“Then again, we could all just be computer code. Bunch of ones and zeros knocking around.”
“A simulation? My pessimism is rubbing off on you already.” He can hear the faint smile in her tone and considers that a point in his favor.
“Who knows. I figure the odds of that are as good as anything else.”
She shrugs. “It might almost be comforting if that were true.”
“Well, I’m not sure we’ll find out today, but if I see any wildlife start to glitch, I’ll let ya know.”
She only nods, ending their impromptu conversation about the meaning of life and turning their attention back to what lies ahead. There’s no town in the distance yet, but neither one of them points out the obvious before continuing their journey. Something will come up. It has to.
* * *
They trudge on for a few more hours. He has no watch and can only go by the sun in the sky and how quickly it seems to fade. It isn’t the only thing fading. He isn’t twenty anymore. All the smokes he’s been packing away have given him the lungs of someone twice his age.
Nora is doing better than he is, far more suited to all this than she seems to think.
“So what do you have on this fancy farm you apparently bought?” she asks suddenly, perhaps only to break the awkward silence.
“It’s not fancy. Peaches. Apples.”
“That’s it?”
“Some goats.”
She perks up at that, one brow raising hopefully. “Do you have fainting goats?”
“Fainting? No, I sure don’t.”
“What’s the point then?”
“Is this a trick question?”
“Have you seen them? The entertainment factor can’t be beat. How could you pass that up?” she replies with an obvious scowl, as if the fact that he didn’t purchase the correct type of goat has downgraded him even further than her memory of that tabloid story.
“So what I’m hearing is that you’d scare those poor animals for your own amusement.”
“I didn’t say that. It’s a natural behavior, and should I happen to be around when it naturally occurs, I would absolutely laugh.”
“Your favorite hobby would be toppling goats. Got it,” he says evenly. “That’s what I thought. Feels on brand for you, to be honest.”
“Please continue so I can topple you over the edge of this mountain without remorse. It won’t be as entertaining as a herd of fainting goats, but it’ll have to do.”
How quickly she’s shut him out and decided that he isn’t worth her time is throwing him, and he tries like hell not to let it get under his skin and convince him that she’s right.
“We should find somewhere to rest for the night,” her gaze flickers to the horizon, teeth chattering.
She’s barely a few feet away. Seems to have drifted closer and closer the colder it got, and if she wasn’t completely offended by him now, he might skip all this bullshit and pull her in. Let her leech off some of his body heat while he warms himself on hers, but they aren’t those people, and they never will be. At least not until death looms a little bit closer.
The wind groans low between the trees, carrying snow flurries that bite any exposed skin like little teeth. He can see her breath fog in the air. See how her eyelashes are crusted with frost and how she keeps rubbing her gloved hands together like it might help.
She’s mid-sentence about starting a fire, asking if he can manage to be somewhat useful, when the ground gives wayunder her feet. One moment she’s there and the next she’s gone. Sucked straight down as the earth gives way into a sinkhole.
The sound she makes isn’t quite a scream. It’s sharper and shorter, sucked out of her as she vanishes from view.
He scrambles as close as he can get while calling her name, finding her small hands clutching the edge while the rest of her swings above the wide open gap.
“I gotcha. Hold on.” He gives her a tug, but can’t pull as effectively as he normally would when his fingers are so cold. Can’t feel much of anything anymore, and that means his biceps are useless when his hands are numb.
