More gunfire. But now I hear voices, too.

Our reaction is immediate. Thor stuffs the map back in his pocket. Everyone draws a weapon or two. Pistols, rifles, an electric glove and a bow. That's all we've got.

I hope whatever's in there hasn't got anything better.

Thor: "What are we waiting for? Whoever is in there just shot at us—"

Steve: "Not at us."

He's right. More bullets fly—we can hear them—but none come our way. The people in the woods are fighting something else.

Steve puts a finger to his lips. Beckons us forward. We follow him across the painted lanes. To the concrete barrier.

There's movement in the trees. Two people. Firing guns. Moving backward. Moving toward us.

They reach the highway before I see the zombies chasing them.

The woman swears, reloading her pistol. She's wearing all red. Red shirt. Red leather pants. Red sneakers. A flame next to the better-dressed man beside her.

I look past them. To the zombies. Bodies litter the ground from the couple's bullets, but there are more standing. Maybe a dozen. A good-sized group. Not runners, but still deadly.

I turn to Steve.

Me: "We should help them."

He nods.

Steve: "Nat! Take Thor and Tony. Circle around the right. Coulson and I get the left. Clint?"

Me: "Stay here?"

Steve: "You're protected by the barrier. Good place to shoot from. Keep Bruce with you. He's not much with a gun."

Bruce: "I resent that."

He's smiling as he says it.

Everyone gets in position. Good timing, too. The walkers are nearly up to the couple. About ten yards away, and getting closer.

Our people split off like Steve said. Attack from the sides while the newcomers keep at it from the front. I help a little. Try to get some arrows in without hitting anyone. I watch the others while waiting for an opening.

Thor switches to his hammer pretty quickly. He smashes the zombies' brains rather than putting bullets in them.

Tony tries his glove. It misfires and electrocutes a nearby tree instead of the zombie he aims for. After that he pulls out a gun.

Natasha is kneeling on the ground. Pistols held out in front of her. Focused on the zombies she takes down. And she takes them down beautifully, efficiently. Not a bullet wasted.

A little bit of hair is stuck to her mouth.

Then I see the zombie behind her. It's just now leaving the woods. Lagging behind the others. It's almost on her. She's not looking. She doesn't have time. I do.

Breathe in.

Aim.

Breathe out.

Release.

The arrow sails over Natasha's head. Into the head of the zombie. It falls back. Lands with a hard thump on the asphalt.

Natasha looks back at it. Then at me. She gives me a little salute with one of the pistols. I know it means thank you.

Then there are no more zombies. There's just us, breathing hard. And them. The woman in red and the man in the dark blue.

The Woman: "Thanks."

The Man: "Seriously."

Tony grins at the woman. He shoves the glove back in his bag.

Tony: "No problem."

Natasha holsters her pistols. Stands up.

Natasha: "You two have names?"

The Woman: "Wanda. I'm Wanda. This is my brother. Pietro."

Coulson: "Pietro? Not the most common name around here."

Pietro shrugs.

Wanda: "Who are you? We haven't seen other people in months."

Pietro: "And the last ones we met weren't quite as friendly as you. Assuming you're friendly."

Coulson: "Don't worry. Friendly neighborhood zombie hunters, that's us."

Bruce: "Are you guys all right? That was a pretty big pack you had on your tail."

Pietro: "Yeah. It was a close call, but we're fine. Bit low on supplies, though. You guys know anyplace that's still got food stored away?"

Steve: "Better. We've got a base half a day's walk north of here. Kind of a last-refuge-for-humanity type deal. We'll tell you how to get there. You'll be safe. Plenty of food and plenty of backup for when the next pack comes calling."

Pietro: "Seriously? Thanks, man. Don't know how to repay you."

Wanda: "We don't even know your names."

Steve: "Captain Steve Rogers of Camp Shield. This is my team."

Wanda: "Well, Captain-Steve-Rogers-of-Camp-Shield-and-team, won't you stay and talk for a while? Seeing as you just saved our lives, and all."

Steve looks over at Bruce, who shakes his head. By now, everyone's come together again in the middle of the highway. They've all holstered their weapons. I've gathered my arrows again and slung my bow over my shoulder. Now I'm sitting on the barrier. Kicking my heels against the concrete.

