A couple of weeks passed as normal. Ben was beginning to settle into a routine with his new group - he'd wake up, help with daily chores, get to know everyone in the group, then retire to bed. Or, if it was her turn to keep watch, he'd sit next to Amelia by the fire and talk about nothing and everything the whole night.

Amelia had brought Ben out of his shell since he arrived at their camp. And since he'd arrived, he'd learned so much about survival from her. He had come a long way from that nervous young man she met that day.

She was a wave of encouragement and reassurance. And Ben was enraptured with her - she was vivacious, headstrong, gorgeous, fiery... she was unlike any girl he'd ever met. She brought out the good in him and made him smile more often than he had ever before. They hadn't known each other very long, and yet he still wished to spend the majority of his hours with her, and it had crossed the girl's mind just how much she came to enjoy his company as well. And he began to provide a mutual shoulder to vent on when she needed it.

They just clicked.

Things were definitely beginning to change between the two of them since that night they opened up to each other. There hadn't been a proper clarification between the two about how they felt. There was something there all right, both of them acknowledged this, but what it was exactly was still yet to be determined. Even when Ben was able to catch her alone just for a moment, without the possibility of any interruptions, still little progress beyond maybe a lingering touch or prolonged eye contact had been made.

Ben had thought about it for days on end and frankly, it was starting to get to him. So he had decided that on that very day, he would confess so that his feelings stopped wreaking havoc on his mind in the early hours of the morning. Most of all, he wanted the girl he cared so completely for to know the depth of how he felt - he knew clear as day how he felt and soon, so would she.

That is, if he could actually work up the nerve to get the words to tumble out of his mouth.

The worst she could say was no, right? Maybe, he thought, this was just some silly crush, and it would go away eventually. Considering the circumstances, it wasn't the best time for romance, anyway.

But then again, Ben had noted that every time he hung around her, his heart beat just a little bit faster and his cheeks began to flare up in a blush followed by a sheepish smile, and it killed him inside to think of the possibility of being rejected by someone like her. What if things were to get awkward between them? Even worse, what if her dad threw him out of the group for making advances toward his daughter? Okay, maybe that was a stretch, but still, Todd could be downright scary at times. A thousand different thoughts swirled around in Ben's head at once - he'd never felt so conflicted.

Meanwhile, the fights between the adults in the camp were becoming more and more frequent, and frankly, the two teens were getting fed up with it. They'd often leave the camp together, just to get away from all of the yelling for a while, which was bringing the two even closer. Amelia's parents didn't seem to notice that their daughter was spending more time with the new boy. Leland, however, was beginning to catch on, and he would always narrow his eyes at them when he caught them exchanging prolonged gazes, though he never said anything.

Ben and Amelia were on their way back to the camp after gathering firewood for the night.

"I remember one time at band camp," Ben was finishing a story he was telling Amelia as he walked alongside her, a bundle of wood in his arms. "You know how Mr. Parker would be on the tower during practice? Well, we had this microphone that he had and it wouldn't work, so all we could hear was 'Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? I swear to God, if-' Then he just threw the microphone from the tower and he just used the percussion mic for the rest of the day, it was funny."

Amelia laughed. "Dude, that's hilarious. I remember this time I-"

She was interrupted then by a shout that came from their camp.

"For the last fucking time, I told you we're doing it!"

Amelia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, Dad..."

She and Ben made their way back to camp to find that Leland and Todd were at it once again.

"Look, we're sitting ducks here," Leland argued. "We could run out of food and supplies or worse. I'm telling you, we need to get moving and find a community, and our best bet is hearing north to Wellington."

"We're staying right here, that's fucking final!" Todd snarled. "This whole thing will blow over soon, and then we can all go back home. I'm not putting my family at risk chasing a fucking pipe dream!"

"Todd, please, calm down," Marie pleaded with her husband. "Do you want to attract those monsters to our camp?"

"Stay out of this, Marie."

Fed up, Amelia aggressively threw her bundle of firewood to the ground and marched over to them.

Ben tossed his wood into the pile and followed after her. "Mel, wait-"

Marie, desperately trying to deescalate the situation, continued, "Just take a deep breath and-"

"I said stay out of this!"

To everyone's shock and horror, a loud smack rang out through the air, and Marie was on the ground.

"Mom!" Amelia cried as she rushed to her mother's side, who was staring up at her husband with fearful eyes, a hand on her now reddened cheek.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I-" Todd trembled, the weight of what he had just done crashing down upon him.

Ben and Leland could only look on with wide eyes at the scene unfolding before them.

Green eyes ablaze, Amelia stood in front of Marie protectively as the older woman got to her feet. "Wake the fuck up, asshole!" she shouted at her father. "Take a fucking look around you, do you actually think this shit is going to end anytime soon!? You're in denial!"

"You don't talk to me like that, young lady, I am your father!" Todd shouted back at her, jabbing a finger in her face.

"She's right."

Ben's voice cut through the noise and all eyes were on him. Swallowing nervously, he continued, "If there's anything I've learned from being out there, it's that staying in one place for too long isn't safe, especially out in the open like this. You have to keep moving, no matter what. A-At least until you find a community or something."

Amelia flashed him a thankful smile.

Leland nodded in approval. "See, the boy gets it."

Ben stiffened as Todd came over to him then, his face just mere inches away from his. "What the fuck do you know?"

For a second, Ben shrank back a bit, but a quick glance over Todd's shoulder at Amelia watching, waiting to step in if anything happened, gave him the push of confidence he shouldn't have had, and he stepped forward at the man. "Apparently more than you," he countered, clenching his fists as he felt his temper flare. "And maybe you should listen to your daughter for once."

Amelia's eyes were wide as she peered at Ben, willing him to shut up and stop fighting against her already aggravated father. Todd took a step back, taken aback at being challenged by the lanky teenager, before a bitter laugh escaped his lips. "Oh-ho, so you're going to tell me how to be a parent? That's just fucking rich."

Ben opened his mouth to rebuke him, but before he could even get a word in, he suddenly found Amelia standing between them.

"Enough already!" She then took Ben's wrist and pulled him away. Ben didn't even have time to protest as she swiftly led him to the woods. "Let's just get out of here, we're going for a walk."

The three adults looked on in complete silence, before it was finally broken by Leland, chuckling to himself and shaking his head.

Todd turned his head. "The fuck are you laughing at?"

Still amused by what he had just seen, Leland turned to Todd and Marie. "Y'all hear wedding bells, or is it just me?"

Todd and Marie exchanged a look.