They never stay in a place too long, a lone cannibal without a group and human cattle farm could be tracking them still. So they usually leave a place after only two days. Usually they wouldn't leave even the tiniest of signs of being in a place, but they had purposefully thrown the oranges out of the windows in hopes a 'canni' would walk into their very own trap. Spending two years outsmarting traps was actually the best teacher in how to create ones more effective.

The youngest of the traveling trio bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly, gloved fingers drumming together. "You think it'll work?" She asked as all three of them made there way underneath a mess of sticky, pointy underbrush. It was a chilly day considering which season they were in.

Hanna frowned at her sister, only a little worried about the young girl's enthusiasm about their recent trap, which would likely kill anyone who had set it off. She guessed it was because 'wall of blades' as Isa called it, was all her idea. Another sigh leaves Hanna. Her sister was becoming a homicidal lunatic and it was all her fault. No. Her gaze falls onto the boy beside her, lightly grinning. It was his.

"You bet it will, Isa." He certainly seemed less stressed about taking someone's life, which was likely because those two men over a year ago weren't the only ones he had been forced into killing, two more followed. But Hanna was sure every single one bothered him though, he often spoke in his sleep, plagued by nightmares.

He briefly glances at her, likely feeling her gaze on him. "Hm?" He questions before his gaze falls onto the ground again.

"Nothing," She answers slowly. Her face heats up upon being caught. How silly...

He glances at her again. "Admiring my beauty?"

"Obviously," she lightly scoffs. "You don't look like weather-beaten cat at all."

He lightly smiles, amused. "You're no pretty princess yourself." He laughs.

Hanna bites her lip, his words had stung a little. Vanity is stupid in the world in which they live in now, but it always nagged at her who dirty and disgusting she felt. "Whatever..." She quietly groans. "Maybe if you and my sister would stop using all the napkins for dumb shit..."

"Yeah... yeah..." Her sister mocks quietly, "It's not like a few wipes are gonna do much for all the crap we got on us." Her sister says pointing at herself.

"Still..." Hanna says lips twitching.

"Look," Austin suddenly calls out. "It's a grocery store." It was indeed, across from them was an outlet mall with a grocery store.

"So?" Hanna questions, still stung by his words. "It's empty, like all the others."

"Maybe.." He lightly shrugs. "Remember what the cat lady said?" A few months ago they had ran into a woman with a cat, who had shared a lot with them, well, except food, it was mostly information. Hanna was sure the woman had a few screws loose and had likely breathed in a little too much air in Hazard zones, she had spoke in riddles and quietly muttered in-between speaking with them, all about aliens and big foot. But there had been one thing that Hanna, sort of, believed. Old lady Cat, had spoken to them about a illness, not the original one that had been a result of tainted food, but the one that had supposedly driven people to eat one another, was what wiped out hundreds of thousands of people, one of those had been Austin's mother. Old Lady Cat had said she heard it on her radio, so it was obviously true... Hanna rolls her brown eyes.

"What's your point?" Though she understood full well what he was saying, she asked anyway.

"There could be..." He trails, seeming to wavering in his logic. "Could be... there can be food left inside." He finally says.

Not likely. She couldn't understand his logic, but the girl understood him, he was likely desperate to find anything to eat. They only had a couple of cans of beans left. Before the young woman could remind him to keep his head, a gun shot loudly spilt through the air and all of them quickly duck behind separate trees. Hanna's heart nearly leaped out of her, she quickly looks at her friend and sister, finding both of them fine but as spooked as she was. Relief hits her hard. A hoot, a cannibal excited hoot, assaults her hearing next. Her body stiffens as her back is pressed into the tree behind her, her fingers dig into the earth. Then, the far off rumble of vehicles, likely the normal four-wheelers. None of them move, none of them breathe. Another hoot, then another gun shot and another hoot. They were chasing something, someone. The vehicles grow closer, and she hopes all of them are covered by the bushes. Soon the vehicles grew louder and soon after fad away, leaving them shaken. They didn't wait to move, but quickly ducked from the area.

"What were they chasing?" Isa questions a few miles away. Hanna quietly pants, winded from their getaway. The air had begun to cool as sunlight began to bleed from the cloudy sky. Hanna looks up, suddenly overwhelmed. Her body ached, she was hungry, so was so tired of running. She was so tired of living like this, always afraid, always tittering on the edge... Hanna's chest burns.

