Kyle started the grave but Shane finished it. He practically dug the whole thing by himself. Something was eating at him, and it was hard for me to watch.

At the same time, it was impressive to see just how much dirt he could move by himself.

Danielle just asked for the one grave. She said they would want to stay together.

Shane was up to his waist when I went over to Kyle. I opened my mouth, but Kyle was already shaking his head. Speaking into my ear, he said, "Talk to him later. Not here. Not in front of everyone."

I bit my lip but nodded, still watching Shane dig. When he was satisfied, he tossed the shovel up, and Kyle pulled him out of the grave. He came over and stood next to me. 

He didn't say a word.

When Kyle and Danielle picked up the first body he turned to me and said, "Come on. They'll finish up here. Let's go and get what we came to get."

I hesitated, but Shane grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I turned and looked over my shoulder to find Danielle helping Kyle get the other girl into the grave, and Brayden watching the two of us go back into the store.

We went down through the aisles picking up cans and boxes, anything we could find that might be useful. It wasn't a lot, but it wasn't nothing. I even found what Vik was looking for. I laughed softly, but my momentary triumph was swallowed up and forgotten when I looked at Shane and he was staring blankly at the blood all down the front of him.

"I guess Vik will have to take my watch," I said, putting the canned pineapple into my bag. Shane looked up at me, frowning. He still didn't say anything, though.

I pointed my flashlight toward the ceiling, reading the signs that were hanging over the different sections of the store. I turned sharply and started walking toward the back of the store, my flashlight just barely reaching a sign that read 'clothing'.

"Raleigh!" Shane hissed, catching up to me. His flashlight swept over the floor and I suspected he was looking for more bodies.

I kinda smiled at him, and kept going until I found a jean wall. I nodded my head and Shane sighed wearily. "It's fine, Raleigh."

I raised an eyebrow. "Who said this is about you? The blood stinks." 

Shane hesitated, shaking his head and I crossed my arms. "Either you can take your pants off, or I will."

I frowned and shook my head and Shane actually cracked a smile. Finally flipping through the jeans, he asked, "Is that a promise or a threat?"

I pushed his shoulder. "That's not what I meant. It just sounded better in my head."

"Oh, I don't know." Shane smirked. "It sounded pretty good comin' out of your mouth."

"Yeah, well," I answered, looking around at the other clothes, "maybe if you change into clean clothes your luck will improve later."

I looked back at him when he didn't snark back. I waited until he had changed, then finally managed to work up the nerve to ask, "Are you okay?"

"Are any of us?" Shane said. He used a shirt to clean the blood off his hands, then sighed and sat on the floor to put his boots back on.

I just waited. I wasn't going to push.

Shane tightened the laces, yanking hard on the knots, then he rested his elbows on his knees, staring just a little past me. I sat cross-legged in front of him, still waiting. Idly, I wondered how long it would take before the others came looking, or if Kyle would keep them away.

He shook his head, eyes still a little spacey, like he was seeing something other than me. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed again. Finally, he said, "It was my second tour. Iraq this time. I was twenty-two. And there was this girl, maybe fifteen, sixteen years old."

Shane laughed, the sound dry. "Her family was friendly to us. She and her brother would come out, talk to us, give us something to eat, whatever. They were good people."

Shane's mouth pressed into a thin line and his voice lowered. "Last time I saw her, she was..." He trailed of, then laughed again and my throat tightened at the sound. He rubbed a hand over his jaw and said, "Well. Let's just go with I wasn't the only one who learned about improvised explosives the hard way."

I looked down, then just as quickly looked back up, and Shane was looking at me again. Seeing me. He shrugged. "I don't think I've ever told anyone that."

"The girl today..." I started slowly. "She reminded you of that other one in Iraq?"

Shane frowned, thinking. Eventually, he said, "No. It's just that I helped bury her too. And her brother. And her mother and little sister."

I just nodded. I mean, there really wasn't anything to say. He stood up and pulled me to my feet. Looking down at me he said, "I think bad dreams are catching."

"What?" I asked blankly.

"Bad dreams," Shane repeated. "They're catching."

I waited for him to ask, but he didn't. He had answered an unspoken question of mine.

He sighed once more before leading me down a new aisle, still picking up supplies. As we walked, I asked, "So what happens now?"

For some reason, adding Danielle's group to our own didn't feel as natural as taking in Sacha and Vik had. I didn't know why, but the one thing that popped up again and again in my head was the look Brayden had given Shane after he'd ended it for the girl.

Shane shook his head. "I don't know." He looked over his shoulder at me. "They come with us maybe. Or they don't. I don't know." Quietly, almost so I couldn't hear him, he said, "I don't think I really care one way or the other."

"Do you want them to come with us?" I asked, then frowned. There were pros and cons here. The two most glaring being that more mouths meant we'd need more food, but a bigger group probably meant increased safety.

Now I'm more inclined to think ability is more telling than numbers about a group being able to survive. If you have a group of four or five, but they're all just good at surviving this world, then I think they have a better chance than a group of say, twenty, that doesn't do a very good job.

A group of three lions will still hunt down a herd of fifty gazelle, you know?

Shane looked at a pack of batteries, like he was considering their worth versus their weight, then threw them into his pack. "I like Danielle. She seems decent."

