Chapter 2

"I'm guessing that's it," Johanna commented when they reached a clearing in the trees after about fifteen minutes of walking. They stood atop a small hill gazing down upon a cluster of houses less than a quarter mile away. The space between was mostly scrub plants and a few bushes through which a blacktop path wound almost as though the now-unkept area was once a park or green-space area for the neighboring housing area.

"Yeah," Kate said as she stepped up beside her mother. "Though I don't know that I would call that a neighborhood." Only eight houses were clustered together along a road that ended in a cul-de-sac. Seeing as they hadn't seen many houses as of late, she supposed she could understand why their group member had described the area as such, but in Kate's mind "neighborhood" described multiple streets and dozens of houses, not just this. Then again, there really was no point to arguing terminology. If they found food and water here, it would be worth it.

Humming and walking a few steps to her right, Johanna crouched down, gazed for several moments and then stood backup. "So what are we thinking? We have a nice vantage point up here, but this hill is pretty steep; we could have trouble running back up if things went south."

Kate shrugged. The hill didn't seem that steep to her—at least not steep enough that she was concerned she wouldn't be able to outrun the monsters if they were around; those things were pretty slow moving. "I can go down and you can keep watch up here."

Johanna gave her the same skeptical look she always had whenever Kate suggested they split apart. "Let's just watch for a few minutes and see what we see, okay? We have time."

"If you want."

Kate and her mother both crouched down in the tall grass, so they were less visible from the cul-de-sac street. From what they had seen, the undead relied mostly on auditory senses, not vision, so it would be impossible for them to be noticed from so high up. Other humans, however, would have had no trouble seeing them and if they were armed that could cause a very large problem.

For over five minutes they remained in silence before Kate caught what she thought might be a glimpse of movement between the houses, but it was difficult to tell. She crawled to her right hoping to achieve a better angle and that was when she saw it—something was bobbing behind a black pickup truck on the street, but what was it? A stray bit of trash blowing in the wind? A flesh-hungry undead being? A human seeking refuge? From that angle, she couldn't tell.

"What do you see?" Johanna whispered.

"Black truck," Kate responded in equal decibel.

She turned her eyes back to the area in question and stared intently for several moments until, suddenly, a small being darted out from behind the truck and raced out of view. "There!"

"I saw," Johanna said, her voice still quiet. "Definitely wasn't a monster."

"It looked more like a child," Kate concluded. Though all she could see was a burst of red hair and dark clothing, she doubted an adult would move like that. A frown crossed her face as she thought of a child alone in the world in which they now lived—how terrible.

"Wait."

Kate felt her mother's hand encircle her wrist just as she was about to make her way down the hill towards the houses. Turning her head she whispered, "She's probably alone."

"She might not be. If she is alone, she's not going anywhere fast. Let's just watch a few more minutes."

Kate knew better than to argue so she merely crouched back down and watched street, alternating her gaze between the truck and the other spaces between the houses in case the girl was leaving the neighborhood.

Another five minutes passed before they saw her again. That time, she had her arms loaded down with something that Kate could not discern. She carried the items behind the truck and when she emerged she no longer held them. Once again, she ran out of sight.

"She's scavenging."

"So it would appear," Johanna said. "We still don't know if she's alone or not."

"That's okay," Kate said as she stood and checked to make sure her knife was well seated in its slot on her belt. "I'll find out."

"Katie…"

"I know I know—be careful." Kate smiled, though Johanna's expression remained cautious. She gave her mother's shoulder a squeeze and then began the trek down the hill towards the neighborhood. As it turned out her mother had been right; the grade was much steeper than she anticipated, so Kate had to run down the embankment until it flattened out for fear she'd trip and fall. Once she reached the path, she slowed her progress to a more casual pace. She kept her right hand on the butt of her knife and her eyes darted back and forth looking for adversaries both alive and not.

