Marcus opened his eyes.

He found himself staring up at a pitted, old ceiling bathed in golden, morning sunshine. For a long moment, he didn't move, wanting to enjoy this. He felt good. It was probably the best he'd felt since stumbling out of that forest with Ed several weeks ago, finding that the world had gone completely batshit insane during their little vacation.

Maya shifted in the bed beside him.

He looked over at her. She was naked beneath the blankets. She was sleeping on her back and the blankets had fallen away, revealing some her bare chest. Her mouth hung open and she snored slightly. It was cute, and kind of endearing, but most of all it made him feel happy for her. Because he'd seen her sleep over these past few weeks, and she always slept on her side, scrunched up, like she was guarded, ready to wake up a moment's notice.

Of course, they were all like that, because there were zombies and worse things around. But it was nice to see that, just for once, she could sleep peacefully. She felt safe. He thought she deserved to feel safe, and happy...

Distantly, he heard the crack of a gunshot.

It was like a reminder that yeah, the world was going to hell in a handcart and yeah, he should probably get his ass out of bed. Obviously the sun was up and he'd slept in. As Marcus sat up and pulled the blankets back, he caught a whiff of himself and grimaced. It wasn't like they'd had running showers or even really a chance to bathe. Some of them had taken to washing themselves down with a wet cloth, the water garnered from water bottles. He'd done it himself a few times. He supposed now was one of those times.

He rolled over and scanned the room, wanting to be sure they were still alone. But the door was closed and intact, and he could hear nothing moving around in the house. Good. He reached down, grabbed his pants and fished out his radio. Time to let the church crew know that all was well, that he and Maya had survived the night.

"Hey Lily, this is Marcus. Just wanted to let you know that me and Maya are okay," he said, then he released the call button.

"Good to hear...did you and Maya have fun?" Lily replied, her voice teasing.

Marcus frowned. Did she know? How could she know? "Uh...sure," he replied cautiously.

"Good! You coming back? Something weird happened last night."

"What?"

"I'll tell you when you get back."

"Oh. Okay. Yeah, we'll be back within the hour."

"Okay, good. See you then."

Marcus replaced the radio and rolled over. He saw that Maya was awake.

"Hey," she said, grinning at him.

"Hey...was last night like...planned? Does Lily know what happened?" he asked.

Maya laughed. "Well aren't you Mister Direct all of a sudden?" She shrugged, a little uneasily. "It wasn't exactly what you'd call planned. But I had joked with Lily about, you know, finding a reason to hole up for the night and really give you a chance to, you know, put the moves on me."

"Put the moves on you?"

Maya laughed and chewed on her lower lip. "I liked you. I do like you. I just wasn't sure how you felt about me. I thought you did but I didn't know for sure. I was hoping you'd, you know, step up. And you didn't, so I stepped up. I'm not really a patient person."

"I can imagine. To be honest, I like you a lot, you just intimidate the shit out of me."

Maya burst out laughing. "Really?"

"Yeah. Why is that so hard to believe? You're in the Army for fuck's sake. You're fit, tough, strong, capable, smart, beautiful...you're like a fucking ten. On my better days, I might be able to pass for a six and a half."

"I don't know about all that...I'm a pain in the ass to live with, I snore, I don't really put up with bullshit, which is apparently required for a lot of relationships. I'm overseas for long periods of time...and hey, don't sell yourself short. You've got a lot of those qualities, too." She fell silent, trailed off, looking at him.

"So...are we...together?" he asked, figuring one of them should say something.

"I'd like to think so," Maya replied.

"Like, a couple?"

"Yeah. If that's what you want."

"Yes. I want that. You're probably the most amazing woman I've ever met."

Maya laughed again, and now she was blushing. "Come on, you're just saying that."

"No, really. You're something else."

"All right, all right, enough. I heard your talk with Lily, we really should get back. I'm curious to know what happened."

Marcus nodded and they both got up. As he started getting out a couple of bottles of water which where, thankfully, lukewarm, and a washcloth he found in a nearby bathroom to clean himself up, Maya figured he had the right idea. They also found some soap and began washing up. He took the opportunity to study her body. She really was extremely attractive. She was thin and very fit. Her muscles were clearly and obviously defined. She had taken very good care of her body. Maya smirked when she noticed him admiring her.

"So, this doesn't bug you?" she asked.

"What doesn't bug me?" he replied.

"This. My muscles. I know I'm not a bodybuilder, I'm built more for speed than for power, but I know some guys don't like that. They'd rather their women have flat stomachs rather than abs. What do you think?"

"I think you're smoking hot. I love your body. Also, uh...we didn't really talk about it, but, I mean, you didn't seem to mind that I didn't have any rubbers..."

