Michael woke up with a start and quite a pounding headache. He completely forgot where he was for a minute. He looked around and found himself in Jessa’s bed, but she was nowhere to be seen. Walking through the house, he could see that the essentials were missing. The top drawers of her dresser were open and empty. The once full cupboard was half bare. The woman was gone. Michael’s heart sank.
He was frustrated and a little angry, but a look around her little house made him even more intrigued. For such a small house, every inch was used efficiently. There were plants and herbs preserved and drying in every room that he walked through. He did not even know what half of them were, but it sure looked impressive. There were plants growing indoors, almost as many as there were growing outside. He had the sinking feeling that Jessa had run away, and it was because of his shirt comment. Somehow he had gotten the crazy idea that she would be grateful for his help. Instead, she seemed pissed. One thing had stayed the same since before the bombs, he thought. He still didn’t understand women. Mike would have never told anyone what happened, but she didn’t know that. He had scared her off. A wave of guilt and some self-condemnation washed over him. Well, she wasn’t getting away so easily. He would just have to find her.
***
Jessa walked down one of the overgrown side roads on her way towards the coast. She had been trying to decide about their trip for a while and the incident with that creep – that dead creep now - cemented the idea. She was craving the saltwater and Shane had never even seen the ocean before. That was something she wanted to rectify.
She figured that it would take a few months and she had brought enough dehydrated vegetables and jerky, as well as energy cakes she made out of ground acorn, mixed dehydrated berries and animal fat, to make the journey. Shane was understandably not very excited about leaving the little town, though he knew that there must be a reason and listened when his mother woke him up and told him to pack. They each had a full pack on their backs, since what they could carry was now the sum total of their worldly possessions.
He was used to moving around. The last six months had been the longest they had stayed in one place. He knew his mother was fearful of traveling alone and he picked up on her added stress. He was not quite sure what she was afraid of. She would never admit she was afraid, but Shane knew when she was. He liked the idea of traveling again and he always looked at it like an adventure. He was going to miss Aidan and even that new man Michael, but he did not want to stay in that tiny town forever. There were so many things that he was told growing up, the stories of the way the world used to be and he wanted to see more of what was left. Mostly knew he had to be brave for his mom.
“Where are we going Ma?”
“Well baby, I would love to see the ocean again, and wouldn’t you like to see water everywhere as far as you can see?”
“Yes, I am ready for an adventure!”
Jessa smiled down to him. He constantly reminded her of how wise beyond his years he was and of the uncanny ability children have to adapt to almost anything. He was already adjusting to this new “adventure” as he called it. He must have gotten that from his father.
His father had been convinced that they must move around a lot, constantly searching. He was always looking for the perfect place to make a home. It had been over four years though, and they had never found it. Kraven had always done more than love her. He had been her constant protector and had shown it many times during the course of their travels. There was also more than one or two times that he had saved their young child. She was especially nervous about traveling alone with her son. She was afraid she would not be able to protect him as she needed to. A gun and a crossbow had been added to the weapons on hand, though she still felt vulnerable.
After all, there was no such thing as police to protect them now. The thought of dialing 911 actually made her wince. Wouldn’t that be nice. She would be calling every day, she mused to herself.
While Jessa remembered life before only vaguely, she had definitely remembered police. People did not have some uniformed force to depend on to save them anymore. They only had their own wits and skills and those of whoever they were living or traveling with. There was some protection and safety in numbers, but it seemed to her that you had to lose free will in the balance and it just wasn’t worth it to her.
Deep down she hoped she wasn’t being pigheaded and foolish. Hopefully her stubbornness would not get them both killed. But she had to be true to herself. What was the point of being safe if she could not decide how to live in that safety on her own terms? Jessa had always agreed with her husband that there must be someplace she could do that as part of a community. She was determined that if she couldn’t find such a place, she would help to build one. Now that he was gone, she was more determined than ever to make that place a reality.