A tall figure stands before me, his gloved hands raised, his face hidden in the depths of a dark hood.

I stumble backward. I am unarmed. He's twice my size.

"I-it's okay," his voice is unsteady, nervous. "I don't want any trouble, I just -"

"Seth!" I screech, "Izzy!" I hear their hurried footsteps approaching.

The boy in front of me backs away, into a tree, where he halts, his hands beginning to shake as he keeps them aloft.

Seth bursts through the trees first, followed closely by Izzy, his eyes wide as he comes to a stop beside me, his gaze falling upon the newcomer.

"Are you okay?" He asks me, "What did he do?" 

"I'm fine, he...he didn't do anything. Yet."

Izzy storms over to the guy, drawing her katana slowly, ominously. "So...." She brings the blade up to his neck, "you were trying to bother my friend here, were you?"

He shakes his head slightly. "N-no! I'd never - I just need some food...I saw smoke, thought m-maybe...."

"Well, you thought wrong," Izzy snaps, "Seth, get over here and check him for weapons."

Seth follows suit, and a moment later we discover the guy is completely unarmed.

"You're some dumbass, aren't you? Wandering around the apocalypse without anything to defend yourself with," Izzy scoffs.

"I used to have weapons," the guy replies in defense.

"Wynne, go check the rabbit," Seth tells me over his shoulder. I head back to the small clearing.

As I approach, I'm surprised to see Mara sitting by the fire.

"Feeling better?" I ask, crouching beside her and turning the rabbit on the spit.

She shrugs. I can't see her face; she has her hood pulled up. "Umm, what...?" She nods in the direction I came from.

"Some guy," I say, assuming she is asking why I yelled. Now that I think about it, he seemed harmless enough. Could be an act, though. Probably is. "Seth and Izzy are seeing about him, nothing to worry about."

"Mm...."

There's a pause in which I can hear Izzy and Seth's muffled voices before I say, "I'm sure they'll find us soon."

"You can all stop trying to comfort me now," Mara murmurs, "empty reassurances are worse than just outright saying they might not find us."

"Okay," I say, turning my attention back to the rabbit. "But they really might, you know."

"Yeah, but they might not," she replies. "I'm ready to accept whatever."

Before I can think of a response, I hear Izzy's raised voice. I can't tell what she's saying, but a moment later, she and Seth return, accompanied by the stranger, though now his hands are bound with a small rope.

"Seth insists upon us feeding this urchin," Izzy mutters angrily. "But he's not getting any rabbit, right?"

"There's plenty for him as well as us," Seth says in reply.

"Ugh! You're ridiculous!" Izzy rumbles, shoving the guy onto the rock. "Stay." She comes to the fire and sits on the other side of Mara. "You good?"

Mara nods.

"Good."

+++++

The rabbit is finally finished cooking. It smells wonderful, and as Seth pulls off a strip of meat, my mouth begins to water.

The newcomer eyes it hungrily. We dig in, stripping the skeleton bare. Izzy still isn't happy about us giving some to the stranger, but he thanks us profusely.

"What's your name, anyway?" Seth asks.

"Don't get attached, idiot, you can't keep every stray we come across," Izzy grumbles, gnawing the last bit of rabbit.

"I'm Hudson," the stranger says, awkwardly reaching out his bound hands.

"Seth," Seth introduces himself, shaking one of Hudson's outstretched hand. "And the grumpy one is Izzy."

Izzy grunts, and Hudson gives a small laugh.

"And that's Wynne," Seth continues, pointing at me, "and last is Mara."

"Hi...." Hudson says, then chuckles, "it's been so long since I encountered civilized people, I barely know what to say."

"How long have you been alone?" Seth asks.

Hudson looks up at the sky, thinking for a moment. "Since a couple months after the whole shit storm started."

"That is a long time," Seth agrees.

They lapse into silence, and I study Hudson more closely. He is tall, but even through his many layers I can see that he's desperately thin. His skin is smooth and dark, his eyes a rich golden brown, his full lips outlined with dark stubble. A few dark curls escape from the front of his hood, the rest hidden beneath it.

"So I guess you're wanting to keep this one?" Izzy breaks the silence, addressing Seth.

"Well, we can't just -"

"Please, I don't want any trouble, I'll get going, if...if that's what you want," Hudson says cautiously.

"Can't we give him a chance?" Mara asks quietly.

"He's probably a psycho!" Izzy yells, jabbing her finger at him accusingly. He shifts away from her slightly, eyes widening.

"If anybody's a psycho, it's you, Izzy, so shut up," Seth says. In reply to this, Izzy shoves him causing him to lose his balance and almost fall over the rock.

"You just proved it!" He calls after her as she marches off toward the trees.

Hudson shoots me an uneasy look. "Are they always like this?"

I nod, half smiling. It's funny to watch them take turns hitting each other, but I'm afraid one day they'll go too far and actually hurt one another.

He shoots a wary look in their direction before scooting off the rock and settling by the fire. Mara gives him a small smile.

I turn to Seth. "How long are we going to wait here?"

"We'll stay the rest of today and tonight, but we should probably get moving by dawn tomorrow," he says, quietly adding, "whether they catch up with us or not."

I nod, sinking onto the rock as he turns away to the fire. I guess it's best if we move. But I don't want to leave them behind. Because, after saying it aloud to Mara, I truly believe there's a plausible chance that Doyle, Rogan, and Pirate could find us again.

Despite my recent mental crash and silent vows of no hope, I have found something to hope for. And after all, hope is stronger than fear, is it not?