12 : 07 | AUGUST 23/2019- JUNIPER
  BLUE RIDGE, GEORGIA, U.S.A.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩

    THE SOUND ECHOS through the quiet nature surrounding it, the leaves crackling under the pressure of the dusty old black boot above them.

Soft drops of water hit the aluminum surface of the freshly emptied pan. With each twang of a water droplet a small squirrel takes keen interest in it.

A thud scares the bushy tailed animal away as it hastily climbs up the tree- clicks and grunts of displeasure escaping its body on each branch up.

The boot slowly comes to a stop right in-front of the old brown door of the cabin, kicking up a small amount of dirt as it hits against the bottom of the door in a small spittle.

Their hand lifted to the door, a hand with tan from the sun and scars from life events. The tip of their knuckle hits against the door in a sharp knock.

Time seems to pass slow as the figure waits impatiently, shuffling in their spot until their attention was focused back in once the door slowly creaks open.

"Juni?" A soft voice echos from the darkness, prompting 'Juni' to look down at the figure.

"Yes bug, it's me." Juniper says lightly, her green eyes quickly finding the soft innocent features of her baby sister.

Hazel stood with her dirty converse just inside the doorway, one hand clutched around the hem of her oversized workers jacket they found a couple days ago, the other rubbing at a sleepy eye.

Her hair-a halo of messy, honey-colored curls-bounced slightly as she shifted from foot to foot. A few freckles were scattered across her nose- enhanced from the increase amount of sun they've been getting.

Her wide brown eyes blinked up at Juniper, full of quiet disbelief, like she thought saying her name might've scared her away. Then she rushed forward without a word, colliding into Juniper's legs, arms wrapping around her tightly, as if to prove she was real and solid and home.

"You came back," she whispered into Juniper's coat, voice muffled and trembling.

"Of course I came back, Hazel." Juniper shushes her, patting her head like a dog as she continues to walk into the house- barely deterred by the lump of a six year old clinging to her right leg.

"Besides, Leo was here wasn't he?" The older girl continues as she removes her bulky jacket and the self made tool belt off and hangs it on the old rack beside the front door.

Hazel makes a pouty face, her cheeks smooshed against her sisters legs as she looks up at the older girl. "But Leo doesn't let me play outside." Hazel whines, her hands clutching her sisters shirt in a bratty manner.

"Because Leo doesn't like guns, so he can't protect you enough to go outside." Juniper rubs her tired eyes, grimacing at the grimy feeling of her skin.

"Excuse you," a voice calls from deeper inside the cabin, "I'm perfectly capable of protecting a six-year-old-I just happen to value not getting shot in the woods by a raccoon with a vengeance."

Juniper sighs, head falling back as Leo's footsteps echo against the old floorboards.

He appears from the hallway, toothbrush still in his mouth, shaggy dark hair sticking up in odd angles like he lost a fight with a pillow. He leans against the doorframe, shirt wrinkled and half-tucked, and eyes the scene: Hazel glued to Juniper's leg like a koala, Juniper looking like she just crawled out of the apocalypse.

"Aww, heartwarming reunion." He smirks around the toothbrush. "Want me to go grab a camera? Maybe light a few candles?"

"You could grab a washcloth instead," Juniper mutters, kicking her boots toward the corner.

"Or you could say, 'Hey Leo, thanks for not letting your baby sister get eaten by squirrels.'"

Hazel perks up at that, peeking over at Leo. "Squirrels don't eat people."

Leo grins, removing the toothbrush and pointing it at her. "That's exactly what they want you to think."

"Don't make my baby sister a conspiracy theorist." Juniper points at him with a stern finger before turning back around to dip a wash cloth in a bucket of water.

Leo rolls his eyes and mouths her behind her back to Hazel, making the little girl giggle. Leo smiles back.

