Anything Left

Ashleigh realized it when she got close to Summer. The empty feeling in her stomach, the tightness in her chest, and the heavy disappointment of finding him dead. She felt guilty, but even more than that, she felt defeated.

This man had been here in these territories and the mountains she had traveled. He was someone lost, someone that she could find. Though she never realized it as she hunted for him, she had told herself somewhere along the way that if she could find the scout, then somehow, someway, she could find Caleb.

“I only looked for him because I couldn’t look for Caleb…” she whispered sadly.

She had found the scout. She had done what she had set out to do. But her heart sank when she saw his body, cold and stiff from the days he had already been gone.