CHAPTER TEN-ALL THE PRETTY COLORS

Chess placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her awake. "Hey, killer. Get up. Get dressed. Eat. Meet me in 30." He turned and walked away, knowing she wouldn't question him or argue. She'd grown and toughened up over the last four weeks. She'd yet to grow that backbone, but she was stronger and more aggressive and he liked watching her come alive. She groaned an 'ok', all hair sticking out from beneath her blankets. He turned, crossing the hall to the room that he'd been told to stay away out of a hundred times. He flipped the switch, illuminating the room with about 40 watts of light. "30, Alexander." This kid was a tough nut to crack. A constant mood and a bad attitude. They'd already physically got into it a couple times and Alex damn near got his ass kicked. "Dude, get off your girlfriend and move."

"Get the fuck out." Alex moaned, yanking the blanket over his half naked Julia, too. "I'll be there."

All they do is fuck...Chess thought...as he pushed onward through the addition to the stairs.

"Dad," He called through the door. "Yo, dad. You up?"

"Yeah," He heard a tired voice from a tired man who tried not to wake his bitchy mother.

He tread back to the kitchen where Jay was putting together a quick breakfast. He was ready and moving. At least one other soul was a morning person. He hated having to rouse this motley group of people and get them moving in the morning. "Yo, Jay. You're still going with us. She's gonna kick your ass either way."

"I'm going. Fuck, man, I hope she doesn't wake up before we leave."

"I took care of that. Besides, what's she gonna do?" Chess asked, taking a plate as Julia and Jody made their way into the kitchen. They quietly ate a plate of their own. Julia had a back pack thrown over her shoulder and it looked stuffed. Chess shook his head. "Your pack is already in the van."

"I know. I have a few extra things." She answered in a mood. She set her plate in the sink and took an extra water bottle, stuffing that in the empty pocket on the side of her pack. She and Chess walked outside and left Jody with Alex and Jay.

"Jules, we are not getting stuck there. You do not need that."

"I wanna leave it in the van. Stop bugging me." She slid the van door open and tossed it in the rear seat. The van's interior lights shined onto the ground in front of them. "Go smoke." She muttered, sitting on the floor board of the open van door.

Her nervousness quite obvious. Chess ran a hand over her head and to her face. "You're gonna be alright. Chill. We've gone over this." His hand ran over the sleeve on her hoodie. Did she realize she was wearing his hoodie? Julia had handed it over the first night that she had arrived to keep her warm. He took her gloved hand in his. "Come with me." He said, pulling her to her feet. He noticed she wore Julia's boots, having abandoned the Ugg boots for the ones that would hold up to wear and tear. "You can change your mind. We can do this without you. Just saying." He offered her an out. He offered it to all of them at various times over the last few weeks. Jody got tired of hearing him and offered him an out as well.

"I don't want out." She shot back at him over her shoulder as he held her hand firm in his.

"Good, I don't want you out anyway." He told her as he pulled her body back against his. His arms shot around her waist. His face nuzzled against her neck. He kissed her below her ear. "You smell so fuckin good, Julia." He said as his lips stayed on her neck. She let him carry on as they walked pressed against each other to the barn. He couldn't decide what he wanted more, pot or this red head. The smell of flowers from her perfume was still on the hoodie. Not exactly juicy couture, but it stirred him up nonetheless. She had a habit of stirring him up and he believed she was doing so purposefully sometimes. She was quite the innocent flirt, so lately the interactions she had with Mayers and Tavin were just that...innocent. As the weeks had passed, the more they worked together and trained this small group of fortress takers, Chess gradually transitioned from friendly to friend, then crossed a line to more than friends. He found that as her trust grew in him, the easier she got to talk to, open up and eventually explore. Julia liked a certain kind of honesty. Not the brutal and hurtful and occasional inappropriate honesty that wifey had honed, but a softer version of it. Julia wasn't a fighter or a screamer. She wasn't the type to lash out and hurt anyone either physically or verbally. Chess liked this less threatening and less abrasive version of wifey.

When Julia had said she wasn't loose or easy, she wasn't kidding. She liked being touched, but don't dare lift the clothes. She wouldn't get near her room or a bed with him or dare to lay down with him. She liked holding hands, holding conversations and then being held or snuggling up with him. He could brush his hands over her body while they snuggled, but to outright fondle or feel was out of the question. She loved being held but not touched, which he found weird. He'd endured weeks of this, figuring out her limits and trying to cross them. Usually the good ones were a lot of work, but he would be spending massive amounts of time dealing with her, so the invested time would eventually pay off even if it led to nothing but having a really good friend.

He held her against the stall and kissed her softly. This girl liked that much from him. She could kiss all day. Something was better than nothing. He thought eventually he would get in there if he was patient. Short of leaving and exploring the world outside their fence, his options for intimacy were few and far between. Having passed a month in their field with these people, he'd cornered the market on friendship. And thanks to Julia, he no longer wallowed in the bottomless pit called lonely. Their activity wasn't exactly a secret, but it wasn't flaunted either. Julia didn't flaunt anything she ever did. If she accomplished something, she didn't make a big deal out of it. In fact, she was the opposite and thanked those around her for helping her achieve a goal. She was a team player, helped others if they needed it, volunteered to do any job at the farmhouse whether it was clean or dirty. When she said she wanted to learn the place and its ways, she dove in head first. Julia honestly believed that in less than a year she would be standing alone on a farm, abandoned by those people who surrounded her. She believed the ties she created with Chess, Jody, and Jayson would dissolve as well as her growing friendships with Tavin, Alex and Julia, too. Julia worked to get to know the people that Julia Morgan had grown to know and love. She had no long lasting memories with any of them, but she wanted to make them. If these people were here once, then twice, who was to say they would not all arrive a third time? The one relationship she lacked in forming was that of her doppelganger, Julia, herself. At first it bothered her, but she let it go. Julia Morgan had her own issues she was working out. They all left her be, so she did the same, figuring she had nothing to add to the isolation seeking girl who hid away with her girlfriend, Jesslyn. In fact she hadn't seen Jess in as much time as she hadn't seen Julia.

"Smoke, Chess." He heard her breath heavy in his ear as his face nuzzled her neck, sucking gently on that spot that he'd learned years ago on a different body with a different soul.

"Shh," He hushed her, slipping hands beneath the rim of the hoodie to her tee shirt. His hands moved up to her breasts and she arched her back, letting him feel her again over her clothes. He pinched a small nipple between his thumb and forefinger, hearing her moan as her body reacted got him hard. "You gotta feel that, Jules."

"Uh-huh. I do." She nodded as he rubbed himself against her. "Hard not to, Chess, really. It's kinda big."

"I wanna turn you around, pretty girl."

"Ugh, no." She stiffened against him as he separated.

"Didn't say I was gonna. I said I wanted to." He walked away from her and head to the chest in the rear of the barn. "Come here." She reluctantly followed him, unsure what he was doing exactly. He rooted around the chest and he pulled out a strap. "You're small." He said, tightening the band around her thigh.

"Tying me up, are you?" She giggled.

"If you'd let me, yeah, in a minute." He replied. He pulled a knife from the chest and slid it in the sheath on the band.

"Oh, cool. Where'd you get that?"

"Pick things up along the way, Jules. Here," He said as he pulled another one. He lifted the hoodie and attached one around her waist. "Where's your gun?"

"The bag." She answered as he straightened the hoodie back over her.

"That'll come off later." He said as he closed the chest. "I think the leg strap, you'll like it."

"Julia doesn't wear hers like this. Why do I have to?"

"So I can tell you apart in the field." He replied. "She doesn't need help. You will." She looked disturbed by the comment, but refrained from speaking up. "It's the truth right now, Julia. I'm sorry, but it is."

"Oh, it's ok. I understand." She answered.

"Are you scared?"

"Not yet, Chess. No, I don't think so."

"It's ok if you are. You stay with me like we planned."  Jody would run with Alex and Jayson would pair up with Tavin. "All of you will get your di-" He held back from saying dicks. Wifey would have laughed, but this one, he kept it clean with her. "Feet, you'll get your feet wet today. Stick to the plan, alright?"

"Yes, Chess." She nodded.

"Go get your gun."

"Yes, Chess." She hurried off and slipped past Jay as he entered to smoke with his cousin.

"Still trying to nail her?" He laughed, watching her take off to the van.

"She listens, follows directions." Chess said as he opened up his small cigar box with his weed stash inside. He lit a joint.

"Not what I asked." Jay said to him.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing with that one. I don't know." He shook his head. "She still asleep?"

"I think so. Even if she was up, she wouldn't come out this early. Ray's up though."

"I have him watching her. If she moves, he's gonna act all schizophrenic."

"He hasn't had symptoms in awhile, man. She'll know something's up."

"I don't care though. I don't know why this is a big secret. I can't believe you haven't said anything either. Have you, Jay?" How they all managed to keep this a secret from Julia was a mystery to him. He really thought that Jay would have said something. He trusted Jayson, but he also didn't trust Jayson when it came to telling Julia absolutely everything. But she didn't want in on this. She didn't want any parts of it.

"Nope."

"She's fucking miserable. When was the last time she came out?"

"A week or so." Jay shrugged. "If I didn't have shit to do, I would be right next to her."

"Maybe we should make her come with us, get her out and-"

"No. You crazy." Jay cut him off. "She's so depressed, hasn't got out of bed, hasn't bathed, hasn't eaten, won't quit crying."

"We can drug her like we drug Ray."

"She's not suicidal yet." Jay said honestly. "That's coming, so I took her belt. If you wanna give it to the other one, you can."

"She's that bad? Jay, you sure you wanna leave?"

"Yeah. I need a break, man." Jay sounded like he was complaining. "I love her, but there's only so much I can take, Chess." He paused while he smoked, letting Chess digest what he'd told him.

"I could talk to her. I could try to get in there."

"Nah, not yet. She really prefers your brother's company anyway." He passed back to Chess and leaned against the stall. He pet the horse when she came to him. "Not this morning, Beatrice. Maybe later." He told the horse.

Chess never knew Jay named the horses. Chess never addressed the horses by name. He always called them horse. "Beatrice?"

"Yes. And that's Nathan. And that's Sophie." He pointed out the other two horses. "Chess, they're my pets. We can't have dogs. Could never have one even at Tav's either. All I heard was Chess is allergic to dogs. Like you lived there."

Julia popped back inside the barn, startling them. She looked excited. "Um, Tavin said let's go."

"Is Tavin in charge here?" Chess asked Julia.

"Um,"

"Is it daylight yet, Julia?"

"Um, no." She turned and head back to Tavin.

"She crazy, too, Chess, since you're so close and all?" Jay wondered aloud, poking fun at his cousin who had stared a little too hard at the red head.

"No, Jay, not that I noticed. If she is, she's hiding it."

"She gonna be of any use to us out there today?"

"We'll find out." Chess replied. "It's something that either happens or doesn't happen. She's a gamble right now as far as I'm concerned. She's tough though."

"Tavin said she can fight. She works better with him than Jo."

"Tav play fights, let's her hit him. Jody hits hard and is defensive if any fist comes at him, even a girl's." Chess tucked his weed box back beneath the work bench and they head out to the van where the five of them went over the plan one more time before they departed. His dad met them in the driveway and Chess told him flat out to get Julia if there was a problem. Despite her mental state she'd come to life if there was a problem. She'd bitch about it, but she'd manage.

They piled inside while Jay held the gate open and they waited on the road while he closed it. Jay complained again that no one else ever opened or closed the gate when he got in the car. Chess drove off toward the school as the sun was peeking through the clouds. The tension was thick among the youngest and greenest of the team, Julia and Alex, who shared the rear seat. She and Alex sat quietly talking and Julia asked where Julia, too was.

"She punked out." Alex answered.

"Awe, why? She was doing alright, wasn't she?"

"It isn't for everyone." Chess said to her.

He reminded her that making it into the van was the first achievement.

Chess pulled the van to a stop outside the fortress' gates. Jay and Tavin hopped out and unlocked the chain, then both hoisted the tall heavy gates wide open one at a time. Tavin climbed back in the passenger seat and left Jay in the grass inside the gate. He was heading in on foot, a warm up for what was to come. If he tried hard, he could make it to the parking space before the van. He stretched a bit as he watched the van pull in and drive past him. There were a few stray zoms in the grassy field in front of the school, but far enough away they were not of concern to him. In fact when they saw the van drive into the compound, their attention turned from him to the vehicle and he was relatively safe. He stretched as he watched them amble slowly in the direction of the vehicle. He finally took off at a decent pace toward the van where it had parked. He hadn't run anywhere in a long time.

Chess parked on the grass outside the front door. He turned off the engine and they climbed out, waiting for Jayson to catch up to them. He popped the trunk, handed off packs to each person and they head toward the front door of the main building where they waited for Jayson to join them. When he did, he took his own pack from the van and then closed it up.

"Well, Forrest?" Chess asked.

"All good. Warmed up. Let's do this."

Chess wedged the crow bar in the door jamb and broke in. Flashlights and weapons out like they practiced, they single file entered the semi dark office space of the first floor of their fortress. Julia hung on Chess's heels as they moved through the entryway to the office space and through there into the main floor's office grid like layout. Cubicles were searched one by one, then once that area was cleared, they set down their packs and moved on to the next area of the first floor. Via the main corridor, they continued on and cleared room by room again till they reached the main dining area. The doors were shut and locked, but Jay had keys.

"You got keys and we broke in, Keller. What the fuck."

"The keys were in the janitor closet, ass hole." He shot back at Chess. "Wanna let me do this? I know the way around your castle with my fuckin eyes closed." He found the key on the ring by feel alone and stuck it in the lock. He turned ever so slowly and Chess pulled the door open slowly. They head inside paired up and it was clear to see the caf was empty. No movement and no noise. Jay and Tavin split off and head to the kitchen. Julia started following, but felt a hand on her hoodie that gave her a firm yank back into her spot aside Chess.

"Sorry." She whispered. She wanted to see the inside of the massive structure they'd broken into.

"There's time for tours later." He answered, backing her up and moving toward the door. "We're clearing. That's all."

Julia remained silent and they continued to back out of the cafeteria into the corridor and Jody led them down the hall to the stair well. Jay and Tavin split off again, clearing the remaining couple rooms on the first floor as Jody and Alex stepped cautiously inside the stairwell. Julia and Chess followed along, winding upward to the second floor where Alex and Jody stepped inside and started clearing the level. Julia and Chess climbed upward to the third level, the war room. The door was locked. As Jay and Tavin hit the second floor landing, Chess called Jay up to unlock the door. As Julia peered inside, she thought she saw movement in silhouettes along the far wall. Jay stuck the key in the hole and turned it.

"There's someone in there." She said, backing away from the door.

"Alive or dead?"

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"Guess." He stated. He and Jody both had been giving them the gift of their knowledge and experience. Things to look and listen for, the typical zom behavior and movements as well as human.

"Alive, because they're hiding not coming at us." She replied, feeling confident in that statement.

"What do you wanna do?" Chess asked her.

Julia knocked on the door. "Hello." She called softly.

"Awe, fuck." Jay laughed.

"Hello. We're here to help. Please come out." She called as she shined the light in the glass.

"Help?" Chess asked as he looked around the war room enclosure. The sun and Julia's flashlight gave some semblance of lighting inside. He observed the movement as well in the far end of the war room. There was a makeshift barricade, stacked desks to obscure whoever was hiding inside. She turned the knob after tucking her gun back in her holster. "Hello." She called again.

