Najia forced a smiled. “Yeah, okay.”

Shane narrowed his eyes at her. “Try again, I don’t buy it.”

Najia sighed. “It’s fine,” she said. “I forgive you. I’m just exhausted and hung over.”

Shane smiled. “You’re telling me.” He pulled a CD out of his back pocket. “Can we be car buds again?”

“Depends,” Najia said. “What’s on the disk?”

“Three Days Grace.”

“Hell, yeah.”

*****

They stopped one last time for the night, building their fire and eating the food they packed in the cars. Vincent was back on his feet thanks to a couple of pain killers and enjoying spending time with his big brother. He bounced around excitedly, begging Harvey to let him show off his stitches, but Harvey remained firm, reminding him that it could get infected again.

Najia bunked with Leah and Abigail for the night, and to her surprise, Shane did not argue. Leah pressed Najia about the incident with Shane, but Najia assured them that her and Shane were on good terms.

In the morning, they gathered once more for their comforting ritual of hot coffee, prepped by Gil and Marlon as it always was. Awake and eager, they climbed into their respected vehicles one last time for the last leg of their journey.

Najia’s knuckles whitened as she gripped the steering wheel, her heart racing faster and faster with each passing minute. It was just a matter of hours before they reached the coast. Her stomach knotted sickeningly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt more scared,” Najia muttered. “Not even in a chokehold.”

Shane stared out his window quietly for a moment. “He’ll be there,” he said, his breath against the window.

“They’ll be there.”

Shane met her gaze. “What if they’re not?”

“We keep looking.” She tightened her grip on the wheel as if she were about to lose control of the vehicle and stared out the windshield.

“I don’t want to know,” Shane started. “I don’t want to see if they’re there or not.”

“All this could be for nothing.”

“We could turn around.”

Najia turned back to him. “Turn around?”

“Yeah,” he began. “We could not go to the coast. Drive around the country. Say we’re going to the coast. We’d get there, eventually.”

“But we want to get there,” Najia reminded him. “We wanted to.”

Shane looked out into the darkness. “We did.” He paused for a moment. “I’m scared, too.”

“You can’t be scared,” Najia muttered. “I was banking on you to be the sane one here.”

The highway split as they neared the edge of the country. The convoy followed it around the ramp until it brought them onto a narrower road which they followed across a bridge and into the city. They navigated the dark, empty streets until the buildings began to shrink and thin and they drove along beach houses big and small. They reached the main strip which stretched north and south, seemingly endlessly. The far side of the road was lined with lined parking spots, just on the edge of the beach, while the other side was lined with various attraction buildings.

The convoy pulled across the street, into the lot, and one by one, climbed out of their vehicles. They stood in silence as they listened to the waves crashing on the beach. Their headlights illuminated the beach. Trash and debris littered the sand by the lot. They could just barely make out the peaks of the waves crashing against sand and rocks.

Najia climbed over the damaged cement wall that separated the road from the beach. Her feet sunk into the sand as she neared the ocean. The other survivors stepped carefully onto the beach, wandering aimlessly, as if expecting a welcome party.

Najia stepped mindlessly over the bodies that were scattered along the beach. The Shadow People had been here, just months ago. The beach-goers suffered the same fate as the city dwellers. But Najia didn’t notice their untimely graves. Her eyes searched the beach as if expecting a sign from her grandfather. How much further north should she go? Would she know Stardew Valley if she saw it? Was it really, truly, a safe place? Or would she walk into a sight much like the one there on that beach?

A chill went up her spine at the thought and she tried to push it out of her head. Her journey wasn’t over just yet. She still had to go north, and north she would go. But what of the others? Where did their journey take them? Would they accompany her, or would they part ways?

Her eyes searched the beach for Shane, no longer at her side. She found him standing by the ocean, the waves crashing around his feet.

Shane looked out over the water, his hands in his pockets. He didn’t acknowledge Najia when she stopped at his side, and she didn’t speak. They stood in silence as the sea breeze cooled their sunburnt faces.

“I don’t know what I was expecting,” Shane said softly.

“It’s not over,” Najia reminded him. “It’s far from over.”

His brows knit together as he met her gaze. “It is over, Najia. We’ve traveled across the country and for what? Some stupid idea that we’d find family? They’re gone. There’s nothing left in this world. We lost.”

“How can you say that?” Najia hissed. “Look at all the people we’ve found. Survivors. We’re what’s left. We can fix this.”

“Sooner or later, we will all die at the hands of those bastards, and you need to accept that reality.”

“There’s still a chance,” Najia begged. “We’ve made it this far. If we just follow the coast, we could get to Stardew-”

“Stardew Valley doesn’t exist,” Shane barked at her. “Your grandfather is dead. Marnie and Jas are dead. Everyone’s dead.”

Najia turned away and bit her lip. “I’m not giving up,” she said quietly.

“You’re on your own, then.” Shane turned away from her and made his way across the beach.