I didn’t realize I was staring at her, and Cade, until I caught him staring back at me. I blinked in surprise, my face colored, and I ducked my head quickly. Abby giggled softly beside me. “I think he likes you.”
“He’s just a friend,” I responded quickly, perhaps a little too quickly.
Abby stared up at me, her eyes widening slightly. She had only been teasing but my reaction to her, and my focus on Cade, had not escaped her attention. Abby might have written off the kiss she had witnessed earlier as the heat of the moment, temporary insanity, curiosity, or simple fear, but I could see the dawning realization in her gaze. “Bethy,” she whispered in horror.
“How are you doing?” I asked softly trying to change the conversation.
“Bethany whatare you doing?”
“Nothing Abby. How are you holding up?”
She stared at me for a moment longer, her dark eyes wide and caring. I could tell she wanted to say more, but eventually she decided to go with my change of subject. “Surviving, just like everyone else.”
I wondered how we were surviving at all. How we were still moving and going and carrying on through all of this. I could barely think of our mother, I was afraid I would turn into a sobbing mess if I did think about her for too long. We were all exhausted, hungry, beaten, and terrified, and yet we continued to move on, continued to fight and struggle for our lives no matter how frightening, uncomfortable, and uncertain they had become. Abby leaned against my side, her head against my arm. She was strong, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to take much more. I wasn’t so sure any of us could.
“We’re going to survive though.”
I turned my attention back to Abby, forcing a smile to my face. “Yes we are.”
I hoped that I wasn’t lying to her, but deep down I felt I was. We moved through the woods, skirting the roads, staying within the shadows. As we approached the Sagamore bridge I was surprised to see that all of its lights were still on, and blazing brightly. For a moment I stopped to stare, recalling all of the times that I had seen the bridge lit up like this. It was a beautiful, sweeping, glowing beacon against the dark night. Yet, even though it looked much the same, it was completely different.
It was the middle of the summer and the bridge was completely deserted. Last summer the bridge had been packed with traffic, the sound of cars had filled the night as tourists came and went at a slow pace. Now there was nothing there except for the lights, and almost certain death.
“The lights are on,” Jenna said softly. “We can’t go across if the lights are on. They’ll spot us instantly.”
“We’ll try the Bourne bridge,” one of the members of the other group said.
“The lights will be on there too,” I told them.
“You can’t know that,” a woman retorted sharply.
No, I couldn’t know it for sure, but it was more than likely true. They just didn’t want to believe it, yet.
“We’ll go to the other bridge,” Cade said reasonably. “It’s not that far. If we stick to the edge of the woods and move quickly, we can get there before daybreak.”
I licked my lips nervously. We hadn’t discussed if we were going to attempt the crossing. I knew that Jenna was for it, but what did everyone else feel? I didn’t want to split up our group, I didn’t want to stay on this side, but I didn’t want to cross. I looked to Aiden, but he was quietly conversing with one of the men.
I thought of the other bridge, and then I thought of something else. “What about the military base?” I asked quietly. They all turned to me, frowning as they stared at me in the night. Their eyes were oddly lit by the moonlight filtering through the trees. “I know it’s closed. I know the aliens kicked everyone off of it, but it’s big, and it’s wooded. There are a lot of places to hide there, a lot of buildings we can sneak into. And there might be weapons still there, or maybe even food.”
They were silent for a long moment as they thought over my words. “I don’t know the base very well,” one man said.
“The aliens could be out there,” another woman replied. “Wouldn’t it make sense for them to take over that place, and use it as their own?”
I couldn’t argue with that, it wouldmake sense, but I doubted the aliens were on the base. I didn’t think they would want to take up any sort of permanent residence down here. They hated us; they thought nothing of us, which was very obvious by the fact that they were hunting us like rabid animals and putting us down without hesitation. And now that I had thought about the base, I wasn’t ready to let it go. There could be weapons out there still; there wouldbe places to hide. There may even be places that we could make a stand, places we could defend ourselves from. We couldn’t run forever, we wouldn’t survive long doing that. Our supplies were limited.
The bridges were a terrifying thought, and one that I did not want to commit to.
But as much as the base was taking root in my mind, I could tell that they were dead set against it. “We need to get to the mainland,” another man in the group said.
I sighed softly, Abby’s hand tightened on my arm. There was no reasoning with them, no arguing with them. They had their minds set. I looked toward Aiden, but he wasn’t going to argue, I could see that on his face. He felt the mainland was the best option also. Terror rolled down my spine, they were going to get themselves killed, and they were going to take my friends and family with them.
I didn’t argue as we fell into step with them. Though it was almost five miles, we arrived at the Bourne bridge far faster than I would have liked. I stared at the impressive metal structure arching gracefully over the canal, it was the twin in many ways to the Sagamore. It was utterly eerie and frightening. I kept waiting for the Twilight Zone music to start playing, kept waiting for somethingto happen. I suddenly felt as if we were the only people left on earth, as if we had been sucked into some strange time loop or perhaps were even being punked. I kept waiting for someone to jump out and yell, ‘Surprise, or Gotcha!’
Neither of those things happened.
The lights of the bridge blazed brightly, lighting up the dark night sky. It was hauntingly beautiful, achingly empty. The roadway leading to it was as bright as day to me. It almost seemed as if the lights were trying to entice us forward, trying to lure us onto the soaring structure like a mouse to cheese. I was certain we would be snapped up the minute we stepped out of the shadows of the forest.
Abby stood on tiptoe, pulling me closer to her. “I don’t want to cross it.”
I shook my head, pressing my finger against my lips for her to keep quiet. The others gathered together, talking softly amongst themselves. Abby and I stayed back. I didn’t want to separate, it was the lastthing I wanted to do, but I was not going to cross that bridge, and I was not going to let them make Abby cross it either. I didn’t know what we would do if we were left behind, but I was willing to take my chances on this side rather than step onto that death trap.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Cade was shaking his head firmly, his arms crossed over his chest. Abby clung tighter to me; I could feel small tremors running through her petite frame. Jenna was behind Cade, nodding as he shook his head. Cade looked troubled and worried as Jenna eagerly followed the conversation. Aiden was hanging slightly back, looking unsure of either option while Bret was listening to each argument intently, trying to decipher which course of action he felt would be best.
“I need you to stay here Abby.”
I tried to free myself from her grip, but she only clung tighter to me. “No.”
“Abby…”
But it didn’t matter; the group was beginning to break apart. Aiden was coming toward us. I could tell by the set of his shoulders, and the determination in his eyes, that I was not going to like what he had to say. I braced myself, my jaw clenching tightly.