LadyEvil21: I'm glad you liked that part. :) It's always something that I felt needed pointed out. XD And I'm glad I could clear up what happened with her family; I don't want any confusion.

Melissa woke up, startled at the fact that she had fallen asleep. She stumbled over to the office window to peek through the boards covering it up. The street was clear and was bathed in bright sunlight. She guessed it was sometime around noon, so she hadn't slept too long.

She sighed as she sat down in a chair, wishing she could come to a decision. She briefly thought of her family again, but quickly moved on, not wanting to get caught up in the bad memories again. Could I make it on my own? She thought to herself. Her mind automatically seemed to come up with the worst case scenario— the one Seth had presented her with last night. The thought of being alone and injured… she shuddered. The thought of dying slowly, of thirst, of hunger, of cold, or being bitten by one of the zombies… It made her want to cry again.

Melissa forced the urge to cry away, standing up and shaking her head to try and clear it. Her stomach growled as she did so, reminding her that before the apocalypse she'd probably be eating right about now. She forced that urge away as well, knowing she had to try and make the supplies last as long as possible. As it was, her one or two meal a day schedule was still draining away her resources at an astounding pace.

She ran a hand through her hair before she opened the office door. She headed out into the main part of the church. The members of the Shield were talking quietly among themselves. Randy Orton was cleaning his arrows over by the door, and CM Punk was lying on his back on one of the pews, his head resting on his folded hands.

Randy looked up briefly as she came in before putting the arrows back in the quiver she hadn't noticed he had.

She sat down on one of the pews, her hands folded in her lap. She blinked in surprise as Roman approached.

"We're going out to try and find a car to replace the old one," he told her. "You want to tag along?"

Melissa paused for a moment before replying. She could stay safe in here or go out and possibly show the men she could she be helpful, which would be useful if she decided she wanted to go with them when they left for good. "Okay," she finally responded.

Roman left, quietly heading to talk to Punk. Melissa got up, searching for her backpack, which still had her screwdriver with it. Once she found it, she joined the Seth and Dean by the door. Randy joined them without a word, and soon Punk and Roman joined them as well.

Melissa followed them out the door. They started to head back towards the street where they had been travelling the most. "Wait!" Melissa hissed.

Dean looked back. "What is it?"

"The street could still be swarming with zombies!" she pointed out.

"She's got a point," Punk said softly. "I probably shouldn't have used the gun."

"And besides," Melissa continued as if Punk hadn't spoken. "I could have told you all of those cars over there won't run anyways. My group took out all of the gas from those before they left."

"Now she tells us," Punk murmured with an eye roll.

Melissa stuck her tongue out at Punk. "So we should probably head in the other direction, towards the houses. A lot of people… were holed up in there for a while, but eventually, they were, ah…" she hesitated. "Eaten, I guess. There's been no movement over there since the zombies were lured across town."

"Almost sounds too good to be true," Dean muttered before saying, "Lead away."

Melissa led them down the intersection, entering the shady haven the large trees covering the street provided. She passed by the first house that sat directly behind the church; it had been gutted by a fire that someone had started directly after things fell apart. She stopped at the crosswalk, turning right to walk by the front of the gutted house.

She passed by several other houses that had no cars in front of them. Her eyes roamed the street, looking for an undamaged vehicle. Randy found one before she did, as his "aha" sounded behind her.

She spotted the vehicle directly after. Across the street two houses down was a black Suburban, looking perfectly untouched.

"Alright, what's the catch here?" Melissa muttered with a small laugh. It couldn't really be all that easy.

The others passed by her, heading directly for the car. Melissa followed after a moment's hesitation, still believing it was too good to be true.

She stopped a few feet behind them as they investigated the car. She watched as Randy pulled on the handle of the car door, cursing softly when it didn't open. "Of all the things that have to be locked in the zombie apocalypse…"

"Why can't we just break the window?" Roman asked. "Then we can unlock the door."

"This thing is probably equipped with an alarm," Dean reasoned.

Suddenly there was a clink and Roman, Dean, Seth, Melissa, and Randy all turned to find Punk looking under the car. He stood up, something glinting in his hand. "Spare key," was all he said as he approached the driver side door. He stuck it in the lock and pulled the door open without a problem.

"Where'd you find the key?" Melissa asked curiously.

"A lot of people lock their keys in their car, right?" Punk said. "I don't remember where I heard about it, but there's a metal container you can buy to attach to the bottom of your car where you can keep a spare."

"Show off," Randy muttered.

"No, I'm not Dolph Ziggler," Punk said with a sarcastic grin.

"And I think we should probably be grateful for that," Dean muttered. "How the hell do you get someone so narcissistic to watch your back for you?"

Punk shrugged before hitting the unlock button for the rest of the doors and hopping into the driver's seat.

Melissa watched a small argument go down over who was going to ride in the passenger seat. "I don't think it really matters at the moment," Melissa pointed out as their voices got louder. "It's not really all that far back to the church, which is where you're going to have to go if you want to pick up your supplies."

"Fair point," Punk said with a shrug.

"And we should probably make sure it runs first," Melissa suggested. "It's great that we unlocked it, but that doesn't mean it can go anywhere."

"That's true," Punk said with a rueful grin. He stuck the key in the ignition and the car rumbled to life. Punk leaned forward to check the gauges. He tapped the steering wheel lightly. "Jackpot! It's full of fuel!"

"That's great. Let's head back to the church though," Randy suggested. "I don't like being out here like a sitting duck for the zombies."

"Pile in," Punk said, motioning at the seats.

"I'll walk, if someone's willing to come with me," Melissa murmured. She was starting to feel friendlier with the wrestlers, but she didn't want to squeeze into a car with them just yet when she could easily walk.

"I'll go with you," Seth volunteered, smiling at Melissa.

The others got into the car, with Randy finally ending up in the passenger seat, to the dismay of Dean and Roman.

Melissa started walking, her hands swinging loosely by her sides. She was starting to realize she was relaxed with Randy, Punk, Dean, Roman, and Seth. She came to the conclusion that she even felt safe for what felt like the first time in forever. It was then that she made her decision, and it dawned on her that it hadn't been that difficult of a choice in the first place.

She turned to face Seth, who stopped, seeming to anticipate her next words.

I want to live, echoed through her mind right before she spoke. "Seth, I want to go with you."