"So Jenny, if your brother and Dad were already in the town why are you just going in now?"

"Well, Dad, and Gordy went down first to check it out and I stayed on top of the mountain, until I got the signal that it was okay. They are really thorough, so it took them all day."

"Gordy is your brother. What's your Dads name?"

"Sam, but I should tell you he's not really my Dad. He's kind of our guardian. He was a neighbor and when my mom died he took care of us. He was in love with her and he wanted to marry her, but she said she never wanted to get married again. My real dad was a dead-beat, I guess." I smiled at her bluntness. I wasn't used to chatter, but hers was welcoming.

"Jenny, how old are you?"

"I'm 17. How old are you?"

"I'm 26."

"Wow. You look like you're my age!" I never got tired of hearing that, even if it meant always getting carded when I went to get Gary his beer. It always made me feel like a teenager again.

"Hahaha. I'll take that as a compliment." We were getting closer to the small, dark town. My pulse started to heighten like it normally did when I was close to "civilization". My wariness must have shown on my face, because Jenny looked at me and patted my back. "It's okay Gordy and my Dad are really careful, if it wasn't safe they never would have given me the signal." This reassured me but my physical response was automatic and I couldn't slow my heart rate down. I was excited. Scared, but excited nonetheless.

The town looked as old as death. Half the buildings were collapsing in on themselves. I could have sworn tumbleweed rolled across the sad excuse for a road. There were only five or six main buildings left. A few were completely collapsed. We walked towards the small cluster of residential properties. I immediately started scanning for exits and hiding places.

As we got closer I could see two men sitting on the porch of the second house on the right hand side. Both were eyeing me suspiciously, I met their stares with a hard one of my own. I could only assume who was who. The man on the left was significantly older. He looked like he was in his late thirties or early forties, the man, or should I say boy, on the right, looked around the same age as Jenny.

We walked right up to the strangers and I half hid behind Jenny, more than willing to let her take the bullet. After all she was bigger and would recover faster. The boy was around the same height and build as Jenny, thick and toned. His hair was almost shaved all the way off. His brown eyes were tired and his skin was red. He looked like he had been a scrapper at one time. He didn't wear any shirt instead he had a white tank top slung over his shoulder and black, basketball shorts. He had a menacing scowl on his face until I glared at him back and he quickly smiled at me. He was adorable and I caught myself grinning back.

The man had an intense look on his face as he studied me and it made me nervous so I quickly looked down at my feet. When I finally looked back up at him his expression had softened. He was looking at me torn up knees. He had a nice face, but it was hardened. He had shaggy, blonde hair and green eyes. His face was tanned and he had a scruffy looking beard coming in. He was tired and I was hungry, so I made the greeting quickly.

"My name is Charlie, I'm still human and I'm starving." The boy laughed loudly and the man just barely smiled.

"I'm Sam and this is Gordy. I assume you already met Jenny." He rolled his eyes at the girl and smiled at her. "There isn't too much edible around here but we found canned beans, fruit, and vegetables. There is a well in the backyard of this house that is still pumping water. There is some soap in the bathroom, I recommend washing up first, we can eat afterwards." The thought of washing up had my toes tingling, but Jenny looked worse off than me so I told her to go first. She didn't need much convincing.

We all walked inside the house. It was two stories and looked like it could have been beautiful at one time. Now it was dusty and rundown. The thought that it was somebody's home made me sad which I wasn't expecting. The living room was huge and open the furniture looked like it was from the 1800's. There was a huge fireplace centered in the middle of the room. Above the fireplace, hung a huge family portrait. There was a husband, wife, two boys, and one girl. I could almost picture them playing in the house, but an image of seekers coming in and taking the family had me blinking away tears that threatened to fall.

"So Charlie what's your story?" Sam interrupted my reverie.

"Um. Story? Well let's see. I was married to son of a bitch." I paused for effect. "Then he came home one day, and was a complete gentleman. So I freaked out and hid under my basement for three months." I waited for him to stop laughing. "I finally got the nerve to come out of hiding when I ran out of supplies. Then there was nobody left and I've been on the move since."

He thought about this for a moment.

"You didn't have any family?"

"No, it was just Gary and I."

"The son of a bitch?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "That's the one."

He let an amused smile play on his mouth for a while as we stared at each other. Gordy had been listening by the door. He was looking at me too so I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"You been on your own for how long?" Gordy asked tentatively.

"Going on a year." It seemed like longer. It seemed like forever.

"That must have been lonely."

"It was, but I deal well with solitude so it wasn't anything I couldn't handle."

Sam was quiet, still looking at me with the same intensity as he had a few moments earlier. I sat down on the dusty old couch and leaned my head back. Sitting on furniture for some reason always made me feel more normal. Safe.