A/N: Recently I noticed that today (5/5/20) marked ten years since I posted the first chapter of this story. In recognition of that I decided to put this together. It's not very exciting but I hope you enjoy it.

The sound of the horse hooves clip clopping down the worn and abandoned road was eerie, as the two riders passed houses, businesses, and parks that were being reclaimed by nature. Old, rusted out cars, some of them burnt to a crisp littered the road, with many of them housing skeletons. One couldn't look somewhere without spotting other skeletal remains, and every so often they actually saw a decrepit zombie that was still managing to just barely gargle and weakly reach out towards them. They took in their surroundings with curiosity since they normally didn't go into suburbs of the old world. And they wouldn't have that day, either, but they had a reason. Every time they rode past a street that led into a neighborhood, they'd scrutinized the street signs as best they could. It was rather difficult because the signs either weren't there, or had become faded and weathered with age.

The younger of the two with curly, brown hair huffed in annoyance, pulling the atlas out as they rode onwards. "Are you sure we're on the right track?"

"Would you shut the hell up?" the older, redheaded one said crossly. "I wouldn't have taken us all this way if I wasn't sure."

They passed another street sign, which they happened to be able to read clearly, and the younger one reluctantly admitted after looking back down at the atlas, "Fine. Looks like we're on the right track."

Her sister smiled superiorly. "Told you."

Finally, Chloe and Angie came upon the street sign they were looking for. As they turned their horses into the neighborhood, Chloe took the old, faded, and peeling ID card out of her pocket. She read the house number out loud, and said, "Now comes the easy part." Before putting the ID card away, Chloe once again looked at the words that labeled the card as a "driver's license", and shook her head with a bemused smile like she did every time. The mere idea of needing a card to be allowed to do something as simple as driving seemed absolutely ridiculous to Chloe.

Finding their father's old house was a bit more tedious than they previously anticipated. The numbers on several of the houses around them had fallen off, so they had to do some sleuth work to find the right place. Then at one house, they managed to arrange the numbers that had fallen with those still attached to a house in a way that matched the ID card.

"Cool," Angie commented, going up to the front door. She attempted to turn the knob only to find it locked.

"Slow down," Chloe told her, as she ensured that their horses were secured to porch. She led the way along the front of the house, saying, "The garage is open, come on." She pulled per pistol out. "Cover me."

Angie rolled her eyes. "What do you expect to happen out here?" she asked condescendingly. But the cold glare Chloe gave her caused Angie to wither. "Yeah…got your back," she said, also getting her pistol out.

Chloe led the way into the garage with Angie watching her back. They got to the door that led into the interior of the house; Chloe turned the doorknob, and pushed the door open while keeping her pistol up. The door made a loud creaking noise that reverberated inside the house, and they didn't move just in case there was anyone or anything inside that would have come towards them. When nothing appeared, Chloe carefully stepped inside, sweeping her pistol around. Chloe and Angie then began to make their way around to the house, checking every room and closed door. They only relaxed once they were certain that nothing in there would actively attack them.

Angie holstered her pistol, and looked around the house, saying, "So, dad lived here, huh? What a dump." The paint was peeling, sections of the wall had holes in it, and all the furniture was rotting away.

"It's been over twenty years, what do you expect?" Chloe told her. She spotted on the floor a frame with grimy glass. Picking it up, she gingerly wiped the glass to clean it, exposing a smiling family beneath it. The boy in the picture looked just like the picture in their father's ID card. Chloe's eyes roamed over the man and woman that had their arms wrapped around the boy, and she murmured, "Hi, grandma. Hi, grandpa."

Angie went up next to her and looked down at the family portrait, and asked, "Think they're still alive?"

Chloe shrugged. "Who knows." She handed her the frame. "Here. Put it away."

Angie took it, and placed the whole thing the extra rucksack they brought along for the excursion. The sisters then began to scour the ground floor of the house for any memorabilia, but other than an old album in one of the living room cabinets, they didn't find much else. Next to the living room TV, though, was a small shelf with a bunch of DVDs. They still had working DVD players back in Yuba, and some of the collection in the house included stuff they'd never seen, so packed those away as well, hoping the disks were somewhat preserved by the cases.

When nothing else of interest was found, they went upstairs to the bedrooms. One was a home office with nothing but an old computer and a bunch of documents. There was a printer in there that might have been worth brining back with them if they were able to verify it still worked. But since they couldn't, Chloe just took out the ink cartridges. With any luck they weren't dried out, and would fit a printer back in Yuba.

