SIX

With a grunt, Rick heaved on the rope with all his might, hoping that final pull would be enough to bring his payload to the top edge of the balcony. Unfortunately, halfway through the movement his hand slipped and the rope began sliding backwards from his hands. He cursed and screamed, "No! No! No!" while desperately grappling with the slithering cord. Finally, he caught hold of it just before the basket full of his treasures would have crashed against the ground and presumably spilled everywhere. Phew!

Despite his relief that he did not have to climb all the way out of the treehouse and restack his items into the basket, Rick was not looking forward to the prospect of hauling the heavy load up once more. Lowering the basket all the way to the ground gently, he wiped his sweaty hands off on his t-shirt before gripping the rope and attempting to successfully finish the task at hand. He had the basket about halfway up when he heard, "You know, if you hadn't brought the whole library back with you it would be a lot easier to get up here."

He grunted and barely glanced over his shoulder towards the woman standing in the balcony doorway. "You going to judge me or help me?" A moment later he felt her pick up the rope behind him and they began pulling together. When the basket reached the top edge of the balcony and he heaved it over the railing he realized that perhaps she did indeed have a point. On the bright side, he'd gotten everything he wanted this time so he didn't need to go back again, which was good; that house was beginning to take on a peculiar and unpleasant smell.

For the prior week Rick had lamented about being bored. While his companion still had plenty of books she was interested in reading, when it came to his reading preferences he had already read all the ones of interest to him that he had found. The books remaining were ones he had either previously read or preferred not to read due to their uninteresting subjects.

After finding a notepad and pen in one of the houses, he'd attempted to get back into his writing, but the motivation simply wasn't there. Typically, he was good at writing under stress. Actually, that was when he got a majority of his work done, however their current situation had almost too much stress for him to get any coherent ideas out, so he had given up almost as quickly as he started. It was then Kate mentioned that one of the houses in the nearby cul-de-sac had a media room in the basement that she hadn't found anything useful in, but perhaps there would be reading material for him there.

That morning, while she did laundry in the main house, Rick set off towards the gray stucco exterior house she'd described to him. In the prior weeks, they had rarely split up while going about their day-to-day work, knowing that in the zombie-filled world the phrase "safety in numbers" was particularly true, so Rick found it almost odd to be traversing the neighborhood alone. Yes, Kate was three houses away, but having spent nearly six weeks side-by-side, it was strange to be separated even for a short period of time.

In the end, his sojourn had been well worth the trip. Not only had he procured books on more interesting subjects than how to rebuild the engines in cars, but he had discovered other treasures as well. Now that it appeared she was back from her laundry assignment, he couldn't wait to show her what he had found.

"Okay, so maybe I got a little overzealous, but I can't believe you said there was nothing good in that basement! There were tons of good things. Like-"

"DVDs?!" She interrupted incredulously. Reaching down into the basket she pulled out two movies and held them up as though they were objects beamed down from outer space. "Why in the world would you bother hauling DVDs up here when there's nothing we can do with them?"

"Ahh!" He held up his index finger indicating he needed a moment. From the top of the basket he pulled a small pile of books and a few more DVDs before revealing his new favorite discovery lying in the bottom of the container. "Look what I found—a battery powered travel DVD player. Ah! I know what you're going to say!" He held up his hands again when he saw her lips begin to part, certain a scolding was on its way out.

"Let me save you the trouble. 'Rick,'" he began in a tone that mocked hers, "'We shouldn't be wasting batteries on something stupid like this DVD player.' Normally, I would agree; however look at our battery stock. We have dozens of double-A batteries, but only one of our flashlights takes them; the rest take C's. Especially considering we've hardly wasted anything in the six weeks I've been here, I think we can use four batteries on a movie night."

In Rick's mind, they owed themselves a treat. For the prior forty-five days they had saved every drop of water they could, wasted barely more than a few crumbs of food here and there, only used flashlights when absolutely necessary, and gone without virtually every modern convenience known to mankind. He wasn't complaining—honestly. On most days, their ultra-rustic lifestyle didn't bother him one bit. He was actually proud of how they were able to have a reasonably decent life given how limited they were. However, at the same time, they had more than earned a reward.

