A/N: I know I said I wouldn't be updating this until I finished my other story, but, sometimes I set unachievable goals. And, well. This is what happens. So here you go, another update.

"Knock, Knock?"

Beca didn't look up from where she was trying to cook some of the deer meat over a small fire. They had found a place to camp for the night. An old back road with nearly a dozen cars that had piled up. Beca parked the truck in a way that she could get out and had a nearly twelve-foot space, both ways, enclosed by the cars. They started a small fire, and Jesse got as much meat off the dear that he could. Storing the majority of it in an old cooler they kept in the back of the truck. It wouldn't stay edible for long, and since they lost their camp, they couldn't use it the way they would have.

Jesse deflated and sat back against the door of the truck. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

He perked up slightly when Beca barely raised her eyes to look at him in annoyance. "Come on Becs," he said softly. "Say something."

She shook her head slightly before looking back down and returning her attention to their dinner.

Jesse sighed again. "Please? Just one word, anything." She didn't make any move to speak, or even offer another shake of her head. It hadn't happened yet, and Jesse wondered if it would ever happen. He knew that he needed to stop, to leave her alone, and respect her decision to stay silent. But, he couldn't.

"Becs, are you choosing this? Or can you physically not speak?"

She shifted her weight and held the handmade skewer, from a wire hanger toward him. A sizzling piece of deer meat on the end of it. He sighed, and carefully took it. "You should eat first." He said.

She ignored him, grabbing the other piece of raw meat and stabbing another skewer into it, placing it over the fire.

It tasted bad, and wasn't exactly the best way to cook it, but it was food. And she was grateful for it. She was also grateful that with a full stomach, Jesse would soon be asleep. And quiet.

She loved the kid, there was no way around it. And she knew he didn't mean any harm, but she wished he could just leave it be. It had been months, and they were able to communicate easily without words. She didn't want to speak, she had nothing to say. She had no words to offer and she was fine with that. They were alive, and that was all that mattered.

She was angry, that's for sure. Their camp had been taken over, burned. A camp that she worked hard on. One that hadn't been found by anyone. Alive or otherwise. It had everything they needed. Things they gathered, things they made. Things that they needed. And now, it was gone. Someone or something found it, and what she was just starting to consider their new home, was gone.

XXXXXX

Jesse began to stir sometime around dawn and sat up from his sleeping place, tucked halfway under the truck. He rubbed his face a few times, and yawned looking around their little makeshift camp. Everything was picked up, the fire was out and all the burned sticks were gone. Covered by scattered leaves.

It was then he realized Beca was already inside the truck, waiting for him. She hadn't slept, he knew that. He could stay awake for around two days, before his body betrayed him and he would end up falling asleep the moment he sat down somewhere. Becas falling asleep was a rarity. She could stay up for nearly four days, before her body demanded a rest. And even then, it would only be for maybe two or three hours, before she was awake and ready to go. Jesse wished he had her strength and wondered where she got it.

"Where are we headed?" he asked getting in beside her.

She reversed the truck and pulled around the pile up, continuing down the road. She pointed with her eyes and he nodded.

"Yeah, I figured we were going that way. Are we going to find a new camp?" He asked. She nodded and sped up a bit.

He bit the inside of his cheek and looked out the window, the sun pouring through the trees, though the road was still practically shaded. It was getting colder out, and that was worrisome now that their camp had been taken. They drove for nearly an hour, before Beca slowed down and rolled her window down. She pulled up alongside an old truck. It had a camper shell on the back and it looked like it was in good condition.

She parked the truck, leaving it running, and grabbed her gun, getting out. Jesse stayed put, grabbing his own gun, making sure the truck wasn't left empty and running.

He watched as she circled the broken down truck, after a few moments, she walked back around nodded at him. He reached over, turning the truck off and taking the keys before getting out.

When he walked around he found Beca unlatching the shell from the truck. Understanding what she was doing, he put his gun in the holster on his belt and helped her. Not long after, they were driving away, with a newly installed shell on the back of the truck.

"Maybe we can find a house out here, go in and grab a mattress and some blankets?" he said as they drove and she nodded.

"Good find, Becs, they are usually all busted up." He smiled.

She looked over at him, and smirked. Something she didn't so often, but something he cherished when she did.

