School was dull, work was even more so, but the grind took her mind off of the dream and the memories that persisted to surface. Zoey didn't talk much to her co-workers that day, and it didn't take long for one of them to corner her and talk to her about it.

"You're quiet." Stewart was around the same age as her, and was assistant manager here at the video store. It wasn't surprising he was the one chosen to talk to her about what might be a sensitive subject. "Everything alright?"

"I'm fine." She answered, his eyebrow arching and a skeptical look crossing his face. "Seriously. I just didn't sleep much last night."

"Heard there was a break in on your street. Some guy's car got trashed." Stewart reached for some of the movie returns and started helping her process them, a gentle smile on his face. "I can imagine there was a lot of sirens and stuff."

"And stuff." She echoed, managing a tolerant smile in return. When she didn't offer any further conversation, he retreated, though he kept trying the rest of the night to talk to her. She appreciated his concern, but part of her wanted to just tell him it was none of his business and to just leave her alone. Zoey didn't know why, but the harder her tried, the closer to tears she came.

When she finally returned home, she retreated to her room and put on some headphones, intending to finish an essay for tomorrow's morning class and wind down for the day, but a knock on her bedroom door told her that her parents had other plans.

"Hey sweetie…" Her mother murmured as she entered the room, a smile on her face. "How was work?"

Zoey looked up at her and shrugged, pulling the headphones off.

"Work was work. School was school. Same as always." She murmured, and her mother nodded with a thoughtful noise, resting against the edge of Zoey's computer desk. "How was your day?"

"Uneventful for the most part. As you said, work was work. I saved a plate of dinner for you, if you're interested. You can go ahead and eat up here if you're still keen on avoiding us." There was a playful note in her mothers voice that made Zoey flush with guilt, and she shook her head, ponytail whipping the sides of it.

"I'm not avoiding you!" She protested, and her mother smirked. "Okay, I might be avoiding you a little, but it's mostly just Dad. His comment last night…"

"I know, hun. It's hard. He doesn't know what you went through, half of what you told us was so unbelievable. I wish you could leave it all behind you and forget it ever happened, because I hate seeing you suffer so much because of it. I hate how it's changed you… he's worried you're going to do something rash because of it." She reached out and ran her fingers through the hair that had come loose around Zoey's face. "He's worried you're going to ride off into the sunset with some violent, dirty man and we'll never see you again."

"Francis isn't violent. And I'm pretty sure he's not dirty now, either. Maybe when you first met him, but that was different." She hadn't meant to sound so defensive, and her mother offered her another gentle smile in response, making her grimace. "I'm sorry… I wish you knew him better, I wish Dad hadn't chased him off. For the love of the gods, I'm eighteen, and old enough to make my own decisions, aren't I?"

"I know that very well. I just wish your father would realize you're not a little girl anymore." Her mother leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, and Zoey sighed, closing her eyes. "Give it a little more time."

When her mother stood, Zoey smiled fondly at her, blinking in surprise when her mother pulled a letter from her pocket.

"This came for you today… I made sure to get the mail before your father came home from work, and I didn't tell him. I'm sure he wouldn't really understand." She handed the letter to Zoey, who blinked again before looking down at it.

There was neat handwriting on the front, addressed to her, and the return address wasn't far from where she lived. Tearing the letter open eagerly, she didn't even register that her mother had left the room before beginning to read it, her heart pounding in her chest.

The letter was from Louis!! He had moved into a new apartment and wanted her to go and see him for a housewarming party, something that made Zoey's heart swell. Happiness, eagerness, so many other things rushed through her all at once, including the paralyzing fear that her father wouldn't ever let her go in case Francis would be there as well.

How was she going to ask him? What was she going to tell him?

Clutching the letter to her chest, Zoey closed her eyes tightly. She vowed to think of something…

She wasn't going to miss this for the world.

…

…

…

Francis looked over his shoulder at the advancing zombie horde, muttering something about vampires before pulling a bottle off his belt and chucking it at the swarm, a grunt escaping him from the effort. He then turned and seized Zoey's arm in his hand, taking off at a dead run and dragging her along with him whether she liked it or not.

She panted for breath, fighting the urge to look over her shoulder at the zombies rushing through the curtain of fire that sprang up from the bottle Francis had thrown. They rushed down some stairs and into the crumbled remains of a building, one gloved hand firmly gripping her arm as though he half expected her to try and escape, and it wasn't until he found a room with a red steel door that he released her.

Zoey stumbled into the room and collapsed onto her knees, hearing Francis shut the heavy door behind him and bar it, watching him offer the zombies that crowded one another for a chance to attack the survivors the finger before turning to look at her.

"You okay, kid?" He asked, and she nodded weakly, declining his offered helping hand and opting to remain on her knees on the floor.

She was exhausted, she was hungry, and she had just seen a man beaten to death by the infected. They had both been chased by creatures that even braved fire just for a chance at their targets…

To distract herself, she fumbled the granola bar out of her pocket and ripped the wrapper off of it, beginning to eat it perhaps a little too quickly. Francis watched her for a moment, then looked away, shifting from one foot to the other. A thought occurred to her a few seconds later, and she paused in her ravenous devouring.

Francis looked down in surprise when she took his hand ever so gently in her own, pressing what was left of the granola bar into it. Their eyes met, but she quickly looked away with flushed cheeks, hugging her knees to her chest and looking towards the door. Francis was still for a moment, then he muttered a soft thanks in return, his own cheeks beginning to color.

…

…

…

Zoey's eyes blinked open to sunlight streaming through her window, the alarm clock on her bedside table playing an altogether too cheerful song, and she slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. With one hand, she reached over and tapped the alarm clock off, dragging the other through her sleep tousled brown hair.

She had to admit, this dream was a better one than the one she had the night before, but there was still a lingering feeling of dread deep down inside as she thought of what she had to do.

Come up with a good excuse, an alibi for her reunion with the three other survivors she fought side by side with during the infection. Her father would never let her go if she told him the truth, and lying to him just made her feel awful.

There was no way, though, she was going to NOT go. One way or another, she would make it to this housewarming party.

Slipping out from under the covers, she padded across the floor to the bathroom in her underwear and a tank top, typical bed time attire for her at this time of year. She looked in the mirror and grimaced, immediately making the decision to have a shower. It was a good way to start the day and it gave her plenty of time to think.

Unfortunately, she still had no clue what she was going to say when she came out of the shower, and headed down to breakfast after getting dressed in a much more sombre mood than she would have liked. Her mother was sitting and watching TV with her morning coffee in hand, and offered her a pleasant morning greeting, whereas her father was sitting at the table with his morning paper and offered her only a soft noise in way of reply to the greeting she offered him.

Getting herself some breakfast, Zoey ate in silence, staring at the paper her father held in front of his face while her brain worked hard, searching for an option. Anything, anything at all…

"Zoey hun, I was wondering if you wanted a date for that thing tonight." Her mother suddenly said from the living room, and Zoey sat up very straight in her chair. Her father didn't surface from behind his paper, and Zoey blinked a few times before smiling and nodding in her mothers direction. "Good. I needed an excuse to go out anyway. Your father is working late, after all."

"That's right." Zoey's father muttered from behind his paper, and both the women exchanged meaningful glances before Zoey returned to her breakfast.

After finishing, she hurried out the door to go to her morning class in much better spirits, the anticipation of the reunion making it very hard to feel otherwise.