The next two days were spent driving, pausing only for occasional bathroom breaks and refueling. We slept in shifts so that we could just keep on driving, hoping to get to Portland as quickly as possible. We were down to less than half our fuel reserves, which was still quite a bit, but not much if we needed to make a detour. We drove through New York City, looking at things out of the windows but not stopping for anything. We saw some zeds who looked like they were feeding on something. They chased us for a while, but we managed to get past them and out into the country on the other side. We stopped that night somewhere in the middle of Connecticut.

We were both tense and nervous, but for different reasons. Well…maybe not entirely different reasons. We were both anxious about his family. He was scared they were dead in some way, I was scared they weren't and that they'd hate me. I mean, granted, there weren't a lot of options out there for anyone, we were each other's best shot at happiness in the future, but still. I was essentially a high school dropout who'd been gang-banged by rednecks who'd bought me for a couple of gallons of gas. Not exactly most people's ideal for their college educated son.

We arrived in Portland the evening of the second day, exhausted from not sleeping the night before. We'd both been too nervous to sleep but too tired to drive. I think we dozed a little, but not much. We could hear movement outside and that shit was terrifying. The farther we'd gone from DC, the more zeds we'd seen. I was absolutely terrified we'd gotten this close only to be killed, trapped inside Winnie with our shitton of stuff, eating canned vegetables for the rest of our pitiful lives.

Edward drove us to some docks and we sat, looking out over the water, the sun setting behind us.

"It's out there," he said softly, pointing. "The second big one from the left."

I nodded, not sure if I saw the right one or not. "So…now what?"

He blew out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair and shaking his head. "I have no fucking clue. We need a boat to get there."

"Is there a marina nearby? Country club maybe?"

"Maybe." He leaned forward, hunched over the steering wheel as he stared out at the island. It was almost like he was willing it to come close enough for us to get to it. "It's been a while since I was here."

"So, we'll sleep tonight and then in the morning, find a marina and get a boat. Piece of cake."

He nodded, but didn't move when I stood up. I grabbed another can, opening it and offering it to him. He popped a stewed tomato in his mouth and made a face.

"I hate tomatoes."

"Me too." I took a deep breath before putting one in my mouth. It burst when I bit down, the juice squirting down my chin. I grimaced and wiped it with my sleeve. Strangely, we never thought to grab napkins. Plastic ware, we had. Plates, we had. Napkins or paper towels…not so much.

We chewed in silence, dashing out to pee before dark, then I headed back to sleep. Edward stayed in the chair all night, watching the spot where the island had been as though he were afraid it would be swallowed up by the sea. The moon peeked out a few times from behind the clouds, but otherwise, it was a dark night.

Neither of us slept again, just a few minutes of dozing here and there. I could hear Edward shifting occasionally in the front and once in a while, I could hear the wind outside, whispering and sounding like a zed. The silky low voices, the coaxing, the wheedling, the begging even. I finally clamped my hands over my ears to shut it out. That didn't work, so I pulled some of the piles of clothes down around my head to muffle the wind. I finally dropped off into a restless sleep full of dreams of being caught in small spaces with zeds gnawing on my legs and feet and snakes wriggling over my torso. I woke up screaming and swinging, connecting solidly with something.

"Fuck, B, it's just me."

I blinked, panting. Edward was sprawled on the floor at the foot of the bed and my fist was smarting. "Edward?"

"You were having a nightmare and I was trying to wake you up."

I started to cry, pulling my knees up to my chest and hugging them. He crawled over to me, pulling me close against him and rocking me. "It's fine. I'm here. I'm not going to hurt you and I won't let anyone or anything else hurt you."

I nodded, hiccupping. Gradually, my sobs stopped and I fell back asleep. He held me this time and there was nothing but black in my head.

The next morning my head was throbbing. My eyes and throat were scratchy and my nose was stuffed up. I felt like shit. Edward looked at me worriedly as I simply passed him back the can of fruit cocktail after only eating a few bites and shook my head.

"I can't. Not anymore."

He nodded and ate his fill before carefully setting it in the sink. He fired up the engine and we set out in search of a marina.

It took most of the day, but we finally found one with a boat big enough for all of our stuff. We'd brought it all this far, it felt a shame to abandon it now. Edward spent the rest of the day filling the gas tank and transferring what he could while I stood half-assed guard. As the sun was setting, he ushered me back inside Winnie and back into bed. I forced down some canned soup before dropping off into another night of restless nightmare riddled sleep.

The second day, I was on the roof with a jug of water, watching. My head felt hazy and stuffy and like it was floating a little. I shook it a little when I saw something in the distance.

"Edward."

He looked up and I pointed. He climbed up beside me quickly and shaded his eyes. "Zeds," he grimaced.