"A person," she answers her sister's question dryly. "What else is there to chase?" Her sister glares at her."We're a hunting game to them."

"We have to find shelter," Austin cuts in, looking up, his gaze landing and staying on Hanna.She ignores his look and what it means. She didn't need to wordlessly be told to chill out. "Put a few miles between us and whatever was going on." He finishes.

Silence, thick and heavy settles between them and Hanna finds herself in a bad mood she cannot break. She hates the look Austin gave her. It looked a lot like disappointment and she couldn't understand why he would be, and she hated it. They move on.

They hunker down in a moldy basement of a farm house after sliding in through the basement's broken window. It's pitch black inside, the cool air damp with a foul, stomach churning smell. But it was safe and it was how life was now.

Hanna tosses in her holy sleeping bag, cool air seeps in through the holes. She can feel small insects crawling over her skin and in her hair, spiders and roaches, she imagines. She finds it impossible to sleep. Something big and furry bumps into her shoulder and over her stomach. She bolts up, a shrill scream flying from her lips. She quickly moves, springing to her feet, falling into soggy boxes and something sharp. She whimpers, her body shakes, hot tears crusade quickly down her face. A sob echoes inside the basement. A flashlight is clicked on quickly and she is blinded by it momentarily, before it falls away from her face. Then she's being forced into a hug by a pair of strong but thin arms. In the light coming from his flashlight, the young woman can make out her sister's face, eyes wide, brows furrowed over Austin's shoulder. Her sister was looking at her as if she had lost it. And she feels as if she has lost it too.

"Hanna..." Austin's voice is right next to her, his breath warm against her. His hands were was hot and on her face, he was alive, he had breath and he was warm, but how long would he be? How long would any of them be?

"I am fine." Her shoulders dip, hands pushing his arms from around her. "I am fine." Then she forces herself up, pain laces up her side but the girl only bites her lip. She finds her sleeping bag and falls on it.

***

Though she is not very surprised upon being awakened by Austin shaking her shoulder, his finger pressed against his lips before then pointing up, but it's still like a punch in the face. They're never allowed breaks. Not anymore. Not even if the break was sleeping in a filthy basement. The girl wants to scream.

In the light coming from the broken window, she could see now. The condition of the basement was worst then she had originally thought.

She hears footsteps a moment later accompanied by loud voices. She turns her attention to Austin and nods once, untangling herself from her sleeping bag, she began rolling it up. Her sister was already up and rolling up her sleeping bag as well. Carefully and quietly, they all wiggle through the broken window out into the back of the home. They are a few steps away from the house when they hear someone yell from the front of the house. It wasn't them who had been spotted but that hardly stopped all three teens from darting away.

They hear a hoot and a laugh, now coming there way. Austin blows caution to the wind and quickly takes hold of Isa's arm, pulling the younger and slower girl along, no longer watching below him for hidden traps. Hanna easily keeps up with his pace, weaving around huge tree.

There is no howl from a dog, so if they were quick, it would be a possibility to lose the hunters, it was single-handedly that thought that had Hanna continuing forward. Soon, they land on the edge of a highway, congested with abandoned vehicles. Austin never halts as he leads them through the useless cars. Finally, he comes to a stop at an old RV camper, and reaches for it's back doors, yanking it open. Inside they come face to face with a pair of blue eyes, staring at them with just as much shock as what was held in there's. Austin glances behind him, the hoots grew louder, he tosses Isa into the RV. He looks at Hanna, who hesitates for only a second before climbing into the back as well, he follows, shutting the vehicle's doors behind him.

###

Hanna, as of recently, had began to think of silence as a living thing, a friend and an enemy. An entity which could bring comfort as well as discomfort. Like at night, when her bones were achy and her stomach was queasy from a day filled with running and fear, silence in the night is what the girl looked for. Silence meant they could sleep, silence meant, they were safe for a few hours safe. But like a coin, her friend silence has more then a side.

Like now, she would consider silence her worst enemy. The hunters had vanished nearly ten minutes ago, but they were all still wrapped in silence in the cramped quarters, no one even dared breathe. But it wasn't the close call's fault. No, not at all. Hanna stares at him, Austin, because it's partly his fault for it and she couldn't bring herself to look at the other half at fault. His eyes are closed, his head bowed.

This silence, it was impossible for her mind to understand.

