Dean

I've been lying awake for a while, the cold and the hard ground making it difficult to get any sleep. I wish that Ella would just shove her pride aside and slept near me, it's not like I want to touch her or hold her, but when it's a million degrees below zero, I'll take anything I can get. I don't know why she gets so defensive all the time, it's getting more annoying everyday.

Sitting up, I decide to watch the sun rise, not in that big of a hurry to begin traveling again. Daylight is precious, but I don't even know if we'll find anything. We've been traveling this far and haven't found anything, I'm just hoping we're going in the right direction.

Pulling the backpack towards me, I open it up to see the last two bottles left. I didn't drink anything yesterday, and my mouth is like sandpaper. I know that Ella won't like this idea, but we might have to share a bottle today, if we want to have water tomorrow.

Zipping the bag up, I look over at the sleeping girl, curled into a ball. I don't know how she's even sleeping right now, especially in the position her body is in. I should wake her up and give her a couple crackers, but I'll wait. She looks so peaceful, I don't want to disturb her.

I watch the sun for a bit longer, as its rays slowly creep along the edge of the Earth. This planet does have its beauty to it, but it still doesn't compare to my home.

Pushing away the memories of the past, I lean over and nudge Ella on the arm. "Wake up," I mutter, before she swats my hand away and groans. "C'mon, we can't waste anymore daylight." She begins to sit up, and I open the back pack and dish out a couple crackers, before opening the peanut butter and dipping them inside. "Here," I say, handing them over before eating one myself. "We have to share a bottle of water today, since there's only two left. We'll need water tomorrow, or I wouldn't care." She takes a bite of her cracker, before shrugging.

"You can have a bottle today, since you didn't have any yesterday, and I'll take the turn of not drinking." I roll my eyes at her reply, wishing she would just go with what I say instead of always having to make her own plan.

"For once, can you please just do what I ask? The first day you didn't even eat anything and I could hear your stomach from miles away, but you were afraid we'd run out. Trust me, I don't want to share water either, but I'm not going to let you pass out in this God forsaken desert because you're too stubborn to share some water."

"You didn't have any water yesterday, and I didn't grill you," she remarks, her breath smelling like peanut butter as she finishes her breakfast.

"We're two totally different species, Ella, I can live on less water then you." I'm kind of telling the truth, we can live longer without water, but only hours longer, or so I've heard.

"Whatever." She huffs out a breath, before standing up and wiping the dust and dirt from her clothes. "Ready?" I nod in reply, before shutting the bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

"I have a good feeling about today," I whisper more to myself then anything, as we start our journey, the stretch of land lying in front of us.

"At least one of us does," she replies. I can hear the doubt in her voice, and I try to shake it off. I have doubt too, but I can't show it. If I begin to doubt, who knows what she'll do. I need to be strong for the both of us. We will find this road, we will, or we'll die trying. I can't give up, and I won't let her give up either. We've gotten this far, we can get even farther.

"We'll make it, Ella. I'm not sure of a lot of things right now, but I am sure of that." I'm telling her this to boost her confidence, while doing the same to mine. I need to believe that we will, it will drive determination straight through me if I do.

"You keep saying that though, Dean, and look how far we've already come? We haven't seen anything so far but dust afar off from where the crash happened. God knows how much longer we'll have to travel, and we can't survive on the little food and water we have. I just--I--" she stops talking, and the conversation is lost. She's scared, but she doesn't want to admit it. Maybe we're more alike then both of us imagined.

The sun is growing hotter with every second, and I can feel it burn my flesh. If we don't get sun poisoning from this journey, it'll be one big miracle. I can already see the redness growing on Ella's face, and the green tint forming on my own skin. Neither of us complain though, what would be the sense anyway? It's not like you can tell the sun to go away and it will. I wish that were the case, I'd almost take the freezing temperature over the scalding one any day. It doesn't work like that, though, on Earth you rarely ever get what you want.

I'm thirsty, my mouth is even drier then it was this morning, and I can no longer hold off the water. I need it. Pulling the pack off my shoulder, I open it and take out one of the two bottles. I zip the bag back up, and return it to it's place on my arm, and twist off the cap. The warm sensation of the water hits my tongue in such a relief, that I can't help but sigh in appreciation. I only drink a few gulps though, trying to save some for Ella, despite her refusing to drink today. She will drink this bottle with me if I have to force it down her stubborn throat. "Here," I say, holding it out to her. "You need to drink this, your body is losing too much water from the heat. You could pass out."

"Dean, just put it away and save it for--"

"No," I snap, sick of her stubbornness. "You need this, so drink it, even just a sip. I don't want you to pass out, because then I'll have to carry you, and it'll take even longer to reach our destination. So drink some water, okay?" She doesn't say anything in return, and I'm glad. Instead, she takes the bottle from my outstretched hand, and takes a sip. It's one pitiful sip, but it's better then nothing.

"Thanks," she mutters, before handing it back over, where I replace the cap and return it inside the bag.

"No problem." It's nice, for once, not to argue. I feel like my body has more energy when we don't waste it on hateful words. I sort of feel bad about yesterday. I was kind of awful to her, and I think that's what we do a lot, is misunderstand one another. I wish we could almost start over, but that won't happen. She'll never forget how I treated her, and I'll never forget how rude and annoying she can be at times. It does sound like a good idea, but it's washed away along with everything else.

