"So there are Hunters, Bandits, Skimmers, and Factions. And these are all the different kinds of people that would want to kill us?" Jessa counted on her fingers.

"And Infected." Kodi added.

"I don't really consider them… People."

Emma poked at the small fire with a twig, mindlessly pushing around the larger ones. Winter was definitely upon them. Just like it always did, the snow seemed to wait until they'd left the city to strike. Just as they passed the last bits of civilization at the foot of the mountains, big flakes began to fall. The further they went, the worse the weather got. Emma could barely see the sun through the overcast sky and reasoned it was around noontime, so the four of them stopped at an abandoned rest area to eat, warm up, and catch their breath. Eric had gotten a little fire going and it was a welcome and morale-boosting miniature inferno. A utility closet revealed a broken radio, a random stash of ration cards from the Denver Q.Z. and a single mason jar of raw honey with a label running across the side reading 'Not for sale outside Quarantine Zone CO-80204.'

"So, what's the difference between Skimmers and Hunters?" Jessa asked Eric.

Eric shrugged at her. "What does it matter? They're both assholes."

"Were you, like, a Hunter before?" Kodi asked.

"No," Eric said sharply, but then softened slightly and looked down into the fire. "No, I wasn't."

Kodi glanced at Emma, confused, who shook her head at him dissuading the young boy from pressing Eric any further.

"Hunters have a place they call home, Skimmers don't; they just wander around outside of the Zones." Emma said.

"I still don't get why the Q.Z.s are such a bad place." Jessa wondered aloud.

"They just are." Ice refroze over Emma's face and she stared back into the fire.

"But why?"

"Jessa…"

"Look, the whole reason we left our home was so that we could go to the Denver Zone. Can you at least tell us why that's not where we're going?" Jessa looked at Emma with deep, honest blue eyes.

Emma sighed, throwing her small twig into the fire. "The Fireflies, that's why."

There was a pause. Kodi spoke up. "Wait, dad told us about Fireflies. I thought they were supposed to be good guys."

"There aren't good guys or bad guys. They're like Factions; they have some good intentions but they have a shitty way of doing what they do. Like, I can respect that Factions have women and children to feed, but they just brutalize the hell out of anyone and everyone they meet. Everyone's out for themselves only; only my Faction is important, and all that. It's the same story with the Fireflies." Emma said.

"So," Jessa hesitated a little. Fireflies and Quarantine Zones seemed like a hot button for Emma, but Jessa had to know and she knew that Kodi was in as much suspense as she was. "Do the Fireflies have kids in their groups, too?"

Emma shrugged. "Not likely, but they might."

Eric spoke again. "Em'…"

"No, if they want to know then they might as well know." Emma said, looking directly at him.

Eric fell silent.

"They were just a simple activist group at the start," Emma continued. "I remember hearing my mom talk about them like they would just be a fad, that people would lose their interest and see the pointlessness in what they were doing. That was a long time ago. They wanted to reinstate all of the government branches; they viewed the military as being oppressive to everyone in the Zones. Don't get me wrong, they were one-hundred-percent right in that regard. The military used to be an honorable, sacrificial, and protective bunch. When I was a kid we saw them as superheroes, people who fought the fights that we couldn't. But that was a long time ago, too. The military that you'd see in the Zones… They were unreasonably brutal, could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, and no one could say anything against them. It sucked living like that. I wanted out, I wanted out so badly. I was suffocating in that damned Zone, but then the Fireflies just made it worse."

Jessa spoke slowly and gently, feeling the anger stirring in the young woman. "…Did you grow up in the Zone?"

"Oh, I grew up in the Zone, but I wasn't raised in the Zone," Emma lifted her head defiantly, her emerald eyes flashing in the fire and the hue of the flames making her hair glower with a bright, almost alive bright orange. "It was in Helena; way up in Montana. Before the outbreak, my parents were one of the wealthiest people in their area. I was the spoiled only child of them. Everyone listened to me, and everywhere we went everyone knew the little red-haired Helmsman girl. I'd get into trouble a lot, but I wasn't ever really punished that hard. I think my parents were over protective of me. But, obviously, it happened. The night the outbreak hit our region my parents hid me in this panic room behind a bookshelf. I didn't even know we had a panic room. They came back hours later and told me not to worry, but how could I not? They were really edgy. Apparently the Cordyceps hadn't actually gotten to our town yet, and a couple days later this cop came to our house and told us that we had to go. They didn't even let me grab anything on the way out, dad just carried me out to a police car and we left for Helena's Q.Z. And that's where we stayed for the next seven years. It drove me fucking insane. Soldiers always coming to our door and checking me to see if I was Infected, everyone always angry or crying or shouting, never having that feeling of safety; they called it a safe-zone but it felt like everyone was always afraid of something.