Noticing she was hesitant, he grinned at her and encouraged. "C'mon Kate. I'll even let you pick the movie."

It took thirty more seconds, but she finally relented with a head nod. "Fine; we'll watch it tonight."

He clicked his tongue at her. "You say that like you're not going to enjoy it, but I know you will. I'm even going to make popcorn!"

"How?"

Rick plunged his hand back down into the basket and revealed several plastic-wrapped packets. "You left microwave popcorn bags in that house so I grabbed them."

She folded her arms over her chest. "I left them for a reason. Namely, the key word 'microwave.'"

His brow wrinkled at her and his lips pursed together. He could not understand why she was seemingly doing everything she could to rain on his parade. Thinking back, she had been a bit short with him earlier that day when going off to do the laundry though he was unsure why. They hadn't argued or disagreed on anything that morning or the day before—at least, not to his knowledge. "Why are you grumpy today?"

"I..." Her voice drifted off as she brought one hand up to skim over her brow. "I don't know. I'm sorry. It's really hot and I just feel off today. Maybe that peach I ate this morning wasn't good. Or it's PMS." She finished with a breathy laugh.

"Oh," he responded, laughing as well. As far as he was concerned, that was fine with him. Everyone was entitled to an off day—even during the apocalypse. He easily understand why heat would be a factor, too, because he'd completely sweat through his t-shirt lugging his goodies back from the cul-de-sac and hauling them up into the treehouse had certainly been unpleasant. "Well, why don't you just go sit in the shade or something? I'll put this stuff away and then go check on the laundry."

"Oh no I-"

"Kate. Please." Rick cut her off, refusing to hear any of her rebuttals. "You do more than enough. Just take a few hours and relax." As far as he was concerned, she'd more than earned it. From the first day he arrived there she had been going above and beyond, doing everything and then some to make sure their makeshift home ran smoothly. At least once a day he had to remind her that she wasn't alone anymore and he was more than willing to share in the day-to-day tasks; in fact, he insisted on it. Usually when this happened her cheeks would turn slightly pink and she would quickly finish whatever she was doing and mumble out that he could help the next time. Rick often found himself trying to beat her to tasks just so he could share the workload. Finally after all their weeks together she was beginning to let him share, but it was still a struggle some days.

Though her expression indicated slight reluctance she did nod her head and say, "Okay; thanks Rick."


"Oh my gosh! You have real popcorn!" Kate proclaimed the moment Rick's torso popped above the treehouse trap door, a pot full of fluffy white kernels cradled against his chest.

"Uh, yeah, what else did you expect?" Rick responded. Honestly, she sounded like she had no faith in him. Of course he, as an adult man who had raised a daughter, knew how to make popcorn without a microwave! Okay, so he had only done it once, because, obviously, the microwave kind was a hundred times easier. And, yes, he had been concerned that the popcorn out of the microwave bag wouldn't work as well, but she made it sound as though he'd been using a magic wand to accomplish his task not a pot over a well-built fire!

"I…I don't know what I expected, but I'm very impressed."

He chuckled and held out the pot to her. "Maybe you should taste it first."

She reached in and pulled out a handful of kernels before popping a few in her mouth. She bit down and waggled her head to the side. "Really not bad. Maybe a little…smoky? But I don't think they're burnt."

"No that's what I was thinking; it's probably just the fire. We still have that garlic salt right?" He walked passed her and into the kitchen where he found the spice he desired. He shook some over the entire bowl before giving it a shake to distribute the seasoning.

Kate reached in, pulled out two kennels, and tasted them before declaring, "Better."

"Excellent."

Rick carried the popcorn bowl to the couch before grabbing the DVD player and its battery pack out of the basked by the balcony door. "Huh," he commented as he looked outside. "Guess I finished just in time; it's started to rain out there."

"Oh! Then we'll need to-"

"Got it." he said, winking at her, before grabbing the Tupperware containers they kept by the balcony door and heading outside. Since they used the balcony, they did not keep it pre-set up with their rain catching devices; they only set those up when it was actually raining. Fortunately, at that point the rain was barely a drizzle so Rick didn't get too wet accomplishing this task.

