The storm did a decent amount of damage to the small neighbourhood where Magnus was originally staying. As the small group walked through the street, bits of shingle and shattered glass crunched under their feet. Fallen bricks were scattered everywhere. Doors that had blown off of houses now rest on the sidewalk as if they'd been there all along. It looked like chaos.

"The storm must've blown through here too," Alec looked around at the shops they'd only been to days before. "Now it finally looks like it's been ransacked."

Magnus stopped by his old home. The roof had blown off completely and landed onto another house. "My poor home. I'd been there a month now. You served me well."

They continued to walk through the streets and took in all the damage that the storm did. It was hard to believe that so much happened in so little time but then again it was believable. The zombie apocalypse only happened because the US claimed they had the cure to cancer, but it ended up being a worldwide pandemic that brought the deceased back to life. The world went to shit in a matter of days.

"Should we set up camp for the remainder of the day? Max is getting tired," Isabelle was barely able to hold up her little brother's body as he stumbled forward, eyes drooping from exhaustion.

Alec sighed. "I guess we can. Let's check one of the houses. Jace, you take the back door. Simon and I will check the front. Magnus, you guard the girls."

"Guard the girls? Are you kidding me? Isabelle's probably more capable than I am at protecting herself!" Magnus scoffed. "But if you insist. I'll guard the girls."

As the other men disappeared around a corner, Magnus took this opportunity to look around. This part of Brooklyn used to be a small community back in the day; he remembered how the people used to be and how active they were in various charities and activities for the kids. He'd volunteered for a few of them himself. Now all the good people were gone.

"They call it A.Z.," Clary spoke up. "After Zombies. This is Brooklyn, A.Z."

"A.Z.," Magnus repeated. "I never knew that. I've heard people say it but I've always assumed they were talking about Arizona. Thought they were nuts."

Isabelle chuckled. "They're nuts to be even thinking of Arizona. I heard that's the worst place you can go nowadays in this country. That or Los Angeles."

"Ooh. LA. I wouldn't go there. I mean there's lots of places to scavenge from but just think of how many Forsaken are there too. LA isn't a small place either," Clary shook her head. "I'll stick with where I'm to now. At least I'm familiar with it."

Alec and the boys came back around the corner. "All clear. Let's set up camp here. Anyone want to make a run with me? See what we can find?"

When no one answered, Magnus rolled his eyes. "I'll go, seeing how no one else is eager to risk their life. Lead the way, great leader."

Alec did lead the way, rather heroically, Magnus took notice of. His stance was always ready to run but at the same time, ready to shoot if necessary. He had both a gun in his belt and a bow around his shoulders. The quiver on his back was filled with arrows and Magnus guessed that Alec didn't want to waste those arrows. Other than that, Alec Lightwood looked like a modern day, post apocalyptic Robin Hood.

"And what exactly are we looking for?" Magnus poked a bobble head shaped like Lady Liberty on a shelf.

"Anything of use. Food, blankets, clothes. Anything that might come in handy later on when the temperature drops even more," Alec didn't break his stride as he wandered around what used to be a gas station. He was focused and in the zone.

Magnus managed to pick up a few things; two blankets, some batteries and a flashlight, some shirts that read 'Made In Brooklyn' and some tampons for the girls. Alec did a double take at his hands when he looked over in his direction. "What? The girls need these. Got to respect the women too, you know."

"I know. I was just surprised to see you holding them...." Alec picked up a tin of soup and shook his head.

"Well they're not a bomb, Alec. They're not going to explode. They're tampons. When women are on their periods, they shove these suckers up their-"

"Okay. I don't need a lesson in the female menstrual cycle, thank you. I've already been through that in middle school."

Magnus shrugged but said nothing more of the topic. "So what's your story? How did you end up in Alicante?"

A can dropped somewhere in the store and both men froze in place. Alec already had his bow ready, an arrow nocked back on the bowstring. Magnus looked he looked rather sexy with a bow and arrow. This type of weapon suited him very much.

Alec's body visibly relaxed when a raccoon raced past them. "It's just a raccoon. Nothing to worry about."

"I wasn't worried. I had you to protect me. Tall, dark and handsome with a badass weapon? Every man's dream."

Alec rolled his eyes. "To answer your question before we were so rudely interrupted, my siblings and I were brought to Alicante shortly after the apocalypse first hit." He knelt down and picked up another can of something; of what Magnus couldn't tell. "Our parents died the day we were getting evacuated. A guy had turned and began to feed on someone close to him and the military opened fire. My brothers and sister had just crossed the evacuation line when they began to shoot. We watched our parents get shot to death. Max was only four when it happened. He still has nightmares about it."