"The Fireflies appeared and when I first heard about them I considered joining them. I thought it'd be 'cool' whatever the hell that means. Mom and dad got angry at me; said that I needed to keep quiet and just do what everyone else did. Whatever. On my fourteenth birthday I snuck out of our apartment and met up with one of my friends at their place. We talked, hung out, and threw knives at a wall until my parents knocked on the door. They were furious. When we got back home they yelled at me and I yelled back. I couldn't keep living like they were, doing whatever anyone told them to do. Dad told me that a life of submission to the soldiers was the best way to stay alive. I told him it was the worst way to live. I started crying, they held me, and I begged, I pleaded for us to leave the Zone. Dad said that there was nowhere else for them to go. He didn't talk to me after that… Not ever again.

"I ran into a closet and locked myself in there. I heard mom tell him to let me calm down. Then the door broke open, there was some yelling, this stranger who broke in said he was a Firefly. He said he needed a place to hide, and before my parents could do anything I heard radio chatter outside in the hall and I knew it was soldiers. They broke in, and started shooting. I heard all of it. They killed the Firefly, and then I heard my mom scream, and for some reason they asked my dad if they had any children." Emma paused.

Eric looked at her and she raised her head. Something in his eyes comforted her and she brushed some hair out of her eyes and sighed.

"Dad told them no; he said he didn't have any kids. The soldiers said, 'good,' and then I heard them shoot him. I had to listen to the whole thing. Afterwards one of those pieces of shit said my parents were 'in the way.' Like… You son of a bitch. But I couldn't do anything, they didn't think anyone else was in the apartment and if I even made a sound they'd probably come and kill me, too. The soldiers are awful but The Fireflies made it worse, they just made it worse. Those Fireflies poked a hornets' nest and got everyone around them stung, whether they were involved or not."

The twins fell silent, Kodi looking into the fire and Jessa maintaining her gaze at Emma. Jessa spoke. "I'm sorry, Emma."

Emma looked up, the fire returning to her eyes and the stubborn confidence returning to her posture. "I promised myself that night that I'd get out of that Zone, even if I hadn't a clue where I was going. Once the soldiers were gone I tried sneaking away to my friend's place again but they were gone. I still don't know where they went. So then I thought I'd just try to escape by myself. I didn't get very far, obviously. I actually did get outside of the walls but I was trapped between these two lookout towers. I had no idea where to go when this lady found me and helped me get past them unseen. She brought me to this group that lived outside the Zone and they took me in. Just like that, no questions. They just asked if I needed a place to stay, I started crying, and she hugged me. They raised me. Those people taught me how to fight, how to protect myself, how to survive, and how to live on my own terms without some military or Firefly getting in the way. That group gave me hope that morality and humanity isn't dead yet, that there are still people in this world capable of good. Ten years later they decided to migrate south. When we got to the Denver Q.Z. it was so unfamiliar and we weren't really sure how to get around it, but we met someone pretty helpful."

At this point, Emma looked over directly at Eric, who lowered his head in an almost bashful fashion.

Emma continued. "Eric helped us, said he could get us through the city without any trouble from soldiers or Hunters or anyone. And we almost made it… We were so close, and then someone broke cover before they should've and we got spotted. It was a bloodbath; I mean we didn't have a chance. Somehow, somehow I escaped. I thought I was on my own again but a day later Eric found me. I'd lost my parents, I'd lost the family that raised me, and then here comes this guy who offers to help me find some place to stay."

"And what happened?" Kodi asked.

"I decided to just stay with him." Emma said.

The four went quiet. Emma thought to herself that it actually felt kind of good to tell someone, to release what she always kept bottled up. Jessa's voice broke the silence.

"I'm sorry you lost your parents like that."

Emma looked back into the fire. "I guess that's something we have in common."

"Something we all have in common." Eric added quietly.

"So that's why we're not going to the Zone." Kodi said.

