Chapter 8

I don't know how far we ran, and I don't know how fast I could run, but all that I can tell you is that it was the farthest and fastest I had ever run in my life.

The place where we finally stopped was just barely recognizable as midtown. "I… I almost killed him" Pierce panted. "I was going to take his life… how can I live with myself after this?" There was only one thing on my mind then, and it came out straightforward as it could ever be.

"Pierce, you don't have to live with it, you have to survive. And in this case… you did a pretty good job." I said. "You saved my life, Pierce. Thank you." Was all Natasha could sputter out before she collapsed on a half-melted bench.

"It's about 1:37, Pierce." He looked at me, "You don't mean…" "Yep, that's the 24 hour mark for how everything went to s**t." I said. We just sat there, wondering how it had only been a day, whilst seeming like months.

Pierce looked over at a now sleeping Natasha. "It can't be fair that of all the people that could help her, it had to be us. We'll probably get her killed faster than if she was on her own." I looked at Pierce, dead in the eye, "We both know, that by now, she probably would still be in the same exact spot where we found her!" Pierce just hung his head. "That's what I meant."

..............

It was around 1:57 when we had finished accounting for our supplies. All we had kept out of Natasha's backpack was a empty notebook and a pencil, with which we made a simple list: a revolver, 4 bullets, 6 full half-sized bottles of water, 4 full size bottles, 8 slices of bread, the backpack, 2 flashlights, 7 new D batteries, and of course, a notebook and pencil. "Some peanut butter would have been good." Pierce said.

"Damn, some peanut butter would have been awesome!" I agreed. Natasha mumbled, "mmph, peanuhh bubur." At which me and Pierce would have usually cracked up, but when you need one of the funniest sounding foods to trust you'll still be alive when the morning comes, things like that go over your head.

"Well, bread and water for lunch, eat up." Natasha was fully awake by the time we stopped whining about not having peanut butter, so I decided to take a rest myself after I had my slice of bread and 2 cups of water.

I didn't dream, but before dozing off I saw Pierce walk away with the backpack, now empty, and Natasha fearfully holding the revolver. I would have said that Pierce needed it more, but I fell into the land of rest before I could speak up.

When I woke up, Pierce was already back. "Where did you go?" I said. He looked over at me and said, "Hey, you're up. I went to see if there were any salvageable supplies." I waited. "Uh, are you going to tell me what you found?" I said.

"Well… I found this guy, and he gave me a 9mm bullet because he didn't have a gun." He said. "Is that seriously all that happened?"

"Dude, you've been sleeping for like, 10 minutes, get some more rest." Said Natasha. "Wait, so we have a bullet that we can't use from a guy who can't use it?" I said. Pierce laced his eyebrows. "Well, when you put it that way it does sound kind of stupid. I was walking by when he called me over saying, 'Why, you're jussa gosh-darned kid! Here, take this doohickey.'"

"Wow, he's handling the 'whole fight for survival' thing a bit too lightly." I said. "Well, he was like, 60, things kind of don't phase you once you've survived that long." "Garry, seriously. Go back to sleep." said Natasha.

I realized that she was right, I really did need some more rest. We all did really. Natasha used the backpack as a pillow, and Pierce slept on the rocky ground, not unlike Rocky. And I slept on the bench again, and was enveloped by sleep just as my watch hit 7:00.

How time flies when you're running for your life with your long-time best friend and a girl you've known for less than 2 days.

* * *
Dark. So godamn dark when I woke up. Pierce was sound asleep, and Natasha had given him her backpack to sleep on sometime during the night. I pressed the "light" button on my watch. 1:24.

And I was wide awake. Great. Natasha had gotten a lot of sleep earlier too, so she was up as well, clutching a flashlight. She almost shot me when I took a step.

Crunch.

She turned around, flashlight, gun and all, pointing straight at my face. "It's me! It's me! Please don't kill me!" I whispered. "Sorry." She whispered back. "You keeping watch?" I asked, as I sat down next to her.

"Yeah, trying." She said, with that sad smile she wears so well. "Here, let me take those." I said. She gave me the revolver and flashlight and then leaned into me, eyes closed.

"Kinda feels like camping." I said. "Yeah, I guess, if the other campers had a 99.9% chance of being psychos." She said.

I let that sink in. "Do you think Pierce was taking a risk, talking to that old guy?" I asked. "I think he should just be a little more careful. Maybe we should only trust each other, for now." "Wait, for now? You don't think that one of us is gonna go crazy, do you?" "I meant if we go our separate ways, not…" her voice trailed off. "Natasha, do you know how much I need Pierce to be here? We've known each other for so long, he needs me too." "You're missing the god damn point Garry! We can't trust anyone, okay!"

We sat for what felt like hours, but she finally said, "I'm so sorry." And just cried. And I still held her because I knew exactly what it felt like to feel so helpless, and I understand exactly how someone goes crazy when they're alone.