AN: Release Day is at hand! I have no earthly idea what's going to happen to this story when I actually get a look at the game. I may find a natural stopping point and turn this into an origin story...

They followed the news on TV for as long as they could. Police were outmatched. Hospitals shut down from overcrowding. The early cases ran to hospitals, hoping for help, and soon after, a hospital was the last place you wanted to go, swarming with walking petri dishes.

The national guard was called in as riots broke out. Quarantine Zones sliced the city into sections. No matter how loudly the government demanded that people stay where they were, or within their homes, there was always a few who felt the need to get home to their loved ones, or go in to their jobs, and those needs turned violent as fear was turned loose as anger. Helicopters roamed the skyline of Manhattan, raining down tear gas, shock grenades, and even real bullets from time to time, keeping the Zones closed.

Richard Castle was pretty well equipped. The loft had enormous storage space for all the things he had acquired over the years in the name of book research. Castle had forensic kits, remote controlled craft of every kind, spy gear... Then there were the more ludicrous things. Voodoo Kits, Holy Water, fencing supplies, period costumes from years of Halloween parties, tanks of oxygen, liquid nitrogen... handcuffs, whips, and a few other things Alexis refused to look at too closely...

Survival gear was actually the least bizarre thing that the missing, lamented Richard Castle had stockpiled.

"Your father keep any weapons in the house?"

"A crossbow that he lost all the ammo for. Our fencing swords aren't sharp enough to be useful... He has two guns, but he keeps them both at his PI Office. Gram was a method actor, and one time we ran through a few scenes... found out later that the gun was loaded."

"We'll have to cover those windows." Esposito said, rolling right past that. "We don't want people looking in and seeing what's going on."

"Nothing is going on." Alexis said with certainty. "No offense."

Esposito snorted. "Not that. What I mean is, the people across the street have apartments and offices just as high as this one. If they look over and notice that you're fully stocked, it's just going to be inviting a raid."

"You really think this is going to last that long?"

"It only has to last a few days. A week at most." Esposito said grimly.

"Why a week?"

"To save storage costs, every department store, every supermarket, every vendor has less than two weeks of stock on hand. Most households have an average of three days worth of food and drink. Panic buying has already started, which means the shelves will be picked clean by sundown, and with all the streets gridlocked, they won't be getting resupplied for a while. If they close the ports, there'll be no new stock to put on the shelves. The city's going to run out of everything very quickly."

"And since everyone in town has a gun..." Alexis reasoned grimly.

"So let's cover up the windows." Esposito finished.

"Folks, can I have your attention please?" Kate called, looking a hundred years older. "This morning, the Midtown Hospital reported to Dispatch that we've lost one of our people. Detective Kevin Ryan succumbed to the Plague a few hours ago... about twenty minutes after his wife and daughter."

Low cries of horror and mourning rang out.

"Ryan was more than a good cop. He was a damn good person. And a good friend to us. To me." She cleared her throat against the emotion. "He fought tooth and nail to keep himself and his family going. He fought the good fight, and even when he knew he'd lost, he kept going. If there's anything more to say about a good cop, or a good person... Well, there is. I could keep telling you stories about all the good things he did, and all the ways Ryan made people around him better. But this isn't a wake; it's a battlefield memorial. We never get the chance to give our guys the honor they deserve. Not even a marker."

"Um... I have a marker!" Castle put in. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a picture. "It's... There was that case, at the Carnival, and there was that guy who took photos for the couples. He took a candid shot of Ryan and Espo because he heard them arguing baby names and thought that they were... Well. Y'know."

A warm chuckle broke out at the memory.

"We all had a big laugh about it, and then it turned out we had to confiscate the film because the killer was on one of the pics... I kept some of the photos. They were my friends, and the one thing Instagram doesn't give you is something you can stick in your wallet, or put on the fridge."

Beckett took the picture and pinned it up on the notice board. "In Loving Memory." She said quietly. "Detective Kevin Ryan, NYPD."

Alexis had taken over the kitchen table, after moving it so her back was to the wall. Richard Castle father had a police scanner and a CB Radio among his many hobbies, and Esposito was drilling her in what the codes meant. She had set up the antenna, and was listening to both feeds in rotation, trying to get news that the television wasn't giving them.

But she suddenly wished she hadn't thought to do that.

"Are you sure?" Esposito said, hollow.

Alexis nodded, tears gathering. "I heard it over the police scanner. The hospital can't get a phonecall out any more than we can, but Dispatch is..." She shook her head. "Kevin Ryan, from the 12th. They said his name."

Esposito said nothing for a long moment, wandering over to the couch. He stared at nothing for a long time.

Alexis came over, and laid a hand on his shoulder. He reached up and put his hand on hers for a moment.

"Detective..." Alexis said kindly. "We've never been really close. Our connection always went through dad. But... I know what Ryan meant to you, if only because dad put it in his books. If you need..."

"Thanks." He croaked. A moment later he suddenly remembered himself. "Oh, what about you?" He scrubbed his face hard with his hands and stood to face her. "I haven't asked. About your gran, your mom, your friends..."

Alexis spread her hands wide. "I... I can't reach any of my friends. I can't reach mom, but she was in California, last I heard. Gran... I was able to reach, and she's got a 5% chance..." She seemed to collapse in on herself for a moment. "I'm trying very hard to be very brave about it."

"You're not doing so badly." Esposito offered.

Alexis sat down beside him. "I don't feel it. My brain spends every free second listing every place I've ever been, everyone I've ever met..." She licked her lips. "There's a spot in the hall closet where you can hear through the vents? You can hear downstairs. There's a woman crying because her little boy can't swallow his flu medicine, and she doesn't know if it's bad enough to take him to a hospital." She closed her eyes. "I don't have kids. I've been unattached for a while... I feel guilty for not having more people to lose. I feel guilty because my downstairs neighbor is trying to get her baby through a bad flu and I know it's worse than that, and I don't even know their names, but I know she's going to be in worse pain than me."

"Whole city's going to be an orphanage soon." Esposito said quietly.

"I know." Alexis whispered. "The news is still calling it a flu outbreak."

"That will change."

"I know." She took a shuddering breath. "And that's almost the worst part. Knowing what's coming." She looked at him. "I don't think I'm strong enough."

"Something I didn't realize until my first warzone? People have such phenomenal ability to keep breathing when they have to. I knew a local guy who lost all five of his kids, and his wife... checked out. But this guy, he was still working every day, just focused on whatever he was doing. Some people just refuse delivery on pain."

"Doesn't seem healthy."

"Probably isn't. I can tell you from experience, kid. You don't get over it, you just keep moving."

