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She cleared her throat. "Where are you going once you're out of the city?"
Maddie opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again, pausing. And Saff wondered if she was trying to remember, or if she realized she shouldn’t be telling a stranger in this world where she was heading. Hopefully, it was the latter.
Maddie cleared her throat. “Brighton.”
It must have been the latter. Saff had never been to Brighton, but she knew it was a large area. Large enough that you’d need to know a more exact location within Brighton in order to find any group living there.
“That's pretty far from here,” Saff muttered, tugging the sweatshirt back down her stomach. “You should’ve slept. You’re gonna need the energy.”
Maddie turned a little farther away. “There’s a halfway point that the group was planning to stop at. A spot in Oakridge. Tyler and I were trying to get there so we could maybe catch up with them.”
Saff thought for a moment. She recognized the town name. It was small, but she’d seen it on the map. It was much closer. If she went a certain way, it would actually be between where they were now and where she thought the bunker would be.
“Have you heard anything outside?” Saff asked, gently massaging her temples.
Maddie shook her head. “No.”
If there were no humans outside, and most of the zombies had passed through, then she could probably make it to her backpack. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that traveling with the backpack was a necessity. It would be too dangerous to try to make it out of the city, let alone to the bunker without any weapons.
“I’m gonna get my pack,” Saff muttered as she shifted her body, testing the pain with each movement.
“What?” Maddie asked, leaning forward off the wall and suddenly sounding much more alert. “You can’t. There’s—there’s infected people out there. You’ll get bit.”
Saff took a deep breath before leaning forward, pushing herself up off the floor. Pain exploded through her torso, and she had to bite down on her lip to keep from whimpering.
"Do you have a gun?" she asked.
Maddie went quiet for a moment. "No."
This time, Saff couldn't stop the quiet grunt of pain as she stood the rest of the way. She closed her eyes, placing one hand against the wall for balance as the room spun around her. She took a slow, deep breath. "Too risky to travel out of the city without a gun."
Maddie turned away as Saff opened her eyes, gently rolling her shoulders to test how much movement she could endure with both the pain in her head and her stomach. Her head was definitely the worst of the two.
"Okay," Maddie said suddenly, pushing herself up off the ground. "What do you need me to do?"
"Nothing," Saff muttered. "Just stay here. Keep the door locked."
Maddie's expression changed to one of slight disappointment as she offered a small nod. "How’s your head?"
Saff grunted in response and immediately regretted it when the grunt vibrated through her forehead.
Maddie bent over her backpack. "Here," she said, standing up a second later. "Take another one."
Saff stared down at the pill in her palm. She wondered for a split second if she should save it for later, when she might need it even more. But then again, she wouldn't need anything if she wasn't able to function when she got outside and got herself killed.
She took the pill pushed it past her dry, cracked lips.
Maddie bent down again, feeling around for a few moments before she grabbed onto the water jug. Then she stood, holding it out.
Saff took it, swallowing one large gulp before handing it back. Then she took a few more slow breaths, trying to quell the dizziness.
Finally, when she no longer felt like she might be sick, she rolled her neck back and forth once more and turned to the door.
"Lock it when I leave," she muttered, flipping the lock and pulling open the door.
"You're going already?" Maddie asked.
Saff’s hand paused on the door handle, and she grunted in response.
