Anna was gone.
Mac sat bolt upright and threw off his blankets. All traces of sleep had disappeared from him instantly, replaced by a rush of panic. Where could she have gone? Maybe she just needed some time to herself, he thought, but the idea rang hollow in his head. His creeping doubts from the night before returned.
Anna had been wounded by a zombie. Was she infected? Was she already one of them? What should he do? What could he do?
"I have to find her," he said to himself. But did he have to go alone? Mac thought for a minute. He definitely didn't want to bring Jeremiah into harm's way, but he also knew that he and Dennis should not leave the young boy all by himself.
Mac gritted his teeth, clenched his fist as if to prove he could use it, and let out a sigh. It was now or never.
He fumbled around for the tiny keychain flashlight they had grabbed at the gas station. He wished desperately that he had something bigger. The light of the tiny beam barely reached his own feet when he pointed it down at them. Kneeling, he swung the flashlight across the dirt around Anna's blankets and finally saw the footprints she had left in the soft ground.
The footprints looked strangely uneven, and he felt his stomach drop when he realized that she must have been dragging her injured leg heavily to make such long, deep marks. He wondered if she was as scared as he was. He began to wonder if people stopped being scared once they turned into zombies, then shook himself and stood up. If there was any chance that he could still help Anna, he needed to move fast.
Walking parallel to the footprints, Mac set off into the woods. He took one last look back at the pile of blankets where Dennis and Jeremiah were still asleep, trying to will them not to notice his absence. He crept along slowly as the trees grew thicker around him. He moved slowly to avoid making noise, but thoughts screeched through his head at dizzying speeds. He tried to convince himself that it might not be too late. Maybe Anna was fine. He worked to summon his earlier hope that she had just gone for a walk, but it seemed less and less likely. What would he do when he found her? If worse had come to worst and Anna had become a zombie, would he be able to bring himself to fight her? Even scarier - did he have any chance of winning?
As he walked, Mac began to hear the faint sound of running water in the distance. He realized that he must be nearing a stream or a creek. He followed the noise and was soon able to make out a soft glow: moonlight reflecting on water. He drew in his breath when the beam of his flashlight passed over what he knew instantly was a human- - or zombie- - shaped figure. Mac stood as still as he could, trying to decide what to do. The figure was bent over and seemed to be looking down, unaware of his presence.
Mac paused. If the figure was Anna, he didn't want to startle her. But if it was a zombie - or worse, a zombified Anna - he didn't want to get within arm's reach. He checked his shoelaces to make sure they were tied and braced himself to run away if necessary.
"Anna?" he called softly.
***
Dennis awoke with a startle. It took him a moment to figure out where he was and why he was sleeping on a pile of dirty tarps. "Should've stayed asleep," he mumbled to himself as the grim details of the previous day came back to him. He thought about trying for some more rest, but his stomach objected with a loud growl. They had been too exhausted to eat before bed, and now he was starving. He shook Jeremiah gently. He could use the boy's help to get a fire going. Jeremiah only muttered and rolled over. Maybe Mac would be more cooperative.
The hunger in his stomach turned into cold fear. Mac's blankets were empty, and he was nowhere to be seen. Anna was gone, too. He knew that Mac wouldn't have left without telling him unless something was seriously wrong.
"Jeremiah," he hissed, "you have to get up now. Something's wrong."
The boy sat up and rubbed his eyes, hair sticking out in all directions. "What is it?" he asked in confusion.
"Mac and Anna," Dennis replied, "they're gone."
Jeremiah blinked. "Maybe they went for a walk?" he suggested hopefully.
Which is the best example of a Text to World Connection that could be made with The Run: Part 5?
A. Reading, “It took a moment to remember where he was” reminds me of waking up disoriented after sleeping somewhere away from home.
B. Reading, “Sleeping on a pile of dirty tarps” reminds me of the refugee crisis created by the war in Ukraine
C. Reading, “Too exhausted to eat before bed, and how he was starving,” reminds me of skipping dinner and feeling starved the next morning.
D. Reading, “He shook Jeremiah gently. He could use the boy’s help to get a fire going. Jeremiah only muttered and rolled over” reminds me of how much Carl helped his dad in The Walking Dead.
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