School run write book run read work school eat run sleep write book homework run school homework run breathe...write the next chapter for Wide Awake.

Ah, at last. Something I can see results for immediately.

I've been a little busy lately.

I'm going to try to update more often, but I'm not making any guarantees, here. I'm hoping for the best, but I'm sort of struggling to keep my head above water at this point.

I hope you guys understand.

Anyways, here's the next chapter. Thanks for sticking with it this far, and I hope you continue to do so until it's finished.

Because it WILL be finished. I can guarantee that.

Enjoy.

Wide Awake

Chapter Eight

February 5, 2013

The next morning, Danny woke up to Valerie just inches from his face. "Wake up." She hissed. The bits of sky he could see around her wild mane were still dark.

"Wha-?" He groaned in his still-half-asleep state.

"We need to get a game plan together, get up." She said with a bit more force. And suddenly, awareness of where he was and who he was with came flooding back and all traces of sleep vanished from his body. He sat up as quickly as a whip, nearly smacking his head into Valerie's in his sudden movement. She muttered a few curse words at him, but quickly turned on her heel and started off in the opposite direction of the house. Danny was on her heels almost instantly.

"What do you mean, a game plan?" He asked as they plowed along, his voice a bit louder with the distance they had between themselves and the rest of the group.

"You're gonna be staying with us. Right?" Valerie asked, tossing a curious glance over her shoulder.

"I was planning on it," Danny said dryly.

Valerie nodded once, apparently not in the mood for jokes. "We told Tucker and Sam that your name is Seth. Eventually, and we're gonna ease them into this gently, since throwing it in their faces didn't go so well for either of us, they're gonna figure out who you really are. Until then, we need everyone else in the camp to believe that your name is Seth and that you come from Wisconsin. Now, it's not often we take on a new member. Theo and Kee were the last two we brought into the group, and that was six months ago when we were passing through Texarkana. It's a city," Valerie shook her head at Danny's incredulous look. "Now, Seth." She stopped short suddenly, whirling around to face him. They were on the edge of the forest, fifty yards out from where the rest of the group was still sleeping. The sky was turning a strange, muddy grey color. "What's your last name?"

"Um..."

"Too slow. Danny, what's your last name?"

"Fenton."

"Seth, what's your last name?"

"Alexander."

Valerie raised a single eyebrow. "Nice. Alright, Seth Alexander, where do you come from?"

"Wisconsin."

"Really? Me too! What city?"

"Um..."

"Too slow. Danny, what city -?"

"Amity Park, I don't know any cities in Wisconsin! I wasn't good at geometry!"

"It's not...I think you mean...geography. It's geography. Geometry is math, the shapes and stuff, remember? You're...wow. Okay. Just say you're from Milwaukee. Okay?"

"Is that in Wisconsin?"

"That's the capital of Wisconsin. Were you dropped on your head as a child?" She was pinching the bridge of her nose, but her shoulders were shaking as if she was suppressing a laugh. "Say you're from Milwaukee and leave it at that. If anyone starts pressing, tell them you really hated it there and you'd rather not talk about it. Okay?"

"Okay."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"When's your birthday?"

"April nineteenth."

Her eyes narrowed. "Really?"

"...okay, that's Danny's birthday."

"August fourth. Seth's birthday is August fourth."

They went on like that for another ten minutes, before Danny created an entire back story for Seth. He would tell people he came from a large family, three brothers and four sisters. He was the third one born, the second son of the family. By the time they were picking their way back toward the rest of the cots, the sky was considerably lighter, and about a third of the group was awake and stretching. A few of them had already caught sight of Valerie and Danny heading back toward them, eyeing the couple curiously. Danny watched a few of them lean into each other and murmur to each other, and suddenly he felt very self-conscious. He could not even remember the last time he had a shower.

"Guys," Valerie called when they were within earshot. They straightened immediately, all eyes bright and alert and trained on Valerie's face. She paused, allowing the people who were still sleeping to wake up, and when at last they were all semi-awake and appeared to be paying attention, she spoke again. "Some of you may have noticed that we have a new face here with us. He's gonna be permanent, okay? His name is Seth. I want you guys to make him feel welcome. That means no inquisitions. Got it?"

There was a general murmur of agreement from the crowd, all of whom were now eyeing Danny with open curiosity. Valerie clapped, bringing their attention back to herself. "Alright. Today's gonna go on as usual. I want everyone on their chores, okay? Done by sundown. As usual. Let's go." She stood for a moment, watching the group stretch and grumble as they moved out toward the ranch, before turning to Danny. "I'm not going to ask you to join them today, since it's technically still your first day with us, so you'll be with me all day today."

"What was all that training for, then?" Danny asked in exasperation as they made their way back toward the main house.

"You're not gonna stay with me forever! Just for today. Eventually they'll ask those questions, and it's important for you to know the answers. Understand?"

