Three world-weary survivors took shelter in a children's tree house, an island in a sea of rotting corpses. The growls and moans were like the small waves lapping against the shore of a lake.

The boy spoke first, "What do we do now?"

Nobody had an answer to that. There was nowhere to run, not nearly enough bullets to make a difference.

"I'll think of something," his father said at last.

Rick glanced at Michonne, "We'll think of something. We have to."

Michonne nodded.

"Let's get back from the edge," Rick said, helping Michonne to her feet and herding them all further back into the small tree house.

They sat again, leaning against the far wall. They couldn't see the walkers right below them, but they were still there.

"There's nothing we can do for now. We'll wait. Maybe, if we're quiet and we don't move around, they'll eventually forget we're here..." Rick trailed off. That was hardly a plan, but it was all he had at the moment.

Carl stared straight ahead.

More walkers were coming and joining the crush below them, drawn by the echoing gunfire from moments before, but they were only coming in ones and twos now, the stragglers.

"Rick...you know that's not how it works," Michonne said softly.

"Unless something distracts them, something big, they won't forget we're here. They won't leave. They'll stay here, staring up at this tree for weeks, months."

"We don't have that kind of time," Rick said.

"I know."

They went through their bags of supplies and the boxes and miscellaneous items that they'd found in the tree house, taking a careful inventory.

There were enough bullets to fill Carl and Rick's guns each twice over. There were the cases of .50 cal bullets, which were useless without the right gun to shoot them. Whoever had owned all that ammunition, they took their machine gun with them when they left.

"We can't do anything with the sun setting," Rick said, "Carl, try and get some rest."

Carl nodded. He didn't feel like lying down, not with so many walkers so close by. He pulled his knees up and rested his head on his arms.

"I'll keep watch first. Let's all be real quiet, okay?" Rick said.

Not that it'll do any good... Carl wanted to say, but for once he kept his mouth shut. The last thing he wanted to do was act like a whiny kid in front of Michonne, even if he was right.

Carl sighed. He didn't see how he would be able to sleep at all tonight. Best not to think about it too hard, you've slept in plenty of dangerous places before, remember? Dad and Michonne will come up with a plan...

The boy drifted in and out of sleep, his thoughts falling back on the people he missed...Judith, Beth, Hershel, Daryl...Daryl's awesome crossbow that he still never let Carl shoot, even though his arms were definitely long enough now, that would sure come in handy at a time like this...

Michonne sat by Rick's side, mirroring Carl. Despite the danger surrounding them, despite the urgency to think of something to do about it, she was tired.

Fighting that many walkers, all at once, in the moment it had been an adrenaline rush, a desperate battle for life. Afterwards, however, her muscles ached and her head felt dizzy.

Her eyes grew heavy as the sun set. I should focus, think of something...anything...but her head nodded forward.

Michonne sat up straight, frowned, tried to focus her eyes on the view outside the tree house.

She noticed Rick watching her. His eyes looked distant, sad, and worried. Worry was never far from the surface. Michonne tried to muster a smile, to encourage him, Don't worry about me... but ended up with a huge yawn.

Michonne blinked slowly. Her head nodded forward again, ended up resting on Rick's shoulder.

Before she could move, not that she had any immediate intention of moving, Rick put his arm around her shoulders, shifting a little closer so that she could lean against him comfortably.

Rick didn't say anything. Michonne's eyes closed again.

Distantly, Michonne realized that it had been a very long time since someone had put an arm around her. It felt nice. It felt nice to have someone who cared enough to do that much. Rick finally seems comfortable around me...

I seem to end up like this, close to him, more and more often these days... Michonne thought back on everything that had happened since her reunion with Rick and Carl after the prison fell, the moments that she had shared with Rick.

She recalled the way Rick had hugged her when he found out about Andre, how he let her comfort him when he finally broke down and cried for Judith.

She remembered how she fell asleep beside Rick after giving him first aid the second night after she found them, how she cuddled up against him when the night got cold. She remembered waking up to the sensation of Rick running his fingertips along her bare arm, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for them to wake up like that, together.

She remembered how relieved Rick had looked when they were reunited, how Carl had come running around the house and crushed her in a hug, the first real hug that she'd had in over a year.

Yes, Michonne thought, whatever happens tomorrow, this is where I belong.

As she was drifting off to sleep, Michonne thought she heard Rick say something quietly. Maybe he was thinking out loud. Either way, she fell asleep before she could respond.

"Even after everything we've done, I don't know how we're going to get out of this one...I really don't."