"Light it up, Chess?" Jay suggested as they held their guns over Julia's shoulders. She felt a familiar hand tugging her back and down.

"No, don't." Julia gasped, struggling against the hand on her hoodie.

"No." She heard a shout from behind the desks that were piled one on top of the other. "We're unarmed." A man's voice announced.

"It's Hector." Jay said to Chess under his breath.

"Come out." Chess yelled to them. "Hands up."

"It's-"

"I don't care. I don't trust anyone." Chess said, pulling Julia away from the door as he'd originally intended on doing. Their flashlights shined on the faces that appeared before them. Their hands were up as ordered. Chess head in and met each person, patting each one down firmly for the weapons they swore they didn't have. He came face to face with a woman, older, graying hair, who was scared. "Ma'am." Chess nodded as he gently patted her down as well.

Jay saw the recognizable faces of Hector and Julio as well as Hilda and another woman he did not know. "Anyone else here?" Chess asked these found people. Julia was correct, they would stand to inherit Hector and Hilda with the fortress.

"No." Hector answered.

"No one else is here with you?" Chess asked again, having a feeling they were being dishonest. There had to be more people. There had to be more living souls as Julia's history lesson about their future indicated there would be, but Hector and Hilda was all he needed to see. He knew that Hector and Hilda were the originals. He knew they'd be there till the day they eventually died. Julia, herself had said neither had ever left the compound once the society collapsed.

"Chess Morgan." Chess introduced himself to the man in his fifties with dark, ruddy skin and graying hair. He stood slightly hunched with a belly, firm calloused hands from hard work. He still wore a brown work uniform.

"Hector Cortes." He answered with a hint of pride to his voice. "My son, Julio. This is Hilda and her daughter, Trudy."

They heard the door to the stairwell open a floor below and Tavin called up. "We got people here."

Chess looked at Hector.

"They are not with us." Hilda said with a hint of a German accent. "They stay down there and we stay up here."

"Not anymore." Julia announced as Chess rounded the piled desks. He saw supplies and he saw bedding. He saw no weapons as they'd said earlier. They also had empty food containers and packages, neatly bound in trash bags. Julio, he found out, would make their food runs to the kitchen and return. Hector, Hilda and Trudy had only descended from the war room to use the bathroom on the second floor. They had been huddled alive in there since the collapse, since the people had turned and they had locked them into the courtyard. Chess was dumbfounded how they managed to last up there. It had been several months.

Chess stepped away from the foursome on the third floor and jogged to the second without his partner. She stayed gabbing and getting to know the group and their story. She understood the way they lived. She had lived similarly till she'd been found and removed from her house by Chess and Cal. Jay stuck with her, stood by her side as they talked and she watched how she and Julio interacted. He knew what Julia had said about Julio and he wondered whether the age gap would even matter to her. Julio was in fact closer to Alex's age than her own in this flipside version of events. He watched Julia as she touched his arm and spoke softly to him. A lot could happen in a couple year's time. Julia Fry would be their liaison between the living and the living with her soft voice and her gentle way. His girlfriend was too rough around the edges anymore for small talk with strangers.

"Where did you all come from?" Trudy asked. "You said you were here to help."

"Help all of us. We're all together in this, Trudy. We all want a future, a safe place to live and have life worth living. I think we could do that together."

"Out there. You saw what is out there?" She asked with some anxiety as she mentioned the outside. "We cannot walk the grounds, we cannot-"

"You can and you will. Soon." Julia assured her. "That's why we are here."

Julia spoke so positively positive on the subject she had Jay believing the bullshit. If the stories were true, this fortress wouldn't come to fruition for a few more years and he'd never live to see it. The clock was ticking. Julia continued with her we-the-people speech and he could literally see the end game, living peacefully, safe and barricaded from the risks that wanted to eat them. Set back far enough from the road, the dead ambled by. The building itself would obscure them and their activity. They were shielded and confined within the school's campus.

Chess led more people to the third floor war room. He had already patted them down and secured the weapons from them. Seven young kids, including Damon and Mia, that had housed on the second floor. Their living space was more littered and spray painted. Destructive youth they were. They had shared the building, but they lived for all intents and purposes separately. The older and adult away from the young. No one was in charge overall, but separately each cache of living had a representative. Clark spoke for the second floor group. "No one asked for your help."

"Ok, then you can leave." Chess said, grabbing the kid by the collar and tossing him into the hall. "Go get your shit. Anyone else?"

"Chess, stop that." Julia sighed, going to the kid in the hallway before he left. "Stay in here. Don't be smart."

"Oh, I'll leave."

"Can you run fast? Because that's what you will be doing if you leave."

"Why are you staying in here instead of the dorm?" Jody asked out of the blue.

"You'll see." Hector sighed, taking himself and his 3 others behind the stacked desks.

"Good. Let's go see." Chess announced, clearly tiring of the group of people he had in the war room. He scanned the large space once again and tried to see himself clearing out the entire room and making it an office and closing off a portion of the place for a secret sex room. He couldn't picture it. Yet. "Stay in here." He commanded, hoping these people would entertain the thought. If they emerged from the enclosed war room, they'd certainly get caught in a swell hungry corpses.

"Why should we listen to you?" Another smart ass kid spoke up.

Alex pointed to the window. "Just watch."

The group of invaders exited the war room and filed down the steps. Chess had the dorms in mind before he chose to move onto the courtyard. He had wondered why they couldn't walk the campus as all the zoms were caged. "Jay, wanna head out with the bolt cutters? Me and Red here are gonna check out the dorm. Tav, come with us." Once clear of the main building, they walked around to the rear, taking in the courtyard with its entrapped and turned people inside. A small army would erupt through that gate shortly. Tavin walked beside them as Chess opened up his opinionated mouth one more time.

"Julia, don't ever do that again."

"Do what?"

"Go against me like that. I told the kid to leave and you changed my mind for me. Don't pull that shit again."

"He was being a kid, Chess. Like Alex."

"You heard me." He stated.

"You were wrong though." She argued with him. "He was just scared. He doesn't know you and you just expect him to start listening to you?"

"Pretty much." He nodded. "I expect you to do the same." He stepped up the three steps or so to the door of the dormitory and he gave it a yank.

"Without any explanation? Just like that, huh?" She asked, surprised he was being such an ass. He never had given her that sort of directive before. She trusted him, yes, but strangers wouldn't. She called him on it. "You can't expect that from people."

"Julia, I do." He replied.

The three pulled weapons and started clearing the first floor of the dorm and found nothing. Chess peeked into the gym and saw nothing. Darker inside the dorm on that side of the building. Julia waited by the gym door while he and Tavin, who heard nothing, continued on. There was no indication of anything that would harm them, living or dead, inside that building. The longer Julia lingered by the gymnasium though, the odor made itself known. She peeked inside the door through the glass once again and saw nothing just like Chess. It smelled dead, but they figured it was from the outside as opposed to the inside. The dead reek something terrible, Julia thought. She pulled open the gym door, propped it with a door stopper and stepped inside. A large room with a volleyball net in the center, pulled horizontally across. She picked up a ball and batted it over the net with her wrists together. She missed school. The activity to keep her busy, the small group of friends she'd made. She ducked beneath the net and fetched the ball, then turned to lob the ball back over the net. When she turned, her heart nearly stopped.

She heard herself let out a whimper and she dropped the ball as she stood frozen halfway across the gym from the entrance. Why haven't they moved? Why haven't they come toward me? Along each side of the doorway, huddled in two separate groups, were dead. Unseen through the glass on the gym door, but visible from her standpoint.

"Come on, Julia. Nothing here." Chess called.

"I don't understand." Julia pointed toward them as Tavin returned to the gym entrance. She hadn't caught their attention. A couple zoms in the huddle turned their heads in her direction, but she stood awkwardly still despite being out in the open. For the first time in weeks, she stood with tears in her eyes. She saw perhaps 20 of them, their backs to her in clothes that had not worn or been exposed to the elements. As her heart started racing, she sensed herself about to panic. She told herself to calm down. She looked around her, how to get higher up than the floor. No where to run and no way out and no way up. She glance back over her shoulder as she drew the gun from her holster and she held it high and she was ready should one or all advance on her.

The longer Tavin and Chess lingered at the entrance, the odor overwhelmed their senses. The smell hadn't been wafting in from outside after all. Chess peeked left and right and then stepped out. "Walk toward me." He said.

"No." She answered.

"Walk out the same way you walked in."

Chess saw she was stuck firmly with fear gripping the soles of those boots. Julia would have already been out of there, no hesitation. Of all people on all days, the very first adventure outside the perimeter of the farmhouse, this one walks into a small nest. An ominous sight to see. Their stasis despite the living body feet from them. Julia had no clue about nests or their behavior. He knew he didn't want her opening fire on them. He knew he didn't want her in there much longer because that hunger would override their sleep mode and soon she'd be ripped apart and soon so would he and Tavin.

"Tav, get out and tell Jay to hold up. Anything happens to us, you wait it out and carry on with the plan."

"Nest, right?"

"Yeah, go."

Chess stepped forward and kicked the door stopper out of the way, letting the door close behind him. Julia saw no way out, but Chess had studied the schematics and knew the lay out of this place nearly as well as Jayson. He was smart enough to know there would be an exit to the rear of the gym. There had to be a fire exit. He turned and backed toward her with his gun up. He walked calmly and when he got to her, he placed that hand on her shoulder again and started her in reverse, ducking the volley ball net as they moved. The net itself would give them a head start, buy them some time to get to the door. The zoms would get caught, but they would inevitably figure out how to circumvent the net. As they closed in on the rear wall of the gym, the nest started to come to life, heads started turning and bodies broke from the tight huddle in which they stood. Their noses were sniffing the air surrounding them, their ears were zoning in on the lub-dub of two hearts pounding.

"Do not fire that weapon." He insisted, praying inside that she would heed that order and not let the fear overcome her. "Door, to the right." He said, moving her faster along the gymnasium, shoes squeaking on the court all the way, to the fire exit. He put his whole body against the door and it gave way, opening into yard outside the dorm. He slammed it shut and threw his small frame against it as the stampede of dead footsteps hurdled toward the rear of the gym. "Fucking run, Julia." He yelled, shoving her away from him. She stumbled, rolled and wound up on her ass across from him as the door he'd pressed against flew open and several of the nest zoms screeched into the sunlight. The sunshine caused them to howl as their skin sizzled in the day light. "Shoot them!" He screamed as he slammed his body against the steel door, cutting off another nest zom from exiting. He aimed and fired his own weapon, trying to cover her ass and his own at the same time. The sun scorching their pale flesh helped slow them down, but not nearly enough to keep them from pouncing or biting or scratching.

Julia aimed and fired as the zom latched onto her arm, its claw like nails gripping and breaking the flesh on her forearm. She howled in pain as the claws sunk in half an inch deep. Blood oozed from the puncture wounds as the zom's head exploded above her. Chess steadied himself and they both fired rounds into the two others who'd escaped the confines of the gym on agile limbs. Both had head toward her as she screamed on the ground. She never lowered her weapon and she never stopped firing it as she sat there with a body oozing fluids all over her. Her aim was a bit off and she'd nearly shot him as well, but she stayed alert like he and Jody had trained her. Tavin and Jay were first to arrive, having heard the gun fire and her screaming. Chess made his way quickly to her side and pushed the dead zom off her. She sat covered in blood and liquefied internal organs, chunks of brain and skull fragments speckled her face and her hair. As he rolled the zom, the claws it had hooked into her arm stayed implanted and she squealed in pain. She shoved Chess away from her with her free hand, having tossed the weapon aside. She took each finger from the true corpse and unhooked each sharp nail from her flesh. It snagged her on the anterior forearm through the hoodie. She bled rather heavy through the sleeve. She pulled the hoodie over her head and wrapped her arm tight applying a heavy pressure to the wounds.

The guys stood around her, knowing what had happened and dreading the outcome.

"Julia," Chess said, raising his gun at her.

"No." Jay yelled, putting himself between her and the pistol that Chess had raised at her.

"Move, Jay." Chess ordered.

"Wait, wait, let me look at her." Tavin said, dropping to his knees next to her.

"You know what's gonna happen." Chess argued. "There's a way we go about things and this has to happen."

"Fuck you." Julia snapped at him. "I'll shoot you back." She looked around Tavin's torso angrily at him. The first time he'd heard her curse him or raise her voice to him.

"Your agreement is with wifey, not her. Leave her alone." Jay yelled.

Tavin unwound the hoodie from her left arm and he looked at the punctures. "Sutures." Tavin said. "Let's get you to the van and we'll take care of you, ok?" Tavin suggested as he rose to his feet. He lifted her off the ground and walked with her. "What happened, Jules?"

"They were so fast and we were almost out."

"What the fuck? You're gonna turn, Julia and then you're-"

"No, I won't." She answered confidently. "I'll be fine. Trust me." She continued with Tavin as he escorted her to the van and his medical bag. Jay and Chess sat staring at them as they left them and rounded the building.

"Not the time to think positive." Chess muttered, covering his face with his hands. "I tried, Jay. I got her out and told her to run. She stayed. I-"

"It's ok."

"No, it's fucking not ok." He yelled. "I got her out, Jayson. I shoved her and told her to run, but she didn't. She fired instead."

"We don't run, Chess. You been drilling that into their heads for a month. We stand and fight, Chess. Remember?"

"Not when I say run. She's not a great shot yet. It's why I told her to run. She was supposed to run."

"She chose to stay and shoot and she chose to help you. It's what we all would have done."

He held his head in his hands. "Fuck." Chess muttered. "Fuck."

"Chess,"

"Just leave me alone a minute, please." He raised his voice as he sat by the door, his back still against it. Jay hopped to his feet and moved along to his brother and Julia. He waited out Chess who was as emotional as he would have been himself. "Get up, Chess." Jay called to him. "It's ok. We'll deal with it."

Chess hopped to his feet. "It's my fault. She's gonna die and it's my fault."

He walked with his cousin around the building and saw Tavin sitting on the ground with Julia's arm resting on the floor board of the van. He'd cleansed her wounds, he'd injected lidocaine to dull the suturing process and he'd started the first of multiple wounds, sewing flesh back together as approximated as possible. He sat talking to her as her head was turned from the work at hand. She didn't flinch despite the pain she felt. There was only so much lidocaine could do. Her arm was searing hot and red from the elbow down to her fingertips.

"Chess, I am fine." She said solemnly, knowing he was worried about her.

He sat next to her and he watched as Tavin sewed her up. He said nothing. He didn't complain or question her. He held his composure until Tavin finished his work. He wrapped up her arm in a gauze wrap and then bagged up all his trash. Julia wanted her pack she'd brought with her. Chess fetched it and carried it for her. Her left arm was swollen now, her fingers little sausages. He took her hand and walked with her back to the main building. Tavin went ahead of them, Jayson hung back to release and run. This part of the plan rested solely on Jay's shoulders.

Once inside and the door secured behind them, he pulled her against him. "I am so sorry, Julia. This is my fault."

"Chess, don't cry. I'm gonna be ok." She said, squeezing him tight.

"I'll take care of you, alright? When it's time, I'll make sure you go quick." He rested his face on her shoulder and she felt the warmth of his tears on her tee shirt.

"Shh, shh, Chess, stop. I want to show you something." She said in a soothing voice. " Is there a bathroom, someplace...I need to get changed."

He took her to the defunct elevator and next to it was a bathroom where she stepped inside. Out of habit, she turned on the light switch. Nothing. A small window in the bathroom provided her light and she pulled him inside with her, then closed the door. She pulled her tee shirt over her head and she draped her hair over her shoulders, covering her breasts.

