The next week or so passed by without any major insanity. We all fell into the rhythm of work, lending a hand wherever one was needed.

It was actually kind of nice. We all had to admit it. 

Your people remained a little standoffish, kind of wary around us, but that was okay since we preferred our own company anyway. The only exceptions to that rule were you, Jodie and Lisa. And even then, Lisa was still the friendliest and only really to Aaron.

Despite what Shane had asked, I hadn't found it in myself to really talk to you. I mean, I suppose I don't really have to tell you any of this. Maybe it was as hard for you to look at me as it was for me to be around you.

I hadn't been that close with my mom, but it still felt like some sort of betrayal. Like I was somehow taking Dad's side if I got to know you—if I found out I liked you. Maybe you felt the same way.

Either way, I guess Jodie and Shane got the worst of it, forced into the awkward middle. Honestly, I just didn't know what to say. I didn't know where to start. Which probably made two of us.

Aaron did a much better job than I did. At least he and Lisa could talk without requiring that some kind of intermediate was present.

But aside from the awkward moments and the pretty cramped quarters, the whole "civilization" thing you guys had going on was actually all right. We didn't want to stick around, but it was obviously far from the worst thing we'd ever experienced.

Jodie and I had just finished counting and sorting rolls of gauze and were sitting outside in the sunshine, taking a break from the dark, cramped space of the infirmary. A baggie of some dried apples sat by my leg in the grass.

"So you guys just spent this whole time going up and down the coast?" Jodie asked, eyes closed as she tilted her face toward the late afternoon sun. I was in the shade cast by the building, trying to spare a sunburn I'd earned working in the gardens the day before.

A breeze ruffled a few loose strands of my hair as I nodded. "Pretty much."

I was watching Shane, Kyle and Cassidy attack a bare patch of ground, prepping it for a new season of growing. You guys had actually played it smart and set up a rotation of where and when you grew stuff. Instead of exhausting the ground and rendering it infertile, you let each patch of ground rest—to go fallow so you didn't need to worry about or depend on fertilizing the soil.

Shane was swinging a pickaxe, breaking up the packed soil and grass with Kyle and Cassidy following behind him, using shovels to break the dirt up even farther. 

Sweat made his shirt stick to his back, highlighting the flex and swell of muscles as he worked.

"That must have been tough," Jodie murmured, pulling my attention back to her. She had opened her eyes, looking at me with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity.

I shrugged, chewing on a dried apple slice. Memories flickered in the back of my mind. The crisp water of an abandoned pool. Meals shared around a campfire. A snowball fight. Sleeping with a blanket of stars over my head, Shane's arms wrapped around me.

"Sometimes," I said softly. More honestly, I added, "A lot of the time. But there were some good times in there too. Sometimes we had a lot of fun."

Jodie didn't scoff at me. She didn't raise an eyebrow. She didn't even look surprised by what I'd just said. She just nodded and took an apple slice. After another moment, she asked, "Why are you guys staying here?"

I lowered the uneaten piece of apple I had just lifted to my mouth and stared at her.

She just gave me a cute half-smile. "No offense, but you just don't really seem like you want to be here."

"It's better than being out there," I hedged, lifting one of the apple slices. "Where else would we want to go?"

"You know," she said contemplatively, "I used to have this cat. She was pretty much feral, but sometimes if I was sitting outside at the right time and was quiet, she'd come and sit nearby. Not close enough to touch, but close enough I could hear her purr. I'd feed her, but she still stayed wary of me."

I went back to watching Shane and the others work. The light that sparked off the head of the pickaxe glimmered in the sun, rising and falling with each steady swing as Shane broke up the ground. I wasn't exactly sure where she was going, telling me about this.

"She was nice enough, just as long as I didn't try to touch her," Jodie continued. I could feel her eyes on me. "You all kind of remind me of that cat." 

I let those words sink in, frowning lightly. "We remind you of feral cats?"

Jodie laughed, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I mean minus the mange."

I couldn't help but snicker at that. Then I shrugged. It wasn't a bad assessment. After all, we were there to eat some food, rest a bit and continue on our way. I ate my apple slice and stood up, dusting the dirt and bits of grass from my jeans.

"We're here because we needed a place to regroup," I said truthfully. "We just needed someplace that was safe for a little while."

Jodie extended a hand and I pulled her up to her feet. When she was standing, she squeezed my hand lightly. "You are welcome to stay, Raleigh." She blushed a little. "I know your sister would like it."

