This is a continuation of the story from two weeks ago.
Brandon and Jason traveled together for a few days. They were generally going in the same direction anyway. It was easier with someone else to share the work. There was more time for leisure activities, and it was nice to be able to talk to someone.
There was only one tense moment when the beasts came near them while they were collecting water from a stream. More of a seasonal creek. But they were on the trail of a doe that had passed through earlier. Or that’s what Brandon surmised from the recent droppings, obvious bedding area, and a few tracks they found after the beasts had left earshot. It was still too close for comfort though.
Brandon brushed back his hair. It was shorter now. Jason had hacked a few inches off all over. It no longer got in his eyes. Brandon couldn’t see it to know how it looked, but almost anything would be an improvement over the stringy mess it had been before.
They had been walking along a dirt road for the past half hour without talking. They were careful not to make too much noise. And Brandon felt vulnerable and exposed in the open. He glanced behind them once more. “I just can’t help but feel we haven’t actually shaken them.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s been so easy. Maybe too easy. I haven’t had this few run ins before. Ever. They’re always around. But since the day before we met, I haven’t seen or heard them except that once,” Brandon said. He glanced back again. Then scanned the side of the road. There was a lot of brush between the trees here. No one had cleared it out in a few years. “And even then, they weren’t after me. As far as I can tell.”
“Maybe they’re not interested,” Jason said. “They killed a lot of people the first few months. Maybe they decided we’re not worth it.”
“I don’t know,” Brandon scanned the right side of the road again. He was careful to step on as little gravel as he could. “It seems kind of sudden.”
Jason pointed to an outcropping of large stones. “Think there’s a squirrel over there,” he whispered. “I haven’t had fresh meat in weeks.” He held out his arm behind him as if to stop Brandon from going further.
Brandon stopped walking. He wasn’t hungry, but a squirrel would be a nice change from the canned products he’d been eating for the past few weeks.
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