Gilbert spits on the ground and shakes his head. “I must have been more tired than I realized. Good thing you guys were awake.”

I had planned to stay up the entire night, but a few hours in my eyes started to become heavy, and getting up to add branches to the fire did little to relieve my sleepiness. Ethan had noticed this and let me sleep the rest of the night as he sat watch, keeping the fire going until the sun came up.

“I wonder if that raider guy is looking for us,” Gilbert says as he sits next to the coals and begins rummaging through a bag, no doubt hoping to find a can of beans, soup, or something.

“Scarecrow is what I call him,” I say. When I’m met with a strange look, I shrug. “That’s what he looked like to me.”

“Scarecrow,” Ethan says as he sits next to me, palms up to the heat of the coals. “He did kind of look like one.”

Gilbert tosses the bag to the ground. “We’ve got no food,” he says. “But I was looking at a map earlier and there is a town not too far from here. About fifty miles. It’s a place called Foley. Either of you know it?” He is answered with silence. “Well, that’s where I think we should go. It’s our best bet at getting more food and hopefully some fuel. If we can’t get gas there, we’ll only be good for another fifty miles then we’ll have to go on foot.”

“How far is Crestwood from here?” Ethan asks.

“About 350 miles,” he answers. “If we can get a full tank in Foley,” he holds up a finger, “we might be able to make it to Crestwood on one tank. Either way we should be able to get pretty close. If this works out right, we could be there by tonight.”

I didn’t expect it, but Gilbert’s words make me perk up. Yesterday, I hadn’t cared about finding a place that was safe and warm, but today is different. I feel the loss of Lucas no less than I did last night, but I know that the only way to survive is to move forward - to think forward. If we can be in Crestwood by tonight, it will be a large victory, but it breaks my heart to know that Lucas was only two days away from protection.

“Sounds good to me,” Ethan says. “I just hope they take us in.”

“They will,” Gilbert says. “That’s their reputation.”