It was a couple of hours after sundown. Tara and Emily were seated on the roof, the lanterns that had been up there ever since the infamous poker night kept the darkness more or less at bay. Tara had suggested the meeting while they'd been stumbling around using flashlights to try to come up with some kind of meal for the group.

"I think Richard's been working on Justin," Tara announced, once they were sure they had the roof to themselves.

"By 'working on' I hope you mean trying to turn him against us and not that Richard suddenly decided to play a game of priest and alter boy."

"Priest and alt...Oooh. That was bad. Even for you."

"Sorry, must be losing my touch or something," Emily said jokingly. "But you seem to be dragging your feet about why you wanted to meet up here. Thought maybe I should liven things up a bit."

"Are we ready to be serious now? Or would you like to try and make another Catholic joke? Did I tell you I'm Catholic? I really don't appreciate your humor much."

"Shit. You've got to be bullshitting me. I don't picture you as the good little Catholic school girl. Although, now that I think about it, it makes sense. I mean, the kids who are forced to sit through religion classes all day usually end up just as messed up as us public school kids...Nevermind, forget I said anything. Just go ahead and tell me the news."

"Oh, I'll get to the story, but don't think we're dropping that other thing. We are so totally coming back to that little generalization later. Bitch. So anyway, Jamie came to see me, and I guess Richard had a nice long talk with Justin a few hours ago."

"Did she elaborate on anything?"

"Yea. Justin's scared we're all going to starve to death here," Tara began to say.

"Gee, I wonder where he might have gotten that idea?" Emily asked sarcastically. "Was this before or after he had dinner? 'Cause I admit that that was pretty bad."

"Are you going to keep interrupting me with your so-called jokes or were you actually planning on being serious and listening at some point?"

"Sorry. Continue. Please. I'll keep my mouth shut. Promise."

"Okay. And stop with those monosyllabic answers, it's kind of annoying too. Anyways, so Richard gave him all these little ideas about how we're going to run outta food and starve to death, and that you and your little soldier boys already know this and are plannin' on feeding the kids to the zombies to aid your escape."

"He said what! And Justin bought into all that bullshit?" Emily demanded angrily. Tara decided not to criticize her for butting in again, even though she had promised to keep her mouth shut. Instead, she'd add it to the list of things they'd talk about later, like the whole religion mess. Besides, she'd probably be a little pissed off too if she'd just found out that the kid whose Mom she'd promised to keep alive at any costs was getting ready to sell her out to the asshole of the year.

"I guess maybe Richard was a little more convincing than you. About being interested in his well-being and caring about what happens to him and the kids and all. Jesus, when was the last time you even talked to Justin? Right after his Mom died and ate Thomas or what?"

"So I've been a little remiss in that department, shoot me. Jesse and I talk, almost all the time, doesn't that count for anything?"

"Right. You spare him a few minutes here and there. When you aren't off in a dark corner fucking Aaron,I mean."

"Why is it that every conversation we have, you've got to throw something about my relationship with Aaron in my face? Are you that jealous?"

"Yes actually. Matthew still isn't showing much interest, and I'm totally not into that little mouse Justin, even though I know you think I should be. So if you've got any advice abut how to snag Matthew I would love to hear it."

Emily scrubbed her hands wearily across her face before massaging her temples a little. She took adeep breath, hoping it wouldn't come out a scream when she released it. "How about we worry about all that later and focus on what the little girl told you."

"Fine. But the little girl has a name you know."

"Yes, I'm aware her name's Jamie. Don't try to guilt trip me here. I care about those kids too, no matter how much I try not to let myself get attached."

"I just don't think it's very nice that you'll refer to her brother by name and not her too. And why are you afraid of getting attached to them? Does your sub-conscious tell you not too? Maybe you really would feed them to those things if it meant saving your own life."

"That is total bullshit! If you must know, the attachment thing, it's a two way street. I don't want to get attached to those kids in case something happens to them, and I don't want them to get attached to me in case I'm the one to die. Happy now?"

"Well, yea, I mean, I guess I never really thought about it like that..."

"Just tell me the damn story!" Emily barely kept herself from shouting.

"All right, all right! Geesh, you don't have to get an attitude about it. I guess he told Justin all about his little safe city and how great it is and of course that he's the only one who can get the kids there alive, blah blah blah, kind of shit. Oh, and that they're supposed to keep it quiet and not tell the rest of us."

"That's it?"

"Well, yea. What the fuck were you expecting? His whole plan of how to get rid of us? It's not like he's going to come out and admit that to a bunch of kids now is it? Besides, this came froma 9-year old kid, give me a break."

"He doesn't want to get rid of you girls, he wants to turn you into a couple of whores," Sean said, seating himself beside Tara, Aaron and Matthew also joining them.

"What the fuck?" Tara demanded.

"It's true Tara, I just hadn't gotten around to telling you about that part," Emily murmured.

"Were you waiting on anything in particular, or...?" the teen drawled out sarcastically.

"Actually, I was going to tell you right away. But then I kind of got distracted by the fact that Jamie came and told you the same thing Jesse told me. Only Jesse went into a lot more detail." Emily proceeded to tell them what the boy had told her, about the city, its access points, even the one located at the rally point. Obviously Richard, just like Justin, had presumed that the kids hadn't heard their conversation. And neither of them had anticipated the twins would run and tell the two people they trusted most exactly what they'd heard.