Emma looked deep into the young boy's sapphire eyes. The emotional and vulnerable state she'd collapsed into during her backstory speech vanished, and a determined, maternal, fiery one took its place. "That's why. I've seen what goes on inside those walls, and how people actually live in there. I'm not going to put you through that."

The next day the snow was in full winter mode. Thick white bundles were draped over large evergreens and the snowfall covered the mountains, rendering the landscape a difficult to navigate sea of white. With no vehicles to clear the snow and heat the road surface, even the highways were sometimes only identifiable by the mile markers and the occasional speed limit sign. As the group began their ascent deeper into the mountains and higher in elevation, the frigid environment got more intense.

Eric had decided to stick to the highways as long as possible. After some thought, he'd finally remembered that Whitefish Lake was a place he had temporarily stayed the night years ago during the summer, prior to meeting Emma. He knew that the lake and likely its resort town as well were only accessible by horse trail or dirt roads, but he wanted to stay close to pavement as long as possible.

Having traveled into the heart of the Rockies several times before, Eric and Emma were well-prepared for the winter months. Kodi and Jessa, however, were traveling on the lighter side. Although they knew the harsh realities and cold of winter well, they had left their mountain home for the Denver Q.Z. during the heat of summer, and likely thought they would be safely inside the Zone when winter hit. They layered on clothes and covered their heads with scraps of fabric as best they could, but it was obvious they hadn't prepared for winter in the mountains.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up." Eric suddenly stopped, holding up a gloved hand. The three behind him stopped moving, listening. The road ahead turned sharply right, with a large hill obstructing their view of what lay on the other side of the hairpin.

"What?" Emma whispered.

Eric turned his head slightly towards her, but kept his eyes focused straight ahead and he held up his finger, pointing out the noise. Very faintly, amidst the whistling of the wind through the trees, those unmistakable clicks were heard.

"How the hell are they alive out here? It's freezing!" Kodi hissed.

Emma pulled her binoculars out. "Keep quiet." She crouched down and stealthily made her way up to the apex of the turn, then let out a short gasp before retreating a half step.

Eric made his way towards her slowly and saw her hand motions telling him in the signage they had devised that there were too many to count. "Dammit."

Eric, Kodi and Jessa came up behind Emma, who was surveying the scene before them. She and Eric had fought a group of Infected this large before and walked away, but just barely. They had fought viciously and won, but it was not an encounter she wished to repeat. Not more than a hundred yards away from them, an old military roadblock stood sentry. Its hastily erected steel walls covered one half of each lane, creating a bottleneck in the middle of the road that allowed only one car to pass at a time. The walls themselves rose up almost fifteen feet, with scaffolding visible where lookouts and gunmen once stood. A small military scout car that was not a Humvee was visible off of the road on the shoulder, its windshield shattered and several battle scars across its sheet metal. No less than a half dozen Infected were seen stumbling around the walls and from the sounds of it there were several more hidden from view.

"How do you want to deal with this?" Eric said.

Emma continued watching the beasts through her binoculars for a few seconds before responding. "If we can sneak by them I'd really love that. I think we could take them if we have to but let's not and say we didn't."

The snow made stealth much more difficult. In addition to the crunch of the snow underfoot, the thick flakes tumbling out of the sky created a curtain that dulled the natural sounds of the environment, amplifying even the slightest crack of a twig. Jessa crept along behind Eric, following the experienced man's movements. She'd had to sneak past Infected several times before, and had to shoot a few as well, but had never opened fire at one closer than a dozen yards. The thought of one of those things that close terrified her. She had never seen so many in one place. The four of them crept carefully through the fresh snow, numerous Infected wandering about not far from them. As they passed the roadblock itself, she saw Eric unsheathe his boot knife and grasp it into his hand. This was truthfully going better than she had expected. She thought for sure one would see them or…

Eric froze in front of her as a rabbit darted out of the snow, sprinting away from the roadblock. It was enough. The sound of the small animal bursting from the snow caught the attention of a single Clicker, who turned around and let out a short shriek. The throaty cry was enough to alert another Clicker, who threw its head back and roared.

Jessa fumbled with her pistol, struggling to retrieve it from her backpack's side pocket with hands sheathed in gloves too large for her small hands. She instinctively began backing away from the road as she grappled with the weapon second after agonizing second, her rising panic making her clumsy. The Clickers' cries had alerted the rest of the horde, and a dozen Runners exploded from behind the scout car.

