"Bella, you can be Edward's guide today. Show him around the main chore areas, get him acclimated to the camp," my father said, and if stating that Edward would be an officer in the future wasn't bad enough, certainly sending me off with the same intruder would kill Jacob. The boy stepped forward, brown eyes blazing, and my father shot him a silencing look that was ignored.

"You're going to let these strangers see everything important to us? What if their goal is to do us harm?" he demanded, right in the middle of everyone. Charlie looked unsurprised, sighing.

"In what world," he began, moving away from the strangers and toward Jacob, "would these people have traveled this far just to cause harm to any of us? Humans are all alike: we need each other to survive. How can we, as a family, force them to remain all alone? How are we going to keep our race from dying out entirely if we won't accept even the most innocent of our kind?"

"They're hardly innocent," Jacob snorted, but he looked taken aback. My father was rarely angry; but when he was stern like this, you could hardly help but just listen to him. He had gained a way with words that he had never had before the sickness.

"That is your opinion, Officer." I could tell it hurt Jacob to be referred to as a title rather than a name, and I was sure Charlie had meant it to; he turned back toward the newcomers, glancing over at me. "Like I said. Bella, show Edward around. You two are similar in age. He will learn from you."

"Yes, sir," I replied, and waved to Edward from my spot in the circle. He smiled weakly and followed me away, looking back over his shoulder at his family and my father, probably still diffusing Jacob.

"How old are you?" I asked him, wondering why my father had said "similar in age." I was seventeen. Jacob was eighteen. Wasn't that similar?

"Seventeen," he replied, and I nodded.

"Me, too."

That was the extent of our introductory conversation, and I led him off toward the far edge of the camp, by the hospital.

"You're familiar with this place," I told him, pulling open a door. "This is dry stock. We have some cars left over that we use to go scavenging. It's rare that we find food that's not spoiled or something, or even for us to find any food at all, but this is what we have." I closed the doors, moving on with the tour.

"Charlie is your dad, then?" Edward asked as we crossed through the trees; I was leading him around the edges, not really wanting to return to the group gathering until after Jacob had been put in his place. He was following, but far slower than me; he tripped on the occasional tree root, or had to dodge a limb. I rarely even got leaves in my hair anymore, I was so accustomed to the area.

"You couldn't tell?" I asked, slowing down for his benefit. "He founded this place."

"Are you from Florida originally?"

"Yes," I replied. "Are you from Washington originally?"

"Yes," he mimicked. "How long have you all been out here?"

"It's been eight years since we weren't alone anymore," I said slowly. I didn't know how much my father wanted him to know. "A couple from Tallahassee found us. They were the first ones to tell us that there wasn't anything left." I stopped there, speeding up again, and Edward was too busy trying not to trip and fall that he was silent.

I stopped outside my mom's garden, waiting in the trees for Edward's approach. His breathing was a little heavy as he slowed, and I suddenly felt guilty. "This is where we grow most of our food," I told him. "My mom and brother are our main gardeners."

"How old is your brother?" he asked, and I smiled immediately. Everyone was always surprised about Isaac.

"Five," I stated, then turned toward the clearing, pushing aside several branches so sun suddenly shone through, onto us. My mom and Isaac were already among the rows, my mom on all fours, Isaac digging with a spade.

"Hey, guys," I said, waiting for Edward to emerge with me. "This is Edward. He's new." My mom already knew, of course; but Isaac had probably been instructed to stay in the garden when my father had introduced them, so he would be as clueless as I had been last night.

"Bella!" Isaac called, racing across the rows of plants toward me and grabbing onto my leg. "Morning, sunshine."

"Morning, sunshine," I repeated, kneeling in front of him. "Did you hear me?"

"Yes, this is Edward," Isaac said, looking up at the new boy. "An intruder."

I laughed, and I pulled on the little boy's curly brown hair, shaking my head. "Intruder is a mean word."

"So he's not an intruder?"

"No, he's nice."

"Oh," Isaac said, immediately assuaged. "I'm Isaac."

"Edward," the tall boy said, holding out his hand. Isaac took it, looking at his palm.

"You don't do much work, do you?" my brother asked, meaning that Edward's white hand lacked callouses, and we all laughed. My mom ran up to us, still covered in dirt.

"Be polite, Isaac," she said. She held out her hand to Edward as well, and he shook it, despite the soil on her skin. "I'm Renee, Charlie's wife."

"It's really a pleasure to meet you," he said. "All of you. We never thought we'd see other humans."