"Oh. I figured if you had anything you'd have told me, otherwise I wouldn't have let you sleep with me. I also got some birth control surgically implanted, so I can't get pregnant and I don't have to hassle with pills or anything."

"Oh. Good."

"Yep. Very good."

They finished washing up and put on some deodorant, then got dressed in fresh changes of clothes they found in the house. They geared up, making sure their guns were loaded, safeties off, everything where it was supposed to be.

The pair of them stepped outside, onto the front porch, into the early morning sun.

"You ready?" Maya asked.

"Yep," Marcus replied.

"Then let's go."

They set off into Spencer's Mill, back towards their home base.

Marcus felt secretly relieved when he walked in through the black iron gates of the church and saw everything it should be. Karen was on watch, a pistol in her hand. She waved to them and they waved back. The pair made their way into the main room of the church, where Ed and Lily were sitting and talking.

Marcus and Maya began to unload the supplies they'd picked up.

"So, is it official?" Lily asked.

"Yep, it's official," Maya replied.

"Hooray!" Lily cried.

"You two finally hooked up?" Ed asked.

Marcus heaved a sigh. "Did everyone know that you liked me?" he asked. "Was I actually the last person to know?"

"I'm sure...Danica didn't," Lily replied.

"Can we focus? What happened last night?" Marcus asked.

"Spoilsport..." Lily said. "Okay, so, last night we got this crazy weird call. It was like...a machine. Automated. It started spitting out coordinates or something. I thought it had something to do with the Army. Then Sam, who was out on watch, said that she saw something come crashing down from the skies somewhere behind the church. She said she thought it was a meteorite. I figured the message and the sudden appearance of something falling from the skies could be related and thought maybe it was like...supplies or something from the government? Or the military? I don't know. But I thought we should check it out."

"Sounds good, I'm up for it," Marcus replied. They'd eaten some breakfast bars on the way back and now that he had dropped off his excess supplies, he felt ready to take on the world. He looked at Maya. "What about you? Want to come along?"

"Yeah, definitely," she said. "Let's see what's up."

"You should probably take someone else, too...what about Jacob? He's been kind of mopey lately, and with good reason..." Lily said.

"Yeah, sure. Though...maybe it'll be a little weird, us just getting together and him losing his boyfriend," Marcus replied.

"We'll just tone it down," Maya said.

"Gonna be tough," Marcus said.

Maya laughed. "I know, but it's nice to be nice. Come on, let's get this show on the road."

Before long, Marcus and Maya found Jacob and told him about the mission. He seemed agreeable enough, so he grabbed his gear and they started making their way out of the church and into the forest, towards the 'meteorite'.

"So, Jacob, I think you really might be right about having to move," Marcus said as they made their way through the trees.

"Oh yeah?" he replied.

"Yes. Between us, the Wilkersons, the two enclaves out in the fields and those guys down at the mart, it seems like we're milking this town dry. I mean, I was just looking at the map...before we came and got you, we updated Lily on the houses we hit up yesterday. We hardly found anything. The map is getting full up of black xs, you know? Plus, it's obviously a more long term goal to get other people to join up. And the church is pretty small..."

"Hey, you don't have to sell me on it. Hell, I don't know why you're even getting my opinion. You two are pretty much in charge."

"Why do you think that?" Maya asked.

"Before you showed up, Alan was basically in charge. I mean, we all tended to argue, but he...had a domineering personality and seemed to know what he was doing. So he was kind of in charge. And then you basically dethroned him and then kicked him out."

And killed him, Marcus thought unhappily, but he supposed that was probably something Maya wanted to keep between just them.

"We're not really in charge," Maya said. "It's a community. Everyone's voice matters."

"Yeah, that's all well and good...on paper. But you and I both know that when it comes to getting shit done, organizing people, making stuff happen, there's got to be a leader of some kind. And you're it. More you than Marcus...no offense," Jacob replied.

"None taken and...holy shit, that is a lot of zombies," Marcus whispered.

They were approaching a clearing and there were close to twenty or so zombies gathered. At first, Marcus was prepared to slowly and quietly back away, but then he heard a loud, shrill beep cut through the air and he saw that the zombies were gathered around some kind of rectangular metal crate. It looked important.

It must have been what had fallen from the sky.

"Crap...what do we do?" Jacob asked.

Maya raised her pistol. "We shoot them."

Marcus figured it was a good an answer as any. He pulled out his own pistol, glad that he'd made sure to restock on ammo. Jacob did the same. The three of them advanced to the edge of the clearing and took a moment to aim. Maya called for them to open fire. Marcus squeezed the trigger and saw the head of the zombie he'd been focusing on snap forward in a spray of blood. He switched targets and fired once more, putting down another one.

Beside him, Maya and Jacob began working their way through the targets. The zombies realized what was happening and began making for them, but between the three of them, Marcus and his friends managed to put them down without too much trouble.

