That night we set up camp in the woods, and I lit a fire. We were heading toward Philly, already. Every step closer made me more nervous. Nora was patching up her wound from a rebel buddy.

Watching her lay down, wincing at the tenderness in her side, I said, "What unit are you from? The rebels, I mean."

She eyed me.

I blushed a little. "I only ask because I had a friend from the St. Anne Unit."

"Oh really? Who?"

"His name is Scott Frobisher."

She raised an eyebrow, not suspicious this time. "Really? He's a friend of yours?"

"Yeah. So you know him?"

"I never met him. I'd only heard of him. He was a Free Agent, like you, who was always out on assignments. He was the best assassin the rebels had."

"Was?"

"Oh... is, probably."

I swallowed. "So you don't know if he's still alive?"

"No. I'm not sure, I mean."

I nodded, looking into the fire for a few seconds. It crackled, filling the silence. Aaron dug at the ground with a stick. Charlie was asleep on her bedroll. Miles was staring up. He did that a lot. The stars were out. The others started to drift off. I don't know what it was about me and him, but we didn't sleep much. Probably all the faces. So many that they weren't individual faces, anymore. They melted together and any face I saw could have been someone I'd killed. I'd see children on the streets and wonder if I killed them in their past life.

Not that I believed in that crap.

I leaned toward him and murmured, "I need to talk to you."

He stood silently and followed me out into the woods. When the flickering of the campfire was only a spark through the trees, I sighed, and leaned on a tree. I missed the sex already, and it had only been one night.

"We can't do this any more."

He shot me a look, like I was insane. I felt a little insane.

"I mean it. I've been really stupid. I haven't even asked you about STD's, we don't have protection, and I cannot get pregnant-."

"-Whoa, whoa." He waved a hand, stepping closer. "Slow down. Come on, do you really think I'd be doing this if I thought I'd hurt you?"

"I barely know you."

"Well I wouldn't. I'm clean. And the pregnancy thing... that's... I'm snipped."

I eyed him. He wouldn't meet my gaze. He cleared his throat. I laughed suddenly. "You're so uncomfortable. You've seen parts of me I didn't even know existed and you're uncomfortable talking about a vasectomy." I kept giggling.

He rolled his eyes, but took another step closer, reaching out to slide his hands down around me, into the small of my back. He pulled me into him, so our bodies were tight against one another. "So...?"

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my head. But the only thought on my mind was where his hips were pressed against mine, and how lovely it felt. It felt like immortality. When he moved against me, I felt a tiny whimper escape, and cleared my throat.

"Well..." I licked my lips once, then bounced up onto my toes and kissed him, hands starting to work at un-tucking his shirt from his belt. But I separated from him a second later, hearing running water in the distance. We were near a river. "Come on," I said, and dragged him through the trees.

The river was black, reflecting a rippling version of the night sky, with a full moon above visible perfectly through the clearing.

"Perfect," I whispered.

Then Miles' hands were on my hips, pulling me back against him, and his lips were trailing down the back of my ear to my neck. I shut my eyes. Then he spun me around and kissed me fiercely, stripping off his coat. We fell to our knees and he clumsily tried to smooth the jacket out below me in the dirt, laying me down.

His desperate hands were pulling at my clothes seconds later, wasting no time. We undressed each other, and he kept his lips at mine, soft and heavenly. His hands slid down my arms, then traced back up the other sides and he cupped one breast softly. I rolled my hips, whimpering as he rolled my nipple between his fingertips. His lips moved down my neck, and his entire body slid down, pulling away from me.

When his lips found my other nipple I focused on breathing deeply. Then his teeth scraped my skin and I hissed, forgetting how for a few seconds, kneading my hands in his hair.

His hands slid down my sides, warm and a little rough. They gripped my hips, then moved on to skim my thighs, outside and in, rubbing the soft skin there and trailing his mouth down to my stomach. His hand grazed me where I was waiting to feel him. Seeming to drop the pretense, he ducked down and pulled me closer to him, pursing his lips against my flesh while easing a finger into me.

I let out a low moan, covering my mouth to muffle the sounds I made, unable to contain myself from what his tongue was doing to me.