I close my eyes as we travel up a small hill, just trying to hold myself together, my legs burning with every step I make. I can hear her next to me, growing farther and farther away as I slow down, but she continues. I eventually stop, my eyes still shut, as I realize how badly I need a break. I just need to breath for a few moments. We've already traveled a couple hours, surely a few minutes won't make much of a difference.

"Dean," I hear her voice, it sounding farther away then ever. "Dean." She repeats my name, and I can hear the...fear?...in her words. Why would she be worried about me? But then I remember that I'm lying on my back, my eyes closed, and I probably resemble a dead guy. Opening my eyes, I look up, only to be met with her face, her body hovering over me.

"Yeah?" I ask, before she whacks me hard on the arm. "What the--"

"I thought you passed out, you idiot," she huffs, and I want to ask her why she would even be worried about that. I would think she'd be thrilled to be rid of me.

"I was just resting," I shrug, before sitting up and brushing the dirt from my palms.

"Well, I found something," she states, before standing up, and walking over the hill. "C'mon." I want to tell her that I'll come when I'm ready, just to get a rise out of her, but I don't. I'm too excited to see what she found.

My burning calves carry me up the hill, until I'm standing at the very top, Ella by my side. "You see that?" She asks as she points straight in front of us, and I catch the excitement in her voice. "That's a road. You were right, Dean, you brought us to the road." She's smiling, full on smiling and I watch the hope get sucked back into her eyes. I begin to smile, her happiness infecting me. We made it, we actually did it.

"Hey, it wasn't just me, it was both of us," I state as I nudge her arm. She shrugs.

"It was mostly you, but if you're going to give me credit, I'll take what I can get." She laughs slightly, and I realize how much I've missed hearing a laugh, hearing what someone gives off when they're happy, and it sort of sucks the joy from my mood. But another look at her beaming face, brings it all back.

"Let's go," I say after a moment of admiring what lies ahead of us. "I'll race you, I bet I could beat you still, even in this heat." I give her a smirk, and I can tell I've got her where I want her.

"You're on, Schloric."

"Bring it, Henderson." And that's all it takes, before we break off into a run, both of us tripping over our own two feet.

We stumble down the hill, the dust kicking up and catching our faces, but we never stop. We keep running, despite the ache in our legs, the burn in our lungs. We are so close, we can't stop, not now, not ever. We can make it, and I can tell that this is the determination that drives us. We are stronger then we ever thought, and I am proud. In this moment, I am proud of who I am and I am proud to be next to a human, a first for me. I can't help but wonder if she felt the same way. I doubt she did, she hates me, but I still wonder.

As we run, I can hear our breath echo together, reminding us that we're already tired, and this probably isn't the smartest idea that I had, but I can't help it. It feels great to have that emotion of competition run through me, and I can tell that I need this. Maybe she needs it too, so perhaps it's a win win win.

The road lies ahead of us, only about 500--478--456--410--397--359--318--299--234--205--167--156--132--107--99--78--46--29--14--5 feet ahead of us, until both of us are standing on the black top road, it stretching out in front of us, the hope that we held onto so tight, despite how hard it was.

We stop, our lungs begging for air, and we let them. We grab as much oxygen as we can, and it feels great. The burn in my legs doesn't feel as bad, the stinging in my lungs isn't as strong, and the heat from the sun doesn't feel as scorching. We made it, we are finally where we're supposed to be, and it feels the greatest of anything. "You're an idiot," she heaves after a moment of collecting our breathing.

"Why? Because I won," I breathe, despite it being a close tie.

"No, to have the idea to waste our energy."

"Hey," I defend. "We got here a lot--faster then we--would have if we walked."

"Still, my lungs are screaming."

"Is that the noise I heard? I just thought it was your wild hair being loud." I brace myself for the smack I deserve, and it comes just as assumed.

"Jerk," she laughs, but no hatred is in her words.

"I learn from the best," I shrug, not hiding the my smile.

"Whatever. You ready to continue?" She asks and I nod, but really only wanting to take a break.

"Let's find another town, Ella, and save the world. Or at least, North America." I try to joke, but it only causes her smile to leave her face.

"I hope my country isn't in ruins, I hope the world isn't broken up. I hope my Earth doesn't look like this everywhere," she whispers, as she looks around and still sees the small air of dust afar off, it decreasing the longer we walk.

"I'm sure it doesn't," I say before even thinking about it. Where is my sudden comfort mode coming from? I don't like it one bit.

"You don't know that. I wish I could have protected him," she mutters, and I already know the rapids are gonna flow from her eyes if I don't do anything, but I don't even know what to do. "He was my little brother, I know we were only a year apart, but I had a duty. I should have tried to shield him when it hit, despite how much I know he would've tried to push me off. He was taller, he always acted like an older brother, always trying to protect me. I left him, Dean, I left him with anger in me. I left him with such anger, I would have punched him a good plenty time if my mom wasn't there." I watch as the tears begin to flow down her red cheeks, and I wish I didn't tell her about my planet. Ever since then, she's been crying on schedule. I guess when the ice breaks, it takes a while for it to freeze again.

"It's okay, El, you couldn't have saved him, despite how much you think you could have, you couldn't." With that, she cries harder, and for the second time, I want to hold her. Not just for the reason of helping her, but maybe for helping myself as well.