The ground never got more comfortable to sleep on. Cold, oddly so, considering how hot the days had been. A rogue stone kept jabbing my hip every time I rolled over. Some creepy crawler had scuttled across my face in the night.

I groggily rubbed my cheek in distaste at the memory. Not so long ago, I would have woken up screaming at an insect crawling on me. Back when zombies weren't a thing, and I slept in my cozy bed at night.

Waking everyone up with a scream was no longer a very good idea, for more than a few reasons.

Rolling over, I found the spot next to me unoccupied. Shawn had woken up before me. Trying to stretch the kinks out of stiff muscles, I awkwardly climbed to my feet.

Rex was never far from me while I slept. He jumped up and shook out his fur. The tags on his collar jingled loudly, reminding me that I'd been meaning to remove them. The only reason I hadn't was the S-shaped hooks that needed pliers to open.

"Morning," Shawn handed me the bag containing the last of the trail mix with a conspiratorial wink. "I hid this for you."

Grinning back, I dumped it out into my palm. After everyone had taken some the night before, there wasn't much left, but a few chocolate pieces remained. Happily, I popped one into my mouth. "Thanks."

Around us, the camp was coming to life. Bill and Maya were on watch. The others huddled near the small fire, talking quietly. I'd been the next to last one still asleep. Luna remained curled into a ball under our one blanket.

Reaching over, Shawn grabbed a raisin from my hand and ate it. I bumped his shoulder and handed him the other raisin. I didn't mind. Raisins were gross.

Both of us happily chewing, we wandered closer to the fire and into the conversation.

"Should we try to find her?" Alex spoke around a mouthful of something.

"Maybe she won't want to be found," Charlie said matter-of-factly.

Maggie finished tying her hair into its usual ponytail before answering. "What if she got herself into some trouble out in the dark? It would be terrible to just leave her if she needs help."

The group lapsed into silence. Birds sang from the trees. Morning sun tried to break through the canopy. Crunching on a nut, I stayed quiet about Jackie.

As much as I felt bad for what she'd been through, she wasn't one of us. I'd prefer not to waste energy looking for her when she was the one who wandered off. But I wasn't in the habit of disagreeing with Maggie, unless I really felt strongly about a subject.

"Well, if you all are determined to go looking for her, I'll stay back and keep an eye on Luna. And our stuff."

Charlie didn't have to add that she was worried the SUV might vanish if left unattended. The calculating looks she'd given Jackie throughout the previous day made her distrust clear. Fairly typical for Charlie—she'd taken days to warm up to us when we first stumbled across their home. Her distrust was contagious. I had to admit, at least some of my apathy towards Jackie probably stemmed from Charlie's dislike.

"Alright," Maggie nodded and stood from her spot on the ground. "We'll split into two groups and look around. Don't get too far from camp. If we don't find anything in a half hour, we'll assume we're not going to."

I brushed crumbs from my hands while Maggie caught Bill and Maya up on the plan. Within minutes, Maggie, Shawn, and I had entered the woods to our right. Bill, Maya, and Alex went the opposite way.

Away from the road, trees and underbrush quickly closed in. Moving silently became impossible. Twigs snapped as we worked in a widening semi-circle around the camp.

Panting, Rex trotted along with his nose buried in leaf litter. Trying to keep both Shawn and Maggie in sight, I scanned between trees for any sign of Jackie.

Fifteen minutes in, after tripping over yet another hidden rock, I decided my original assessment was correct. This much effort for a stranger wasn't worth it.

Slapping a branch from my face, I huffed out an exasperated breath. "I don't think we're going to find her," I looked towards Maggie.

Frowning, she replied, "Yeah. You're probably right. Let's give it a few more minutes. I hope she'll be okay out here on her own."

We were working along the bank of a small stream when the first hint of zombie stink reached my nose. Looking at Shawn, I saw he had noticed it too. Alertly, he tried to find the source of the smell.

Maggie pulled her knife, also searching for the zombie. We stayed still, listening for shuffling through the brush.

The only sounds came from birds and Rex. Unconcerned, the dog sniffed under a bush.

I frowned. Normally, Rex was the first to alert us to an approaching zombie. If we all had smelled the thing, surely he had too.

"I think it might already be dead," I barely whispered, but the others heard me.

Nodding, Shawn slowly started working his way forward. I followed him, and in a minute we found the zombie. Someone had already stabbed it in the head. The blood that had leaked from the wound was dry.

"Who do you think did that?"

"Jackie, maybe?" Shawn answered, but it sounded more like a question.

"Did she have a knife?" I tried to recall if the woman had been armed. I couldn't picture her with a weapon.

"I don't know."

We looked to Maggie, who stared down at the zombie, her forehead wrinkled in the way it did when she was thinking. Finally, she looked up.

"I think it's time to go back to camp."

I wasn't about to argue. I hadn't wanted to be out here in the first place, and something about the dead zombie left me unsettled. We were in the middle of nowhere. What were the odds of anyone else staying in the same area? That left Jackie as the potential zombie killer, but if so, she'd kept her knife hidden, unlike the rest of us who always had weapons easily at hand.

We had wandered deeper into the woods than I'd thought. After several minutes of walking, we still couldn't see the camp. I was hopelessly turned around, relying on the others to get us back. Just as I started to think we were going the wrong way, the smell of smoke from our fire hit me.

Relieved we weren't lost, I picked up the pace. Up until a month ago, I'd never been in a forest before, and I was still uncomfortable with the way trees closed in, making it impossible to see far.

The relief was short-lived. A shrill scream ripped through the trees.

My heart leapt into my throat as Rex took off towards the sound. We were right behind him. Luna would never have made that much noise unless she had a real reason.