The next two days passed slowly, painfully.
Everyone awoke the next day around noon. Outside, it was gray and rainy and unchanged from the previous night. One of the first real discoveries that was made, as they set about cleaning out and straightening up the truck stop, making it their home, was that the bathroom attached to the bedroom worked.
They learned that the truck stop had its own supply of water and its own filtration system. It wasn't perfect, it wouldn't last forever, but the tanks were buried in the ground beneath the truck stop and they were enormous and almost full. More importantly, the water was clean. They also didn't rely on electricity, but rather used natural gas to heat them. All they had to do was relight the pilot light. At that point, everything stopped.
Every single person took a nice, long, hot shower in the two shower stalls. Although it was later decided that you got half an hour shower time for each week, to be divided up at the user's leisure, everyone was allowed to shower for at least half an hour. Everyone washed up, taking their first real showers in a month. Everyone then changed into new clothes and then decided they needed to have a group meal together.
They gathered in the L-shaped room, which looked like it had been an area to eat and make food in, as one part of it was dedicated to counters, a sink, dishwasher, stove and fridge. There was nothing of much real use in the kitchen area, but they broke out what food they had between them and everyone sat down together and ate. The conversation was slow at first, but eventually Lily and Jacob started relaying a story of a crazy fight they once got into over who got to watch TV, during which they started wrestling over the remote, which resulted in several broken dishes, a broken coffee table and the neighbors calling the police.
That seemed to get things going. Marcus talked about the time he very nearly got caught skinny dipping in a rich neighborhood while he was in high school. Karen even talked about the time she'd very nearly got caught screwing in her high school bathroom. They all told stories from their past about the stupid shit they did.
When they were finished, Marcus noticed something. It was almost imperceptible. The showers, the meal, the new place...it didn't make what happened right, it didn't cure their depression, their horror, their anxiety...but it was a step in the right direction. Possibly most importantly, it was the first step on the path to recovery.
To happiness.
After the meal, everyone moved with a bit more sense of purpose. In the L-Shaped room, they cleaned and straightened up and found another radio rig with a store of industrial batteries that Lily could use to reach out over the airwaves once more, as she had grown so fond of doing. On the wall, Marcus pinned his copy of the valley map that he'd been updating with black xs, to replace the one that had been lost in the fire.
The smaller bedroom, it was decided, would belong to the couples, for the sake of sanity. They would switch out every night. Marcus and Maya would get the first night, Lily and Ed the second, Logan and Daisy the third, and this pattern would repeat. The main bedroom already had four beds in it, which became six uncomfortably close cots when they took the two extras out of the smaller bedroom. They made plans to set up a second sleeping area in the main room and also try to find some bunk beds, since they'd worked so well in the past.
They decided that the open-faced room next to the machine shop, overlooking the primary repair bays, would serve excellently as an infirmary. While Marcus, Lily and Jacob set to work on getting it cleared out and set up, Maya, Ed, Logan, Daisy and Karen began gathering materials and starting construction on what would be their new watchtower, to be set up just to the left of the main entryway in the fence.
Work proceeded fairly smoothly.
The first day came to a close. The infirmary, bedrooms and Lily's workstation had all been set up. Everyone went to sleep, with Ed and Karen agreeing to take night watch in shifts. When the second day came, it was just as gray and rainy as before, but Marcus noticed that everyone moved with a certain energy that hadn't quite been there the first day. Everyone worked, more or less without serious breaks, for thirteen solid hours.
They managed to find enough wood and barrels to construct a reasonably solid watchtower. When that was done, under Jacob's watchful gaze, they started to repair the immense bulk of the semi trailer taking up precious space in the main repair room. They managed to get the wheels on it and fix the engine enough to drive it out into the street and a little ways down, so that it was out of the way. Marcus lamented that there hadn't been anything of value in the trailer itself, but that was life sometimes.
After that, the rest of the day was spent cleaning out and organizing the repair bays and laying the groundwork for the second bedroom area, as well as a more permanent dining section, of which the repair bay room had more than enough space for. Then they preformed a thorough inventory of all their food, water, guns, ammo, medical supplies and anything else they might need. There had been some of that stuff stashed away in their new home, but not much. By the time the inventorying was finished, it was nightfall.
Everyone went to bed. Jacob tried to offer to stay up for night watch, but Lily made him go to sleep, since his wounds were still healing, and would be for some time. She and Logan took the night watch that night.
Marcus and Maya got the private bedroom, and made good use of it.
Marcus opened his eyes.
