~ Luke ~

"I'm so glad to see that you both are all right." Pa said, wrapping his arms around Lucy and I.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Lucy cried into his coat, hugging him tighter and tighter.

Wiping my eyes, I scanned the area for any sight of Ma. A sigh from Pa drew my eyes back to him. "She's– she's gone, Lucas."

Something in my chest felt like it broke. My heart? My soul? Whatever it was, tears soon followed. After the first set of tears were shed, we brought our reunion to our house and sat around the living room, catching up on what had happened between the night it all started and now.

When they got to the city, things hit the fan. They were able to help where they could, but the situation was worse there. We were lucky to avoid most of the craziness, however, Ma and Pa were stuck in the middle of it all. I wish it was a bit more complex, but the way Ma passed was run of the mill. She was bit and got the fever and chills, uncontrollable sweat and aches, and finally she passed away, but didn't stay that way. The hardest part of hearing it was the fact Pa had to be the one to end her suffering.

He spared us the details, which we were thankful for. I didn't want him to relive that moment more than he had to. After Pa shared his story, Lucy and I shared ours. From the looters at home, to us getting separated, to all the runs I've made and all the help Lucy has given the group here at the community. The topic landed with Annie and I, which sparked Pa's curiosity. His arched eyebrow said it all, he wanted to know who this girl is that has me so hooked.

"As sad as it is to say, this pandemic has made you into a man. You're different, in a good way of course. I know your parents and Ma are looking down here right now, proud as can be of you." Pa rested his hand on my shoulder and gave a little squeeze. "I'm thankful you guys had each other. Never let that go, you can always be the one each other can count on. At times like these, family and the ones you hold close will be the ones you can trust."

He continued with trust and family for the next ten minutes, going into detail further than we've ever heard from him before. No matter how hard I tried, I only heard bits and pieces of his lecture. I still couldn't grasp that Ma was gone. It hasn't been too long since the start of all this, but it felt like forever with everything that's happened. Lucy and Pa continued the conversation while I was droned out.

I was pulled back by Pa's voice. "What do ya say, bud?"

"I— I'm sorry, I got distracted. What's going on?" I said, shaking my head clear of the fog.

"Let's go get something to eat, we all look hungry." Pa said, standing up with the same smile as he would back when things were normal.

Normal.

The thought crossed his mind. What was once normal is obsolete. There is no more law, no more baseball games, no more sitting around the dinner table enjoying a family meal. Families were a rare thing now. Everyone has lost someone in some way or another. It's more important than ever to not take family time for granted. You never know when your family could be torn apart— literally.

I looked up at him and slapped my knees while standing up. "Yeah, I'm famished. Let's see what they got cooking."

As we left the house, I noticed life in the community was going on as normal. To them, he was another mouth to feed and because of his age, probably a liability. They don't know Pa like we do. To us, he's our hero, our protector, our Pa.

"This place sure is lively, ain't it." Pa said as he watched all the people moving about their day. "You'd almost think there wasn't hungry freaks out there eating people."

We neared the kitchen and the smell of seasoned meat on a grill floated in the air. Out of nowhere, Annie came up from behind and wrapped herself around my arm.

"Hey." She said with a giggle.

After a small jump, I smiled. "Hey you." I looked up to Pa, who was already focused on me. "Pa, this is Annie, the girl I told you about."

Annie held out her hand and Pa shook it. "He said so much about you in such a short amount of time we've talked." Pa said teasingly. "Almost couldn't get him to stop."

"Is that so?" She shot me a quick grin. "He's also spoken so much about you. I'm so glad I get the chance to meet you! I'm Annie. Luke here," she pointed a thumb in my direction, "saved my life out there countless times. He was raised well, you can be proud." She finished her speech up with confidence and sincerity.

Pa looked at me with a smile. "He turned out better than me. I'm extremely proud." He rested a hand on my shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.

"Can we go in now please? My stomach is about to eat itself for food." Lucy complained while rubbing her stomach.

We laughed and went in. The kitchen was just a backyard with grills, tents, fire pits and everything else you'd see at a grill out. When the weather was good, this is where everything was cooked.

Pa looked at everything being cooked and rubbed his stomach. "There's too many choices. I didn't have many options out there. I survived off of half packaged crackers and scraped the bottom of peanut butter jars clean. This will definitely be a feast, that's for sure."

I began to notice Pa continuously glance over my shoulder while he spoke. He motioned me over and whispered close to me, not making it too obvious.
"There's a gentleman over there with a group of same aged guys, just glaring your way. Is it something I should be concerned about?"
I pretended I was just pointing stuff out to Pa so I could have an excuse to look that way. Sure enough, Jeremy and the jackass squad were the culprits.

