2.29

Morning light shone through the small window from the front as the truck pulled to a stop. Sleepy faces stirred around me as I begrudgingly stretched my arms and legs, wondering just how long had I been using Will's legs as a pillow.

"Morning sleepyhead," Will ruffled my hair, jumping up, showing no signs of weariness or leg cramps. I was envious.

"Do you know where we are?" I asked, using his forearm to bring myself to stand alongside him, still dizzy from sleep. I was extra tired from messing with my dimensional space and now my baby planet. Not to mention the toll of pregnancy.

"Should be a gas station," he pulled me alongside him to the edge of the truck and untied the flap for us to jump out. The sun was bright, and the feeling of spring lingered in the still cold and crisp air.

We were at a small gas station, with a small shop, that was surrounded by trees. A college bus was parked ahead, and over twenty people were lingering around the gas station, talking in hushed voices.

"Stay close," Will patted my head, "and behave." Then briskly walked to join Noah and Rick who were talking with the survivors who'd gone ahead. The majority of them looked to be the students who had been under Alex before my coma.

Scanning the crowd of people for familiar faces, I searched desperately to find his. My hand subconsciously rested on my stomach, as my face twisted in worry. Had he not made it?

"Hannah," Victoria walked up to me, pulling me into a sideways hug, rubbing her hand up and down my arm "you feeling sick again?"

"A little," I wasn't lying, my nerves were spurring on my annoyingly still existing morning sickness. "Have you seen Alex?"

Victoria gave an amused grin as if getting ready to tease me, then paused at my question, biting her lip.

"Fuck," I cursed, pulling out of her hold to walk into the treelines, feeling the need to be alone. Victoria followed a few steps, then just lingered by a tree watching me from afar.

I stopped feeling the acid burn at the back of my throat and bent over to throw up, my hands both leaning on the trunk of a tree.

I was pleased that the tree wasn't offended by my vomiting on it at least. In fact, it seemed grateful for my touch, wanting to connect. I let it.

The network of the plant life of the forest hit me like a rush, flooding everything with a buzz of activity before dulling into a single sound.

"Where is the food?" I asked internally, picturing zombies in my mind. Plants from all directions responded, making me shiver in fear at the sheer number of responses. Many of them were from the southeast where we'd come from.

"Any living people?" I asked internally again, not wanting Victoria to think I was losing my mind any more than I was.

This time only a few, also located south easterly, responded. A vehicle with living people was nearing.

"Thank you," I smiled, my nausea now stimulated by excitement and anticipation.

I pushed away from the tree, leaving it a dose of energy similar to how I'd helped the forest with the meteorite, and ran past a confused-looking Victoria.

Back on the highway, I stood on tippy toes, watching the south for signs of activity. It hadn't felt that far away in my mind, but in reality, they had to be a good few miles away.

Victoria ran over, stopping to look in the same direction, "I don't see anything?" She squinted her eyes, genuinely trying to figure out what I was looking at.

"Just wait," I smiled, tapping my foot to try and dissipate the nerves.

***

The army jeep pulled up to a stop in the middle of the road, Alex almost stumbled out of the driver's seat and lifted me whilst embracing me tightly. His head buried into my neck, uncaring of the hair or sweat, inhaling deeply.

"Thank fuck you're okay," he cursed and slightly laughed at the same time.

Ethan, Luke, and Matt also left the car, their faces not looking anywhere near as pleased as Alex's. I stared at the seat that had been empty in the car.

"Aiden?" I asked, then regretted it instantly when Alex's smile dropped.

I followed behind him, head hung low while he entered the gas station.  We wandered until we found Noah and Will in what was once the store manager's office and dropped the car keys onto the map Noah was studying.

"Casualties?" he looked up, scanning the faces of all who entered, then gave an odd sympathetic look. It shouldn't have been odd; however, seeing it on Noah is what made it so.

"Where's Aiden's mother?" Alex asked, running his hand over his face. Aiden's mother was a nurse at the hospital under Ty/Dr. John and one of the survivors Noah's team had brought with them.

"She's on the bus with the little ones," Will replied, standing up from his seat, then guided Alex back out of the room.

I couldn't bring myself to follow him further. Unsure if I was fearful to witness the moment a mother was told her child had died, or just ashamed of my guilt at having survived.

Noah's hand rested on my shoulder, he looked oddly somber. Almost close to tears himself. I was still reeling from the shock when he embraced me tenderly and I swore I could feel the wetness of tears on my scalp where his chin was resting.

"I-I'm fine," I stuttered, feeling upside down and wanting to escape whatever this was.

"I'm not," he replied, squeezing me tighter.

Only at the sound of people returning did Noah come back to his senses and let me go, quickly wiping at his eyes with his sleeve and returning to the map book that he carried somewhat religiously.

Will walked back in, sitting back in his seat and glancing at us both.

"Han, did you break him?" Will asked in a hushed voice after Noah had stared at the same spot for almost half an hour now, not speaking.

I shook my head. I wish I knew just what was bothering him so much, or understood why inside I was pleased to see him break down like that.

Noah cleared his throat, obviously having heard Will. "We should be fine to rest here for twenty-four hours to wait for anybody else that made it, then we'll take the second route option to get to the base. Get me a list of volunteers for watch and sort out shifts with one of you in charge of each group."

Will nodded and jumped back up, not forgetting to ruffle my hair to piss me off on his way out.

Noah followed him, however at the door he closed it and I heard the loud click of a lock turning.