The Cracks - Date Unknown

It’s been days since we’ve had anything to eat and the further we go the worse it seems to get. Until now we had hoped for so much more, but it doesn’t seem to matter how far we move, this terrible fucking thing follows us in all of its forms. We’ve been nursing frost bitten toes and thinking about all the good boots we left behind so long ago, kicking ourselves for thinking “they’re too heavy to carry.” The snow is bad this winter and it has barely let up for us to find food or get a decent shelter up.
I’m worried.
I’m worried about how long it could be until we come across the next camp
I’m worried even that thought in itself is no comfort.
Because people aren’t holding it together these days.
The cracks are starting to show.
It has gotten to the point where distrust is the norm and more often than not, the people around you become just as dangerous as any corpse if not worse. I’ve seen it in so many of these people’s eyes, to the point where it almost makes me sick to see how many we’ve lost.
I don’t tell Alison these things because she hasn’t been tainted by the mistrust.
She’s the beacon that keeps reminding me somewhere out there is hope for us.
For others.
Somewhere out there we can finally find peace from this. Not all of us are as blessed as her, and such hope for the future is usually scorched by a terrible vision of what this means for us all. She always tells me that we can’t be the only ones. That somewhere there are people like us and we are just “looking for each other.” As much strength as this hope has given me to tread on until now, still it doesn’t fill our bellies.
Her smile though, it’s enough to make me forget the hunger for moments in time. And for now, it’s more than enough.