In their grandparents bedroom they only found more pictures, but they felt they had enough already. They curiously rifled through the walk in closet, but all the clothes in there were moth-eaten and tattered. Normally the material itself could be put to other use, but they weren't about to lug it all the way back home simply for that. Then they came across a box of jewelry. Neither saw the appeal to shiny rocks and metal, but took it all anyways since they felt that such things would've been passed down to them anyways.

Finally they entered their father's bedroom. Initially their eyes were drawn to a skeleton in a worn uniform with a hole in the top of its skull. It was rather surreal seeing physical evidence of the story of their father's first kill. On the walls were several posters, some of which had long since fallen off. They curiously went through them all, finding one of a music band, another of a movie, and one of a comically thin woman. The two knew that that was trend back in those days, but they still found the thought of starving yourself to get that skinny as absolutely absurd.

"Huh…we should take this," Angie suggested, looking at the gaming console by the room's television.

"I doubt it works," Chloe told her.

"Yeah, but we might be able to strip it for parts for the systems back home," she said.

Chloe thought about it, and said, "Okay. Take the controls, too." She hunched down next to Angie to look at the games. "We don't have some of these." She packed away the games she didn't see before.

"Ooh, dad might like this," Angie said, picking out one of the metal cases. According to the cover it was a "limited edition".

When the room was picked clean of anything they might want to take, Chloe said, "Alight, let's get back to Momence before it gets dark. We can try to find my mom's place tomorrow."

Looking out the window, Angie said, "Good thin—shit!" She pulled her pistol out, and slammed herself against the wall to get out of sight.

Chloe quickly joined her on the other side of the window, and glanced outside to see a group on horseback approaching the house. Exhaling in relief, she said, "Relax, they're from Momence." She then smacked her sister's arm. "And put that away or they'll shoot us!"

The group that arrived carefully entered the house through the garage just as Chloe and Angie descended the stairs with their hands up. Momence was Yuba's ally. Momence recognized Yuba's claim to everything between the Mississippi River and Milwaukee, and in exchange Yuba recognized Momence's claim to the territory around the shores of Lake Michigan that ran from Waukegan to South Haven. The two also heavily assisted each other when it came to trading crops, cattle, and fish. As soon as they explained themselves it should all be cleared up.

"Don't shoot!" Chloe called out, clearly displaying her empty hands. "My name is Corporal Chloe Prince of the Yuba Militia, and this is my sister Angelica Marsh—she's part of the class trip that's currently visiting Momence. We have weapons on us, but they are stowed away in our holsters!"

The group didn't lower the rifles they had pointed at them, and the man that seemed to be in charge frowned. "What the hell are you doing out here? Haven't you been briefed that looting is absolutely forbidden in our territory?"

"We have but we aren't looting," Chloe told him honestly.

"Then what's with that rucksack your carrying?" he asked accusingly.

"They're objects that we found that we want to take home," she replied automatically.

"That's looting," the man said obviously. "And you're both under arrest."

"No, wait, let me finish," Chloe said quickly as they began to approach them. "This is our father's old house. We not only have a right to be here, but also to everything in it!"

The man stopped his people, though he still eyed the sisters suspiciously. "Do you have proof?"

Chloe stepped forward. "If you reach into my right jacket pocket you'll find our father's old ID card that displays this address."

The man nodded at the woman next to him to go forward to verify. The woman went up to Chloe, still keeping her rifle trained on her, and reached into the pocket. She pulled the license out, glanced at it, and gave it to the man in charge. He looked at the ID, and from the expression on his face a realization seemed to come to him.

Looking at Angie, he slowly said, "Angelica…Marsh. You two are Major Marsh's daughters?" He sighed and waved at his people to lower their weapons. "Fucking hell, I'm going to tear whoever it was that didn't brief us on this a new asshole. Alright, show me your permit and we'll leave you to it."

Angie and Chloe looked at each other in confusion.

"Uh…permit?" Chloe asked nervously.

"Yeah...permit," the man repeated slowly, glowering at them again. "Were you perhaps unaware that before coming out here to take what's 'rightfully' yours, you need to go to the main office, provide proof, and obtain a permit?"

"I…guess…we were…unaware," Angie responded uneasily.

"It wasn't exactly brought up before," Chloe informed him.

They stared at each other for a second or two, before the man ordered, "Cuff 'em."