"Jesus Christ," Magnus whispered. "I'm sorry. About your parents, I mean."

"Don't be. It's done and over with." Alec tossed the can aside. It must've been empty. "We were on the road for a few weeks until Max collapsed of starvation. Some scavengers from Alicante found us and led us back to the community. They saved our lives so I owed them for that. I became a runner for them. Returned the favor."

Crows cawed overhead as they circled the sky like vultures. "You don't owe anyone a damn thing, Alec," Magnus told him. "You were only doing what you thought was right for your family."

Alec shrugged. "Still. At least with me out here and gathering supplies, I knew that my family was back in the community safe and sound." He paused to look at Magnus. "What about you? You're not an office worker, are you?"

Magnus snorted. "No. Far from it, actually. I doubt you'd even believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

Magnus glanced at Alec. The taller man had a serious expression on his face and looked ready to listen to whatever Magnus had to say. "Okay. Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." He took a deep breath. "Before all this went down, I was a student in training to be an FBI agent."

A moment of silence. "Seriously? You're an FBI agent?"

"Well no. I didn't make it to my graduation. All this happened," Magnus waved a hand to indicate their surroundings. "Needless to say, I'm pretty efficient in many areas of survival. I was even a Boy Scout back in the day."

"Oh goody. I feel so much safer now," Alec chuckled. "No seriously. That's pretty badass. I thought for sure you'd escaped jail because your bus that was headed to the prison crashed and everyone died but you barely escaped."

Magnus tilted his head back and laughed. They could hear the echo of it over the sound of the crows. "And just how long were you thinking of that theory, Alexander? Surely you probably slept with one eye open to make sure I didn't slit your throat in the middle of the night."

Alec blushed. Legitimately blushed. The color red had flushed through his cheeks right up to the tips of his ears. "I'd be lying if I said no. But I'm sorry that I even thought that of you. Didn't expect you to be one of the good guys."

Magnus shook his head. "No such thing as good guys and bad guys in this new world, Alec. It's every man and woman for themselves. You do what you have to do to survive. Even if that means doing something that you probably never would've done in the old world."

A gust of wind picked up, making them both shiver. The longer they stood there, the more awkward they began to feel. Magnus could sense that Alec felt uncomfortable with the silence, so he nudged him with an elbow and nodded towards the house where the rest of the group set up camp. Alec half smiled and followed behind him.

The group had managed to set up the fireplace inside the house so that it had a nice little fire going. The warmth was very welcoming when Alec and Magnus stepped inside, and the smell of soup being made made them both realize just how hungry they were.

"You're back! Find anything useful?" Isabelle handed a small bowl to Max, who was bundled up with blankets on the floor.

"A few things. Not a whole lot but at least it'll come in handy one day." Alec set his bag and weapons down on a table and sat beside the fire to warm his hands. "You guys all set up in here?"

Isabelle nodded. "Pretty much. Simon said that the toilet has a few flushes left in it so we're so taking turns and using it. Max here did the poop of the century."

Max groaned from under the blankets. "Izzy! Seriously?! You had to tell everyone I pooped?!"

Alec laughed and rubbed Max's back. "Don't worry about it, bud. I'm sure we all did a poop like that at least once in our lives."

Simon finally came out of the bathroom and sighed. "Oh. You're back. Find anything?"

Alec reached into his bag. "Got you a shirt."

Simon caught the shirt as it was tossed to him. "Made In Brooklyn. Well it's not wrong. Apparently I was conceived in the back of an old pickup truck."

"Were you born there too?" Magnus smirked as he licked soup liquor off his fingers.

Simon made a face. "No. I was born at home. My mom wanted a natural birth, so she didn't have any painkillers or anything. I was born in a pool."

"What does conceived mean?" Max asked. Everyone had forgotten he was there, hidden under a pile of blankets while listening in on the entire conversation.

All the adults looked at each other as they tried to find the right words. Eventually they all looked to Alec for an answer. Alec sputtered.

"Uh....I was hoping to wait until you were at least 12 before we had this talk....you're still way too young for this," he eventually managed to say.

Max scoffed. "I might not even make it to age 12, Alec. Just tell me now."

"Don't say that," Alec snapped. "Don't you dare say that again. You're going to make it past 12. You're living until you're wrinkly and old. So shut up."

Isabelle and Clary glanced at each other and smirked. "Come on Max. Let's go in the other room for a second. We need to talk to you."

Alec's eyes widened. "Isabelle, don't you dare-"

"What? Mom and dad had this talk with us when we were 10. He's almost the same age we were. Plus he's got to learn eventually." Isabelle hauled Max to his feet and smiled. "Wish us luck."