The further she walked Kate realized this path must have been created specifically for the neighborhood for it had placards near the ground explaining what wild flowers and other plant life were growing where. Plus, there was a trash can with a sign explaining it was for dog waste. Having grown up in Manhattan, she found a neighborhood-specific miniature park a rather amusing concept, but didn't dwell on it too much as she was focusing on staying safe.

When she reached the edge of the neighborhood she saw that the blacktop path led down to the street by cutting between two houses. Unfortunately, this meant she would be walking around a blind corner, which Kate did not believe was preferable. Still, she had little choice. Walking quickly, she went left so she could hug the side of one of the houses as she moved forward. She crept along slowly, checking back over her shoulder every so often and focusing on the road in front of her.

When she reached the front edge of the house, she paused. Since the street was curved she could see to her right that there was absolutely nothing except a vacant neighborhood. Taking this as a good sign, Kate checked behind her once more before peering to her left around the side of the house. She could see through the front porch to most of the rest of the neighborhood; it was also vacant. She crept out a little bit further with her hand still firmly on her knife, but still saw nothing until a moment later when the red-headed girl emerged from two houses down.

Kate immediately dropped back and crouched down in the bushes beside the house's front porch. She watched the girl carry out an armload of what appeared to be cereal boxes and cart them over to the other side of the truck. Ducking her head so that her chin was nearly on the grass, Kate watched the girl's feet. Based on what she could see, it appeared as though the little girl was loading some sort of wagon or trailer with her discoveries. Most importantly, Kate saw no other human activity; just the child.

Nodding to herself, knowing she was making the right decision of this girl was truly alone, Kate stood and walked confidently down the front yard of the house. She reached the edge of the street just as the girl rounded the back of the truck. She clearly didn't see Kate for several more steps for when she caught sight of the woman she gasped, jumped, and began backing her way towards the truck.

"No wait!" Kate called out to her. She held out her hands wide showing the girl her empty palms. "It's okay—I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl said nothing, but she also didn't run away. She merely stared wide-eyed at Kate, her chest heaving up and down.

Taking two steps forward, Kate continued with, "It's okay—you don't have to be afraid. My name is Kate. What's yours?"

"A-Alexis."

Kate smiled and walked two steps closer. "It's nice to meet you, Alexis. Are you out here alone?"

The girl shook her head and Kate felt her legs tense. "My…my gran."

"Your grandmother?" Kate guessed; the girl nodded. "Where is she?"

Alexis pointed to the house in front of which the truck was parked.

"Is that your house?"

"No, we found it."

"Where are you from?"

"New York."

"Manhattan? Oh, me too." Kate smiled when the girl confirmed with a nod. "So, we have something in common, then."

"Are you alone?" Alexis asked her.

"No, I'm not. See up there? On that hill?" Kate pointed between the houses. She didn't believe she was at the correct angle for her mother to be able to see her, but she thought Alexis might be visible, which would help ease her mother's worry. "My mother's up there waiting for me. We're traveling with a group of about fifteen."

She watched as Alexis looked at the hill for several moments and then gazed back to her. "You…do you have medicine there?"

Kate felt the hairs at the back of her neck prickle. Was that why Alexis appeared to be scavenging alone? Did her grandmother have the illness that turned men into monsters? She hadn't seen anyone who was alive and sick for quite some time, but that didn't mean it wasn't possible. Or, she counter argued in her mind, it was possible the grandmother was a diabetic or needed blood pressure medication, which while concerning, would not have been dangerous to her, her mother, or anyone else they traveled with. "We have some. Are you asking for your grandma?"

Alexis nodded.

"Do you know what she needs?" The girl shook her head, so Kate continued and said, "Well, would you mind if I went and asked her?"

"I…I don't know," she said, turning her gaze towards her feet.

