Edward held the crossbow in front of him, peeking once over his shoulder behind them. All he saw were trees. The view of the house was essentially gone and the thought suddenly made him anxious. He stopped in his tracks and looked at Rosalie.

"I think we're far enough," he said, "We're covered by the woods but not far from the house."

"Right..." Rosalie's eyes scanned the trees around them. She and Edward stood in silence for a moment hearing nothing but the wind howling, blowing stray leaves around in the empty woods. Not a creature stirred. The world around them was still. "This is creepy."

"Yeah..." he managed a laugh and looked around, "We should make some targets out here."

"With what?"

"We could just pick specific trees to aim for."

"Okay." Rosalie was a woman of few words since leaving the house. She had decided to take the sidekick role and let Edward lead. He appeared confident and ready, while she felt the timidity rising in her core.

Edward stared around the immediate area and picked out a large tree with a wide trunk. "There," he said, "Let's start there."

Rosalie followed where he pointed, "The big one?"

"Yeah." He nodded. Edward wanted to be the first one to go, but he offered up the weapon, "Do you want to try first?"

She shook her head, "No. You go."

He nodded, not thinking twice on the matter and slung an arrow into place, pulling it tightly back until it locked into place. He eyed the center of the oversized trunk and focused, taking one deep breath in and letting it out before firing. A moment later, the arrow ricocheted off some of the lower hanging branches and landed some twenty yards beyond the tree.

Edward glanced at Rosalie, and the two of them shared a laugh.

"Overshot it?" she asked, still smiling.

"Just a little." He chuckled and darted off to retrieve the arrow with Rosalie at his heels. The two of them returned to their spot and he took five or six more shots, aiming just a little too high with each one. By the end of the series, the arrows were taking a straighter path, though they still seemed to kick upward.

"Your turn," Edward said, eventually handing it over to Rosalie.

She hesitantly took the crossbow and aligned herself in a similar fashion to the way Edward did.

"Try to inhale and exhale before pulling the trigger," he suggested.

Rosalie nodded, doing as he suggested before letting it fly. The arrow flew straight, though only barely connected with the side of the oak, sending shards of bark in all directions.

Edward laughed out loud, "Nice one."

Rosalie laughed, too, but looked around noting their louder laughter. The world remained still, but she recognized that they'd both let their guard down on a low level.

"Take a few more," Edward told her, " I saw where that one landed."

Rosalie struggled to get the arrows in place, though once she had them her shots were at least fairly accurate. She struck the tree's trunk multiple times, landing one solidly in the middle.

"I think we have a natural," Edward told her with a laugh.

She smiled, feeling accomplished, "I'd like to put one right in Royce's back." The comment more or less slipped out, triggering from a fleeting angry thought. Royce had always deemed her as weak and fragile. Rosalie suddenly felt empowered by use of the bow.

"What did he do to you?" Edward asked. His eyes squinted, sensing her pain.

She shook her head, "Wasn't the first time he laid a hand on me."

"Why were you with him?"

Rosalie looked up at him and shook her head, "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

She sighed, slightly annoyed at his prying, though eager to get some of the bad feelings off of her chest. "He was... rich," she said solemnly, "And handsome. I thought I could overlook some of his... darker tendencies."

Edward continued to stare at her. He wanted to ask her why she would stay with him for the money when he was hurting her, but he decided that was not what Rosalie needed. He spoke more from the heart. "Well, you don't deserve to be treated that way. And you won't while you're with us. I'm sorry you were involved with such... an asshole."

"Me too," Rosalie said with a nod. She looked up ahead, "We should collect the arrows."

Edward nodded, "One went pretty far," he snickered.

She smiled and marched behind him, pulling the one out of the bark that had hit it squarely.

"Looks like you'll be our number one hunter," he went on with a smile, scooping up arrows from beneath the scattered leaves as they walked.

Rosalie grinned, liking the idea of helping to catch them food, or even pelting a few walkers square in the forehead. "Why'd you guys start calling them walkers?" she asked.

Edward shrugged, "I don't know where the name really came from," he admitted. "That's just what we call them."

The two of them walked side by side in silence for a minute before coming across the last arrow that was stuck awkwardly in the ground.

"Do you want to do the honors?" Edward asked, smirking as he motioned toward it with his hand.

