Lyn straightened, about to say something, but Tohru’s change of subject caught her off guard. She stared at him, trying to collect her thoughts. She felt Josefine sigh dejectedly beside her.
“I’ll be honest with you, we’ve been traveling without an adult for a long time. We were just going to search for their parents, but now that you’re here…” She looked between him and Mori. Maybe Mori was the only reason Lyn felt like she could trust him, despite him doing nothing but help. If he had come alone, she would’ve found his offer very creepy.
“I must ask you why want to join us first. Just so we know if… your motives are pure.”
The few adults they had encountered on their journey either hadn’t been very trustworthy, or they somehow died or disappeared after only a few nights. This was partly why Josefine didn’t really care for the idea of an adult looking after them, and mostly why she was scowling at the grass around Tuhru’s feet.
"If something happens to me, I want Mori to have someone. I don't think it will, but still," Tohru replied, "And after seeing what happened… I want to help protect you guys."
After a short pause, he tilted his head.
"As for my benefit, it's having more people in a group. Traveling alone, in pairs, even in a trio… it's kind of hell."
Mori looked up when Tohru mentioned something happening to him and he hugged Tohru tightly, his lip quivering a bit. "N-No! Nothing's gonna happen to you, Mr. Tohru!" He insisted, obviously upset. "You're… y-you're gonna be okay. We're all gonna be okay, right?"
Bean and Luka looked at each other. They knew traveling in a trio was hell, thanks to what happened to Hailey. Lilac sighed. She didn’t know what to say that would make Mori feel better. “We won’t let anything happen,” Bean spoke, trying not to upset anyone.
Tohru's answer left her satisfied, and she sighed with exhaustion. "Okay then."
But Josefine nudged her. "I'll keep an eye on him for you, amiga. Just in case."
Of course, she would. Lyn nodded. "Fine, but he looks alright."
She rolled her eyes and stood. "We're going to be fine," she said to the others. "Now, let's not leave this grave open for all to see. It's going to be dark soon."
Lyn gave her a look. "What she means is that Hailey was a wonderful young girl, but now we must leave her to rest."
Josefine returned the look and began shoveling dirt back into the rectangular pit.
Luka nodded as Bean and Lilac held him close. Will we really be okay…? Bean asked herself. Will we ever see life return to a somewhat normal state…?
Mori held tighter to Tohru, staring wide-eyed at the grave. He still didn't like being near it, clearly, but he tried his best to be quiet and out of the way. His stomach was growling angrily at him by now for not having eaten much of anything that day, but he ignored it. Now wasn't a good time to eat.
"I'll be alright, Mori," Tohru said, "but on that small chance something does happen, I don't want you to ever have to be alone again. But with more people, we're all safer."
Tohru joined in on filling the grave in. That was certainly going a lot faster than digging it did.
Mori hiccuped and rubbed at his eyes a bit when Tohru left him to help with the grave. He really didn't want anything to happen to any of them. He sat down on the ground and hugged his stomach, drawing his knees up to his chest.
The siblings all moved closer to Mori and pulled him into the hug. “Don’t worry kid, we’ll get through this…” Bean told him, trying to think of something positive to say.
"I-I just… I don't— want anybody else— t-to get hurt…" He hiccuped a couple times and hid his face, still quivering. "Why don't… why don't we just s-stay here? At the outpost?"
“Because eventually this won’t be a safe place anymore…eventually the zombies will find it…” Bean sighed. She hated to think about it, but she knew they would have to leave someday.
"Yeah. And if we keep looking, we'll find an even safer place. And maybe live sort of normally again," Tohru replied.
His arms were so, so tired, but he kept shoveling.
"That's my hope. Although with everything that's happened, I've lost everyone I care about…"
Luka nodded as he leaned against his sisters. He didn’t want to say it but…his hope was that this group would survive.
"What if the zombies never go away…?" Mori asked weakly, his voice a bit muffled from hiding his face. "What if… w-what if we're stuck running away forever until we all die one way or another…?"
"Humans are tough and resilient and smart. Someone out there is going to find a solution one of these days. We just have to survive until then," Tohru said, "I, for one, don't plan on giving in to those undead bastards."
Lyn nodded solemnly in agreement. As she helped to refill the grave, she asked, "Tohru, have you heard anything about a safer place we can find?"
She was starting to breathe hard again, and her arms burned, but she refused to stop. She didn't want to keep doing this any longer than she had to. Josefine must be exhausted too, but she didn't say anything, which was very unlike her.
Tohru paused his digging for a moment to talk. He was panting too.
"Not for certain, but I've heard rumors. Maybe some of the islands off the southeast coast, or the Florida keys. They have better means of keeping zombies out, after all."
"H-How would we get to an island, though?" Mori asked softly, rubbing at his teary eyes. "We… we don't have a boat or anything, and I don't really know how to swim very good…"
“Maybe we can build a boat!” Bean suggested. Sure, she knew hardly anything about building boats but she’s built stuff for theater plenty of times. How could this be any different? Lilac nodded. “T-That’s actually a really good idea!”
"They have bridges," Tohru reassured Mori, "They serve as a cutoff point so they can choose who to let in and who to keep out. I mean, bridges are how people got to islands before. I only assume it's the same now."
"What if they don't wanna let us in?" Mori asked nervously, fidgeting a bit with his hands. "What if we go all the way there and then they just turn us away?"
The siblings looked at each other. Surely they wouldn’t do that….right? “I-I doubt that will happen,” Bean said nervously.
"As long as none of us are infected, they have no reason to turn us away," Tohru answered.
He wasn't certain of it, but he was sure enough to actually say it.
"If they're smart, they'll try to save as many people as possible."
"Is it… is it safe there…?" He asked weakly, hugging his stomach more tightly as it angrily growled again. "Do they have supplies and stuff? Could we… stay there?"
Luka wanted to say But what about Hailey? How will we visit her? but he realized Hailey would’ve wanted her family to be safe…even if that meant they wouldn’t visit. Bean shrugged. “Hopefully…” she told Mori, sighing.
"I would like to think so," Tohru said, "At the very least, they should have plenty of food, and I'm sure they've figured out a way to get clean water. But like I said, I don't know much about what's going on there. They were mostly rumors."
Mori nodded a bit and sighed, resting his forehead against his knees. He was achy and exhausted, and his stomach wouldn't shut up. He closed his eyes, figuring it wouldn't hurt to get a bit of rest.
Bean sighed as Luka leaned against his siblings. I think everyone’s so exhausted…we should just sleep… Bean thought to herself as she, Luka, and Lilac all started to fall asleep.
"Um… why don't we move inside?" Tohru suggested, "I'll see if I can find any food, if you guys need it, and we can rest for the night."
Tohru grabbed his bag and hauled the shovels back inside, not stopping to see if the others followed.
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