Anna and I continue along the river, following its noisy waters towards the lake. I try to strike up a conversation, but Anna is hardly able to keep going, let alone to talk. So I let her walk in silence.

We are crossing a meadow, with the river still right beside us, and it is its noise that hides the approach of the drone. It's hovering above us, without warning.

We are exposed here, in plain sight.

I grab Anna's arm, the uninjured one, but she still gives a cry of pain as I start dragging her off towards the forest.

"Drone!" I yell, and the world explodes.

I find myself flat on the ground, ears ringing. I have a feeling of déja-vu. But last time the world exploded around me, I didn't know the reason for it, and now I do. The drone has dropped a bomb on us.

I see Anna kneeling in the grass beside me, looking at me wide-eyed, the smoke of the bomb dissipating some distance behind her. I rise and look up. The drone is still above us, its sound barely audible over the ringing in my ears.

Looking back at Anna, I see that she gets to her feet.

"Let's move." I start again running towards the forest, trusting that Anna will follow.

"How many of these bombs does it carry?" I ask as we enter the trees.

"Don't know," Anna says, her voice sounding strangely muted.

The craft still hovering above us like an ugly insect ready to sting.

I first head away from the river, and then make a right turn, hoping to shake off our pursuer, but its noise follows us. I wait for the next explosion, teeth clenched. Anna's hand is holding mine, squeezing tight. I want to run as fast as my feet can carry me, but Anna's stumbling steps hold me back.

I look up, but the drone is hidden behind the green canopy of the trees. "You're right. I think he can see us, through the leaves," I say, "but he seems to have run out of bombs."

About five minutes later the sound of the drone recedes towards the mountains. Maybe it has to refuel or recharge. I don't ask Anna about it, I feel lucky that she is still able to walk at all.

When we reach the remains of a village later in the day, I decide to seek shelter. Anna keeps stumbling and I have to support her. She needs a rest.

I find a place with a fairly good roof that might help us hide from the prying eyes of the drone if it makes another appearance.

Once inside, Anna collapses.

I look at her injury. The wound is not bleeding anymore, but the flesh surrounding it is crimson.

"Wait here, I'll get some water for us."

She nods. The weak smile on her lips does not reach her tired eyes.

Later, she drinks from the bottle eagerly. I have walked quite far to find a brook with water that looked reasonably clean. I can't boil it—I only can hope it won't make us sick. We don't have a choice, we have to drink or we won't make it home.

Then I feed her some cherries that I have found on my way back from the brook. She hardly seems to notice what she is eating. Later, she falls into an uneasy sleep.

Her cheeks are hot to the touch.

I sit beside her in the darkness of our shelter, waiting for the drone's menacing voice or the sound of the steps of Jan's men searching for us. But the evening is quiet.

Next morning, Anna is still running a fever, and she complains about a headache. I don't like the sound of this and wonder if we should continue or stay here. I ask if she is fit to walk, and she nods.

I decide to continue. There's nothing I can do to help her if we stay here.

Our progress is slow. Anna is breathing hard, and I am trying to give her as much support as I can.

Once we hear the whir of the drone, but it's hovering away to the right of us, towards the river. The noise fades quickly. My morning's decision to stick to the woods and to stay away from the river was a wise one.

It's well into the afternoon when we reach the lake. I savor its humid smell. It reminds me of our house on the north shore.

When Anna sets eyes on the water, she gasps. "That's huge."

I nod. "Yeah."

Close to where we stand, the remains of a large villa look out on the lake. I lead Anna inside, and we walk through the rooms within. We chose the largest of them. It holds some stately furniture. Most of it is broken, but a vast table is still standing. It is long enough to seat at least half of the village of the zombies.

To one side, leaning against a yellowish, stained wall, I find an ancient sofa. It has collapsed, the glue holding its wood together gone or useless. But I find some soft stuff inside, and I use it to build a makeshift bed for Anna.

She is still feverish, and her wound looks worse, its red fringe wider than in the morning.

"You're ok here?" I ask. "I'll go looking for the boat. I'll be back before sunset."

She nods.

I squeeze her hand. She closes her eyes.

I leave the building and look out onto the lake. A still, gray expanse of water under the heavy lid of a gray sky. We're about half a kilometer from the river's estuary, and I decide to search in that direction, assuming that Steve and Jenny would have tried to land close to the river.

Much of the shoreline is occupied by the ruins of houses, piers, and embankments. Assuming that they took the boat out of the water, and did not leave it moored, I search not only the shore but also possible hiding places inland. But I reach the river without having found the canoe.

On my way back, I search again, but the canoe is nowhere.

When I reach the villa, I check on Anna, who is weak and hot, but awake. I tell her about my failure to find the boat, and she gives me a faint smile.

"Try the other side, you'll find it," she says.

I leave the house, going left, and search in that direction until the shades of the sky turn into darkish, menacing grays, losing their power to illuminate the landscape.

I sit with Anna in the large room of the villa. The boat was nowhere to be found.

A row of broken windows gives a view over the lake in the gloom, its gloominess reflecting what I feel inside. The lake is so vast. We won't be able to make it home along its shore, Anna is too weak. We can't walk all that way.

"You know," Anna says, her voice hoarse. "I've never seen a lake... until today. Just read about lakes. I never thought that they can be so big."

"You should see the sea", I say. "When you stand at its shore, it's endless."

But she has already closed her eyes. I listen to her labored breathing until I fall asleep.

Next morning, the pre-dawn cold wakes me from my slumber, way too early. I check on Anna. She's still asleep, her breathing the same as yesterday, her cheeks still hot.

I try to go back to sleep, too, but the thought of the missing canoe keeps me awake. Without a boat, we have to cross the river. And the only bridge I know of is that arch, upstream, and Anna is in no state to cross there. Or we have to swim. I doubt that swimming is among her skills, and even if it were, in her weakened state she would likely drown before we gained the other shore.

I'll have to build a raft that can carry Anna over the estuary. And then what? And how do I build a raft? I first need the tools and something to bind the logs, or whatever. And all of this will take time.

In the first light of the day, I step out onto the terrace in front of the villa. The clouds hang low over the lake, and a drizzle has started. The scenery looks as desolate as I feel.

What have they done with that boat, Steve and Jenny, I wonder. What would I have done? They knew that they would be gone for some days, and they also had to suspect that there are people in this region. So they would have hidden the boat, but they would have hidden it somewhere they would be able to find it easily on their way back. I would have chosen a hiding place at some landmark, in some large building, for example...

I turn around and look at the villa. But I have searched it yesterday while looking for a room to stay in.

My eyes go back towards the lake. There's a small boathouse right in front of me. Yesterday, I searched to the right of it, then to its left.

When I get back to Anna, she is awake, ogling me bleary-eyed.

I grin. "I've found that bloody boat! And you won't believe where it was."