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For all that Jumper liked to think she did, she didn't really know Rekrap all that well.
She often managed to forget that fact, with how well they fit together. With how well Rekrap portrayed himself as someone boring. Someone forgettable. He had his ideosyncracies, was twitchy and flighty. It seemed like little quirks of his, so...unremarkable that it somtiems caught Jumper of guard when it evolved into something more.
He was so often so obviously trying to talk around things that Jumoer had the tendency to miss it, when he was doing it well.
She privately wondered if Rekrap was faking doing it badly on topics he didn't care to keep private so he woukd have an easier time when he did decide to keep quiet. Jumper wasn't sure yet.
In regards to Rekrap, wasn't sure of most things.
Sometimes, Jumper had to shamefully admit, she forgot he was even there. His steps were silent, he spoke little, though that seemed wrong for him somehow.
This made it all the more unexpected when Jumper was once again reminded that no, she really didn't know Rekrap at all. Then she would be once again reminded that this was a man who had killed for his survival, and for Jumper's, too.
His eyes were haunted, but he met Jumper's gaze so seldom that even this was easy to overlook.
Rekrap embodied the idiom 'out of sight is out of mind', and in walking behind Jumper for most of their travels, he was often quite literally out of sight.
From the moment they met a month or so ago, they'd stuck together. It was the only logical decision.
There was a strenght in numbers for when the zombies crossed their path again in the valleys, or simply for the case of injury or wild animal. And they had the same goal: The Foundation. The organization fighting this apocalypse.
Fighting for humanity, for normality, for everything Jumper held dear and true to her heart.
Rekrap was a scout, from what little he let her pry out of him, traveling the world in search of a cure.
This apocalypse — it wasn't natural. The Abyss had brought it into the world as a game. A cruel game, an unfair game, a game never meant for humanity to win.
Clues for the cure were scattered all over the lands, all of them mostly useless, even once you managed to find their pattern.
And Jumper? Well, Jumper had been a spy.
She'd infiltrated the Abyss once the first appearances of the infected became linked to it.
Jumper hadn't been home since. But now she would return, having finally gotten enough information to be worthwhile, including the vaccine she received as an Abyss member, inside her own blood. And, though this wasn't something she would admit, feeling dangerously close to being caught.
"We need to stock up on supplies", Rek told her as they climbed uphill, following the long-abandoned and ruined Highway 70.
Be it up or down, they hadn't walked on even ground for more than a few minutes since beginning their passage through the Rocky Mountains. Jumper had grown used to it months ago when crossing the Pacific Mountains, right after leaving the Abyss in San Francisco. She'd had to keep away from the roads back then, which was how she met Couriway, another scout of the Foundation, who took a side-trip from his goal of the Abyss' outpost in Seattle to accompany her to the base of operations in Denver. He came from Florida, he'd told Jumper, which made her own journey seem trivial in comparison. It felt lonely.
Couriway had only left once they crossed Rekap's path, whose own destinationl was Denver and thus made for a more practical travel partner. Rekrap had been doing a loop, going first along the atantic, then southern border, where he had met Couriway and joined him for the trek through Arizona and California, before deciding on a return to Denver immediately from Los Angeles upon discovering a clue.
The only reason Jumper and Couri had crossed path with him was a sprained ankle slowing Rekrap down majorly as it healed.
All that, Jumper had gained from a conversation between Rekrap and Couriway. It was, to date, the most information she had ever gotten out of Rekrap. It was like pulling teeth with him.
Over their month together, their backpacks had gotten noticably lighter as their food and hygenics dwindled. They'd stopped once. "There is a shelter close by."
Many bunkers had appeared over the years the infection had by now been ravaging the land for. By their nature however, they were hidden. Some better than others, but all disguised to not be visible at a glance. This was were Rekrap's knowledge of the land came in useful, he ahd been at most of them, when there was still fuel at gas stations and travelling was easier.
The zombies were smarter than many movies would have you believe, though from Jumper's research, they still lost quite a lot of intelligence to the infection. Smart enough to associate light and smoke with people, at least.
"Sounds good to me", Jumper replied, injecting false cheer into her voice, though itt did sound good. Stopping by a shelter meant sleeping a full night, not having to take a shift guarding the campsite.
It meant sleeping on something softer than her sleeping bag and with more shelter than the leaves overhead or the rudimentary shelters out of branches and Couriway had been teaching her to build when they had travelled side by side.
Spending a night at a shelter meant sleeping inside, not out when the temperatures dropped below freezing at night and they had to sleep side by side, Rekrap never quite relaxing as their bodies wrapped around each other.
It also meant talking to people, which Jumper had little problem but Rekrap sometimes seemed horribly averse to. She hadn't asked about it yet.
They reached the outskirts of an abandoned city — though it wasn't really large enough to deserve that name. According to Jumper's map, they stood inside the ghost of what used to be a place called Vail. It wasn't much further to their destination of Denver, only a week or so on foot.
