Marcus sighed quietly to himself.

He didn't like this...but he liked the alternative even less. He also thought that it wasn't right that he had to be in such a bad mood on the day after he finally had gotten together with, if he was being honest with himself, the woman of his dreams. It was something he honestly hadn't even realized until he'd started thinking about it as he pulled out of the gravel parking lot of the church, but Maya was...everything he wanted in a woman. Smart, strong, independent. She didn't seem like she'd bullshit him with things like being overly clingy and jealousy. She was extremely attractive, she could look after herself, she clearly had a lot of willpower.

Was he in love?

Marcus shook his head and focused on driving. Too soon to tell about that. Or was it? Wasn't love supposed to come on really fast and strong? He heaved another sigh and stopped thinking about it. Maya was back at the church, keeping an eye out. Marcus was driving, alone, through the wasteland that had been Spencer's Mill. It looked more desolate than ever. There were more and more zombies cropping up and Marcus supposed that made sense. It was just the church group and the trio down in the Tartan Mart now.

Thoughts and worries of the future drifted through Marcus' mind. He got the feeling that things were going to come to a head soon, somehow, someway, they'd have to make some kind of decision. And those points in time, like nodes, could go either way, it seemed. But the dwindling resources and population of Spencer's Mill wasn't even the most obvious problem. Neither were the zombies. No, it was the Wilkersons.

How to deal with them?

Marcus couldn't help but feel that they were evil men and they were pretty much always looking for a way to stick a knife in your back. If you weren't with them, you were against them kind of mentality. How to deal with that kind of problem? He supposed the only real way was to do what he was doing now: watch your own ass and try to protect the people who wouldn't listen to reason. Like the people he was going to escort right now. They were Ben and his enclave, the man he'd rescued from the Wilkersons earlier, trading some of their own ammo for the man's life. Ben hadn't wanted to join up with the church group.

Perhaps Marcus could change his mind.

He came out of town and drove along the winding road until he came to the farm he was looking for. Three figures were waiting for him in front of the house. As Marcus pulled up, one of them broke away and walked up to the driver's side.

"So...they sent you? I didn't really peg you as one of the bad guys," the man, who Marcus recognized as Ben, said.

"Wait...what?" Marcus replied.

"I told the Wilkersons that we wouldn't do this deal without a neutral witness...and I also figured that they'd send someone to pretend to be one."

"I'm not a bad guy. I'm not doing this for them, I'm doing this for you. Also, I'm not neutral. I'm for you, I'm here to protect to you, to make sure the Wilkersons don't try to rip you off. That's the only reason I even agreed to this," Marcus replied.

Ben stared at him for a moment, then his features softened. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just...it's been a really hard couple of days. We've been fighting a lot of zombies off recently and we're low on ammo. It's the main reason we're even doing this."

"Why didn't you come to me? To us? We would have traded fairly with you. Also, the invitation to come stay at the church is still open..."

Ben seemed to consider all this. He glanced back at the others. "Well...we're kind of stuck in this deal right now, and it's a good one, actually, really good, which made me kind of suspicious, which is why I insisted on a driver. But after this deal, well...how about I come over for a visit tomorrow and we have an in-depth discussion?"

"That sounds like a plan," Marcus said, smiling.

Ben nodded and called one of the others over, a tanned, angry looking woman in her mid twenties. She had short blonde hair and wore a black t-shirt and ripped jeans. "This is Paula. That over there is Bill. It's his farm. Paula's coming along."

She just nodded to Marcus as she climbed into the back. Ben jogged back over to Bill, exchanged a few words and grabbed a bulky backpack. He hurried back over to the car Marcus was driving, tossed the backpack in the back seat and then got into the passenger's seat. Marcus waved to Bill, then pulled out onto the road.

They were heading for a little collection of buildings that was kind of like a little tourist trap. He'd heard of the place but never been: a small group of houses, a gas station and a store all built around a big metal dinosaur. They drove the way there mostly in silence. The trip didn't take too long. Marcus pulled in through a pair of open gates, built into the large, wooden wall that surrounded the place. Marcus began thinking about setting this place up as some kind of big outpost...until he saw the wooden wall was only on the front, not the sides.

The Wilkersons and one of their guys waited with a pair of pickup trucks. They all had guns of some kind, though not necessarily pointed at Marcus and his passengers. All three of them got out of the truck.