"That's Jeremy, Annie's ex. He's had it out for me ever since I stepped foot in the community. I guess it's because we're near the same age and he wants to be alpha in the age group?" I gave a small shrug.

I mean I understand not liking me because Annie is with me now. They did kind of leave off on bad terms. Jeremy, however, didn't like me the moment my feet hit the ground when I got out of the van that first day. It has to be more than jealousy, right?

"I can't tell you he's harmless because if anyone would do something sinister it would be him. So far though, he's hated me from a distance." I brushed it off as nothing more than that.

"Alright, but keep an eye out. This type of world changes people and not always for the better." Pa's message was clear and understood.

"I will Pa. I promise."

★★★★★

Later that night, everything quieted down like normal. Everyone dispersed back to their homes with the occasional stragglers chatting it up as if they were old friends who only got to see each other once in a blue moon. Suddenly, a noise from the front gate sent chills down my spine.

It was a bellow. A deep growl, followed by a screech. A runner. The Z's don't usually show up at the community that often. Here and there we get the slow ones that chew and claw at the fences, but this was the first time a runner got close. I hurried over to the gate where a few others were gathered.

"Did you hear that? What was it?"

"An animal maybe? Or someone in trouble?"

"It's neither of those, I'm afraid." I said, stalking quietly up beside them. "It's a runner. A more evolved form of the Z's we are use to. They're tall, fast and smart." Before I had realized it, I had already drawn my knife from its sheath on my hip.

"How could you be so sure?" One of them asked.

"Trust me. I've had my fair share of run-ins with them. More times than I'd like. That howl they do is hard to mistake for anything else after fighting them up close." I said.

I peeked through the gate, scanning everything outside of it.

"It hasn't made another sound. Maybe... hopefully, it ran off?"

Just as I was about to give up and say the coast was clear, my eyes caught the glimpse of something in the tree line. In the fading amber colored light of dusk, a tall silhouette stood amongst the bushes. There was no mistaking it, it was staring right back at me. I felt it's cold, undead stare pierce right through the gate and into my eyes. Just the way it handled itself was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It's shoulders moved up and down as it's body twitches from being on overdrive with urges. It's little shakes it'd give as if it anticipated a chase. Most importantly, it's unnerving ability to make it seem like they had locked eyes, even from so far away.

A sudden thought crossed my mind.

"It can't be. Theres a ton of those things. They're smart. And if it's smart like I know them to be, it'll stay on that side of the fence."

As soon as I noticed it, it disappeared. It spun around and dashed into the trees, vanishing from sight.

"What were you looking at?" The small group at the gate were glancing out, but clearly hadn't seen what I did.

"What ever it was, it's gone now." I say, slipping my knife back in its sheath.

On my way home, that thought outshined every other thought clouding my mind lately.

"There's no way it was Tall and Creepy, right?"

Regardless if it was or not, I had to go tell Randy, and especially Annie.

Luckily, I found them together at Randy's place. She was helping him bring a couple things inside and flashed a smile my way when she saw me.

"Hey you, what's got you all in a hurry?" She set the box she was holding down.

"We have a problem." The urgency in my voice got their attention.

"What's wrong? Is everyone alright?" Randy straightened up, getting his leader act back on.

I looked right at Annie when I spoke because I knew she'd understand it from the get-go.

"A runner was watching us from the tree line."

It took them both a minute to process and reply.

"Here? Is it still there?" Annie asked frantically.

"It was by the front gate and no, it ran off into the trees." It felt like the conversation was just between me and Annie at this point.

"I'll place more people at the posts. I'm not even going to question you if it was a runner or not, I believe your judgement." Randy finally got his say in the matter.

"What was it doing here? Why didn't it attack?"

"I'm not sure. All the ones we've encountered have attacked on sight. This one though... it watched. I'm sure it watched us lock up the gates for the night." As I said that, I got chills.

There's no easy way around it. A runner is terrifying, but one that watches what's supposed to be its prey? Now that changes the whole concept on runners. Randy left to go rally up more patrols as Annie and I walked off together. She held onto my arm and looked up at me.

"What should we do? It's too dangerous to have it lurking around the camp." Annie had that tone in her voice. She was worried and for good reason. This was the first time we've had one this close to camp since Tall and Creepy and I fought on the road.

"It'd be even more dangerous trying to do something about it. Sending people out to hunt it down would be a one way ticket to death. They're smarter, stronger and faster than the ones most people in here have seen." I placed a hand on hers and gave a gentle squeeze. "We know it's there, so we're already one step ahead. More patrols will be out so we'll be a little safer. No matter what, I won't let anything happen to you or anyone else here."

Annie stood on her tippy toes and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "I know you will."

