The Pass — The Battlefield Z series

From THE PASS — The Battlefield Z series

Maybe guessing wasn’t the right word.

“I guess it’s a town?” Brian said.

“This close to Mexico, would it be a pueblo?”

He snorted.

More of a courtesy sound than an actual laugh. A noise to let me know he appreciated the effort of a joke, if not the actual joke itself.

I glanced at him.

He looked thin and drawn, but then we all did.

Not eating and walking a lot had a tendency to burn off all the extra, and we didn’t start our trek with that much to begin with.

Tired.

He looked tired.

I gave our little group a once over.

We all looked tired.

Maybe it was the constant movement.

“Pioneers did it,” I told them when we started out.

Like some kind of rallying cry, and enough of a Dad sound behind it that the kids felt comfortable making it a joke.

“Pioneers,” they made quiet little jeers, almost as much noise of encouragement as the one Brian gave me.

That told me something about us.