"Thanks for the escort," Job Wilkerson said, standing up from where he'd been leaning casually against his truck. He held an assault rifle. "You can go now."

"I think I'll stay...they'll need a ride back," Marcus replied, just as casually.

"We can drive them back," Job replied.

"No, I can do it," Marcus said.

Job lost all of his casual amicable attitude. Silence fell. A cold wind blew. Job hawked and spat. "You were smart, boy, you'd head on home now."

"Guess I'm none to bright," Marcus replied.

Job was openly scowling now. He stared hard at Marcus, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers towards his guy, the one Marcus didn't recognize. The man hefted the two rucksacks and walked slowly over to the car. He dropped them on the ground. They landed with heavy sounds. Ben stepped forward and passed the pack to the man. He took it, checked it, called that it was good and walked back to the brothers.

Marcus nodded to Ben to check the bags. He did, kneeling and unzipping them. He pawed through them for a moment. Marcus spied tons of guns and ammo. Something wasn't right. All these bullets and guns for a backpack of food? No wonder Ben had been suspicious. But it at least looked good. Marcus helped him get the bags into the car and he backed out and hit the road as quickly as he could, glancing into the rearview mirror periodically, expecting to see the two trucks burst out of the walled area, coming after them.

The trucks did come out a moment later, but going the opposite direction, back towards the Wilkerson farm. Marcus wanted to feel like he'd just dodged a bullet but he just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He drove back to Ben's farm and dropped him and Paula off. "Thanks," Ben said. "I really appreciate the help."

"Your welcome and...be careful. Maybe I'm just paranoid but...I dunno, I got a bad feeling about all this," Marcus replied.

"I'll keep an eye out, and I'll give you a call tomorrow. We can set up that meeting."

"Glad to hear it."

Marcus watched them go into their farmhouse, lingered uncertainly for a little bit longer, then threw his vehicle into drive and headed back home.

When Marcus walked through the iron gates, Maya was waiting for him.

"Hey," he said, walking up to her and kissing her.

She smiled and kissed him back. "Hey you," she replied. "So...how did it go?"

"Eh...good, I guess. I'm nervous though. The deal was way too good and Job wanted me to leave. He got really pissed when I didn't. I keep thinking something is going to happen, but I don't honestly know what."

Maya scowled. "Wonderful..."

They lingered there a moment longer. "So...something on your mind?" Marcus asked.

"Huh? Oh! Yes. I almost forgot. I'm worried about Karen. She hasn't really left the church yet and I think it's affecting her confidence. She's actually done really well, all things considered. She takes orders well, she never argues, she hasn't had one drink as far as I know, though she claimed to be an alcoholic before all this. She's adapted well but I think she needs one last push to really...come into herself, you know?"

"I'm surprised you didn't take her out shooting or something," Marcus replied.

"Well, I would, I just..." Maya hesitated.

"You don't want to leave this place undefended, huh?"

"No, I don't. Heh. Guess Jacob was right...we are kind of the de facto leaders. Not sure how I feel about that, but if it gets the job done..."

"Just so long as we don't become dictators...all right. I noticed that the trailer park across the way hadn't been checked off the list yet."

Maya nodded and her features darkened slightly. "Yeah...getting to be a really short list. Still figuring out how exactly we should deal with that..."

"If it helps, I talked those three in the farmhouse to come have a sit down with us tomorrow, maybe see about pooling resources."

"Really?! Great! That's a step in the right direction at least. Maybe we should have a formal meeting tomorrow."

"Sounds good. I'll go find Karen."

Maya nodded, kissed him once more, wished him luck and then they parted ways. Marcus made his way slowly through the settlement that he and the others had been building. It was nice to feel like he was part of a community. To actually feel like he was part of a community, and not in that vague, feel-good way huge cities like to say. However nice it was to pick up some trash on the highway, rebuild a house or clean up a park, you were still just one in a hundred thousand...here, Marcus was one in less than a dozen.

Every single person's contribution made a noticeable impact on the little society they had going. It was a little stressful in the sense that they couldn't afford to have any slackers, but honestly he thought it was actually better this way, because everyone got to step up and do something that mattered, and ultimately it made them happier, more content with themselves and their lives. That was probably especially important given what was going on around them.