"You mean, because I'm a stranger?" Kate guessed. The young red-head gazed at her from beneath her brow and Kate assumed her guess to be correct. "Well, okay; that's fair. Why don't we get to know each other a little bit then, hmm? My name is Kate, like I said, and I'm a lawyer in New York—well, I was, anyway. My mom's a lawyer, too. Is there anything you want to ask me?"

Alexis clasped her hands in front of her and rubbed her thumbs together for a few moments before asking, "Do you have any kids?"

"No, no kids. And I wasn't married either—in case that's your next question." Kate offered her a smile and then took a step closer. "How old are you? I'm twenty-seven—well, twenty-eight almost."

Surprisingly, Alexis's eyes brightened. "Really? When's your birthday."

"November 17th"

"Oh…Mine's in a week; I thought your birthday might be closer to mine. I'll be twelve."

"Twelve." Kate echoed, trying not to sound too shocked. She could hardly imagine living in this world at such a tender age; it certainly would have rocked her to her very core. "You're very brave to do all this by yourself."

She shrugged. "My dad always told me to be brave."

Kate frowned. "But he's not with you anymore, is he?" When Alexis shook her head Kate said, "Well, neither is mine—so we have that in common, too. Now, can we go and see your grandmother?"

The young girl gazed at her with cautious optimism. "Do you think you can help her?"

Taking three steps forward, Kate finally closed the distance between them and bent over so she could look Alexis in the eye. "I don't know, Alexis, but I promise you that I'm going to try."

Alexis stared at her for almost a full minute before she rounded her shoulders and nodded. "Okay; follow me."

"Well, bottom's up!" Richard Castle said to no one in particular as he held a pickle jar in the air momentarily before tipping the last remaining contents into his mouth and trying his best not to gag. The taste was terrible, but as it was the closest thing to food he'd had in a day he also didn't think he had an option. Once he swallowed the juice he crammed two stale crackers into his mouth, not sure what tasted worse.

Groaning, he bent over and picked up his duffel bag and headed back out of the house and on to the main road. Unfortunately, the group of houses he'd found had been well picked through. He managed to pick up a spare set of clothing and, perhaps even more importantly, another pair of shoes in his size that seemed to have a decent amount of cushioning, but sadly not very much food. Other than the solitary pickle in juice and the crackers he'd found one can of mustard-packed sardines. Seeing as sardines easily made it into the top three of his most hated foods ever Castle considered leaving the can behind, but knew he shouldn't in case he found no other alternatives; however, he would only eat them if he faced no other option other than starving to death.

Without much hope in his heart, he entered the last home on the block and found it in a similar state of disarray. In fact, considering two of the kitchen cabinet drawers were ripped off their hinges, it was in a worse state than some of the others. Naturally, the kitchen was bare, but he continued to poke around hoping that one of the homes residents hid their snacks someplace creative.

As Castle explored the living area, he discovered a photograph that made his heart ache in his chest. Though the little girl holding a long-eared rabbit in the picture bore little resemblance to his daughter, they did have the same orange-red hair which was enough to trigger a flood of memories in his mind. Eighty-six days had passed since he'd seen her and not one of them went by without her crossing his mind a dozen times. He had no idea if she was okay, if she had enough to eat, or even if she was still alive. Worse was the fact that he knew it was very likely he might never see her again—at least, not unless something very drastic changed in the world. His only solace was that she was with his mother and he knew she would do whatever it took to keep Alexis alive. Still, with the unforgiving nature of the world in which they lived keeping Alexis safe may have been beyond the scope of her control.

Castle always believed himself to be a man of faith in the universe. He believed that somehow everything would right itself and thus he had to believe that even if he never saw her again, Alexis would be okay—that somehow, she and her grandmother would take care of each other. If he didn't believe that, he might find it difficult to put one foot in front of the other—to keep fighting, but he had to keep fighting because he knew it was possible that one day he'd be lucky enough to see her again.

A.N: Thanks so much for reading & reviewing. I know zombie-au's aren't everyone's cup of tea, but i appreciate you giving it a shot!