Only Hope Left

Every mile bothered her, it made her edgy and excitement ran through her veins. Was she closer? Surely her little girl was just fine, she had raised her to be independent; she remembered the time she had lost her in the mall, she had found her in the food court ordering herself a kids meal, solely because she was hungry. She laughed for a long time afterward; her daughter had acted as if it was nothing, as if they have never parted.

She was injured too, she held her side as the blood slowly seeped out from between her fingers and into the seat, Jason sat calmly beside her, looking down at the oversized cut. It was his fault, but he wouldn’t acknowledge it; damned rich bastard still had his pride. She set her mouth in a thin line and focused on the road before her. Damn rich bastard, those words echoed her mind. It seems like the nicest thing she’s called him since she arrived at his apartment to take away him and his lover, Victoria.

“Hey, focus would ya!” Jason shouted as the truck began to slowly go over the yellow line; she rolled her eyes, “I don’t want to have to go after her by myself, and say ‘oh yeah by the way Sera’s dead’.”

Sera kept her mouth shut but let her foot tap the brakes; Jason- who wasn’t paying attention- smashed his forehead off of the dash before she hit the gas again to continue on. Jason mumbled something under his breath that kind of sounded like “fucking bitch.” Sera smirked, as he righted himself and stared out the windshield.

It was quite for another few miles, the sun was going down and they needed to set up camp. Sera pulled off of the highway and saw a corner store; she pulled up to it, it looked deserted. Rubbish flowed along the ground as the wind blew, Jason looked up from the window and up at the store, he sighed and reached in the back for the gun bag.

He pulled the duffle bag into his lap and pulled out a hunting rifle and filled it full of bolts, as she grabbed one of his shirts and ripped it in half. He glared at her for a moment before reaching for another gun, Sera’s pistol and filling it too. She grabbed the only bit of medical tape they had left, and folded up the rip shirt to cover her wound, then taped it on.

Sera held out her hand and he placed her pistol in the palm of it and she checked to make sure he placed the bolts in the clip properly, poking at them slightly before sliding it in place.

“We have to make this quick.” Sera said, she unbuckled herself, “we need medical supplies, a new map, and any imperishable foods,” she reached in the back and grabbed a burlap sack, “you’re in charge of the imperishable foods, I’ll get the other two then keep guard.”

Jason didn’t disagree with her; he grabbed the burlap sack and his gun, unbuckled himself from the seat, and quietly slipped out of the truck, as Sera did the same. They quickly got in and slipped out, Jason quickly circled to the back of the truck stuffing the sack in the trunk then slammed it shut, and walked to the passenger side.

They finally calmed down as they reached a dirt road, quite away from the store. The sun had set and Sera parked the truck, she shimmed to the back seats, Jason had already fell asleep in the passenger side she placed a blanket in the driver’s side just in case he woke up cold and shifted the gun bag to the floor. Sera sprawled out on the back crossing her arms over her chest and drifting off.

----

She felt the truck shift, driving over a bump. Thinking that the truck somehow shifted out of gear she sprang up her side now throbbed and she quickly reached for it as she looked at the driver’s seat.
“I thought you could use some more sleep so I decided not to wake you.” Sera pulled her body up into the passenger seat, as Jason explained himself. She pulled out the map, to find where they were on it.

“We’re gonna start taking back roads now.” She said, as she grabbed a permanent marker from the visor above her head and traced out the alternative route, “take your next left.”

Jason followed Sera’s directions, the back roads hardly had any of the creatures roaming around, only a couple of times did the two ever see them was in the distance.

“Hey, Sera,” Jason had said softly as he attempted to shake her awake, she swatted his hand away, and grumbled as she sat up. Jason sat back in his seat as he drove up a road to an old farm house.
This is when Sera realized she didn’t know where they were.

“Where the hell you headed, boy?” she asked him, she sat up and pain seeped out of the cut.
“I checked the cut, it’s infected.” He said as he led the truck around the turns. “I’m seeing if my Uncle’s still around.”

“Look you little shit; I don’t have time for a family reunion.” She shouted at him, Jason slammed on the breaks making the muscles in Sera’s stomach tense. She winced in pain.

“Look, I’m really getting tired of this. I get pissy with you and you yell at me, I do nice things for you and you yell at me.” he shouted, “the fuck is your problem?”

Sera’s jaw tightened, and her lip curled up, “how could you let her walk away like that?” She finally said, Jason shook his head and turned his attention back to the dirt road. “How? Like really, Jason, did you even know about everything that was happening? Are you really that oblivious?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He murmured, Sera choked out a laugh, and shook her head but didn’t say anything else.

The truck slowly crawled up the hill; the Jason finally put it in park, he got out just as people filed out onto the porch. A girl from the porch with short brown hair ran up to him and hugged him, Sera filed out of the truck, pulling the keys out of the ignition that Jason neglected to take out.

Jason slowly pealed the young girl off of him and circled around to my side of the truck, she glared at him until he moved aside.

“My friend here is hurt; I think her cut is infected. I’m gonna grab our stuff and put it in the house.” She glared back at him, but said nothing as two blonde girls ushered her towards the house. She refused help as they attempted to lay her down in the bed closest to the front door.

“Wait here,” the taller older blonde said, Sera sat at the edge of the bed and eased herself onto it. “Hershel will be with you in a second.”

Sera rolled her eyes after the blondes left, and placed her gun on the bed side table and tucked her shirt into her bra; she slowly peeled off the makeshift bandage then threw it in the waste basket by the door. The cut had crusted over and yellowed, the skin around it had reddened and was sore.
Hershel walked in and seemed to pause before placing down bandages and gauze.

“Now I don’t know how well this will work.” He said looking down at her cut. “It looks like your wound is pretty swollen.”

He took a moment, but he cleaned her cut. He exited telling her to get some sleep. Sera sighed and stared up at the ceiling in silence, the silence was briefly interrupted by Jason.

“I brought you your stuff.” He said, setting her bags down. Sera ignored him and continued to look up at the ceiling, giving him a window to escape.

Jason paused for a second at the door; his fingers hovered around the door handle. But something stopped him from exciting the room. He closed his eyes tightly knowing that he was about to regret what he was about to do.

“I didn’t mean to leave her behind.” Sera propped herself up on the bed with her elbows. She cocked an eyebrow at him, as if questioning if he really wanted to mess with her, but he stayed standing before her so she sat up.

“Oh?” She said questioningly, urging him to continue.

“I wanted to go back, believe me I did. But there were so many people, everyone was so confused and they all were just…” Sera stayed quite. “I don’t know. I panicked.”

“That’s why I don’t like you.” She said, she stood up from the bed, and Jason took a couple of steps back. “You panic; you act to save your own ass; leaving her hanging.”

It was Jason’s turn to be silent; he swallowed the lump in his throat as she continued.

“When you make a commitment like you two did…” Sera shook her head, and wiped her hands over her face.

Jason made a slight noise in the back of his throat. Sera looked up at him sternly; her mouth set in a thin line then slightly softened.

“Marriage is a huge commitment. It takes a lot of trust; she trusts you to be with her unconditionally, she trusts you to be there for her.” She ranted, “Do you know what that means? Do you know how much that means to her?”

Jason inhaled deeply, “I know, okay? I fucked up, I know, and I may not have a second chance but I’m trying to make up for my selfishness.”

Sera lay back looking at the ceiling, Jason had turned the knob; it creaked as it opened the door.
She had to listen closely to hear his next words, “I hope your little girls okay.”