The next shelter is only a few hours away from the small group traveling along the shattered asphalt road. Three girls and a boy all around the age of adulthood walk in a line, visibly cautious of their surroundings. Their appearance is in a rather sorry state, their pristine and well-kept uniforms are torn and disgraced with filth and patches of blood. Their eyes keep darting around the darkness of the night, trying to spot sneaking shadows in the unlit path.

They keep moving without stopping, mostly in nervous silence. Most drag their feet behind them, all unused to staying awake for extended periods. One of the girls in the middle with long dark hair brings her backpack before her, shuffling around and taking out a small bottle. It only contains a tiny bit of soda in its bottom, yet she eagerly gulps it down. After making sure not a drop is wasted, she puts it back empty and moves her pack back to its place.

“Mia, I’m all out. How much water do we have?”

The girl right behind her shakes her head with a sour face. Mia touches her backpack almost by reflex, but it moves along with her hands as if empty.

“None. I gave the last one to Robby.”

Mia sighs regretfully and glances at the boy’s back, who is leading the group protectively. Robert who hears his name turns an eye back, but as he has already finished it he chooses to stay quiet.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

While repeating the curse a few times every minute, they continue walking.

“After drinking all our water, they go ahead and fucking die.”

“Nissa, shut the fuck up, please.”

While the dark-haired girl keeps complaining, the one in the front turns her head back snaps at her. A part of wet green eyes stare at the girl in the back with anger, but the wrath chills immediately, seeing her friend with reddened eyes much like hers. Sniffing their noses, they go back quite soon, walking forward without a pause. Perhaps out of concern, the boy in the front shortens his steps, yet keeps silent as usual.

“Stop crying. You will lose more water.”

Mia adds in a sullen voice from between the two.

They keep on their walk for an hour more, as quiet as silent as it could be. No cars, no planes, no birds chirping along the treeline. Only when they reach a bridge do they stop.

The road reaches in a curve along the path a small stone bridge across a river. Although the river is very wide, maybe thirty meters at most, it is gushing down the valley with great speed, deadly to cross for those who are not experienced in swimming.

“It is busted.”

Robby says after taking a quick look.

“The pillars have moved from the quake and the middle collapsed. The steel beams at the sides are still connected, so we might still be able to cross. We will have to check it out first.”

While the stone bridge is mostly broken, it was also connected with steel beams at eye height to reinforce weight capacity, which survived the bending it went through. Although it is dangerous, they can cross.

“It is rather thin though. I can easily walk across, but I doubt any of you could.”

“True, Malah is a gymnast, but it's not like we have to walk? We can just tie ourselves to it with some cloth and pull ourselves over slowly. Also, Robby is strong enough to just climb over.”

The girl with green eyes raises a problem, but Nissa answers back immediately.

“Are we sure we can’t just go around? Does anyone know the area?”

Mia raises another opinion, but everyone just shakes their head, indicating that they don’t.

“I doubt we are going to find any other crossings near. Even if we do it is either the same or in worse shape. I would rather try to get some of that water, but this river also seems bad. We should risk it and hurry up.”

“Well, if even Nissa says so. But let’s be careful, okay?”

When every member of the group accepts the plan, they all crouch down and open their backpacks. They take out a few rags, seemingly of the same material as their clothes, and begin to create makeshift ropes. They do not waste much time, soon they begin the dangerous crossing.

Malah goes first, if anyone, she could reach the other side the safest. She quickly climbs up like an agile feline and moves forward, hoping that the clanking and cracking sounds below her are just the ruse of nature. It only takes half a minute for her to reach the other side safely.

Their makeshift rope is not enough to reach the other side, but enough for the two girls to create a harness to aid them a little. The second to cross is Mia, who chooses to tie her hands around the steel beam and slowly crawl over upside down. Each pull she makes only pulls herself forwards a little bit, but perhaps this is the safest way to cross for someone such as her. 

When she finally reaches the middle a minute has already passed, yet her face has already turned red from hanging upside down. She glances “up” at the river, flowing fast but peacefully. Tinges of blood pink waves pass by every few seconds, one of the few deadly effects of whatever disaster hit the world barely a month ago. She shivers at the memory of seeing the first time others drinking it, the pain and horror it brought upon them. She closed her eyes and resumed climbing, the steel support still groaning every few seconds. Soon, she reaches, climbs down, and sighs relievedly.

The third is none other than dark-haired Nissa. She ties her hands around the steel similarly but attempts to lie on top of it and pull herself over, with the rope acting only as a safeguard in case she falls. She does fall once while crawling which results in a painful cry, but she also finds herself on the other side soon. The other two girls try to help her calm down from her panicky breaths.

“I’m not sure if I should mention this now, but… This site is not connected. It hangs in the air. I’m not sure which part of the bridge this was, but it is definitely not what we thought it was.”

When Nissa finally calms down, Malah says quietly. They all look at the end of the steel beam hanging just above the ground, trembling a bit with each hand-swap as Robby climbs after. Although they are all weakened and lost weight from lack of nutrition, Robert is strong enough to climb over while hanging from his hands. He does use some cloth under his palm to make it easier and less painful, but none of the girls would ever look down on him for it. It is their lives at stake.

The three girls all watch nervously as the steel creaks and groans, while their only male friend slowly climbs towards them. Suddenly, they all hear a large snap, freezing Robert in fright. For moments they wait in silence, but nothing seems to happen. Robby sighs relieved, but Malah shouts at him suddenly.

“Hurry! It is moving!”

The steel rod began to shift to the side, slowly bending under the weight in an arc towards the water. Robby doesn't try to find out what is happening, he quickly moves forward with all the speed he can come up with. When he is getting closer to the end it is already too far away from the other side. He contemplates jumping but is simply too far away. Feeling bitter he exhales and closes his eyes and mouth, but the impact never comes.

The steel rod stops at a 30-degree angle as if finding the perfect balance. Far from the shore, far from the water and far from an escape.

“Fuck.” Robert

The girls seeing this do not wait, they begin to tie their ropes together. Unsure of how long he can hang from there, they hurry as much as they can.

“Can you catch a rope?” Nissa

A question from above. Robert 3 meters below answers with a yes, albeit he is aware it will be difficult.  The shore is very steep, filled with rocks and no fauna, so even the rope is just an emergency solution. When the girls throw the cloth rope to him, he is only able to catch it for the second try. Above, all three girls hang onto the rope.

Robert takes another deep breath, then releases the steel rod. Hanging on nothing but the cloth, he is pulled towards the shore wall by gravity. He pushes out his legs and braces himself, then impacts with a slight thump. There is no cry, yell or anything, and the girls slowly pull him up and sit him down immediately.

“Where did you hit yourself?”

Nissa asks him first, trying to check on his wounds, but lacking any medical tools.

“Your hands didn’t get cut, thank god, otherwise the rust could get you. Your older injuries seem fine too. How do you feel?”

“Not sure. I can’t feel a thing from the adrenaline. I hit my leg but I could stand on it so it didn’t break.”

“Lucky. This could have killed you.”

She sits down next to him taking a short break as well, while Malah also tries to console him.

“At least you didn’t fall into the red water. Even if you manage to not get infected, getting wet would kill you twice over. Good job surviving.”

“Thanks. Thank you all for saving me. Again.”

“Hey, if you die, who will save us? Robby, we all keep saving each other like twice a day. Let go of that manly pride. Besides, no one lets the cook die. That’s the rule. ...not like we have any food left.”

“Does that mean I can die now?”

They all have a short laugh, but Mia cuts in with a serious tone.

“Nope. Also, no death jokes, it ruins your survival instinct.”

“Eh, sorry?”