Bruce: "Can't. We're two days behind. Sleeping late already cost us more time than we could afford."

Steve: "Sorry. We have to keep moving. Best we just give you directions to the camp."

Thor: "Trust us when we say we are going somewhere you do not want to be."

Pietro: "Yeah? Where's that? Who are you following?"

There's a moment of uncomfortable silence. I meet Natasha's eye. She coughs once. I know what she's thinking. It's what we're all thinking.

Don't ask.

Pietro: "What, you're not gonna tell us? Fine. We'll just have to see for ourselves."

He jumps to Steve's side. Fists posed at his hips.

Pietro: "We're coming with you."

Steve: "What? No."

Wanda: "Look, we get it. We just met. But you're obviously going somewhere dangerous, so why not have a couple of extra guns while you're at it?"

Pietro: "Totally. I'm pretty fast on the draw."

Natasha has wandered back to the barrier as they talk. She gives me a pointed look. I roll my eyes in response. She's right. This is stupid.

Me: "We're headed to ground zero. That's why they don't want you to come."

Wanda and Pietro turn around. They both stare at me.

Pietro: "What—"

Coulson: "The kid's right. We're following some zombies who've snagged our interest."

Steve: "And they've already got a two-day lead on us. It's time we started catching up. Nice meeting you guys."

He jumps back over the barrier and picks up his bag from where he dropped it. The others do the same. Everyone starts following the road again. South.

I follow, too. But so do the siblings.

Wanda: "I'm sorry. I must have heard wrong. I thought the guy with the bow said you were going to ground zero."

Tony: "Yep."

Wanda: "Where the outbreak started."

Tony: "That's the one."

Wanda: "The city crawling with millions of zombies."

Tony: "An astute observation."

Pietro: "Well, why the hell would you do that?"

Tony: "Oh, no special reason, really. We just came across a pack of unkillable, unbelievably fast infected the other day and thought we'd follow them back to ground zero."

Pietro: "Wanda?"

Wanda: "Yeah?"

Pietro: "I do believe our rescuers are madmen."

Wanda: "I am inclined to agree with you. And I must repeat your earlier statement. Why the hell would you do that?"

Tony stops in his tracks. As the others notice, they stop, too.

Steve: "Stark? What's the holdup?"

Tony: "Well, I was just thinking, Cap—why are we doing this?"

Steve: "What do you mean?"

Tony: "It's ground zero, man. Baton Rouge. Nobody goes there and comes back out."

Bruce sighs. Pulls out his journal.

Bruce: "You know why, Stark. We have to understand those runners—"

Tony: "Yeah, I get that. I do. I know all about your journal and your let's-save-humanity shtick. But if it means going on a suicide mission, maybe we should reconsider just how important it is that we follow this one group of aberrant walkers."

He looks around at the rest of us. Wanda and Pietro have faded into the background. The focus is all on him now. The siblings shuffle awkwardly at the edge of the group.

Tony: "I mean, do any of you really want to die for those runners? And for what? So a repurposed physicist can tinker with them a bit? How likely is it that this is actually going to get us any answers?"

Natasha: "If you didn't like the mission, you didn't have to come."

Tony: "I liked the mission just fine before it involved certain death!"

His words echo on the asphalt. Nobody challenges him. For a second he's left staring us all down. Panting a little in the heat. He catches my eye. I see desperation there.

Yeah. I'm definitely getting better at faces. Not that I really like what I'm seeing.

Tony: "I'm not like the rest of you. I've still got a family out there. And my plans don't involve dying before I even get a chance to look for her."

Steve laughs.

Steve: "This is about your girlfriend? I can't believe this, Stark. The fate of the human race is in the balance—don't roll your eyes like that, you try outpacing those runners like you do every other shambling infected—and you're still thinking about yourself. About a girl who's probably dead by now. Unbelievable."

Wanda: "Um. If you guys need to work stuff out, we can go..."

Steve: "No. Stay there. You might be bringing another one back to camp with you."

Bruce: "Is that what you want, Tony? Do you want to go back?"

