Chapter 10

As he opened the last drawer in the kitchen to find it full of nothing but a bottle opener and about four dozen bottle caps, Castle huffed out a perturbed breath and slammed the drawer shut a bit harder than was necessary. Once again, they'd come up empty handed. The supplies they needed were getting harder and harder to find and, quite frankly, it was terrifying.

In the week and a half since they'd been lucky enough to find a fuel-efficient car that was drivable, their food situation had gone from bad to outright dire. Thanks to the deluge of rain, they still had a small (though ever-dwindling) supply of water, but they were down to a few cans of fruit and two protein bars each; that was all. Fortunately, they had been lucky enough to stumble upon not one but two cans of gasoline, but they were soon reaching the point that it no longer mattered how far they could drive if they'd starve before they got there.

When he heard footsteps on the stairs, he hurried back to the hall to see if his companion had any luck. Fortunately, she had, as he saw her carrying two open boxes of Pop-Tarts. "Woah—jackpot."

She let out a breathy laugh. "Yeah, someone—I'm guessing a teenaged boy by the looks of the bedroom—had these stashed under the bed."

A smirk crossed his face wen he noticed a grimace on her face even though she clearly tried to hide it. "They were next to some dirty magazines, weren't they?"

She let out a long, slightly miserable sounding exhale. "I wish. It was a bottle of lotion and a sock."

Castle let out the first real laugh he'd had in weeks—and Kate instantly scolded him for it.

"Stop! That's disgusting. I don't even want to eat these except for the fact that we're literally starving to death."

"Oh, come on," he said flippantly as he took one of the boxes and examined it. "The wrappers are still sealed; they're not tainted."

She blinked at him. "You didn't see the sock!"

"Oh, I can imagine it; I was a teenage boy once, too."

"Gross," she commented before passing by him on the way out of the house. "I assume you found nothing?"

"Nada."

He watched as she reached out for the door handle, but then drew her hand back, and slowly turned back to face him. She turned her gaze towards the boxes she held and then slowly looked up at him with anxiety-filled eyes. "This'll buy us another two days but…"

"I know," he said so she didn't have to finish her thought. He stepped up to her, placed his hand on her shoulder, and forced out a smile he wasn't sure he had any right to give. "We'll figure something out—we have to."

She turned her gaze towards the ground again and confessed. "More and more I'm afraid there will be a time when we can't."

He felt his heart clench inside his chest at her tone. She clearly believed that point in time to be an inevitability. If he was one hundred percent honest with himself, he would have admitted to having similar fears, but he knew such pessimism would not aid in their situation. Now that he'd regained his health and his optimism along with it, Castle knew that he had to be the strong one. He couldn't break or falter in hopes that the women he traveled with would follow suit.

Instead of acknowledging her comment, he merely gave her shoulder a strong squeeze and said, "C'mon; let's see if your mother and Alexis found anything in the house next door."

"Wait—what…Rick, wait! Stop the car!"

Castle moved his foot over to the break and pressed down hard as he looked at the woman beside him in the front of the car. "What is it? Did you see something?"

"I think so but—can you back up a little bit? Slowly?"

He moved the car into reverse and gave it just a little bit of gas so that it would begin to roll backwards. After about a car length she said, "Stop!" and he did as asked. Then, she pointed to something strange that could be seen from behind a row of trees. "What's that?"

"It…it almost looks like a wall," Johanna said from the back seat. "Would that make sense?"

"It's not just a wall," Kate corrected. "It's too big, too…" Her voice drifted off for a moment and she turned to look him in the eye. "It looks like something that was built to keep unwanted things out."

His eyes widened at her implication. "Like…it's new? Like someone built a fortress against those things?"

She gave a little shrug. "Maybe, but if it is a fortress, it would be more than just 'someone.'"

Castle bobbed his head in agreement. Though it was still difficult to see through the trees, now that his eyes had focused in on the structure made up of different pieces of corrugated metal and wood, he could tell it expanded well beyond their field of vision. "So…you wanna check it out?"

"Is that a good idea? You have no idea what could be behind that wall. Those people could be heavily armed; they could be dangerous."