"Did he say where that 'rally point' was located? Aside from it being on the opposite side of the river from the Heights?" Aaron asked.

"No. I asked Jesse, but that's all he could remember hearing Richard say. If I were to guess, it's going to be miles from here, closer to the outskirts of town."

"If we can figure out where this rally point is, maybe the guards that they post there can help us get to the city," suggested Matthew.

"Exactly what I was thinking."

"No matter where we go, those things are gonna follow us though, won't they?" Tara asked.

"Presumably," Sean assented. "But they've gotten slower. That first day, shit, I would have sworn they moved like Olympic class sprinters, but lately...Lately, I've been watching them, and it's like a permanent case of rigor mortis has set in, they're walkers. Stiff legged, slow, we could almost run right past them."

"Not if they surround us," Tara disagreed. "If they get us surrounded, we're fucked. There's just too many of them to dodge around on foot."

"But we won't be on foot," Emily responded. "If we stick with the plan and snatch the bus, we'll be able to put enough distance between us and them that we could make it."

"We're only taking the people we trust, right?" the other girl asked. "The five of us, Barry, the twins."

"Don't forget Allen, we'll need him to drive the bus," Emily interjected. "And we can't leave Justin behind. It's not his fault that Richard's playing him."

"Everyone goes," Sean declared in a quiet, determined voice. "Everyone but Richard. We'll have to eliminate him. Maybe with him gone we'll be able to get the girls into the city under this guy Kaufman's radar."

"Whose Kaufman?" Tara asked, confused.

"Kaufman is the man that Richard's been working for. I've heard Richard talking to him on a cell phone. Natalie confirmed it all earlier this afternoon."

"When she confronted you in the stairwell?" Emily asked.

"Wait. Cell phones, confrontations in the stairwell. Hello! When were you guys going to tell me about all this?" the teen asked, shocked. "I thought I was a part of this group, but it seems to me like you've all been keeping your little secrets."

"Don't feel too bad Tara, I didn't knowthe full storyabout this either," Matthew admitted. "So I think the three of you have some serious explaining to do to both of us."

Sean cleared his throat. "I guess I should be the one to do the talking, since there's probably a few things that none of you know. To start with, I guess it's pretty obvious that I've been spying on Richard. He's got a cell phone, and he's been talking to a couple different people whenever he thinks he's alone. One of them's named Kaufman. If I were a betting man, I'd say he's the one who's running everything inside the safe zone. The other one is called Cholo, and from the way I got the impression Richard was kissing his ass, he's gotta be in pretty tight with Kaufman."

"This tells us pretty much nothing," commented Matthew. "Except that maybe we gave up on the phones too early."

"Nah. I've tried the land lines, they're still dead," Sean admitted.

"What about a cell phone though?" Aaron asked.

"And just who exactly are we supposed to call?" scoffed Emily. "Face it, the only people who have working phones right now are the people living in that safe zone. Now, I don't know about any of you, but I don't know anyone who's alive there."

"She probably has a point," Matthew agreed. "So let's here the rest of your intel."

Sean smiled. "Intel. You're starting to talk like a regular soldier." His comment made the medic shift uncomfortably, which only brought a bigger smile to the Lieutenant's face. He must have touched a nerve there. "All right then. It seems like Natalie and Allen have been working with Richard pretty much all along. Allen confessed to Aaron, Matthewand I that he was offered a pretty hefty sum of money to drive that bus wherever Richard directed him. The snag was, they hadn't planned on someone on board the bus having been bit."

"The reason they stopped," Tara said.

"Partially. It was a good way to ditch the soon to be deadish woman, and since there were survivors here see if he couldn't load up some younger ones to take back to his boss."

"Why would Allen confess? That's the part I don't understand," Tara told them.

"What good does money do you now? You gonna use it so see a movie, maybe go out to a nice restaurant?" Matthew responded.

"Apparently money is still a hot commodity in the safe zone," Aaron told them, trying to move the story forward.

"Exactly. As for Natalie, she cornered me in the stairwell earlier. I don't think she's been an entirely willing accomplice to him. But she's still playing his games, trying to get me to trust her."

"You never said what it was that makes you say she isn't a willing accomplice?" Emily asked, peering at him. "You saw the bruises too, didn't you?"

"I was in a pitch black stairwell, there wasn't a fucking chance in hell of me seeing anything," he protested. "But she did say he was beating her."

"And you believed her?" scoffed Matthew. "You just got done saying she's playing games with us."

"I saw some bruises on her neck, like she'd been choked by someone," Emily told him. "No offense, but I pretty much have Richard pegged as being the only man here likely to be found guilty of choking a woman. Unless any of you would like to contradict me on this."

"Why don't we just leave her behind with Richard?" Tara asked.

"Out of the question," Sean said coldly. "She comes with us."

He continued telling them the rest of the information he'd been able to piece together, between spying on Richard and Natalie's plea for help. Together they talked and planned for a few hours more before they finally agreed to return downstairs to the offices. They left separately, the girls first. Just before she walked through the door Emily turned to Sean.

"I hope you know what you're doing where Natalie's concerned. I don't like the thought that you're doing some of your thinking with the head in your pants rather than the one on your shoulders. I'd think long and hard about some of your motives." With that final parting shot, she disappeared into the inky depths of the stairwell.