Author's Notes: Well, it has been way too long since I've updated. Love troubles will often do that to a man. I'd actually completely forgotten that I even had this story up, but I sat down and started typing as soon as I remembered. I'd like to give out a special thank you to all of my loyal readers, and you haven't seen anything yet. The things that I have in store promise to be exciting, scary, romantic, and it will tie up any loose ends. What will happen to our favorite four survivors and the rest of the crew? Something special that I'd like to ask of all my reviewers of this chapter is to review and give me their favorite character that I've made up and why.

Chapter 7

Nicole found herself standing in front of the Corral, a look of fear spread across her face. Her search for Terry had proven to be a failure thus far, and it had been an hour since she had seen anyone. For fifteen minutes she had just stood there, looking at the pin that kept the monsters away.

She found her whole body tense up at the thought of it. There was just one wall keeping those things from killing her. It just did not seem safe to her for some reason, keeping the monsters only a few feet away. It was the same feeling that she had every day at the Crossroads Mall. At least the boat had been miles from the nearest threat.

"Hey", a male's voice startled her from her thoughts. Her eyes, that were just a little too big, turned to the shadows that held the speaker.

"What the hell is your problem? You scared the shit outta me." Not knowing whom she was speaking to made her feel uneasy, but her eyes shifted from fear to anger.

Scott stepped out of the dark to look at her with soft eyes. It was the first time since the shower scene that she had thought about how cute he was. His short, red hair that nearly matched her own and his blue eyes made him very attractive. She tried to stay angry with him, but it was hard with him looking at her like that.

"Any luck?" Scott sounded genuinely sorry about what he had done. Or maybe he was sorry that he had hurt Nicole. Which ever it was, his voice made her want to forgive him.

"None. I've really screwed up this time." She said. "I mean, we really haven't even ever had a fight."

"Can I offer my opinion?" He waited for her to respond, but she just sat there in silence. "From what I understand, you guys started this relationship in that Wal-Mart or whatever, and yall were basically alone there, right?" She nodded. "Well, maybe you are just seein' a side of Terry that you've never seen before because yall have been alone."

Her eyes look puzzled at what he was saying and she didn't understand. The smallest traces of tears started to well up in her eyes as she looked at him. The way that he used the word "yall" and his accent showed that he was probably from the South. It made her wonder about Scott and how he ended up in the godforsaken silo.

"I mean, maybe he is a jealous guy, but you never had a chance to find it out." As he summed up his idea, she started to cry. It wasn't because he had hurt her feelings for because he was being hateful, or even because she missed Terry. It was because she had been thinking the same thing.

He took a few steps closer towards her, but she didn't notice because of the tears. He quickly closed the distance between them, and her eyes found him just as he was a few inches from her face. In one quick motion, with no warning at all, he brought his face in and pressed his soft, full lips to hers. On reflex, she kissed him back. It made her feel good to have someone there to comfort her while she was lonely and scared.

She pushed away from him, keeping her hands on his chest, and looked into his eyes. Her tears had stopped, but there were still wet lines running down her face. His body continued to push slightly on her hands, but not so much that he was forcing himself onto her. It was just enough to let her know that he wanted more.

"Why did you do that?" The thought of a guy just kissing her made her think for a second, and she wanted to know his motives. "Terry and I are together...well, we were together. And you were a big part of the reason that we might have broken up. Now you're kissing me?" She didn't want to stop either. It felt right and good.

"Up on the ground level there and thousands, millions of people that died with regrets in their hearts. If you think about it, that could be the reason that they stuck around. I learned a long time ago that if you want something, you have to go for it." His words sounded simply and easy on paper, and that was exactly what she wanted.

She let her arms buckle at the elbows so that the force of his body could lean into her. He was taller than Terry, so it was a little harder to kiss him, but they made due. He leaned down a little more and she stood on the tips of her toes.

Wilkers stared at the many screens that played before him. One that caught his eye, more so than any of the others, was the one that showed the front of the Corral. A picture of a shirtless Scott and a very passionate Nicole made him smile a bit. His thoughts went over the fact that Terry and Nicole had been an item when they showed up, and now things were different.

He reached down to his control panel that consisted of a keyboard, a mouse, and few different buttons that were color coated. From top to bottom they went blue, green, yellow, and then there was a red one in a glass cover. He pressed the "enter" button on the keyboard, and the screen showed a red circle at the top corner, signaling that he was recording the picture.

"Never know when the group might want to watch a little movie", he said to himself. His eyes stayed on the screen for a few more minutes as Nicole took her shirt off to show a royal blue bra that matched her outfit. Wilkers' smile grew as he thought about how far they might go.

He turned around in his chair to see that he was alone in the small control room. Dr. Jones had told him that she was going to go out and find out more about Kenneth. He trusted her enough that he was willing to let her do whatever she wanted within the compound.
Ana found Terry and Kenneth back at their barracks and the relief showed on her face. It was impossible to show how happy she was to see that they were okay. She had a family at one time that she would go to see on Christmas and Thanksgiving. She had a family that would call her on her birthday and stop in on random occasions just to let her know that she was loved. Now they were all dead, and the trio that she lived with now was her only family. Terry, Kenneth, Nicole, and Ana, the picture perfect family.