They kept driving, through most of the day. It always seemed the felt safest when they were driving. Protected by the truck. The speed. Beca still wasn't over her anger, of their camp being found. She was set on finding a new camp that would be better hidden. Somewhere to once again, start over. She wasn't sure where they were, they had crossed the border into South Carolina and Tennessee a few times, but always ended up back in Georgia. A place they knew, a place they couldn't seem to leave permanently. They knew there wasn't any place better. Maybe worse, but not better. They had traveled to Atlanta once. It was a disaster. Blown to pieces, crowed, bodies everywhere, cars everywhere. Buildings overrun by...them. They stayed one night. Long enough to fill the back of the truck with as much supplies from a pharmacy, a grocery store, and a clothing store. Those things had lasted them a long time. A lot of it, had been back at the camp. They kept stuff in the truck, and it would do for now, but they needed to find more. Jesse didn't know it, but Beca was extremely observant, especially of his needs. And she knew he desperately needed another pair of boots. The ones he had had duct tape wrapped around them, covering the holes in the bottom. They would need jackets, to fight the cold that would be coming.

Jesse thought about it, from time to time, but his concern had been Beca. She didn't eat a lot. She didn't sleep a lot. She drank the bare minimum to get by. She wasn't taking care of herself, and he knew it was hard to do, living the way they had too. But he wished she would try a little harder. Focus more on herself. She kept them both alive. Jesse did his share, he could shoot, he could fight, and he was strong. Even he knew that. But he did what he could to take care of himself too. And he knew it helped. He knew with the cold coming, Beca would get sick. With the way she was going now, he knew she would, and then what? They didn't have the things they would need.

It was late afternoon, when Beca pulled down a side road, and it went from pavement, to dirt. It was a private road, and lined with large trees. Nearly a mile through the thick woods, was a small yellow house.

She pulled up and put the truck in park. "How did you know this was here?" he asked, opening his door.

She shrugged, and got out, taking her own gun out. They slowly made their way toward the house, gun raised and ready. Jesse rounded the house, and Beca waited for him on the porch, before they pushed the door open and waited. It was dusty, and dark and smelled bad. It was a mess, and they silently wondered if it hadn't already been cleared out.

After a few seconds, then went in, both walking through the rooms on opposite sides of the small house, making sure it was clear.

They met in the front entrance, when they were done and Beca handed Jesse the keys. He nodded, taking them and headed outside. She watched from the porch as he pulled the truck around to the back. She looked around, the area was empty, isolated. It was quiet, then again, it was always quiet now.

She hoped Jesse knew, how much she appreciated him. How much she appreciated that he could tell what she was trying to say. That he knew what she was doing, or what certain things meant. She hoped he knew, that she forgave him for what happened. She couldn't say it, but she hoped he knew that she understands why he did it, she doesn't condone it, and would knock him out if he ever did it again, but she understands.

It was then he walked around the side of the house and nodded, telling her it was parked and ready, of they needed to get away. He handed her the keys and they made their way back into the house.

This would be their camp for at least the night. They needed to clean out the back of the truck, and rest a bit. They needed to find supplies, hoping this house had something.

They spent the rest of the day, going through the house, finding what they could. They ended up finding some canned vegetables and fruit. Beca found some old blankets in a storage closet and Jesse drug a full sized mattress out to put in the back of the truck. While Beca opened some of the canned foods and got ready to eat, Jesse made up the bed in the back of the truck, opening the back window. It was big enough for Beca to fit through, if need be. He pulled down some curtains from the house, and used them to cover the old windows on the shell.

He was just finishing up when Beca walked out, holding the food in her hands. She handed him his portion and hopped up on the edge of the tail gate where he sat.

"Thanks," He said looking into the can to see she mixed the fruit and vegetables together. Not long ago, he would have looked at it in disgust. Now, it looked amazing. He tilted the can, drinking some of the liquid from it. It tasted different, but it was better than some of the other things they had to eat.

Beca sat silently, her legs crossed under her as she ate. He looked at her from the side and smiled lightly. Glad she was eating the same sized portion he was. She rarely did that.

"Hey, Beca." He said after a few moments of silently eating.

She looked at him and he smiled again, reaching over to wipe some dirt off of her chin with his thumb. "You know, I'm glad it's you." He said.

She looked at him in question. "That I was with, when this happened. I'm glad we were together."

She smiled softly and nodded. He returned her smile before turning back to his can of food, poking through it with his spoon when he felt warmth on his shoulder and he looked to see Beca had rested her head on his shoulder. He sighed softly and reached up, cradling her head against him.

This was her way of saying she felt the same and he knew that. Beca was like his sister, and he would do anything for her. He had done a lot of things already, as had she.