Castle glanced back at the elder woman in the back seat and considered her words. Of course what she said was entirely valid; whatever lay behind that wall could absolutely be dangerous, but it just as easily could be their salvation. Given that their supplies were at a critical low, he believed it was worth checking out.

Turning his eyes back to Kate he said, "We'll approach slow, keep our distance, and just check it out."

"Okay," she agreed.

Castle pulled the car off the main road and left the keys with Johanna while he and Kate went on their expedition. Once they made it through the closest section of trees they were able to see the wall structure more clearly and it truly was an impressive sight—no less than twelve feet tall and spanned nearly as far as they could see. The wall looked solid despite its mismatched materials, though its looming size brought Johanna's comments to the forefront of his mind.

"Left or right?" Kate whispered to him as they hid behind a cluster of trees.

"Left," he whispered back after determining that direction had more tree cover.

After walking for a few minutes they finally were able to see the end of the wall. Or, rather, the corner of the wall, because they quickly realized the structure was indeed a fortress—or seemed to be from where they stood. They made a wide turn, sneaking around behind a row of abandoned houses to continue following the structure. Castle estimated they covered the distance of at least two Manhattan blocks before they came to another corner of the wall, still without seeing any point of egress.

They continued on their exploratory trek until they heard a terrifying announcement from behind—or, rather, above—the wall.

"Stop! You in the trees! If you're alive, come out with your hands up—otherwise we'll shoot!"

"Fuck." Castle halted immediately in his tracks and whispered out the curse. He rotated head back to catch a glimpse of his companion who appeared equally shocked and terrified. He knew they had mere seconds to respond before the threatened shooting would commence, but he could not immediately decide on the right decision. Was Johanna right? Would these well-armed strangers be their demise? Or could they offer the salvation they'd yet to find for themselves?

"What's going on?" he heard from above, though in a quieter tone.

"I think I saw someone."

"A biter?"

"No, I don't think so; they were moving too quietly."

Hearing the conversation between the two men gave Castle the strength to choose to believe in the later scenario; these people could help them. At least, they had to try.

After giving Kate a solid nod, he stepped out from behind the tree line with both hands over his head. "Don't shoot—please." From the corner of his eye he watched Kate mirror his actions.

"Who are you?"

Castle lifted his gaze, but from the angle of the sun he was unable to see the person speaking to them from above the wall. "We, ah, we're just looking for food, shelter."

"Just the two of you?"

"No. We're also traveling with an older woman and a twelve-year-old girl."

"Do you have any supplies with you?"

Castle felt his heart stutter for fear that these fort-dwellers might have unsavory motives. He glanced briefly at Kate, who was staring steadily upwards, and then said, "Ah…not much. We have a working car, some gasoline, a tent…that's about it."

The man behind the wall was silent for thirty seconds before he said, "Come to the gate."

"Where's that?"

"Keep walking to your left."

Feeling it was now safe to do so, Castle lowered his arms and gave his companion another look. She gazed back with uncertainty, but they did continue their trek along the wall. Within a few hundred feet Castle could see what he thought was the gate, but given the angle from which they approached he couldn't see much else. The closer they got, though, one of the large wooden doors began to slowly creep open. Though he wasn't sure what made him do it, Castle reached back and took ahold of Kate's left hand; she didn't pull away.

When they were about ten feet away from the gate, a man stepped out holding a large rifle that made Castle stop in his tracks. Kate bumped into his side, but then he heard her gasp softly, presumably upon sight of the weapon. He moved no closer to keep a safe distance as he studied the man who appeared to be around his age, maybe a few years older, and certainly a lot balder.

"Hello. What are your names?"

"I…I'm Rick and this is Kate."

"Where are you from?"

"Manhattan originally," Kate answered.

The man nodded. "That's a long way off."

"Well, we had to travel a lot on foot," Kate told him.

"We've been trying to get south for the winter. I believe we've crossed into Georgia?" Castle added, knowing they'd passed a sign not too far back.

The man bobbed his head. "You're about twenty miles in. Where's the rest of your group?"

