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And then she wondered whether or not Saff had someone waiting for her wherever she was going that could help take care of her if she needed it.
Right as the thought entered her mind, she stopped it.
No.
She needed to focus on herself in her own situation. Hers was just as bad, if not worse, than Saff's. At least Saff had somewhereto stay that night. Maddie couldn't even bring herself to think of a plan for the night after she and Saff inevitably parted ways.
She told herself that once the time came, she would take a few minutes to regroup and figure out her plan. And until then, she didn’t want to spend any of her limited energy worrying.
Her cane swiped back and forth on the ground beneath her. As they went on, it slowly became more and more uneven.
They walked in silence, the wind whistling through the trees around them. And with that wind came a crisp evening.
Saff's arm shook, and Maddie moved her hand up across her shoulders, stopping near the base of her neck. Wet hair draped over the dry cotton of the hood, and she brushed it away, moving her hand up onto the skin on the back of Saff's neck.
She’d moved it there without thinking, and now she was surprised—very surprised—that Saff had done nothing to resist it.
Then she could guess why.
The skin blazed against her palm. It had to have been even hotter than before when she felt it at the river.
“How far are we from the bunker?”Maddie asked.
“Close,” Saff mumbled. “I think.”
Instinctively, she brushed the wet hair away from the exposed skin on her neck and pushed the hood up against it for protection.
They walked for another thirty minutes before the path grew steeper and more uneven.
She thought she heard Saff mutter something about being careful, but she couldn't tell over her labored breaths. And her own breathing was only slightly better.
She tried to focus on the soothing sounds of wind trickling through the trees. But even that sounded different now. The chirping birds had slowly faded, which meant that it must have been getting later into the evening.
Night would fall soon, and with it, the last of the daytime warmth.
They continued on, her only focus on whether or not Saff's trembling was getting worse beneath her hand.
Then slowly she began to pick up a new sound. It was faintly off in the distance, like a light crunch of leaves or bushes rustling. She tried to listen again, but she couldn't distinguish between the noises from them walking and what she thought she heard.
It was probably some small animal nearby, or her ears playing tricks on her. She was about to move her hand to Saff's neck again to check her temperature when she suddenly heard it again. This time louder. Closer.
She stopped.
“Do you—”
“Zombies,” Saff cut her off, her voice a strained whisper. “They haven't noticed us yet, but they're close.” She paused for a few moments. “They could sneak up on us later.” She paused again, then Maddie felt her removing her backpack. “Stay here.”
Maddie listened to Saff's footsteps crunching on the leaves as she walked away. They continued for a while until she couldn't clearly make them out anymore. She couldn't tell how far Saff had gone, but she faintly heard a grunt of effort that could have come either from Saff or the infected.
As the seconds ticked by, she wanted to call out. She wanted some kind of indication of what was going on. Then, before she could, she heard another sound. This time it was the same grunting, but from a different direction. She couldn't quite tell, but she thought that maybe it was from the opposite direction that Saff had gone.
She paused to listen, trying to block out any other sounds.
The noise slowly grew louder, and then she knew.
It was coming from behind her. Definitely not the direction that Saff had gone in.
Maddie spun, drawing out her knife and clutching it tightly in her hand.