Claire turned the truck off to conserve gas. “I’ll take first watch. I’m too jacked-up to rest.”
“Alright then. Thomas, hand me one of those blankets, please.” Sophie curled up against the passenger door, shutting her heavy eyelids.
“I’ll stay awake wit’ you.” That was the first thing Thomas had said for a while.
“Thank you, Thomas.” Claire was quiet for a few minutes. “You know, when we first met you, I wanted to knock you out, but you have turned out to be an amazing person.”
“Thank you,” he said with a bashful smile.
“What do you miss the most? Besides your family, of course.” Claire was trying to make conversation and get to know him better.
“Hmm…music. I really loved it. Music was my escape.”
“Once we get the iPod to Henry, he’ll have music in his truck. We probably should have grabbed the car charger from his truck before we left. Did you play an instrument?”
“No. We couldn’t afford that.” He looked sad.
“Well, Thomas, if it makes you feel any better, I tried and failed miserably.” They both laughed a little.
“So Nick can play the guitar?” He ran his fingers over the strings.
“Yes. I can’t wait until we can give it to him. Over the years, I heard him playing so many times. He’s amazing. And he can sing with the best of them. He has a real gift for it.”
A rush of warmth ran through Claire. She knew she was making the right decision to fall into Nick’s arms. It just felt like it should be that way. Like it always should have been that way.
Claire and Thomas talked for hours while Sophie slept. Claire hoped that she would sleep off her bitchyness.
***
The morning sun began to burn off the fog. When the warm rays broke through and settled on Claire’s face, she woke with a start, not realizing that she had fallen asleep. She looked at the passenger side, and Sophie wasn’t there. She whipped her head around, and saw that Thomas was asleep, lying across the backseat.
“Thomas! Wake up!” He jumped up, nearly knocking himself out on the back of the driver’s seat.
“Wha’?” he mumbled.
“Where’s Sophie?”
“Huh?” Thomas rubbed his eyes. He looked in front and saw she was gone.
“Oh, my god! Henry is going to kill me if we lose her!” Panic had taken over. “We have to find her!” She opened the truck door and jumped out. The fog was still lingering, but it wasn’t nearly as dense as it had been overnight. She wasn’t sure if she should call out to her.
Thomas got out, gun at the ready. Claire’s breathing was rapid and loud, and he held his finger to his lips. They both stood still and were as quiet as possible. Suddenly, Thomas held up his hand, signaling that he heard something. He slowly crept away in the direction of the noise. She was worried he would run into something he couldn’t handle. The sounds became louder and closer. Thomas held up his gun, ready to shoot. Then Sophie appeared out of the fog, and let out a short scream.
“What the fuck, Thomas? Are you trying to kill me?”
“No. You shoulda told us you left!” He was angry, only because he was scared that something had happened to her.
“You were both sleeping.” Claire just stood there looking at her. “I had to pee, okay? Geez. A girl can’t piss in these mad times without nearly getting shot. Bunch of bloody mentals.” Sophie continued to mumble unintelligibly as she walked to the driver’s door. Thomas and Claire exchanged shrugs, getting back into the truck.
“If either of you care, there are a shit load of cars about fifty yards back that way. Somehow, we missed them. Oh, and I found these.” She pulled out a pocketful of mini chocolate bars. Claire’s eyes lit up. “Should we share them, and not tell?” Sophie had a devious look on her face.
“Divide ‘em up!” Thomas said enthusiastically. Sophie passed them out, and they sat back, enjoying them. Their tension lifted.
“Mmm… Oh, you know what this makes me think of? S’mores.” Claire was thinking about camping when she was a child, making the sweet treat over the campfire.
“What’s a s’more?” Shocked, Thomas and Claire looked at Sophie. “What? Sorry! I don’t know what that is. I ate rubbish food most of my life, and the stuff back at the complex was bland and nasty.”
“You roast a marshmallow over a fire, then put it in between a chocolate bar and graham cracker. It’s an ooey, gooey, super sweet treat.”
“Huh. That sounds like it would be good. Maybe we can find the ingredients at some point and make it.”