Born 01 - Born

month for no reason was much worse.
    I realize how far ahead of them I am when I come out of my daydream and can't hear them. I look back. They are laughing and walking like it's a stroll in the park. I glance up in the trees to see the guards placed strategically. I know we are still safe from the others but I can't imagine laughing and joking and catching up the way they are.
    I walk faster. I miss the silence and uncomplicated days of traveling with Leo. He would hunt and we would touch each other every now and again, but neither of us needed to make a sound.
    I look back at Jake again and notice the way he lumbers through the woods. I sigh.
    The bottom of the mountain leads to a valley. I climb a tree and sit up in it.
    "What do you see?"
    "A highway. There are cars on it; they're burned."
    It frightens me. Scavengers are always nearest to the old remains. I stay away from the remains.
    "Do you see movement?"
    I shake my head but narrow my eyes to improve my vision. The sick have a way of not moving when you need them to. The sun is going down. I want to cross the highway and be halfway up the next mountain before it's completely dark.
    I climb down the tree and try not to look at either of the hulking men standing next to me.
    I pull an arrow and crouch low to the ground. I shut my mind off. I try not to think when I'm scared shitless.
    I can hear Jake behind me walking, no doubt completely upright and picking his teeth with a piece of grass. I decide that if he starts humming, I’ll shoot him myself. The grass on the side of the highway's long. As I slip through it, the wind plays with it, making it whisper. The birds are not the kind that warn you of prey; they're scavengers. They want you to die.
    The long grass sways and plays with my hair. My heart is beating faster when my foot touches the gravel on the side of the highway.
    I look back at Will. He nods. Jake's lips curl into a smile. I can't help but want to smile with him. I see myself back at the cabin for the briefest of seconds. Images of him and I lying on the couches fill my mind. I smile, remembering the way we tried not to get caught staring at each other.
    My mind snaps back.
    I close my eyes and listen to the wind. There is no sound. I climb out of the huge ditch and walk quickly and silently up onto the broken asphalt. It's started to crack from the weather and lack of care. Where my foot steps first it crumbles. My eyes scan every inch of the deserted highway. Burned out cars sit staggered along the long straight road. They are the remains of the people caught in the traffic jams when the tidal waves were coming or the bombs were dropping to contain the sick. The people fled from their vehicles. They left everything and ran. I remember running. My father had waited too long in his friend's bunker. It was the only mistake he ever made.
    I shake my head back to focusing. I slip between an old burnt SUV and the skeleton of a small car. The hood of the car is lifted and the battery is gone. Not uncommon.
    "Which way?" Jake asks louder than I would like.
    "Shhhhh," Will whispers soothingly.
    The gravel on the other side is a welcome sight. When my feet touch the grass, I break into a run. The bushes hit me in the face when I enter the forest. I run until I see the tree I want. I climb it and sit with my arrow pulled and at the ready. I scan the highway and the ditch vigorously.
    Jake is huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf below my tree. "Oh man, you can run. Holy shit. I thought your leg was hurt. Whoa."
    "Jake." Will is back to being Business Will. There is no fun with him, only survival.
    I don’t take my eyes from the road. Nothing moves.
    I am about to climb down but I wait one more second. I see the bushes across the highway move. I pull the arrow back tighter.
    It looks like an animal. I can't see it clearly.
    "I see something." My voice is low.
    "What?"
    I shake my head, "Animal. Dog, maybe."
    "Shit."
    I look down through the thick branches at Will's look and raise and eyebrow.
    "Trackers."
    He doesn’t finish the sentence and my eyes are scanning across the highway again. The animal is gone. Nothing moves. I climb down fast and turn to face the dense woods. "That way."
    Jake looks pained. "Seriously. We're going to run some more?"
    I look at him and nod. "Think about what it's like for Anna right now. She's terrified. She thinks the breeder camps are what we all think. She is waiting for her turn, no doubt."
    He flinches. "Jesus,