wormwood, pt. 29

After they had finished doing recon, Rosalind let Nicole drive--or at least, that's the version of events she was planning to tell anyone who challenged her on finding her curled up in the back. Originally she was taking inventory, making sure she had everything while Nicole wove her way on side streets and detours towards the waterfront. After a while she simply passed out.

She awoke, as sleeping passengers always seem to, when the car finally came to a halt, but chose to lay still for the moment, her eyes still closed. She could hear Nicole rummaging around for something. Then she opened the trunk and got out of the car. A few moments later the trunk slammed shut and she sat down on the hood. Not long after, the air smelled of cigarettes.

"Where are we?" Rosalind asked eventually.

"The waterfront. I hid the car pretty well, as far as that goes. You all right?"

"Yeah."

"Give me your phone and I'll tell Winston where to go if he calls again. You should get some sleep."

"Right, sleep. What's it look like out there?"

"Still dark. The skyline's almost all gone, but some of it's still burning. And it looks like there's some life out there--survivors moving around. We might not be alone out there."

"That's probably a bad thing."

"Get some sleep. I've got your back."

Rosalind nodded and pulled a coat over herself and curled up tighter in the backseat. After a while the cigarette smell went away, replaced by the sound of a lonely guitar coming from not far away. And for the first time in what felt like forever, she slept easily.