"Oh, what are ya doin', Julia?" He said, crossing his arms over his chest. Her pale skin with the red hair against it had him having flashbacks to a more seductive time. He waited as she pulled the cloth from her bag and used the cold water from her water bottle to clean her skin of blood stains. She stripped entirely in front of him, cleaning herself as best she could temporarily. She dried with another cloth and redressed, hoisting another pair of jeans over her legs and hips. She stood bare chested instead of putting on another shirt. She turned around nervously, allowing the first person this side of the apocalypse to see her wound.

"Is that-"

"Yes." She nodded as he inspected her bite. The dip in her flesh over the left shoulder blade. It had never been tended to like Tavin had tended to her arm. The flesh was gouged semi deep and had healed from the inside out naturally.

"Um, what? When? How?" He stammered unsure of which question to ask first. "You lived." He stated, feeling a burst of relief inside him.

"And I will live through this too. Promise." She said, turning back to face him. "It looks funny cause of the graft." She added, folding her arms over her chest. She reached her bandaged arm out. "This is a normal reaction and it will go away. My body is fighting off the infection and I will heal."

"Oh." He said, completely taken aback by the wound he'd just seen on her back.

"Then there's this." She said, turning sideways and lifting her arm to reveal the scratches along her left rib cage. They were more superficial, slit like scars trailing the ribs, and they had healed on their own naturally.

"What happened?" He asked as he traced the scars on her skin with his fingertips.

She nearly answered when Jody had come looking for them.

"Hey, where are you two?"

Julia rolled her eyes. "In the bathroom."

"Where's Chess at? Jay's ready."

Julia bit her lip, looking at him as he stepped closer. "I'm in here with her, Mayers." His hand moved over her rib cage to her hip. "Quit biting that lip." He warned her quietly. He wanted to bite it too.

"You ok? What's he doing to you?"

"Nothing. We're ok." Julia answered. "Be right out." She called, feeling chills flood through her at the touch of his hand on her body.

"This why I couldn't feel you?" He asked, moving his other hand to her other hip.

"Hmm, yes." She answered. "It's why no one touches me, Chess." She bit that lip again and batted her lashes at him...those pretty blue-green eyes gazed upward.

"Fuck." He groaned, fingertips digging into her waist, gripping her hard and bringing her waist against his. "Fuck, get dressed, Julia."

"Um, ok." She picked her tee up.

"I don't want you to. Don't think-"

"I know." She smiled, pushing her hair back over her shoulders. She stood bare chested in front of him and he wasn't sure what was going on, whether there was another bite or whether she was teasing the hell out of him. He looked her over and reached for her, then stopped when Jody coughed loudly in the hall way.

"Go the fuck away, Mayers. Tell Jay to go ahead."

"Ok, will do."

"Julia, put the shirt on." He said, yanking her tee shirt from her hand. He put her head through the hole and she raised her arms, placing both arms through the sleeves. "There's nothing I want more than to-we have work to do."

"Sure, Chess. Yes." She said, opening her bag with her good hand and pulling out another sweatshirt.

"Later, Julia?" He asked as she pulled the sweatshirt on. She opened the door and stepped out into the hall with him on her heels. She had a little wiggle in her step. "Julia, later? Can we-"

"We'll see." She answered with a little wiggle in her walk.

"We'll see?" He asked with a squawk to his voice. "Don't mess with me, Jules."

"We'll see." She repeated, rounding the stairwell and climbing to the third floor with the rest of them. She entered the war room and took a spot by the window which gave her full view of the grounds below that stretched to the street. The gates were wide open and she waited for Jayson to come into view. "Are you sure this is safe?" She asked as Chess stood directly behind her.

"Yeah. He's fast. It only takes one person really. The nest is another problem entirely. Yo, Tavin, we're gonna need her out of bed for that nest."

"I don't know about this, chess." He said as he watched out the window.

"His fuckin idea." Chess answered. "You know it's smart, right?"

"Better not get him killed, man."

"He's faster than me and you put together." Chess said, leaving Julia and moving to Tavin. He wanted to talk about the nest and then tackle the topic of wifey who wouldn't get out of bed. Chess looked up at Tavin who stared intensely out the window.

"I should go out there with him. I'm fast too." He looked over the grass in front of the school, looked to the road, scanned the vicinity.

"We got bigger problems. Like that nest." He mumbled. "You-get wifey the fuck outta bed and get her head on straight."

"You get wifey outta bed." Tavin groaned.

"You work whatever magic you got. Let me know if you need the time and the distraction. I can get Jay out-"

"Fuck, Chess, you pimpin' me now?"

"I'll do what I gotta do." He admitted that much, then changed the subject. "You know she was serious when she said she wasn't turning."

"I figured you woulda shot her when you were alone down there. It's why I left you alone with her. Jay woulda flipped, but so be it." He turned to look at him. "You know for sure. 100% or is she just hoping it ain't gonna happen?"

"She knows."

"Like Jay knows."

"Yep."

"You trust her on this?"

"Just like Jay, yeah." He nodded, wanting to know the full story of how this girl got bit, scratched, and survived both wounds. She had been down this painful road before and he wanted to know the truth from her. Had she been attacked in her very own zombie world where she spent her days while Julia passed her days here? Was she as immune as Jay and did she find out when she didn't die? If so, where had the skin graft come from? He had more questions than answers. For now, immunity was the only answer he could provide.

"Here we go." Tavin said as he saw Jayson running.

His brother came to a complete halt and he held up the air horn. He blasted it once and led the throng of hungry zoms down the lengthy drive toward the open gates.

"You're letting them walk out? Into the surrounding neighborhood?" Chess heard a young female from the second floor ask.

"Yep. They'll get out there and scatter." He replied.

"Where's he going to run?"

"He's gonna run real fast over there." Chess replied dully. "You guys ready? Julia, you sit this one out."

"Yeah, I will." She held up her bandaged arm. "Be careful."

Jayson ran a few hundred more feet and blasted that air horn again. Keeping the zom's short attention span was a difficult task. All one needed was noise and to be fast on one's feet. Jay had both and he gradually lured a hundred hungry zoms through the gate and into the street in front of the fortress. It took forever to get them there it seemed, but only ten to fifteen minutes had passed. The true sprint would take place outside the fence in the street and through the field to the tunnel entrance. It was twice the distance past the school from the street to that tunnel entrance. Being that he couldn't return through the front gate, the tunnel seemed like the way to go.

Julia watched from the window, keeping an eye on Jay as he ran through the crowded street. He dodged the dead, having learned this trait from Hayley years ago on the turnpike. A couple he had to put down. That air horn of his served a purpose in drawing them out of the fortress campus, but it all served to bring them in from all corners of the surrounding fields and neighborhood. He had to watch his back and his front the closer he got to the gate. Once in the street he blasted that air horn one final time and then disposed of it and pulled his gun. This was not a time for knives as there was a mini horde around him. When the rest of the group of four arrived to the field, they put down the stragglers on the way to close the gate. They went out with knives in lieu of guns. It was the best option as firing weapons inside the fence would only bring the herd right back inside and toward them, which was not a bright idea considering all the work that Jay had done getting them to the road in the first place.

"What happened to your arm?" Trudy asked Julia as she approached her by the window. Her gaze had switched to Jay as he ran like a gazelle through the field to the left toward the hatch.

"I fell. It's sprained." She lied. No one would know her truth yet. No one would understand her or believe her, except for the people she lived with. Her story would not be on blast to every person she came across. She told Chess because she had to tell Chess, but it felt good letting someone else in on that part of her. She had hidden it so long. She had covered herself and shielded herself from view constantly. No cute spaghetti strap clothes, no one could touch her or see for fear she would have to explain. It was ugly, a part of her she would look at in the mirror and cringe if she saw it. Who walks around with a huge chunk of their body ripped off and displays it proudly. Any normal person would have questions as to where it had come from. No one knew the truth, even her father. He had been told it was a dog bite that got infected and McGill's story unfolded from there. No one would understand or believe her. Chess didn't question her or the validity to her claim that she would heal. He trusted she would be honest and she would be truthful when he asked. He would ask later and he would possibly want to tell the others.

Julia watched as Jay disappeared through a hole obscured by tall grass outside the perimeter of the fence. Her attention turned back to those in the field in front of the school. Bodies had been dropped and Tavin and Jody were closing the gates and latching them together with a chain and an open padlock. A half hour had passed from start to finish and they had completely overtaken the fortress and its campus, except for that nest of course. Jody had explained the idea of the nest, but to be in the presence of one was another story altogether. Those damn zoms had claws and sharp ones at that. Jody wasn't lying when he said they would move fast and kill faster. He wasn't lying when he said they'd come out in the daylight if need be. Julia had never seen a zom howl in pain under the bright morning sun. She had been awed by the screech and the zom's ultimate confusion when it had no higher brain function to determine whether to feed or whether to seek shelter once again. Would the sun kill them? Julia wondered. It looked painful, but would it kill them?

"The grounds are clear. Come outside." Julia said to those that sheltered inside the war room. She slipped through the doorway and she bound down the steps to the first floor where she moved forward through the building to the main entrance. The others followed more slowly, but followed they did and they took their first steps outside in weeks.

"Is it true? The ground is clear?" Hector asked as he looked through the door to the driveway. 4 tired and bloody people approached from the field. Jay circled around the building from the kitchen area. He'd gone out through the courtyard.

"All clear. There's a mess out there though. Gonna take a while to clean it up."

"We need another plan. That nest is still in the damn gym." Chess reminded him.

"Yeah, well I would count this as a win today." Tavin spoke up, reaching in his pocket for a smoke. They all surrounded the front steps and relaxed a bit.

"A win?" Julia asked, surprised he'd said that.

"You know what I mean little red. You kicked ass before you-"

"Sprained my arm, yes. Thanks."

"Seriously, you didn't run and you took one for the team." Tavin added.

She blushed. "I didn't want to stay in either."

"Next time." Chess told her. He looked around the steps at the 2nd and 3rd floor dwellers. "Is there another vehicle here? A car, a van, a delivery truck? Anything that has a motor and some gas?" They looked at him with dead pan expressions. "Jay, where's the maintenance building?"

"Who are you people and how do you know your way around here?"

"The internet, people. This is the 21st century." He replied quickly, which is what Julia would have said. "Jay?"

"Round back. I'll go look."

"Thanks."

Chess explained the situation that faced them in the gym and the severity of the nest and their heightened senses and agility. He stressed the fact that they can climb and he also stressed the fact that without the rancid odor of death between them and the nest, they would come out at night and devour them after destroying the place. Chess invited them to the farmhouse, which caught everyone off guard. The possibility they would as a group have to come face to face with nests in the near future scared him. They had no idea the nest was in their back yard. If there was one, then there was another somewhere and the danger they faced increased daily. Had they mutated due to hunger, the lack of food, that their senses were augmented to hunt and their bodies to destroy? He needed to have his wife awake, alert and paying attention. He needed her input. He needed her vision and her skill and her calm and her experience. Had they not gone forward with phase one, they would be in the dark when the nest broke through their fence and then attacked them in the dark of night. Their bug out plan would have to change as well. Their entire outlook in zombie world would have to change.

"No one is saying you have to go anywhere." Julia announced when the talk of leaving and heading to the farmhouse became an issue. "It was simply offered as a gesture to keep you alive till morning." They all looked at the girl as she sat on the step and seemed annoyed at the lot of them.

"She's right." Tavin added as he saw Jay come back.

"I need a jump. I think the battery is dead in the maintenance truck.

"My car is in the employee lot." Hector said, looking at Julio, Trudy and Hilda. "We will go." The older man said as he thought of his son. The whole reason they'd gone to the school when the infection swept through was to keep Julio alive. He always felt Julio had a purpose and from the looks of what the group of outsiders had accomplished that morning, they could be trusted.

"We will." Damon spoke up, arms around the black haired girl that spoke only to him. "Go get our things." He left go of Mia and sent her on her way inside the main building. "Mia stays with me." He announced. "I want my weapon back." He looked at Chess. "Now."

"The weapons are secured in the van, kid, and we all carry at the farm house as long as you know what you're doing with that weapon."

"I do."

"Good. Gather up the things you want and let's head out. There's things we gotta do at the farmhouse. Tavin,"

"I'll take care of it." He said, walking away with his brother to get Hector's car and the van and bring them around front.

Those who chose to join them went to gather their belongings and he wondered where these people would sleep. He also thought of the farm house and the possibility of a nest swarming them. They would need to go dark. They would need to go silent and they would need to figure out how to keep the nests off their land for the time being till they could eradicate the nest on campus and then formulate a plan to transfer their things from one place to another. This undertaking with a skeleton crew would be overwhelming. He needed his wife functional whether she wanted to play a part in this or not was no longer an option for her. Zombie world no longer functioned in black and white anymore, only a deadly shade of gray.

45 minutes later the group and their add-on's were on the road. They piled into the van and Hector's car. No longer were there two separate and isolated groups at the fortress occupying different floors. No longer were they splintered, they would bond or they would be ousted. No exceptions. They had left behind five of the seven from the second floor. Chess had locked up the court yard and he had locked up the main entrance to the building and when they left, Jayson locked up the gates with the heavy chain and pad lock. In his rear view, Chess watched as those left behind were left in the open and had to get smart to reenter the building. If they lived another day to see this group, they would be pissed. He doubted they would. There would be no further olive branches handed to them. Chess intended on giving the nest its first meal in possibly ever as they had been trapped on the grounds like the rest with old virus and those who had lived in the main building.

Upon returning to the farmhouse, he gave Julia one directive. She was in charge of showing them around and getting them settled in. Feed them if they were hungry, get them clean if they were dirty. She took to it eagerly and since she had brought them home, these strangers, then she was all for making them comfortable. She gave them a tour, albeit a mini tour and she welcomed them inside the dwelling like they would live there.

While she played gracious hostess, Jayson climbed the steps to the bedroom and he put Jesslyn and Ray out of the room. "Meeting needs to happen and you need to be there. There's problems."

"Chess-"

"Not Chess, boss. You."

He went to her and sat on the floor next to her where she lay curled in a fetal position beneath a blanket and surrounded by pillows. Her skin was paler than usual. Her energy level was low. Her eyes were red from tears. She felt numb, detached. She had abided by the rules, or one of them, that if she went mental then she'd step down and she'd allow Chess to take over. She held up her end of the bargain. "You can stay, but leave me alone." She said, making no sense. She didn't want to push him away, but she didn't want him to feel like he had to separate from her.

"Talk to me. I been asking you, baby. Please say something other than leave me alone." He asked of her, touching her hair.

"How's my fortress?" She smiled halfheartedly, trying to keep a positive depression. "I'm glad you're back and you're ok." She took his hand. "My Alex came home right?" She thought a moment, "The plan worked and you got em out?"

"Yes, but Julia got hurt. She'll be alright, but we need a meeting and we need you." She went mute on that note. "Napoleon has spoken." He laughed. "Come on. He's pimping Tav out next." He nudged her.

"Oh, damn, it's that bad?" She laughed, swiping red hair from her face.

"Jules, seriously, would Tav help right now? I don't care. If you need Tav or Chess, I would understand."

She shook her head. "I'm fucked up. I don't want them seeing me like this."

"Julia, we have all seen you like this." He argued. He watched her eyes tear up and he felt like crying too. "Julia, I understand what you're going through, baby, but you can't let it do this to you."