They passed a river Rek said was called 'Core Creek' and approached what he explained used to be a ski resort. Jumper didn't care all that much, except for the fact that the shelter used it as its front.
As they came closer, Rekrap fell behind Jumper again, instead of leading her as he had on their way through the city. Mentally, Jumper prepared herself. Desperation, despair, happiness, burning curiosity, fear and even anger ha dall been reaction Jumper was familiar with when meeting other people on the road. She strongly preferred some of them over others.
'Colorado's Largest Ski Resort', a sign claimed prodly. Frost covered the cracked glass attempting to protect the map below that had shriveled despite the glass' best efforts. Moss had grown over the sign, covering it partly. It didn't look aprticularly impressive, but nothing seemed to these days.
Everything seemed a single breath away from breaking, both the buildings and the people. Sometiems Jumper herself felt just a single step from falling into an endless void, but she didn't like to dwell on that much. It only made the feeling worse.
"You ready?", she asked, looking at Rekrap over her shoulder. His were drawn up, pulling the collar of his torn jacket over his chin as if to hide. Probbaly to hide. Still, Rekrap only breathed, "Yeah."
He walked past Jumper and opened the door mechanism, waiting for her with one foot outside and one on the doorframe.
Jumper smiled at him and walked inside.
A pleasant warmth enveloped her, a fire crackling in a corner of the room. Someone who must have known a lot about firewood had built it, the wood chosem carefully so that it produced only traces of smoke.
It was a tactic Jumper had only recently learned from Rek, in exchange for her telling him the weaknesses of a zombie. It had felt a little bit like cheating, considering the fact that it were almost the same as a normal humans.
That had been the very first day. Since then, the transactional nature of that skill exchange had thankfully loosened to more managable levels, though Jumper had learned not to make these comments to Rekrap, who always got terribly nervous.
That was Rekrap for you, and Jumper had grown used to it.
He got nervous at most topics. His life before the apocalypse, his life since, his friends or family, his likes and dislikes, anything personal at all, the future, how he became part of the Foundation.
Some things, Jumper had learned: The end of the world had cut his bachelor in molecualr biology short, he was from Utah, ex-religious, Minute had once saved his life, though Rekrap was uncelar as to how.
All in all, it seemed quite similiar to Jumper — all very normal day to day problems, the apocalypse, a very helpful Minute jumping in to save her day.
It made her sad, some days — always — to think about the normal life others used to lead before the Abyss ruined it all. Then, she would have the sudden realization that she belonged to those people and feel sad for herself. For that reason, Jumper tried not to think about it too much.
"Travelers!", a cheerful voice greeted them. "This", he made a dramatic motion towards the room with his arms, "is the Galactic Spoke Empire. I", he motioned to himself just as dramatically, "am Emperor Spoke Is Here!"
Another man in a red hoodie stepped up beside 'Emperor' Spoke, who probably belonged to the categlry of people that dealt with the apocalypse by becoming crazy in a very different ways than others.
"Mapicc", the hoodie guy said. "Welcome. Any news?"
More people stepped out of the back rooms to stare and Rekrap and Jumper as it became clear that the travelers were human and not zombies managing to find the shelter.
Jumper hadn't yet managed to brush feeling like a zoo animal she came anywhere new like this, so the friendly smile she put on was less than genuine. Hopefully it wasn't too noticable.
Rekrap was...handling it as Jumper glanced back at him. He was twitchy, cowering under the stares, but he hadn't run off yet the he'd started to the first time, before Jumper caught his wrist only out of reflexes and he fell back down to earth.
She'd tried to ask him about it, but he hadn't shared.
"Texas has been completely overrun, just like Arizona and Florida", the only reason the zombies hadn't spread further was their inability to cross mountains. They needed more oxygen than regular humans, not allowing them to climb even five hundred feet above sea level because the air became to thin and had to find ways around high terrain. It meant that the infection spread less quickly east of main source, but it did spread, from zombie's finding gaps in the formation or simply from the smaller hubs Abyss had released in Seattle, New York City, Miami, Houston, Atlanta and Washington DC. Despite this, it sometiems seemed like the entire country was overrun, not only the south-west, truly overflowing with infected.
Not that most people were aware of this weakness, but finding such informations was Jumper's entire job description as a spy.
"The Mountians are safe, the zombies need more oxygen that us. Anywhere 500 feet or higher above sea level, you should be good."
Spreading that information was her job as a member of the resistance, though it felt wrong to share information simple and easy like this.
"The Foundation is sending scouts up north to see the situation there." Opinion's were split on whether the Foundation was a viable resistance or an absolute crackjob, in parts because information took so long to arrive.