That more than anything startled me, and I let go of her hand. I opened, then closed my mouth. Jodie just smiled, not really giving me a chance to respond. She brushed her jeans off and said, "That's all we've really got to get done today. So unless you want to come with me to help get dinner started, you can go do whatever stray cats do."

I snorted at that, unable to quell the amusement that bubbled up in me. "If you don't mind me burning everything I touch, I'll help...but you'd have better luck asking Danny."

"Not much of a cook then?" Jodie grinned.

Shaking my head, I gave her a rueful smile before heading toward Shane. He met my eyes but didn't stop working until he'd reached the end of the row. The steady thud of the pickaxe hitting the ground, tearing up grass and dirt, set my teeth on edge for a reason I couldn't identify.

The flash of sunlight off the head of the pickaxe irritated my eyes, making me look away. After a while, I realized it reminded me of the flash off the blade of an axe. 

A dismembered man and fear like acrid smoke in the back of my throat came back to me. 

It was sort of wild. Not exactly unexpected. The silliest little things could trigger those memories I hadn't bothered to mention to Jodie. It was just kind of odd because that was so long ago.

"Rals?" 

Shane's voice right next to me made me nearly jump out of my skin. It took a moment before I could shift my gaze to meet his. His eyebrows drew together in a look of concern, his eyes bright blue in the sunshine. He wiped the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his t-shirt.

I offered a small smile and his eyes flickered over me, checking, assessing, making sure I was okay. After a moment, he returned the smile and leaned in to kiss me.

He didn't need to ask.

It happens to all of us. He might not have known what I was thinking about, but he'd had those bad memories jump on him out of no where too.

I kissed him back and we watched as Kyle and Cassidy finished up what they were doing. They came over, wiping sweat from their faces. 

None of us said anything for a moment, just watching the others working around us. Then Cassidy murmured, "How much longer?"

We all glanced over. Her dark eyes were glued to the closed gate. She more than any of us hated being pinned in, and had found multiple reasons to get beyond the fences. Hunting, usually, or scavenging.

Dad always warned her away from the town, saying there were too many zombies there.

None of us cared for that explanation.

Kyle rested his arm on the end of his shovel, leaning against it as he propped his chin up on his arm. "The only hard thing is going to be gas," he said, voice quiet. "Food, water, that's not going to be a problem."

Out of habit, I glanced around. We had spent that first week integrating ourselves, sure, but we also took the opportunity to start planning how we were going to leave.

"We're also going to want some warmer clothes," I offered. "Especially if we really do want to go to the mountains."

"I'm thinking we might have better luck finding that kind of stuff once we get there," Cassidy said. "Plus it'll be easier to move if we're not carrying everything we need all the way across Kansas."

"Getting to Colorado's not going to take that long," Kyle said. "A couple days at best." He grimaced at that. We all did. He continued, "If we leave in the next month, we'll have four or five more months of good weather to play with."

"So we'll want enough food to get there, at least." Shane ran a hand through his hair, the sweat making it stick up in spikes. "And there's a chance there'll be somethin' to pick up along the way."

"It's just a matter of making the trip," I said softly. And food likely wasn't going to be the only or worst problem.

A low whistle sounded and kept Aaron from sneaking up on us, a habit that's never quite died out. He joined our little circle, a ball cap shading his face, his hands stuffed in his pockets. 

Kyle looked at me. "I've been thinking about that."

"Shocker," Shane muttered, giving his brother a grin.

Aaron raised an eyebrow in question and Cassidy whispered, "About getting out of Dodge."

None of us spoke for a moment. It was something we all wanted, but the longer we stayed, the harder it would get. The easier it would be to become entangled with you all.

Already we were starting to feel reluctant about what we were planning.

"I'm really not in love with the idea of taking anything from these people. Not when they've taken us in like they have," Aaron said quietly, green eyes going to the people working in the nearby gardens. Then he looked at Shane. "It's not us, man."

"It's just a little bit," Kyle said. "Just enough to get through to Colorado."

I looked up at Shane, then caught Aaron's eye. I didn't really like it either. 

Shane sighed, looking toward the gates—toward the town. "Maybe we don't have to," he said softly.

An incredible supporter of this story, @FaithLoveMusic96 created an amazing cast list and character boards for this story. I'm absolutely in love with them!

Thank you so, so much for all your amazing support.

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https://bookfanatic96.tumblr.com/post/185522718161/dont-whistle-past-the-graveyard-cast-left-to