"You don't think I know that? I know I should get up and move and interact and be a part of this thing we made. It's doing it. I am tired and I am-I wanna be left alone-not alone, but I don't wanna deal with all that. You guys are on it and I trust you and I want Tav and Jody and whoever else...it's all done, just work it. You don't need me for that. Understand? I wanna sit up here with Jess and fuck. Or sit up here and cry. Whatever, leave me be."

She and Jay sat on the floor in front of the fire awhile and watched the flames flicker. She lay in his lap and listened as he spoke about not being able to help her or not being able to fix her. He didn't have the ability to do it, but she thought Jayson being there in the moment was more than enough. It always was enough. He could never fix her or make her feel better, she had to do that on her own or let it work itself out. The fact he cared and loved her enough to sit and wait was what made her stronger.

As she lay, she listened to the house alive around her. The voices that carried upstairs, the work that was being done outside. She heard hammering. Her people were working hard for sure as the sounds of hammering finally annoyed her enough to ask what they were doing.  "What are we building, Jay? An ark?" She laughed as the noise closed in on her. If she had been alone, she would have got up and looked out the window, but Jay seemed to know what was going on out there and since he didn't mention it, she didn't look. Soon the plank of wood covered her very own window and she heard the nails going into the frame. She wondered. "Jay is a storm coming?" She asked as the room dimmed considerably.

"No." He answered. "I should go help, but Chess obviously knows what he's doing. He's an organized motherfucker for sure."

The wood being hammered into place over the windows was a clear indicator of a storm. She had prepared for that. When the trees came down in the field the month before, she thought they should have covered the windows then, but it was too late. The covering was cut specifically to fit either inside or outside the house and since they were covering the outside, having advanced warning a storm was heading their way, they could easily cover the windows. If they were caught off guard, then they could cover the same windows inside with the same panels. At one time, they had thought she was crazy,  but she didn't want some Wizard of Oz shit going down on her land. "If there's no storm," She hypothesized as the sun was bright and cheery on the outside of those window coverings..."Are we going dark?" She asked. Going dark would be insane considering the threat was already standing on the perimeter clear as day. He nodded and sighed, but she laughed. "What is worse than zoms, Jay? Are they flying zoms now?" She laughed a little harder, picturing skeletons with bony like wings sprouted from their shoulder blades.

"No."

"Oh, are there vampires or werewolves? Cause that would be hot."

"This is not hot and not funny. Why would we go dark? What is the plan?"

She thought. "At home, nests. We made the same boards for nests, but there aren't nests...are there nests?" She asked curiously. Jay hummed a response that was not encouraging. "Babe, did you find a nest?" She was serious and her brain was coming on line. "There are no nests here." She sat up and turned her body toward him. "Where?" She asked, her voice sounding concerned and her eyes wide. "Oh, that's nothing to fuck with." She was up and moving at that point. She pulled her hair back into a tail and threw on a jacket over her pajamas.

"Where you going?"

"To talk to Chess." She answered. "I need a smoke, Jay. Where are my fuckin boots?" She asked as she yanked fluffy Ugg boots on her feet.

"You're a smelly beast. You need to clean yourself up-" She looked as disheveled as she felt. But she was already gone from the room and down the steps before he finished the sentence. "Mission accomplished." Jay said to an empty room.

She met with Julia in the living room at the bottom of the steps. She found her boots as she looked at the girl whose arm was swollen and wrapped in a gauze kling bandage. Julia mentioned she should have a sling on and elevate that arm. Her fingers were swollen and red. She looked as if she was in some pain, but was hiding it well. She let Julia introduce those that occupied her downstairs as if she'd never met any of them before. Julia seemed right at home making these people feel as if they were at home. The fact that she felt and looked like hell didn't phase young Julia.

Hilda shook Julia's hand. "Thanks for allowing us in your home."

"It's yours as well, Miss Hilda. You are very welcome here. Please excuse me, I haven't been well." Julia said, looking over her jacket that was buttoned up crooked and her baggy pajamas and her Ugg boots.

"Sisters, huh? Why you both named Julia?" Julio asked.

"Yes, I am three years older." Julia looked to her bandaged counterpart.

"Our dad really liked that name. You can call her Morgan. Most people do."

"Yeah, Morgan. Nice to meet you." Julio smiled, stepping away from his dad and moving closer to her. Julia stepped back and made an excuse to leave the room. The sexual energy coming off Julio was hard to dismiss. Despite the fact she looked like she just rolled out of bed and she smelled. Her body hadn't seen water in a week other than a quick bird bath donated by Jess's delicate hands.

Next she met Damon and Mia. She didn't linger with the brother-sister-couple, saying a simple hello and goodbye. She was not permitted to carry on conversation with the two of them outside of the room. In fact, she had never had an in depth conversation with either of them. Mia's beauty did not go overlooked as her exotic facial features were intriguing and she wanted to touch her instantly. The memories of the thin and light Mia permeated her mind momentarily. Mia's bound wrists, her legs spread on the table before her. It was the first spark of lust she had for anyone outside her own bedroom in a while.

"Hello. You're up." Chess smiled at her. He looked over the pajamas, the bottoms stuffed inside the boots. Her hair at least was pulled back in a tail. She looked pale and worn out. "Julia, shit, you look awful."

"I look like hell, but I'm fine." She snapped. "Gimme a smoke and let's talk." She demanded as her eyes took in the sight of their dads as they covered the final windows on the second floor. "Going dark?" She pointed at the house. "A nest? Where and how and-"

"Julia, it's a precautionary measure. I don't think that we're gonna be overrun or-"

"At the school?" She cut him off with the first of many questions about the fortress, taking the fortress.

"Jay told you."

"Of course, he tells me everything."

"I asked him point blank and he lied to me."

"You think Forrest came up with the plan?" She asked, pushing his shoulder gently. She took the smoke from him and they went closer to the barn where they could speak in private.

Tavin spied them and joined them. His arms swooped around her waist, embracing her from behind. "Napoleon, can she clean herself up a little first?" He joked, resting his chin on top of her head. "You smell as bad as the dead, Red." She denied that as she placed her arm on his as he held her tight.

She listened and smoked as they recounted their adventure at the school from their arrival to their departure. A couple details specifically perked her interest. One, they had left Clark with the others on the campus and locked out of the buildings. Two, Julia had a certain immunity to the virus as Jayson had his own. She, like Chess, had more questions than answers. "How does she know for sure? Find out her story, Chess."

"I plan on it. I think she was gonna go there, but the plan was more important at the time."

"Agreed." She nodded. "She's all very house-wifey in there right now.  Tav, when you change the dressing, I wanna see her wounds."

"Ok, but she's all stitched up right now. I think I will give her an antibiotic."

"See if she heals, maybe something topical?"

"I was thinking both. God only knows what was growing under those zom nails."

"She's a lucky girl. A very lucky girl." Julia said, looking toward the house. Through the window she spied Julia at the table chatting with Mia and Damon.

"They some kind of emo couple?" Chess asked her.

"They're very morbid looking, aren't they?" She asked, studying Damon's slight movements and his close proximity to Mia, his arm around her. "I didn't say a word to either of them, Chess."

"Never said you couldn't."

"I supposed old habits die hard. I was never permitted to speak with them."

"You may." He watched the couple and he had a difficult time picturing the four of them in any secret room. He wouldn't believe it if he hadn't been shown Julia's memory of surrender.

"You were or he was very clear on that." She watched Mia's mouth as she smiled, her head tilted back and exposed the length of her neck. Her throat caught Julia's attention. "I like my freedom, thank you." Julia's attention turned to Cal as he steadied the ladder for John to descend from the height of the second floor. The boards would only give them a few precious moments to bug out before a nest ripped their shields to shreds. The boards only functioned as a barrier to prevent light and movement from escaping the building itself. Their fence would not hold the lot of a nest back. Perhaps the majority would get caught on spikes, but a nest of any mass would spike and then any remaining zoms from a nest would climb over their spiked brethren. The hive master always followed last and would cross into the farm. Julia made them aware of this problem.

"The people in the main building were unharmed from the nest, Julia."

"How? They should have found a weakness and broke through and then found the living and they should have been consumed."

"The dead between the two buildings maybe. There were 100 at least."

"The dead in the courtyard acted like a barrier between the living and the dead." Chess surmised as Tavin had earlier.

"Leave our dead spiked on the fence. Those we haven't burned we should pile up around this place until we move on. If the dead acted as a shield between them and the nest, these corpses have a purpose now." Julia suggested that as another layer of defense. "We should tweak our bug out plan."

"And bug out where, Julia? Ann can't save us from this."

"How about instead of out, we bug down? The root cellar. It would only be over night and we would be ok down there for a short period of time."

"I don't know about that, Julia." Chess answered. "It's worth thinking about, but I doubt we'll be here long enough for bug out plans. I want us moved within the next 72 hours."

"When are we taking out the nest then? If you want us out in 3 days-"

"Tonight." He stated. Tavin and Julia's heads snapped toward him. "Tomorrow night." He amended his statement, gauging by their reaction.

"Well, if we went tonight we could probably save Clark's ass." She huffed, separating from Tavin. "Odds are he won't need saving though. Let me think about this and we'll talk again."

"Where you going? And who is this Clark kid? He is an obnoxious smart ass with an attitude, Julia."

"Clark is Miller. Clark Miller. He's Jess's husband, one of your closest friends, and he's in charge of the juniors, the infantry school. He better not die, Chess."

"We don't have a lot of light left this afternoon. Should we ride back for them?"

"No." She replied, climbing the steps to the house. She disappeared inside.

"Tonight? What do we need to do this tonight?" Tavin asked, feeling as confident as he sounded.

"Light. Guns. Me, Julia and Jody. That's all."

"What about the rest of us?"

"It's all yours. You're in charge, cousin. Wanna get high?" He asked, turning into the barn behind him.

"Quit fuckin asking me that. I do not even like weed, Chess."

"Lies." He yelled. "Everyone likes weed."

"I'd like some weed for once. Why can't I smoke?" Alex complained as he carried the ladder back into the barn. He hoisted it and hung it back on the wall in its place.

"Go ask Julia." Chess said, waving the kid away. "If it was up to me, I would say ok. But it's not."

"It should be my choice after what I did today." He argued.

"I am not disagreeing with you, Alex." He replied. "Go find her and ask her."

"Tav, can I-"

"I said find her and ask her." Chess raised his voice to him and Alex was mad.

"But my brother is right there. You want me to find my sister instead?"

"Yes." He replied. "I don't care how many brothers you get a yes from. Or your mother, for that matter."

Julia scrubbed a week's worth of crud off her. She got a decent and quick shower and wrapped in her heavy towel, staying put inside the barely hazy shower stall. She eased back against the wall and let the thoughts run through her scattered mind. She tried to focus. She tried consolidate all her thoughts into one at a time, but the problems she was thinking about were all heavy and mixed up. One thought led to another then another and she was getting no where. She sat on the stool in the shower stall and she hurriedly dried her body, then dried her feet one by one. She didn't want to get dressed at all and she stared at the Ugg boots with a grimace. She refused to run through a nest in these fashion slipper boots. Although they were very warm on her feet, she doubted they'd stay clean or dry very long. She pulled on jeans that were too loose now and a green long sleeved tee that hung too large on her. She marveled at how skeletal she appeared. Thinner than she had ever been and ever thought she would be again.

"Julia!"

She startled from her thoughts as she heard Alex's voice yelling for her. She flung the shower door open and peered out at him. He looked rather bothered. "What? What's wrong now?" She asked, feeling her heart beating fast in her chest. Her nerves were frazzled, her mind fractured.

"I want to smoke with Chess." He said, an attitude oozed off him. His black curls hung over his eyes and for the first time she observed a shadow of the brother that she knew from Jersey.

"Alright, then smoke. What the fuck, Alexander." She pulled an Ugg onto each small foot and she gathered up her bath bag and her robe and her towel. "Can I ask a favor?" She stepped out of the stall and took his hand in hers.

"Sure. What?"

"Play nice with Chess. Talk, don't yell. This anger and this mood of yours is just juvenile."

"I am a juvenile." He responded in a flat tone.

"Don't be a fuckin smart ass. If you still have some sort of grudge over me and him then drop it."

Alex snatched his hand away and walked off to the barn where he found Chess and he sat beside him at the work bench. He waited and took the joint when Chess handed it off to him. As Alex tried not to cough up one or both of his lungs, Chess smirked. Alex took another drag and held it in before offering it back to his cousin who passed. "Finish it." Chess shook his head. "Alex, I don't know what your problem is, but straighten it out."

"It's Julia." He answered.

"Which one? One, two or three."

"Mine." He answered. "She's getting on my nerves." Chess nearly laughed, but held back, hoping the kid would open up a little bit. "This is when I usually break up with her and send her home. We separate and then in a couple months, we get back together and we, we cycle like that."

"Why'd you bring her then?"

"We were together when you called. I had her with me. I love her. She was giving me great head that day. She's my best friend. One or all of the above."

"Alex," He laughed. "Doesn't sound like someone you should get rid of. Sounds like you should get closer."

"Impossible. We're on top of each other. Constantly."

"I don't mean physically. Where was she born? What was the name of the street she grew up on? What was her first pet and what was its name?"

"I don't fuckin know? Do you?"

"Hay or Julia or Macy?"

"Macy."

"Mace was born in Hershey and she grew up there on Garden Lane. Her first pet was actually a bird named Tweetie. Hayley was born the same place as Julia, Mav General. Houston Ave and Green Street. Hay had a cat named Grinch cause she got it at Christmas and Julia never had a pet. Wanna hear about Jess? Jess is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. She was born in a bathtub in her mom's apartment. She had a dog, but her dad shot and killed it when he was drunk. Don't ever bring that up. She still gets upset. Its name was Dixie." He answered his own questions. Then continued. "Macy likes breakfast for dinner and she'll make a steak at 9 in the morning. Hayley has three birthmarks under her left ass cheek and they look like melted brown m&m's. Julia's favorite car is the 1970 Pontiac Firebird because she likes the body style. Macy likes jelly beans instead of chocolate on special occasions. She prefers her birthstone to diamonds."

"What the fuck is the point?"

"The point, Alex, is you do not know about her. All the little stuff that makes her Julia. Sending her home or pushing her away is pointless, like all that shit I just told you."

"Jess's dad shot and killed her dog?"

"He did a lot more than that." Chess nodded. "The point is how well do you really know the people you say you love? Sure, you know the trivial shit. And you might know the big shit. Has she ever cried on you? Has she ever been so open and raw that all that stuff she hides or keeps to herself pours out?" He asked, feeling withdrawn suddenly. "Or better yet, have you done that?" He asked, opening his weed box. He handed the kid another joint. "Go do that with her, then tell me you wanna separate cause she's getting on your nerves."

"Is that why you stay around Julia?"

"Part of it." He answered. "But I am not the only one who feels that way about her. That's clear. So, you go see your girl and I wanna find the other one. See if I get anywhere. I have questions."

"I can connect to Julia and get all that information." Alex said as they walked side by side.

"What fun is that? I would rather hear it and see the reaction to what is said. Information is information, but the feelings attached are strong and then one memory leads to another and it all opens up not only for her, but for you. It's deep, Alex. One day you may only have your girl at your side. You want one that'll die with you or not?"

"But I know how I die, Chess. She isn't there."

"Do you know what you were thinking about when you died, though? She might have been there. In here." He poked at his head. "She may be that spot you go to when you need to feel loved or safe. Who's to say she wasn't with you? That's not only physical, it's also mental."