"So did you pick the movie?" he asked upon returning inside. He'd brought five just so they had a variety of choices—or in case they wanted to have a second movie night in a few weeks.

"Um yeah." She picked up the movie Independence Day and held it up with a laugh. "This one feels oddly appropriate."

"Yeah…I don't know what's better: zombies or aliens. Probably zombies."

"How so?"

He shrugged before speaking his reasoning aloud. "Well, the zombies can bite or scratch you, but that's about all. They can't run or chase you that well. They certainly don't have space ships, lasers, or other highly advanced technology, so while there are a lot of them, they're an easier enemy to destroy."

She blinked at him. "That was a very thorough answer."

He laughed. "Well, I might have given it some thought." Or, a lot of thought—but she didn't need to know that.

Once they'd put the movie in the player, they sat together on the couch with the video player on a table in front of them. Unfortunately, the portable DVD player only had a six inch screen, making it difficult to watch from any sort of distance. When Kate commented on his, Rick pulled the player into his lap and came up with a quick solution.

"Here, we'll have to sit closer," he said, draping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her body up against his so she could more easily view the screen now balanced on his knee. When he realized just how close together he'd brought them, he asked tentatively, "Is this okay or are you uncomfortable?"

"No, no it's fine," she said, tucking herself against his shoulder and resting one of her hands against his side.

"Perfect."


Rick wasn't sure how far into the movie it was that Kate fell asleep, but it was at least past the halfway point. After a long day with high heat and humidity, he had to admit being tired as well, but seeing as the movie night was his idea, he was bound and determined to stay awake until Will Smith and his cohorts rescued the country from certain annihilation. Though she said she felt better after her hour-long break in the shade, he still did not want to wake her, particularly if she was finally sleeping after a long day. Unfortunately, the pins-and-needles feeling in his arm had a different opinion.

As carefully as he could, Rick shifted his shoulder back against the couch so he could move his limb around slightly. At this motion, Kate mumbled something he couldn't understand and flopped her arm down across her stomach, though she did not wake. Once he exhaled a relieved breath, Rick gazed down at her and suddenly found himself overwhelmed by a barrage of emotions.

Owing to the fact that they were two people existing in a small space completely isolated from all other still-living humans, he and Kate had grown progressively closer over their time together. In the prior three weeks, ever since they'd started sharing the lone bed in the treehouse, their closeness had only grown. They had gone from coexisting to sharing their lives, ending each night with soft conversation, and starting each morning with a smiled greeting.

Somehow, despite everything that had happened, despite the disaster state in which their world existed, despite the death and destruction that was interwoven with their everyday lives, Rick had fallen in love with the beautiful, incredible, strong, amazing woman curled up beside him. Living each day with her had made him happier than he ever thought he could be after the collapse of the world he knew. In any ordinary situation he wasn't sure he could have fallen in love with a woman in just six weeks, but their situation was far from ordinary; thus he believed his feelings were true—even if that presented him with a new problem.

Rick was genuinely afraid to upset the balance of their rhythm by confessing his true feelings to her. Living the way they did, with danger literally lucking around them hour by hour, the stakes were as high as they possibly could be. He was concerned that the strain of a romantic relationship would be too much for them.

For that moment with her body tucked so perfectly against his, Rick decided he would be content with their life as it was. He did love her, but surviving with her was the most important thing. Perhaps there would be a time for them to become intimate in the future; it certainly was not out of the question. He hoped their time would come, but until then he'd be happy with her as his partner in the new, uncharted world.


The following morning, Kate awoke to the mixed sounds of rain pattering against the roof of the treehouse and the soft breathing of the man beside her. She let out a long exhale and snuggled a bit closer to him. Her head rested against his shoulder and her arms were tucked against his. It almost—almost—felt like they were waking up in a different world. If she blocked out her conscious thoughts about collecting water and going to feed chickens in the rain, she could imagine them laying in a bed in a regular New York apartment, the windows cracked to allow the sounds of rain to filter in. In that world, they did not face peril every time they descended into the forest; they did not continually need to fight to stay alive. Food and water were easily accessible; as was air conditioning.

