No Haven » Places

         Ally’s feet ached. She didn’t know how long she had been walking but what she did know was that she couldn’t stop, she couldn’t pause at all.

Every noise sent her heart racing, every muscle tightening and she even ran without really knowing if anything was there. She wasn’t willing to leave anything to chance.

The road before her seemed to go on for an eternity. Ally focused on it, even when it sometimes lulled her into a trance. She would shake herself awake,pinch her own arm...anything to get herself to wake up and concentrate. Danger could be anywhere and she had nothing to fend it off with.

Exhaustion would be her downfall, she knew that, unless she found shelter of some sort soon.

Ally was wary of moving too far off the road. The woods were just as unpredictable as anywhere but if she could find an old motel, home, any sort of structure close to the road she would feel better. The pavement, the winding road felt like her only escape. To what she didn’t know but somehow it made her feel better even when her rational mind told her the road made no difference at all.

She found herself wishing she could remember where that school was, the one she had gone to find supplies at. That thought of course just reminded her of the people she had run away from as they were being attacked.

Guilt gripped her. She had ran. She hadn’t even tried to help or looked back. Survival was first and foremost in her mind and it wasn’t helping people. Wasn’t that what doctors were supposed to do? Help?

Ally tried to make herself feel better by reminding herself over and over that the help that was needed was weapons and fighting. She didn’t have the first and she wasn’t particularly skilled at the second. She would have been useless.

That feeling, that thought bothered her more than the guilt. Her medical knowledge was nothing when it came down to it.

So she walked on.

When the sun came up the world seemed less scary. Only then did she stop and let her eyes close. Not for long. Noises startled her awake often but enough to feel like she could go on a little longer.

Ally realized that no food was going to be a problem. She could make it through most of today but if she didn’t find something soon the next few days would find her weaker and more likely to get sloppy.

Hunting wasn’t an option. Berries were not exactly plentiful so close to the road but she managed to find a few scraggly bushes close to the road’s edge. It wasn’t enough to make her full but it was enough to take the edge off.

Nothing, no buildings or signs for businesses appeared.

I went and picked the one stretch of road that has nothing...great job…

Ally walked on both praying for and dreading the possibility of finding people.