Alex stared at him, having never seen this side to his cousin before. He was shocked that he spoke like that with him. "Dude, what's in this weed?" He asked.

"Girls, Alex. It's more than sex. I'm telling you, the good ones are more than what's between their legs. Once you know their brain and how it works, then you can control the rest."

"Well, I don't know about that, Chess."

"Don't believe me? Want me to prove it?" He asked as they entered the kitchen together.

"How?"

"Julia. I could have her any time I want her. It's the brain, Alex. Once you know the right words to say, then it's easy."

"Bull shit. She wouldn't."

"Like a light switch. Watch." He chuckled a little. Julia stood with Jay very close, holding hands.

"Don't piss off my brother, Chess."

"I won't. He won't know. Watch." Chess assured him. They stood by the table and Chess called Julia over to them. He swiped Julia's hair away from her ear and neck and he leaned in close to her. His breath, she could feel the moist heat against her flesh.

"I rescind." He whispered. He moved his head back and he resumed his place beside Alex.

She gasped when she heard the words and she blushed as she couldn't truly react the way her gut wanted her to. "Bed. Now." He said calmly as if he were asking what time it was. Julia looked awkward and her eyes moved from Chess to Jayson and then when she turned her attention back to Chess, she looked away and down.

"Yes, Chess." She reached for his hand and stepped closer.

When her body brushed against his, she heard him release her and he let her go again. Her entire demeanor changed. Her body stiffened and her face flushed red. "You were fucking with me?" She asked. "Chess, don't do that. You can't do that." She whined and stomped away from him.

"What did you say to her?"

"Two words that don't mean anything to you, but they mean everything to her. Doesn't matter if he's standing there or whether we have a ring between us or a marriage or whatever, Alex."

"Then why don't you-"

"No more questions." Chess said, noticing Julia come through the living room. He crossed the floor to her. "Hey, how's the arm?" He asked, noticing she wore a sling now.

"Good. Julia said to elevate it and she gave me this out of the pantry. There's a lot of medical supplies in there. Tavin changed the dressing and gave me an antibiotic."

"Everyone ok, you got them settled and-"

"Yes, you asked that I do that. It's done." She replied.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She answered. "Julia asked about my immunity. I am not immune. I was never immune."

"I told her about your injury and that you would not turn. She assumes you are immune like Jayson. Would you like to explain it to me?"

"No." She answered. "I have only shown you. I do not wish to be on display and I do not want-I don't know how I feel about that, so I will keep it to myself."

"What's wrong? Are you mad at me?" He asked. "I reported the details as they happened this morning, Julia."

"Did you tell them about the bathroom? About my body?"

"I did not. I can't tell what I don't know."

"Are you going to tell them?" She asked, looking around the crowded first floor. She sounded disappointed. "Will you? Am I going to be some report for the table?"

"I think if it is important, then that should come from you not me." He answered. "I won't tell them what you do not want me to tell them." He assured her. "What's the problem exactly, so I understand?"

"You're the only person, man, I have shown my body and it would make me uncomfortable for you to talk about it."

"After we go out, we have a general report. It covers anything and everything we did, any mistakes, losses, injuries, and then we write it all down. It is normal procedure, Julia."

"I have heard how you all talk to each other. Nothing is off limits. You all go back and forth with each other-"

"I won't tell them I saw your boobies. Or any other part you choose to show me." He snickered. "What we do at the table is boring and sometimes it's serious. Like today it will be serious. Your tits are not on the table. Is that what you think?"

"I don't know. I never sat in on a meeting and I don't know what you talk about or what happens."

"I wouldn't go there because it obviously embarrasses you. Besides, she likes a certain maturity at the table. It's the only place the woman is level headed and mature." What had happened between the fortress and the farmhouse to this girl's sexuality was a mystery. Perhaps it was the fortress itself. The energy ingrained there could have affected her. She felt bold enough to strip nude, perhaps it was the adrenaline rush, that on top of the world feeling? "Julia, you can sit on this one. You were on the team, you may sit. Alex is." He moved closer to her and she backed away. He sighed, annoyed and confused. He had enough trying to convince her.

Hilda had taken over Jay's kitchen and worked tirelessly to create a meal worth eating. Some form of goulash she whipped up and it tasted better than it looked. Julia thought it fantastic and had her asking for seconds. She hadn't eaten a full meal in more than a week and she hadn't asked for seconds of anything since she got to the flipside. She felt bloated afterward and Hilda even made bread that was warm and moist. Julia's mouth was watering. Hilda remarked that for someone so skinny, she ate like a pig in slop. She had visions of getting fat again if Hilda stuck around. She thanked her at least ten times, which prompted Hilda to start telling stories of home, being a small child during war time and eating whatever her mother could put her hands on. Meals during the apocalypse were similar to those of war. Julia had heard all these stories before, but left Hilda give her history lesson. Hard times that even as a small child had affected Hilda's overall mood and personality. Hilda's recount of war time Germany had the entire table, family members new and old alike silent and mute. Julia was elated. She felt that if she closed her eyes she would be home, a decade or more in the future with her family at a fortress that was heavily guarded. She was happy there and the memories stirred up a generally good mood despite the news of the day.

After the meal, meeting took place and the entire day was gone over, picked apart, and written down. Julia and Alex listened and she asked their opinions of their first effort as part of the team.

"Fun." Alex answered. "I felt comfortable out there, because we trained here. I like that we were paired up with them."

"Disappointed." Julia answered. "I wanted to be outside, not watching it from the third floor like a spectator with box seats."

"They didn't need either one of you. You realize that." Julia said as she scribbled in her book.

"Why would you think that, considering you weren't there?" Julia asked, feeling safe tucked in between Tavin at the head of the table and Chess on her opposite side.

"You think they needed you?"

"Yes."

"How's that? I see you got yourself into something you couldn't get out of. You got yourself damn near killed. And put him in a spot."

"Julia, back off her." Chess said.

"Explain, please."

"I think that Chess would have killed the people in the third floor room had I not been there. He was going to fire." She said softly. "I also think that no one would have known about that nest either because he would have killed those people who told us about it in the first place. You wouldn't have eaten that nice meal either."

"Ok. I'll give you that much. Chess, we don't kill people. I have told you that."

"I have no morals. It was Jay's idea, too, I'll have you know."

"And I think I stuck by my partner there like a team member and I didn't run. I shot the zom that was going after him, so I kept him alive as much as he kept me alive."

"Um, if you didn't walk in there, then he wouldn't-nevermind. Overall, a good job. You," She looked at Julia. "Are very lucky."

"As are you." She replied. "Think of all the times we shoulda died and we didn't."

"Moving on." Tavin spoke up. His favorite words. He started covering the board up of the house and that he and Jay had relocated some of the dead, scattering them like Julia had suggested at various points around the fence.

"Excellent. Let them pile up. We kill and we scatter from here on out."

"Um, when do you plan on releasing them?" Julia asked.

"Huh?" Julia asked, chewing on her pen. "What's that mean? Chess, what is she talking about?"

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"Well, I think that it's important that we burn them. Once we move I would like to come back during the day and burn them. We release their souls, you know. It's like their funeral."

"Serious?" Alex asked. "I'll do that with you. Julia, that's awesome."

"It's why I like burning them. Ashes to ashes, right?"

"Sure. We'll add that to the list of important things to do. Maybe you should write your own book, Fry."

"I do." She said shyly.

"Geeze, another one." Jay mumbled.

"Moving on. The nest. Chess said he only needs you, Jody and some guns."

"Sounds right." Julia nodded. "And some lights." She added. "You know. Once we drop the nest, we'll need light for the kills. It'll be a long night, so are we riding back afterward or staying?"

"Staying. There could be other nests on the street. I don't want the three of us in the middle of chaos." Chess answered. "Jo?"

"I don't have anything else planned. I could check my busy schedule." He smiled.

"Cool. Next-"

"Wait. I don't understand. Why only you three and what does drop the nest mean and-"

"Us three cause we have dealt with nests before."

"I would like to go. I could watch. I would like-"

"If something went wrong-"

"Then I could get clawed. And-"

"Chess." Julia moaned.

"She can go. I'll keep her with me."

"Then I want to go. I can see in the fucking dark just like you."

"Can she?" Chess asked Julia. "See in the dark."

"I don't know, ask her."

"You got the gift yet, Julia?"

"What gift?"

"What do you see when you're in the dark?"

"I don't understand. It's dark."

"Do you see colors?" Alex asked. "Reds, blues, whites?"

"Like a flag?"

"Oh, for fuck sake." Julia whined. "Come." She stood up in her Ugg boots and she held her hand out to Julia Fry. "You. Let's go. I don't have all fucking night." Julia popped up from her seat and looked at Chess quizzically. Alex stood next and followed the girls outside to the yard. Julia pulled the door shut behind them and allowed for their eyes to adjust to the pitch black darkness that surrounded them. She left Julia's hand go and they all stood in the dark. "Well?" Julia asked. "What do you see?"

"Stars." She answered. "A crescent moon."

"No." Julia said. "Look toward the fence. Not at the sky."

"Nothing. It's dark."

"You sure about that, Fry?"

"Concentrate, Julia." Alex said, focusing on the reds across the fence. He turned his head and saw a  blue hue, same pattern, shape despite its fluidity. Julia saw similar, but it appeared more mist like. "It may take a minute to adjust. I didn't see it at first, but it kinda grows out of the dark."

"No. It's all black." She answered.

"That's strange." Julia sighed. She extended her hand and she grasped onto the girl at her side, taking her warm hand in her own chilly one. She felt an undeniable spark when she intertwined her fingers in Julia's. "Now, look and tell me what you see." Julia Fry blinked several times and then when she looked toward the fence she saw red orbs. Transparent and mobile, but stuck in one spot. "That is what I see in the dark. This is similar to what Alex sees in the dark. Now look at us." She visualized the blue mist in the darkness. Two bodies, easy to discern between male and female. Male blue was a varied shade, darker, closer to purple. "Look at the trees and farm. Focus on the colors. It is quite vibrant." Julia led the girl and Alex through the length of the porch to the front and they stood at the edge overlooking Caroline's grave. White sparkles of light flickered and hovered over the ground. "That is Caroline August Keller. It is her residual energy. A lovely shade of white, don't you agree? That's my daughter." Julia marveled at how the night came to life and darkness was not true darkness. "It is all energy, Julia. The energy of the living and the dead and the departed. A mosaic of colors on a black canvas. It is stunning."

"Wow." She was awed by the display. "I do not see any of this."

They walked the length of the porch to the door and reentered into the kitchen and the ambient, solar generated light. Julia looked moved when she resumed her seat between the two guys. "Amazing. I don't see anything on my own, but through her eyes..."

It was clear Julia Fry had no night vision. Perhaps the gift hadn't made itself aware or perhaps she wasn't gifted at all. No one could know for sure.

They squared up a few more details for the next evening and agreed they would head out in the late afternoon. They had a handful of volunteers for the nest team, but Julia kept the team small as originally suggested. She cautioned them against taking the entire table to the school no matter how curious or interested or brave that they were. Julia allowed Alex and Julia to tag along in a strictly nonfunctional and observant role. She had a sinking feeling that Julia would be accompanying Chess anywhere and everywhere. She chose to do so and wanted to learn. She personally reflected on his game with the girl. What were his intentions? Was he being serious and thoughtful with his actions with the girl? What would the end game be exactly, a relationship? Another notch in some bed post of his? Julia didn't seem like the kind of girl who had flings. Julia was curious, but kept her opinion to herself and no one else. She didn't want to appear jealous and she also didn't want to appear nosy and intrusive. She never fretted over anyone else's relations under that roof and she wasn't about to start. Either way they both had plans of their own of a personal nature. She worried her 'sister' would wind up getting hurt and he would wind up hurting her. She'd warned him and she'd asked him not to pursue her. Would he create a mess she couldn't and wouldn't clean up?

They tackled the obstacle of the move. Chess was pushing the envelope with a 72 hour time frame. Julia felt this was an unrealistic undertaking and she would put forth every effort to comply with that goal in mind. Getting her people to move in that direction befuddled her. She had just settled her family in and got them used to one way of life and then she was supposed to uproot them and reroute them into an entirely different direction under an entirely different threat. She thought they needed to have a group meeting as opposed to a table meeting. They had automatically put precautions into place without fully explaining the reasons behind it. Chess had that way about him, my way or no way at all. She felt that they needed to take an informative and inclusive course. Chess disagreed.

"They will not understand this, Chess." She warned him.

"I do not care. They have no choice."

Julia sighed loudly and moved on. She would speak with them and explain. New faces had already unnerved them. There was talk about their guests but no talk with their guests. At first they were apprehensive, but it was smoothed over rather easily with proper explanation. Relocating an entire farm of animals was no easy feat either. Where would they put them once they were at the school? Who was building these pens and structures once they arrived? No one was adept at construction, carpentry, barn raising. Moving everything was fairly easy compared to what they were going to do when everything was moved. Jayson suggested tents until structures could be built and Julia took it a step further telling them where to obtain the very large tents they would need. The quarantine and non-quarantine camps that had been set up locally. Most were outside their clinics and hospitals. Most with fencing erected around the tents. The supplies were there. Barricades could be utilized to separate the animals also.

Julia wrote this down and a team would head out in the morning to break down and retrieve the supplies they'd need. Tavin added gasoline to that list. "We are low." He said.

"Find some." Julia said quietly. "There should be a ton of vehicles at these camps. Look around. Good luck."

"You should go along." Chess said.

Julia groaned internally. She did not do footwork. She formulated the plan and they carried it out. It was the way it always had been and the way the guys had always wanted it. "Ok." She agreed reluctantly. All hands on deck. Julia felt they'd need as many hands as possible. The home team would pack and ready the house and the away team would scout, obtain and transport the required supplies. After the meeting drew to a close and no one had anything to add, the table cleared of its members minus the Julia's and Chess and Jay.

"I would like a drink." Julia announced, breaking the quiet among the four. She scribbled a last few entries on her notebook and stuffed it into her bag.

"Me too." Chess agreed, folding his arms on the table and putting his head down. "A gallon of vodka and a joint would be great."

"Just a few drops. A shot even. I am so dry." She whined, putting her head down and thumping the table with her fist. "Jay, you don't know. You just don't know."

"It was good what I had of it." Julia announced.

"See, the driest one in the house wants it." Julia thumped her fist on the wood again. "I haven't had a drink since I got knocked up. Know how long its been? Do you know, Jay?"

"Yes, Julia."

"Almost a year, Jayson."

"I know. Can we head up now? I been sitting in this chair for hours brainstorming."

Julia dragged herself out of her seat and as she passed Julia she stopped. "I'm gonna need my boots back."

"Alright, but you weren't going so I-"

"I know. Good night." She and Jay moved on stepping over bodies that were stretched out on their floor talking and getting to know one another. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She called with a hint of sarcasm to her voice.

"I have a feeling that's a lot of stuff, right?" Julia said softly.

"Ah, you have no idea." Chess sighed, sliding his seat back. He stood up and left the table. Julia flipped off the light switch and followed along. "Um, thanks for letting me go today and tomorrow. I wanna go so bad and I promise I won't be in the way or anything."

"Ok, Julia." He nodded, stepping in his room. He sat on the edge of his bed and unlaced the boots that he had on all day long.

She watched him, "Um, same time, Chess?"

"Yes." Simple and short answer. He seemed distant suddenly toward her.

