Tuck shot another rabbit for us a couple of hours later, and we built a fire, and again roasted the meat on sharpened sticks. He’d waited until we were on a completely deserted stretch of road, not one disabled car anywhere in sight. At first, we’d looked forward to seeing people to ask if they knew anything, then we’d come to expect the same wide eyes and vacant stares that we were probably wearing as people approached in cars, rolling slowly by. No one knew anything, that was clear. But now we had reason to be wary, and whenever we heard a vehicle approaching, we stepped off the road and hid in the brush along the side. “What would we have done for food right about now if we didn’t have that gun?” I asked as I chewed the tough, weird-tasting meat.

Tuck ripped a piece off the stick with his teeth and met my eyes. He chewed for a minute before answering. “I’d thought about snares. But those take more time. We’d have to stay put for longer. There are other things we can try to find…pine nuts for example. I was hoping that by the time we’d walked this far, we’d have more options, but unfortunately…”

I let out a humorless chuff. Yeah. Unfortunately. Only, that word didn’t seem big enough to encompass what we were dealing with here.

“I saw some mushrooms back there,” Charlie said, nodding in the direction from which we’d come.

Tuck paused as if considering his comment. Finally, he said, “Mushrooms aren’t a great idea. I’m not well-versed on the different kinds. They might feed you, but they also might kill you.”

“You not well-versed on something? Wow, hard to believe,” Charlie said sarcastically, pressing down on his shoe so that water leaked out. Despite the fact that the shoes were still soggy, and he’d had to tie the sole on one, he didn’t seem to have too much trouble walking in them, especially since we were on pavement. I could smell their stench but decided commenting on it wasn’t worth more of Charlie’s sulking.

“Are we just going to keep following this road indefinitely, then?” I asked. While I still found myself randomly reaching for my phone, and I could see Charlie doing the same, Tuck seemed to be having withdrawals from the map. I kept seeing his hands moving toward the pocket of the backpack where he’d kept the one Isaac stole, stop mid-reach, and fall to his sides. Whether Tuck would admit it or not, that map had been a source of comfort. Maybe it’d kept his mind occupied with roads and routes and was the only certainty regarding the future that we had. And if he felt lost now, then I guess I did too.