"Except for us. We're entrenched."

"We could move on." He snorted. "But I don't think we'd get far just yet."

"I know I can keep breathing. But can I still be... me?" She asked. "Because I look at the water bottles in the closet, and I wonder what I'd do to make sure nobody took them... I've seen Mad Max, Detective. I don't know if I can handle that."

As if to make the point, the sound of gunfire came from somewhere in the building. Alexis twitched at the sound. Soon enough she would be used to it.

"We're getting reports that the Mayor has been evacuated to Long Island, which has cut off all transportation from and to Manhattan. City Hall insists that this was a routine trip, and had been on the books for several weeks. This comes within hours of the Police Commissioner resigning in response to the NYPD's inability to counter widespread rioting, due to the manpower shortage caused by the flu outbreak..."

"It was a good speech." Castle said softly in her ear.

Beckett was stretched out on her office couch, with his jacket over her like a blanket. Her head lay in his lap as he stroked her hair. More and more, her office was becoming their hiding place. As the only married couple together on the inside, they used her office for privacy. Beckett let the tears roll freely once they were alone. She'd lost a friend, and she couldn't stop working.

"Have you heard anything from Esposito since he spoke to Dino?" Beckett asked softly. "He may not know about Kevin. And Jenny. And Sar-" Her voice cracked again. "Sarah Grace. Jeez, Rick... She was so young...

"Javi delivered the package to One PP, and the reports to the CDC. Beyond that, nothing." Castle shook his head. "But that's not unusual. Phones are all over the place. I haven't had a call that lasted more than three minutes in days."

Beckett looked at him carefully. "Your mom?"

"She's got it. Last I heard, she was going to try for the hospital." Castle looked ancient. "But that was days ago, and we both know the last place you want to be is a hospital."

"I hear that in some hospitals, the staff are carrying weapons now." Kate whispered. "Some desperate people have turned on their nurses and doctors. If you can't cure them, they lynch you."

Castle swore. "How do you fight an outbreak when all the doctors go into hiding?"

The Stock Exchange had suffered an outbreak. The CDC sealed the building, not allowing the uninfected to walk out, just in case, and soon after, there were no uninfected left. Wall Street had ceased all trading, and with the Exchange shut down, international trading had been shut down soon after. Economic panic gripped the world, causing a massive financial meltdown. Soon after, the banks were crowded with people tying to get their life savings out, and all banks closed for the duration. It soon became clear that money was fast becoming worthless paper, if not a source of illness.

Small wars broke out in every supermarket, gunfights over the last tins of food, people who had known and worked together for years suddenly turning viciously on each other.

The National Guard moved to seize gun stores, but the panicked healthy people were closer, and wherever they went, the infected were too.

With the economy collapsing, there were mass walk-outs from every business and industry across the country; all production was ceasing, transportation would follow soon. The gas stations all went dry in less than a day.

To save money, all points of sale in the Western Hemisphere kept surprisingly little on hand. They trusted the enormous shipping ability of the civilized world to get all goods and services where they needed to be, with precious little room in the schedule for error. With the economy collapsed, those goods sat where they were, quickly fought over and claimed by various parties, or seized by the Government for use by the emergency forces.

Riots sprang up almost instantly, unruly rioters rising up to retake the suddenly irreplaceable food and water. The news ran footage of gridlock as people fled the city. The infected caught up with them and the highways became impassable as the bridges and tunnels were sealed off, and the checkpoints were suddenly fighting off enemies from both directions, until they too fell to the spread of the Green Poison.

That was day three; and then it started to get bad.

Beckett was rounding up the survivors, keeping them in surgical masks and gloves wherever possible. The offending money was burned, as was clothing, personal items... Anything that might have been contaminated, which was almost anything at this point. Every disinfectant in the place was pressed into service.

Beckett took the coffee pot to the sink and worked the taps. They groaned a little, and spat out a small spray of water, but they were dry. "Water's cut off too." She sighed. Everyone in the 12th had a feeling of... futility. As though it was just listing off the things that were gone. "If the water's off, then the electrics will be next."

"The generator acting up again?" Castle guessed. "Does anyone actually know how it works?"

"Nobody really knows how to repair it. We can replace a spark plug and patch a leak, but... We usually call a repair man for equipment failures."

Castle rolled his head back. "God. It's the same thing outside. Every single fact of day to day life is just... stalled. We built a system so modern and efficient that none of us knew how anything worked."

"We can't make coffee, Castle." Kate nearly whimpered. "I can deal with running gunfights and wild dogs roaming the streets and people scavenging for food in garbage cans and people burning everything from books to hundred dollar bills... But now we can't make coffee."

He held her tightly. "Be brave, my love." He said, just just a hint of melodrama.

Beckett stared mournfully at her empty cup. "This is it. Civilization has collapsed, and the End Times are upon us. All that's left is to build an Ark, and load up the animals." She sighed. "What exactly is a cubit, anyway? I can't do math without coffee."

"So. No water." Her husband mused. "Disinfectants, but no deodorant."

"Fortunately, we're a little ahead of the curve for once on that score." Beckett looked over the 12th's Manifest. "Ramirez busted a bootlegger last week; and seized two hundred bottles of stolen vodka. Real high octane stuff. We've got enough drinking water in the vending machines to last us a week. Two weeks if we don't mind warm soda. This place is gonna stink like a Russian Distillery for a while; but we'll be safe from germs and assorted crawlies."

"And we can't even open a window." Castle quipped grimly.

"And, Castle... I'm sorry. But I can't order a patrol to go protect Alexis right now." Beckett hated herself for saying it. "The City's gone berserk, and-"

"I know." Castle held up his hands soothingly. "I know. If Alexis is at my place, she's probably safer than she would be anywhere else. And as much as I hate being out of contact, I'm happy to have her somewhere safer than a Quarantine ward."

"Thank you for understanding that." Kate cleared her throat hard. "And you're not going either. The streets are just way too dangerous for travel. There's mobs raiding every-"

The general sounds of background noise from outside suddenly grew a lot louder. There was a ripping sound, and natural light fell in the windows directly for the first time since the Quarantine went up. Outside, they saw people. Dozens of them, and they were armed; with clubs and knives and broken bottles...

"They've come for our guns!" Ramirez shouted, drawing her weapon. An instant later she fell back, as a Molotov cocktail came in the window and spread flame across the floor.

"Hold the Bullpen!" Beckett rasped over the smoke, drawing her gun. "Keep the civilians back to the rear, and repel invaders!"

Everyone dove for cover, and the battle began in earnest.