XXXXXX

They locked themselves in the truck that night. Having set up the back so they could lay comfortably. The keys were in the ignition, in case they needed to get away. Jesse had convinced Beca that she could lie down and sleep at the same time he did. They hadn't seen anybody, or anything all evening. It was deserted out there and being in the truck, they could easily get away. After some persuading, she finally laid down next to him on the mattress. It was one of the more comfortable ones they had slept on. Jesse was relieved when Beca drifted off without too much of a fight. Her hand was still resting on her gun, but he was just happy that she was sleeping.

It wasn't long after, that he curled up next to her, drifting off himself.

XXXXXX

It seemed like only minutes after laying down, Jesse was jolted awake by Beca bolting up, her hand grabbing her gun.

"What is it?" He asked groggily, grabbing his own gun.

She carefully moved the curtain aside and peered out into the darkness. She had been woken by the sound of a door closing. The door to the house.

She nodded toward the house and Jesse took the safety off his gun moving forward and unlatching the door to the shell. They both carefully climbed out, their guns raised.

They could hear noise coming from inside the house, and looked at each other, fear evident on both their faces.

They could hide out in the truck, and hope whatever it was went away. However, if whatever it was, was able to overpower them, and steal their truck. That was a problem.

They circled around to the front door and were surprised to see a car parked about fifty feet down the driveway.

People.

Beca took a deep breath. This was the worst. This was the hardest part of surviving in this new world. No one was the same. It was kill or be killed most of the time, and so far, they had a pretty large kill streak.

Jesse reached out gently touching her shoulder. "Stay safe." He said and she blinked at him slowly. Her way of telling him the same. She took a breath and opened the door. She was instantly blinded by a bright light shining directly in her eyes and soon after a sharp pain in her head and she hit the ground.

She heard a commotion and tried to get up, but found herself being lifted off the ground, an arm wrapped around her neck and the arm she was holding the gun in was twisted behind her back, forcing her to drop it.

She heard someone cry out and a moment later a flashlight was pointing at Jesse. Her eyes grew. He was holding someone, a girl in front of him, the same way she was being held. A gun pressed into her temple.

"Let her go, or she dies." Jesse warned.

Beca looked to the side, another woman stood, a gun pointed at Jesse, as well as a flashlight. So there were three of them.

"You first." Came a man's voice, the one that was holding her.

Jesse shook his head and jammed his gun harder against the girl's head and she cried out.

"Stop!" The woman holding the flashlight yelled. "Don't hurt her," She pleaded.

Jesse didn't back down.

The woman with the flashlight looked over at them. "Luke, let her go."

"They have guns." He said.

"Yeah, so do we. Just let her go." She said and the man huffed shoving Beca away from him. She flipped around and landed a hard punch to his jaw before grabbing her gun off the floor and pointing it at them.

The woman held her hands up in surrender as the man regained his composer. Glaring at her.

"Drop your guns." Jesse said.

They didn't move. Jesse yanked the girl in his arms roughly and she cried out again, it was then Beca realized he had her arm bent behind her back like hers had been.

"I said drop them!" He yelled and they both slowly lowered them to the ground.

"Kick them to her." He demanded and two guns slid across the floor to Beca. She put her gun away and reached down picking them up.

"Who are you, how did you find this house?" Jesse demanded.

Beca looked them over, stepping backwards toward Jesse when she spotted something. The dark grey scarf that was dirty, blood stained and torn that was wrapped around the other woman's neck. It was hers. It had been at the last camp.

She lunged at her, knocking her to the ground and straddling her waist. The girl let out a fearful shriek and held her hand up blocking her face.

"Beca?" Jesse asked in a panic. She grabbed the scarf, ripping it from her neck.

The man, Luke moved toward the but Jesse stopped him.

"Touch her and she dies." He said.

"Luke, stop." The woman Beca had pinned said.

Jesse looked at the scarf in Becas hand, recognizing it as one of hers. It hit him then. They were the ones that found their camp.

"Why are you following us?!" He yelled yanking on the woman's arm harder and she screamed in pain as she felt her shoulder dislocate.

"Stop, please!" The woman beneath Beca cried. "We found your camp, it was deserted. We didn't know anyone still lived in it. When we got there, it had a bunch of them…" She said. "We grabbed what we could, then lit on fire. Killing Them, we were leaving when we saw your truck. We followed you, hoping you might need some extra help."

"You destroyed our camp, and you thought following us and asking to join us was a good idea?!"

