Jessica and Morgan

They stood near the tree line, just watching the walkers run over the place. So much for the backup plan, Jessica thought. She wondered if this had happened recently or if the prison had been overrun back when that man had come looking for more weapons. Either way it was a good thing Morgan had decided that they were not going to come and live here. If they had, they would all be dead now. Parts of the fences had been broken in. And there was even an old tank parked up near the building.

"What are we going to do now?," Duane asked. Morgan and Jessica exchanged glances. What were they going to do now? They couldn't go back to their other place, it was all burnt out. The fire had started in the woods somewhere and then spread through the dry brush like crazy. They had enough warning to get themselves and some of their things out in time, but the building they had lived in was gone, along with the rest of the town. Jessica felt Morgan's hand close over hers, lending her his strength. Her girls were looking up at her, also wondering what the answer to Duane's question was.

"We will find another place," Jessica told them, trying to sound more sure than she actually felt.

"That guard tower looks solid," Morgan suggested, "we can stay there for the night. Then we will start looking for another place." Jessica nodded. It was best to take things one day at a time for now. If she started thinking about next week and next month she would lose her damn mind. Her younger daughter stepped closer to her, wrapping her thin arm around Jessica's waist and leaning her head in. Jessica hugged her close. She knew the kids had been excited about coming here, maybe seeing the people they met before or meeting some new ones, and now everyone was dead. Sometimes it felt like they were the only people left alive in the world.

They ended up staying in the guard tower about a week. Morgan had been hoping some of the people from the prison were still hanging around and maybe if they waited here, some of them would come back. Plus, the inside of the prison was loaded with food. Jessica and Duane had set up a cd player far over on the other side of the prison yard. They turned it on and waited for all the boogies to come out, then they just walked right on inside and took whatever they wanted. If they had been able to find a set of keys, they might have been tempted to stay and try to fix the place up, even thought it was really too big of a project for just the five of them.

After waiting and waiting, it was clear that no one was coming. And while the guard tower was a safe place to sleep, there was not enough room for them to live there long term. So they packed up what they could carry and set off walking. The tracks seemed as good a place as any to walk. There was more cover than there was just walking down the road, but the walking was easier than trying to stomp through the woods. Desiree had the lightest bag on, with their camping tents inside. They were special tents that Morgan had rigged up with a lot of help from Cassie and Jessica. Now all they had to do at night was find a high tree with a few sturdy branches. You climbed inside your tent and used a crank and pulley system to lift the whole tent up into the air and out of biting range. The tents were dark green and brown, so there was a chance they might not even be spotted by people if they were only passing through casually.

It was about halfway through the afternoon when they saw the first sign for terminus. Duane and Desiree got charged up right away, but Cassie was more skeptical.

"What if the men who hurt Nana are the ones running this place?," she asked. Since they had never seen or heard from those men after that day, it was always a constant in the back of Cassie's mind that they would run into them again someday. "Maybe its a trick," she added. Jessica was thinking along those same lines. She could see no good reason why anyone would want to put up signs to where they were for anyone to see. And why would they offer sanctuary to complete strangers. Even if the people who put these signs up were sincere, there was a good chance they had been taken over by another group by now, just like her farm and the prison. She looked to Morgan to see what he thought.

"Well it might be a trick," he agreed, "but we won't know unless we go take a look." Jessica wrinkled her nose up. This was the face she made when she didn't like what he had to say. He rubbed her arm. "Come on Jess, what have we got to lose?"

"When we get there I want to spy on them a while before we think about going in," she said. Morgan nodded in agreement. While he wanted to check the place out, he had no desire to rush head on into a trap. He pulled her in, hugging her close to him and kissing her on the cheek. Since they had been sleeping in the guard tower with the kids, they had not really had much privacy and he missed her. Duane rolled his eyes and stuck his finger in his mouth like he was going to gag himself. But little Desiree just smiled up at them. She was happy her mom had someone to love her. When Morgan let go of her mother, she darted in and wrapped her arms around the man's waist.