"In a car maybe mile or so away," Rick said.

The man gazed at them for a moment before asking, "Do you have any guns? Weapons?"

"A knife, a screw driver—and we have an axe back in the car."

The strange man appeared amused by this last point, and then he beckoned them forward. "Have to check you for weapons; I hope you understand."

Castle said nothing, but he was forced to drop Kate's hand while the gun-toting man patted them down. When he was satisfied he slung the shotgun over his shoulder with a strap and said, "My name's Trevor, by the way. Would you like to take a look inside?"

"Ah…yeah—yes. Please." He glanced at Kate briefly and then followed Trevor in through the wooden door. Just inside, he felt as though he'd walked into a concrete wall for he couldn't have moved another step if he wanted to; he was too stunned.

"A neighborhood," Kate exhaled with amazement, saying the words he could not. She stepped forward and gazed around the area with an open jaw before turning to Trevor. "How—how long have you been here?"

Trevor skimmed one hand through what little hair he had left and said, "Moved in about…oh, five years go."

This comment rattled Castle loose from his trance and he asked, "Wait—you…you never left?"

"Nope."

"Did you…did you build these walls?"

"We all did. Well, all of us that chose to stay. We've had some others stumble upon us just like you two."

"I…" Castle's voice drifted off as he gazed between the houses that looked as though nothing in the outside world had changed, Kate, who appeared to have tears forming in her eyes, and Trevor, who seemed shockingly nonplused for someone who had threatened to shoot them not five minutes earlier. "This is incredible."

Truly, he wouldn't have believed it if he wasn't looking at it with his own two eyes, but there it was—a community.

"Listen—before we can invite you to stay, we have a sort of review board you'll have to speak with. Why don't you get the rest of your group and come back? In the mean time I'll try to round everyone up."

"I, um," still rather stunned, Castle looked at Kate and gave a little shrug.

"Okay," she agreed.

Still half in a daze Castle followed Kate out of the wooden gate and they began the trek back towards the car. They'd hardly made it more than halfway to the fort's first corner when she stopped, turned back, and smiled at him. "I think…I think we made it."

His expression mirrored hers in an instant. "I think we did, too." Then, as a happy laugh escaped his lips, he stepped forward and pulled her into a tight hug. Her arms banded around his waist and he rested his cheek atop her head. Shutting his eyes, he sighed out with relief.

They had made it; they were going to be okay.

"Well, I suppose you all would like to get settled before it gets too dark, right?"

Kate let out a light laugh, still feeling overwhelmed by her state of utter disbelief. "Ah, ye-yeah, that would be great."

Megan, the tall woman with black hair who had become their makeshift tour guide, nodded and ushered for the quartet to follow her through one of the cul-de-sacs encased in the wood-and-metal fortress. "Yours will be house number 252 on the far side of the road here. As I said, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are in their late seventies now and I'm sure they won't mind having some younger adults around to help them with cleaning and other chores."

"We'll gladly do whatever they want us to; we're just grateful to be here," Rick said.

As Megan led the way, Kate gazed at the surrounding houses with no small amount of disbelief. If she ignored the looming walls surrounding the area, she didn't imagine the street looked much different than it had nine months earlier—back before everything fell apart. Children played with toys in driveways or rode their bikes along the street. Men and women sat on their front porches talking. It all seemed so…normal; she could hardly believe it was real.

By the time they returned to the community with her mother and Alexis in tow, Kate was concerned about what sort of vetting process they would need to go through in order to be accepted, she needn't have been. Trevor met them at the gate once more and took them into the closest house, where two men and a woman awaited them. They were asked a handful of questions about where they were from, what they'd experienced, and who they were before everything fell apart—and that was it. She was almost too shocked to respond when their next inquiry was about whether or not they'd be able to pitch in and help with neighborhood chores.

As it turned out, the community they called Thorndale Place, which was actually just the name of the main street running through it, seemed quite pleased that they were there. According to what Megan told them, several families had chosen to leave as the winter became colder deciding to use the near apocalypse as an excuse to move to Florida, so their numbers had dwindled. The community was looking for anyone willing to be a school teacher and for people to help cultivate land in order to grow food that spring. Johanna volunteered to teach and Rick offered to help with the farming while Kate promised she'd help wherever she could in order to earn her keep.

