adds a little mystery. Some people might find it charming."

Dani's face dusts with pink as she sputters, finally lost for words. She grumbles something under her breath, shoving her hands in her pockets and glaring away from us as everyone shares a laugh at her expense. 

Just as the tension is beginning to lift from our laughter, Matt stalks over with Leon to ruin our fun. "You're seriously laughing right now?" Matt growls. "We just lost the only protection we've had for three and a half years, and you're laughing?!" 

Josh steps in front of Matt before he can get nose to nose with me, holding his hands out to keep him at bay. "Calm down, man. We just went through Hell, and we're just trying to cope, same as everyone else."

"You're cracking jokes after we literally lost everything! It hasn't even been an hour, and you're cackling like children! Do you even understand the situation we're in now?!" 

Leon puts a hand on Matt's shoulder, stopping him from saying anything else. "Calm down, Murphy. Everyone copes in their own way," Leon says, his voice flat as he gives our group a once-over. Octavia, Felix, and Jocelynn move towards us when they see our group gathering. 

"Ethan and I talked over a plan of action," Leon says once we're all in one place, Ethan's people back over by the bus. "We're going to wait here until tomorrow evening to see if anyone else from camp shows up. Regardless of whether or not anyone comes, we'll be leaving at sundown towards Eton to resupply, then start moving to the coast."

I blink, confused. "Why the coast? You said you were going to head north, didn't you?" 

"Yes, but we decided that since we still don't know if the Widow's have migrated north yet, it would be best to move through territory with a familiar enemy. On top of that, Feral's can't swim, and the coast is one of the best defensible places we can put ourselves."

"You'd rather move through territory crawling with enemies who know your face, who would shoot you on sight, rather than risk a potential threat that might not even exist?" I challenge.

Leon's eyes narrow, and Dani rests her hand on my shoulder, gripping it sternly, warning me to stop while I'm ahead.

Leon takes a steadying breath before he speaks, his voice even and his eyes cold. "It's naive to think no threat would exist up north. We know exactly who we are dealing with when it comes to the Widow's and are more than prepared to deal with them accordingly."

I scoff; right, because you're so prepared to deal with them that you enlisted the help of three strangers to protect you, bolster your defenses, and save your only medical professional. But, for the sake of everyone else, I decide to keep my thoughts to myself and simply roll my eyes. 

"Sure," I grumble, shaking Dani's hand away as I stalk towards the edge of the woods to clear my head. "Leon knows best. That's why you're the fearless leader and why my family and I aren't sticking around to watch you set yourselves on fire."

Behind me, I hear Leon give orders to the others. "Josh, Sparrow, I want you two with Ethan and Murphy checking the perimeter for Ferals. Dani, Jocelynn, see to the wounded. I want everyone ready to move out tomorrow afternoon." 

The rest of his words fade into nothingness as I walk further into the woods, preferring the peace of the trees over the arguing of people. Ever since Uncle Tommy taught me how to hunt, I've always felt more at home in the woods than in any house I've ever lived in. The trees never talk back to you, they don't argue with you, and the chances of them ordering you to do something stupid are minuscule. 

They simply exist, passing the time, breathing and growing without the ability to worry about the future. I sigh, taking out the map I retrieved from the lumber yard and giving it a look over. For the most part, it seems untouched, save for my dried-up bloody fingerprints all over it, though luckily, I can still read what it says. 

It looks like we're a little over a hundred miles away from Atlanta; if we keep up a steady walking pace and stick to the highway, we might be able to make it in a couple of days. However, with Octavia's concussion, we shouldn't push her too much, or we really could cause severe damage, and there's no telling what we might run into the closer we get to our destination. Driving there would be out of the question the closer we get to the capital, especially if the highway is clogged with abandoned vehicles like in Memphis.

Wintertime is getting close, too; I don't know how the cold weather is here, but if we have too much snow like last year, we'll end up being delayed again. I curse under my breath, gripping the map and patting my pocket for the locket. 

My blood freezes. 

I pat harder, digging through the pockets of my jeans and bomber, then fumbling through my backpack. 

Where is it?

Where's the locket?! 

Did I drop it back at Cottonwood? Is it in the RV?

"Looking for something?" I whirl around to face my brother, eyeing me with concern. Octavia follows closely behind him.