Juniper leans close to the bucket of water, dipping her hands into the cold water - hissing at the sudden shock of coldness. The filth of the last two days melts away in rivulets down her neck. She glances at Leo in the cracked mirror nailed to the wall.

"You see anything out there?" he asks, more serious now. The teasing drops from his tone like a stone.

Juniper wipes the cloth down her arm, nodding slightly. "Not walkers. But... signs. Tracks. Someone passed through not long ago. Big boot prints. Heavy."

Leo straightens, toothbrush forgotten in the sink. "You think they saw the cabin?"

"I think they stopped near it." She wrings out the cloth and throws it over the side of the bucket. "There was a half-burned cigarette on the log behind the ridge."

"Shit," Leo says under his breath, eyes flicking toward Hazel who's now sitting cross-legged in the corner, playing quietly with a set of bottle caps and rocks like they were treasure.

Juniper kneels down, brushing her hand gently over Hazel's head as if to ground herself. "We might have to move soon. Tomorrow, maybe. Depends on if I see them again tonight."

Leo groans. "We just got here."

"I know. But we've been lucky so far. Staying still too long-that's what gets people killed."

Hazel looks up, her small voice cutting through the quiet. "Is it bad people again?"

Juniper's heart aches. Her sister's too young to know the difference between walkers and raiders, but she's smart, she knows when talk becomes serious.

"We don't know yet," she says gently. "Just being careful."

Hazel nods like that makes sense and returns to her game. She's made a little house out of moss and bottle caps, the only toys she could find now a days other than her favorite stuffed bunny.

"I can take watch tonight." Juniper bites the side of her cheek as she leans her hips against the old weathered cabinets.

"You took it last night." Leo argues, raising a brow at her as he stands opposite of her.

"Yeah but -"

"But nothing; you went hunting today, so I'm keeping watch tonight." Leo interrupted, giving her no chance to disagree.

Juniper rolls her eyes, he could be a pain in the ass one day, and sweet the next.

"Do we have to leave again?" Hazel asked after a moment, her eyes filled with hope.

Juniper bites her lip, her eyes glancing to Leo for a moment, brown against green.

Juniper felt guilty, that Leo was better at comforting her own sister better than she was, but she just wants the little girl to At least have some normalcy.

Leo crouches beside Hazel's little moss village, tapping one of the bottle cap roofs with the back of his finger.

"I don't think we'll leave unless we have to," he says gently, eyes still on the tiny house. "And if we do, we'll find somewhere even better. With a real roof. Maybe even a working bathtub."

Hazel scrunches her nose. "Baths are stupid."

Leo grins. "That's what I said when I was your age too. Then I turned thirteen and realized I was the reason no one wanted to be near me after P.E"

Juniper huffs a laugh, barely, and leans her weight into the cabinets. The wood groans beneath her like it's tired too. She watches them-her sister giggling again, her best friend playing peacekeeper-and wonders how long this little pocket of safety will last.

"We'll wait it out a couple days," she says finally. "Keep a low profile. If no one comes closer, we stay. If they do... we move before they even see us."

Leo nods, picking up Hazels bunny and placing it beside her.

"Deal."

-

  THE LAKE WAS calming when Juniper arrived at the bay, the leaves and twigs crunching under her shoes.

The river ran quietly, the sound of soft flowing water maneuvering through the natural landscapes of the rocks and moss on the outskirts of the lake.

They were lucky to find this place when they did, if they could keep this old cabin they could find some wood to fix the unstable parts, patch up the holes in the rotted walls.

It could last winter.

They just needed to last winter before they could make it to where they believed to be a safe zone. Leo's dad was a military man, who said it would be safe. They both knew that was probably bullshit now, but at-least there might be supplies.

Hazel sits on a rock beside her sister, kicking her now crock covered feet in the cold clear water. "Be careful, don't splash me." Juniper says to her sister with a furrowed brows -- side stepping when a splash of water comes to close to her clothes.