"You're in luck, then," Isaac said. "There's lots of us here."

Edward grinned, glancing around the garden. "Bella, when you said garden, I didn't expect something this big."

"There's a lot of people here," I pointed out, surveying my mom's work with him. Rows upon rows upon rows of vegetables grew here; my mom had even fashioned old fences for the tomatoes, and had also managed to rehabilitate some old orange trees from the area, which stood behind the garden. "You should smell those in the springtime," I said, pointing.

"Wow," he breathed, his eyes wide, and I grinned at my mom. She grinned back, taking Isaac's hand.

"Well, unless you guys want to stay and help," she started, moving back toward her plants, "I suggest you continue with your tour. We've got work to do."

"Yes, ma'am," Edward said, looking at me, and I pretended not to notice his eyes. They weren't just looking at me; they were gazing, his fascination with the area and with finding others glowing in his expression. I certainly hoped that was all he was fascinated with. I remembered him staring at me in the hospital last night, and quickly distracted myself, starting to jog through the trees again.

I showed Edward the spring, and he stared at the cool water, kneeling down and touching it gingerly, as if it were alive. I showed him where we emptied our waste, which was several miles away from the camp. By the time we got back, it was nearly noon, the sun beating down. I wiped sweat off my brow, leading Edward to where my father usually patrolled during the daytime.

He was leaning on one of our cars, a relatively new Jeep Wrangler that was covered with a plastic tarp. Another of his officers was standing with them, and my stomach dropped when I saw Jacob there, as well. He shot forward upon hearing us approach, reaching for me, and I swatted his arms away, punching him sharply in the stomach. He doubled over, his eyes surprised, and Edward laughed.

"For Christ's sake," Charlie groaned. "Grow up, both of you." He walked forward, and I wondered if Edward was supposed to see the shotgun over his shoulder. "How did it go?"

"It went well," I replied, my eyes following Jacob's dejected form back to the Jeep and the other officers. "I think he's ready to be assigned chores."

"Fabulous. He can do laundry with you today, then."

"What?!" Jacob demanded, and Charlie and I rolled our eyes simultaneously. "Don't you think that's a little remote for the two of them to be going together?"

"We went everywhere else," I asserted, trying to force insinuations into my tone, and Jacob's eyes darkened.

"Avery will escort them," Charlie said, glaring at both of us, and the officer he had named stepped forward, tossing short hair behind her shoulders. She too had a gun, but it was much smaller, in a holster on her hip.

"Yes, sir," she said, and I sighed. As if I couldn't take care of myself.

We made it to the spring shortly after, toting large bags full of clothes, and I told Avery she didn't have to help. This job would go way faster even with just Edward helping, and I didn't need her in my business, anyway. I knew very well, as did everyone else, that Avery had a huge crush on Jacob. It didn't bother me so much as annoy me; how could anyone like him that way? He was a major asshole. Regardless, she listened to me, standing among the trees several yards behind us.

"So what do you remember about your life before the camp?" Edward asked several minutes into silent clothes-washing; he picked up on the idea very easily, and we sat on the side of the spring, the only sounds the splashing of our hands in the water.

"I remember a lot of it, actually," I said slowly, wondering what his goal was in asking me things like this. Why did he care? Was it because both of us were lucky enough to have our families with us? Was he just trying to make friends? The idea seemed heinous to me; I hadn't had to worry about something as trivial as making friends for a decade.

"Like what?"

"What do you want to know?" I replied quickly. Open-ended questions weren't my favorite.

"Well, we were both seven when it started," he said carefully. He seemed worried about my reactions. "Did anyone else in your family die?"

"My grandparents," I said. "They died very early. Before we even knew it was an epidemic."

"Anyone else?"

"My mom's sister, Dana. My dad didn't really have much family besides us." I paused, wondering if I should be polite and ask about him. "Dana and her husband and kids all died from it. They were living in another state at the time, though, so it didn't really hit me that hard. Plus, I was eight or nine, so I understood that it happened."

"You're so blasé when you talk about death," Edward noted. "Even last night in the hospital. 'No, everyone in the world died' or something like that."

"I'm just used to it. I don't see any point in hiding from it. Death comes for us all."

"Aren't you afraid of death?"

"I'm not afraid of anything."

We were quiet for a few more moments, and then nosiness overcame me. "What about you, then?"

"What do I remember?"

"Yeah."

"I honestly don't have many memories of my childhood," he said carefully, as if he didn't want to seem crazy. "I think I blocked it out. We lived in a small town, and my father was chief of surgery at the hospital. He brought the sickness home with him. It killed my little sister."