Megan had laughed when she said this. "Don't worry; we're not going to kick you out if it takes a few tries to find something you're interested in."

She almost immediately felt the urge to cry and, judging by the expressions of those around her, her traveling companions were feeling quite emotional as well. The community truly was a miracle.

After a few minute walk Megan climbed up on the porch of house number 252 and wrapped her knuckles against the front door. A moment later, a grey-haired woman opened it, and then smiled down at the group hanging back towards the sidewalk. "Well don't just stand there in the cold; c'mon inside," she said while waving them towards her.

"I'll let you all get settled in—have a good night," Megan told them before slipping away.

Kate followed Rick inside the home and took in the hardwood floors, stairs leading to a second floor, and the large living room warmed and lit by a wood-burning fireplace in the corner. It wasn't dirty, ransacked, or filled with moaning beasts; it felt like paradise.

"We are so grateful for your hospitality, Mrs. Anderson," Rick began. "Please let us know if there's anything we can do for you or whatever rules you'd like us to follow."

The elder woman waived her hand flippantly. "No rules—nothing quite as serious as that. Let me just take you upstairs so you can get settled in. There are three bedrooms up here, so that should be enough." She paused while she led the way upstairs, gripping firmly onto the handrail as she went. On the second floor landing she turned left and pointed towards a closed door. "This room is a little smaller, but there's a queen-sized bed, and it's more private; should be perfect for you two."

"Oh no we're-"

"No, we're not—not a couple."

Kate and Rick immediately refuted Mrs. Anderson's suggestion that they share a room—and a bed.

"Sorry," Kate continued when she saw the wrinkles in older woman's brow deepen. "It's our fault for not making this clear. We're not a couple; we're just traveling together."

"Yes, this is my daughter, and that's her mother; we found each other on the road," Rick explained further.

Mrs. Anderson nodded. "I see, I see; my mistake. Well, I'll let y'all sort out your sleeping arrangements. The opposite side of the hall has a room with a double bed, and another that we used as an office, but we have an air mattress that can be blown up with a hand pump."

"I'll take that," Rick said immediately, but Kate refuted him.

"Don't be ridiculous. You take the queen, Mom and I will take the double, and Alexis can have the air mattress."

"But-"

"C'mon Dad," Alexis sighed sounding rather tired, "you know you're too tall for air mattresses—remember what happened at my sleepover?"

"Right."

Kate watched as Rick's expression turned peculiar and she wondered what kind of amusing story she was missing out on.

Before leaving them, Mrs. Anderson went on to explain that there were bathroom facilities set up in the back yard, spare blankets and pillows in the hall closet, and that they could come and find her in the downstairs bedroom at any time if they needed anything. All other explanations about their new lives in Thorndale Place would wait until morning.

"Okay, pumpkin, let's get your air mattress set up," Rick said to his daughter before guiding her down the opposite hall. Kate and her mother trailed along behind. They took a peek into the room they'd be sharing, which seemed like a fairly basic guest room, before hovering in the door of the office and watching Rick wrestle the air mattress out of its box while Alexis lazily poked at some of the keys on the desk's computer keyboard.

"Do you think any of this stuff will ever work again?"

"What's that sweetie?" Rick grunted when he finally pulled the mattress from its box.

"Computers and TVs—will they ever work again?" she asked him before turning her gaze to Kate and her mother.

Kate gave a little shrug and then turned her gaze to Rick, seeking out his opinion. He shrugged, too. "I don't think we have any way of knowing that right now, Alexis; let's just be thankful we have a place to stay and take things one day at a time."

"Okay, Dad."

Kate gave her a smile and then knelt down on the ground to help Rick unroll the air mattress. She had no idea whether or not they'd ever have television, internet, or even electricity again, but Rick was right. They needed to be grateful for what they had in that moment. As for the rest, they would simply have to wait and see.