Gemma woke up the next morning to Nick stroking her hair. She didn't remember where she was, but it didn't matter because he was here with her. For a second she was in a dream and away from this disaster the world has come to. But it was only a split second, and she soon took in her surroundings and remembered their mission. How they were going to pull this off, she had no idea. The sun was slowly peeking through sloppily boarded up windows. Gemma rolled onto her back and yawned. Her back was sore from the cramp sleeping conditions, but her sleep that night had been peaceful. They were both quiet, Gemma looking at the sun peeking through the windows, Nick looking at the way the sunlight lit up her eyes.

They both snapped out of their day-dreamy morning when they heard harsh voices from outside the store. Gemma quickly stood while Nick took his time to stand up, trying not to put pressure on his ankle. As they heard the voices pass, they knew they had recognized one: Luke. Gemma looked back at Nick to see if he had made the connection as well. He had a huge grin on his face; his best friend was alive! Whoever Luke was with had a radio on them, as the blaring voices from the other end gave it away.

"That's it!" Nick quietly exclaimed. "The radios, all we need is one of them. If we could get ahold of Luke, we could ask him to get a radio for us and for him so that we could communicate with the group and figure out a plan."

"Yeah, but how the hell do we talk to Luke?" Gemma asked.

"It sounded like they were heading towards the shop that the lurkers were trying to get into. They're probably having him board up the windows so that they can't get in. When he walks back at the end of his shift, we could grab him and bring him in here to talk to him," Nick explained.

"Wait, Carver has you guys work in shifts? What the hell?"

"Yeah, tell me about it. We're all his little "worker bees" and he's the Queen Bitch," Nick rolled his eyes. Gemma couldn't help but laugh at how frank he was.

The pair walked over to the windows and peered out. It looked like there were no guards in sight, but there could be some on the roof above them. They couldn't sneak out to find Luke, it would be too risky. It looked like they would have to wait until he came to them.

"I guess being cooped up in a comic book store isn't too bad," Gemma thought out loud as she went through a box and pulled out a stack of comics which she and Nick flipped through to pass the time. It was so strange to be reading again, it was almost difficult. It was like she had to read every other word over a few times to remember what it meant. They sat and ate their last can of peaches together and talked about the past and what they thought the future would be like. It was nice to just sit and talk to each other, to have genuine conversations.

The position of the sun in the sky looked to be mid-day when they finally heard a pair of feet walking on the cement sidewalk outside of the door. Gemma slowly opened the door to find Luke carrying a tool box. He hadn't noticed her, so she had to walk up from behind him and pull him into the comic book store.

"What the—" Luke began before a hand was placed over his mouth to muffle out his shout. After the door closed behind him, he turned around to find Gemma with eyes glistening with tears before she jammed into his stomach for a hug.

"Gemma?" he asked in disbelief. She mumbled something into his chest that he couldn't make out.

"Luke!"

He shot his head to the left to find Nick walking towards him with a limp. Gemma quickly let go as the best friends embraced each other. She could have sworn she saw light tears in their eyes.

"What the hell are you guys doin' here? How did you even get here?" Luke asked, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. Gemma grinned as Nick quickly explained what happened to them. As she listened, she couldn't believe it herself that they had made it here as fast as they did.

"So, now, here's the plan," Nick said, looking back at Gemma for a split second before continuing, "We need you to get a set of radios for us. That way, we can have one and you and the group will have the other so that we can figure out a plan. I still remember all of the station details, so you don't have to worry about that. Do you think you could get ahold of them?"

Luke scratched the back of his head. "I don't know, man. That's gonna be pretty tricky. He keeps the set in the supply room at night so that they can charge up. Carver has us locked in the pen at night, so there's no way we could get to them," he explains.

"Well, what about that ladder on the wall of the pen? Someone could climb up it, onto the roof, and go through the skylight into the storage room," Nick suggested.

All of this information was buzzing around Gemma's head and she couldn't keep up with it. All she knew was that there was a storage room and a… pen where they kept her group.

"Carver had some guys break off the bottom of it so that we couldn't think about escaping again. We would need to boost someone small up there that was quick on their feet, someone who could get in and out of that storage room without being noticed. Who the hell in our group could do that?" Luke asked.

Nick began to open his mouth before Luke cut him off.

"And don't even think about suggestin' Sarah. We both know that Carlos would freak out at the idea."

"Well, what about me?" Gemma piped up.

Nick and Luke looked over at the young woman.

"It could work," Luke admitted.

"Hell no." Nick responded.

"Why not?" Gemma and Luke asked simultaneously.

"Because she…" Nick didn't want to reveal to Luke about their feelings for one another just yet, but he didn't want Gemma to get hurt. "She doesn't know around the place. And how is she supposed to make it back to the pen without anyone noticing her?" Nick asked.

"Goddammit…" Luke thought. "Well, come to think of it now, there is another girl whose in the pen named Jane, I think. She doesn't talk much, but she seems like she could do the job. I could ask... Oh, shit, I should get back. I've already been here too long. I'll try to get the radios to you tomorrow."

"We'll be here," Nick joked as Luke left.

"Looks like we've finally got a plan." Gemma said with a grin.

"Yeah we do," Nick chuckled as he pulled her into a hug.