By the time Marcus got back from his long drive, it was approaching six PM. He decided, as he parked into the gravel lot and killed the engine, that he was done for the day. Unless some kind of life-threatening emergency camp up, he was just going to kick around the church until it was bed time. He thought he'd earned it. He was tired, emotionally and physically. Hell, mentally and spiritually, too. He and Anson got out of the truck and headed for the front gate. Karen stood in the watchtower. She looked excited to see Anson.

"Hey, uh...do you need me for anything else?" Anson asked, glancing up at Karen.

"No, go hang out with your girlfriend," Marcus replied.

"Thanks!" Anson hurried through the gate and clambered up the tower. Marcus watched them embrace. He was still kind of worried about Karen. From what he'd gathered, she was a college girl, twenty-one years old, and a huge lush, apparently. Anson had seen her through the worst of her detox during the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, but he still heard her complaining from time to time about needing a drink.

He approached the church, leaving the two alone on the tower, and saw his own romance interest sitting on the front steps, smirking at him. He'd intended to walk in there, deliver the information he'd learned about the new enclave to Lily and be done with it, but now he stopped at the foot of the stairs and stared at Maya for a moment.

"What?" he asked.

"Your best friend is in there with his girlfriend," Maya replied.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, come here."

Maya stood up and led him around to the side of the church, where, through the window, they saw Ed standing behind Lily, who sat at her radio desk. He was rubbing her shoulders.

"I'll admit, I wasn't too keen on it when it started," Maya said.

"Really? Why?"

"I dunno. I'm always reluctant to start up any kind of relationship in the battlefield where death is potentially around every corner."

"Oh yeah? What about now?"

"Well...after seeing Ed and Lily together, and Anson and Karen...I'm not so sure anymore. And, I guess, to be honest, I thought the age difference would be kind of weird. Ed's like, what, twenty five, twenty six? And Lily is nineteen...but I figured that I was projecting. I wouldn't want to date a freaking nineteen year old. Of course, Lily's no ordinary teenager. She's tough and I can see why he'd like her," Maya replied.

"Interesting...glad you approve of my best friend in the whole world," Marcus replied.

Maya poked him in the shoulder. "Come on, don't be grumpy."

"Sorry. Long day. And I fucking hate dealing with the Wilkersons."

"Ugh, I know. They're horrible."

Marcus and Maya stared at each other as the silence fell. For a moment, Marcus thought he might suddenly work up the courage to say something, to ask her out and ask her for a kiss or...something. But then the moment passed. He sighed softly.

"I guess I should go in there," he said.

"Yeah, guess so," Maya murmured.

Marcus turned and made his way into the church. As soon as the door opened and he stepped in, Ed straightened up and they both acted like they'd been caught doing something they weren't supposed to. But at least they relaxed when they saw it was Marcus.

"Hey," he said amicably. "I thought I'd fill you in on that other enclave."

"Oh, that sounds great. Thanks, Marcus," Lily replied.

He spent the next ten minutes giving her all the data he could. She managed to pinpoint their location based off of the fact that they were living in a farm that belonged to a man named Bill. They were in the middle of several different fields, fairly isolated. Marcus stared at the huge map of the valley and had to wonder how many people were actually still alive and functioning that didn't belong to the military.

"So, anything happening? Anything that needs my immediate attention?" Marcus replied.

"Nope. Danica and Jacob are out on a scavenging run right now. Sam's making sure the place is well organized...and Ed was supposed to be helping her..."

Ed heaved a sigh. "Well sorry for coming and giving my girlfriend a back rub," he replied, throwing up his hands in mock frustration.

Lily laughed. "Hey, I don't mind, Sam might though. And you know how she is."

"Yeah, yeah." Ed leaned down, kissed Lily quickly on the lips and then set off to go find Sam. Marcus watched him go.

"So, how's it going with you two?" he asked.

"It's so great...I had a hard time finding boyfriends in high school. I know I'm not ugly, and on my better days I feel at least a little above average when I look in the mirror but...well, a lot of guys don't want to date a girl with lupus. I mean, even if I can convince them it's not contagious or anything, there's still this kind of connotation tied to it, you know? No one wants to get serious with the sick girl. And Ed...doesn't care. At all, in the slightest. He's a little goofy and immature, but I like him. And, well, honestly, it's nice to feel good after all the bad shit that's happened."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Well, I'm going to go grab something to eat and have a damned sit down," Marcus replied.

"Good. You should. You've earned it."

Marcus nodded tiredly in agreement and headed for the kitchen.

The rest of the day was mercifully uneventful.

Marcus managed to get to sleep easily enough and after waking and going through his morning rituals the following day, Maya approached him, carrying his backpack. She tossed it to him and he caught it easily.

"What's up?" he asked.

They were both standing outside in front of the gazebo.

"Big day today," Maya replied. "We need more food. Somehow, in all the chaos, we overlooked two of the most obvious sources. The Swine & Bovine and the Fork in the Road diner. Nobody's been by either of them, so you and I are taking a car out. You up for it?"

"Definitely," Marcus said, shrugging into his backpack.