"We have a lot of your supplies!" She said. "In our car, outside. You seem to know how to do this, and we don't. We have barely made it; we have lost so many people. We need help."

Jesse scoffed. "Yeah, everyone needs help."

The woman looked up at Beca, seeing the blood dripping down the side of her face. "I'm sorry, please,"

"We have things in the car, to clean that up." She said motioning to the blood.

"Yeah, our things!" Jesse said. The woman in his grasp was now openly crying.

"Please, let her go," She said.

Luke looked between them. Both of them were being held, he had no weapon. He didn't know what to do.

"How about, give us our things, and get lost." Jesse said.

"Fine, fine."

Beca glared and stood up, grabbing the girl and yanking her up to her feet.

She looked at Jesse, shaking her head.

"You want them to stay?" He asked incredulously.

Luke glared at them. "What, can't you talk?" He asked and the girl that Beca was holding told him to be quiet.

"We aren't a threat, we will go. You can have your things; they belong to you. And we will go." She said. "Just let her go, please?"

Jesse looked at Beca and she nodded slowly. He released her and she gasped in pain, her arm falling limply to her side.

"What the hell did you do?" Luke demanded walking over to her.

"It's just dislocated, it's fine." She said, gritting her teeth against the pain.

"Now, let Chloe go and we will leave." She said and Beca looked at the girl she was holding. Her name was Chloe.

She shook her head and let Chloe go.

Jesse still held his gun, toward Luke as she walked over to the injured woman.

She gently reached out and the girl flinched away from her.

"Let her." Jesse said, his tone softer. The woman looked at Beca, her tear filled eyes full of fear. Chloe, hurried over.

"What are you doing?" She asked,

"She is going to put her arm back." Jesse said. "Let her."

The girl still looked at Beca cautiously. "It's alright Bree. I'm here."

Beca reached out again and placed her hands on her shoulder. She pushed and pulled and the girl cried out again before they heard another pop and she relaxed. Beca stepped back.

"Thank you." Chloe said wrapping a protective arm around the girl called Bree.

She didn't show any sign of answering her. Instead, she walked over to Jesse.

"What do we do?" He asked.

She looked at them. The two girls, were skinny, and dirty. They had bruises and scratches everywhere. The man, was in almost the same condition.

She raised her gun and pointed it at them. Then nodded at Jesse. He walked over pulling the two girls apart, and began patting the one called Chloe down. She held her arms out, her eyes empty as he checked her for weapons, then moved onto the one called Bree. When she was clear he walked over to Luke.

He was taller than Jesse and glared down at him. Jesse waited a second, before pulling his arm back and punching him in the face. Then grabbed him and shoved him face first against the wall. Chloe and Bree both moved away from them and Beca just watched.

"That was for the warm welcome you gave us. Touch her again, and I will kill you." He growled before patting him down. He found nothing and moved away.

"They are clean." He said.

Beca nodded. "Are you letting them stay?" He asked and she looked them over.

Chloe looked at her as if pleading for her to allow them to stay. The other girl, Bree, looked worn out, and didn't meet their eyes. Luke glared at them. Beca looked him over, then the girls before nodding slowly.

They could stay. Jesse wasn't sure why Beca agreed to this. They didn't know them, the ransacked their camp, followed them, and now Beca was bleeding from the head. He didn't know her plan or if she even had one. How could he? She wouldn't speak.

Jesse watched as she motioned for them to walk in front of her, where she guided them to a back room with a bed.

He heard Chloe thank her and watched as she closed the door and slid down the wall outside the room, making sure they didn't leave it. He could see she was deep in thought. He wondered if she even knew what she was doing. Her knees propped up, her arms resting on them. A gun in her hand.

He looked to Luke. "There is a couch behind you. Sit down." He said and Luke did.

Jesse sat down as well, keeping his gun ready.

They stared each other down for what seemed like hours. Soon the sun was rising, filling the house with light, now that the curtains were taken down.

"What are you going to do?" Luke asked after a long while.

"I don't know yet." He said calmly.

"Is she your leader or something, you have to do everything she doesn't say?" He mocked.

Jesse smiled. "She is smart. She is tough and she could kill you without even thinking twice about it. All of you, and walk out without a scratch." He said. "I do whatever she thinks is best."

Luke glared at him. "I don't think you and I are going to get along very well." He said.

Jesse chuckled. "I think you are right about that."

A/N: Damn. Long ass chapter. PLEASE REVIEW?!