A Candle in the Dark

There were two people missing from the camp. No one had noticed the first night. On the second, somebody noticed that their tent was unoccupied. By the third, the camp was in an uproar. Everyone had their own theory as to what had happened to Lynnette and Phillip, each more outlandish than the last.

It was the morning of the fourth day, and Ezra was preparing to search through the surrounding forest. It was entirely possible that they had lost their way, however unlikely. His personal thoughts on the matter — and on everyone else’s mind — were that the couple had been taken by Snatchers. That would explain the silence on the night they went missing. Phillip carried a pistol, although he never went on expeditions out of the camp, and if they were in danger of Walkers he would’ve used it. At least Ezra thought so. But there had been no gunshots. He figured it was extremely unlikely that they’d travelled far enough for gunfire to go unheard.

He was ashamed to admit it, but Ezra hadn’t been thinking about the missing couple all that much. Most of his thoughts in the last four days had been entirely focused on Astrid, and why she barely spoke two words to him each day. He’d thought that they were going somewhere after that first day, he’d been sure of it in fact. But now it was like a switch had gone off in her head, and Astrid’s face was carefully blank whenever he approached her. Before he could start a conversation, she would excuse herself and go walking with Monroe. Ezra didn’t understand what he’d done wrong.

But she was coming on the search party. Considering she didn’t even know Lynnette or Phillip, it was a nice thing for her to do. And Ezra knew that if they encountered trouble, Astrid’s abilities would definitely come in handy. She had a better shot than Carter. Who, on the other hand, was still coming on the search despite his injury.

It was amazing, really. Carter was missing his pinkie and ring finger, but he could still shoot a gun with startling accuracy. He was shaky with a rifle because his grip slipped constantly, but he handled a pistol like a pro. His left hand was wrapped in white gauze, and every few seconds he flexed his remaining fingers.

The search party had seven members. Ezra himself, Carter, Jack, Bill, Maddie, Astrid, and Javier. Ezra had uttered a whispered complaint to Jack about letting Javier come along, but then realized he’d rather have him around than pulling his sister along when Ezra wasn’t there to stop it.

At dawn, they were off. Monroe, who had a tendency to wander ahead, was glued to Astrid’s side. In the morning light, Ezra found himself distracted by Astrid. Sun glittered through the trees and set her hair on fire. It was down, he noticed, and not tied back in a pony tail or braid the way she usually kept it. The crimson strands were tucked behind her ears. Ezra had come to understand that Astrid considered her hair an inconvenience. She was always pushing it away from her face and muttering to herself while she tugged at the locks mercilessly.

There was a tap on his shoulder. Ezra’s gaze shifted to Maddie. Her lips were pulled into a frown, and she spoke in hushed tones. “You aren’t still thinking about her, are you?”

He didn’t answer that.

“Because, if you haven’t noticed, she’s been avoiding you.”

Ezra gave her a look that said he had, in fact, noticed.

“Well, in that case, I suggest you take this opportunity to talk to her. She does like you, y’know. I don’t know why she’s acting the way she is.”

His eyebrows shot up and he stared at Maddie’s back as she jogged up to Carter and Jack. It didn’t seem like such a long shot that Astrid liked him, but he couldn’t fathom why that would cause her to stay away. In his perspective, it was even more important now to tell somebody how you felt, knowing that life could be taken away at any moment. He recalled, with a hint of irony, his favourite movie, Dead Poet’s Society. Ezra had never been a Robin Williams fan, but there was something about that movie that always stuck with him.

A plan began to form in his mind, but Ezra forced himself to push it aside. Getting Astrid’s attention was not the most important issue, finding Phillip and Lynnette was. But there was no shame in talking to her while they searched the forest, he decided after a few minutes of internal conflict.