"You ok?" She asked, fidgeting in his doorway. She lifted her arm and pulled the sling off. Her arm ached something fierce, but she hid that. She had an amazing tolerance for pain, couldn't turn it off, but she could make her brain think of other things to lessen that pain.

"Thinking is all." He answered, pulling his sweatshirt over his head, leaving him in a black tee, which he also pulled off and threw on the floor. Julia observed him, how small he was, but how cut he was at the same time. For being so miniature, he was fit. Freckles splattered his hairless chest. He had a bite on his left shoulder.

"Who bit you?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me." He replied in his dry and nonchalant way.

"A Stranger." She answered dishonestly, because she knew who had taken that chunk from her shoulder blade. The scratches happened at the camp where she was with her family before being shuttled out with her dad's friend.

"What happened, Julia?"

"I was bitten. I didn't heal properly and it got infected. I had weeks and weeks of IV antibiotics to treat a staph infection that would not go away. I nearly died twice as it went through my body in my blood. It's a miracle I lived. Once they took me to surgery, cleaned it out, but they called it a debridement and then when it was almost healed they grafted me. The donor section came from my left thigh."

"Where?"

"The lab." She replied like everyone knew about the lab. Like he should know about the lab or what went on there.

"How are you immune?"

"I'm not. I was vaccinated and then they let that zom loose on me and here I am."

"Where'd they get a vax?" He asked, his eye brows peeked on his forehead.

"I think you know." She whispered. "Dr McGill is a brilliant minded physician, but an evil man. He tried to kill me, then he saved me and then I nearly died from a completely different infection. Ironic isn't it?" She looked at his shoulder again. "So who bit you?"

"Julia did. A long time ago."

"Ahh, biting is also one of her many talents." Julia mused, backing away from the doorway. She left him in his room and then retreated to her own where the door was open wide. Hector lay sleeping in her bed. She pulled her pillow and her blanket from atop her dresser and then set back in the direction of the living room.

"Where ya going?" Chess asked as he watched her pass.

Julia stepped back a couple feet. "Well, I am not laying with Hector. I gave him my cubby. Your brother volunteered his to Hilda. Nice, huh?" She moved on. Trudy lay asleep on the sofa, but she didn't stir when Julia passed through.

"Julia, you can sit over here with me. We can talk, get to know each other." Julio said to her. He knew that tone of voice and Julia's affinity for brown skinned boys. Chess cringed, wondering if the girl would actually fall for that line. "Oh, uh, sure. I guess that would be ok." He heard her respond. She honestly had no clue what Julio meant by 'get to know each other'. Chess lay stretched out on his own bed, his body in the natural hole his bones had dug for him and he got up. "Hey, Julia. Come here a sec." He heard her ask what he wanted as she approached. "You understand what he means by get to know each other?" She flashed a slight look of confusion and then rolled her eyes. "Sleep in here. I'll crash out there."

"Nah, no, Chess. It's ok. You don't have to." She said as he swung his legs over the bed.

"Yes, I think I should." He answered as he stood, making a mental note to work young Julio to death at the school in the coming weeks. If he planned on banging one of his two red heads, he'd have to work for it and, at the very least, earn it. Wrong Julia, motherfucker...Chess thought as he kicked his crap out of the way. His floor was littered just like home. No one cleaned for him. He made another mental note to ask Julia who his maid was in the future. He hoped it wasn't Macy who was as much of a slob as him. Julia was the cleaner. Julia obsessed over the mess and the junk. "Stay with me then." He suggested as he felt the rug beneath his stocking feet. He'd slept in worse places and on harder surfaces. He pulled his blanket and pillow onto the floor. "I'll be good down here." He looked at the girl who didn't move. "Now, Julia. I'm an impatient man."

"Yes, Chess." She hustled to the edge of the bed. She struggled with one hand to loosen the laces on her boots, so he helped her. Kneeling at her feet, he kind of liked that. He hadn't helped anyone undress in ages. She lay back and she let him cover her, giggling a little while she adjusted her pillow. "Um, I have a feeling you're being overprotective, Sir." She giggled.

"Yes, miss," He joked, still kneeling beside the bed. He wondered momentarily why she addressed him as Sir, but he left it slip his mind because the girl was hot against him and he wanted his mouth on hers, his hands on her.

"You do not have to sleep down there. Would you like to-"

"Yes." He answered before she finished inviting him into his own bed. Mindful of her arm he repeated 'yes' as he pressed his body against hers, fitting so easy in his bed like they always had. She allowed the pain in her arm to meld with the sweet sensation his hands provided. The sensual chills as his hands caressed her over and under her tee shirt. He learned her upper body all over again in the dark of his room. Heat radiated off her flesh, the chronic fever warmed him as she lay covered and chilled and he lay with the blanket pushed aside. His hands smoothed over her waist to her ass and one hand glided slowly to the waist of her jeans. His fingers manipulated the button, but before he could attempt the zipper, she swished her lower body back and away.

"Getting to know me better, Chess?" She hummed in his ear.

Dammit...he cursed to himself. "I was tryin'." He admitted, withdrawing the hands and placing his arms around her waist. "We'll stop."

She rested her bandaged arm on his and cuddled her body toward his. "I'm sorry, Chess."

"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong."

"Don't stop though."

"I gotta stop cause this comes next." He kissed her forehead and pressed against her. "And you don't want this, right?"

"Not this moment, no."

"What moment? Just curious. You got a particular moment in mind? Like what's the moment look like so I know."

"Are you being smart?"

"No, I am asking." He replied, because he wasn't trying to be sarcastic or pushy. "You still waiting for the right guy or something?"

"I'm not her, Chess."

"I know that."

"I think you want me cause you miss her and can't have her."

"Stop thinking then cause that ain't true at all. I can have her any time I want her. I choose not to."

"You think?"

"I think I have done a good job not comparing the two of you. I quit doing that a while back. You're two different souls, Jules." He kissed her forehead again, her neck and nuzzled his face against her cheek. "I think the only people that still compare the two of you is the two of you. I understand it and I think it's why you don't speak or get along. You're both afraid that you'll find something you don't wanna see, like looking in a mirror, you'll see your reflection and it's all the things you both do not appreciate about yourselves."

"Oh, yeah. Like what?"

"She's easy only cause I know her better. She doesn't wanna see that soft side of herself right now. She feels weak enough. You don't wanna see that hard side of yourself, like you think it's a bad thing. They're qualities neither of you like to embrace about yourselves." He paused. "You, though, don't wanna be a girl that likes to fuck. You think it's dirty for some reason. Julia, on the other hand, has to be the girl that likes to fuck."

"Why?"

"Cause of her past, to prove she can do it and it'll feel good."

"It doesn't feel bad, right?"

"No. It shouldn't."  He answered. "I'm not talking about how it actually feels, the actual sensation of it. I mean how it makes you feel on the inside. Here." He touched her chest over her heart. "Or here." He touched her head. "It shouldn't make you feel bad is all."

"Like regrets?"

"No. She should talk about herself. Not me. I could explain it, but I don't wanna."

"I have had dreams." She whispered.

"Ok." He laughed as she nuzzled close to him. She lay her head against his chest.

"It was so real. That's why I remember so well. It felt kinda fuzzy. I felt weird, like if you cross your eyes and try to do normal stuff. It won't work out real well, you know. And very dizzy. Everything was blurry. It was bright, but it was also dark. It was in this small room with wood paneling. I remember that only cause I felt it with my hands and my feet when they were on the wall at the end of the bed. I didn't see it with my eyes." Her voice trailed off. He thought she was falling asleep. After a few minutes, her voice broke the silence between them. "Light and dark. Light and dark. I was blinking. I could see such strange colors, like neon pinks and greens and purples." He listened as she spoke. She described laying on a bed, arms outstretched. Blinking, long intervals where her eyes were closed and her eyes were open. The vivid colors trails hung in the air and she tried to touch them with her fingertips, grab them. She lay on a bed, a full sized bed she guessed, nude and her head hung over the end of the bed. She recalled her hair fanned out over the end of the bed like a waterfall to the floor. "All the pretttttttyyyy coolllooooorrrsssssss." She said, mimicking the voice he had become so familiar with in his past. She reached her arm into the air. "Like this." She said softly, reaching out with her bandaged arm. "Pretttttttyyyy coolllooooorrrsssssss..." She emphasized the esses when she spoke. "I remember saying very clearly to hold me...my arms...like restraint."

Chess hummed, remembering a similar time in his life when he and Julia spent days on end in that motel room toward the end of summer. He remembered a lot of drinking, drugging and fucking, but the dream she described rang a bell, possibly their final day in Philly.  Her details sounded strikingly familiar. That hadn't been Julia's first or last day hallucinating nude with him.

"Oh, one time I was on fire." She sounded fearful at that moment. She described the heat and the flames as her clothes caught fire. She stripped as fast as she could while someone tried to stop her from taking the clothes off. She remembered being freezing cold, outside in a gray, cloudy and overcast city. So many people had passed her, watching and some laughing and some pointing. She burned and she screamed and she frantically pulled her clothes off piece by piece as someone tried stopping her. Chess remembered walking Love Park and having her flip out on him. He did everything he could, but she seemed in quite a panicked state, ranting that she didn't want to burn 'like they did' or 'don't let me burn'. Julia had been at the height of her delusions and the heaviest she had ever used drugs and alcohol. Having come home to a world that was righted, she was disjointed, detached, fearful and constantly looking around corners, searching for signs of a plague that were just not there. He let her strip, let the clothes 'burn' in a pile, then he draped his heavy coat over her and took her in a cab to the motel where she curled up in a corner naked till the fear passed. Chess suspected then perhaps she had flashbacks to burn piles or possibly PTSD. He had never been so glad to go home. He had never liked Philly and would have maybe enjoyed it more if Julia wasn't so psychotic and self-medicating the entire time. If he had a dollar for every time he told her there was 'nothing there, Julia', he would be a rich man. She never trusted his word no matter how much he tried to convince her. Sometimes, like the burn day, he was unable to abate her fears or distract her and he considered taking her to a hospital. He feared for her, that she had finally succumbed to memories and stress. Julia lay at his side and brought that memory back as if it happened yesterday.

He tried to predict when her episodes would happen. He tried to look in the environment around them when these episodes would begin to find a trigger. For Julia, it could have been anything, a sound, a voice, the murmur of multiple voices in a crowd around them. Thinking back, a crowded city was not the best place to have taken her at the time. He had spent hours thinking about what he could have done differently for her to take her pain away. The more he thought about it, the more he believed he should have hospitalized her or took her home and had her dad put her in some kind of treatment, counseling. As her husband he should have forced her. Back then everyone was confused why they were together in the first place, angry that they had disappeared and run away together. No one knew the extent to Julia's madness and no one would understand it from a professional standpoint either. They would have substituted one class of drugs in place of the illegal ones Julia and he used regularly.

"Hey, you ok?" She asked, sensing he was awake and thinking as opposed to drifting off to sleep.

"Yeah, Jules. I'm listening." He replied. He kept his Philly memories to himself. The fact that the hands she had felt on her at the time were his as he tried to keep her clothes on. As angry as he was, he had also put a lid on it. He couldn't fix crazy. Looking back, the girl was psychotic. Looking back, the drugs didn't help and neither did their situation. He should have, he believed, put his foot down and ended the whole charade. "Anymore dreams?" He yawned.

"Dreams, ha." She mumbled. "More like nightmares. I can't remember them right now though. Sometimes something will remind me and I remember."  She replied, hugging him tighter against her. She adjusted the blanket to keep warm. Her cold never ceased. Constantly chilled in a febrile body.

He drifted off to sleep thinking about Philly and his wife while he lay with an exact replica of her.

Jay woke and dressed, arousing Julia from her slumber. Like waking a demon, she was against the idea. She complained she was cold, tired, leave her alone. Is the sun up, Jay? Is it? Is it? She stressed her questions and rolled over. "When it warms up, get up. It's gonna be a long day."

"Don't remind me." She grumbled. Clearly not a morning person, she curled up against Jess and stayed warm as he started a fire, falling back to sleep quickly. He remembered the days she stressed over the farmhouse and all her work. Nowadays, she slept and slacked. She gave the impression that she didn't care. That was dangerous, he thought. She was setting Chess up to take over and if she didn't act soon, then he would do just that.

Jody was up when he left the room, starting fires in stoves. "Want help, Jo?"

"Nope, thanks." He answered. Jay seriously was grateful he didn't have to do that job anymore. He'd done it every single morning for what seemed an eternity. He went to the first floor, observed Hilda rummaging through the pantry and root cellar. She was impressed with the variety of stock that they had in the confines of their cupboards and set out to make a hearty breakfast, requesting a variety of things from him, which he fetched without question. It appeared as if he had lost his job at least temporarily. He spoke with her and he gave her some more light and he fired up the hearth for the woman. He gave her a rundown of how many mouths she would feed and she shooed him away.

He reminded her there was not a school full of boys to feed, so she needn't make enough for a small army. That would soon come. She was used to cooking for large groups and set out to make his job look like child's play. When he head outside, he was surprised to find the barn closed up and the coop quiet. Usually Chess had a routine and the area had gone untouched. He had a list of things to do that morning and by all accounts, Jay thought it would have all been completed by the time he arrived to the yard. No vehicles or supplies out. Jay head back to the house and passed Jody as the sun was rising on his way to the fence. "Help, Jo?"

"No." He responded dryly as he moved right past him.

"Chess," He called as he went in the addition. His door was wide open and he and Julia were knocked out. Tavin could be heard awake and moving in the next room, talking with Kelly. Alex was up and moving as well without any prodding or begging. "Chess." He said again. "You alright?" He asked when he roused.

Chess stretched, yawned, sat upright. "Uh-huh. Why?" He rubbed his eyes and flinched from the light as Jay turned it on.

"It's late. Sun's up." He looked from Chess to Julia who stretched out and took up most of the bed. For someone so small, she could take up an entire bed without even trying.

"Yo, I wanna change her before we leave." Tavin called from the room next door. "Is her arm any better?"

Chess reached for the blanket and moved it off her arm. Her fingers were no longer bright red and swollen. Normal, pale white with pretty pink nails. "Looks ok to me." He answered. In fact the dressing had come loose over night as her swelling had diminished significantly.

"Pain?"

"Nah, she's out. I would say no." Chess took her hand and lifted her arm, unwinding the wrap that Tavin had applied the day before. He peeled back the gauze dressing and it clung in spots to her stitches. She twitched a little as he pulled back the dressing. Her stitches were still intact and her wounds were not funky. A little drainage on the gauze sponges, but for the most part it all looked good. Jay agreed. Tavin looked in the room and spied her arm from the doorway. "Come in, Tav."

"She dressed?"

"Yeah," Chess nodded, pulling the blanket back further. "Why wouldn't she be?"

Tavin stepped inside the small room and crouched next to the bed, inspecting each sutured gash. He remarked how well she healed. She said she would the previous day. The wounds were slightly red and raised, but dry and didn't look infected. "Leave it open awhile. I'll rewrap it before we leave. She needs to take it easy with the arm. I don't want the stitches coming apart." He stood and walked out, smelling food.

"I'll let her know." Chess said, reaching over the bed for his tee shirt and sweatshirt from the day before.

"I'm surprised to find her in here." Jay remarked.

"Hector's in her bed."

"It's ok, Chess. She's your girlfriend."

Chess shrugged. "I don't know what this is."

"Want me to start getting shit ready to roll out?"

"Sure, I'll be out in a few." Chess held her hand and woke her up. "Julia, time to get up."