"Damn," I breathed immediately, looking up from the shirt in my hands to Edward's calm face. "Talk about blasé."

"We all have to come to terms with what happens to us eventually," he said, carefully again. I wondered if that was just the way he was, always putting a lot of thought into his words. "She was five at the time. Her name was Alice."

"That's a pretty name," I replied. I could see in his perfect eyes that he still felt pain; but, like anyone else, he was hiding it. "You miss her." It wasn't a question.

"Of course I miss her."

"I'm glad you have your parents still," I told him, my heart suddenly aching. How did I make him feel better?

"Thank you. Anyway," he said, and I was relieved he was changing the subject, "we've been moving around since it happened, looking for a place that we could stay. It was dangerous, at first. Everyone was looting, stealing, killing each other. But then…"

"All those people died," I said, smiling weakly. "See how easy it is to say?"

He laughed. "I guess."

"When you were traveling the country," I said. "And walking around everywhere and everything. Did you find any other place like this? Or any civilizations?" I had never told anyone how much I missed it; I wanted to be in school, I wanted to go to college. I wanted to get married to someone and feel safe enough to have kids. There were only three children in the whole camp who had been born here. No one could trust that they would be safe from the sickness, however. Sometimes I stayed up all night worrying about what might happen to Isaac.

"Your camp is the only settlement we have ever found. Your faces are some of the first we have seen in four or five years."

"Oh," I replied, my eyes on the water in front of me. Four or five years. We were alone.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Edward said suddenly, and my head snapped up, our eyes meeting. His were so gorgeous, so green; I had always wanted eyes like that. No one else in camp had green eyes.

"What are you sorry for?" I asked, trying to seem nonchalant; I scrubbed at the clothing in my hands with renewed vigor, ignoring the knot in my chest. "Nothing to be sorry about. We have everything we need here."

"That's good," he said. The slowness of his tone was aggravating all of a sudden; why did he have to think so hard? I clenched my jaw and finished the clothes as quickly as possible, wanting desperately to get away.

We hung the clothes up on the line in a quarter of the time it usually took me by myself, and then we were heading back to camp, hearing happy voices and cheering before we had even broken through the trees. I remembered with a jolt that it was technically Friday, which was the weekly night of the camp "party," if it could really be called that. Everyone met in the middle of camp, dancing around and singing and pretending that things were okay, even though they definitely were not.

I whispered quickly what was happening to Edward, and he nodded, looking semi-excited for a party. I wanted to tell him it sucked, but before I had the chance, we passed through the trees into the clearing that was our campground, and Isaac was the first one to see us. He ran up and grabbed onto my leg again, dirt on his tiny face.

"Bella!" he said, grinning up at me. "Mama is making spaghetti tonight!"

"Wow," I replied, surprised; it had been a while since any of our meals consisted of food that wasn't vegetables. I was reminded that I hadn't eaten today by my growling stomach, and I looked around for my mom, probably going to have her grab a couple things for me from the garden.

She was nowhere to be found, but Jacob certainly was, emerging from one of the houses and approaching us much more threateningly than little Isaac had. "Bella, can I talk to you?" he asked me, and I wrinkled my brow, glancing at Isaac. He shrugged, moving away, and I looked back up at the officer boy, dark eyes boring into me.

"Sure," I said. I smiled easily up at him, my hand still on the top of Isaac's head.

"Alone?" he added, and I fought the urge to grimace.

"You'll be okay with Avery?" I asked Edward, and he smirked, nodding. His eyes didn't stay on me for long; they flicked to Jacob, a glint of distaste crossing his expression. You and me both, I thought, following Jacob back toward the trees.

He stopped when they hung over us, blocking the sun, and I hated how gorgeous his skin looked with the shadows staining it. "Did you have plans to go to the party tonight?" he asked me, and I immediately knew what his next question would be.

"No, I didn't," I said, unable to answer any other way. And he was asking me to go with him in three, two, one…

"Good, me either," he said. Well, that hadn't been what I expected. "Do you wanna do something else maybe? We can go swimming." He winked, and I nearly gagged.

"Charlie doesn't like people swimming in the springs," I said, trying to mimic Edward's thoughtful tone.

"Well maybe we can just go on a walk?"

"I'm good, Jake," I said, starting to walk away. "Shouldn't an important officer like you stay here anyway, what with all these intruders around?" I winked back at him, then turned my back fully, stalking off toward camp with a smug grin on my face.