Now Tony's on the defensive. He doesn't look around defiantly anymore. Now, he looks scared.

I try to imagine what he's thinking. This is his team. The people he knows best in camp. And they're offering to leave him. Just like that. No good-bye. Just good riddance.

Harsh.

Tony looks down at his feet.

Tony: "No. No, of course not. I'm with you."

He raises his head.

Tony: "But, Rogers, Pepper is out there somewhere. I'm going to find her. And if you say one more thing like that about her I swear to God I will kill you."

Steve doesn't look fazed. He nods.

Steve: "Fair enough. Sorry."

Thor steps forward. Between the two of them. There's always a peacekeeper. First Natasha, now him. I'm starting to see why Steve was so worried last night.

Thor: "If we are done with this, I believe Bruce was saying we're already two days behind the runners."

Bruce: "Thor's right. Steve, if we're gonna go we gotta do it now. We can call off the mission. I'll understand. I can deal. But you have to make the call."

Now Steve looks down. He frowns hard. Thinking.

Steve: "Coulson? What do you think?"

Coulson: "I don't think I'm qualified to make this kind of decision."

Steve: "All the same, I respect your thoughts."

Coulson: "Okay. Honestly? We should at least try to catch up with them. Maybe we can hit them before they reach the city."

Steve: "And if we don't?"

Coulson: "If we don't, and if we can't observe them more once they're there...then at least we tried. That's all we can do these days."

Steve: "Thor? You're the only other one whose opinion I'm not sure of."

Thor: "I'm with Coulson. It seems silly to come all this way and give up halfway through."

Beside me, Natasha nods to herself. Silently agreeing. I look around at the others. They all seem to have the same expression. A kind of quiet acceptance. Even Tony looks calmer.

That's when I get it. These guys are a team. If someone has a good argument, they all trust it. No questions asked.

Makes me wonder. Would they ask me any questions?

Speaking of which. I don't think Steve knows me enough to know what I think about this plan. But he still didn't ask me about it.

Steve: "It's settled, then. We'd better hurry if we want to cut them off before Baton Rouge."

Wanda: "You'll never get out of there alive."

Coulson winks at her.

Coulson: "Don't underestimate a few post-apocalyptic madmen, Wanda."

Bruce: "The camp is just back that way. Start heading northwest at the weird Greek-Italian fusion restaurant. You'll get there."

The team starts to jog away at Steve's command. I hang back a bit.

Me: "You won't change their minds. They've got a job to do."

Wanda: "You sound like you're not one of them."

Me: "I'm not. I'm not anyone. Not really."

Wanda: "Then why are you here? Why would you risk your life to find zombies you can't even kill?"

Pietro: "Is it the girl? I saw you and her. It's definitely the girl."

Natasha. He's talking about Natasha. I can still see her firing the pistols. The strand of hair stuck to her mouth.

I shake the image away.

Me: "No. It's not the girl."

Wanda: "What, then?"

That stops me. Why am I doing this? To help Bruce? To help humanity? What am I going to gain other than death?

I don't know. So I shrug.

Me: "Does it matter?"

And I start to jog away. My bag is still on my shoulder. I've fallen way behind the others. There's a lot of ground to cover.

But I can still hear the shout.

Wanda: "Of course it matters!"

I think about that as I get back to Bruce at the back of the line. As we pick up our pace and run right into the danger.

She's right. It does matter. It matters why I'm risking my neck. Why I've decided to trust these people with my life.

That's why it's so worrying when I can't think of an answer.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Woo! Long chapter for this fic. Hope you guys didn't fall asleep reading it.

Hurrah for as-yet-unseen-character cameos! I was going to put Kate Bishop in here along with a couple of others who would pander to my Young Avengers needs, but as much as I love Kieron Gillen (and Matt Fraction WHOOP WHOOP #teamhawkguy), I figured I might as well keep working within the MCU. And it's not like I was going to leave out cameos altogether. Somebody has to be there to criticize our heroes' craziness.

What's so special about the runners? Does Clint like Natasha or like like her? And will he ever make more incendiary arrows? Stay tuned as the group heads closer to Baton Rouge...and their DOOM! Ha! Ha ha! Mine is an evil laugh!