I tried spinning us around so I could walk her back to Randy's, but I turned my head towards her when my arm tugged from her not moving.

"What's up?" I asked her, taking the few steps back so we were side by side again.

"Uh—" she looked off to the side and gripped my arm a bit tighter. "Do you mind if I, uh, stay with you tonight?"

"Whoa, did she really just ask that? I mean, I know we've slept together before, but it's different when she asks to stay at your place. ... Oh come on, don't just stand here. Yes, say yes!"

"I don't mind at all." I said with the biggest smile.

"Okay, good. I was still gonna if you said no." She teased.

"Shouldn't we tell Randy?" I asked. I figured since she's his granddaughter, he's like to know where she's at. Especially after the news I just gave him.

"He'll know where I am." Annie giggled.

We finally made it back to my place and snuck in quietly. It was definitely weird trying to sneak into your own place as if bringing a girl in was against the rules.

Pa and Lucy were either sleeping or off elsewhere because the house was quiet and dark. We took our shoes off at the door and made our way to my room. Even though nobody was probably home, we still tiptoed into the room and quietly shut the door while holding in laughs.

By now our eyes had adjusted to the dark so there was no need to turn on the light. It was probably better this way so neither of us go see how red each other's faces are. My heart began to race so loud that I was certain she could hear it. Normally, I would shower after a day like today, but that could wait for tomorrow.

I stripped down to just my boxers and crawled under the covers. Annie joined soon after with a quick jump into the bed. It was quiet. Nothing but the sound of my heart racing in my ears and my shaky breaths. Just as I was about to speak, she slid over and rested her head on my chest. I was scared to let go of the breath I was holding as to not disturb her, but I slowly let it out.

"You can breathe you know. It's silly to be nervous." Annie said, not too sure who she was trying to convince, me or herself.

"I know, I just—" I really had no explanation as to why I didn't breathe.

"Shh, I know. I'm just kidding you goof." She placed a hand on my stomach as she got more comfy. "This is nice. You're so warm." She moved her body a bit closer, pressing her chest against my side.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. We're just sleeping. Juuuust sleeping. Go down."

I swallowed loudly. It really hasn't occurred to me lately, but I'm still a boy with raging hormones. Regardless if the world has gone to hell and the dead have a craving for the living. I tried focusing my mind on other things and that seemed to work. I still couldn't help but feel like she had noticed so I ought to at least apologize.

"Annie, I—"

I stopped speaking as soon as I began. When I began to listen, I could hear her soft breaths coming out in a pattern. The time I spent trying to calm down, she had fallen asleep. I just smiled and wrapped my arm around her a bit tighter and pulled the blanket a little higher to cover her shoulder.

Laying there in the dark, staring up at the ceiling, I began to rethink of everything I've been through since it all started. The bad memories and the great ones, like tonight. Before I knew it, I was drifting off to sleep myself. My brain gave off one last thought before I succumbed to sleep.

"This is peaceful. This is the life I want. I don't want this peace to end."

★★★★★

"Luke, wake up. Something's going on outside at the gate." Lucy's voice woke me from my deep sleep.

"Huh? What's going on?" I asked groggily.

I was in that state where I was awake but I had no clue where I was or even who I was for a second. Annie yawned beside me and I glanced down, regaining all my senses and memories again.

"There's an army truck outside with soldiers and some important looking dude." Lucy said as she walked out of my room. She was quickly back and added, "also, good morning Annie, I hope you slept well." She gave unnecessary emphasis on the word "slept" on purpose and then ran off.

I could tell that embarrassed Annie by the way she dug her face into the pillow and pulled the covers over her head. "She totally got the wrong idea."

I was already up and putting on my clothes from last night since those were the ones close and easy to grab. "Yes she did." I rolled my eyes. I knew what it looked like but really nothing happened but sleeping. Yet, no one would truly believe that, would they?

"The military is here." I said, slipping on my shirt.

She crawled out of bed and waved her hand towards the door. "Go, go. I'll be right behind you."

I gave her a quick smile and nodded.

I made my way outside and almost everyone in the community was surrounding the front gate. I saw the truck Lucy mentioned and confirmed it was military. It's tan color and extended bed with the arched tarp over it was a dead give away. At the front of the crowd stood four soldiers with their rifles firmly in their hands and their stances unmoving. Not too far from them, a man in a small white lab coat was trying to quiet everyone down with the waves of his hands.

"What the hell is going on?" I mumbled to myself as I skipped down the stairs of my porch and made my way over.

I managed to slide my way to the front of the crowd and shimmied past the last few people standing between me and Randy. When I finally got through, the man began his speech.

"I'm Doctor Wayne Phillips. I'm a scientist for the CDC and I have an urgent matter to discuss with you."