Danny rolled his eyes, but held his tongue. They were quiet for a moment. "What are we gonna be doing all day today?" He asked, suddenly feeling rather nervous.

"Nothing terrible. Mostly sitting inside and mapping out the next raid. We have to focus on areas that were densely populated, away from Lars. We've hit most of the surrounding areas, so now we've resorted to bussing the team out to neighboring communities and getting food from there."

"Bussing?" Danny asked incredulously.

"Yeah. We found an old school bus a while back, and that's what we use to move the group to and fro. Of course, since we landed here, we don't need it for everyone anymore. The recon team uses it for exactly what I just described to you." He could tell she was resisting a powerful urge to be condescending toward him, and he appreciated her patience, regardless of how forced it was. "I usually plan it out ahead of time, so that we'll have a game plan for when we head out that night."

"They're going out tonight?"

"We're going out tonight," Valerie corrected. "You're coming too. You can stay on the bus, if you want, but I have a feeling you're going to want to be there. Am I right?" Danny nodded, holding the front door of the house open for Valerie, who nodded graciously and slipped past him. "I figured. Tucker and Sam go too, they're scary good at it. Day-to-day chores, not so much, but the whole fighting and gathering food and supplies and stuff...they're really good at it."

"Have you seen them at all today?" Danny asked, trodding quietly through the living room and into the dining room.

"Well Tucker and I...uh...talked last night, and we're okay again. Sam didn't seem particularly upset at all when I got back in, but then again I was so focused on dodging Tucker's punches that I can't be sure. She didn't come tell me that she was mad, anyways."

"But would she come tell you?"

"Yes. We have a 100% no-bullshit policy around here. We can't afford to get pissed at each other, and we definitely can't afford to hold grudges. Things are different now. No one really fights anymore, not with the threat of zombies on our heads. It's just impractical. We hash things out, right there on the spot. It works a lot better than being idiots."

"I can imagine." Danny murmured. He had his back toward Valerie's bedroom door, facing the other, older door. Small, muffled sounds were just starting to reach him through the old, cracked wood, sounds similar to those of a waking young woman. Valerie, meanwhile, was rummaging through an old armoire shoved against the wall between the second bedroom door and the doorway to the kitchen. She pulled several tattered, wrinkled papers from the depths of the upper right-hand drawer, waving them in triumph as she pulled out a red Sharpie. She slapped them down on the table and took the seat at the head of the table, on Danny's left.

"Okay," She sighed, drawing herself closer to the table and seizing one of the papers, which Danny could now see were all maps. "Last week we hit the west end of Bosque county, where all the gas stations and grocery stores are. That's here." She pointed to an area that had been circled and crossed out. "But I know there were a shit-ton of hoity-toity Dallas folks who thought they were cowboys on the east end, here, who probably had their places stocked with food and ammunition, which is exactly what we need. We could hit a few of those ranches and -"

The sound of the second bedroom door creaking open interrupted her sentence. They both looked up to see Sam rubbing her eyes groggily in the doorway, mid-yawn. Danny felt his heart quite literally leap into his throat, cutting off his breathing. She was wearing one of his old shirts, which was so large on her tiny frame it draped down to her mid-thigh. Her jaw snapped shut rather quickly, her lips pulled into a tired grin as she stepped further into the dining room. "You guys planning?" She asked, her voice still thick with sleep.

"Yeah," Valerie gestured toward the empty seat directly across from Danny. Sam met his gaze and for a moment the earth stood still again as they stared at each other, before the faintest blush graced her cheeks, her eyes dropped to the table, and she dropped into her seat. "I was just saying that we should hit the ranches on the east end of Bosque county, since all those rich Dallas folks who wanted to be the living reenactment of that stupid television show, Dallas, lived. Their places are probably ridiculously stocked."

Sam was shaking her head slowly, her eyes full of apprehension. "Tuck and I think there's a nest over there. We didn't get close enough to investigate, because there were literally hundreds of them and if they caught our scent we would have been dead in seconds, but last time we were out there, they all seemed to be moving toward the east end. It's too risky and the possible reward is too small."

"What are we supposed to do, then? The next county that we haven't hit is ten miles away through zackland and the bus would never make it through there in one piece."

"Maybe it's time we consider moving," Sam said gently.

Valerie let the Sharpie fall from her fingers with a clatter. "Moving?" She repeated, her mouth turned in a snarl. "And where do you suggest we go?"

"They can't climb, maybe we could find a ski resort in the mountains in Colorado or something!" Sam said earnestly. "Who knows, maybe there are other survivors there!"

"We need to operate as if we are the last survivors, Sam. We've talked about this a million times. We need to assume that every other human being in the entire world has been reduced to a rotting, flesh-eating monster, and that we are the last hope for humanity. Moving this entire operation hundreds of miles into the mountains just for the possibility of there being other survivors there is stupid. What if the zacks there have learned how to climb? Hm?" Sam turned her gaze to the table, her defeat evident in her slumped shoulders. "And you were just talking about the risk being too high for a reward that isn't even guaranteed. It's too risky. We can't move everyone out there without knowing for sure that it would be worth it."

