"I'm sorry." Jay said quietly. He walked beside her quietly, looking at the ground. This person…her brother? They didn't usually take kids. Not that young, anyway. And when they did…they didn't usually survive. It was too harsh for them. He sighed softly.
“No, it’s fine,” She said softly, blinking back tears, “I had a feeling, but I had to check it for sure.” Rolling her shoulders, she went quiet again, seeming very interested in the road as they walked along.
He nodded, and kept walking. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again so he could see as they walked. He didn't say anything. He had his hat on, as usual, and he sighed softly. He hoped they wouldn't come across any of the Silverhead Gang. They had a vendetta against him, and would most likely try to kill him for what he'd done.
For a while they walked in silence again, the land ever so slowly changing to more farmland than forest. “So, back to our conversation before I got nosy, what was your life like before you got taken? Any family or anything?” She said, breaking the silence as she glanced over at him. Her non injured leg was starting to hurt again but she didn’t pay attention to it, knowing it was just from the walking.
He shrugged slightly, thinking for a long moment. "I…we lived here in America. I had one little brother and an older sister. My parents marriage was fracturing, but they were still together." He sounded like he was reciting from a script. "And then I was taken, and i never saw them again. I don't even know if they're still alive. Any of them."
She nodded, glancing at him, “Your life sounds like mine but completely opposite at the same time.” Her eyes wandered to the sky as she watched for drones, deciding how much of her life she was going to share, “Well, my family and I lived in America here, like you. My parents were divorced though, won’t bore you with that. I had a younger brother, the one I was asking about, my mother was expecting twins, And I had an older step sister from my dads new wife.”
Jay nodded. "I see." He said softly. "Did you ever find out what happened to them?" He asked, glancing over at her. His gold eyes were clear, but seemingly without much emotion.
“My dads new wife was shot by a raider, my dad too,” She started, her eyes flicking to the ground again, though her voice showed no emotion until she continued when she swallowed back tears, “My mother was taken, still pregnant with only a month to go, and up until half a year ago my brother was with me.” Her voice wavered a little and she focused on the ground ahead, “I made a vow to myself I’d protect him from anything and everything he needed protecting from, but I couldn’t…he was taken by one of the ships a year and a half ago, I’ve searched for him everywhere. I even went to the big alien base on the east coast to look for him. He’s gone though..”
Jay sighed softly. "I'm sorry…" He trailed off. They took a pregnant woman? Oh God… "I really am. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know." He said softly. He adjusted his backpack, and glanced up at the sky to look for drones.
She shook her head, “They’re gone now, nothing can be done to help them, and anyways it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have done anything to help them anyway.” For a moment she slowed and let her leg stretch but then she quickly caught up to him, “All I can do now is make sure they’re remembered and that I survive until these aliens hopefully leave, or until they give up on killing the last few of us that remain.”
Jay nodded, and looked at the ground. They won't give up. Not from what I saw. They want Earth. They won't stop until they get it. But i can't tell her that. She'd just ask how I know. He sighed softly, and looked back up at the sky. "Yeah." He said softly.
Her eyes flicked to the sky and she noted how far the sun was in the sky, putting a tiny smile on her face, “Well, enough of they family thing, tell me what your craziest dreams were, what you wanted to be as a kid, happy things. It’s too early in the morning to think about death.”
"I…" He laughed softly. "I wanted to be an astronaut." He admitted, shaking his head. "Now…that seems so stupid." He said, sighing. "What did you want to be?"
“A movie star actually,” She replied, looking to the sky with a light laugh and a similar shake of her head, “I wanted the life of fame and fancy cars and parties. The fancy dresses, flawless makeup and effortless beauty.”
He laughed softly. "You would have done pretty well." He said softly. "At least, in my opinion. Although our paths would never have crossed." He sighed. "I wanted to be on the Mars mission. You know, the one they were planning? I wanted to be one of the first on a new planet." He shook his head. "Damn. Now I just want this one back."
Her face flushed and she shrugged, “I don’t know how well I would’ve done.” She sighed and nodded, glancing at him, “What I wouldn’t give to save this world from those parasites, maybe I could help make life better for whatever of the next generation is left.”
He sighed softly. I wish they were gone. But even if they were…the Killswitch operation would tear the remnants of civilization apart. "Yeah. But…they're up there." He pointed. "We're down here. There's nothing we can do. I, for one, don't want to go back there, and trust me when I say that you don't want to go there. Ever."
“What about rockets or something?” She asked only somewhat jokingly, “Couldn’t that maybe blow up their ships and we could be free from them?” Delia looked around and sighed, shrugging, “But I’m no rocket scientist and there’s no way to find any that still work.”
"I think most of those were already used, with little to no impact. In the early days, when the countries of Earth were still doing an organized attack…I was up in the ships. They…the aliens laughed. At our technology. I don't think anything short of their own weapons could destroy their ships. But i don't know." He shrugged slightly.
She sighed again, her mind hard at work as she continued along the road, almost running into the back of a beat up and clearly not useful anymore car. “The only way to get rid of them then is essentially a suicide mission, I don’t think they store any of their weapons on earth.”
Jay nodded. Not physical weapons, no… "Yeah. And I, for one, am not yet suicidal. Besides, how would we even get up there?" He pointed out. "And then if we got up there, we would have to find a way to get to the weapons, and…" He shook his head.
Delia looked at the sky and nodded, guessing they had another hour or so until the next drone was supposed to fly over, the one that hadn’t appeared last time, “There’s too many what ifs, it seems those parasites are here to stay until we figure out how to blow them up.” She shifted around her bag on her shoulder and sighed, “How many more miles do you think we have before we reach the next town exit? I’m hungry and honestly want to get a new change of clothes, preferably a pair of pants that won’t kill my leg like mine are now.”
Jay nodded. "Yeah." He looked around for a road sign. "Uhm…we should reach the next by noon, if we keep up this pace." He said with a small smile. "And I'm hungry too, but we'll need to keep an eye out for gangs, drones, aliens, etcetera." He said.
“How many times are you going to remind me? That’s just a given,” She replied with a roll of her eyes though she cracked a small smile, “Now, let’s keep going and go supply hunting when we reach the town, I already have a list of what I want in my head.”
He chuckled. "Sorry! Just want to make sure you don't forget." He said. He looked at an abandoned vehicle beside them, and sighed, turning back to the road. "Alright. I want a new shirt, and deodorant, though both of those will be difficult to find." He chuckled softly.