"Once again, city officials are assuring Manhattan Residents that water will be back on within the next few days. The cuts, while limited only to a few boroughs, are being caused by pressure changes. Ordinarily, these things would be taken care of without interruption to services, but with manpower shortages in every sector of public works-"

"Jack, I'm going to have to interrupt you there. We've been handed an official communique from the Center for Disease Control, regarding the current situation. Before I begin, I'd like to remind viewers that we've literally just been handed this just this second, but it's marked for urgent publication.

"The latest word is... that... oh my god... Is this confirmed?! I know I'm on the air, dammit! Is. This. Confirmed?!"

The gunfight was brutal, but with very little gunfire. Castle wasn't sure if they were low on ammo, or low on guns, or both, but more people were throwing things than shooting. They had the police outnumbered ten to one, but neither side was giving an inch.

Ramirez got on the bullhorn. "You're all breaking the law right now, and we are authorized to use force to stop you! The plague took out everyone in our holding cells, and there's plenty of room for you!" It was a calculated lie that was meant to scare them away from an infected place. It didn't work. " I repeat: You're in violation of CDC Order 348-6/A! That means get the hell out of here before we shoot!"

With a frightening rip, the quarantine seals came down completely as people forced their way in. They were wearing surgical masks and overcoats, but they threw themselves at the barricades, even as the police gunned them down.

One of them got through and lunged for Castle. He was able to twist out of the way and throw a punch back, but the attackers were driven, fueled by a kind of fury that came from hard survival.

Someone lit a flare and threw it at the barricades. The heat and smoke pushed them back a level, as Castle wrestled with his own attacker. The man had him against the wall, and was thrashing with weak blows but manic speed.

Beckett came up behind Castle with her police special and cracked him hard over the skull, spinning to face the attackers. "Ramirez! Flash grenades!"

Castle heard the call and covered his eyes just in time. Brilliant flashes of painful light flashed across his eyelids, and he heard people crying out in pain.

"Push them back!" Beckett shouted hoarsely, and she broke down coughing even as she and the 12th advanced, driving the attackers out.

Castle grabbed the flare and went with them. He hadn't seen the sky in days, and it was an oddly unsettling sight. Nothing moving on the roads. Not even the bodies. Nothing moving but the rats.

Three days had not been kind to New York City.

"Once again, our top story: It has been revealed that we were dramatically misinformed on the nature of the current health crisis. The CDC released a statement just moments ago, confirming that the virus has a mortality rate of well over 80%."

At this, a tear started to form in the corner of the newscasters eye. But he fought through the catch in his voice. Alexis found the little reaction disturbing, even by her newest standards. The newscasters were meant to be above everything. Untouchable. Undeniable.

"Once again, this is no longer a flu outbreak. The White House has declared an emergency, and called for a complete Quarantine of Manhattan Island. There have already been two incidents along the Brooklyn Bridge, resulting in the use of live ammunition as people try to escape. The casualties are in the dozens, and as yet we have no word as to whether or not the use of deadly force was authorized by the Government..."

Alexis muted the TV. The news had been on for two days straight. The regular newscaster looked exhausted, sleeves rolled up with a huge coffee cup beside him. Almost all the people who helped were absent from the newsroom in the background. Some of the lights were off. "He's putting on a brave face. You hear that catch when he mentioned the mortality rate?"

Esposito nodded. "Smart money says he's got a few family members in hospital too."

Alexis tapped her headphones, hooked up to the police scanner. "They're still low balling it. What I'm hearing says the rate is more like the mid-90's." She shivered hard. "Why am I not freaking out about this? I feel like I should be going to pieces right now. Does that make me a bad person?"

"Makes you a perfectly regular person." Esposito shook his head. "One loss is a tragedy. A million is a number. Are you getting anything from outside the city?"

"A little Internet traffic, but the connection keeps going up and down. Pretty much every market on the planet has closed. They're freezing all prices and all wages. Every hospital on the planet is jammed with people who are terrified of what might happen."

"Can't be helped, unfortunately. To be expected in fact." Esposito sighed. "What worries me is this: How much else is 'to be expected'?"

"We got a problem." Castle told her, coming over. "All the civilians? They made a break for it when those plastic sheets came down. Our guys were too busy being shot at to keep them in their areas."

"Not really surprised." Beckett sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Containment may be a moot point. Dispatch is off the air, which means these raids are happening at other Police Stations." She headed back toward her office. "And we've got another problem, babe."

"What's that?"

She entered her office, spun quickly and slammed the door shut between them. "I'm sick." She confessed.

"Repeating our earlier Bulletin: it is now illegal to hoard money. All paper currency is to be turned over to CDC personnel for incineration. Those who hide money or attempt to take it back, are now subject to arrest without trial. There are rumors that the penalties may increase to corporal punishment in response to the current crisis, but the Mayor's Office was not available for comment.

Political commentators that have requested to remain anonymous agree, that several sections of New York are now in a defacto state of Martial Law..."

"Look..." Beckett croaked. "There are two possibilities. One, I've got the flu. A regular, everyday, pass the cough syrup, bowl of Chicken Soup, cold and flu. Option Two: The Green Poison got me. I admit, it's not a fun coin toss."

Her entire crew was gathered outside the Captain's Office. What was originally a collection of thirty cops and civilians was now sixteen, the bodies left outside. The board when beckett had put up Ryan's picture now included several others.

Captain Beckett was giving them direction from the other side of her glass office windows. She looked sweaty and pale, but her gaze was still sharp.

"I'm not taking any chances. So you guys are all staying on that side of the glass." Beckett declared. "Dispatch reported similar raids all over the city before they went off the air. With the gun shops protected or looted and the National Guard deployed, Cop Shops are pretty much the only places with gear left." She rubbed her face. "And as much as this goes against the grain, we have to hold them out. We're outnumbered a hundred to one already, and that's only going to get worse. Tell anyone outside Quarantine to deploy around the Precinct, and everyone inside begin building fortifications. Gun points, barricades... Anything you can think of."

Her people nodded, worried for their captain.

"And tape up my office." She directed. "All the vents, all the seals. Scrub down the Bullpen again. Even if it's just a cold, I don't want you guys getting it, particularly not now." She looked over to her husband. "And someone handcuff Castle to something before he-"

Castle jumped forward, opened the door to her office, and slipped inside, slamming it shut behind him.

"-does that." Beckett finished. "Excuse us a moment, people." She reached out and dropped the blinds on her office windows; giving them privacy. "ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Everyone turned quickly away from the office, pretending they hadn't heard that.

