We moved nonstop for four weeks. Everywhere we went there were too many zombies, not enough food, once we'd seen evidence of a large group who had moved through a place before we had. Evidence suggested they had headed south.

We went west.

Everyone was dragging. Just about everyone was injured.

Danielle had twisted her ankle jumping down from a retaining wall. Shane had taken a pretty nasty knock to the back of his head when a zombie had jumped out of nowhere, plowing into him and taking him down to the pavement. Cassidy had taken most of the skin off the palms of her hands skidding down a rocky incline trying to get to a stream for some water. Kyle had pulled his left hamstring badly enough that he almost couldn't walk when we had been going through some houses, and he'd heard Vik shout. 

She'd been startled by a feral dog.

They were the worst, but the rest of us had our fair share of scrapes and bruises.

After that, we'd decided not to try and screw around with the town we were on the outskirts of now. We were down too many people to be able to clear the place properly, and we wouldn't be able to move fast enough if we needed to, since two of us were gimps. 

But we needed something to eat. We'd gone three days already with nothing to eat. Tempers were running high and patience was running low. 

Shane glared at me across the small fire, watching as I checked the magazine of a newer gun we'd picked up. I had five rounds. Sighing, I said, "What?"

"You know what," he said, snapping a stick in half before he fed it into the flames. Kyle sat next to him, his leg stretched out toward the fire. It annoyed me that I didn't have a better way to apply some heat to the muscle. He still couldn't straighten it out completely.

He shared an exasperated look with me, his green eyes hollow in his face. Shane hissed under his breath at the both of us, snapping another stick. I raised an eyebrow at Kyle, who nudged his brother with an elbow, and said, "What she's saying is you need a Snickers, man. You get cranky when you're hungry."

I giggled at that, then couldn't stop laughing, no matter how hard I tried to choke it down. Shane flipped us both off, then said, "I don't think it's a good idea."

That helped me sober up some, and I sighed just a little dramatically. "Nothing's a good idea."

He looked darkly over my shoulder, and I frowned at him. "He's the only one I'm taking with me, Shane," I said, voice low so it wouldn't carry. 

"But—"

"No," I interrupted. Standing up, I walked around the fire, then leaned over and kissed his forehead. He looked up at me, eyes shadowed and a bit angry. I smiled and said, "The rest of you are too injured. I don't screw around with head trauma, neither Kyle nor Danny can walk, and Cassidy can barely pick up anything. Someone who's not handicapped needs to stay here."

"So why don't you leave him here and take Vik and Sacha with you?" Shane tried to bargain.

I just shook my head. Speaking even more quietly, I said, "Did you see Vik drop her knife the other day?"

He nodded.

"And Sacha's been having trouble sleeping because his stomach growls loudly enough to wake him up." I stood up a little when he flinched. I ran my fingers through his hair once, scraping it back from his face and said, "They're both struggling a little bit not eating. Aaron and I are the least hurt, so Aaron and I are the ones who are going."

"Will I just be wasting breath to argue?" he muttered.

I just smiled. Brushing my fingers against his face, I said, "We'll be fine. Back in a jiffy."

He nodded. I looked up to find Aaron waiting patiently at the edge of the camp, a bag slung over his shoulder. Turning back to the brothers, I said, "We won't be more than three, four hours tops. Probably less than that."

Shane just sighed, chucking another broken stick into the fire. Kyle winked at me and I went toward Aaron. He asked, "We good?"

"We're good. We'll just go and get what we need. Once everyone's back on their feet, we'll worry about stocking up on supplies." We started walking, leaving the camp quickly behind.

It didn't take long to find the small, two-lane road we had decided to follow, and we walked in silence for maybe thirty minutes. The woods were blissfully still around us, and I rubbed at my shoulder unconsciously.

"It's still hurting. Isn't it?" Aaron asked, making me jump.

I winced, then gave him a blank look. "What are you talking about?"

"You hurt it when you yanked that zombie off Moore." It wasn't really a question.

Sighing, I said, "I think I strained it a little. It's no big deal." He gave me a sideways look, and I added, "Trust me. I'm a doctor."