They walked out of the church, passing Sam on the way out, who stood guard in the watchtower. They got into the jeep and began driving out into the city.

"So, how's things? Any new developments?" Marcus asked.

Maya sighed. "Not really. We're in kind of a holding pattern right now. Alice Miller and her crew aren't saying much. The guys down at the Tartan Mart are still paranoid and want to keep to themselves. The Wilkersons are still dicks. The Army...actually isn't in Spencer's Mill anymore. No one's seen them for the past twenty four hours. Lily has heard rumors that they're holed up in Fairfield, which I guess would make sense. Otherwise, there hasn't been any real information."

"Ben mentioned something about people over in Marshall..."

"Yeah, Lily mentioned that. She says that every now and then she gets a partial transmission from over there, someone talking about a gathering...something feels off about it though and honestly, right now, we're too busy to go chasing down every little thing. Like a said, a holding pattern...though, to be honest, I've got a feeling that that won't last."

"Why do you say that?"

Maya shrugged. "Dunno, just a feeling."

They pulled up to the Swine & Bovine. "Do you really think we'll find anything here?" Marcus asked as they got out.

"Not really, but think about it. What if everyone who's left is thinking, 'Oh man, the Swine & Bovine is so obvious that it's probably already cleared out.' So what if it's been ignored by everyone and there's still some food there?"

"Fair point," Marcus replied.

That unfortunately wasn't the case. There were about a dozen zombies lingering in and around the building. Marcus hefted his tire iron, Maya had found a shiny machete from somewhere. She got things kicked off by swinging the machete around in a tight arc that cleanly severed the head of the lead zombie. The head went bouncing away and the body stumbled for several steps until it collapsed to the blacktop.

They spent the next several minutes decapitating zombies and cracking skulls. Marcus realized, as he brought his tire iron down onto the head of the final zombie, a teenage man in a leather jacket and jeans, that he was getting disturbingly used to this. It hadn't even been that long, but how many zombies had he killed? Was he really comfortable with killing something that was once, not that long ago, a human being?

Marcus tried to shrug the issue off. He knew that he had to be okay with killing zombies. There really wasn't an alternative. He and Maya spent the next several minutes clearing the Swine & Bovine of residual zombies. There were a handful hanging around, most of them in the kitchen and back storage room.

Once the zombies were gone, they began searching the building as thoroughly as they could. After several minutes, the silence began to unnerve Marcus.

"You know what I miss?" he asked suddenly.

"What? The internet? Taco Bell? Netflix?" Maya replied.

"All those things but...Breaking Bad, actually."

She glanced over at him. "What?"

"Breaking Bad. I never finished it. I got up to Season Four and had to stop halfway through to come on vacation here actually. I have no idea what happens."

"I'm happy, and sad, to report that it's all amazing," she replied. "Walter ends up-"

"Don't tell me!" Marcus cried. "...we might still find like a blu-ray of it or something lying around, you know?" he added when she stared at him.

"Yeah, and a blu-ray player that can run on something besides electricity?"

"We could find a generator."

Maya snorted. "Priorities, Marcus. You clearly have them."

They continued searching the Swine & Bovine and after nearly an hour, all they managed to come up with was a lot of packets of ketchup, mustard, mayo and salt and pepper. They stuffed it all into their packs anyway.

They headed back out of the Swine & Bovine, loaded back up into their vehicle and drove the short distance to the Fork in the Road Diner, across the way. As they got out and began crossing the lot, Marcus hesitated. He could see someone in the diner. At first he thought it was a zombie, but then he realized that whoever it was was sitting down and didn't seem to be a zombie. Still, he and Maya were cautious as they stepped inside.

As soon as they did, Marcus immediately recognized who it was.

"Alan," Maya said.

Alan responded by coughing. It was a violent, nasty, hacking cough that indicated something was seriously wrong. He didn't turn around to face them, instead he just kept sitting there at the bar. Marcus could hear him wheezing.

His ranger's hat was on the stool next to him.

"What do you want?" he asked. He sounded weak and tired.

"Just scavenging for supplies," Marcus replied cautiously.

"There's nothing here," Alan muttered miserably. Slowly, he raised his right hand. In the hand was a pistol. Maya and Marcus took a step back. He laid the pistol down on the counter in front of him. "I need your help," he said.

"With what?" Maya replied cautiously.

"I'm sick," he replied meaningfully. When neither of them spoke, he nudged the pistol. "It's out of bullets. We both know the cure. Same as Will."

Marcus felt a horrible coldness slowly consume his body. He looked at Maya and she stared back at him. Even as furious as he was at Alan, as much as he didn't like the man and he'd disagreed with many of his decisions...could he really bring himself to shoot this man? Even as a mercy killing? Maya must have seen it in his eyes.

Her face suddenly hardened and her hand fell to the pistol in its holster on her hip. She stared at him, as if waiting for something. He nodded, once, sharply. Maya pulled out her pistol and put it against the back of Alan's head.

"Is this justice?" Alan asked softly.

"No such thing," Maya replied.

She pulled the trigger.