Hearth | The Walking Dead

𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈. LIGHTHEADED

CHAPTER EIGHT

LIGHTHEADED

THE JOURNEY TO THE CAPITOL was a long one, Sydney had belatedly realized.

Look, she had never passed her States test in 5th grade. That honor was reserved for Tyler and all the other nerds who would spend their weekends studying State names and maps of the USA; Sydney was doing much cooler things with her time, thank you very much, such as watching Jonas and trying to convince her parents to get a cat.

(She would have named it after Annabeth or Percy, two characters from her favorite book series. It was a shame the sequel series would never be published; Sydney had been counting down the days. There had been less than two months left.)

It took five weeks to cross the border between Louisiana and Mississippi; if Sydney remembered the map correctly, that left at least three more states until they reached the capitol. But she knew she wasn't remembering the map—later, she would realize it was five. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Sure, maybe if they cut across the map diagonally, they could cut the time of their trip in half. But without GPS (which Abraham refused to use anyway), there was no telling where they would end up. It was safer to stick to the main road, or near it.

The first week, Sydney kept her promise to Rex; if she wasn't near Abraham, then she was side-by-side with Stephanie and Rex; if they were too busy making heart-eyes at each other, she fell into conversation with Rosita or Josephine. She learned that Rosita had spent three years in the military and preferred bacon over eggs; Josephine had been in school for video game design before the end of the world and proclaimed scrambled eggs were much better than bacon.

They were both wrong. Waffles were obviously the superior breakfast food.

By week two, the soles of her shoes had worn out and she could feel the asphalt burn below her feet. It was pure luck they came across the world's smallest shopping center and divine intervention that there was a Payless next to the nail salon they'd taken shelter in. Stephanie and Rosita took her shopping; Rosita cleared the shop of Uglies before letting the two teens browse.

"Can't believe no one else wanted to come," Sydney commented.

Stephanie shrugged. "Their loss." She went behind the counter and pushed buttons on the register until it popped open. She sighed. "No cash. Someone must've cleared the place already."

"What would you possibly need money for?" Rosita asked. She leaned across the counter and grabbed a pair of opened shoelaces; the fabric was covered in dust. "Making bets?"

"Spent my whole life worryin' about makin' money to support my sisters," Stephanie sighed. "Some habits are hard to break."

Sydney browsed the rack of accessories beside the counter as she listened to them. She looked at Stephanie. 'You had sisters?" she asked. It was the first bit of information Stephanie had provided about her life before the End. "I thought you were an only child."

Stephanie shook her head, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Oldest of six, all girls. Dad got tired of no sons and walked out."

"Well, screw him," Sydney said, turning away. "Girls are better than boys."

Stephanie laughed. She walked over and plucked a glasses frame off the rack; they were metallic, glinting in the low light. "Ain't that the truth." She placed the glasses on Sydney's face; they were just frames, no glass inside. Sydney remembered wanting glasses like Tyler's when she had first met him. Now, she was thankful for her eyesight; she didn't want to wander this world and have to worry about losing her glasses or her vision getting worse.