The Girl With No Name // the 100 Wattys 2018!!

Twenty-Eight

a/n: Another crap chapter. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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They had been moving for a couple of days at this point. They had reached the Dead Zone, and it was nothing more than a desert full of sand dunes. Theresa was growing tired, having done nothing but walk for the past two days. Her leg did nothing but ache, and she was sure that it would give out on her if she had to go any farther. As they walked up yet another large hill, she saw Jaha and another man at the front of the group stop. Murphy was a few paces ahead of her, but he managed to make his way to the front, with Theresa struggling to keep up.

Most of them kept something over their faces to keep from getting sand blown into their noses and their mouths. They kept their faces covered so they had a better chance of being able to see.

She made her way to the bottom of the hill, hurrying to be by Murphy's side. He had managed to stick by her for the past couple of days, helping her along when he knew that she needed the help. There were some murmurs going on in the group.

"What's going on?" she whispered to Murphy.

"I think he saw--" Murphy started to say.

He was interrupted as a girl jumped out from behind a cart of some kind, shouting in a language that Theresa could not understand. Jaha stood at the front of the group with his hand held out to her. "We mean you no harm," he said calmly. "Do you speak English?"

"What do you want?" she barked back at him.

"Nothing," Jaha replied. "You look like you could use a hand. What are you doing out here alone?"

There was a pause as she removed the scarf that covered her mouth, and Theresa could see the rest of the tattoo that ran along the side of her face. It was black, and it looked like some sort of tribal tattoo that she had seen on other grounders. There were tears in the girl's eyes as she spoke, "My brother and I were on our way to the City of Light. Then, Wastelanders attacked us. They took our horse. They took our water. They took everything. Then, they killed him." At this moment, you could hear the girl choking back tears. "This cart is all I have left."

Jaha, with his scarf removed from his face, turned to look at the group. "Give her some water!" he called out.

Murphy went to remove his pack when the man standing next to him took him by the wrist. "Woah, hold on there!" he exclaimed softly. "We barely have enough for ourselves here."

"Touch me again, and I'll end you," Murphy said sternly, shrugging out of the man's grip. Then, Jaha sent a stern look in his direction. Turning on his heel, Murphy added, with his hands raised in the air, "In a non-criminal way."

Theresa watched as Murphy walked next to Jaha, heading towards the girl and handing her his canteen of water. She took a drink from it, savoring every last drop that poured into her mouth. Then, she licked the rim of the canteen, getting every last drop that she could.

"We're headed to the City of Light as well," Jaha told her. "What's your name?"

She stared at him for a moment, clutching the canteen in her hands. "Emori," she replied. "Everyone in the Dead Zone is looking for the City of Light. Almost no one finds it. I can help you find it," then she pointed to the cart next to her, "if you pull my cart."

Jaha and Murphy exchanged glances, then Jaha smiled at her. "Done," he said. "Caspain," Jaha called out, speaking to the man that had tried to stop Murphy only moments before, "you're on the first shift!"

The group began to move forward again, and Theresa couldn't contain her smirk as she saw the small exchange between this new girl, Emori, and Murphy. She limped past him then muttered to him, "Flustered much?"