She moved, feeling his hand in hers and she rolled onto her side. "Already?" She moaned. She watched as he let her go and started lacing up his boots. She crawled to her knees and held him from behind, arms under his arms and circling his chest. She kissed his neck. She rested her chin on his shoulder. She looked down. "Thing stays hard, doesn't it?"  His pants weren't tight, but they weren't loose either. His size gave quite a visible bulge that she couldn't tear her eyes from for that moment.

"Not really, Julia. Depends."

"It's hard when you sleep." She whispered.

"Not surprised." He leaned and finished lacing up his boots, leaving her sit back on the bed separated from him. She sat and studied her arm, the dressing was missing. The swelling had gone down and the wounds were nice and clean. She liked how Tavin had sutured her up. She had a dull ache in her forearm, but she ignored it. He rose and took his belt from the hook on the wall, applying it around his waist. He took a few steps toward the hall.

"Hey." She called. When he turned toward her she called him to her, hooking her index finger at him.

He leaned over the bed and kissed her forehead.

"Yes." He smiled.

She looped her arms around him again. "I was touching you while you slept." She admitted.

"Nah." He shook his head and pulled back to look at her. 

She nodded shyly, turning red. "You slept through it. You came." She whispered. 

He sighed aloud. "Fuck, wake me up for that." He turned with his bathroom bag and left her alone in his room.

"I-I'm- are you mad at me?" She gasped as he walked off and left her.

He head outside. The morning sun shined bright as he brushed his teeth and splashed some water on his face. He hadn't expected her to follow him, but she did.

"I'm-I did something wrong? I wasn't allowed? I-"

He stopped brushing his teeth and pulled his brush out of his mouth. "So if I fingered you while you slept, that would be ok?"

"Oh, I never thought of it that way." She frowned. 

"Look, Julia, I could honestly care less, but you coulda woke me up is all I am saying."

"Oh, well I-it was an accident and it kinda happened quick and-and-I apologize, Chess."

He went back to brushing his teeth and ignored her. Then he stopped again. "I been waiting for something for how long and-nevermind. Just wake a guy up." He snapped at her. He finished his teeth and rinsed. He watched as she awkwardly tried not to cry, because he was mad at her. "Furthermore, if you can't do it awake, then don't fucking do it all. You don't think I woulda wanted that? Are you crazy?"

"No, I mean, yes.  No, I am sorry. I won't do it again." She turned on the steps and scurried inside to her room.

Hector greeted her hello and for the first time, she changed up her emotions to match his instead of completely starting to cry. He thanked her for giving him the room overnight and she kindly offered it again that night as well. He mentioned he smelled food, a cooked meal and he moved past her. She gathered her composure and sucked it up as Julia would have advised her to do. 

"Julia, I am sorry I yelled at you." Chess said as he passed her room. She pulled on her Ugg boots and she started brushing her hair. "Please don't cry."

"I'm not." She answered him as he took the brush from her hand. He ran the brush through her hair as he had a hundred times before and he applied a quick braid, which he hadn't had to do in a long time. When he finished with her braid, his hand held the back of her neck gently. "Bend over." He said firmly.

"Huh, I-"

"Don't question me, Julia." He pushed her neck a bit and she bent nervously over her bed. His hands rubbed her ass a little, massaging her flesh through her jeans. He ran the brush over her butt and then he smacked her ass cheek with it. At first playfully as he gauged her reaction. He heard her gasp a little, taken by surprise when he had tapped her. He rubbed her ass cheek where he'd smacked her, loosening up her flesh and then he hit her again. Another harder and quicker smack followed and he pulled her by her braid to stand upright. He tossed the brush onto her bed. "You will do it again." He said clearly as he held her waist. "In fact, Miss, you will do so much more than that." His teeth scraped along the skin on the nape of her neck, his moist breath warm against her skin sent shivers through her body. He heard it for the first time since he'd been fooling around with her and he knew he had her from that point on, that familiar half whine, half groan signal of approval. "Sit." He said, releasing her waist. She turned and sat on the bed and the look on her face was priceless as she looked instinctively down and away from him. He leaned over her and he put his mouth against her neck below her ear. He kissed her there softly. "Think about how I felt in your hand."

"Yes, Chess."

"Good girl, don't move till I come for you."

Julia waited, feeling the sting from the brush on her bottom as she sat on the edge of her bed. Several people passed her as she sat awaiting his return and said hello. Jody sparked a small conversation, asking whether she was going out with the team. She nodded and said yes, because as far as she believed, she was going. He commented that her arm looked good. "You coming out for breakfast?"

She said she would and he moved on. Tavin stopped in with his bag and he sat on the floor in front of her. He cleansed her wounds, dabbed a bit of antibiotic ointment on each one and then rewrapped her arm with a dressing. He told her he planned on stopping the antibiotics, considering they didn't have many to spare and since her arm looked to be healing well on its own, she didn't need one.

"We'll treat this topically a few days. Does it hurt?" He asked her, leaning back against her dresser.

"Yes. It felt like my arm was breaking off my body yesterday, but it's ok right now."

"Why didn't you say anything? I could have given you something."

"I have a very high tolerance for pain, Tavin." She shrugged. "I don't feel it differently, but I don't dwell on it. When people are in pain, it is all they focus on. Not me."

"How'd you learn to do it? I would think that comes with time, feeling pain on a regular basis, then figuring out how 'not to dwell on it'."

"I have." She replied. Her facial expression changed as if she were thinking about something. "If I were to be honest, Tavin..." She shook her head as she pressed the tape down on her wrap. "I like it." She placed her hand on her forearm and then she squeezed a little, applying pressure to her already smarting claw marks. "I prefer not to have it, of course, but I can live with it."

"What hurt you? Who hurt you?" He asked.

"Not important. What is important is what I took away from it, a positive outcome from a horrible situation. It's all I can do." She looked to the doorway and Chess had come for her. She had a wicked little grin on her face.

"What horrible situation?" Tavin pressed her on her source of her pain and she ignored him.

"Move out in 30." He said.

Julia had her bag packed and scarfed down a hearty breakfast before they set out in multiple vehicles on the road to Maverick. He didn't need directions to arrive where she and numerous others had been kept in multiple large tents on the campus of Maverick's courthouse. Several managed to weather four or five months of weather and they set out first to clear the area in which they worked and then they started to dismantle the first of several large tents. They loaded up their box truck and then secured several more vehicles provided by authorities that were left behind. They cleared out, over the course of hours, tents and supplies that they did not previously have. Tavin set out to gather the medical supplies that hadn't been used. The entire encampment had been secured behind fences to prevent those inside from walking out and secure the threats on the street from walking in. They sat as a group after five hours with their loaded trucks and they marveled that so much had been left behind or overlooked. They had to leave a lot behind and Chess reminded them they had only come for tents.

"There is a lot more we could use here, Chess. We got a van full of weapons and ammo alone. The medical stuff-I want to stay. We could use all of this. It's a gold mine, Chess."

"We have limited hands here, Tavin and this is not what we came here for."

"You got someplace to be, man?"

"Yeah." He replied. "We all have someplace to be tonight."

"That's tonight."

"I'll stay with him. You guys head out and take this to the school." Jay offered. "You got three vehicles to drive over there. Drive."

"How we getting back?" Chess asked. "Can you drive?" He asked Julia. He could leave at least one more functional body with Tavin if she could. Having an injured body on a scavenge crew didn't make much sense, but she had been helpful with her one arm.

"I was in driver's ed." She nodded as she shared fruit snacks with Alexander.

"Not what I asked. Can you drive?"

"I did the course at school and-"

He tossed her keys. "Tavin, divide up the needs among these people and load up fast. Gotta get back, have a meeting, and we need to roll out to the school again."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. An hour or two tops." He said. "Chess, the fuel alone we-"

"Prioritize, Keller. You have till we get back." He snapped, tossing the keys to the Prius to Julia. "I don't want her last in line." He said as he, John, and Cal walked with Julia to the vehicles they would drive to the Mastro campus. "I'll go first, then her, then you two bring up the rear. Any problems, flash the lights."

"Yeah, sure." Cal agreed.

"Where is Julia?" He asked Jay as he looked around their fairly organized group.

"She was in the back of the box truck last I saw her." Cal answered.

"I think she wandered off again." Jay replied. He didn't sound concerned. "I think she went to the square honestly. She thought we were done here."

"Get her, Jay. She can't wander off like that."

"She'll be alright. She's fine on her own. She'll be back."

"She looking for vodka?"

"Maybe." Jay answered. "We're good here. Chess, it's all done. She thought we were done."

"Don't make fucking excuses for her." Chess raised his voice, pissed that she had left them. Selfish and self-serving of her. "She finds it, then she shares it." Chess shook his head. He looked at Julia as she waited by the Prius. "Start it, put it in drive and follow. Can you do that?"

"I think so."

He indicated she should follow him and climbed into the box truck. Jay head to the Prius. "Hey," He knocked on the window. "You know what you're doing?"

"I think."

"Turn the key." He laughed as she looked nervous. "Some cars have different gear shifts, grab that and pull it into drive. Foot on the brake when you do it." She followed directions. "Follow along and play with the speed a little. Feel how the car adjusts to your foot on the gas."

"Yes, Jay."

"Put on your seat belt."

He watched the four vehicle caravan pull away, then he wondered where Julia wandered off to.

The square looked like a war zone. A stark contrast to the last time she'd seen her hometown. Broken windows, boarded windows, looted stores and shelves. Burned out cars and cars left in the road abandoned. Buildings had burned out and in their place shells of structures. She couldn't believe it. She spied the Shade's ballroom down the block and kept on straight ahead with her goal in her sight. God bless google and God bless the mom from the elementary school who worked at the ball room as a server. The restaurant was open and the ballroom dark. She stepped inside and head through the lobby to the ball room itself, cutting directly through it and onto the kitchen behind it. Spoiled food and dead bodies. She pushed through swing doors into the kitchen and further back to the storage room where she opened the door and inside sat the mother load of alcohol. It had been described to her as a broom closet and had the world ended on her time clock, she would have cleared this and many other spots out before anyone else had. This little known closet held all she wanted. She flipped on her flashlight and across the crates and boxes, cases of the intoxicating fluids stacked in front of her.

"Come to mama." She smiled, lifting the lid off the box that contained her favorite drink. Off brand, yes, but she didn't care. She pulled a bottle and she opened the lid and she took her first drink in a year. She took another and then another and then screwed the cap back on. She tucked it in her bag and she scanned the other boxes. "Aye, aye, captain." She smiled, pulling that box off the pile, opening it and tucking that bottle in her bag, the glass clinking as the bottles touched. She reached in and wrapped the Captain Morgan bottle in a tee shirt. She didn't need them breaking. Off brand vodka, but brand name rum. She had hoped at least for Bacardi rum, but the Captain would do. At the end of the world, she had no right to be choosy when it came to the drink. She flicked off the flashlight and she stepped out, closing the closet door behind her.

As calmly as she had walked into that ballroom, past the empty tables and chairs, she stopped a moment by the large window that overlooked Shade's Lake and the now defunct fountain in its center. She was reminiscent. The dances and the memories they had in that one place seemed like a century ago. Now she stood in dirty jeans and well worn boots with a heavy jacket and weapons on her waist. No pretty dress and fancy shoes, no DJ, no food and no fun. The darkness around her in the room that housed the second nest that they had come across in the zombie world. She had seen them when she entered and she didn't care. She had noticed the huddled bodies and the ominous silence as they waited out the daylight to turn to the night. She could smell them. She could sense them and as she looked over her shoulder to the five or six hives that crowded in corners away from the sun, she saw the red glow. On a different day, she would have burned the place down and released their souls into the next world, a world where their energy would be consumed into an enigma of much larger energy.

"Blah, blah, blah." She said as she felt the stir in the far corner of the ballroom. Had there not been a closet full of alcohol and a kitchen's worth of food, she would have burned it. No wonder it stood intact beyond the ballroom. No one dared cross the zombie moat to arrive at the liquid gold on the other side. No one except for her. Julia didn't care whether there was a nest or not. She would return and she would clear this place out and then she would burn it to the ground. That idea saddened her as the memories would burn up and the energy they deposited there would disintegrate into flames. An entire different force itself, fire... She wanted to open her bag and start drinking right then and there, but the other nest and their evening plans overshadowed her desire to get white girl wasted. The three shots she had done had warmed her inside and she felt lighter and stronger, bolder and happier. She slipped across the dance floor and bid the nest farewell till they met again.

She kept close to the store fronts and walked past the Christian store and then on past the bank and the coffee shop. She stopped in front of the clothes store, the store where she bought that homecoming dress. Such a pretty dress as she remembered. She crawled through the bottom of the door where glass had been broken out. Her flashlight illuminated the remaining fashions and the jewelry and she needed none of it, but she felt pulled in there for some reason and as she arrived to the far wall at the back of the store, she sat on the floor with her bag. Shoes...she delighted in front of combat boots, still had the tags on them and she pulled those worn boots off her feet and tried on a pair of awesome looking and expensive black boots. They rode upward mid calf and had sturdy soles, strong laces. Across the wall hung black clothing and pants. A couple jackets and a sign above it all read, Goth chic. "Goth chic it is then." She delighted in her new boots, swiping a new jacket that zipped up the front, had an embroidered phoenix design on the front in gold and a robe like back that appeared so ninja and bad ass, she discarded the jacket and pictured herself holding a sword. A sword, she lacked, but either way she delighted in the coat that was warm and cool to be wearing with some really funky new boots. Boots...Julia reached to the floor and she looked at the other boots, flipping the tag marks to find another pair, which she did find a half size bigger. They would do, half size larger or not, and she tucked them in her bag with the bottles. She had a sister now that would love these boots and wearing Uggs through the apocalypse was just not zombie or terrain savvy. She didn't need a jacket, because they were not twins, but the girl would like the boots for sure. Her old boots she tied the laces together and fed the one through the strap on her pack and she left them dangling on her bag as she walked around the store some more. She had no clue what time it was or how long she had been gone, so she set out of the store and head back to the site where she found them still working.

She placed her bag in the van and then found Jay. "Hey, mama, you found what you were looking for?"

"I did. And more." She replied. "What are we doing? I thought you all woulda rolled out by now."

"Tav had other ideas. So we stayed to gather up the shit on our surrogate leader's list. He wants this shit."

"Cool, let's wrap it up then. We shoulda been home by now."

"Hey, you find anything for me?" He asked as he tugged on her cool coat. He liked the boots on her feet.

"Not unless you like drinking." She kissed his cheek and wandered off to find Tavin. "Hey, where's sissy? I got her something."

"With Chess at school. They should be back any minute now."

Julia approached Tavin and Alex as they finished up gathering the last of the gasoline they'd taken. The fuel was tops on Tavin's list. "This place, we hit pay dirt." Tavin was so excited he could barely contain himself. He actually sounded happy in his environment due to his productivity.

"When can we leave?" She asked.

"Soon as they get back." He replied. "We're about done here and what can go to the school, you guys can take with you tonight. It's all in that army truck right there. Lots of medical supplies."

"Thanks, had I known we were gathering up more stuff I woulda stuck around. You came up with this idea?"

"Yep, we'll need it." He nodded. "I would love to get into Mav general and take what's in there."

"Why don't we just open up the hospital, then, Tavin? We should get a clinic up and running anyway, find people-nurses, doctors, techs and equipment that'll be useful. If we could find diesel fuel, we could run an OR on generator." He stared at her. "You know or we could transport diesel for the generator at school. That would be the shit, for hot showers and-"

He held his hand up at her. "One thing at a time."