Now he snorted. Shaking my head, I said, "It doesn't matter anyway. I just have to be a little more careful."

"I could have come by myself," he said, turning around to walk backwards for a second, before turning back around.

The only response I deigned to give was a dirty look shot his way.

"Seriously," he continued. "I should have just told Moore that you're hurt, too."

"Only if you wanted to end up injured along with everyone else," I grumbled. Without thinking, I said, "I don't know how your last group did it, but we don't just let each other go off by themselves. Not unless we really, really, really can't help it."

When I was only met with silence, I turned back to him, my lips parting in a half-formed apology. His face was a little pale, his eyes cast down toward the pavement. Slowly, he drew to a stop, making me do the same. I closed my eyes for a second, shoulders slumping and said, "Aaron, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

He shrugged and said, "I don't really expect different. I mean, I'm just the asshole who was with a bunch of other assholes talkin' about hurtin' a little girl."

I shook my head. "Better not let Vik hear you calling her that." When this didn't garner a response, I said gently, "And I seem to remember you shooting said other assholes."

Aaron started walking again, but didn't respond. I resisted the urge to smack my hand into my forehead, and we continued on in silence until we came up to the edge of the town. We watched for a little, but couldn't really see anything. I frowned at the broken windows I could see, not to mention the busted in doors.

Swearing softly under my breath, I said, "Our best bet is to get deeper in. Maybe they just went through the outer houses."

"Maybe," Aaron said softly. He hadn't looked at me since I'd mentioned the people he'd been with before us. Shaking his head, he started walking. After a moment I followed him, my shoulder aching.

It hadn't been a problem. The only time it really hurt was when I had to raise it out in front of me. And even if it did, it didn't hurt so badly that I couldn't deal with it.

We crept past house after house, skirting around small groups of wandering zombies, looking for evidence of anything that hadn't been picked over already. Softly, Aaron said, "How long can we keep moving around like this?"

The question startled me a little. I glanced at him to find him looking at what might have been a church. It was difficult to tell since it was mostly collapsed, the once white paint charred and blackened from a long ago fire. Just as quietly, I said, "What else would we do?"

He just sighed. Gritting my teeth, I said, "The whole settlement-community-we all live in harmony and kumbaya 'cause we're all still breathing thing doesn't really work. It looks nice on paper, but... it's not real."

When he stared at me, I turned, slipping the strap of the backpack I was carrying off my right shoulder. I tugged the material of my tank top away, and let him look for a long minute at that awful burn scar. Then, I tugged the strap back up and turned around him to find him looking vaguely sick.

"What's... how did you..." His face twisted, and he asked, "How are you alive?"

I was a little surprised by his reaction, since I hadn't really worked to hide it. Then I wondered if Aaron had maybe just avoided looking at me unless he had to. I shrugged. "Beats me."

"What happened?" he asked, voice low as I hiked the backpack back up onto my shoulder.

We started walking again, still looking for evidence of a house that might have been skipped over. My mouth pressed into a thin line, and my voice was a little strained when I said, "We had a place. When someone decided it wasn't going to work anymore, he destroyed everything. I wasn't the only casualty."

When he didn't say anything, I continued, "I'm not saying that we were completely innocent, but the fact still remains that it came down to the decision of one person. People got hurt. People died."

My eyes burned for a second, but I just took a breath and kept walking. Aaron brushed his fingers against my arm, but when I looked up, all he did was point to a little house sort of alcoved behind another.

No broken windows. Closed doors.

We went over to the house, and my heart lifted hopefully when I turned the knob and found it locked. After a second of searching, I was delighted to find a key. I unlocked the door, let it swing open, and Aaron knocked against the doorframe, the sound echoing through the house.

As we waited to see if anything would come out, he said, "So one place broke up. Does that mean every other place will be like that?"

I stared at him, then we both looked in as a distant thump and a weak groan hit our ears. Aaron immediately stepped in front of me. He gave my shoulder a look, then said, "I got it."

I rolled my eyes, secretly a little relieved that I wouldn't have to move my arm any more than absolutely necessary. Standing just inside the door, I watched the street for any movement.