Alexis was starting to feel more like a soldier than a PI's assistant. Her little station with the radio had expanded to include a dozen city maps. Alexis kept her headphones on and put up a map of the city, monitoring the police band with one ear, and the civilian communications with the other. Her maps covered every street in Manhattan, and Alexis was using push pins and markers to keep track of things outside the building.

Esposito spent his time at the window with a scope, keeping an eye on foot traffic and the skyline. He saw people falling in the streets; and nobody was coming to help them. He had broken down some of the furniture and built barricades in the house itself. If anyone made it past the front door, there were now three fortified, well stocked places that he and Alexis could fall back to. Out the window he could see people hanging banners, asking for help and supplies, or warning people away. Every now and then a large military plane would parachute supplies down to the city like it was the third world.

Alexis finally took her headphones off with a weary sigh. "What a mess."

"I know that look." Esposito observed, and presented her with a cup of precious coffee. "Back in Afghanistan, the guys running Command in Control looked just like you after a bad day. As bad as it is on the front lines, you never see more than one battlefield at a time. The guys running Ops see the whole board. And worse, they have to keep it all straight or people die."

"I'm so glad I'm just receiving." Alexis agreed, taking a long sip. "I'd never be able to handle it if I was responsible for any of these people. Detective, I appreciate you keeping me busy, but-"

"That's not what I'm doing. This isn't make work." He said seriously. "Alexis, I need you to get yourself into a mental place where you can accept three things as fact. One: It's not nearly close to over yet. Two: It will never go back to the way it was a week ago..."

"And three?"

"That sooner or later, we'll have to get out of this apartment." Esposito said grimly. "It's inevitable. We can hold off an army, but sooner or later our supplies will run out. Unless you plan to start a rooftop vegetable garden that can support two people year round."

"I actually played with that idea for a few minutes, but we've got all the wrong supplies, and it would take too long to set up." Alexis sighed. "You're right. We have to know what's happening before we open that door."

"That's right. So. What is happening?"

"Total anarchy." Alexis said simply. "You heard that line about the wait times for ambulances? That's because the ambulances are all getting mobbed and looted; and the hospitals don't have room for anyone either. A few free clinics have opened, but they don't have any supplies. The National Guard have left the supermarkets, because they've all been picked clean. I'm hearing talk from all the truck drivers that say they're on permanent leave. You can't drive a truckload of anything in this city without being overrun by hungry people. Not just supermarket trucks. Computers, toys, diapers, construction equipment... I've heard a few guys starting up a co-op; but they went off the air a few hours ago after a sudden hail of gunfire."

Esposito let out a breath. "High 90's, huh? It might actually be our only hope."

"Tell me about it." Alexis agreed. "We always say it can't happen here. Then you wake up and the lights and water are off for keeps..."

"I know what you mean." Esposito nodded over at the radio. "Dispatch?"

"Haven't heard anything on those frequencies for over an hour." Alexis shook her head. "The last two things I heard? A report from the Fire Marshall, saying that fires are raging out of control in Central Park, and the East Village. The CDC gave orders to the National Guard to start burning the bodies last night."

Esposito looked at the map. She'd put tabs all over the map, but there was one section that was totally bare. "What about there?"

Alexis shook her head. "I haven't heard a word out of anyone in that area. I hear a few people saying they're going to head for the Empire State, or Fifth Avenue... but I never hear anything after that. That Zone is Dark."

"That's a big chunk of the island to go quiet." Esposito hummed and turned to go. A moment later, he caught himself. "Oh, you said you heard two things before Dispatch went quiet?"

Alexis nodded grimly. "The 12th was hit. They say that over two dozen people attacked the Quarantine line, trying to get to their guns, or their food... They say the attack was repelled, but I hear them saying it was a bad fight."

Esposito grit his jaw so hard his teeth hurt. He wanted to scream, but he was vividly aware of the fact that her father and stepmother were in there too. "Well. Nothing we can do for them yet."

"Why are you doing this?"

"You're my wife. Do I need another reason?"

Beckett's eyes softened, but her jaw hardened. "I need you to be safe."

"Babe, we wake up every morning, nose-to-nose. I daresay if I'm going to get it from you, it's already happened. It's better if I'm on this side of the glass too."

"You don't know that!" Beckett barked. "We don't know how it's transmitted, human to human. You don't have any symptoms." She looked hard at him. "And What About Alexis?"

Castle met her gaze head on. "Alexis... is my whole world. But she's an adult now. And every time someone took a shot at us over the last eight years, my mom asked the same question. Well, you know what? Ryan has... had kids. He put the badge on every day. He couldn't look at his daughter and not be out there, making the world safer for Sarah Grace."

"That's different." Kate coughed. "You can't protect me from this. And if you're in this room, I can't protect you."

Castle smiled softly. "You remember the time you stood on a landmine? You flat out ordered me to leave the building with everyone else. I stayed."

"You were gambling that you could save me." Beckett pointed out.

"And now I'm gambling that you have a cold; and you certainly aren't going to look after yourself in a time of siege." Castle finished. "And if it was me, don't pretend you wouldn't have done the exact same thing."

"Oh, of course I would have. That's not the point." Kate barked. "You have people that need you, with or without me! And I don't!"

Castle froze. "Your dad?"

"I got a text." Beckett said quietly. "It's not good news." She spread her hands wide. "I can't even call him back."

Castle stepped forward, arms open. She scurried back a few steps. "Oh no you don't!" She snapped, getting determined. "Go. Leave. I'll divorce you if I have to! Do it for Alexis! Go home!"

"Kate..." Rick drawled, soft and gentle. "After this long, isn't it obvious? This place is home to me now."

Kate let out a whine. "I'm trying to protect you."

"After Bracken, and 3XK, and Bracken again, and his Cronies, and Vulcan Simmons, and everything else in between... That reason is so old I can't stand the taste of it any more." Castle told her firmly. "After last time, we agreed: Never again. You always protect me, wife. But someone has to protect 'us' in the middle."

Kate squeezed her eyes shut. "What about Alexis?"

"She is... as safe as I can make her."

Kate froze. "How? What happened? What did you do?"

He just took two steps closer and wrapped her in a tight hug. She gave in and hugged him back. "You're stupid, you know that?" She said into his shoulder. "You're stupid, and crazy and have the survival instincts of a rock, and I don't know why you keep coming back for more."

"It's called 'marriage', babe." Castle smiled back.

"It's a good thing I love you so much." She groused, but he could feel her lean into his arms gratefully.

Esposito heard sniffing, and turned from his post at the windows. There was only one window left uncovered. One that had a view of the street, but not the other buildings around them. If he couldn't see them, they couldn't see him.

