I knew Alex was waking up when he moaned and his eyelids started to flutter. He picked his head up and looked at me sleepily.

"Oh, sorry," he said. I smiled at him and he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"It's fine. Your hair smells good," I said brightly. I hadn't slept at all last night and I wasn't sure how I was so awake. He unwound his arms from my waist (an involuntary action while he was sleeping, I think) and stood up to use the bathroom. I watched him leave and sighed. My shoulder felt a little cold because the heat source left. He came out again and sat down next to me.

"So, did that dream come back again?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I didn't give it a chance to. I didn't sleep."

"I can tell. You look tired. Wonder what the desk clerk is going to say when he sees you so tired. He's going to make assumptions about why you didn't get any sleep."

"Let him assume." He pulled the map out from his backpack and spread it on the bed.

"Okay, we're here," he said, pointing to a little bed symbol. "And we want to be here." This time he pointed to that little town that was our destination. His eyes wandered along the page until he spotted another little bed symbol.

"Do you think that going rural is a good idea?" I asked. He looked up at me, eyebrows raised.

"Uh, yeah? Why, what do you think. I know I kind of took over on the decision making."

"Well, if we went to a city, there will be more people, more places to stay, and more transportation. We can blend in and it'll be much more difficult to find us."

"Yeah, but there's more of a chance of being exposed."

"Sure, there are more people, but in small towns where everyone knows everyone they'll be bound to find out. I can teach you to be more careful about it."

"Okay. Sounds like a plan, but that means heading back the way we came. We have to be careful."