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Camp
One Week Later
The road wasn't safe anymore.
There was no chance of getting through all the cars and getting off the highway.
They were trapped.
It was Shane's idea to find a safe place to build a camp.
People trusted him.
Maybe it was the fact that he was a police officer or maybe they just needed a figure to follow.
They unofficially declared him their leader.
Lots of people followed Shane to the clearing in the woods where the camp was set up. It was at least 20 people.
Most people brought tents with them, so that is where everyone slept.
During the day, some of the men would go and find supplies while the women did tasks such as laundry and gathering food.
Natalie would much rather be doing something more useful, like going on supply runs, but Shane wouldn't let her stray too far from the camp.
Every time she offered to do something, he raised his eyebrows at her and basically ignored her.
He barely even let her go into the woods to gather mushrooms.
He wanted her and Nick out of the woods at all times.
He seemed to be fine with Lori going into the woods, though.
At first, Natalie didn't really think anything of it. But as the days went on, she started getting more and more suspicious.
The more suspicious she got, the more her heart broke.
She didn't want to admit to herself that Shane was sleeping with Lori, her best friend.
She didn't know how to tell Shane that she knew.
She didn't know if she ever would.
She didn't know how she was supposed to explain to their son that his dad was sleeping with Aunt Lori.
She didn't know how Shane could do that to her.
She didn't know how he could do that to Rick.
She wondered if either of them felt guilty about it.
She forced herself not to cry over it. But every time she thought about it, she thought about the way things used to be.
She thought about when she and Shane were happy and in love.
It was only a couple weeks ago that things were like that.
She didn't understand how he could just throw away a 16 year marriage in the course of a couple weeks.
They had been together for more than half of their lifetimes, married for more than a quarter of their lives.
She knew she couldn't keep all of this bottled up inside, but she did it anyway.
She put on a fake smile and did as she was told.
She did the laundry, she cooked for the camp. She did everything she was supposed to do.
She looked the other way when she saw Shane and Lori go into the woods.
She figured if she turned a blind eye to it, maybe it would go away, maybe the betrayal would disappear, maybe her best friend wouldn't be sleeping with her husband.
One night, Shane hadn't come back from the woods.
He told Natalie that he was going out to look for food.
A little while after he left, Lori said that she needed to go out and look for more mushrooms.
Natalie knew what that meant.
Natalie was alone her tent. Carl and Nick were out playing by the campfire being watched by Dale.
Natalie decided that it was getting too late for them to still be up, so she called Nick back to the tent.
"Where's Dad?" Nick asked.
"He's on a supply run," Natalie lied.
"What about Aunt Lori?" Nick asked.
"I think she went with him," Natalie replied.
Nick and Carl nodded.
"Carl, I don't want you to be in that tent alone. Why don't you come and sleep in here tonight," Natalie said with a smile.
"Thanks, Aunt Nat," Carl said, smiling back at her.
The two boys climbed into the tent and got into the sleeping bags.
Natalie watched them with soft eyes as they fell asleep. As she was finally dozing off herself, she heard the tent unzip.
She jolted awake, ready to defend herself and the boys.
Shane's head peeked through the tent.
"Y'all having a sleepover without me?" Shane asked with a soft smile.
"Guess so," Natalie sighed.
Shane climbed into the tent, crawling into Natalie's sleeping bag, pulling her close to him.
"Guess I'll just have to share your sleeping bag tonight, baby," Shane said with a smirk.
He leaned in to kiss her, crashing his lips onto hers quietly, as not to wake the boys.
And for the first time, Natalie felt nothing when his lips touched hers.
She didn't feel the things she felt just a couple weeks ago.
She didn't feel anything.
She was just a pair of lips.
There was no heart in it.
Kissing Shane made her feel even more empty and confused.
"It's been a long day, Shane. I'm just gonna go to bed," Natalie said.
Shane nodded, pecking her quickly before she turned onto her other side, facing away from him.
She wanted to get out of that sleeping bag, take Nick, and run to her car, driving away as fast as she could.
But she knew she couldn't.
She couldn't decide if she was more angry or more sad.
She lay there in the sleeping bag, wide awake, a single tear running silently down her face.