"Sure." Rosalie squatted and pulled the arrow from the dirt with Edward hovering above her. A moment later, another arrow struck a tree square on just to the left of Edward's head.

He jumped up, startled and pulled Rosalie to her feet. Both of their breathing picked up and he was about to tell her to run when he saw three men emerge from around a bend in the trees.

Edward put his hands up. "Stop," he ordered in the form of a plea.

The men stared at him, decorated with Native American attire. The man in front held a traditional bow and arrow while the two behind him sported guns.

Rosalie's face grew white and she felt her stomach tighten. She, too, put her hands in the air, holding the crossbow in her right.

"Put down your weapons," he eldest of the three men demanded. He stood in front, putting another arrow into the bow at full attention.

"O-okay," Rosalie agreed, "We - we were just practicing."

Edward eyed the youngest of the three men, who stood sternly in a leather jacket and jeans. His dark hair was a mess and he didn't look like he was older than sixteen.

"What are you doing on our land?" the elder asked. His jaw was stern and his eyes serious.

"On your land?" Edward asked.

"You're not from here," the younger man added. "Who are you?"

Rosalie eyed the third in the small pack, who remained silent, though looked ready to act if called upon.

"I'm... I'm Edward Cullen," he spoke, "This is my friend Rosalie."

"This is Quileute territory," the third man finally spoke.

"The world has gone to shit," Edward told them, "We finally found shelter."

"That bow's from our store," the young man spoke.

Rosalie nodded, "We found it in a store a few miles away," she admitted, "The store was ransacked. It's our only means of protection." Her eyes glued to the older man's in the front, "Please..."

There was a long silence before the leader of the pack held a hand up and lowered his weapon. The other two followed suit. "You don't take anything else from the reservation," he demanded.

Rosalie nodded quickly, "Okay. Okay, that's fine. We had nothing else."

"Where are you staying?"

Before she could reveal the location, Edward stepped in. "Who are you?"

Rosalie turned slowly to look at him, taking a deep breath.

"We're members of the tribe," the young man stated, "Unlike the two of you."

"Shouldn't we be working together?" Rosalie asked, "As humans?"

"The last person we trusted stole from us," the third man spoke.

"Who else are you with?" the old man asked. "Just the two of you?"

Edward and Rosalie looked back and forth between each other before Edward. "We're traveling with my aunt and her husband. He's a doctor."

The old man's eyes squinted as he took in Edward's claims with skepticism.

"Dr. Cullen," he said, "Of Forks Hospital."

The two younger men in the back looked at each other, before the older man relaxed both of his arms. "I know of Dr. Cullen. Carlisle Cullen?"

"Yes." Edward raised an eyebrow.

"My name is Ephraim Black," he spoke, "It's a small world."

Edward still looked utterly confused.

"Lucky for you your aunt's husband saved my grandson Jacob here one time quite a few years ago."

The young man in the back looked at Edward, still clenching his jaw.

"He's a good man."

"Yeah..." Edward swallowed hard. He vaguely remembered Jacob from where they were a few years younger. They'd had a minor altercation and from the look on Jacob's face, he could see that he, too, remembered the childish incident.

"Where are you staying?" Ephraim repeated.

Edward knew Carlisle didn't want to give away their location, but he went with his gut. "We found an abandoned house not far from here. We've been staying there a few days. Before then we were staying in the mountains but decided to leave because we knew we wouldn't last the winter in a tent."

"You stayed outside among the undead?" the unidentified third man asked.

Edward nodded, "For a time." He sighed.

There was another bout of silence before Ephraim spoke again. "Stay in the house," he ordered, "Don't make your way back to the store to take any more of our supplies."

"Okay."

"Oh," Jacob added, "Don't come into the woods after nightfall," he informed them, "The woods fill up with the undead."

Ephraim nodded, agreeing with his grandson's statement.

Rosalie looked around them, suddenly feeling vulnerable.

"And this is our land," Jacob spoke sternly, "So go north if you'd like to hunt. The deer and moose are sparing since the geeks started infecting everybody."

"We can't hunt here?" Edward asked.

"No," Ephraim echoed, "Hunt elsewhere. Our people need the meat."

"But-"

"Take it or leave it," he said, cutting him off, "Keep the shelter you've found, and the crossbow." He looked him in the eye, "But don't hunt on our land."