"And the others with her?" I asked.

Shane looked up, rolling his neck a little. "How was that girl dying, Raleigh?"

"What?" I was completely taken aback by his question.

"How was she dying? Give me a rundown of what was happening to her," Shane said, his voice dead.

I shook my head and, feeling ghoulish, said, "She was convulsing. So her brain wasn't getting oxygen. But she was still breathing, or at least, her lungs were going through the motions. Which meant she was pulling blood into her lungs. Drowning. If she didn't bleed out first."

"Hurt, right?" Shane asked, and I nodded.

He was quiet for a long moment, and again I waited. It scared me when he slammed his hands down into an empty shelf, the sound echoing through the store. "He told me to fucking wait, Raleigh. Wait on what? For her to turn?"

Shane glared toward the front of the store like he was staring at Brayden. Almost shaking with anger, he said, "She was hurting and he wanted me to wait. Then he looked at me like I was the fucking thing that killed her."

I had noticed that too, but I hadn't expected it to bother Shane, and said as much.

Shane smiled, though it was humorless. Sounding just to the right of cruel, he said, "It doesn't. I don't give a damn about that, Raleigh. He can look at me however he wants. It just tells me everything I need to know about him, and I don't like any of it."

"What does it tell you?" I asked softly, wanting to compare notes with him.

"That he's a dead man walking," Shane said offhandedly. "I've seen people look at me like that before, Raleigh. In airports when I was in uniform. It's been like that for a long time. It's never bothered me. But it means something different now. It means he doesn't respect the fight, Raleigh, and I'm not going to do it for him. If we take them on, know that. Right now."

I raised an eyebrow at him and he huffed out a laugh. "Seems like I forgot who I was talking to."

I nodded and Shane said, "Do you want them to come with us?"

I gave him a half smile. "Danielle seems all right."

He laughed and it was real this time. I stood on my toes and kissed him, and his arms went around my waist, almost picking me up off the floor. Between kisses I told him, "But maybe we set up a double guard for a little? One of us, one of them?"

Shane smiled against my mouth and said, "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

"Uh-huh," I said dryly. I nudged his ribs with my elbow. "I'm still looking for a reason."

Shane gave me a mock offended look before his lips made their way down the side of my neck, kind of making my eyelashes flutter a little. He laughed when I sighed and said, "Maybe I can give you a reason later?"

I nodded, then pushed him farther down the aisle, making him laugh as we started back outside.

We found them waiting for us next to the filled in grave, and Kyle walked over to us, Danielle with him. He was frowning a little, but he just nodded his head at Danielle, who looked at Shane and said, "I've talked to the others and they agreed with me."

"About?" Shane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We'd like to come with you if that's all right," Danielle said in a way that didn't really make it a question.

Shane looked over at the others, seeming almost curious. "You all want to come?"

Danielle pursed her lips, like she understood exactly what he was asking and said, "We won't be any trouble."

Shane made an amused little sound in the back of his throat. "Maybe we shouldn't start out with lies, huh?"

"I'll make sure it isn't a lie," Danielle said, and Shane looked at her, seeming to consider.

I watched Viktoria talking to the boy, Sam, then looked at Kyle, who shrugged.

Finally, Shane nodded and said, "We're not heading anywhere in particular."

Danielle nodded, wearing an oddly relieved expression. She said, "That's fine."

And that was that.

They had their own car, an SUV.

I showed the pineapple to Viktoria, and she was caught in the middle between being happy about the fruit, and mad about losing the bet. I laughed and said, "Tell you what. You trade spots with me, and we'll forget about the shift tonight."

It was my turn in the back and it was starting to flurry a little. Just light, dry little flakes that melt as soon as they touch anything but, still, I think I was catching Shane's hatred of the cold.

Viktoria nodded and hopped up into the back with Kyle, and I tossed the can to her. Kyle reached for it and she slapped his hand away, making both Danielle and I laugh. 

Kyle rubbed ruefully at his hand and said, "I was just going to open it for you."

Vik snorted. "Yes. Then you were going to eat half of it. This is my pineapple. Raleigh got it for me."

Kyle frowned at her, then muttered something in Russian that made her burst into giggles.

Those giggles stopped when Brayden said, "That's not really safe."

We all kinda stopped and looked at him, and I watched Shane shake his head before getting into the truck. Sacha looked at me and I shrugged. Sure, riding in the bed of the truck probably wasn't the safest thing, but neither was going to the store. Or brushing your teeth with river water. Or, I don't know, freaking dead people walking around that wanted to eat your guts.

Apocalypse life lesson here: The word 'safe' doesn't mean anything anymore either.

Speaking louder, Brayden said, "The kids can ride with us."

Not no, but hell no. I didn't know these people even if I did like Danielle. There was no way in hell I was letting them take Sacha and Viktoria.

They must have had the same thought because Viktoria hunkered down next to Kyle, shaking her head, and Sacha went around to the front and climbed into the truck. I saw him say something to Shane, who then got out of the truck.

He looked up at the sky, which was quickly getting darker, and said, "They're fine. We need to find a place to stay in case this gets worse."

He looked at Danielle who nodded briskly, and started herding the others toward their car. Shane looked at me and I nodded with a sigh.

There was just no way this was going to be easy like it had been with Sacha and Vik.