Edging my way to the side, I poked Shawn in the ribs when he tried to move with me, keeping himself between me and them. He took the hint after a second jab and I was finally able to get a clear view of the group of strangers.

No, I decided, we did not look like them. Despite the road dirt, myriad injuries in a variety of stages of healing, and weight loss that made our clothes just a little bit too big, you would never mistake anyone from our group as belonging to the others. These people looked like they were hanging on to life by sheer force of will alone.

Their tattered clothes were a uniform shade of filth and hung from nearly skeletal frames. But the worst part was the haunted look they all had, as if they knew that all hope was gone, and they were just waiting for the grim reaper to take them. Their despair was visible even at a distance.

I snapped out of my inspection when Marcus called to them.

"Hi! We're just passing through. Do you happen to know how far it is to the next town?"

A long silence followed. It got awkward as I glanced back and forth between Shawn and the strangers, and they seemed to whisper to each other for a few seconds. Finally, a man who seemed not much older than me shouted back.

"Is it just the four of you?"

Now it was our turn to answer, but no one wanted to. We looked at each other, shifting nervously, before Marcus finally called back, "Yeah. This is our whole group."

I felt a twinge at the reminder that our group was smaller than it should be.

"That dog doesn't bite, does it?"

I ignored the shouted question. Rex had bitten more than one person to protect his family, but I wasn't about to tell them that. They didn't need to know. Everyone else must have agreed with my sentiment because silence was the only answer they got.

Finally, the same guy who had shouted before spoke up again. "It's still quite a hike into town. You all are welcome to stop here for a rest if you need to," he glanced around at his own group as if checking for their agreement. A slow nod from the other man seemed to satisfy him and he looked back our way.

Sam and Marcus exchanged a silent look before Sam asked, "Is there any water nearby?"

"Yes," this time it was an older woman who spoke. "We have plenty of water. You're all welcome to some."

Frankly, I wasn't sold on the idea of joining this other group of people. But at hearing that the others had water, Marcus and Sam both began cautiously walking forward. I hadn't moved, and Shawn and Rex both stayed too. Then I looked down at the panting dog.

It had been too long since any of us had a drink. My tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of my mouth, my lips were cracking. It wasn't even that hot out, but the dog was panting. If we really did have a long walk before we would find water again, I didn't think that we had much of a choice but to accept the offer of something to drink.

Shawn managed to put himself in front of me again as we walked to where everyone else was standing and nervously staring at each other. Rex growled at the strangers, causing one of the men to look at him speculatively. Putting out a hand, I shushed the dog.

"This is Shawn and Bri," Marcus told the group. Clearly he had already told them his own name.

A woman whose long hair probably used to be blonde nodded at each of the people next to her in turn, "This is Tom, Alice, Carter, Lisa, and I'm Sara."

"Come on over and make yourselves comfortable," the one who had been eyeing Rex, Tom, told us. "Lisa, go fetch a bucket of water and bring it for these people." The shortest woman in the group hurried away and disappeared behind the building. Tom waved a hand for us to follow and turned to walk away. He stopped near a spot in the gravel parking lot that had been turned into a makeshift seating area.

A group of dusty folding chairs and overturned five gallon buckets were situated in a roughly circular pattern. The strangers took seats, arranging themselves on the dirty seating. Hesitating, I eyed the overturned bucket closest to me. The ground was probably cleaner. Deciding not to sit on the bucket I stood next to it instead.

Sara was asking Sam where we were headed, and everyone else stayed silent, listening to his answer.

"Why would you want to go there?" She looked confused. "The cities are overrun with the dead."

"We know," he told her. "But we need to go. it's important."

He didn't elaborate any more, for which I was glad. The idea of more random people knowing that Shawn was apparently immune was enough to set me on edge.

"Well, I'm certain you all have your reasons," Tom finally interjected when it became clear that none of us were going to say more. "Here comes Lisa now with that water. You help yourselves to whatever you need. I'm sorry we don't have any food to offer you all, we don't have much left for ourselves."

I had no doubt that was the truth, judging by just how thin they all were. I watched the woman named Lisa struggle to carry the heavy bucket around the corner of the building. She wasn't much taller than I was, but she was a lot thinner. The bucket must have weighed almost as much as she did. Seeing her struggling, Shawn jumped up from where he had perched somewhat reluctantly on one of the dirty buckets, and went to help her.

The others watched with interest as he took the bucket and carried it back to the circle of seats. "That was very gallant of you," Tom told him. Something about the tone of his voice bothered me, but on the surface he appeared to be doing nothing more than making a pleasant observation.