He found Karen in the basement, organizing the medical supplies. "Hey, Marcus," she said. It looked like she was finishing up. "What's up?"

"Well, I was getting ready to hit up that nearby trailer park, looking for supplies, and I wanted someone to go with me, watch my back," Marcus replied.

"Oh...was Maya busy?" Karen replied with a smirk.

Marcus rolled his eyes. "You gonna give me crap for getting together?" he asked, not unkindly.

Karen laughed and moved to join him. They walked up out of the basement together. "No way. I think it's very nice. The world is crap...especially now. You've got to find pleasure and happiness where you can. Like my favorite rapper once said, 'Eat, drink and be merry...for tomorrow you may die.' You know what I mean?"

"Your favorite rapper...wait, that's from Slacker, by Tech N9ne."

"You listened to him?!"

"Yeah. Definitely...shit, I hope he isn't dead. That'd suck if he was a zombie."

"Big time," Karen agreed.

Once they were both sure that they were armed and ready to make a scavenging run, the pair left the church, deciding to take the Jacob's blue pickup.

"So how are things around the church?" he asked as they drove.

"You don't know? You seem to know more about it than I do," Karen replied.

"I know the big stuff, but I'm out a lot and...as you pointed out, busy with Maya now. I can't keep track of all the details."

"Well, I'm not exactly a details person myself. Plus, I've been spending a lot of time with Anson. Although I've kind of...bonded with Danica. We were both drinkers and she's a little bit like the older sister I never had. She's doing better, I think, than she was before. She talks more and she's a lot less pale than when I first arrived. I was worried about her..."

"That's good! See, that's what I'm happy to hear. Everyone's important in our group, everyone's necessary," Marcus replied.

Karen sighed. "That's what worries me. I used to...well, kind of fade into the background, you know? It was easy, I guess. Not much pressure. My parents never really did anything with their lives and I don't think they cared too much what I do with mine. I don't want to say they were crappy parents or anything, they just...I think they cared more about themselves than anyone else. Including me. No one expected anything of me, and when they did, it made me nervous. I'm so scared of letting people down and now there's only like a hundred people left in the whole fucking valley and that makes everyone important..."

"And that scares you," Marcus replied quietly.

Karen nodded.

"I know it's scary, believe me, I get scared shitless a lot, but...even setting aside the fact that we need you to step up and get the job done, whatever the job might be, I think you should do it for yourself more than anyone else. I mean...yes, the community does come first now, we all have to work together to stay alive and all that, but that doesn't mean you lose your individuality. And, let me tell you, getting shit done feels good. I don't really know how else to describe it, but...okay, good example, when I was younger, and I first moved out on my own, I used to get so anxious and worked up over all sorts of little things.

"Like, for example, changing my address. I tried to do it online but something went wrong so I had to go to the actual post office to do it. It's like, super simple. All I had to do was go in and request a change of address form. But I kept putting it off, worried that I'd get lost on the way there or the way back, or that something would go wrong somehow once I got there...all sorts of weird worries. Eventually, after about a month, I did it, and it was easy. And I felt great when I did it. In fact, I liked the feeling so much, I just made that my policy to try and put aside my worries from then on and just...do what needed doing."

Karen laughed. "It's that easy, huh?" she asked.

"No. Not easy...but it is simple. I know all about not having much confidence, most everyone does, and I learned that generally, all you have to do is try. You'll fail, sure, but not as often as you think. And even when you do fail, you just try again."

"I'll keep it mind and...thanks. For talking with me. I'm used to everyone else kind of just passing me over. Well, when they aren't trying to sleep with me," Karen replied.

Marcus pulled into the small trailer park. There were about ten of the trailers set in two rows, one on either side, with a small gardening shed at the back. A few zombies milled about. Marcus and Karen got out.

They set to work.

Marcus leaned forward and placed an X over the trailer park. As he suspected, there hadn't been much there. Just a can of gas tucked away beneath a porch, some cans of food and bottles of water and a shotgun with a handful of shells. Everything else was either broken, spoiled or just stuff they really didn't have a use for. He and Karen had continued with their pleasant conversation until they'd gotten back to the church.

As Marcus straightened back up and replaced the sharpie, he frowned. There really were a ton of Xs. Actually...he leaned in and really studied it. There were only two places left that hadn't been searched. Two houses.

