Upon arriving back in Yuba, the man, his family, and a few others recounted the same tale of a group of bad looking people. Kyle took the necessary precautions to keep an eye out for such people, but other matters had to be attended to.

The Interior advisor told Isturez that if they didn't get more materials soon, the work that they began on the wall would be all for naught. So, all construction ceased, and everyone fell back to the interior wall so that the militia—that was what everybody was calling all the Guard and volunteers now—could gather more supplies.

So a few weeks after Lancaster, Cameron got into Delta as usual (Becky got in Bravo), and in the truck people kept on giving him the stink eye. After he had said his good-byes to Marge and Jack, she looked even more anxious than all the other times before. They had a kid on the way, so it was understandable.

It was another risky venture—risky enough, in fact, that everyone stopped harassing him on the way there. The Home Depot was in Wisconsin Rapids, and as usual they were surrounded by a cluster fuck of zombies.

It was strange that going out on a supply run was actually a lot more pleasing to him than having to deal with the shit back home. Bang! Dead zombie. Bang! Dead zombie. Bang! Dead zombie. It was almost therapeutic.

So fucking unfair, Cameron thought, shooting the things with gusto. He should either be relaxing back at his house in Chicago, or partying somewhere like Daytona Beach. It was supposed to be the summer before he started college—but no! Here he was under the hot sun, firing a gun that he wouldn't have been able to handle just a few months ago! AND IT WAS THEIR ENTIRE FUCKING FAULT!

The rage surfaced even more. It was those zombie's fault his home was gone, their fault that his best friend died, their fault that he had to shoot his other friend, their fault that Cameron knocked up Marge, their fault that his girlfriend (Ex, he remembered) hated him, and their fault the life he built got fucked up! On top of it all, according to that family from Lancaster, there were most likely dangerous people lurking around.

All too soon the zombie's numbers dwindled.

Eventually the trucks lined up in front of the Home Depot. Cameron was even more pissed when it turned out Delta had guard duty with Alpha. He wanted to shoot more zombies!

When he got a break from looking for stray zombies, Cameron sat down inside the truck and grabbed himself some beef jerky. God he missed meat. Chewing, he took the opportunity to gather his thoughts, which were clear after taking out his frustration.

Okay, so what would make things better? Well the immediate answer was simple: getting back on Becky's good side. Forget about worrying about the baby, forget about the town hating him, and forget the hordes of zombies still out in the world. Cameron wanted Becky back. He had known that simple fact for a long time, yet he did almost nothing about it—or couldn't because he couldn't get time alone with her.

If that's what it took, then so be it. Cameron couldn't take going back to Yuba with things staying the way they were. Stuffing the rest of his food in his mouth, he climbed back up. Despite all the shit a small part of him felt good that his social problems were once again his main concern.

"I need to go inside," Cameron told the person in charge.

"What for?" he asked.

"I just gotta. Reprimand me later, but I'm going," he said, climbing down the side of the truck

"Fine with me, asshole."

Ignoring that he entered the Home Depot. Rifle up, he scoured the building for any sign of her. Some people spotted him walking by; confused because they knew he was on Delta. They tried to call him out, but Cameron simply ignored them.

"Becky!" Cameron whispered loudly, after finally tracking her down. "Becky! C'mon!"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked harshly. The two others with her stopped in their tracks, and looked at him in surprise.

"We need to talk," he told her.

"Fuck that! We're in the middle of something!" she hissed. The reaction he expected, but it proved he was persistent.

"I'll join you then."

"Go back!"

"No."

"Fine!"

So Cameron raised his rifle and helped cover the rear of Becky's group.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Cameron asked her.

"When you actually are, Cam," she answered for the umpteenth time. "And will you shut the fuck up!" The people she was with were snickering. "Not the right moment."

What she had said was true, Cameron wasn't totally sorry. Despite knocking Marge up, he didn't regret sleeping with her. And he saw the fact that they (yes, they) broke it off the day before he got with Becky as pure chance. If he and Marge hadn't broke it off, then Cameron would've refused Becky's advances, because it wouldn't have been fair for her.

A growling noise suddenly came from above, and Cameron looked up just in time to see a zombie falling from one of the shelves. He got Becky out of the way, and watched as the thing landed on its head, splattering its brains.

"Thanks," she said.

"No prob."

Becky pulled away. "Don't think that's enough."

Fuck, he thought. First they had a fight while keeping an eye out for zombies—now Cameron was trying to get her back while hunting zombies. If the zombies themselves didn't prove that the world was messed up, that did.

