Their brief respite was interrupted as Jake and Shirley came into the room chatting excitedly about the new addition to their group. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude." Jake said as they quickly made their way from the room. Looking into the living room Lucas and Laura could see that the group was breaking up, Dakota still clinging to Joseph as he and Brenda talked excitedly all of her anger momentarily forgotten at the sight of the boy.

"I can't blame everyone for being both excited and nervous, Dakota is the first person we have found in months and everyone still remembers what happened the last time we let a stranger into the group." Laura remarked as she stared blankly out through the boards on the window into the growing darkness.

Of course Laura was referring to John Hilton; he had shown up at their little camp not too long after the shit hit the fan. They were all holed up in a little store on the outskirts of a small town of Newport when they had heard some noise coming from out in the street. It had been John taking out a few empties that had wondered into the area and at that point they were happy to see anyone with a pulse and had invited him into their group. At first he was a real asset to the group he had a lot of wilderness survival knowledge, good with his weapons both for hunting and killing the already dead and not a bad guy to talk to. About three weeks later they had woken up to find John gone along with most of their supplies and weapons and Louis dead, his throat slit while he had been on watch the night before and a note saying "Thanks for the supplies" pinned to his chest with a knife. Since that day they had lost five other people but had managed to avoid running into anyone else's for fear of what this world had turned them into in order to survive.

"Yeah but I am pretty sure that we don't have to worry about that happening with this one but I'll keep an eye on him just in case!" Lucas said with a smile and a wink trying to dissipate some of the tension the memories caused.

Playfully swatting at his head Laura laughed "You don't always have to such a smart ass you know!"

"But isn't that the reason you married me, well that and my stunning good looks." he shot back as he dodged out of the room to avoid getting smacked upside the head.

Lucas was still laughing to himself as he made his way upstairs to the bathroom. He knew that it would only be cold water out of a bucket but he was really looking forward to rinsing off from his trip and relaxing. He got to the bathroom and found the door ajar and it was dark inside so he pushed it the rest of the way open,

"What the hell man, can't you see this room is occupied?"

The voice belonged to Calvin one of their two resident love birds so it was no surprise that when Lucas turned around he saw Calvin and Ashley quickly rearranging their clothes and standing up.

"In the bathroom guys really? So romantic"

Still trying to straighten her shirt Ashley scowled at me "Screw you Lucas."

He laughed and slapped Calvin on the shoulder as he stepped out of the way so they could get out "Looks like someone already has you taken care of Ashley but thanks anyway!"

Finally, Lucas thought to himself as he lit the candles beside the sink he could rinse off and get some sleep. He began stripping off the layers of clothes and caught a whiff of just how badly he smelled it was one of the biggest issues Lucas had with this whole zombie apocalypse thing, no matter how many times he washed something once they got that smell in them there was no getting it out. Tossing his gore covered clothing in the basket in the corner Lucas gingerly dipped his hands into the basin of frigid water. Being as quick and efficient as he could be Lucas scrubbed his body to remove as much grime from himself as he could. After about fifteen minutes he finally felt clean or at least as clean as he was going to get so he tossed his towel in with the rest of the clothing, put on a clean pair of jeans and tee-shirt and headed to their room. He met Laura standing outside their room,

"Hey beautiful how would you like some company in bed tonight?" Lucas whispered as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

She laughed "Slow down mister, you already have some company for tonight." She slowly pushed the door open to reveal Corey lying curled up asleep on the bed with Treasure Island. "He has been waiting since you left the other day to find out what happens between Jim and Long John Silver. I tried to read him some last night but he refused to listen, said he was waiting for daddy to read it."

Lucas couldn't help but smile as he stepped into the room, barely large enough for the two beds that occupied it and the small night stand in between them. He lit the single solitary candle that resided on the table after checking to make sure the window was completely covered, and sat on the bed beside Corey. He gently shook him by the shoulder and said his name; Corey lifted his head and opened his eyes, his face brightening a little when he saw Lucas and he he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. Corey slid into the middle of the bed to allow both Laura and Lucas to lay on either side of him and handed Lucas the book. He opened it to the spot where they had left off as Corey smuggled up beside him, he was all of three pages into it when he looked over to see Corey's eyes closed and could hear the soft sound of his snoring.

"Looks like someone was tired." Laura whispered as Lucas placed the book on the table and rolled over to face her.

"That makes two of us." Lucas replied as he leaned over their sleeping son and gave Laura a kiss.

"Good night my love." he said as he wrapped my arm around both her and Corey, within seconds he was asleep dreaming of a better tomorrow