"Oh-!" I called when he added a second finger, stroking my walls.

The moon was full overhead, seeming to stare down at us. It was exhilarating. Then the sensations were suddenly gone, and he moved to hang over me again. He kissed me passionately, and I fought back with my tongue, spreading my legs to allow his hips to come closer and wrapping my arms around him to bring his chest down against my chest.

His body rubbed against mine, pinning me down as he slid his length into me. For a second I was frozen in bliss. That perfect fit. The reaches of his hardness filling me. When he started to move I brought my knees up on either side of him, moving my hips in a fluid motion as he thrust into my heat.

So good.

I kept rocking my knees so he stretched me in new ways, each movement teasing new nerve endings. His movements became more desperate, and each thrust was a single, jerking crash where our bodies came together. I whimpered after each impact, my muscles beginning to contract.

"God-," I gasped. "Ung."

He groaned softly into my hair, hands softly cupping my ass to pull me against him as he drove himself into me.

"Uh," I whimpered as everything came undone, and I winced from the pleasure.

He pulled out of me a few seconds later, and I heard his hiss of breath. Then he laid beside me, very close on the single coat, and we breathed for minutes, maybe an hour, looking up. There was an unspoken connection. We had sex, we were good at it, and we liked it that way. We weren't suddenly going to start sharing our feelings.

I said plainly, "I think I have daddy issues."

He stared at me for a second, then cracked a smile. He chuckled, and I laughed, and I realized I'd made a friend.

I stood after a while, flipping my hair out and padding over to the water on my toes, hoping my body looked as good as I imagined but knowing it did not. I looked back, turning so the curves of my body showed. "You should come in."

And then I walked out a few steps and ducked below the surface, wetting my hair. I came back up and wiped the water away from my face, seeing him wade in after me. My heart rate increased. I floated gracefully along until Miles caught my foot and dragged me back to him. The water was cold, causing goose bumps to form on my exposed skin, and my nipples to harden to point. He took each of my hands and pulled me even closer, so I was pressed against him, chest to chest.

"I'm actually terrified of water," I said. "If I could feel the ground right now, I'd be freaking out."

He didn't answer, just kissed me deeply. I ran my fingers through his hair, matting it down and spiking it up a little in places. I forgot how to breathe for a second, and it felt like I couldn't feel the ground.

When we came up for air, I gasped for the breath I'd been missing. He smiled a little, shaking his head, and moved to break away. I grabbed his hand. "Don't go yet. You didn't even get wet."

He looked away. "What are we doing, here?"

I was stunned for a moment. "I think we're friends."

"Yeah."

"Who are you worried about getting attached? Me or you?"

He didn't answer.

"Well let me ease your mind. You couldn't ever be attached to me, because you're a self-centered jerk, and I'm not pretty enough for anything but a casual screw. I feel nothing for you. I promise."

He gave a nod. "Let's head back."

We dressed in silence. I picked up Miles' sword before he got the chance to, and handed it to him. He accepted casually. There was a trust there, whether we liked it or not. Before we started back, he ducked to kiss me once more.

Two days passed. Nora's condition deteriorated quickly, an infection spreading from the cut in her side, turning the skin a sickly green and making the veins stand out in dark black. The fever came on over night and she was delirious in the morning.

"She needs a doctor," Charlie said, ever the saint. "Or at least some antibiotics."

"We'll hit the closest town-," Aaron volunteered hopefully.

Miles cut him down sharply. "No. We're too close to Philly. The Militia's looking for all of us."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"I know a place," he said, though he didn't sound happy about it. "Syracuse, with me."

The two of us strayed dangerously close to town. Lurking in the trees next to a distinctive trail, we waited until a wagon of several Monroe Militia soldiers came rolling around the bend. Miles walked out with steady steps and the thing screeched to a halt.

He gave only the smallest flick of his sword as the first man jumped from the back and charged at him. The soldier fell to the ground. I ran out as the other soldiers jumped down, drawing their swords. I stabbed through one's chest before he saw me coming, then spun with an upward cut that sliced deep into another's abdomen, from hip to shoulder. Blood spurted out and a few drops landed on my boots. Miles had two more on the ground.