I nodded and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath in a futile effort to calm the buzzing in my ears. "How many?"

"Looks like just two. Here." He reached over and took the rifle. The zeds had seen us by now and were picking up their pace. They were hobbling towards us, not really running full tilt like I'd seen in Arizona and New Mexico. It looked like they were a little older than most we'd seen recently. One was missing an arm.

Edward lifted the rifle up and carefully aimed and fired, taking one down in a single shot then getting the other. We sat in silence for a bit, watching to make sure they didn't re-reanimate. When we were sure they were done for, Edward kissed my temple, gave me the rifle back and clambered back down to continue with the transfer of goods.

It took two days of Edward working hard and almost non-stop to get everything transferred. We had to take down zeds another time after that. There may be fewer of them, but these were fresher. That meant people were getting bolder and coming out of their hiding places before everything was safe. I knew he was worried about his family but he didn't say a word, just worked steadily. I didn't have an appetite, but I still forced him to stop and get a bite to eat at least twice a day.

I felt horrible about not helping more. If I'd been well, maybe we could already be on the island, safe and secure and surrounded by his loved ones. Instead, I would climb on top of Winnie and sit with my rifle and water, watching all day for anything coming our way.

The third day, he woke me up, a huge grin on his face. "Today's the day, B."

I nodded and sat up tiredly. "Everything's loaded?"

He nodded. "All the gas is out of Winnie and the minivan into cans and stowed safely on the boat. The boat's tank is full. All we have to do is go."

I nodded and swung my feet around, sitting and staring at the floor for a moment. "Then let's go."

I stood up and my knees buckled. He caught me and carried me out to the boat, settling me carefully in the co-pilot seat of it. I watched dazedly as he moved around, untying and casting off or whatever the hell it was you did to get a boat ready to go out on open water. My stomach lurched at that thought. I'd never been on open water before; the very idea of it kind of terrified me.

He came back then, another huge grin on his face and he settled in the captain's chair. "Ready?"

I gave him a thumbs up and he turned the key in the ignition. I closed my eyes, waiting for the rumble of the engine below my chair. Nothing happened.

"Fuck."

I opened one eye and looked at him. "What?"

"You need two keys. I've only got one."

I stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. "Oh god."

He shot me an annoyed look. "Now what?"

"We came all this way after all this time, fought zeds and rednecks and ate countless cans of vegetables only to fail because of a fucking key?"

He sat up and put his hands on his hips. "Well Miss Smart Ass, what would you suggest we do? Find another boat? It'll be a lot fucking harder to siphon the gas out of a boat than it was out of cars."

I groaned and pushed myself up. "Move."

He blinked, surprised. "What? What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna hotwire it."

"Can you hotwire a boat?"

"We're about to find out. Move."

He obliged me and I squatted down, pulling the panel off and studying the wires. I could do this. Finally, I could be useful. I set to work, moving slower than I normally would from exhaustion and illness.

"B, I don't mean to sound pushy or anything, but there are some zeds heading this way. It'd be good if you could do that sooner rather than later."

I nodded and shook my head slightly to help clear the haze. I was trying to remember which two wires to twist together when I heard a sickening squelching sound.

"Faster, B," Edward shouted as I heard the unmistakable sound of aluminum bat versus zombified skull. I swallowed hard as the gore sprayed on me and twisted the wires, praying it was right. The engine roared to life and I sat up, grabbing the controller that looked right and pushed it forward hard.

The boat rocketed out of the slip, making Edward loose his footing and go down hard. Unfortunately, a zed fell into the boat on top of him.

I screamed and turned around, kicking at it with my foot for lack of anything better. My foot connected miraculously and went in, the body going limp but the skull stuck to my foot. I stared at it in horror, then threw up all over myself, the zed, and Edward.

I stared at the mess in horror while Edward acted. He shoved the body off of him and me, then stood up and grabbed the controller, slowing the boat down to a reasonable speed before stopping it completely. He first carefully tossed the body into the water then grabbed me and pulled me close.

"Nice one, kid."

I gave him a wobbly laugh. "Sorry I threw up on you."

"I'm just surprised you hadn't done it sooner."

I nodded and wiped at my eyes. "Still wanna have sex with me?"

He grinned and grabbed a t-shirt from a nearby pile, pulling my dirty one off and the clean one on. "Baby, I'm gonna fuck your brains out when we get there. Well, when you're well."

I laughed softly. He settled me back in my chair, then used our dirty shirts to mop up the mess on the deck. He tossed them overboard and pulled on a clean shirt.

"Ready?"

I nodded and smiled at him bravely. Here went nothing.

***

Tali: Quick note. This was the original ending. Thank ktdcee for insisting I write more. I'm not sure I love the rest of it, though there are a couple scenes that I adore.