"Okay," Maya said, reloading and making her way into the clearing. "Let's see exactly what we've gotten our hands on..."

Marcus and Jacob watched her back while she set to work on getting the huge, silver, industrial-sized case open. The pair of them put down another few zombies that wandered up, drawn in by the occasional sharp beep the thing let out.

"Got it!" Maya said. As she did, the beeping abruptly died off. "Holy fucking shit...we hit the goddamned motherlode!" she proclaimed.

Marcus turned and hurried across the clearing to join her. He had to admit, he was really at a loss for words. The thing was packed with gear, all of it guns and ammo. He spied a pair of very nice pistols, a submachine gun, a short-barreled shotgun, lots of magazines and, taking up the most space, was what looked like a rocket launcher.

"Is that..." Jacob began.

"Yep. A goddamned rocket launcher. Holy shit," Maya replied. Already she was shoving ammo and some of the guns into her pack. "Grab everything."

Marcus watched over them while they geared up, then, when their packs and pockets were full, he shoved the rest of it into his own backpack. That just left the rocket launcher. They all started at it. "What should we do with it?" he asked.

"I dunno, it's really dangerous..." Maya replied. "But we can't just leave it here..." With a sigh, she reached down, grabbed it and slung it over her shoulder. "Let's put it to a vote, back at the church. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Marcus replied.

They started heading back.

"Whoa," Ed muttered as they laid the rocket launcher on the table in the main room. "This is what you found out there?"

"Well, that and a shitload of guns and ammo," Marcus replied, setting his heavy pack down and opening it up.

"Jackpot," Lily whispered. "This should last us quite a while."

"Yeah. But we wanted to make a group decision about the launcher," Maya said. They'd called everyone in, except for Jacob, who agreed to take watch. He'd already given his vote: he wasn't quite comfortable with having it around.

"We aren't keeping it?" Danica asked.

"I think we should keep it...in case the Army finally makes good on its threats, you know?" Karen said nervously.

Marcus knew what she meant. The Army had been making some ugly threats over the radio during the past few days. He got the feeling that someone had been giving them shit, somewhere else in the valley. They hadn't actually seen anyone from the Army in Spencer's Mill for a little while now. Maybe they'd run into trouble in Marshall?

"I'm not so sure. A rocket launcher isn't quite the same as having a gun lying around. If it misfired or something went wrong, well...we could all die," Maya said. "I've been thinking about it, and I have an idea. I think we should wrap it in waterproof canvas and bury it not far from the church. That way, it won't be around to be dangerous, but we can get to it quickly if we really need it...what do you guys think?" she asked.

They put it to a vote, in ultimately everyone agreed, after a bit of debate. Maya grabbed the launcher and Marcus went out to find some canvas and a shovel. They left the church and moved to a tree off to the side of the church about twenty feet away from the wall. Maya wrapped and Marcus dug. They worked in silence until the job was done.

"Okay," Maya said, leaning in and carving something into the tree they'd buried it near. "There! Now we can find it easily."

Marcus leaned in to look at what she wrote. It was M+M inside of a heart. He let out a small laugh. "Wow...I uh...that's sweet," he said.

She smiled. "I can do sweet, you know."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What's that supposed to mean?! You thought I was pretty 'sweet' last night."

"That was a different kind of sweet, but I appreciate it all the same," Marcus replied. He leaned in and kissed her. "Come on, we should get back."

They made their way back, holding hands, keep an eye out for zombies. However, as they came back into the compound and entered the church, Marcus spied Lily, Ed and Jacob talking with an unfortunately familiar man. He didn't know his name, but Marcus knew he was definitely one of the Wilkerson's guys. He wore a dirty white tanktop, ripped jeans and work boots, as well as a cowboy hat. He had a scruff of a beard, a nasty grin and was smoking a cigarette. He also had a shotgun across his back and a pistol on his hip.

"Marcus, Maya...glad you could join us. This...man, has a question for you," Lily said, making no effort to hide her distaste.

"Job wants to know if you'd be interested in overseeing a deal we're having with some of the folks out in fields. They want a...what you call it, 'neutral observer' to drive them to the meeting site," the man said.

"Why?" Marcus replied.

"Cause, for some reason, they don't trust us."

"Gee, can't imagine why," Maya muttered.

"And you couldn't have just...asked us over the radio?" Marcus asked.

"Job wanted a...personal touch," the man replied.

And a chance to spy on us, Marcus thought. He sighed. "Fine, when and where?"

The man reached into his back pocket and passed Marcus a paper. "Here's all the details. Thanks for the help. You folks be careful now, it'd be a real shame if something happened to this beautiful church..." he said, turning and leaving.

They all silently watched him go.