As the weeks pass, Bass finds himself spending more and more time in the field where he and Miles have been training the other men from their camp. There are only twenty-five of them, but having twenty-five trained men is better than having fifty who don't know what they're doing. He throws himself into the process, devising training exercises and putting up security measures all around the camp. It all seems a bit overboard, but everyone in camp knows that he is grieving and they give him the space to do what he wants.

With Shelly gone, the children in camp have no school to attend during the day so Julia takes it upon herself to try and take over. She's not an educator though, and she's always the first one to admit that Shelly is irreplaceable. Poor Charlie can't stand the new normal around camp. After less than a week under Julia's care, she decides that school is no longer worth her time and refuses to go. She and Miles argue loudly and we'll into the night, but in the end, he doesn't give her a choice.

But of course, Charlie is stubborn and much cleverer than he or Miles have ever given her credit for. More often than not, they return home to find Julia frantically searching for her missing student. They usually find her in Bass and Shelly's tent, which he hasn't been staying in, sitting at Shelly's vanity and working on her multiplication tables. The first time Bass found her there, he'd broken down and cried for nearly an hour while Charlie held his hand. Now though, he usually sits and times her while she works or listens to her read her books.

Eventually they give up trying to make her go to school and let her tag along to the training field. She usually brings a book to read and her prized notebook to work in, but she rarely uses them. Charlie is clearly fascinated by their training. She often volunteers herself as a pretend kidnap victim so Miles or Bass can run off with her while the trainees have to figure out how to rescue her. It doesn't take long for her to turn the tables on all of them though.

Bass had taken them to hide in a shallow cave for a while to see if the boys could track them, but the moment he takes his eyes off of her, she disappears. Terrified out of his mind, Bass runs back to the field to tell the boys that the game is off and that Charlie is actually missing. They're all running into the trees to search for her when the giggling starts and rocks start falling from the sky.

"I gotcha!" She yells triumphantly from her spot high up in a tree, though her glee only lasts for a moment. Bass is so angry that he can't even speak and he leaves the training field in search of a drink. It's not that he's really mad at her, he knows that she was just playing the game, but he can't help but think of what would happen if it hadn't been a game.

He's sitting on his cot with his head in his hands when she comes in to find him.

"I'm sorry, Bass." He looks up and watches her twist her fingers around awkwardly in front of her. Much like Miles, she hates apologizing, though they both seem to make an exception for him. She looks like she feels so guilty that it makes him feel guilty as well.

"It's alright, Charlie." She looks at him carefully out of the corner of her eye and he smiles at how shy she can be sometimes. "Come here." He holds his arms out to her and she smashes into him, knocking him backwards on the bed. Bass moves her insane curls off of his face with a smile and kisses the top of her head. "I'm sorry I got so mad, but you can't do stuff like that. You scared me."

She props her elbows up on his chest and looks down at him. "I know. Uncle Miles said that next time I have to let you in on the plan or I'm not allowed to play anymore."

"What exactly was the plan, anyway? Were you just going to hide up there and pelt us with rocks, or was there another part that I'm missing here."

She rolls off of the bed and sighs dramatically. "I can't tell you, that would make it too easy for next time."

"We're supposed to be training the other guys, not me. I've already been trained enough."

Miles comes strolling into the tent as he says it and laughs. "You let a seven year old give you the slip, Bass. I think you might need some refresher courses."

Bass sticks his tongue out at him. Juvenile? Yes. But it certainly makes him feel better.

XxX

As October comes to a close, Miles starts talking about the camp across the river again.

"They have no security over there at all. The two of us could sneak in and out without being noticed in less than twenty minutes. Come on, Bass. You know we need the food."

But ever since Shelly's death and whatever he had almost done with the gun that night, Bass has been avoiding the conversation all together.

"I don't know, Miles. It doesn't feel right to just steal it."

And of course, it's the simple mind of a child that proposes the solution. "Why don't we just ask if we can have some?" At first they think it's ridiculous and they just laugh at her, but it only takes a few minutes for them to realize that Charlie may have just saved the entire camp from another horrible winter.

As the camp's de facto leaders, Miles and Bass approach the camp across the river. They take Charlie with them, if for no other reason than they know she would have followed anyway. They're able to strike a deal with Garrett, the leader of the other camp, and trade their training services for enough food to get them through the winter.

Before December hits, the two camps have really become one. Garrett handles all of the boring people problems while Miles and Bass take care of anything that involves fighting. With all their new recruits, they have nearly sixty men under their command.

At nearly one hundred and seventy people, their combined camp is far to big to continue on the way it has been. There simply isn't enough space and resources to accommodate so many people. They discuss the possibility of moving, but many people in the camp view it as their home and wish to stay. Garrett included.

It doesn't take long for Miles and Bass to decide that it's time for them move on. With Shelly gone, sticking around is only hurting them all and the boys want a fresh start. Of their sixty trained men, thirty decide to join them. Despite the fact that they never made it to Chicago, they never even made it west of Ohio, the boys decide to head east instead. The rumors of gangs and war clans in the west are enough to keep them out for now.

As soon as spring breaks, the set out across Pennsylvania. Jeremy and the Nevilles have joined them of course, along with their thirty men and their families. They're a bit of a traveling circus, but people seem to like that about them. By the time they've made their way east of Pittsburgh, they've gathered up over eighty new followers and left behind hundreds more. Word has spread of Matheson and Monroe. The guys even joke around at night when they use ash from the fires to draw Bass' tattoo on their own arms. They jokingly call themselves Matheson's Army, though Miles is always quick to remind them that he and Bass are the only ones with actual military training.

It's Jeremy who finally points out that a civilian army is actually just a militia.

A/N This isn't my favorite chapter, but I'm trying to get us to Philadelphia without having to explain every little thing that happened along the way. A bit lazy of me, I know, but I want to catch us up to where I started the story and then possibly add a few post-engagement stories. This whole thing is so out of order it's not even funny... :-D