Winter Has Come | ✔ #1 Winter Series

Chapter 60

It feels like I'm repeating a specific part of my life. The idea of it, anyway. Just a week ago, I was out here camping with Mum and Maisie. Now I'm doing the exact same thing but with Josh.

The morning, like always, is cold. The silence around is peaceful in its own way with the occasional bird chirping out a morning song. When I peer out of the tent, the light is blinding, so different to last night when I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face.

I remember last night. We slipped through the gates again and gathered my things. Then, we began walking and walking into the night and his hand found mine, warm and strong.

We pitched the tent. I'd been so used to doing it and once all those days ago I did it alone on the other side of the fence. Now I have Josh with me. The two of us against everyone. In its own way, it feels right.

Then we lay down to sleep, sharing a few sneaky kisses. It made me feel warm, warmer than I had ever felt in my life. For once, I didn't feel alone.

Josh's eyes peer up at me from the top of his blanket to where I am, snuggled up on the floor. They don't move, just stare, silent, unmoving.

"Hey," I whisper. "Morning."

Slowly, he lifts his head from underneath the sleeping bag and I keep watching him as he crawls his way over to me, still wrapped up in his cocoon. Then he lies down next to me and zips open the bag all the way, inviting me in.

I huddle close to him, head under his chin, wrapped in his loving warmth. His thumb brushes my palm, drawing little circles and sending delicate shivers up my spine.

This, I realise, is what I've been longing for.

"Well," he murmurs into my hair. "We escaped."

"Yup," I say back. He pulls me closer.

"I'm glad you came all this way with me," he says after a while.

I blink into the soft fabric. "You know what? Me too."

He smiles and then leans forward, lips brushing mine. All of a sudden, after that one kiss last night, it made everything start. It unleashed the hunger and longing for him I never knew I had. For all this time, it had just been a kiss away.

For the whole morning, I think about it. I think about us and where we're heading and whether we'll ever stop. But then I like this moment, I like this 'now'. I don't want it to end. Not really.

The others cross my mind a few times. I wonder how they're coping. I wonder if they're worried about us, searching the Camp for us. I wonder if they know about the whole truck thing.

I will tell them, I think to myself. I'll tell them when their time comes. For now, it's just me and Josh. That's all that matters.

We don't do much that morning or that day, anyway. We're not moving, because we're far enough from the Camp already. Any more distance and it will be hard to get back.

Today is the day Josh was meant to be taken away on that truck. Tomorrow is Angie and her brother. The next is my parents. I wasn't sure why Maisie wasn't on the list but soon realised the reason. She doesn't have the Power, so that means she won't be executed.

I huff out a sigh of relief.

Night falls quickly. It surprises me how fast a day goes by. Josh is still alive. That's all that matters.

Morning again. Josh is up already, making coffee, so this time I don't get my morning tent kiss. But he gives it to me outside, long and sweet, his lips tasting like strawberries.