Jumper had been on the road for two and a half months now, had a week or so to go. Couri had more than a month still left to Seattle whwre he wanted to meet with a scout called Feinberg, had been on the road for half a year since leaving Miami and around four more on the way there. And Rekrap had spent more than a year since leaving Denver, going along the northern border and rowing through lake Michigan, than down the Atlantic coast searching through New York City and Washington DC on the the way, before meeting Couri and eventually Jumper.
With the time information needed to arrive, often after having passed through many ears and hands, it was often out-dated and not rarely misunderstood. But it was better than nothing.
And nothing just happened to be the only thing anyone else could offer.
Still, Jumper bit her tongue as the comments came. She calmy answered all the questions, she played by the book, got them a corner to sleep in for the night. It was all going swimmingly.
That is until one of Rekrap's secrets showed up in front of them.
"Rekrap!", a short man exclaimed. He was dressed in a poncho, probably to keep wings warm, if the small pair sprouting from behind his ears was any indication. He stretched out a toaloned hand for Rekrap to take, but Jumper's partner was frozen, eyes glued to the avians face. "You do remember me, don't you?"
Rekrap only stared on, leaving the man's hand empty until he pukled it away. "He's always been a little rude", he said to Jumper, smiling. Jumper didn't like that smile. "I'm Parrot. I was with Rekrap when it all began."
"Ah", Jumper muttered. Something was seriously awrong for Rekrap to react like this. Besdie Jumper, hie breathing was speeding up. His hands were trembling, even clenched around the straps of his backpack. They had new supplies, graciously traded against their information, but hadn't yet gotten a chance to put their gear down.
If they had to run, Jumper would be gald for it. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.
She gave Parrot a nod, then led Rekrap outside by the hand. He was hyperventilating. A panic attack, the part of a her brain still remembering the first semester of the psychology course she took in college provided. It also reminded her of what to do.
"What can you see, Rekrap? Five— things."
Jumper watched his eyes dart around and wondered what kind of history he has with Parrot to react this badly. This was a man who runs through the entire country alone, dodging zombies and forraging for most of his meals, simply to help a cause most had long since deemed hopeless.
Rekrap, in Jumper's eyes, must be brave. She was sure he was.
"Snow", Rekrap began to list, "You. Ah- Jumper. Trees. The building, the street."
"Good", Jumper praised, "Now four things you can hear."
Were there four things to hear? With the lack of people, the world is eerily quiet in a way Jumper hadn't grown used to even after all these years.
"The wind. The- the birds", Rekrap swallowed heavily. His hand was shaking less in Jumper's grasp. "My breathing. Um... Your breathing?"
"You're doing wonderful, now three things you can feel."
Jumper wasn't sure if touch came now or maybe smell. Or taste. Had any of them been in the right order? Was there a right order to this? Did order even matter?
Rekrap bounced on his feet, his free hand running over his body. "I can feel... My jacket. It needs to be washed." Rekrap's jacket probably used to be blue yellow, with black shoulders and blue at the hood, seam and cuffs. Mostly, it just looked brown now, crusted with mud. For hiding purposes, it was probably better this way.
"Second... Your hand... And third... My feet hurt."
He seemed pretty present now, his eyes following Jumper as she nodded, though he was still breathing to quickly for her liking. "Good, Rekrap, great, actually!"
Jumper hoped it wasn't obvious that she was really out of her depth here.
"We need to get out of here", Rekrap said. As Jumper opened her mouth to object, he pleaded, "Please, Jumper, get me out of here, I can't-"
"Alright", Jumper agreed. If Rekrap was this upset over it, it was probably important. "Let's go. On one condition."
Jumper felt sorry as Rekrap looked down at her with wide and fearful eyes. Still, she kept her voice stern. She wanted to know.
"You have to tell me why we're leaving."
Rekrpa nodded, then looked away. They started walking.
Jumper mourned the loss of a warm resting place, but she would mourn the loss of Rekrap even more. It wasn't even a question which she would choose if she had to. And if she read the situation right, she indeed had to.
"So?", Jumper asked. Right now, Rekrap was trailing slightly behind her, but mostly at her side. Out of it enough that Jumper was still pulling him along by the hand connecting them.
"Parrot...", Rekrap hesitated. "We were studying together when the Apocalypse came."
They must have known each other for a long time.
"He didn't hesitate to use me as bait when the zombie's came, but I was to blind to realize. I thought we were friends." There was real pain in Rekrap's voice, flavoured by a note of self-deprecation. Jumper squeezed his hand as Sympathy rose up in her cehst.
"I survived — obviously", Rekrap giggled for a short breath, "and I came back to him. And he did it again, and again, he kept using me until one day I couldn't make it out before I was surrounded."
Then how— Ah. The pieces click together in Jumper's head.
"Minute saved me", Rekrap is smiling, "And he brought me into the Foundation. I haven't — hadn't — seen Parrot again since."
Jumper thinks about what to say to that. "I'm glad to have you, Rek", she settles on and sqeezes his hand again.
Rek squeezes back. "I'm glad to have you too, Jumper. "