Page 35

"Hmm,” Maddie hummed, the sun now warming the back of her neck, while birds chirped faintly in the distance. "What time is it?" Maddie asked as she let out a wide yawn.
"Mid-morning."
Maddie thought for a moment as she adjusted the cane in her free hand. "Is it safe to be out in the daytime like this?"
Saff's arm shrugged beneath her palm. "Better before the sun comes up, when it's dark, but there's enough light to see."
Maddie nodded slowly. "The darker, the better for me." A few beats of silence went by, then she continued. "If it's all dark, then I can see any bright light source against the dark background."
Saff gave no response, and Maddie felt her shoulder sag a bit lower.
They walked a few more paces while Maddie slid her cane back and forth in a gentle rhythm.
“How’re you feeling?” she asked.
“Fine,” Saff muttered, barely loud enough for her to hear over her labored breathing.
“Do you need a break?”
“No."
Maddie turned her head slightly, listening to a group of birds to their left.“I feel like you should take your health more seriously, being a doctor and all.”
Saff’s light breaths continued beside her. “If a zombie hoard ambushes you, then a headache and some bleeding aren’t gonna matter much.”
Maddie blinked, the corner of her mouth twitching upward in amusement. “Aheadacheand somebleeding?” she repeated, letting out a light laugh. “You don’t think that’s a bit of an understatement?”
A few beats of silence went by without a response. Although Maddie hadn’t really expected one. And she actually didn’t really mind. If anything, constantly having the last word against the woman who’d tried to kill her just twenty-four hours earlier actually brought some satisfaction, like she was slowly but surely getting even.
“Are all doctors like this?” Maddie continued. “Zero self awareness mixed with a huge ego?”
“Wouldn't know,” Saff replied without missing a beat. “I’m not a doctor anymore.”
Maddie rolled her eyes, turning her head to the side to listen to the birds once more.She supposed she could let her have the last word on that one.
A sore ache had formed in the crook of her elbow from being bent for hours, holding onto Saff’s arm, and she slowly dropped her hand from her bicep, down to her wrist instead, stopping when her fingers landed on a watch. Then they felt something below the watch. Beads? A bracelet?
“You don’t really strike me as the jewelry type,” she stated, absentmindedly running her fingers over the loose beads.
“I’m not,” Saff muttered beside her.
“Mmm, well, this says differently,” Maddie said, lifting the stretchy band beneath the beads with her finger, then letting it snap back into place. It twisted slightly, and then she could feel one bead that differed from the rest. Or maybe it wasn’t a bead, but some type of charm? No. Not a charm. A letter?
“Is this a friendship bracelet?” she asked, a wide smile spreading across her face as her fingers expertly traced the shape of the letter.
“No,” Saff answered in a quick, irritated tone.
It made Maddie’s smile grow even further. Her fingers turned the letter over again in her hand, feeling every edge.
“Is it an ‘M’ or a ‘W’?”
Saff didn’t answer.
And Maddie really didn’t care if she did or not.
“You know, if it’s an ‘M’, it would basically be likeourfriendship bracelet.” Maddie couldn’t help the smile on her face as she said it, knowing how much that would irritate her.
And it clearly did.