"Is this accurate?" he asked.

Lily, who was sitting at her radio, reading a book, glanced up. "Uh...yeah, far as I know. Why?" she replied.

"God, there's only two places left we haven't searched..."

"Sam and Danica are actually out right now doing just that. They should be back before too long," Lily replied. "But yeah, I know what you mean. Maya said we're going to have to have a meeting about what our next move is tomorrow."

"Looking forward to it," Marcus said.

"I suppose I am too. I'm just...nervous. I mean, I know some people want to move to Marshall but...what if we get attacked along the way or what if there's nothing there or there's too many zombies..." Lily replied.

"We'll be smart," Marcus replied. "We can send scouts, prep the next home site. Don't worry, we won't rush blindly into anything."

Lily smiled. "I guess that's true. I'm glad we have you and Maya."

"I'm honestly just glad that I have Maya," Marcus replied.

He yawned suddenly. It was evening now. They'd have dinner soon. In the meantime...Marcus set out to find Maya.

They had dinner. Time passed and night fell. Though they couldn't really find any place to be...private, he and Maya decided to share a bed. That was probably another big motivation to find a bigger, better place. Privacy. They had three couples here now. That would definitely add to the tension, Marcus imagined.

But he couldn't sleep.

He laid there in the starlight, (they were sleeping outside, in the tent they'd set up way back when), tossing and turning.

"Are you okay?" Maya asked.

"No," Marcus replied. He sat up suddenly. "I'm not." He stood.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to check on something."

"Let me come with you."

"Okay."

She followed him out of the tent and around the side of the church. They hurried up the front stairs into the main room. Marcus found Lily asleep with her feet up on her desk. He gently reached out and tapped her on the shoulder.

She shifted and came awake. "Huh? Oh...Marcus, Maya...what's up?" she asked, yawning and stretching.

"Would you do me a favor and get in touch with Ben's enclave?" Marcus asked.

Lily sat forward and began working her radio gear. "Yeah, sure. Any particular reason?"

"I dunno, just...worried," Marcus replied.

She nodded, found what she was looking for and started calling out to them. No one responded. Seconds went by, then minutes.

"I'm not getting anything," she said quietly.

Marcus sighed.

"They could be asleep..." Lily suggested.

"Something's wrong. I'm driving out there to check on them."

"I'll come with you," Maya said.

"Okay...be careful, guys."

"We will," Marcus promised.

He made sure to grab some extra bullets, then the two of them walked out of the church, across the courtyard and into the parking lot. They got into the jeep and pulled out, driving as quickly as they dared through the night. Marcus felt his pulse quickening. Neither him nor Maya spoke as they made their way out to the farm. They didn't pass anyone on the road save for a few wandering zombies. They managed to reach the farm without incident. As Marcus killed the engine, he kept the headlights on, looking for signs of trouble.

There were no lights of any kind on in the farmhouse, but that didn't mean anything. He stepped out, pistol at ready, and Maya joined him.

"Hello?" he called. "Anyone there?"

They waited a moment, but the silence remained, heavy and forbidding. With a sigh, Marcus pulled out a flashlight and flicked it on. "Come on, let's get this over with," he muttered.

Maya followed him up the porch. As soon as they approached the front door, they saw something was wrong. It was open, and, he realized, it had been kicked open. The lock was smashed. Marcus took a few cautious steps into the living room.

He swept his flashlight across it. "Holy shit..." he whispered.

"Good lord," Maya muttered. "You were right to be paranoid..."

"The Wilkerson's did this, I fucking know they did. That's why the deal was so good...they gave up like two huge rucksacks of ammo for a backpack of food...because they were just going to steal it all back!" Marcus snapped.

"Let's see if Ben and the others are still alive," Maya said.

They slowly searched the house.

They didn't find anything good.

They found Ben and Paula, both of them shot in the head, in one of the bedrooms. They found the other man, Bill, also dead, his chest a bloody ruin, in another bedroom. It was also obvious that the place had been ransacked. No food, no water, no guns or ammo. Everything of survival value had been stripped out and stolen.

Slowly, almost as if in a daze, Marcus and Maya went back to the jeep, started up the engine and started driving back home.

"We have do something about this," Maya said quietly. "We have to."

"We will," Marcus promised. "Tomorrow, we'll figure something out."