He heard Alexis sniffing, and went to check on her. As much as he wanted to let the kid mourn in peace... He had to make sure it was heartbreak and not plague.

He took one look at her, curled in the fetal position beside her father's mattress, and knew instantly. "Want me to go?"

She waved him in and sat upright against the wall. "I'm afraid I'm not quite that ready for things after all."

"Ready doesn't mean heartless." Esposito said quietly. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Page 121."

This is Clayton Forrester all over again. "Gonna need some details, kid."

Alexis sniffed, wiping tears away. "Why didn't I feel this before? I knew grandma was gone after the first phone call. All my friends... This morning, I tried to boil some water, and the taps were dry... I didn't react. I heard on dad's police radio that the 12th got hit. Nothing. Then I just... I noticed that book dad was reading. He only half finished it. His bookmark is on page 121. And I thought... Even if he's alive, he'll never get to 122, and I just completely lost it. Why now? Why that and not any of the other things?"

"Because... you're not busy." Esposito sighed, sitting with her. "I've been feeling it too. When I got the call and knew Ryan had it, I was ready to punch something. It's been days of working hard and keeping my adrenaline up and you've been the same way. We've been doing everything we can not to think about the people we know and focus on the big crowd of people we don't. But now the place is set up, and the routine has settled, and you're so quick with the radio that you don't even do it consciously any more; and your brain has more time to dwell on things."

She wiped her eyes and sat up straighter. "Esposito, can I ask? Why are you still here?"

"Everyone's got to be somewhere." He waved it off.

"No, really. I want to know." Alexis sniffed. "I wish I was anywhere but here. Anywhere but the place I grew up in. When I was abroad, I had to deal with whole other cultures, other languages... I never missed my bed because it was completely out of reach, and I never missed my mocha latte, because such things simply didn't exist in that world. But I'm here, in my own room, and I can't hit Twitter, or play laser tag with dad, or even look out the window. It's all so horribly familiar and personal that I keep expecting everything to be normal. If I was in a refugee camp, I wouldn't miss anything of the world that's gone." She wiped her eyes. "But I'm in my own room, and I keep expecting grandma to walk in any second and ask me to run lines with her, or dad to make smiley-face pancakes."

"So you just get constant reminders that everything is wrong." Esposito nodded. "For what it's worth... I wish I felt that way."

"You do?"

"When I left the marines and came back to the States, I couldn't switch it off for a long time." He explained. "Went to a bar that wasn't full of uniforms. Women came over and flirted and I didn't know how to flirt back. Beds were comfortable, and nobody cared if I made my bed or not... Lounging on the couch and watching sports all weekend was so decadent I hated myself for it. It felt like I was on another planet." He rubbed his eyes. "Never really got used to being a civilian again. Aside from the gang at the 12th, I didn't have friends. I have no family to speak of, and the only woman I truly loved is gone..." He held out a hand to the girl. "I think that even if you don't know for sure, you've lost a lot more than me, Castle Jr. But that's only because you have so much."

Alexis squeezed his fingers gratefully. "So. You're here because you've got nowhere else to go?"

"I knew I had to wait out the first wave of it somewhere. When the Quarantine went up around the 12th, I couldn't go there. I would have gone back to my apartment, but your dad asked me to protect you. And after that... well, why would I go anywhere else? Safety, security, provisions, position, and someone I trust to help keep watch. Seriously, where else would anyone want to be?"

"I don't know." Alexis sighed. "I wouldn't mind having some of that 'lone soldier' detachment right now. How do you switch it all off?"

"They train you." Esposito said simply. "When you're in college, and you need to study, but your friends are all going to a party, how do you keep your focus?"

"Shut the door, put on headphones, switch off the phone." Alexis recited, almost by rote.

"Right. That, right there, is an example of training yourself. Plenty of kids would have gone to the party. How does a firefighter figure out which way to go in an unfamiliar building when everything is covered in smoke and flame?"

"Training." Alexis nodded.

Esposito considered a moment. "If you're interested, I could-"

"Yes." She said instantly. "Yes, please"

Esposito smirked. "You got drafted by the world, but it's good that you still wanna volunteer."

"Well, the way I figure it, there are plenty of people in the world who wake up one day and their street is a warzone. How many people on this planet live out of their cars and carry guns everywhere they go?"

"Too many." Esposito nodded.

As if to make the point for them, they heard gunshots ring out a few streets away. Neither of them even blinked. They'd been hearing it all week. Someone was crying out in pain, someone was shouting for help. They didn't shout for long.

"Maybe we should just make a break for it." Alexis suggested. "Dad and I always said that if the worst happened, we would wait it out, but... I don't know, maybe that's suicide?"

"No worse than trying to get out of the city with the military still patrolling the Hudson." Esposito shook his head. "We're defended, we're stocked. That's more than most people can say right now, so let's take advantage."

"I don't want to wait it out, and I don't want to get out of the city." Alexis told him. "I wanna find my dad."

FWOOOSH!

Alexis ducked instinctively as the windows rattled. "What the hell was that?"

"F-14's." Esposito told her, his face going hard. "New York is a big town. Got news choppers and private helicopter pads... The Government is sealing off the city. Those planes are going for anything that can fly or get across a river."

And with that, the power went out.

The Castle residence was the top floor, but the windows didn't open in a skyscraper. Alexis had compromised and smashed out the window in her father's bedroom. Some of the windows tilted, like a sunroom. Esposito had to pick out the glass shards carefully to make sure they didn't go through when they climbed up.

She'd already dismantled the bed and ransacked the closets. Esposito had climbed out the window to the roof, freehand, and tossed back a rope for her to secure. He'd barricaded the rooftop access, and they had the entire rooftop to themselves, without having to risk the staircase.

They made the trip at night, so that nobody would observe, and set up some improvised equipment. The roof had given them melted snow to drink. It was basically a plastic tub with a tarp to funnel snow in. The whole thing was wrapped in tinfoil to reflect sunlight enough to melt the snow, and a washed out vacuum tube had given them a steady supply of water. Esposito had a solar battery charger with his emergency gear. Enough power the radio, and one phone. They tried to rig anything that might give them more power, but without success. Alexis didn't have a cable that could extend the antenna of her radio gear that high.

But the rooftop had a satellite dish.

Alexis went through her father's closet again. Her father had money enough to be stylish, but had never been a real clotheshorse, expect for costume parties... But even so, Alexis had a happy family memory tied to every outfit in the closet. Things she hadn't even noticed at the time. That was the shirt he wore on my first day of Third Grade. That was the jacket he wore at the first book launch party I attended on his arm.