Hazel rolls her eyes at her sister, murmuring something about being a buzz kills before she walks off towards the cabin.

Juniper watches her sister stalk off from her prefrail view, sighing at her sister's attitude. She blamed it on her sister being in her terrible six's... was that even a thing?

She didn't know fuck all about dealing with a kid, yet here she is.

Juniper rubs her face with the palm of her hand, a muffled huff escaping her as she places the need-to-be-cleaned basket of clothes on the rock that Hazel occupied moments ago. It was a bit funny to her, in a sick sense.

She had been so used to running for her life and always moving for years now, and this place they've been staying has potential. It feels weird at how normal everything is beginning to feel, even if they've only been here for a month.

But it also leaves a rushing feeling of something impending, because who knows how long this normalcy may last, it may end in days, hours, minutes, seco-

"Juniper?"

The voice sends a thrill of fear through her body, making her stand ridged for a moment before turning around to meet the familiar brown eyes of her...friend? Accomplice?

"Fuck- you scared the shit out of me." Juniper curses, holding onto her heart as she rests her other hand on her knee for a moment.

Leo raises both hands in mock surrender, stepping out from the patch of trees like some guiltless deer. "Didn't mean to sneak up on you. You were in your laundry zone. Very intense."

He's stupid

Juniper narrows her eyes at him, breath finally settling. "What do you want?"

Leo shrugs, eyes drifting to the basket of damp clothes and the lake. "Nothing. Just figured I'd come see if you drowned yet."

She gives him a dry look. "Sorry to disappoint."

A beat of silence.

He kicks at a rock, letting it skid across the shallows. "Hazel said you were grumpy. I told her you were probably just existential again."

Juniper snorts. "Yeah well, tell your favorite six-year-old that laundry is existential."

"I already told her taxes are a scam. Figured laundry was a natural next step."

Juniper shakes her head, a smirk tugging at her mouth. "God help her if she turns out like you."

Leo plops down beside her, ignoring the damp rock and his own shoelace dragging in the mud. "She'll survive. That kid's built outta spite and those old Scooby fruit snacks."

Juniper doesn't respond right away. She stares out across the water, the ripples reflecting the overcast sky like stretched-out ghosts. "You ever think we're gonna stop running?"

Leo follows her gaze, quiet for a second longer than usual. "Yeah," he finally says, voice softer. "All the time. Think about building a fence. Growing beans. Arguing about who left the gate open instead of who's gonna stay up for watch."

Hope

Juniper scoffs, but it's not unkind. "Beans."

"Hey. You grow your own beans, you're royalty in the end-times."

They sit there, letting the sound of the water fill the space between them. It's the kind of silence that's only peaceful when you trust the person next to you.

Then Leo shifts a little closer, voice dropping. "But, uh... thing is-someone was out near the creek earlier. Close. Closer than yesterday."

Juniper tenses, her fingers going still on the shirt she was wringing out.

He nods, like he already knows what she's about to ask. "Same prints as before. Boot tread. Deep."

Juniper lets the wet shirt fall into the basket with a soft splat. Her jaw tightens. "You think they're watching us?"

Leo watches the way her brown hair falls off her shoulder as she turns.

"I think someone's curious. I also think we're out of time to pretend we're invisible."

She exhales, slow. "How much food we got?"

"Three days if we stretch it. Five if we get real creative with canned peas."

Hazel hates peas.

Juniper runs a hand through her damp hair, then looks toward the treeline where Hazel disappeared. "We can't outrun winter."

"No," Leo agrees. "But we can outrun whoever the hell is out there."

Juniper stands, grabbing the basket and slinging it under one arm. "We talk to Hazel tonight. Start packing light-- tomorrow, we scout."

Leo stands too, brushing off his jeans, eyes flicking once more to the trees. "You think it's just one person?"

"I think," Juniper says, looking back over the lake like it might hold the answer for all the stupid questions flowing around in her head, "it never is."