The feeling of a paw lightly tapping on her head pulled Kate back to reality. She grumbled and lifted up her hand to pat the feline laying on the pillow by her head. "Two minutes," she grumbled at him quietly; he began to purr. Relaxing back into her pillow, Kate thought that maybe one day she would be able to live in that world again—the one that had been her norm for thirty years. At least, for the time being, she wasn't alone.

Stirred by either her voice or her movement, the man beside her shifted. His hand dropped down from his stomach and landed against her left thigh. Almost immediately his fingertips began to stroke the flesh exposed beneath her shorts until his whole hand splayed against her leg. This action caused Kate to breathe in sharply and her eyes to pop open.

Considering that Rick still looked very much asleep, she was guessing the move was unconscious, which was fine. His hand on her leg didn't make her uncomfortable—quite the opposite, in fact. For the first time since undead bodies began roaming the streets, Kate felt a flame deep inside her flicker back to life. Her cheeks flushed and she could feel a sensation low in her belly that while foreign was not unwelcome. She knew it then in that moment as clearly as ever: she wanted him; she wanted them.

Rick was a kind and caring man, who also happened to drive her crazy sometimes—well, a lot of the times—but as annoyed as she could get at him, he also reminded her multiple times a day that there were still things to smile about despite the horrible state of the world. Yes, they were surrounded by death, gloom, and almost constant fear, but she would look at him smiling and forgetting about all that almost became too easy.

With Rick, not a day went by without tons of laughter. Just a few mornings ago, Tux had decided the best way to wake them up was to use their fingers and toes beneath the sheets as playthings. Rather than shove him off, Rick had retrieved one of the strings they used to play with him, and they'd had a riotous session, running all over the bedroom, up on furniture and over and under the bed until the cat collapsed, panting with exhaustion. Kate had smiled throughout the whole event and it had her chuckling for hours afterwards. Without Rick, moments like that one would have had far less joy.

Back in Manhattan before the world decided to go to hell, Kate had favored advancing her career over finding a lifelong mate. Sure, she dated, but nothing had ever stuck. Though she probably would not have admitted it at the time, Rick was the exact type of man she had been looking for. He was different than the men she usually dated; had they met in a different social setting she probably would have been more annoyed by his silliness at first, but she was glad their situation had afforded her the opportunity to get to know him in a different way.

In part, finding him the way she did felt like a cruel twist of irony. She'd found an interesting man with whom she had excellent conversations and a great deal of fun; yet, what kind of future could they have together? What kind of future did they have at all? Surviving for several months let alone years seemed so unlikely at that point of time. If zombies didn't get them, surely some sort of illness or accident would or else they might simply run out of fresh water to drink. Still, laying there with him, she could not help but be hopeful; maybe they would have a chance.

Kate's peaceful moment of thought was destroyed not ten seconds later when a crack of thunder rattled the entire treehouse. Rick gasped and sat upright in bed, knocking Kate to the side unintentionally as he gasped out, "Whasa—whas happn'n?" in a still sleepy tone.

"Guess we're getting a storm in addition to the rain." Kate commented. The prolonged rain she didn't mind as it gave them more of their most precious commodity; however, the storm was a different beast all together.

Generally, storms that came with thunder also came with wind, which would most likely put their water collection system through its paces. She briefly considered going out and retrieving the water it had collected overnight so at least they wouldn't lose what was already collected, but then thought better of it. Odds were, if it was blowing that hard the tarp collection devise would break or get destroyed, but the water they'd collected would not blow away due to its weight, so it wasn't worth getting drenched for.

Kate watched as her companion pushed himself out of bed and wandered towards the window looking out onto the balcony. Given that his hand was just against her thigh—innocent or not—she did not feel bad about admiring how good his backside looked in the boxers he wore, so much so that when he turned back around she was wearing a silly grin that she quickly had to straighten. Of course, he caught her and asked what was going on.

"Nothing, 's just…Tux's tail is tickling me." She lied quickly to avoid embarrassment.

"Oh. Well it looks like the wind is really whipping out there. Wonder if this is a hurricane?"