After the full sweep of the Home Depot was completed it was time to take whatever supplies they needed. As Cameron helped load things up, he nonetheless pursued Becky. All the high school drama crap that he had despised and tried to avoid for four years had definitely caught up to him. But god dammit, it clearer now more than ever that he liked her. Why exactly? What made her so damn special? Why go through all this grief because of her? Who the hell knew—that's just how it worked sometimes.

It seemed that his torment had suddenly become a source of amusement for all those around. Some of them chuckled as they passed Cameron, others tried to give advice, and some still gave him a harder time than he was already having.

As the day passed Cameron decided to keep his mouth shut, and simply helped Becky with whatever she was doing. Thankfully she resigned herself to the persistent shadow breathing down her neck. Eventually a couple of the guys that liked chatting up Becky showed up, and offered to make Cameron back off. Angrily, Cameron's hand actually twitched towards his pistol—but Becky luckily told them off for trying to fight her battles for her.

"I wanna be with you, Becky," Cameron pleaded when he found himself alone with her near the power tools. "Please! Gimme another shot."

"Why the hell should I?" she argued harshly.

"I don't know. I'm only asking you to at least try! If you want me to beg, I'll beg."

"Just give me a reason!"

Cameron shut his mouth, and thought about what to say. "You're right. I should have told you to back off back then—but I don't regret it because then I wouldn't've been able to get to know you better."

"It's not just that, and you know it. I see how you two still act together—and you aren't even upset that she's pregnant," she accused.

"Is that what's bothering you?" Cameron asked, frowning slightly. "Marge is my friend," he explained sincerely. "Nothing's going to change that. In fact, right now it's more important than ever to stay friends. I admit I love her, but I'm not in love with her. And as for the kid, it's coming…what's the point in fretting about it?" Becky just stared back at him silently.

"Listen," he went on anxiously, reaching forward to grab her hands. "Because of the kid most people would say the fact that you dumped was just collateral damage—to me it was the damage." He squeezed her hands tighter. "I wanna be with you…. But if you hate my guts just say so and I'll leave you alone."

Oh my god, I sound like a chick, Cameron instantly realized. But he didn't care, he just kept his face set and waited for the answer.

"A few pretty words aren't going to help you," Becky choked.

"Just tell me if you hate me or not. Please." Repeating that made Cameron afraid. What if she did completely hate him? "I'm not giving up on you until you tell me."

Becky opened her mouth only to shut it, and she did that three more times. Finally, tears came out, and she just sobbed, "God dammit, Cam," before pulling him in to kiss him. He had a spring in his step the rest of the day, and he flipped his middle finger at those guys from before the first chance he got.

After the trucks, as well as spare trucks that they found, were filled to capacity, everybody loaded back into them ready to go home. Goddamn it felt good to leave. After feeling depressed, pissed, serious, and desperate all in just one day he was ready to head back home.

Back there things hadn't changed much: Marge was still very much pregnant and most of the town still deemed him an asshole. But being back on speaking terms with Becky was did help. She still didn't totally forgive Cameron, but it was still an improvement over her totally ignoring him.

Marge was glad to hear the news. The Harrison's didn't exactly approve, but they thought it best to stay out of it. Cameron then decided it was time to get another thing out of the way.

Cameron had installed a web cam onto the house's computer a while back so that he could web chat with his parents and whomever else he had found online. Never before had he done it with the owners of the house around, since it would've been a dead giveaway that Cameron and Marge weren't related—but it didn't matter anymore, did it?

He logged into his account, and soon enough the image of his father appeared on the screen. Thank god for laptops.

"Hi, Cam. Anything new?" It was actually old news that he's been putting off telling.

On his parent's end, the island of Kauai was slowly trying to become self-sufficient. It had a far larger population than Yuba, so without its regular importation it had been running low on supplies faster than other places. And similar to the supply runs Cameron's been doing, boats were taken off shore to the ships that were all denied entry in hopes of salvaging whatever possible.

"What? I can't call to say hi?" Cameron asked innocently.

"C'mon, spill it."

He sighed. "Is mom there?"

"Yeah, honey?" she asked, appearing on the screen.

"Yo, Marge," Cameron called. He had already introduced her to them long ago. After she joined him, Cameron laced his fingers, and said, "I'll just come out and say it: Marge and I slept together a few times, and as a result she's pregnant."

"WHAT!"

Cameron received an earful the rest of the night. After all, parents that were separated by five thousand miles of zombies and ocean were still parents.