"I love you Daddy Morgan," she told the man. Morgan hugged her back and Jessica smiled softly at them. Desiree had never said anything about it, but one day had just started calling him that, like she had been doing it all her life. Cassie was more reserved, but Jessica had heard her referring to him in the same manner when she was talking to her younger sister. I am going to eat all the crackers. Better not or when Daddy Morgan comes back I am going to tell on you. The girls had a few male influences in their lives, but none that were really constant. And all the hopes and dreams and love Desiree had saved up for when her father finally started taking an interest in her was now lavished upon Morgan. At first, Jessica worried it would annoy the man, but he seemed to have endless patience when it came to her girls.

"Lets make camp," Cassie suggested. "I see a lot of rabbit tracks around here." She was also sick of walking, but she felt complaing about that on the first day would be in slightly bad taste. And if she complained, Desiree would start whining and go on until she drove everyone batshit crazy.

"You stay with us until we pick the campsite," Morgan warned her, "then you go hunting." She nodded. Cassie had no desire to be stuck alone in the woods.

They ended up lucking out and finding something better than a campsite with a good looking tree. They found a cabin. With a well water pump that worked, so they wouldn't have to boil water to drink. Mogan checked to make sure the inside of the cabin was clear, and then he let the kids go inside and scope it out.

"Someone has been here not too long ago," Jessica told him quietly, "There are graves over there that only look a week or two old."

"Maybe it was some of the people from the prison group," Morgan suggested.

"Or people from the group that attacked them," Jessica countered. Normally he tried to assure her that her fears were unfounded. But he knew she might be right.

"We can take turns on watch tonight," he said. "If we decide to stay awhile I will install an alarm system." She laughed. Tying a bunch of boogies to trees with jingle bells and tin cans tied around their necks hardly counted as installing an alarm system, but it did serve the same purpose. "Checked inside," he told her with a different tone to his voice, "we can have our own bed." Jessica gave him a playful smile.

"What are you suggesting?," she asked, feigning innocence. She closed the distance between them, pressing her body against his suggestively and telling him, "You know I have never been with a black man before." This sent Morgan off into howling laughter. She tried to shush him up, before he attracted every undead freak in the woods to their location. Jessica was really something. He wondered how many times she had used that line. If he had not already seen her girls, he might have been tempted to believe it.

"How many guys have you used that line on?," he asked her once he recovered from his laughing fit. Now she pretended to be angry.

"Are you calling me a slut?," she asked.

"I don't know," he answered, "can you ask me that question with a straight face." Jessica shook her head, she wasn't sure she could ask him anything with a straight face. And from the long winter nights they had spent talking, she already knew that his sexual experiences had been fairly limited and he already knew that hers had not been quite so limited. The best story she had was the one about her daughter Desiree being born. It was so outlandish, that Morgan was never quite sure if she was making it up or telling the truth. And her cousin that she was always talking about sounded like an intriguing woman. The girls loved to hear the story about the time that Jessica and her cousin caught a bunch of baby ducks and let them loose in their grandmother's house. The girls called it 'the duck story' or 'the time Nana said the F word'.

"Is there a shower or a bathtub in there?," Jessica asked. Now that question she was serious about.

"Theres an outdoor shower around back, with a wood fired water heater," Morgan told her. Her eyes opened wide. He better not be lying to tease her. Her number one thing that she missed from normal life was a hot shower.

"You fuckin' serious?," she asked. He nodded.

"I think it will take a while to heat up," he said, "but I can stay here and get it going if you want to go hunting with Cassie." Jessica through her arms around him, kissing him hard on the mouth. Things she was going to do to him after his shower were going to make him need another one. For now that would have to wait. She did want to go hunting, some fresh rabbit sounded good after all the canned and dried crap they had been eating. Cassie came running back out of the cabin, already geared up with her bow.

"Theres flour and lard inside," she said to her mother, "If we get a few rabbits we can make rabbit and dumplings."

"Then what the hell are we standing around here for," Jessica asked her. Cassie laughed and Morgan watched them disappear into the woods, back towards where Cassie had spotted the rabbit tracks. He knew Jessica had been young when she had her daughter. And because of that, they sometimes acted more like sisters than mother and daughter.