She considered this for a moment. While it was unusual for their section of the east coast to get a hurricane, it certainly was not impossible and since hurricanes generally took place in summer, it was entirely possible the storm they were experiencing could have been a hurricane. Or, it could have been a run-of-the-mill severe thunderstorm; they had no way to tell. "Could be, but I guess we'll never now." She had not really thought about it until that moment, but they could even be facing a tornado and they'd never know about it either. She shook her head to push that thought from her mind; they had enough dangerous things to worry about without the weather being added to the list.

"Well," Rick said, stepping away from the window and reaching out for a clean t-shirt from his clothing pile. "Guess we won't be walking over to get eggs for breakfast."

"Just as well; that hot plate wouldn't work with this rain," she said, knowing that they needed ample sun on the solar panels to get it to work. "Dry cereal?"

"My favorite." He commented with a chuckle.


"Shit!" Rick proclaimed when the glass balcony door suddenly burst open, spitting wind and rain into their previously tranquil game of poker.

Kate leapt from her chair and rushed over to force the door closed. Then, for good measure, she grabbed the chair she'd been sitting on and braced it underneath the door handle. The doors, windows, and everything else in the treehouse had been rattling wildly for the prior hour, but she never expected one of them to burst open!

Turning back around, she found Rick gathering up the cards that had flown everywhere thanks to the wind. He picked them up and dried them against his t-shirt before collecting them in a pile once more. Glancing up to her, he chuckled and said, "Well that was one way to liven up the game."

She pressed her lips together. It certainly had startled her out of her gloomy day haze, but it had also brought a great deal of fear and concern. "I really hope the roof doesn't start leaking."

"Nah." He responded. "With the weight of those solar panels on there I don't think we're going to have a problem."

She nodded to his comment; that was a valid point she hadn't considered. Their roof, as well as the overall structure of the treehouse, was probably safe. The water collection system on the other hand… "I bet our water collecting tarp blew away."

A frown crossed his face as he sat back down at the table. "Oh. Yeah. Probably. We can rebuild it though. It'll be a pain, but you still have that final tarp, right? The new collection system won't be as big, but it'll be better than nothing."

"Yeah, that's tru—" Kate cut herself off mid-word and gasped when a horrible thought hit her. "The fence!"

"What fence?"

"The chicken fence!" She clarified, bringing her hands up to cover her cheeks. "Oh god I bet this storm ripped the chicken fence apart!" She was such an idiot! In the prior few days she had noticed that one corner of the fence seemed to be coming loose, but she'd constantly told herself, "Oh, I'll fix it next time," but never gotten around to it. If the wind was strong enough to blow open the balcony door, that fence had definitely been destroyed.

Rick waved a casual hand in her direction. "Please. The girls are probably hunkered down in their coup. Even if the fence did blow down they'll be fine."

Kate turned and walked towards the trap door as she continued to fret. "But what if they're not? And what if we don't get to them soon after the rain stops and they wander away? We have to check on them."

When she flipped open the trap door, a blast of wet air smacked her in the face. Yes, this trip was going to be immensely unpleasant, but it needed done. She was two seconds from dumping the rope ladder out the entrance when Rick stopped her. "What are you doing? You can't go now!"

She glanced up at him, incredulous. "You're the one who named the chickens—aren't you concerned about them at all?" With the number of times she'd made fun of him for speaking about their three egg-layers as though they were his children, she couldn't believe he was stopping her.

He rounded his shoulders in submissions. "Of course I'm concerned and if we lose them it will be unfortunate, but not at the expense of one of us getting hurt in this storm!"

Kate was undeterred. "But we didn't even get to feed them yesterday afternoon because of the rain."

Rick reached out and brushed his hand down her arm before flipping the trap door shut with his foot. "And they'll be fine. Look, it's been raining since last night, right? This storm could easily pass in an hour or so. Then, we can check on them. Let's just not get too hasty, okay?"

With a huff, she nodded her head. "Fine." She'd relax for the time being, but there would be no way she'd let night fall without checking on the chickens.


"You didn't have to come with me," Kate said as her companion waited at the back door of the house wearing his newly acquired rain slicker. They'd hurried their way through the torrents of rain to the main house on their way to the birds. Rick suggested they check for trench coats or something to help keep them from getting soaked through to the skin. Unfortunately, they'd only found a men's jacket; the female ones were all cotton or fleece and would be useless in the storm.