The only one left was the driver, who dropped the reigns of the horses, holding his hands up defensively. "Please don't-."

I stepped up to him and grabbed him, sliding my sword's sharp edge across his throat with a jerk of my arm. He tumbled limply off the perch. Killing him was necessary. We couldn't afford to leave loose ends that could report our whereabouts, and I didn't really care to spare any militia soldier.

We took the wagon and headed back to where the others were waiting, where I helped pull Nora into the back. She groaned weakly. I felt a little pity. I didn't really like Nora after the stunt she pulled on the train, but I didn't want to see her die, if only for Charlie's sake. It was her quest. She took the deaths to be her responsibility.

I'd felt the same way, a very long time ago, when I was very young.

In Philadelphia, at night, there were enough lights from fires and candles on that the place almost felt like the world had before the blackout. That was the appeal of the place. The walls around the town were three stories high, impossible to scale. They were constantly monitored by a troop of soldiers. I'd had my turns on the wall, before, of course. Decorated soldier, training to be the best of the best. For what purpose? Frobisher didn't go through as much training. He had the course longer than foot soldiers; trained to be an officer because of the obvious potential.

Frobisher and I walked among the barracks after lights out, hands tucked into our pockets to fight the cold of the fall night. I blew out a breath, and it misted. "Usual patrols."

"Mm-hm," he affirmed. He looked mischievous when he bit his lip, wiggling his eyebrows. "So General Monroe visited you after putting you in the hospital. Did you two get cozy?"

"I didn't have a shot at his throat, if that's what you're asking."

"Easy now. Just curious what the good general wanted."

"You know he's training me for something special."

"Yup. Did you find out what?"

"No. But he said I'd passed my training."

A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. "Ooh," he murmured, "Big shot, general-to-be slumming it with the likes of me. I'm flattered."

I stared at him, smiling in confusion. "General-to-be? No-."

A siren went off, the old sounding kind that was without electricity, like a continuous horn. I wheeled around to watch the men on the wall, who rushed to confer with each other. The towns seemed still, but panic spiked in me.

"What's going on?" I called over the roar.

"Going into lock down."

"Do we wait?"

He took only a second. "No. We go now."

The escape wasn't ever going to be easy. The militia viewed its soldiers as investments, and if we took off with our skill and trainings, to fight for someone else, that was a grave offense, punishable by death.

"Stealth is no longer an option," I said as we hurried into the shadows of one building. Someone would be coming by to herd everybody inside. "What's the best idea you've got?"

"Subway tunnels?"

"Won't work. If we're on lock down it'll be heavily guarded."

"Take a shift on the wall, fight our way out?"

"Big guns, we wouldn't make it five feet out on the other side."

We bounced ideas off each other effortlessly, two parts of one mind. Karen was scoping out the gated entrance to the wall, on the eastern side of Philly.

I said, "We have to meet Karen at the rendezvous point. I only see one way we'll get out of here tonight."

"Hostage."

I gave a small nod, then we started at a jog for the bakery we were to meet at. I was panting a mile in, but Frobisher showed no signs of breaking.

"Monroe and Matheson will be guarded," I wheezed.

"Not Matheson," he said, a tiny smile on his face as he shook his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just a hunch about the lock down."

"Should we try for him, then?"

"He'd kill us both," Frobisher breezed.

He held up a hand to stop me, seeing something on the street ahead, and shoved me over into an empty alley, pressing flat to the brick wall behind me and pinning me with his body close to mine. We were silent as a few men ran by with big guns. I wiped sweat off my forehead and hunched over.

"I hate running," I murmured. "So who do we get? Neville? Baker? Not Strausser."

He laughed. "Not Strausser. What a scary prick."

"Maybe Hudson's our best bet. Baker and Neville would be guarding General Monroe, personally."

"I have it on good authority Hudson won't be around at the moment."

I looked at him heavily, not sure what he wasn't telling me. But there was enough trust for me to hold off on the questions. "Julia."

He whistled. "I'd take her hostage any day."

"Haven't you?"

"Nah. She's one of those loyal types."

"How annoying for you."

"Let's do this. We get Karen. Then we get Julia. Then we get the Hell outta Philly."