"Oh, mother…!" Emma drew her pistol with lightning speed and fired, the bullet searing into the fungal plates of one of the Clicker's heads.

Eric jammed his knife into the trunk of a nearby tree and unclipped his shotgun, shouldering it and squeezing off a shot just seconds before a charging Runner would've come within grappling distance. He rammed the slide back, the empty shell flying out trailed by wisps of smoke enhanced by the icy air.

Jessa threw her gloves off desperately and reached back, drawing her weapon. She flipped the safety off but when she looked up, a Runner was sprinting directly at her. She willed herself to shoot, but her finger pressed harmlessly against the outside of the trigger guard as a shiver from either the cold or her own adrenaline-fueled terror made her clench her fist involuntarily. Her thumb stabbed the magazine release button, and the full clip ejected from the weapon and fell into the snow.

"No!" Jessa screamed and tucked her index finger inside the trigger guard, commanding her finger to pull the trigger. The single round in the chamber exploded from the barrel, and she watched in horror as its vapor trail hurtled to the right of the Runner's head, missing him completely. His tattered coat hung in shreds over his body, and one sleeve had been ripped off revealing his bluish-gray skin. Splotches of skin were burned from the cold and cuts had appeared in places where the thin and frozen skin had cracked from movement. His actions were erratic and jerking as his muscles struggled to gain command over the frozen joints. His eyes were bloodshot, and seemed almost to glow bright red as he ran for her snarling and she saw even more Infected behind him, dashing drunkenly at her. Then there was a sudden concussive pop and the Runner stumbled, doubling over at the waist and falling to the ground. He scrabbled at the snow for traction and poised to leap at Jessa before there was another concussive pop and he collapsed face first into the snow, thrashing about for a few seconds before going limp.

Jessa lowered her wide eyes to the ground and reached a trembling hand out to pick up her fallen magazine. She shook the snow off of it and crammed it back into her pistol when Kodi stepped in front of her, his assault rifle set firmly into his shoulder. He kicked the Runner that had attacked Jessa to make sure he had killed it before backing up closer to her and lifting the weapon into a firing position. He took a sharp breath in and exhaled half of it before his finger squeezed the trigger. The military-issue ammunition rocketed into an approaching Infected, tearing through the fabric breast pocket of the Clicker's shirt and exploding out the back.

Eric, several Infected lying dead at his feet, pushed more shells into his shotgun and briefly whipped his attention over to the other three. Emma ripped an empty magazine out of her pistol and reached back to shove it into one of her magazine holders sewn onto her backpack. She grasped the full one next to it and slid it into her pistol, snapped the slide forward and took aim. But Eric was caught off guard by a young blonde boy holding an assault rifle. His left hand was clutching the hand guard confidently, and his right hand was seated on the grip with his right elbow folded down closely against his side. He fired, and Eric saw a Runner fall. Kodi swiveled at his waist and snapped to his next target, firing and another Runner buckled and fell into the snow.

A random agonized scream jolted Eric out of his observation as the last Clicker ambled towards him, flailing its arms wildly. Eric raised his shotgun and fired, hearing the buckshot rip through its target. He looked around as the area fell silent.

"You guys must have been doing work; I thought there were like twenty more of those things." He said.

Emma holstered her gun. She grabbed Jessa, who still was standing somewhat motionless, and led her by the arm away from the roadblock. "Let's not wait around to find out."

"Why was that thing there, anyways?" Kodi asked.

"What," Eric said, caught somewhat off guard by the question. "You mean the roadblock?"

"Yeah."

"Well, early in the outbreak the soldiers were trying to keep the Infected away from the Q.Z. but still wanted to try and reach non-Infected people who were in more remote places. They set up checkpoints on certain highways to make sure no one that wasn't supposed to be there tried sneaking up too close to the Zones. This, apparently, was one of them."

Kodi thought for a moment. "Those Clickers; they had uniforms on. Do you think they were soldiers?"

"Probably used to be."

"What about those Runners? They looked like they'd turned fairly recently and they were wearing, like, normal clothes."

Eric hesitated and then shrugged. "I don't know, kid. Let's just keep moving forward."

"Okay." Kodi said, dismissing the subject. He glanced back at Jessa, who was walking quietly alongside Emma. He faced forward again and adjusted the strap of his rifle.