She heard Esposito come back down the rope and quickly shut the closet.

"I have good news, and bad news." Esposito reported as he came back inside. "The good news is that I can rig my phone to the satellite signal. That wi-fi repeater you gave me won't carry the signal, no matter what I tried; so we can't use it from here. If it was plugged into a phone line, it would work, but not a satellite." He grinned at her. "Where'd you learn how to do that, by the way?"

"College. A few of the Seniors from the engineering classes would tell a pretty girl how to get free internet if you asked them just right." Alexis smirked. "Don't tell my dad. And the bad news?"

"The bad news, is that even if I can make a phone call through some slight of hand, there's almost no chance that we can call the 12th. Someone on the other end would need a solar battery charger, and would have to pull the same sleight of hand with their phone."

Alexis nodded. "I figured. But it'll give us internet access when we're on the roof, and that's going to be worth more than gold. I have a million questions I need answers to. Purifying water, how to cure and store food without electricity... All sorts of things." She pulled out a notepad. "But for tonight, there's actually something worse."

Esposito sighed. "The cold."

Alexis nodded. "I've been watching the temperature during my watch overnight... And I figure in another two days, we either figure out how to heat this place, or we have to pack on some serious calories to make it through the night. Doubling up under a sleeping bag will only cut it for so long."

"And your dad would kill me on principle if we did that." Esposito said lightly. "Okay. Heat is electric, furnace downstairs is gas. The furniture we don't use is largely spoken for... We both know there's no chance of getting the furnace going. How do we heat the place?"

"We need a fireplace. One that doesn't need the gas."

Esposito shook his head. "The smoke will be seen. It'll be like sending up a flare."

Alexis didn't think that was the huge risk he seemed to think it was, but she was willing to take his word for it. "We keep the fire out during the day, use it at night. Nobody will see the smoke. There's so many fires burning out of control outside that nobody will care."

"They'll see the fire at night." Esposito shook his head. "They'll see the glow of it."

"Then we need a good fireplace."

"A fire big enough to heat a place this size..."

"We don't have to. We use one room, preferably a smaller one. My dad's walk in closet would be big enough if we use the sleeping bags. If we want to drag in mattresses-"

"Sleeping bags are fine." Esposito put in. "This is a loft space. It's all large open spaces. Hard to heat. But there's no ventilation in the closets-

"Which we can handle."

"-and very little of the unused furniture is wood." He finished. "So back to the same problem. Where do we get the fuel?"

Alexis looked sick to her stomach. "I'm afraid I can only think of one place."

Days passed. The sound of gunfire faded eventually, whether the survivors outside were running out of bullets, or out of targets, they weren't sure.

Alexis dared to knock on a neighbors door, and barely missed being shot through the wood for her trouble. Esposito forbade her to go looking for salvage after that. They probably still had more food than anyone else.

They had already dismantled most of the furniture in the apartment. The wood was used to make barricades and other defenses. The kitchen cabinet and wardrobe doors were all used to board up the windows, and stay hidden from the world outside. Alexis spent most of an afternoon making a makeshift chimney out of the drainage pipe Esposito had climbed to the rooftop. They rigged a small fireplace in the kitchen oven, and knocked out the hotplate so their chimney had a place to go.

Between the two of them, they got the thing upstairs and drilled ventilation into the closet door so they wouldn't suffocate.

Duct tape was enough to hold it together and put the chimney up through the building's central heating pipes. What used to be air conditioning was now a way to hide the smoke of their fire from people outside.

Alexis was almost hoping it wouldn't work.

Castle held vigil over his wife. She stretched out on the office couch, and he tucked everything he could find around her to keep the captain warm. Beckett was still coughing and spluttering, though they tried to hide it. The rest of the bullpen was a refugee center. The uninfected huddled together for warmth, praying it wasn't just going to make them sick. Beckett still got reports and gave orders, but all of them through the glass in the office door. Castle had made his choice. Nobody let him out.

"We're going to need a latrine of some kind soon." She croaked.

"There's a bucket in the Janitor's Closet. I'll have them bring it over to the door." He promised. "How do you not become captain of a precinct with an en suite office?"

"Just lazy, I guess." She coughed.

"Of course, if I was any kind of a husband, I'd have put a hot shower and a working bidet in months ago."

"I know, why did I marry you?" She tried to smile for him, and broke down coughing again. "Aside from your 'ruggedly handsomeness."

"So. Where were we up to?" Castle asked quietly.

"Battery must be nearly flat by now." Beckett coughed.

"Good for another night."

"And how far do we have to go in this book?"

"About two hundred pages."

"We're never going to make it." Beckett croaked. It was hard not to think that she was talking about more than the book.

Castle shushed her and brushed the hair back from her sweaty face. "We'll find a way." He promised. "We always do." His breath was misting, and she could see his lips tinged blue. He wouldn't even take his own jacket back, tucking it around her neck.

Beckett didn't argue. Her will was still as strong as ever, but her body was at its weakest point.

Castle slouched down on the floor beside her couch, on the floor beside her head. She reached one hand out from under her covers and squeezed his hand. Castle held it, and lifted his reader with the other. "Anyway... 'There was such peace and beauty in the scene; so much of brightness and mirth in the sunny landscape; such blithesome music in the songs of the summer birds; such freedom in the rapid flight of the rook, careering overhead; so much of life and joyousness in all; that, when the boy raised his aching eyes, and looked about, the thought instinctively occurred to him, that this was not a time for death; that Rose could surely never die when humbler things were all so glad and gay; that graves were for cold and cheerless winter: not for sunlight and fragrance. He almost thought that shrouds were for the old and shrunken; and that they never wrapped the young and graceful form in their ghastly folds.'"

"Amen to that." Beckett coughed.

Castle was silent a moment. His fingers tightened on hers.

"She's okay, Rick." Beckett promised.

"I don't know. I suddenly have a bad feeling."

"Somewhere out there, my father just felt someone walk on his grave." Alexis sighed miserably. If he's even alive...

Esposito took a sleeping bag one side of the makeshift fireplace. Alexis took the other side. They curled around it like a Yin-and-Yang. Each of them had a Nikki Heat first edition. They read a page, tore it out, moved on to the next page. Every few minutes, they fed the fire.

"He will disown me when he finds out we burned books." Alexis whispered. "Burned his books, no less. First Editions."

"We saved them for last. Blame me." Esposito offered. "But if it matters, I think he'd torch every Castle Book on the planet if you needed to stay warm."

