The next morning, Paul woke up and staggered into the bathroom. He turned on the faucet and winced when he grabbed the faucet knob. He looked at the bandages wrapped around his palms and forearms, reminders of last night's trip into hell.

He splashed a little water on his face and took a look at himself in the mirror. His eyes were bright red and had huge bags under them. He looked just like he felt.

Shutting the water off, he wandered out of the bathroom. A few people were up and getting breakfast ready. He wondered if today was Spaghetti O's or Dinty Moore, neither of which sounded very good.

He walked up to the front and grabbed a Snickers bar from the rack by the register and opened it. He wandered aimlessly around the store, eating the candy bar. He spotted Jimmy sitting at the computer, his face nearly pressed to the screen.

Walking over to the manager's office he asked, "What's up, Jimmy?"

Jimmy jumped at the sound of Paul's voice. "Man! You scared the hell out of me," he said.

"Sorry," Paul said. "You find anything interesting?"

"Nah, just the same old stuff," Jimmy said standing up and stretching. He'd been up for three hours already, trolling the internet for any new information.

Paul looked at the boy for a moment. Jimmy was one of their weakest links. He'd frozen at the sight of the zombies twice. But, at least he didn't give up and lay on the ground waiting to be zombie food, Paul reminded himself.

Trying his best to ignore thoughts about last night, Paul asked, "Jimmy, how much do you know about using a gun?"

"Not much," Jimmy admitted. "Larry gave us a quick course on how to clean one and stuff, but I don't remember most of it."

"Wanna learn a little on how to use one?" Paul asked.

Jimmy's eyes lit up and he asked, "Really?"

Paul smiled at his enthusiasm. "Yeah, really. Come on."

Jimmy hesitated. "I don't know. Maybe it's not such a good idea."

"Why not?" Paul asked.

Jimmy sighed and said, "Well, every time I see one of them, I freak. I want to run or shoot or something but I just can't!"

Paul put his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "It's normal to be afraid. Hell, it's normal to be terrified of these damn things. But we can't let that fear control us. We have to push past it. Let me show you how to use a gun right. That way, when you do face these things again, you'll still be afraid but you'll have a really big gun to make the bad guys, and the fear, go away."

Jimmy grabbed Paul's hand and shook it. "Thanks, Paul. This means a lot to me."

"No problem. Come on."

The two headed over to the gun section, Jimmy practically skipping. Paul watched the kid and smiled. Maybe he could help Jimmy toughen up a little. Maybe it would help him stop thinking about last night for a few minutes.

Someone shaking his shoulder dragged Aaron out of a deep, and thankfully, dreamless sleep. He groggily sat up, wiping sleep from his eyes. Who the hell was with him to wake him up? He wondered.

His heart jumped as his brain finally kicked in and he remembered what was going on. Throwing the sleeping bag off of him, he grabbed for his gun.

"Aaron! Calm down!" Jo said beside him.

Aaron stared at her for a moment before he took a deep shaky breath and let it out.

"Damn, Jo, are you out to give me a heart attack?" He asked her.

"Sorry, but you've got to see what I found," she said.

Aaron could hear the enthusiasm in her voice and, looking at her, the way she was biting her lower lip like she always did when she was very excited, he was sure she'd found something good.

He put his boots on and strapped his gun to his waist. Standing up, he asked, "Okay, what do you got?"

She grabbed his hand and practically yanked him of his feet as she dragged him towards the store room. Shoving the door open, she pulled him to the very back of the store room.

"I was up on the second level storage," she said. "I was going through some of the winter stuff to see if there was anything good. Well, I hit my head on one of the shelves. You know how you always have to look up at something when you hit your head? Well, I looked up and saw that!"

Aaron looked to where she was pointing. He could see the second level storage but the only thing he saw was a bunch of boxes.

He looked at Jo and shrugged his shoulders. Sighing in exasperation, she said, "The roof!"

He looked up at the roof. He saw the ladder leading up the roof hatch but…

His jaw dropped. The roof hatch, how the hell had he forgotten about it? His jaw still hanging open, he looked at Jo. She was giggling and grinning from ear to ear. Aaron threw his arms around her and pulled her into a bear hug, giggling like a fool.

"Jo, you are a freaking genius!" He said.

She beamed as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest. It felt so good in his arms. He felt so solid and she knew she was safe with him. Everything that had happened had been worth it for this moment.

Letting go of her, Aaron said, "Go grab some binoculars. I'm gonna go get Paul."

With that, Aaron sped out of the store room. Jo stood for a moment, basking in the glow of his attention. She closed her eyes and could still feel his arms around her. Sighing contentedly, she went to get the binoculars.

