Izzy left us sitting on this rock hours ago. The sun had just risen when she'd left us. Now it's straight above our heads.

Mara hasn't said a word since the river. She hasn't done anything, really, except stare off into space.

And all I can do is sit here and think that Izzy's gone forever, too. That it's up to me to help Mara. Part of me just wants to leave her. I can't keep another person - well, technically two people - safe. I can barely protect myself.

But that tiny part of me that's still sane keeps me here, waiting. For what, I don't know. For Izzy to return? For more zombies to chase us? I don't know.

I keep clicking the magazine in and out of my Glock, just to give myself something to focus on besides the biting cold and the agonizing pain in my arm from getting grazed. And the quiet. It's deafening. There's no wind, there are no animals, no zombies, nothing.

The no zombies thing is the only good thing about anything. I stare up at the bare branches, squinting in the bright sunlight.

I'll never see them again. Seth, Rogan, Pirate, and now Izzy. And Doyle....his name feels like a punch to the gut. I never told him. Even if he showed up right now I don't think I could. But I'd wrap my arms around him and never, ever let him out of my sight again.

My eyes start stinging with unshed tears, and I quickly blink them away. Crying is stupid. It won't do anything except give me a headache and impair my vision. Not to mention make my sinuses clogged.

But I can't stop crying. I've kept bursting into tears on and off all morning. One minute, I think I'm fine, I've finally gone dry, and then they just come back. Only in the past hour or so they've gone from pouring down my cheeks to just making my vision wobbly.

My stomach growls, but I ignore it. I feel like if I eat now I'll puke. I shift slightly closer to Mara. It's freezing out here. I exhale slowly, watching my breath form a wispy cloud that dissipates in mere seconds.

I close my eyes, trying to focus on the sound of my breathing instead of everyone's faces. CRACK! My eyes fly open. The crack of the branch still echoes through the silent trees.

I stand, holding my Glock out in front of me as I rotate slowly, scanning the woods for anyone or anything. Nothing.

Another, quieter crack from somewhere behind me sends me spinning around, Glock aimed at - nothing.

I grunt in frustration. It's probably just a deer or something. I sink back onto the rock, setting my gun beside me. I keep staring into the gray trees, in the direction of the crack, biting my fingernails. My feet fidget with one of the straps on my backpack, which sits on the ground a few inches from my perch.

I keep staring out into the woods, trying not to blink so I won't miss anything, if there's anything to miss. I make it a game, counting the seconds between blinks, trying to break my own records.

This goes on for what seems like forever. I start picking at the chapped skin of my lips, humming softly to myself. But a moment later I stop. Footsteps.

Barely audible, and not in the direction the previous disturbances came from. No, now they're behind me. I scoot around, expecting to see nothing, as before, but -

I gasp, leaping to my feet.

"Izzy!"

She stands before me, splattered with mud, but grinning. "I found him."

"Seth?"

She nods. "He's coming in a minute - we got a couple of rabbits on the way back here - I ran ahead to tell you. You've waited long enough."

I'm still taking in the glorious news when he appears, dead rabbits in hand. He, too, is muddy, but I rush forward and hug his neck anyway. I hear the rabbits drop to the ground with soft thuds before I feel his arms wrapped around his back.

I'm crying again, but this time from relief as I say, "I thought you were dead."

He chuckles into my shoulder. "It's gonna take more than water and a wet zombie to kill me."

It doesn't take us long to get a fire started for the rabbits. Seth skins one of them while Izzy and I erect a spit over the fire. She keeps adjusting it and complaining that it's not right while I just sit back on my heels and stare at it, my thoughts turning to Doyle, Rogan, and Pirate.

I am overjoyed that Seth's okay, don't get me wrong. But....I want the others, too. I'm not being ungrateful, I assure the universe or whoever or whatever silently, Just bring them all back to us. Please.

Izzy finally leaves the spit alone, sitting back and gazing at it, a satisfied expression on her face. Then she nudges me with her elbow. "Are you okay now? You know, after the whole....breakdown thing?"

I shrug, then grin sheepishly. "And just so you know, that was only a mild one."

"Yeah, you seem like the kind of person who could totally flip out," she laughs in spite of the serious subject, "No offense."

"Okay!" Seth calls, coming over to the fire, "Time to cook up the first one." He said we'll leave the other fully intact for later. He and Izzy skewer the first one on the stick and place it over the fire. Izzy turns it slightly every few minutes, watching eagerly for signs that it's cooking at all.

Seth sits a few feet from the fire, hugging his knees to his chin. "So, I guess the others never came back....." He says soberly.

Izzy shakes her head. I stare into fire, trying not to focus too much on how horrible it all is so I won't cry anymore.

"They'll probably catch up," he says, but he doesn't seem very hopeful. It is pretty stupid to hope that, after all this time and after so many zombies that they would even survive, let alone find us.

Just imagining how they might have died makes my eyes tear up again. I push my feet, rushing past Mara and escaping to the privacy of the trees as quickly as possible. I lean back against a tree, staring up at its branches, letting the tears fall yet again.

The sky is pale blue and cloudless. I breathe in and out slowly, trying to calm myself. Whatever happened, happened. I couldn't have done anything even if I was there. And at least we have Seth back. And Izzy, too. I thought she was gone for a while, too.

Crack.

I whip my head to the left, in the direction of the noise. I must be hearing things, because yet again, there's nothing there.

I turn back the other way -

My heart leaps into my throat.