The back of Maya's head, her dark hair a mess, came into focus. He felt a strange mixture of emotions as he came awake. Regret that he couldn't sleep longer, almost overwhelming happiness at waking up next to Maya, the pain and depression of loss, the eagerness to get the day started, as there was so much to do...
That's what decided him.
He shifted and began the process of getting up. As soon as he did, Maya woke up as well. "Hey handsome," she said, then yawned, then covered her mouth. "Ugh, god, sorry. I'm sure I've got bad morning breath."
"It's fine, beautiful," he replied, kissing her on the forehead.
"Oh wow, we are so lame," she said. "I know I'm stupid for you because I don't actually feel embarrassed about it."
"Well, I'm stupid for you, too," Marcus replied.
They got up out of bed and gathered up a fresh set of clothes, of which there had been a fair stash and half-decent assortment of scattered across the two bedrooms. They crossed the hall into the other bedroom, where a few people were still in the process of getting up. A glance outside told Marcus that it was probably around nine or so in the morning. A fine time to wake up, though he would have liked to be up a little earlier than that.
They made sure the bathroom was empty, then locked the door and put it to use, each of them using up five minutes of their allotted weekly half an hour as they showered together. Marcus was genuinely tempted to throw caution to the wind and use more time for sex with Maya, because she looked ridiculously hot naked and wet, but he managed to control himself and they finished up, toweled off and dressed.
After brushing their teeth, the two headed out and began rousing the others to get ready, since they had another long day ahead of them. While they were getting up, Marcus and Maya went out into the main room and found Lily at her desk, happy as a clam, talking with someone over the radio. The pair raided the kitchen area for a couple of bottles of apple juice and some breakfast bars, then joined Lily at her communications suite.
"What's up? We got new neighbors?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah. Well, sort of," Lily replied. She quickly finished up her conversation in the radio, then stood and moved to the map that Marcus had set up. She pointed. "There's a group of survivors set up just outside of town, in another truck stop like ours, only bigger, with more buildings. They call it the Grange. They seem nice enough but...they keep telling us about our other neighbors," Lily said, pursing her lips, sounding less than thrilled.
"What about them?" Maya asked.
She pointed again. This time, to the other section of Marshall. From what Marcus could see, the city of Marshall was organized into roughly a large, oddly shaped rectangle. And it was cut down the middle by a river and a couple of bridges. The truck stop they were currently making their home resided to the far left of the city, and where Lily was pointing, the courthouse apparently, was to the middle-right, on the opposite side of the river.
"Judge Lawton," Lily said. "I'm not entirely sure what the story is, but she and what remains of the police force, including the county sheriff, have set up their own little society in the courthouse. They want everyone to come to them, but they keep asking people to stop 'looting' and give up their guns. She's nuts. Becca, that's the girl that I'm talking to over on the Grange, she keeps warning us that they're going to try and make us join them. But I haven't heard anything from any cops so far...it kind of makes nervous, though, you know?"
"I know exactly what you mean," Maya replied. "Never did get along with cops."
"You're in the Army," Marcus pointed out.
"Exactly. Cops will mostly leave you alone if you're in the service. Mostly. I used to get hassled all the fucking time just for being a Mexican chick," Maya replied, clearly frustrated.
"Is that all of them?" Marcus asked. "Our neighbors?"
"Yeah. Just those two and Alice Miller and her crew, out in the farmlands," Lily replied.
"What about Doc Hanson?" Maya asked suddenly. "I haven't heard from him at all in a little while now."
"Oh! Yeah, I talked with him earlier today. He's been staying at Alice Miller's farm recently, considering, well, there's no one left in Spencer's Mill," Lily replied.
Marcus studied the map. A huge portion of it, the whole middle basically, was just farmland. Lots of shacks and sheds and barns and farmhouses out there. Big potential for food, and guns, and, well, lots of stuff really. He imagined that Alice Miller and her people had been scavenging there, and so had Ben and his enclave...until they were murdered by the Wilkersons and been robbed...who had in turn been killed by him and Maya, so any potential supplies that might be recovered was gone. Marcus turned away from that thought.
They'd have to start scavenging the farmlands as well as Marshall.
"What about Fairfield?" he asked.
"Far as I can tell, that's military ground zero," Lily replied, sitting back down. "They have the place locked down tight. Only way in is across a pair of bridges and, on top of that, Fairfield is the only comfortable way out of the valley."
"Fantastic. I guess we'll just focus on Marshall and the farmlands for now," Marcus replied.