"The locket," I tell him, triple checking my pockets. 

"Hey, calm down," he says, digging in his pockets as he approaches. "You gave it to me for safekeeping, remember? When you went to get Dani and Matt?" Felix pulls the locket out of his pocket and holds it out to me.

I feel instant relief when the cold metal of the cursed object touches my palm, now feeling the exhaustion from the day's events. "I'm... sorry..." I mutter, pinching the bridge of my nose and sitting on a log. "We'll be heading out before these guys leave for the south. I don't trust Leon, and Ethan looks like he's just waiting to stick a knife in my throat."

Octavia bristles. "But we're safer in numbers."

"No," I return, "we're a bigger target in numbers. What do you think is going to happen when we encounter another hoard? Or a larger group of Widows? The more people we have with us, the more confusion there is." 

"But-"

"On top of that, Ethan has made it clear that he does not like us very much, Matt gave you a concussion, and Leon is hiding something." 

"We're hiding something too, you know."

"We don't even know what we're hiding. This thing?" I dangle the locket between my fingers. "No idea what it is. But Mom said it was important we get it to her, and Uncle Tommy... disappeared, trying to get it to her."

"Mom was talking insanity when she called, Cass. She wasn't in her right mind!"

"She was scared for us, Tavia. So was Uncle Tommy."

"Not scared enough to want us to stay safe instead of being suicidal delivery boys."

"We've been keeping safe."

"We just haven't died yet! What's going to happen if I die before getting to the CDC? What's going to happen if Felix dies before we get there?! What happens if Mom is dead? Or not even there?" Octavia throws her hands in the air, her voice becoming more hysterical. "Do you even have a plan B? We left Uncle Tommy behind, for God's sake!"

"We didn't have a choice!" 

Octavia quiets, watching me, her chest heaving. 

"We didn't have a choice in leaving him behind Octavia, and you know that just as much as I do. That warehouse was burning and overrun, and he told us to keep heading towards Mom. He made me promise to keep you two safe until we got there, and I'm not breaking that promise, no matter how much you insist that I do." 

"But he-"

"Also made me promise to make sure this stupid little trinket got to Mom."

"We don't even know what it is!"

"So why would we assume it wasn't important? You know Mom's mantra was always 'don't judge a book by its cover.' Whatever is inside this is important enough for her to risk everything in getting it to her, and she trusted Uncle Tommy enough to keep us safe. He trusted me enough to keep you guys safe." I sigh, running my hands through my hair. "All I ask is that you trust me enough to keep you safe, too."

"I do trust you," Octavia sighs. "I just want to stop while we're ahead. You've been carrying this burden for, what, four years now?"

"Three years and eight months..."

Octavia gives me a knowing look. "Exactly. We've been lucky so far, and I don't want to push our luck any more than we have. Besides, what's the harm in having some new friends?" 

"We can't give up, not when we're so close. We're just under a hundred miles away from the CDC; it's just a few more days of walking. If we leave early and avoid the main road, we could be there in a week, two tops. Then, we can finally reunite with Mom and get the Hell out of there. Maybe if Leon stops being such a dick, we could even consider going to the coast for shelter and join back up with them."

Octavia stares at me, her lips set. I glance over at Felix, who shrugs, not wanting to be involved. Finally, our sister groans, running her hands over her face and taking a deep breath. "Fine," she grumbles. "One hundred miles. If we get sidetracked again with a group like this, we're staying with them, where ever they go, deal?" 

I give her a tired smile. I open my mouth to reply, but the snapping sound of a twig and a series of crunching leaves interrupts me. I launch to my feet, drawing my bow and aiming in the direction of the sound. Unfortunately, between the thick branches, twigs, and leaves that separate my arrow from my target and the retreating form of what looks to be a Feral, I can't get a clear shot of it. The figure veers off from the path to the rest stop, but I don't entirely trust our safety out there. 

"Come on, let's get back to the three-ring circus before they send the clown brigade in here after us," I tell my brother and sister, shouldering my bow and placing my arrow back in its quiver. 

"Yeah," Felix says, keeping an eye out around us. "Last thing we need is Matt blaming us for a Feral getting to someone at the rest stop." 

"We still have a whole twenty-four hours for him to blame us for something," I groan. "Give it time; he seems a creative sort."