When there was a nasty squelching sound, followed by a low whistle from Aaron, I shut the door and turned deeper into the house. I quickly found the kitchen, Aaron joining me after a second.

I opened the first cabinet, my mouth dropping open at the neatly stacked cans of food. I frowned. "What?"

Aaron looked over my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"How the hell did they miss all this?" I asked, glancing suspiciously around the kitchen.

You know things have gotten bad when you're wary of finding something so great. 

Aaron nudged me to the side when he realized I wasn't about to start throwing the stuff in my bag any time soon. I tensed when he grabbed a can of peas, but when nothing happened, I relaxed a little.

Starting to feel a little foolish, I opened another cabinet, finding bags of chips and boxes of crackers. With a sigh, I started packing them neatly into my bag. I jumped a little when Aaron said, "You didn't answer my question."

Now I snorted, the sound derisive. Shaking my head, I said, "I just don't want to try. It was bad last time, Aaron."

"It's bad now," he murmured, zipping up his bag. He looked up at me from where he was crouched over the bag, then stood, giving me a keen stare. "Do you really believe it would be a bad thing to stop moving around?"

"I just don't think it's sustainable," I said, frowning as I opened more cabinets just to find them stripped bare. "Weird," I muttered under my breath. 

"What makes you think this is?" he asked, scowling at the empty shelves. 

I closed the cabinets quietly, that spooky feeling creeping slowly over me. Whispering, I said, "It's like they got stopped in the middle."

"Probably just chased off by that dead one," Aaron muttered. 

I bit into the inside of my cheek, and said, "Do you think this is enough?"

He took a moment to look at each of our half-filled bags. "No water," he said.

"We can find some. A stream or something, maybe," I said weakly. But we were already here. And we still had a little less than three hours before we were supposed to be back.

Aaron gave me a sidelong glance, and I just scowled, nodding. He started toward the backdoor, and said, "We can try a few more. It can't hurt."

I snorted because I knew that it could hurt, in fact. But that didn't take away the knowledge that we also needed to at least try. I'd been thirsty one too many times before to want to willingly risk giving up the opportunity to find some water. 

Like he knew what I was thinking, he opened the backdoor and nearly stepped out into a yard full of zombies. I snatched the collar of his shirt and jerked him back inside, slamming the door just as one of the dead smacked into the glass.

We watched it with identical looks at disbelief. We couldn't hear a thing.

Experimentally, Aaron opened one of the windows, and the groans were suddenly audible. He shut it, and the sound was cut off, though now the dead were pawing at both the door and the window now.

"Soundproof?" I asked, bewildered. Briefly I wondered why we hadn't heard it earlier, then supposed that Aaron stepping out into the middle of them had riled them up. Before, they had just been kind of standing around, not making much noise. 

At least, that's what I hoped, because the other option was that I was starting to go deaf. 

We watched them hit the glass for a few more minutes, rotted faces and filmy eyes staring hungrily towards us. Aaron asked, "Do you think there's a side window or something we can use?"

I knew he didn't want to go back the way we came. I hated crawling through windows. Reluctantly, I said, "Yeah, I think there's a living room or something this way. We can try in there."

We opened the door between the kitchen and the living room, and I scowled at the big windows staring back at me. They couldn't be opened. We'd have to break the glass. 

Aaron sighed, easily coming to the same conclusion as I did. We froze as a zombie wove its way past the glass, hardly daring to breathe. When it passed, I whispered, "Do you want to risk the noise?"

"No," he muttered. "I couldn't see if all the zombies out back were pinned in, or if they just happened to be in there."

"They'd have to have a way to wander in," I responded. "So... front door?"

He closed his eyes and sighed, sounding beleaguered. "Yeah. That's probably the best bet."

We went back to the front of the house. I waited impatiently as Aaron peered out the slim, frosted glass window next to the door. Finally, his hand went to the doorknob. He whispered, "The street looks pretty clear. Just keep an eye out."

I nodded. The backpack was digging into my shoulder a little, pressing painfully on the tender spot near where my shoulder met my collarbone. Aaron opened the door and we crept into the street, spotting a couple stumbling outlines farther down the road. 