He and Maya quickly discussed what they should tackle for the day, then went and gathered everyone in the radio room, save for Maya, who went to take over watchtower duty. Marcus felt strange as he addressed everyone. He was in charge now, him and Maya. The events of the past few days had kind of solidified that idea, in his mind and, he imagined, in everyone else's. It was a strange thing, to be in charge.
Not particularly a good thing, either.
He started off by giving the stated goals of the day. The first one was that they needed to start sealing off all of the non-essential entrances to the building, to make it less easy for zombies or...anyone else, to get inside, and that included both of the huge, garage-style doors in the bay, as well as any and all windows, of which there were surprisingly few. He also said that they needed to start searching the nearest buildings, which consisted of a pair of industrial supply warehouses, a mini-mart, a gas station and a Swine & Bovine.
He warned them about the cops and Judge Lawton, and when he mentioned the farmlands, Karen spoke up. "I want to search the farmlands," she said, her voice quiet but firm. She saw Marcus hesitating at the idea. "I can find another truck on my own, I won't take too much with me. If something goes wrong, you won't lose much."
"Karen..." Marcus began, hesitating further.
"Marcus, please. I need this," she said softly.
Marcus sighed. "Okay, fine. Just...stay in radio contact, update Lily every fifteen minutes," he replied.
"Okay."
He wasn't sure how to feel about it, and he was positive Maya wouldn't like it, but he had an idea that she was right. Good or ill, Karen needed this. Needed to be alone, to sort out the tragedy of loss that her life had become. Not only had she lost her lover, but also her new best friend, Danica. To suicide. The miserable medic had killed herself in front of them all. Marcus wrapped up the meeting and then asked Ed to come outside with him.
They walked out front, into the morning sun.
"You know, it just hit me," Ed said as they stood on a concrete loading dock.
"What?" Marcus replied.
"It's only August now...that's crazy. I mean, it was July when all this started and now it's August. We've been at this for weeks now. Close to a month...I think. I'm not sure, actually. It's really hard to tell time, but I realize that it must be sometime in August. It feels like it should be...I don't know, November, at least."
"I know exactly what you mean. Feels like it's been months," Marcus agreed.
"So, what'd you need me for?"
"Something...a bit grim."
"Oh, what is it?"
"I want to go back to the church, bury the dead and see if anything survived. Give how stretched thin we, one person is all I think I can take with me."
"Ha, and you wanted me to help you bury dead bodies?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, I guess so...and besides, you did volunteer us for the running of the bulls..."
"You can't keep using that!" Ed replied. He sighed. "Okay, let's get it over with."
They set off.
After updating Maya on everything, the pair of them got into the red jeep they still had and drove out of Marshall, along the winding road that ran a ring around the middle farmlands, and into Spencer's Mill.
"How are things with you and Lily?" Marcus asked as they drove.
"Great, actually. I mean, aside from the whole...three of our friends just died and our home burned down thing," Ed replied. "We've been spending a lot of time together. As much as we can. She's really cool. She also makes me really glad I had that vasectomy."
Marcus laughed. "Wow, come on man. Too much info."
"Oh yeah, how are you and Maya handling it? I can't imagine you've come across some abundance of condoms or birth control."
"No, Maya has that birth control implant," Marcus replied.
"I see. What about you and her? Going good?"
"Yeah. Great, actually. We're pretty stupid over each other. I've been thinking that it's kind of ridiculous that it took a fucking zombie apocalypse for me to find the perfect woman."
"She's perfect?" Ed asked.
"Well, you know, she's got flaws, I guess, but she's perfect in that I don't care. She makes me happy and I just feel so...connected with her."
"I know how you feel. Me and Lily are like that, too."
They both fell silent as they pulled onto the dirt road that led up to the church. They drove into the empty lot. Marcus killed the engine and they simply sat there for the moment. From where he was parked, he could just see Sam's body. Danica's too. They'd left them there in their hurry to escape the fire and abandon Spencer's Mill.
"Come on," Marcus said quietly. "Let's do this."
It took close to an hour, but they did the task, grizzly as it was. They found a pair of gloves in the back and used them to carry Sam's and Danica's bodies to the back lot, where Pastor Will was buried. A pair of shovels had survived, mostly unscathed by the fire, so they set to work on the miserable task and buried the two bodies. Then, as they were searching through the burned wreckage, they found Anson's charred remains and did their best to bury him, as well. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything of use in what was left of the church.
Before heading back, they stopped by the Tartan Mart to see if they'd missed anything there during that fateful night and did discover a backpack of food and water stashed away beneath the cash register. Marcus took it, put it in the back and then started up the engine once more. Silent and contemplative, the pair headed back to Marshall.