Chapter 35

• The first day was a slow, agonizing crawl through hell.
• The sun beat down on us, relentless and unforgiving. The single bottle of water Reese had left us was gone in a matter of hours. Thirst was a physical thing, a dry, rasping fire in our throats.
• By midday, Eli was stumbling, his face flushed with a dangerous heat. Anna tore a strip of cloth from her own shirt and draped it over his head, a pathetic, desperate attempt to shield him from the sun.