"Guys, I'm so glad that I found you", she said as she walked into the room. She stopped almost instantly at the sight of her barracks. A sock hung up in the corner, almost at the roof, and it made her wonder what it was hanging on. All the view was completely chaotic with ripped mattresses, pillows, and covers scattered all over the room. In the center of the floor there was four pieces of metal that she had no idea as to the origin.

Kenneth had his finger up to his mouth, showing Ana that silence was very important, but she couldn't figure out why. Terry's eyes looked at her as if he had gotten used to Kenneth's strange gesture. The large, black man then slid one of the shredded mattresses onto the pile of metal and then a second, and then a third.

He pointed down at the layer of mattresses and said, "Bugs". One word summed it up completely. She had known that they were under surveillance, but it hadn't bothered her. Kenneth had never been an irrational person, so she figured that he had to have had a good reason to seek out all of the bugs in their sleeping quarters.

Her eyes flicked up to the hanging sock, she pointed at it and lipped out the word "what". He looked up at it, and then back to her.

"It's a soundless camcorder. The sock will take care of it until Wilkers realizes that it's covered. The mattresses will muffle the bugs out enough that we don't have to worry about them for a little while."

"What's going on, Kenneth?" Ana's voice was cool, calm and collected. She was trying to hide that she was very eager to find out the reason behind taking out all of the surveillance.

"Me and Terry were out lookin' around and we found this wall. I'm almost positive that it isn't a wall at all, but it is a door." His eyes were focused on Ana's. "I have a plan to find out what is behind it, but it is going to be hard to pull off."

"When are we going to do it?" She didn't even have to say that she trusted him, because he knew that she did. She didn't even have to ask what the plan was, because if it was Kenneth's idea she was on board.

"It is goin' to take an entire day, and we are starting tomorrow morning."

She nodded and thought about what was going to happen. After a few minutes of silence, he explained it all to her, and in one quick sweep, she realized how hard it was going to be to pull it off.

"So, we are going to take Wilkers out of the throne?" She already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it again. He nodded just as the door opened.

All eyes turned, expecting to see Wilkers, Phil, or Wilson. Instead they all saw Nicole standing in the doorway, looking at Terry with shameful eyes.
Phil sat in a corner of the compound that he had found on his first day there. Finding himself there every single day since, he had come to think of it as his secret thinking area. Wilson knew where it was because he had found him there once or twice, and Wilkers knew where it was because he saw just about everything in the Silo, but it still felt like a secret.

He stared down at a photo of two children, both girls, and an older woman, his wife. He would have been in the picture too, but he had to take it. They had been in Florida for a vacation a few weeks before the outbreak. He was out on a mission in California, trying to help the victims of an earthquake, when it all happened. As soon as he got word that there was something horrible happening he called home to make sure that they were okay. All wires were busy, so he never talked to them again.

Kasi, his oldest daughter, had been mad at him for leaving once again. She was old enough to realize that he was leaving, but not old enough to realize why. Jennifer on the other hand said that she loved him as he was walking out the door. Lucy, his wife, gave him a kiss on the cheek, a smile, and said the same words that she always said as he left. "Come back to me, please." And he responded the same way that he always did. "I promise."

A few tears rolled off of his nose, landing on the faces in the picture. The idea that they might have survived stayed with him for a few days, but quickly faded as fewer and fewer radio signals came though on their CB.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't keep my promise, babe." He couldn't stop the tremors that ran though his body. "I swear to you though, I will kill every last one of those fuckin' bastards."

"Yeah you will." Wilson said. Phil hadn't even noticed that he was standing there. He turned angry eyes up to him and saw that he had a smile on his lips.

"What tha fuck are you smilin' at?" He couldn't help the feeling of rage that he felt every time he thought about what those things could have done to his little girls. The pain in his stomach was real, and was nothing to smile at.

"We are going to get those motha fuckers, and I promise you that. We'll figure out how, and then me and you will go out there and kick some ass." He kept his smile.

"And why do you wanna kill 'em?" He was hoping that his reason was like his own, something worth listening to.

"I was trained to kill the enemy, and right now the enemy is upstairs. Is there a better reason than that?"

Phil could name a few. Kasi, Jennifer, and Lucy were three really good reasons. They were the best reasons that he could think of. "No, I don't guess that I can." He shook away the tears like a good soldier and smiled up at him with a fake pride. "Kill 'em all."

End Notes: Anyone like it so far? I sure do hope so. So, who is your favorite of my characters? Scott, Wilson, Dr. Moran, Sgt. Wilkers, Phil, or is it Dr. Jones? Please tell me which and why. The suspense is here and the climax is just around the corner. Can anyone else feel the tension building? The breaking point for all of them is only a chapter away, please stick with me and see how it all ends up.