"What?" Angie cried out. "But you said it yourself! Our father i—"

Chloe immediately clamped her hand over Angie's mouth, and hissed, "We don't use our dad's name like that! Got it?"

"Right," Angie said begrudgingly.

A wry smile crossed the man's lips as they were being restrained. "Nice to see you aren't relying on your daddy to bail you out."

Out of what must have been pure courtesy, Angie and Chloe were handcuffed with their arms out in front of them rather than behind their backs. They were also allowed to keep the rucksack with all the stuff in it. The group from Momence marched the two outside, and also even aided them in mounting their horses.

From there they were escorted from the house all the way to Momence.

At one point Angie looked over at Chloe, and asked, "How much shit do you think we're in?"

Chloe shrugged. "Depends on who's punishing us."

"This is so stupid," Angie muttered bitterly. "That's dad's house. Why the hell do we need some fucking permit?"

"Simple," chimed in Clyde, the man in charge. "You're technically still looting. Chicago is a goldmine of supplies that can be repurposed, and Momence put itself in charge of administering it. If we allowed rampant looting to occur, that'd just be an open invitation for bandits to pour into our territory."

"They've got it worse than we do," Chloe told Angie. "Bandits obviously don't care that they're not welcome, and they'll hurt anyone they run into on their way to Chicago."

Clyde sighed and shook his head. "I never thought I'd miss how zombies still posed enough of a threat that people stayed the hell away from the city."

The rest of the journey passed in relative silence. When arrived back in Momence the gates opened for them, and they headed to the stables to put away the horses. The girls' horses were taken to the section where the rest of Yuba's horses were housed. Clyde then ordered for Angie and Chloe to be taken to a holding room while he went to deliver the report.

They were taken to the police station. Inside sitting at the front desk was an old man that was fast asleep.

"Gramps? Gramps!" the woman escorting them called out loudly.

The old man snorted awake. "Huh? Oh, Penny? And, uh…friends of yours?"

"Nope, just a couple of looters," replied Penny.

Eyeing Chloe and Angie with dislike, he took keys out of one of the drawers, saying, "Toss 'em in the cell."

Penny shook her head. "Clyde wants them in a holding room."

The old man took out another key. "Here."

Penny led them further into the police station, while the old man went back to sleep. Chloe and Angie were put in a bare room with just a table and chair, and they had their handcuffs removed before they were locked inside. They then sat down at the table and waited with resignation….

Barely ten minutes must have passed before they heard the door unlock before it burst open with a loud slam. Dread filled the two of them as their father marched in looking more livid than they've ever seen him before. Right behind him was Andrea, who walked past them with barely a glance, and waited silently in the corner of the room. They both wore their uniform, which consisted of a dark green leather jacket, gray button-down shirt, jeans, and leather boots. Clyde and Penny stood guard right outside the door.

Chloe began, "Look, sir, we—"

Her father wordlessly cut her off by taking off his cap, and throwing it to the side. He then took off his leather jacket, tossing it aside as well. Finally, he removed from the collar of his shirt the insignia that displayed his rank. The message was loud and clear: he wasn't Major Cameron Marsh, Defense Advisor and Commanding Officer of the Yuba Militia. Rather, he was instead simply just—

"Dad," Chloe said, correcting herself. "Angie and I found your old ID, and afterwards I found mom's. While we were here we wanted to visit your old places, and maybe bring stuff back for you."

After she fell into silence, Cameron said in a dangerously low voice, "Do you two have any idea how this looks? Just about anyone would think that my children believe that they can flaunt our host's rules, and do whatever they want whenever they want simply because of who their father happens to be!"

"We never thought that!" Chloe said desperately. "I've obviously done dumb shit in the past, but I never expected you to give me special treatment!"

Cameron stiffly went on, "Thankfully our hosts are going to do Yuba—not me but Yuba—a favor, and will let us handle this in house. That being said the looting isn't your only problem. You took horses and weapons that you know damn well aren't your personal property out into the wilderness without permission."

"But, dad!" Angie pleaded. "What about the time Chloe and her friends went out and—?"

Chloe kicked Angie on the shin beneath the table, and gave her a glare that told her to shut up because Chloe knew that the two situations were completely different. Back then Chloe and her friends did take a bunch of stuff without permission, but they were very much within Yuba's claimed territory, and they weren't in the middle of a mission. Here, Chloe and Angie were in foreign lands, Angie ditched her class, and Chloe was part of the platoon sent as the security force for Yuba's representatives. But they figured that they could get away with it if they didn't cause a stir.