We walked just a little faster now, looking for another house that didn't looked cleaned out. There didn't appear to be another house that wasn't already picked clean, and we were starting to get discouraged.

Trying to keep my mind off the ever increasing ache in my shoulder, I asked, "Do you want to find a place we could stop?"

When all he did was shrug, I said, "No seriously. I want to know."

Aaron slowed down a little in order to walk next to me. That way he could keep his voice really low when he said, "I mean, if we could find a place that we could make work, yeah. Why not?"

"Okay, sure," I conceded. "But why?"

Aaron glanced meaningfully at my shoulder, then said, "It just seems like we been gettin' a little banged up lately. Havin' a place where we can rest, without worryin' about anything... does that seem like a bad idea to you?"

"It's not that simple," I said, narrowing my eyes against the glare of sunlight off the windows of the house I was looking at. Everything looked pretty intact, and I pointed it out to Aaron, who nodded.

This time, he couldn't find a key. The low sound of shuffling, groaning zombies caught our attention and we pressed up against the wall just by the door, watching as a group of zombies ambled past us. We waited until they had moved on, then Aaron kicked in the door.

Moving quickly, we shut it and shoved a table up against it. I wasn't sure it would hold under any serious duress, but it would have to do for now. At least we'd have some kin dof warning if anything else tried to get in here with us. Moving through the rooms together, Aaron picked our conversation back up. 

"You say that," he started, "but you don't know."

I sighed, opening a closet without much hope. There was nothing in there that could be considered useful. A little more harshly than I meant to be, I snapped, "What? 'Cause it worked so well for you trying to stay in one place?"

Aaron blanched, then did an about face and hurried into the next room. I flinched as he let the door fall shut behind him, leaning against the wall. Lately, it had seemed like all I could say was the wrong thing. And not just to him.

To be fair, it wasn't just me though. Just about everyone had managed to say something painfully careless. Kyle to Danny, me to Cas, Sacha to Shane. No one had escaped unscathed, and the hurt was somehow sharper, purely because it wasn't meant.

Sometimes carelessness did more damage than actual spite. 

I counted to twenty slowly in my head, then followed him quietly into the kitchen. All the cabinets had been flung open. Not bothering to turn and look at me, he said, "Nothin' here. You want to look more, or go back?"

Movement out the window caught my eye. More zombies. It was getting a little too busy around here for my taste. But we were still noticeably lacking water. Almost mumbling, I said, "Let's try one more."

He nodded and went to the back door, checking this time before he just went outside. We crossed the overgrown yard, and Aaron boosted me over the fence without a word. I waited as he heaved himself up and over, then we made our way to a quiet cul-de-sac. 

Finally, I couldn't take it any more. Softly, I said, "Aaron, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

"I know, Raleigh," he said, cutting me off, voice uncharacteristically harsh. Then he sighed and stopped walking, looking down at the cracked pavement. He took two deep breaths, then said, "What happened then... what happened to my d-daughter," he had to stop and breathe again, "happened because we didn't know any better."

His gaze snapped up and after a minute I found I couldn't bear looking at all that pain. I looked away, pretending like it was just to keep an eye on our surroundings. 

His voice soft again, he said, "We're runnin' on empty, Raleigh, and you know it. Just because your afraid doesn't mean you should completely take an option off the table."

I scowled at the word 'afraid', but couldn't deny what he was saying. Instead, I said, "We'll try that house, then head back."

Aaron looked at the house I pointed out. What appeared to be two or three zombies were walking around inside, but the doors and windows were all intact.

With a sigh, Aaron nodded, but when I started to walk away, he put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. He waited until I looked up. Eyes still full of pain, he said, "Her name was Kate."

My throat closed up.

"She would have been seventeen, and I spent too much of her life away from her." Aaron's hand dropped off my shoulder. "My decisions were right for me, but wrong for her. Don't do that to your kids, Raleigh."

My eyes went wide, and he finished by saying, "I would never tell you what you need to do concerning them. And those kids are brave as hell. Not to mention tough as nails. Just take it under consideration, okay?"

All I could do was nod, and follow him toward the house I had pointed out.