Audrey paused to wipe the sweat off her brow and catch her breath. Every bone in her body was aching but there was a tangible sense of danger lurking around which made her pick up her gait and follow after Jameson.

“You want to stop?” He asked, looking back as he realized she’d slowed.

“Yes,” she replied. “But I’m not going to. We only have a few hours to make it to the border of the jungle and find cover.”

“I know that,” he told her gently. “But if you drop, I don’t know if I can carry all the gear and you too.”

She scowled slightly.

“I’m not going to drop…”

She paused again.

“All right, let’s rest for a minute.”

He nodded and looked around again. Perhaps it was the eerie silence which bothered him more than anything. They hadn’t encountered a single soul in their two days of trekking through the brush and the more isolated they became, the more Jameson worried that he was leading them in the wrong direction.

Of course he didn’t share his concerns with Audrey even though he was sure she was thinking the same thing.

“Have some water,” he told her, thrusting the gallon jug toward her. He’d managed to fashion them to the sides of the burlap sacks they’d taken from the hut days earlier and throughout their travels, he’d acquired a small stash of food and wood for when they stopped.

They took shifts sleeping but neither of them was well-rested. They were jittery, malnourished and fighting with the insects which seemed to have taken particular interest in his bare flesh.

“We need to find clothes,” Audrey commented and his head jerked up to look at her warily.

She’s not reading my mind, is she?

But she wasn’t. Her thoughts were merely aligned with his, the two of them having fallen into a rhythm for survival. She was looking at her own tattered garments, filthy and ripped, beyond repair, from their perilous journey.

“Unfortunately, the mall is in the other direction,” he joked.

“Mall?” Audrey scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “Do I look like a woman who shops at a mall? Custom or nothing for me. Find me the nearest fashion designer.”

They snickered at their silliness and Jameson exhaled, relieved that she was with him. It wasn’t like they’d forgotten their situation. How could they when they’d been on the run, away from civilization?

But Audrey makes a life-threatening situation almost amusing - exhilarating.

Jameson didn’t need a psychologist to tell him that was insane and that he was grasping at things to keep him going even though he wanted to sit down in the dirt and never get up.

“Seriously though, Jameson, we need to find somewhere to regroup. Do you remember if there were any towns on the map, any villages?”

“I’m sure there are a dozen hamlets from here to Las Puertas,” he told her. “But they wouldn’t be on Google maps. We’d have to stumble upon them. Once we get to the unnamed road, the area is still thick with green so we stay out of aerial view and continue to travel at night for cover.”

She lifted her eyes slowly. Her expression told him that she was going to suggest something he wouldn’t like, even before she said it.

“What?”

“If we find a village, we’re going to have to steal,” she told him miserably. Jameson grunted.

“I know,” he replied shortly. “But if anyone sees us and they’re scouting for us…”

“I get it,” she muttered. “We should still leave whatever money we have behind for them.”

“No!” Jameson growled. “We get in and out without anyone knowing we’re there. We’ll take bare minimum and hope that no one notices anything missing.”

Audrey snorted.

“These people have nothing!” she argued. “I think they’re going to notice when we take a fraction of the little they do have.”

“Audrey, these people are in much better shape than we are right now. We need to get in and get out—provided we make it to the nearest village. Once we enter Las Carolinas, we still have a lot of walking to do.”

Audrey cast him a wry smile and shrugged slightly.

“I guess it’s a blessing we were brought here and not to the desert, right?”

Jameson returned her smile.

“You really are an optimist, aren’t you?” he asked with some awe in his voice. “I didn’t think anyone could really be as Zen as you seem to be but you’re unflappable.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Audrey chuckled but he could see she was pleased with the compliment and even in the shade of the massive trees, he saw how pink her cheeks had turned.

“I mean that, Audrey. You’re a lot tougher than I gave you credit for.”

Her smile wavered slightly and she cleared her throat.

“But you’re really not are as hard as you seem, aren’t you?”

The smile faded from his lips and he gaped at her, thinking he’d misunderstood what she’d said.

“What?”

“You preach pushing through pain, pushing through obstacles but you don’t do that at all, do you?”

His brows shot up in disbelief and anger snaked through his veins.

“You don’t know anything about me, Audrey.”

“I know,” she replied quietly. “That’s what terrifies me.”

His lips twisted as he studied her face, wondering if maybe he’d been wrong about her after all.