"Austin..." Those blue eyes belong to someone from their past, the face and voice as well, it was Jennifer. Jennifer Ruffers was alive and in front of them. "Austin..." Jennifer's voice was layered with disbelief, her face mirrored as such. Austin finally opens his lids, his dark and stormy gaze landing on Jennifer. In a blink he's embracing the blond young woman tight, as she cried into his chest.

"It is really you." He whispers. "Jennifer..."

"Jennifer...?" Isa quietly says, giving Hanna a chance to look away from the embracing couple. The fifteen year old looked up at her after a few seconds, seeming to remember who exactly Jennifer was, her brown eyes wide. Her small mouth open. Her look would have been comical if Hanna wasn't queasy all of a sudden.

Jennifer is clean, her skin free of dirt and filthy grim like theirs. Her blond hair is bright and free of sweat and her clothing not tattered and dirty like theirs. She's lost a lot of weight, but its obvious she hasn't been starving. Hanna would have deemed her a cannibal if it weren't for her dainty, flowery outfit. But then again, she had only seen hunting cannibals, not what their women looked like back at there homes.

"Austin..." She finds herself saying. He takes a few seconds before actually pulling away from Jennifer. The wet look of his irises when he looks at her is almost like a blow to her stomach. "Ask her." she tells him, voice tight.

His attention turns to Jennifer, his hands goes to cup her face in such an intimate way, Hanna looks away. "I can't believe..." His voice is breathy, weak. "I thought..."

The clean girl was still crying, her hands wrapped around Austin's jacket as if he was her life-line. "I told my dad you were alive." The girl whispers. "I told him..."

"Are you a cannibal?" Hanna asked bluntly, shattering the couple's moment. It was important to ask. Her fingers dig into the carpet of the camper. It has to be asked. "If yo - "

"I'm not a cannibal." Jennifer cuts off, smiling a half-smile. Hanna frowns. Jennifer glances towards Austin. "You guys aren't canni - "

"No," Austin quickly cuts her off, his arms still wrapped around her. "We're not cannibals."

"You look really clean." Isa chimes in, glancing at her sister again. "Why are you so clean?" There was suspicion in her voice.

Looking at herself, Jennifer frowns before looking up at all of them, seeming to note the obvious differences. "I... don't feel very clean." Her frown deepens. "I lived in a safe zone until about a week ago. I've been in this camper for a few days after my guard lead a few cannibals away. He was suppose to be back by now..." Guard? Safe Zone? Hanna glances at her sister is already looking at her.

"Until a week ago...?" Austin finally speaks. "Why up until a week ago?" He asks, his hand still on Jennifer's clean cheek.

Jennifer looks down, biting her lip. A few tears fall from her left eye. "There was a breech, someone let in a herd of ICs, on purpose." She fidgets. "We all spilt apart, those of us who got away..."

"ICs?" Austin questions.

She nods. "Our scientists had a really long name for them, but we call them ICs. Cannibals who went mad because of the toxins from the bombs - Insane cannibals."

Despite all the other feels hitting her, Hanna felt fear wiggle itself a spot. A herd of them? She had only seen one of those cannibals who clawed at their own skin and ate it once. It was shot by a group of 'normal' cannibals before it became a huge issue. It had been horrible, the thing had yowled and screeched like nothing she had heard before. It had been naked and pale, hairless with no eyes. It hunted her nightmares for weeks after.

"Why would someone let them in on purpose?" Isa questioned, her body shook a little.

"There was a lot of turmoil in safe zone 8," Jennifer whispers almost to herself. "My dad really tried his best but..." The young woman frowns biting her lip. "He tired. But everyone..."

Her words sort of explained why their was such an increase in cannibal activity lately. Hanna takes a haggard breath. "Before it happened, we were able to speak with safe zone 10 and 11, both are willing to take in anyone who arrives, my guard and I were heading to safe zone 10." She explains.

"Why do you have a guard?" Hanna couldn't help but blurt. There was a lot of things she couldn't understand at the moment, but the mention of guards were annoying her.

"Oh..." Jennifer looks sheepish. "My dad was leader of safe zone 8, not at first, but the first leader was shot only six months in. My dad was voted leader... so I had a guard."

Finally the hugging couple breaks apart. "How long has your guard been gone?" Austin asks.

"Four days..." Jennifer looks troubled by this. "He..."

"You can't wait for him here." He licks his lips, his hand smoothing back a piece of his own hair in his face. "Those hunters might come back with dogs."