Cameron noticed what had just transpired, but didn't mention it, and continued, "It's pretty much guaranteed you'll both be in deep shit when we get back to Yuba, but we'll discuss that when the time comes. For now…Chloe, you're an adult so I can't exactly punish you; however your chain of command sure as hell can. Angie, on top of whatever your teachers decide to do with you for bailing on the field trip, you're also grounded as hell. Your mother and I will discuss it further when we get home."

"Right," Chloe said meekly.

"Yes, dad," Angie replied, looking down.

"Fuck," Cameron muttered in annoyance, going to pick up and his jacket and cap.

Andrea then stepped forward and looked at Chloe with disappointment. "Corporal Prince…that promotion you were up for…. We'll be putting that on hold until another slot opens up."

"Yes, ma'am," Chloe replied in a hollow voice. A promotion to Sergeant was her ticket to avoiding crappy details. Now, though, she'd be handpicked for those for who knows how long.

"Let's go," Cameron told them after he got his uniform back in order.

Chloe then placed the rucksack on the table. "Here, dad," she said quietly.

Cameron looked at it for a second, and curiosity got the best of him. He opened the rucksack and ended up taking out the family photo. Cameron gazed down at it for a bit as a warm smile crossed his face. Putting the framed photo back, he put the rucksack on, went up behind his daughters, and kissed the top of both their heads. They were without a doubt still in trouble, but his anger at least subsided a little. The girls then stood up and followed their father and Andrea out of the room.

All of a sudden, as they passed the front desk, the gravelly voice of the old man, piped up, "Cam…that you?"

Cameron stopped dead in his tracks, looked at the old man in wonder, and an enormous grin broke across his face. "ELI?" he cried out in amazement.

"I'll be damned, it really is you!" the old man said, laughing as he stood up with more vigor than one would expect from someone his age. Cameron immediately went up to him and gave him a hug, as the others around looked on in surprise.

"How the fuck is it that we're only meeting now?" Cameron asked, bewildered. "I've been here plenty of times."

Eli answered, "This job is nice and easy. I just come here, sit down, and nap until someone needs something. Not too many reasons for our paths to cross."

"Gramps…you know this guy?" Penny asked, confused.

"Sure do!" the man named Eli told her, his arm around Cameron's shoulder. "I was his little league coach, and gave him his first job!"

Still smiling broadly, Cameron asked Penny, "You're his granddaughter? Is your dad Pierce?"

"Yeah," she said, surprised that he also knew of her father.

"I met him once. He was a good dude. Did he…?"

Penny nodded. "He did," she confirmed. "He and the rest of my family by St. Louis didn't make it, so I went off to find gramps."

Cameron gave her a dubious look. "St. Louis? You a Cardinals fan?"

Penny chuckled and said, "I was."

He looked Eli. "And you didn't disown her? I'm impressed."

"Ah, she just grew up around the wrong people unfortunately. Not her fault," Eli replied, waving it off. He then looked at the pair of sisters. "Are they your girls?"

"Damn straight," Cameron told him proudly, going over to throw his arms around his daughters to show them off. "This is Chloe and Angelica."

Eli then took a closer look at Chloe, and asked, "Wait up. Is their mom that redhead I was about to shoot?"

"Excuse me?" Chloe blurted out.

They ignored her, and Cameron went on, "Just Chloe. I'm married to Angie's mom, who I also have two boys with."

"Wait, hold on," Eli suddenly said. He went back to his desk, and produced a bottle of liquor and two glasses. "If we're gonna catch up on the last twenty years, we should do it over drinks."

"Lieutenant O'Malley, you've got it from here, right?" Cameron asked Andrea, taking seat by Eli.

"Uh…sure, sir," Andrea told him slowly.

"Angie, make sure you go see Mrs. Torres," Cameron told her, going back to his stern voice for a second.

"Right, dad," Angie replied.

When they were alone, Cameron asked Eli, "So how the hell did you end up here in Momence?"

"Simple, after Penny showed up we booked it south and just happened to find that the folks here fortified the place," Eli answered, pouring out the drinks. "What about you? I mean come on, Wisconsin of all places? You got pinned a Major in that militia of yours? How did that happen to you all people?"

Cameron sipped at his liquor, savoring the taste. "Shit, Eli, where do you want me to start?"