The past months had honed my instincts where people were concerned. Tom might have wanted to come off as our well meaning, friendly host, but I knew that something less than kind lurked beneath the surface.

My thoughts were confirmed when I caught the venomous glare he sent to Lisa when he thought no one was looking. The woman seemed to shrink in on herself under that gaze. Gritting my teeth, I turned to watch as Marcus went to the bucket and began to fill his water bottle.

Tom began talking again and Marcus took the lead for our group, answering his questions. I was happy to let him. I had no interest in making nice with our host. The less I had to deal with him, the better. Beside me, Rex's nose had begun to sniff at the air. I was sure that the dog was smelling the water. When Marcus was finished with the water I stood up to go to the bucket myself.

The water in the bucket was a swirling, cloudy brown. Grabbing a handful of fur, I stopped the dog from drinking any of it. It did not look safe.

A quiet voice said, "It's from the spring out back in the woods. I know it doesn't look good, but it's safe. That's where we've been drinking from for a while now."

I looked up to find that Lisa was the one who had spoken. She shyly looked away instead of meeting my gaze. I glanced back at the gently swirling water, trying to decide how much to trust the other woman.

"Of course, what am I thinking!" Tom's loud exclamation made me jump. The volume seemed unnatural in the otherwise quiet environment. "Sue! Bring something out here for the dog to drink from!" He lowered his voice a little, "I guess you need a bowl or something for your dog, huh. No one's going to want to drink out of the bucket after him."

The front door of the building banged open and  the red haired woman we'd seen originally rushed out, a big bowl in one hand and a toddler on her hip. A second later two more young kids, a boy and a girl, darted out the door behind her. Balancing the youngest child expertly with one hand, she handed me the bowl and retreated to stand behind Tom. The other children immediately attached themselves to her legs and peered around her at us.

"Look Mommy! A dog."

The boy was the oldest at probably around four years old. It was hard to tell because the children were every bit as filthy and underfed as the adults. They seemed shrunken.

Rex, seeing the kids, wagged his tail at them, the water forgotten for the moment.

"Stay," I murmured to him as I scooped a bowl full of water and went back to my spot in the circle. Putting the bowl down I watched as he sniffed the water once before diving in and lapping messily at the liquid.

A conversation had started about how far we still had to go to get to DC, and I half heartedly tuned in to it as I filled my own water bottle from the bucket. My broken toe was killing me and I looked at the empty bucket seat again. It was just too gross. In fact, the whole area was disgusting, now that I was looking around. Not far away a puddle of something dark and slimy looking glistened in the sun. Bits of trash were scattered everywhere, and there was an underlying smell of rot in the air.

Sighing, I unwrapped my extra shirt from around my waist and put it on the ground to sit on. Finished with his water, Rex came over and laid  down next to me. Shawn and then Sam both made use of the water and I finally worked up the nerve to try a small sip of the stuff myself.

It tasted like mud, but I was thirsty enough that I didn't even really mind. I caught Lisa watching me drink and she shot me a shy smile before looking away again. Deciding that I did trust the woman, at least enough to drink her water, I finished the rest of the bottle without coming up for air.

The conversation had shifted to the trouble that we had run into on our way there, and I tuned it out completely. I was not going to cry in front of these strangers, and if I thought about Maya and Bill too hard, that was exactly what I was afraid would happen.

I stared at the few drops of murky water still lingering in my bottle. I looked up and watched a bird fly overhead. I stared at the puddle of slimy goop long enough to see that it was shimmering in the sunlight because of the thousands of maggots that were crawling around beneath the surface.

Gross.

I startled when I looked up to find the little boy standing a few feet away, watching me. "Hi," I said to him with what I hoped was a friendly smile.

He didn't smile back. "I used to have a dog," he told me.

Not sure how to respond, I smiled weakly at him again, but he turned around and scurried back to his hiding place behind his mother's leg.

- - - -

Hi guys! Long time no see, I know. I can tell from all of the comments on the last update that there were quite a few of you anxiously awaiting new chapters. I am so sorry it took so long to get things going again.

Some of you already know, my grandmother passed away at the beginning of the year. My Grandma was a rock in my life, and my most fervent supporter of my writing. She was so proud that TF30D was published and she read the book repeatedly even though zombie fiction was definitely not her genre . She told everyone she met about her granddaughter who is a writer.

With her gone, I just couldn't pick up my writing again. The world is a much darker place now that she's not in it.

I am not ok. But I am going to make it through. And I know that Gram would want me to keep writing. So I'm here and I'm going to try. Thank you for coming back to this story after so long away.

Much love to you all. Do me a favor and hug someone who you love today, in honor of my Grandma and the love that she had for her family. 💙💙💙