When they disappeared into the other room, Simon snickered. "Shouldn't one of us guys be telling him how this all works? Getting the birds and the bees from a woman is just weird. Or at least it was to me."

After a few minutes of silence, the men heard Max's high pitched yell of horror and the girl's laughter as they tried to calm him down.

"So he knows now?" asked Simon.

"Oh he knows," Jace smirked. He smiled as Max stumbled out of the bedroom. "Hey little brother. Did those mean girls frighten you out of going through puberty?"

Max shuddered. "I don't think I'm ever going to have a decent sleep ever again. Not after what I just listened to."

Magnus sat beside him. "We all had to go through it, little guy. You'll change your mind when the time comes."

The girls joined them a minute later and what little soup they managed to cook was divided up between them. It wasn't much but it warmed them up and gave them enough strength to search the rest of the house a little.

"There's graffiti all over the walls in all the rooms," Simon reported. "Think somebody's been here before?"

"Well I mean it's been five years since we've been blessed with the zombie apocalypse so sure. Lots of people have probably been through here," as he spoke, Magnus opened up a closet door and peered inside. "Clean. This place has been cleared out long ago."

Alec picked through the drawers. "Magnus is right. There's nothing here that's worth salvaging. We should try and get some rest for now. Save our energy for tomorrow."

Magnus clapped his hands together. "That's what I like to hear. We'll kick some ass in the morning-" He stopped short when a noise broke him off mid-sentence. "Did you guys hear that?"

Jace and Alec shrugged. "I didn't hear anything," Jace said. "What did it sound like?"

Magnus put a finger to his lips. "Be quiet. I'm trying to listen."

He strained his ears. He swore that he could hear footsteps on the roof above but he wasn't quite sure. It was probably just an animal that he was hearing, like that raccoon they saw at the gas station. Come back to scare them some more.

"I still don't hear anything," Jace tapped the wall in impatience. "Look. I'm tired. We're all tired. You're starting to hear things which suggests you're more tired than all of us put together. So that being said...." He gripped Magnus by the shoulder and led him downstairs. The girls were already asleep on the floor beside the fire along with Max. "Get some rest. We'll check out your mysterious noises in the morning when you're not delirious with sleep."

Alec stretched out beside his baby brother. "Jace is right. It's probably just an animal on the roof. Like that raccoon we saw earlier."

"That must be a fucking big raccoon then if I could hear its damn footsteps from inside the house," Magnus rolled his eyes. As he sprawled out on the floor, he noticed that Alec's shirt had risen an inch or so, revealing a sliver of pale stomach beneath the hem of his shirt and a trail of dark hair leading to the waistband of his jeans below his bellybutton. Magnus stared at it for a moment before looking away, feeling a heat on his face that didn't come from the fire in the fireplace.

"Are you okay?" Alec asked in the darkness. When Magnus looked up at him, Alec was leaning on his elbows, looking directly at him. "Are you still worried about that giant raccoon?"

"Shut up, Alec. Just....go to sleep-don't laugh!" He bit his lip as Alec's deep chuckle overpowered the crackling of the fire. "Why are you laughing at me?"

"I'm trying not to but you're making it really hard for me," Alec tilted his head back and laughed quietly. "I find it hard to believe that an FBI agent is scared of a small animal."

Magnus wagged a finger. "I'm not technically an agent. I didn't graduate. And I'm not afraid of a small animal but you have to admit those little bastards carry some bad diseases and that's scary as hell."

Alec shrugged. "It's no different than the disease that started all this in the first place."

They went quiet again. Magnus wondered how often this was going to happen between them. "You're such a downer. But you're right. It's no different at all."

Max moaned beside Alec and shuddered under his blankets. With a gentle whisper, Alec calmed his brother down and held him closer. "I really need to get some rest, Magnus. We'll talk in the morning."

The conversation was over when Alec held Max close to his body and closed his eyes, his breathing eventually becoming slower as he fell into a deep sleep. Sighing, Magnus sat up and picked up his butterfly knife and played with it. Seeing how everyone else was asleep, he figured he'd take the first watch.

He almost started dozing when he heard the footsteps again, only this time they were just outside the window.

"What the hell...." Magnus grabbed his gun and went to the window, weapon raised and poised to shoot. Even in the darkness he could see shadow figures running off towards another building in fright. Forsaken didn't do that. Neither did giant raccoons that ran on two legs.

Thinking nothing more of it, he sat back down by the fire. If there were other humans out there, and not the nice kind, he definitely had to keep watch. These people were his family now. He felt responsible for them, even the little serial killer who seemed to have finally fallen asleep in his older brother's arms.

The raccoon would have to wait until tomorrow.