Aaron ran across the store, getting several looks of concern from everyone.

"Everything okay?" Larry asked as Aaron ran past.

"Yup!" Aaron yelled over his shoulder.

He skidded to stop at the gun counter, where Paul had been showing Jimmy how to load and use a shotgun. Paul had watched Aaron's mad dash across the store, wondering what had gone wrong now.

"You've gotta see this!" Aaron said to Paul.

"What is it?" Paul asked.

"Just come see!" Aaron said before running back across the store.

"I'll be right back," Paul said to Jimmy, running across the store after Aaron.

Paul ran into the store room. He looked right, at the door outside. He could still hear the zombies banging on it. Shivering at the sound, he looked left and saw Aaron starting up a ladder.

Paul headed over and followed Aaron up the ladder. Grabbing the rungs with his injured hands burned and took him longer than he would have liked. Grumbling under his breath, he made it to the second level only to find Aaron climbing another ladder.

"Aaron, what's the big…"

Words failed him as Aaron reached up, twisted a lever and threw open the roof hatch. Bright sunlight poured down through the hole and Paul could see beautiful, clear sky.

His injured hands forgotten, he shot up the ladder and out onto the roof. He sucked in a deep lungful of fresh air. It had been too damn long since he had been able to breathe fresh air and not have to worry about being eaten while he did it.

The pair grinned at each like idiots for a moment before taking a look around. In the distance they could see smoke from several different fires. Somewhere in the distance, they could hear engines but it sounded like they were going away from Big 5.

Aaron walked over and looked down by the store room door. He counted ten zombies banging on the door and wall. It looked like a few had decided to go find something else to do since last night.

He walked back over to Paul as Jo popped out of the roof hatch with binoculars. They each took a pair and took a closer look around.

Aaron looked over at the Safeway parking lot. It looked like more zombies had migrated into it since last night. He quickly counted thirty and knew there were a lot more. The road in front of Big 5 had some wandering down it too. It looked like the days of being able to go out and get supplies easily were over.

"I think we need to post a couple of people up here just in case a car comes by or something," Paul said. "I don't think we'll have any problem with volunteers."

Jo laughed and said, "I'll be the first to volunteer!"

"Screw you, girly," Paul said, grinning at her. "I'm the first volunteer."

"I think we can have as many people up here as they want. We just need to keep it quiet and stay away from the edges," Aaron said.

After far too short a time in the fresh air and sun, the three made their way back down into the store. Aaron called everyone together and let them know about the roof hatch.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us about that sooner? Why would you hold that information back?" Gloria Redman snapped.

"I forgot about it," Aaron said, rolling his eyes at her.

"Well, I know I want some fresh air but what kind of liability insurance do you have for me if I fall off a ladder?" She asked.

"We'll call 911 and put you outside to wait for them," Danny said making his brother burst out laughing.

Even Aaron couldn't help but chuckle at that one. Gloria huffed and stomped away from the group.

"Okay, anyone wanna go get some sun and fresh air?" Paul asked.

The Alvarez family decided to have a picnic on one corner of the roof. Jo dragged Aaron over to join in. After lunch, Aaron noticed that Little Javier's diaper was extremely dirty. He chuckled and said, "He's been playing pretty hard, hasn't he?"

Mr. and Mrs. Alvarez look at each other and back at Aaron.

"Actually, we're reusing his diapers," Mrs. Alvarez said.

"What? Why didn't you say something? We were at the store and they had a whole bunch of diapers," Aaron said.

"You've done enough for us already, Aaron," Mr. Alvarez said. "You came and got us and brought us to our little girl. Asking you to risk your life for diapers would be wrong."

Jo's face turned crimson. She had asked him to risk himself for tampons but hadn't even thought about her baby brother. She swirled her spoon around the can of chili she had been eating, no longer hungry and wishing she could just disappear.

Aaron frowned at the Alvarez's. "Well, the next time we're out, diapers are a priority on my list. No arguing," he said.

Paul and Jimmy spent the afternoon practicing with a shotgun. Paul showed Jimmy how to load it, chamber a round and aim. Jimmy's mother sat nearby watching the two with an irritated look on her face. She did not think her baby should be playing with guns. He was too gentle of a boy for it. But she didn't say anything. She might be irked, but seeing him happy, having him make new friends and having him off of that damn computer was worth a little irritation.

The survivors spent the rest out on the roof. With things as bad as they were, the fresh air and sun were the boost their morale needed, even if they could still hear the zombies growling and banging on the door below.