Rick grunted at her. "Obviously, I do."

He was annoyed. Very, very, very annoyed. He did not want to be trudging through the pouring rain and whipping winds. He wanted to be in the treehouse where he would stay nice and dry, but nooooo. They had to go check on the chickens. The damn chickens. Of course he bonded with the chickens! Of course he appreciated their eggs! But at the end of the day they were just chickens. Even if the fence did break down and even if the chickens did wander outside their fenced area it was likely they would come back as they would need food and shelter. Even if they didn't come back, they would still be okay; they had other food.

But no, Kate had to check on the chickens—she had to. Nothing he could say would talk her out of it, insane as it was. She was going, she had said, and he couldn't stop her, so naturally he had to go with her. They were partners and she needed someone to watch her back even if it was during a ridiculous and horrible storm.

"Let's just get this over with."

With a deep breath, Rick pulled open the back door of the house and took a half step back from the force of the wind. Putting his weight into his heels and bending his knees, he began to trudge forward. Unbelievable. The winds were so strong they were pushing against all two hundred and ten pounds of him as though he were wafer thin. He had no idea how Kate, who weighed significantly less, was even moving.

They hurried the best they could across the cul-de-sac towards the house with the chicken coop in the back yard. Rick winced as the rain stung his cheeks and eyes, glad his arms and torso were at least protected. The slicker was a bit warm to be wearing that day, but it was worth it not to suffer through the pelting pinpricks of rain.

"See!" Kate shouted at him over the whistle of wind. "The fence is broken."

"Great!" He yelled back. He hoped she appreciated her victory, because from the looks of things he had been right as well. Through the wire of the coup he could see white feathers ruffling in the wind. Stabbing his index finger towards them, he called out, "They're in there—just like I said!"

Kate trudged over to the coup, bent down, looked inside, and then stood up, shaking her head. "Rick, only two are in there!"

Grumbling to himself, he joined Kate and saw she was, unfortunately, correct as only two pairs of black eyes blinked back at them. "Shit." He muttered under his breath. Clara was the one missing; he knew it. She was always the one who liked to wander towards the edge of their pen and only paid attention to him when food was involved.

"Well she probably got blown away in this." He shouted to her. At least, he thought, they still had two chickens left; that was better than nothing.

"Help me with this fence," she said, pointing towards the corner that had collapsed.

Working together, they hoisted up the corner post and attempted to shove it back into the ground, which was a far more difficult task than Rick expected. Despite the rains, the ground was frustratingly hard and the stubborn pole was refusing to go in the earth. Coupled with the fact that he could barely open his eyes more than a fraction, the ordeal was completion miserable. Finally, after several minutes of grunting and shoving, they managed to set the pole into place. Then, they split up to continue to set the wire fencing back into its proper position.

Grumbling to himself, Rick pushed at the hood on his slicker and wished he'd thought to grab gloves as well as a jacket. Not only was it difficult to grasp the metal fencing stakes because of their sharp edges, his soaking wet hands made any reasonable grip nearly impossible. Even wiping his hands on his hands on his pants every thirty seconds barely made any difference.

For the better part of five minutes he grunted and shoved, beads of sweat forming at the base of his neck and on his chest. With every movement he became progressively more annoyed with Kate. Yes, she had been right and the fence was broken, but Hannah and Shelby were in their coup and not leaving; thus they could have left the fence until the rain was finished but nooooo; they had to be idiots and venture out.

Cursing with each of the three final shoves, Rick managed to get the pole to stand upright in the ground. Then, he reached down to pick up the fencing and hook it over the top of the pole. Just as he was about to stand and announce he was finished and they should get the hell out of the rain, his ears were assailed with a blood-curdling scream.

Scrambling to push his hood back to enable an unrestricted field of vision, Rick whipped in the direction of the scream and saw Kate fifteen feet from him hunched over at her waist, directly behind her was a ragged, filthy figure with skin missing from its cheeks and gnarled bloody hands; its mouth was clamped down on her shoulder.

Rick couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. All he could do was stare as he came to the realization that in one moment everything they'd worked for had been completely and utterly destroyed.


A/N: Did someone order an evil cliffhanger? :)