"No sign of anyone. We're good to move forward."

We'd been making our way steadily through the ruins of the city for about two hours. Seth and I did our best to keep as far away from each other while keeping in formation.

"How long until we reach the hospital, James? We're supposed to meet Coop back at the truck by sundown." I asked.

"It's only another mile." Seth grumbled in my direction.

I paused for a minute.

"Uh, thanks." I replied awkwardly.

I heard Seth snicker.

"What no snarky comeback today? Nothing witty?"

"No."

"Too bad. I was looking forward to our back and forth banter, baby."

Before he understood what happened, I had him pinned to the ground with a knife to his throat. A dangerous light flashed in my eyes. I could see the brief glimpse of fear in his eyes before it changed to something else, something like a hunger. I took the knife away and held my hand out to help him to his feet. He took it hesitantly.

"Look, Seth, I don't like you and you don't like me. For the sake of our father's and our families, we need to learn to coexist. So, truce?"

Seth considered my outstretched hand for a minute and then took it.

"Truce."

I tried to pull back but he pulled me to him.

"After this." He whispered in my ear.

I felt a sharp pain in my back but met his eyes without fear. I could feel warm blood drip down my back as his knife carved into my skin. Finally he let go. I shoved back from him hard and met him with an icy stare.

"Touch me again and you'll lose fingers. Just so we're clear." I said with steel in my voice.

James made his way back to us and saw the blood.

"What the?"

"Just patch it. We need to keep moving."

James looked at me with disbelief and then to Seth with what I thought was rage. When he turned back to me he had the same blank expression he always had. He placed gauze on the wound and taped it so we could move without it bleeding. I started moving forward fast.

"A mile right? Let's go."

James made it a point to stay between us for the rest of the trip. We made our way to the hospital, grabbed the supplies, and were on our way to the food cache in better time than we had been making before.

"Julia, do you want to talk about what happened back there?" James asked softly.

"No." I replied firmly.

"Will you at least let me get a better look when we're back at the truck?"

"No." I replied again.

James nodded and backed off. Seth lagged behind with a blank expression on his face. I was seething and I was in pain but I wouldn't let it show. We grabbed as much of the canned stores as we could and made our way back to the truck.

Coop was waiting at the truck when we got there. He looked at us with a quizzical glance but James shook his head at him. We loaded and drove. The ride was deathly silent which made it all that much worse when we heard gunshots while approaching the gates of our town.