𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎, 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. // 6/6 // CLOSED

Lucky nodded and reached slowly down to where he had a metal water bottle strapped to his saddle. He untied it with one hand, keeping the other raised and in view, before lifting it slowly. "Catch!" He tossed the bottle to her. It was mostly full and the weight carried it the whole way.

(Yeah it's starting to get confusing lol)

Ariella released her knife to catch the bottle. The impact stung her hands a little but she didn't complain. She was thankful he didn't come any closer to her.
She unscrewed the cap and took a sniff. Not all poisons had an odor but it was better to be safe. She looked up at him, trying to see if there was another bottle attached to him. When she found none, she took the risk and took a sip of the water. She drank enough to quench her thrust but not enough to be greedy. She tightened the cap back on it and tossed it back.

"Anything else I can get you?"
He wanted to ask her name, where she was coming from, had she seen anyone else, but he figured waiting and asking slowly was a smarter option.

Ariella' stomach rumbled, reminding her that it had been a day since she last ate. She didn't say anything to the man though. She didn't trust him. And she'd already taken his water, she couldn't bring herself to ask for his food.
"Where did you get the horse?" Curiosity got to her. She had rode a horse once when she was a child. It didn't go very well. She tended to avoid them.

"I brought him with me when I came over from France." He did around in his saddle bag and found a granola bar, which he raised so she could see it. "You're sure you're not hungry?"

"You're a long way from home." Ariella said. She shifted on her feet, ger gaze glancing between the man and the horse.
Her gaze focused on the granola bar. Her mouth watered but despite herself, she shook her head. She didn't want to find herself in debt to him. Men seemed to think that they were owed something when they did her favors.

"And you? Where are you from?" He called back, trying to distract himself from the thought.

Ariella caught the bar. After a moment of staring at it, she unwrapped it and began to nibble on it. The smaller the bites were, the more full she felt. It was her way of tricking herself to go longer without food.
"California. Or, at least where my family is. I moved to Montana for school." That was all she would give. She was trying to find her family. The ones she had been so desperate to get away from she was now doing her best to get back to them.

Ariella nodded. "Trying to at least. I'm not the best with directions. I'm hoping if I keep going west I'll get there eventually. Or I'll hit to ocean."
She took another small bite of the bar. Before the apocalypse, she would have never ate one. She was such a picky eater. But she couldn't be picky anymore.
"What about you? Where are you going?"

"I'm not sure there's enough fuel left to get another to Europe by boat. You'd have to resort to using wind. And you'd need and experienced sailor for that." Ariella was not an experienced sailor. She'd been on a few boats in her lifetime. Normally she would just stand behind the wheel and turn it.
She could surf decent enough. She'd never be in a competition. Though it had been long enough she wasn't sure how well she could on the waves.
"Why are you looking for survivors?" Ariella certainly wasn't. At least not strangers.

"I'm sure you could find a sailor along the coast who could get you there. It might take a lot of searching. And the price would be high. You'd likely have to leave your house behind too." Ariella finished the granola bar. Disappointed set in as her stomach hadn't been filled but it didn't matter. She would ask for more. Instead of dumping the wrapper in the ground, she placed it in her duffle bag. It was a bad habit, wanting to put trash in the trash can. It wasn't like there was anyone to deal with it these days.
"Perhaps. There are many survivors who are too far gone. You best be careful who you come across. People take and take without consequence." Ariella knew that from experience.

Ariella caught the bar, surprised he was giving her another one. What did he want for it? She do just about anything to survive.
The look she gave him was vulnerability. He just kept sharing things with her. And he hadn't asked for anything yet. She hadn't had that in a long time. If she was smart, she'd save the bar for later. But her stomach was grumbling too loudly. So she opened the bar and slowly munched on it.
"Maybe im waiting to kill you in your sleep and take all of your belongings." She wouldn't do that, but he didn't know that. "I might even steal your horse." She wouldn't do that either

Ariella shifted her gaze to the horse. She narrowed her eyes at him. She never thought she would see herself glaring at a horse and yet here she was, glaring at this horse. As the horse moved his attention away from her, she lifted her head.
"Do you want me to?" She was on dangerous ground right now. She could be signing her life away. But she was also lonely and tired of fending for herself.

Ariella shifted on her feet as he moved closer. She didn't feel the most comfortable with his nearness but he hadn't given her any notion that he would attack. Still, she took a few steps away from him, keeping at least a little distance. Her hand itched to grab her knife but she didn't. She was afraid that any sudden movement would have him running her down.

"I'm Liam." He said reaching out to pet Zeus. He took another bite of the food and looked around the warehouse. "Do you live here?" he asked as he threw the rest of the food into his mouth then gave Zeus a friendly rub-down.

"Temporarily," Alastor said, smiling as Zeus flopped over on his stomach, requesting a belly rub from Liam.
"I found this warehouse around a week ago, but as you can see I'm running out of supplies so I was planning on finding another place to stay either tomorrow or the next day," he explained.

Ariella forced herself to stay still. She didn't want to give away her emotion too much. She was pretty much an open book before the apocalypse. She had worked so hard to conceal herself ever since. She had learned from her mistakes.
"No. I'll usually find a tree to climb if there isn't a house nearby." There. That wasn't too much information to give away.

"I was about to ask if you'd like to come along with me," Alastor said, his voice betraying the amusement he felt. "I'm just guessing here, but I'm assuming you're traveling alone and I don't like the thought of a kid going out in that wasteland all by himself. As long as you're okay with hearing Zeus snore when he sleeps, I'd be happy to have you stay with me."

"I've accidentally wandered into a few national and state parks. There's a lot of forests in Montana." Ariella scratched her cheek. She had never been good at directions and found herself lost more than a few times. It was a miracle she was still alive. "I don't travel with others very often."
She turned her head to look further up the road then back at the man. "Why should I go with you? I don't even know your name?"
She wanted to face palm herself. Why was she so contradicting? A moment ago she sounded ready to follow him wherever he went and now she was back to being cautious.

"I'm sure," Alastor said with a small smile. He glanced around the warehouse, his face forming into a frown after seeing the place he'd been living in.

"Uh…I don't have any sleeping bags or anything, I've just been using Zeus as a makeshift pillow and wearing a hoodie or two if got cold. I know it's not ideal, but unless you have some supplies you brought with you, are you okay with sleeping on the concrete?" Alastor asked, starting to regret giving away the last blanket he had.
𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘮 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, he thought, looking back at Liam.