"Riker's Island is in a state of full siege this morning, following a prison uprising that has already taken two dozen lives. Reports are that the Prisoners have barricaded themselves inside the complex, and have driven out or killed the entire staff. Our reports say that the manpower shortage has- Wait. This just in... The National Guard has sealed off-

PANDEMIC ALERT. EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM. THIS IS NOT A TEST.

"Pull!" Alexis called.

Esposito threw the china plate, Frisbee style. Alexis lined up Esposito's gun and pulled the trigger. Miss.

Alexis tried not to scream in frustration. It was her third miss.

Esposito was unflappable. "You keep pulling the trigger. It's pulling off your aim. A bullet is very small; it's easy to miss. You have to squeeze the grip, like the thing is a rubber ball. You only have one finger on the trigger, but you're a beginner, so you can save some time by squeezing all of them."

Alexis sighed. "This is easier with laser tag. No recoil."

Javier nodded, and they both looked up as a helicopter crossed the sky. It had people hanging from the undercarriage, clawing to get in, even as it flew. It was a scene out of a horror movie, like everything else they'd seen.

"Clayton Forrester." Esposito said after a while. "How exactly is that a code word? It's been bugging me for almost a week now."

"Has it only been a week?" Alexis sighed. "Tom Cruise."

"Oh, that makes it clearer, thank you." The ex-cop drawled.

Alexis smirked the way her father did, and explained. "War of the Worlds, 2005. Tom Cruise sees the alien machine for the first time, barely escapes with his life, and makes it home to his two kids. He looks like he's been through a war... which he has. His kids are scared to touch him because he's so wired, and they ask him what happened. He says to them, 'We're leaving this house in sixty seconds, grab food.'"

Esposito nodded. "I remember."

"I watched that on DVD with my dad, and asked him, as a joke: if I came into the house one day and said that, would he take it on faith and start packing? Or would he tell me to stop being silly, and make me sit down to explain what was going on?"

"I've never known your father to call you silly." Esposito said seriously. "Not once, in ten years."

Alexis nodded somberly. "Clayton Forrester was the hero in the 1950's version of War of the Worlds."

Boom! Somewhere out of sight, the helicopter had crashed. It was the last thing they had seen moving in the air for three days.

"How did it happen so fast?" Alexis breathed.

Esposito gave a tight grin. "The news says the incubation rate is two weeks. It happened the day after Thanksgiving, and we only just found out about it now."

"There's a guy who runs a pirate podcast." Alexis said. "They've been playing it on the radio for a while. Word is that the Government had a vaccine made, but didn't deploy it in time, and so it's fairly well useless now."

"You believe him?"

Alexis waved out at the city. "The evidence to back it up or disprove it is out there somewhere. Funny thing, but... When there's some bad news, you just believe it." She gave him a careful look. "What abotu you? Think the Government knew about it?"

Esposito was unreadable. "It's all I can do not to assume they created the damn thing." He sighed, more tired than angry.

Numb silence.

"Pull!" Alexis said, in the mood to shoot something.

Esposito threw a plate. She fired, and nailed the thing squarely in the middle.

Castle rose from a fitful sleep and got to his feet. The bullpen was still. There were still people, but they hadn't woken up yet. Kate was snoring behind him. She hadn't slept much, finding it hard to breathe comfortably.

When the night watch came in to wake their relief, Castle realized something. One of the civilians that stayed... wasn't moving. He knocked lightly on the glass to get their attention. "Check him." He motioned to the still form of a man in a badly rumpled suit.

Ramirez went over, and prodded him with the toe of her boot. A moment later she jumped back, swore fluently and grabbed for her gloves.

That was enough for Castle, who shook his wife awake. "Kate, wake up. Quarantine failed."

Esposito woke up and found Alexis was exercising. They both had a workout routine now. Alexis found she had fewer nightmares when she had exercised, and threw herself into it with a ferocity that neither of them had expected.

Esposito was also training her in some basic hand to hand combat, and she was teaching him fencing. She hadn't expected him to be interested or impressed, but he was actually pretty good at it. "Fencing is just a knife fight with a really long blade." He had said. "Plenty of weapons work this way. Machetes, shock wands, collapsible batons..."

Alexis saw the logic, but wasn't sure she liked the idea of being a knife-fighter. She kept that thought to herself. She was doing sit-ups. It took her mind off things, but she missed hot showers when she was working up a sweat every morning.

Esposito pulled his phone from the windowsill, where the solar charger was keeping it alive. His morning routine was to take it up to the roof and check the news. The sattelite was unpowered, but still pointed in the right direction, so he was able to get just enough of a feed to get updates. "Well. This sucks."

"Well, we know why Quarantine failed." Castle reported. "The guy in question is one of the Civilians that stayed after the attack. He was a lawyer. He decided to stick around, since the streets were so dangerous, but it looks like he didn't take your orders about burning the contaminants seriously."

"He kept the money." Beckett said from the couch, unsurprised.

"And died with a roll of fifties in his hand." Castle yawned. "The good news is: He didn't share, obviously."

Beckett was about to speak, when her phone rang. The sound made Castle jump. It was the first sound of anything from civilization in what felt like forever. Everyone looked up, spooked. It was the Captain's private emergency line.

"Here we go." Beckett said under her breath. Castle brought her the phone. She was moving less.

"They're blowing up the tunnels and bridges. The checkpoints apparently won't hold longer than another day. " Esposito said darkly. "The checkpoints authorized the use of lethal force three days ago, and people keep trying to make a break for it. Better to shut down the routes for good. They've also declared a no fly zone, in case anything with people tries to get off the island. Coast Guard is patrolling the river with shoot first orders. Apparently someone jacked a police boat to try and get out, so they're not making any exceptions."

"But that means their relief teams can't get in." Alexis said, trying to understand. "How do they plan... to..." She trailed off. "Oh. They don't."

Esposito nodded.

"It's over, isn't it." Alexis whispered. It wasn't even a question.

"It looks that way, but not necessarily." Esposito ground out. "So they decided not to send help. Who would they send in? National Guard? Army? CDC? Special Ops? This is New York City, Castle Jr. I got rats in my basement that can kick the crap outta all those guys put together."

Alexis smiled, just a little.

"So this doesn't mean we're licked. It just means that nobody else gets in... or out. The usual players have abandoned us, but that just means there are new players now."

"Like who?" Alexis drawled. "Who's going to help us now? I mean, for that matter, who could help us if they tried?" She blinked. "And what's that?"

Esposito followed her gaze, and what he saw made his heart stop for a moment, and then speed up triple time.

His watch was glowing. A bright orange ring around the face of the digital clock.