Dinner had been the best they had in a long time. And it had been even more enjoyable since everyone had gotten a chance to shower first. They had put on some ill fitting but clean clothes they found in the cabin and While the girls made dinner, Morgan had washed out everyone's clothes and hung them on a line outside to dry. It seemed like it took the kids forever to fall asleep. Jessica and Morgan lay on a blanket by the dying cooking fire and waited until the laughter and the whispering finally quieted down and then stopped. All the teasing looks and laughter from earlier were gone now, and Jessica lay on her side, one hand propping her head up and her freshly washed hair falling down around her face. Her eyes were dark with desire and she had a look of longing on her face that she usually tried to keep hidden.

Morgan waited for her to shake off her more serious feelings and pounce on him, which was her usual way. But tonight she didn't feel the need to hurry. Sometimes it was nice to be taken instead of doing the taking. She did wish he would do something though, instead of just lying there staring at her. She rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling and then she started unbuttoning the large mens flannel shirt she had been wearing as a dress. Morgan watched her, her slim pale fingers deftly sliding each button back through its hole before moving on to the next one. Her nipples were hard against the soft fabric, and she was moving her legs up and down slowly, rubbing her thighs together.

Morgan held himself still until the last button was undone, then he was on top of her, kissing her face, her neck, burying his face into her soft clean hair. She wanted to reach between them and draw him out of the shorts he was wearing so she could feel him inside her, but she made herself wait. He was kissing her all over her chest and stomach now, sucking on her nipples and making her moan. And then his mouth was on hers and he was fumbling between her legs, his own passion finally taking over. Before he pushed inside, he kissed her and told her he loved her. Morgan was the first man that ever looked her in the face when he was making love to her. It had freaked her out a little at first, but now she found it to be a real turn on.

He was moving slow, trying to take his time, but he could feel the hard pump of her hips under him. Putting a little more of his weight on her, he forced her to slow down. Her nails were digging into his back, not hard enough to draw blood, but he could feel them. And when she found she couldn't dig in with her heels and rock her hips, she had pulled her knees up and wrapped her legs around him, trying to get as much of him inside her as she could. It was when she started begging that he lost control. Please Please harder harder I need it I love you Fuck me baby. He lifted up on his elbows and started increasing his speed, and then her hands were on his ass and she was rising up to meet him, rocking her hips so hard against him that he knew she was going to have bruises in the morning. When she came, he came with her, spilling inside her before he could stop himself as her walls tightened around him.

"God damn it," he swore, rolling off her and onto his back.

"Its okay I already came," she assured him.

"So did I," he said, "Inside you." Jessica shrugged. One time probably wasn't going to kill her. She rolled onto her side so she could cuddle up to him with her head on his chest.

"If it makes you feel better," she whispered, "I really liked it." Actually that did make him feel a little better. He was still scared he would get her pregnant. Things had gone so bad when his wife had delivered Duane that neither of them wanted to have another child. Morgan could not imagine Jessica having to go through that without a doctor or nurse to help her. In the controlled environment of a hospital it would be bad enough, but out here, he knew it would likely kill her. "Stop worrying so much," she told him, kissing his neck and the tender place behind his ears, "you are killing my after sex buzz." Morgan kissed her back and pulled the blanket over them, holding her gently in his arms and rubbing the soft skin on her back until he felt her breathing get slow and rhythmic. Then he got up slowly, pushing a pillow under her head and smiling when she cuddled it close to her. He pulled his clothes on and grabbed a book, heading over to sit by the door and take the first watch.

They lingered at the cabin for about a month. When they left, Morgan locked the place up carefully. He wanted to check out Terminus, but the cabin would not be a bad fall back plan if they decided not to go in. Later that day they saw the sign. Someone had written 'No Sanctuary' on the sign in mud. Morgan looked at Jessica, who was wrinkling her nose up.

"Look here," Cassie said, pointing to a marking on a tree next to the sign. "This is a trail marking," she said, "My Aunt RickyJo taught them to me." Jessica smiled. It was not the first time that something the girls had learned from RickyJo had come in handy.

"Where do you think the trail goes?," Duane asked. Morgan looked at Jessica, who smiled at him, letting him know she was fine with the kids having a small adventure.

"Only one way to find out," Morgan told his son. Then he turned to Cassie and told her to lead on.