Maybe she’s bipolar. How can she go from laying against me at night to turning on me like this?

“I don’t even know what that means,” he told her shortly.

“It means that you hide from it – you’re hiding something from me and I want to talk to you about it.”

Blood drained from his face and he glowered at her.

“You said you’d stay out of my head!”

“You shouldn’t care if you have nothing to hide.”

“How 1939 Germany of you,” he barked back and she balked, narrowing her eyes.

“You don’t remember parts of your childhood.”

Jameson felt a wave of shock threatening to smother him as he raced to remember when he’d thought about that.

“That’s none of your business!” he rasped. “You swore you’d stay out of my head!”

“You called out to me, when we were ... the other day” she told him grimly. “I didn’t want to know but you…you don’t remember everything, do you? You have blackout periods from your youth.”

“I really don’t want to talk to you about this,” he growled. “Let’s keep going.”

“NO!” Audrey snarled. “Don’t you see? Your past could be catching up with you!”

He froze and slowly turned back toward her.

“My past?” he echoed contemptuously. “Catching up with me? In case you haven’t noticed, Audrey, we’re running because of your family’s superpowers. They were never after me before you showed up.”

“How do you know that for certain? They had left me alone at the hospital for two weeks before you showed up also!” she retorted. “Obviously something triggered th—”

Abruptly, she stopped talking and together they realized what she was thinking.

“They wanted us together,” they mumbled in unison.

“Why?” The story was growing more bizarre with each passing moment and Jameson didn’t know which way was up suddenly.

“You need to tell me what you do remember about your childhood.”

“Nothing! I have blank spots like…I don’t know…like—”

“Like your memory was wiped clean?”

His eyes were slits.

“This is not a sci-fi movie, Audrey. Technology like that doesn’t exist.”

“Oculus doesn’t exist either,” she reminded him. “At least not to the rest of the world.”

She fell back against a tree and started slightly as a scared snake slithered across the forest bed.

“Jesus, we need to get out of here,” she said, shuddering.

“What would Oculus want with me?” he insisted. “Even if you’re right and they’re responsible for my…”

Suddenly, the taste of liquor touched his mouth and he frowned.

“We need to split up.”

He almost got whiplash from turning his head.

“Are you crazy?” he asked and she shook her head vehemently.

“No. If they were waiting for us to be together, our best shot for evading capture is to split up.”

“Not going to happen.”

Audrey covered the distance between them and grabbed his arm.

“You said yourself that we’re almost at the road leading into town. We don’t need survival skills to make it up a road.”

“And what if they’re waiting for us on the road, guns blazing ... again? Audrey—”

“You don’t understand!” She exploded. “These people, these inhumane monsters, have been hunting my family for three generations! By some miracle, we’ve managed to evade their capture, almost capture them even. I will not be the one who brings us down – nor will I bring you to them, if they’re looking for you, too!”

She was trembling as she spoke but Jameson didn’t care. There was no way he was letting her out of his sight, not for one minute. But he knew arguing with her wasn’t going to get them very far.

“Fine,” he relented. “We’ll do it your way. When we get to the road, if they’re still not on our trail, we’ll split up and meet back in Las Puertas.”

Even as he said it, he was thinking about how that would be impossible, even if he was in agreement.

I have no idea how else to circle back to Las Puertas if we don’t take the road. The only way to divide would be if one of us sat back and let the other go ahead.

“You’re lying.”

The statement was flat and emotionless, sending a small shiver through him.

“I said we’ll play it by ear—”

“No, you agree to do it my way.”

“Audrey, I’m not going to waste the cloak of darkness to stand here arguing with you. One way or another, we’re getting out of this mess.”

“Yes,” she conceded. “We are.”

His face softened slightly.

“It’s almost dawn,” he told her, brushing a matted piece of hair from her heart-shaped face. “Let’s just find a cavern and stay low until dusk.”

She lowered her eyes and nodded.

“All right.”

He exhaled with relief. He’d been sure she was going to press the issue.

“I saw a place back that way which will work well for tonight. Maybe twenty minutes.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice dull and alarm coursed through him.

She’s giving up, he thought with a slight panic. She’s ready to throw in the towel and we still have days to go.

But he should have known better, something he realized far too late. It wasn’t until he woke in the cave, hours later, that he saw that Audrey had not given up at all.

She had left him.