"You started it." She smiled. "Got you something, baby." She said as she moved closer to him. "If you want it and all. You don't have to..."

"What is it?"

"Captain Morgan is waiting in the van, boss."

"Awe shit. It's gonna be a fun night." He smiled, taking hold of her. His arms reminding her of a handful of Captain Morgan nights. "Want a little captain in you?"

"Oh, stop it." Alex hissed.

"Thanks." Tavin smiled, leaving go of her. "Alex, make sure the others are wrapped up over there and get in the van. You too, sexy." Tavin said, watching her walk away.

"Aye, aye Captain." She giggled as she fell in stride with Alex. "We're just fooling around, Alex. You know that." She nudged him.

"I know what happens when you just fool around." He mumbled as the Prius came into view. John and Cal got out and went to the other vehicles, leaving Chess and Julia inside. When the vehicles pulled out, Julia followed them having been instructed to stay in the driver's seat by Chess. He figured she may as well drive them home. A long line of cars set out with the Prius bringing up the rear.

"You did a good job today. How's the arm?" He asked once they were alone in the car.

"Fine. No problems."

"You can turn off pain...just like that?" He asked, recalling the tail end of her conversation with Tavin from earlier in the day.

"Kinda." She shrugged as she maneuvered her car around a group of walking zoms in the road. "I refocus my attention on other things." She explained. "It's the only way to explain it."

"The brother was right, though. You have to desensitize to it over the course of time. Wanna tell me how?"

"No." She replied, setting the car back on a straight course.

"No." He repeated. He figured it had to do with her bite and the subsequent infection and skin graft. He mentioned that.

"Yes." She answered. "But let's not ruin the end of the world mood with my illness."

"It's not the end of the fuckin' world. I wish you people would stop with that shit."

"So the world has not fallen apart and is barely hanging on by a thread?" She asked innocently.

"No, it is not. We can do something about this, Julia and we can make it a better place to live."

"I agree, but for the time being this is pretty shitty."

"Are you hungry?" He asked so matter of fact.

"Nah. Not really."

"Are you happy?"

"Happy? Sure, for the most part. I could be happier."

"Suffering?"

"No." She shook her head.

"Clean." He observed, looking her over and she was barely dirty. Her one armed status kept her from the grimier part of their morning as she was stuck inside the car as they took down the crowd of dead who had gathered along both sides of the chain link fence at the shelter commune. They had deconstructed it and she only barely assisted with that, being their gopher when they needed something. She exceled at being their runner in her Uggs with her sling, carrying a clipboard and crossing off the list that Julia had made the night before.

"How about that arm...you had decent medical care for that injury?"

"Duh, Chess."

"Then I would say this is not shitty. This is pretty good." He shrugged. "Gotta think about perspective, Julia. Once all your basic needs are met, then it's all gravy."

"Basic needs. Food. Shelter. Clothes."

"One level of it." He nodded as they closed in on home. The main road that took them to their farmhouse.

"Safety, you could add in there."

"Definitely. So we have the basics covered. What of the rest? There's more, right? I read a book once that made me think. There was only one book that made me do it, think that is, and I read it years ago. Then I started smoking weed and it all came together like a big picture. All the pieces of life's puzzle fit together in all their odd shapes. That is what life is. It's not square and linear. We all don't fit together like that. We are all weird shapes and we have all found our other weird shapes and they interlock. Needs, one simple level that determines whether life carries on and then those around us that ensure life carries on, like couples or families or like mutual people that we get along with that help us to our goal. Our goal being-"

"Staying alive."

"Eh, I was thinking world domination, but whatever. It's similar."

"Didn't realize you thought about it like that."

"No one ever does. It's the biggest misconception about me. That I do not think. I do. I choose not to preach."

"Sounds nicer than it really is though, Chess. Kinda. Don't you think?"

"What do you think?" He asked. "Looking from this perspective, the beginning of the future. We could do anything we chose. There's no laws, no one to stop us. We can conquer the dead and the living and claim all this. At first it was about living peacefully and safely within the confines of our little group and our little farmhouse, and we only laid claim to that little portion of land and the girls we fucked. Now though...the future is wide open. Any house. All the land you see. Who is to say it is not mine, yours or ours? Our family can own all this."

"The people too..." She said.

"Not slaves or anything, no. All I am saying, Julia, is it is possible to reclaim, rebuild and create. New world, new rules."

"Our house, our rules." She finished for him. Either she had been listening or she had heard it before and Chess believed it was a bit of both.

"Exactly. That's my motto. I can do anything I want and with the right people, people we trust...till this point it was getting her on board. Getting her to move."

"What do you need her for?"

"It's her fucking idea."

"That she wants no part of." Julia added. "You see her today? She look like she really wants any of this?" Chess stared at her strangely. "I'm not being critical.  I am being honest. She, herself has been honest with you. She doesn't wanna do any of this, so why are you making her?"

"She's the brain behind the whole thing. She came up with the plan."

"Not the way I heard it, but ok."

"Huh?"

"You both came up with the plan when you saw the school. Jayson told me this story. He told me you all created the path that was written, tweaking it as she likes to say. She may have written it all down, but she doesn't own it necessarily. You all do. The entire group."

"She did all the research."

"Jayson got the research on the inside." She interjected. "I saw the video on that cell phone and I saw the pictures, the maps, the schematics, the bible of a binder you guys have been toting around and if it weren't for Jody and me going there in the first place, then none of this would even be happening right now. You all came up with, worked on and now are making that happen."

"So are you." He reminded her as she turned into the driveway. Tavin directed her where to park the Prius as though she had never seen it in its spot before. They stayed in the car for a bit while Chess smoked and thought aloud. "You know, saying she didn't have much to do with it is an unfair assumption. She spent a lot of hours on the project. I can't exclude her even if she wishes to exclude herself."

"I didn't say exclude anyone. Geeze, you're letting me do part of it. Bring her with you. Pick her brain. Just don't expect much. That's what she is telling you. It's what she has said and it's what her body language says. She could care less if she's on foot in the thick of it and today she was forced to go somewhere and work when she clearly didn't want to."

"Jules, I don't think you understand the role she plays here." He shook his head.

"I understand it. I understand she's a survivor and she has a lot of work to do, but let her play when she's ready. That's all I'm saying. I might not spend a lot of time with her and I am not her bestie, but I watch her. I learn from her. I understand her. Ever see her sit under that tree? Geeze, if that was me I wouldn't move from that tree."

"Think it's why she wants to stay?"

"May have something to do with it. I think I don't know enough about it to comment. Only what I have seen."

As she and Chess sat in the Prius, Julia approached the car. She hitched her bag off her shoulder and dropped it on the hood. She pointed at Chess and she pulled out a bottle of vodka. "Mother of God, she found some." He grinned. She pointed at Julia and she pulled out a pair of boots and set them on the hood of the car next to the bottle. "Bitch went shopping." He smiled.

"When that nest is clear, we are drinking this whole bottle." She yelled. "We are starting a bonfire of corpses and we are getting shit faced. You hear me, Morgan."

"Yes, Julia." He answered. "What else is in the bag?"

"Captain for Tavin." She said, pulling it out. A wicked grin splashed across her face. She tied up her bag and walked off with her liqueur, leaving Julia's boots on the hood.

"Thank you." Julia smiled, getting out of the car. "Where's my coat?"

"Ah, we aren't twins. Fuck off." Julia yelled.

Chess burst out laughing as Julia sat on the hood and kicked off her Uggs onto the ground. "Chess, these are some bad ass boots." She said excitedly. He got out of the car and went to her. "Kneel." She smiled, looking up at him. Caught off guard, he heeded the command, kneeling between her knees. "Put them on." She leaned back on the hood a bit and lifted a leg for him.

"Yes, miss." He smiled. "I'm sure it's your arm that prevents you from doing this yourself." He applied and then laced up each boot. He placed his hands on her knees when the mission was complete, and ran them up her thighs.

"I like when you're on your knees. So much that I think you should stay there."

"What would you like me to do while I am down here...on my knees...in front of you?"

"Chess!" He heard Tavin yell.

"What?" He answered, turning to look.

"Julia wants a meeting before you all leave. She said come eat too."

"Ok." He yelled back. He turned and looked up at his red head sitting on the hood of the car. Her braid hung over her shoulder and she played with the end of it. She parted her legs a little. "Well, answer the question." She didn't reply, only smiled.  "Jules, quit teasing me." She shook her head. "It can go both ways, little one. You know that." She shook her head again, smiling.

"I liked what you did to me this morning." She said softly. "The sting felt so good." She giggled.

He smiled, kissed her forehead. "Come on, cutie. Let's go in."

"You wanna go in, do you?" She said softly.

"I do. I'll do it right here. Now, stop." He said, walking toward the door with her.

"Nope." She shook her head again.

"Stop. You're getting me hard."

"Ha, surprise, surprise." She stepped up the first of three steps. He grabbed her around the waist . "Julia, do you wanna fuck?" He asked point blank. She gasped, surprised he'd said it so bluntly to her. "What are you hinting at then? I'm not a mind reader." She didn't reply, backing up another step. He pulled her back to him. "Julia, let me know."

"My dreams...I wonder if they were dreams." She stated, wiggling her hips as he grabbed her ass. "I think we already kinda did. I think the dreams...you were there. I think it was you carrying me when I was burning and it was you when I was seeing all the pretty colors." He didn't comment, rather he let her speculate. "The more time I spend with you, I think about the dreams. So, I don't wanna fuck, no."

"Dreams and reality are two different things, Julia. You know that."

"True. But some dreams do exist. Right here, right now..." She kissed his lips and she backed up the steps with Chess hanging onto her hand.

Meal time had passed but Hilda had food ready and waiting for the team of hungry people. Julia ate with her notebook open and wrote, asked questions and wrote some more. She informed them of the next nest they would need to exterminate at Shade's ballroom. Chess declined to discuss the tactic at that time because one nest at a time. He did have a few ideas on how to remove them and save the building from a burn. Use the Lake. "We'll need a boat." He said, pointing at her book.

"A boat." Julia repeated without much enthusiasm. "Gonna get our sea legs?"

"A row boat, Jules. Write the word boat down for later." He stretched his body in his seat around the small frame of Julia who sat in his lap. His muscles were smarting from their day's long work, which was strenuous at times, and his body was sore.

They lastly discussed the progress that they had made that day. It took a bit longer than expected, but they arrived, worked, accomplished a goal and left with more than expected. Tavin had opted to push them further and gather invaluable medical supplies, guns and ammunition, and lastly fuel that was badly needed. "We're full up again." He said feeling confident about the supply for the farm.

"Full up for this farm maybe. Full up for the long term and the fortress is another story altogether. What I would like for you to do in the coming weeks is find us some diesel fuel like we discussed."

"That easy, find diesel?"

"Most vehicles run on gasoline, so there should be more diesel out there than gas."

"What for, if I can ask?" Julia spoke up.

"Generator." She replied dryly. "The school has one and it should run on diesel. Generator means hot showers, heat, lights. Machinery. We won't have solar. I would also like the smartest one here to figure out how to get this solar shit running on a larger scale. We can use diesel for only a limited and rationed time. Figure out how to set it up, maintain it and work it. I don't wanna light up the countryside, but we're gonna lose these lights and we need light."

"Who would that be?" Julia asked, looking around the table.

"I probably am." Jay answered.

"Yeah, but you're also not mechanically inclined. We need a mix of both. I can, but I would need a pile of fucking books. One question leads to another then another for me. I would prefer someone who could block out all the extra questions."

"Me." Jay insisted. "Why do you think you're the smartest one here?"

"Well, love of my fucking life. Historically speaking, I am the smartest one here. Plus, you can't figure out how to make a fur fucking rug. You're gonna set up solar panels and operate it, and maintain it?"

"Jules, who do you think runs it now? Here and now?" He pointed at the light above their table. "So fuck you, cause it's me." Jay insisted. "You think I am dumb, babe and I'm not. I spent five hours after that storm making that system come back to life and then rewiring the whole shitty contraption. You think I don't know what I am doing. I don't know how to do it large scale, but I could figure it out. Fuck..."

"Ok. I'm sorry." She frowned.

"I still can't make the rug, though." He commented, shaking his head.

"Baby, I am sorry about the rug. We'll take all your furs with us and we'll keep looking for a way. There's a book out there somewhere..."

"I could help you do it. I took a crafts class, Jay." Julia volunteered, bouncing excitedly in Chess's lap.

"A crafts class." Chess said under his breath. "In your spare time." He held her waist and stilled the girl whether nervous or excited or a mix of both, her warmth against him felt fine.

"Yes." She nodded eagerly.

"You ever party, Julia?" Alex asked suddenly.

"I have gone to a couple parties, but...Like a sleep over? Nails and hair and stuff or-"

Jay laughed, "Not go to a party, he means party."

"Well, if it's...probably not." She shook her head. "But crafts, I can do it. We'll look at your stuff and we'll think of something. A fur rug sounds so nice and it'll be so soft. Where we putting it?"

"In front of the fire place." Julia replied. "In our bedroom."

"Oh, yeah. It'll be soft to sit on. Hey, a blanket would be even warmer. Keep saving those furs."

"He saves them all." Julia sighed. "Jay, looks like you will have your wish come true."

Julia closed her book and tucked it in her bag. She was ready to go. They had everything they needed in the truck with the supplies. The table filed out of the house one by one and Julia looked to Tavin, giving him a handful of reminders and orders for the coming evening.

"Jules, I will be here. I'll take care of it." Jay said.

"Changed my mind. I want you to go with me, please." She shook her head.

"Julia, you said last night I was staying." Jay cut her off. "Remember? You didn't want the whole table-"

She looked at him seriously. "Jay, when we got here, we agreed that what we do, we do together. This is part of it." She replied annoyed he had cut her off.

"I'll go. Alright. I was just surprised you changed your mind is all. I'll run upstairs a minute and get a few things. Shit, I coulda been ready if you said something."

"Well, go then, babe. We'll wait."

Jay liked advance warning. He had got comfortable, thought he was in for the night, putting himself in the mindset of chilling with Jess alone for once. In fact, he'd been thinking about Jess all day. He didn't have visions of exterminating a nest at the school. He looked forward to laying back with Jess, no sadness and no fuss. Just a normal girl and normal conversation. Jess had been complaining they never got to spend time alone. Sometimes, she had said, she just wanted him.

"Yo, be careful." Tavin called out the door.

"Hold down the fort, Tav. They'll be back first thing. If there's problems, you got men in black on your side."

"Oh, thanks. I think I got this."

"I love you, Tavin." She said it instinctively.

"Yeah, Red. I love you too. Stay safe."

"Are we all riding up front?" Chess asked, climbing into the cab. Not much space for the bodies that were tagging along.

Julia pulled her bag on her shoulder and moved on the seat. "I'll ride in the rear. Alex, join me." She sighed.

"I didn't say you had to, but-"

"Not my first bumpy ride in the back of a truck on the way to an incident." She descended the cab and Alex and Jody followed her. Julia looked to Chess and then the open door and she scooted across the seat, and hopped down. When Jay emerged from the house, he shut the cab door and Chess watched him move to the gate. He waited on the outside for Jay to close the gate and he climbed in the cab with him.

"Gonna be alright, Jay." Chess assured him as he pulled away from the farmhouse.

"I think she's scared." Jay replied.

"It's been a while for her. Like riding a bike."

Chess steered the truck due west to the school under a canopy of pink and orange hues of a setting sun.