The first five minutes of walking were silent. Turned out, not much had been left downstairs. Still, I'd managed to find a handful of granola bars and canned goods. As we trudged a couple more steps through the snow, I couldn't stand the quiet any longer. "Where are we going?"

"A place I found. I've been staying there for a couple days," he replied, not bothering to look at me.

"A place you found? Like a store?"

"Not exactly."

He didn't explain more, and I didn't ask.

"So, have you always been alone? I mean...since the snow?" My face reddened – that hadn't come out right.

He gave me a sideways glance. "Yes. Isn't that obvious?"

A bit rude, but okay. "So, do you stay around this area?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm nomadic. Just like everyone." He obviously wasn't in the mood to talk.

I guess making friends wasn't on his apocalypse bucket list.

After another couple minutes, Asten commented, "We're almost there."

I prayed that his "place" would be a bit better than the ones I'd been finding lately. While abandoned grocery stores were fun, they were creepy. I also had to constantly worry about getting robbed in my sleep.

I checked again to make sure my pack was still at my side. Somehow, it hadn't gotten lost during the fight. I'd re-stocked it in the store, although it didn't hold much. Just my compass, the food I'd found, and a jug of water that I constantly had to refill. I kept my knife in my boot. The pack was pretty worn down from months of travel. I never took it off in fear of losing the only thing keeping me alive.

A couple minutes later, I noticed a blemish in the landscape. At first, it looked like another hill. Once we got closer, I realized it wasn't a hill at all. It was a small metal structure.

It took around five more minutes to reach it. Once we were there, Asten pushed aside the black blanket covering the entrance, meant to keep the wind out. The meager attempt at insulation worked better than it looked. Although it wasn't as warm as some of the stores I'd stayed in, it was decent. The shelter was tiny and nondescript from the outside, inconspicuous enough for people to leave it alone.

Blankets were laid out on the floor while a small fire burned in the center. I wondered how it'd stayed aflame the entire time Asten had been gone.

"Sit wherever," Asten said as he lowered himself onto a blanket close to the fire. He reached behind himself patting at the cut still bleeding on his shoulder. His fingers came away covered in blood. I tried not to stare, but I couldn't help it. He ignored me and turned to a neat pile of supplies in the corner, pulling out a white first aid kit. I didn't say anything as he took out miscellaneous tubes and bandages.

I sat opposite him as he wiped blood from his shoulder using a small towel. Uncomfortably, I shifted, feeling like an intruder.

I barely knew a thing about him.

He hadn't seemed friendly earlier, but now that we were in a safer place, I hoped he'd be a bit more open. "Where are you from...were you from?" I asked, hesitantly.

I was surprised when he actually answered. "New Jersey," he replied. "My mom flew us to a safe house down south when things got bad. We had a place in Mexico. Probably where she was taking us," he explained, as he attempted to clean his own wound. It took him only a couple more attempts at reaching his back before I decided to step in.

I skirted the fire and sat next to him. "Let me help," I offered, holding out my hand to take the towel. He was reluctant at first. But when he saw I meant him no harm, he handed it to me.

"Thanks," he said quietly as I dabbed the towel on his torn skin. It came away dark red. Even so, the wound wasn't terrible. "I guess it's not every day you get stabbed," he joked. I couldn't help but smile. I still couldn't get over how odd it was to hear another person talk so normally. When people spoke about things other than bartering and begging for mercy.

"So, I'm guessing you were you rich or something? Since your family owned a house in Mexico," I asked. I'd only ever lived in my parent's house. I wondered if it was an inappropriate question to ask. Probably in another life.

"Depends on how you define rich."

"Having a lot of money?" I didn't know how else someone could define rich. Judging by his answer, he'd been well-endowed.

"I guess. In a way," he muttered. "What about your family?"

I paused. I didn't like thinking about my family. All it did was bring back the painful memory of my last moments with them. "We were okay. We lived in New York. Not the city. Just New York."

I couldn't see Asten's face, but I knew he was smiling. "All right, how was 'just New York'?"

"It was fine." I let loose a light laugh, then continued to brush away some dirt that'd mixed with the blood. "Nice seasons. But you'd know that in New Jersey."

We were quiet as I continued to clean out his stab wound.

"What was Mexico like?" I finally said.

He was silent for a few moments. "We never made it there." My smile slipped.

"Oh." Guilt swarmed me for asking.

Once I was done cleaning the cut, I poured ointment onto a bandage and carefully placed it on his shoulder. I taped it down and sat back on my heels, admiring my handiwork. Pretty good for a first time. As I walked back to where I was sitting, I limped slightly.

There was a moment when Asten just stared at me.

"Take off your boot." My eyes met his from the other side of the fire.

"What?"

"Take it off." He didn't bother waiting. He came towards me, kneeling a couple inches away from my right foot.

"Why?" I asked, pulling my leg closer to my chest.

"You're limping." The look on his face was genuine enough to catch me off guard. I wasn't used to people caring about me.

I gingerly extended my foot. It'd been bothering me since I'd fallen unconscious in the snow. With everything going on, I'd almost forgotten it. "Right," I murmured, taking a deep breath, and pulling off my shoe.

Based on Asten's expression, it didn't look good.

He pulled the first aid kit closer to himself and took out the bandages. "I think you have second-degree frostbite."

I grimaced and finally looked down. It wasn't black and blue like I'd seen in pictures where body parts needed to be amputated, but it was getting there. It was reddish and somewhat swollen. He began wrapping the bandage around my foot. I couldn't feel it.

"This won't solve things. But it'll help temporarily. Keep it near the fire tonight. Tomorrow I'll heat water like you're supposed to when treating this." He tied the bandage at the end, then leaned back against the wall next to me.

"How do you know that? How to treat it?"

He shrugged. "I read up on it when the snow started. Just in case I ended up in a position like this."

There was a brief pause where both of us stared at the fire, not talking. It was weird how only a couple of hours ago I was recklessly freeing gang servants, and now I was sitting in a shelter next to a total stranger.

Anxiety still nagged at me about being here. I wasn't used to trusting people. Even this small bit of trust scared me. But we'd saved each other. That counted for something.

Even if I didn't trust him, he'd piqued my interest. There weren't many people who knew about the Equator. If he had a house down there, he had to know more about it than I did.

"Do you know about the Equator?" I asked. "Not that I'd expect you to, but I'm guessing that's where your mom was sending you?" Any information would be a blessing. I wondered if it was simply a rumor for gullible people who'd lost all hope.

"It's," he began. "I don't really know much. I wasn't really told about it."

"Oh." A sudden gust of wind hit the blanket and bits of cold air rushed in. I crossed my arms, shoving my hands into my elbows to keep them warm.

Then, an idea hit me. It was reckless and couldn't possibly end well. Apparently, I was having a lot of stupid ideas lately. I wasn't planning on staying with Asten for long – I knew that. This was just a temporary companionship after an accidental meet-up. Once we both healed, we would have no need for each other.

But maybe I wanted to hope.

"What if we tried to go to the Equator. Just to see it. I've heard it's safe there," I suggested, my voice trailing off uncertainly. He didn't respond for a moment.

He glanced at me, gauging whether or not I was joking. "We could. We'd have nothing to lose."

He said it as if we were already a team. Now, we shared a goal. I was tempted to smile but didn't. Even if we were a "we" now, I needed to remember who I was. And I needed to remember who he was: a stranger. Somebody who could easily take advantage of me.

"Then let's go to the Equator."