Esposito was suddenly filled with lethal energy. "Extremis Malis, Extrema Remedia."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Alexis translated.

Esposito rolled his eyes. "She speaks Latin, too. My god, Kid. Where did your dad find you?"

Alexis snorted. "You should have heard some of the tales he spun out when I asked him where babies come from."

Esposito grinned and went to his travel bag. He pulled out a gas mask and tossed it to her. "Well. What say we go ask him if he's come up with some new ones?"

Alexis jumped up. "Really?" She had the gas mask on in seconds. Her backpack was already packed, waiting by the door.

"One more thing." Esposito drew his backup piece, and held it out to her, grip first. "Just in case."

Alexis stared at the weapon, and shook her head. "No."

"You're sure?"

"Detective, I don't know much about guns, but what I do know is that if I had one, I might be tempted to use it. And that means I may stick around somewhere when it'd be safer to stay away. I'd rather be a live rabbit than a dead wolf."

Esposito put the gun away where he could reach it quickly. "Then stay close by."

Hayley Shipton, P.I.; was sitting at the bar of a speakeasy near the river. Their supply of stolen of salvaged booze had run out, and they were making moonshine as fast as they could ferment anything from a potato to a gym sock. She nursed a glass of paint thinner and pretended to sip it, while the bartender blackmailed two teenage boys. "You guys wanna drink here, you're going to have to pay for your drinks. You don't have ID, and I can't believe you're older than sixteen; so you pay double."

One of the kids heaved his heavy backpack up onto the counter. "We've got stuff to trade."

He opened the bag, and both Hayley and the bartender struggled not to gape. The kids had enough food and medicine and drinking water to make the bag fit to burst. In the current situation, they were essentially waving a whole bagful of treasure around. It was an open invitation.

"Give the brats a break, Tony." Hayley toasted. "It's not like we haven't all aged a hundred years since last Tuesday."

The bartender flipped her off, and collected three cans of food from the boys, who took their drinks over to a table.

Hayley slid off the barstool and went over to them. "Hey there." She said brightly. "Just so you know, you take one sip, and you'll go blind. When you feel your way back to the bar to tell Tony this, he'll call in his mates. They'll say they're taking you to a clinic a few streets away, but really, they'll just toss you in the river."

The boys froze. "But... repeat business?"

"Ordinarily, sure. But you guys made a point of carrying everything useful you had in your backpack, and then you showed the bartender your whole stash. You think he's going to let you guys carry a bag full of food away from him? You're so obvious about it that you're going to be crossed out sooner or later. It's just a question of who gets your bag, Big Spender."

"The bartender is... watching you." One of the boys said softly. "He knows you're warning us."

"No, he thinks that I saw the backpack and am trying to negotiate a deal right now. Four women have been in here the last two days, offering to trade food for... services."

The teenagers actually looked hopeful for a moment. "Are you?"

"Don't be a dick." Hayley said nicely. "Besides, you couldn't afford me. Now. Stand up, offer me your arm, and we'll walk out of here, nice and casual."

They did so, and once they were a good distance away, Hayley reached into the bag and took a tin of tuna. "Consider it my fee for saving your life." She told them, when she noticed her watch. It was glowing a bright orange. "Finally!" She breathed. "Make it two tins, boys; my rates just doubled."

"Folks, may I have your attention, please?" Beckett called to the room. "I have received the last word from the State Department. The Quarantine is not being rescinded, and nobody is being scheduled for extraction. The official ruling is that they can't afford to let any more Vectors off the Island."

"Vectors. You mean people." Ramirez scorned.

"I'm afraid that's exactly what I mean." Beckett said with grim finality. "I have been informed by the Federal Authorities that as of ten minutes ago, all services and Public Works have been suspended in the Manhattan area. The Powers That Be have declared it a lost cause. This morning the President gave an Executive order, granting a general amnesty on insurance claims and contract entitlements for anything lost in the Manhattan Quarantine. That includes the Banks, the Industry... All the Corporate Interests have removed or written off whatever bits of precious they have on the island. Those offices have been shut down, and the workers dismissed."

"When McDonald's pulls out, you know it's bad." Castle quipped grimly.

"Oh, it gets worse. Any service that comes from Government Offices, or any funding that comes from Taxpayer money, is now cut off. Your mail won't be delivered, water and power are where you make it, because the Works is shut down... If you were on a mailing list for anything from a magazine subscription to a delivery of life-and-death medicine, it won't ever be delivered to a Manhattan address ever again. And that includes Hospitals, Fire Departments... and Us. The NYPD is hereby disbanded."

She'd been expecting them to roar, but they didn't. In fact, there was a feeling of total... inevitability about it. She had announced something they already knew.

"Did they give us any ideas on what we should do?" Someone asked.

"They say that they're getting a handle on the incubation period, and the life expectancy of the virus. If it can't feed on a victim, it starves. If we can outlast it, then sooner or later, the Quarantine is lifted. But that'll take months. At least."

Numb laughter. It was a miracle they had survived the first ten minutes.

Beckett rubbed her eyes. "Look, there's no way off the Island. Manhattan is a No Man's Land now, and that means that the bridges and tunnels will be severed as of thirty seconds ago. Most of your families are somewhere in the city. I know you've all been champing at the bit to go and see them. I've kept you here with a lot of bold speeches about Duty, and Honor, and The Greater Good, and Serve and Protect... But as of ten minutes ago, I'm not your boss any more; and this isn't a police station. Anyone who wants to go is free to do so. You've all been briefed on how to avoid infection; and salvage or make food and water. My last act as your Captain is to issue any weapons, ammo or survival gear that the building has, equally and fairly to everyone who stuck it out this long. It's the only thing I can offer you as a reward for your service to the City. If you wanna go, I won't think less of you. I wish you Good Luck and Godspeed."

"What are you going to do, Cap'n?" Someone asked.

Beckett let out a hard sigh. "I'm staying. The world may have given up on New York... And New York may have given up on Hope. I haven't. Before I became Captain, I was Homicide. I know the War is a Lost Cause... but that's been the job description for my entire adult life. Anyone who wants to stay... I'll do my best to keep you fed, and keep you secure. But this isn't another Gang I'm forming. We all know the Factions have already formed outside. I don't intend to dig myself a deep hole and wait it out... Though that's the best chance of living through this. Serve and Protect. Even in the face of Oblivion."

There was a long silence.

And then someone... Ramirez, it looked like, stood up, faced the Captain, and saluted crisply. After a moment, Cooper did the same. Then Malone. Then McCoy...

Until every cop left in the 12th rose and stood with their Captain.

AN: Read and Review!