It was while I was running through the woods that I realized I had no idea where Alice and Edward could have gone. I decided to stop and try to hear anything. Luckily (or not) zombie moans carry. While a good warning, they tend to attract more as well. I heard something after a minute-but something that made my blood run cold. Alice screaming Edward's name.

I ran blindly towards her voice. My mind stuck between imagining zombies converging on Alice and Edward and memories of Jake. I found them in a small clearing, a perfectly round meadow, as I would remember later, but I was concentrating on seeing Edward swing his weapon and take out a zombie. That brought my gun back to mind, and I pulled it out, quickly dispatching the final two.

"Thanks." Edward panted, looking rather relieved.

I turned to face him, keeping my gun up. I noticed Alice was in a tree and Edward had his back against it. "You had better prove to me right now that you're clean." I said, my voice sounded strange. I supposed I was trying to sound threatening.

Edward sighed and pulled off his shirt. "Happy?" he asked.

I remembered Jake. "Walk forward." I watched as he took a few steps. No limp.

"Is there a purpose to my walking?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"You aren't limping." I stated, and even I could hear the relief in my voice.

"Oh. Right." Edward's voice was soft. He walked back to the tree, tugged his shirt back over his head, and held his arms out to help Alice out. "We went for a walk. I heard gunshots, but couldn't remember how to get back, so I had Alice stay in the tree. So, got anything to show us?" Edward asked, trying to sound casual, but his grip on the lobotomizer tightened as he picked that up.

I walked up to him, proving I wasn't limping, handed him my gun and pulled my shirt off, turned once, and then pulled it back on. "Nope." I replied, taking my gun back. "Come on. I think we've had enough fun for one day."

"Who limped?" Edward asked as soon as we were safely back in the shelter.

I ignored him as I lit the candle and pulled my book out.

"Edward, will you tell me a story?" Alice asked.

"Sure. What do you want to hear?"

"Cinderella!" Alice exclaimed.

I pretended to read as I watched Edward tell Alice the story, the Brother's Grimm version, not the Disney one. I smiled slightly as he even tried to give each character their own voice. I smiled as Alice drifted off to sleep.

"The only way I could get her to sleep after finding her was by telling her a story." Edward said with a smile as he placed a blanket over her. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay." I said quietly. "His name was Jacob. He was two years younger than me. We met in the camp, and quite frankly, the age difference didn't matter. He taught me how to shoot, only to claim I was a natural. He asked me to be his Valentine." I felt the tears form in my eyes. "We had a spot. It was near the lake. It was a bad spot strategically. He told me he loved me and had me run back to camp. I was too late." Tears were streaming freely down my face now.

Edward sat down against the wall next to me and just held me as I cried.


And a little "aww..." moment there at the end.