The silence that followed was thick. Danny was afraid to breathe. He glanced between the two women nervously, Valerie looking slightly agitated and Sam looking utterly defeated. He could tell she had been working on that proposal for a while now, and that the conversation had not gone at all like she originally planned. He felt an urge to comfort her, before realizing that he had no idea how.

The silence was broken by a great, thundering crash from somewhere outside. Each head snapped toward the kitchen, where Danny was just able to see through the back door. A few people seemed to be running toward the house, shouting at whatever emergency just unravelled.

"I'll be right back," Valerie muttered as she pushed back from the table and skirted around the table. Before Danny could even blink, the backdoor was slamming shut and Valerie's muffled shouts could be heard in the distance.

Suddenly, he was very aware that he was alone with Sam.

She was watching him closely, her face a mask of some undefinable emotion. He wanted to squirm under her gaze, but he forced himself to remain still and endure her scrutiny. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she spoke.

"You said your name was Seth, right?" She asked quietly. He nodded. "Seth...?"

"Alexander." He said quickly. She nibbled her lower lip.

"Seth Alexander." She said softly. Danny swallowed. "I'm sorry about what happened last night, it's just...you look a lot like someone Tucker and I lost the night the plague hit our hometown."

"It's okay," Danny practically choked on the desire to tell her the truth. "I understand. It happens."

She smiled. "You even kind of sound like him," She said softly, her eyes sliding out of focus. "Your voice is a little deeper than I remember his being, but...it's pretty much the same."

Danny remained perfectly still, internally battling with himself as he watched her daydream. He wondered if she did this every time something reminded her of him, or if anything reminded her of him anymore. "Things would be a lot different around here if he was still around, that's for sure," She said, apparently snapping out of her reverie.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" He asked carefully.

She glanced up at him, that undefinable emotion flashing in her eyes again. "He was just...he was very protective. He had a hero complex, but he was really good at...ah...helping people, I guess you could say. He was kind of like the town's superhero," A little knowing smile turned the corners of her mouth up. "Everyone loved him, and he loved everyone."

"He sounds like a good guy," He said, unsure of what to do with himself.

Her eyes snapped up. "'Good guy?'" She said incredulously. "No. He was a great guy. He was the best guy I knew. Best guy I've ever known, to date. If he had been around when Lars was here...Lars would be dead right now, that's for sure."

He felt a ripple of fury wash through him as that story came flooding back to his memories, but he pushed them away, allowing the ridiculous sense of pride over Sam's compliments drown it out. She was staring at the table again, shaking her head slowly, obviously spaced out again. "I miss him so much," she murmured.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Danny said gently. He wished he was brave enough to reach across the table to touch her shoulder consolingly, but he kept his hands firmly clasped together beneath his side of the table. She was looking at him again, her mouth open and her eyes lit with a question, when Valerie's bedroom door suddenly swung open. Danny could feel the rush of air push his hair aside as it opened, and just as he turned to find Tucker stretching in the doorway, Tucker's eyes landed on the table where Danny and Sam were alone.

Immediately, Tucker's pupils dilated and his nostrils flared. His jaw was clenched, a muscle somewhere in his cheek jumping spastically, as a wave of righteous anger washed through him. Danny could feel himself shrinking in his seat.

"Tucker," Sam's voice was sharp, ringing in warning.

Tucker seemed to physically relax, at least partially, though his eyes were still ablaze and trained on Danny. "Don't." Sam said.

"I'm not doing anything." Tucker said defiantly. "I'm just looking at the new kid."

Danny turned back in his seat, keeping his eyes trained on the table. He felt Tucker yank the chair to his right out from the table, and felt a sudden rise in heat as he sat down beside him. "What's your name again?"

"Seth Alexander."

"And where are you from?"

"Wisconsin."

"City?"

"Milwaukee." Danny swallowed.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"When's your birthday?"

"August fourth."

"What year?"

"Tucker!" Sam interrupted. Danny glanced up to see her staring at Tucker, her eyes shining in outrage. "Leave him alone!"

"What, he your new boyfriend?" Tucker sneered. "Yeah, good idea, date the first new male that shows up, the last one went real well for you and the rest of the crew."

"My relationship with Lars was none of your business." Sam snapped. "You shut the hell up about stuff you don't know about."

Tucker's mouth was open for a retort when the back door banged open and Valerie suddenly appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Guys, we need some help, Simon blew a tire out on one of the Gators while hauling firewood and it crashed into the windmill. Seth, just hang out here for a minute, I'll be right back in. Tuck, Sam?"

Tucker and Sam stood without another word and exited the room, leaving Danny alone, still reeling over their fight.

Thanks for reading!

Keep an eye on it.

- Tori