"Drop it down up front," Max ordered, giving the back of the pilot's seat a firm thump with the side of his fist.

The shock had mostly worn off of the group, leaving Whynn fast asleep against the metal casing of the aircraft, and Layla staring out the window without really seeing the world at all.

Adam, however, hadn't taken his piercing glare off of Max, ever since they left Jon at the Harrison residence.

"You can't just leave him down there," Adam had snapped, trying to make his way to the door of the helicopter.

"He knew what he signed up for when I gave him the job," Max replied, putting his hand against Adam's chest. "He asked for this position. It's what had to be done,"

"So you're just going to abandon him like that?" Layla gaped.

"That's the way things are now," Max informed them, grimly. "You know that saying 'Welcome to the real world'? Well, this is the real world now,"

Adam bit his lip and sat down beside Layla, but hadn't taken his eyes off of the leader since.

It's not that Max didn't want to tell him why Jon was left behind, he did. But he's learned the hard way not to get people's hopes up anymore. Hope was the new poison these days.

"Welcome to Eden," He could practically hear the grin on Charlie's face, as his friend's voice came through the headphones. "Once, and currently, known as the Huntsville Unit,"

Layla blinked a few times and glanced downwards, trying to see as much of the ground as possible from high above.

"A prison?" She asked.

"It's perfectly safe, don't worry," Charlie assured them.

"It had to be the prison," Max told them. "Too many dead people in hospitals, stadiums don't have roofs, and the hotels don't serve breakfast," he smiled darkly.

"You," Whynn began slowly. "have an odd sense of humor,"

"Good morning," Layla patted her shoulder. "Just in time. We're here,"

"Where is here?" Whynn asked, wiping her face with both sleeves before turning her attention out the window.

"Back to jail," Layla smiled.

"Back?" Charlie echoed.

"It was funny. You weren't there, that was a joke meant for-" she gestured beside her, and then realized Griffin wasn't there. "Nevermind,"

The end of her sentence was drowned out by the sound of the chopper touching down in front of the building.

"Everyone out!" Mike called. "I gotta put this behind the wall before then Trepids get any ideas,"

"Trepids?" Adam echoed, speaking up for the first time since the fourteen-hour flight began.

"There's more monsters?" Whynn asked.

"Out!" Mike snapped.

The group obeyed. Max stood at the door and helped Charlie down, then he helped Whynn down to Charlie, followed by Layla. Finally, he turned to Adam.

"Come on, or Mike will boot you himself," Max waved him closer.

"You go. You might as well leave one of us behind, don't you think?" Adam asked savagely.

Max clenched his teeth, to bite back a few words he wouldn't be able to unsay. Then shrugged, and climbed out of the helicopter.

"You should watch your mouth around him," Mike said, without so much as a glance at Adam. "Max is a good guy. He's been through a lot, like the rest of us. Maybe even a little more. But he also knows what's going on better than you do,"

"You don't care that he left Jon in Seattle?" Adam replied. "Not one bit?"

"Everything Max Edison does, he does for a reason," Mike told him. "Never forget that. And it might be best that you didn't say shit about him when you get inside. Max risked his neck for almost everybody in that building, including you. And there's more than a few folks who would tear you limb from limb for even looking at him funny,"

"Thanks for the tip," Adam grumbled. Then he walked over to the side door. For only a second, he hesitated, then turned back to Mike. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Did he save you?"

Mike turned around in his seat and looked Adam squarely in the eyes. "I beat the shit out of Max for fun when we were kids. I've done it all. Thrown him in trash cans, shut him in lockers, beat him in alleys. And yet, when I needed him most, that guy came for me. Without Max Edison and his unparalleled ability to forgive, I wouldn't be here. And neither would you,"

Mike turned back around in his seat, and stared straight ahead, out the windshield, scanning for signs of approaching threats.

Adam watched the back of his head for a few more seconds, then dropped himself down into the grass, and made his way over to the group. They just stood there, frozen in their tracks, admiring the size of the Eden before them.

"The very prison that once held Clyde Barrow," Charlie told them, smiling up at the walls.

"Who?" Layla asked.

"Clyde Barrow," Whynn repeated. "Of Bonnie and Clyde,"

"He was here around 1930," Adam added.

Layla looked back and forth between the two and rolled her eyes. "Sandwiched by brainiacs,"

"So, seriously," Whynn wanted to know. "Why a prison?"

"Simple," Max glanced at her. "When's the last time you heard somebody had broken out of a hotel?"

"Um... never?"

"Exactly, because that's not what they were built to prevent," he explained, gesturing at the daunting structure. "A prison was built to keep what was wanted in, and everything else, out,"

"Makes sense," Adam nodded.

Max glanced at him, slightly surprised. "Thank you," he nodded at Charlie, who unlocked the front door.

"So," Whynn shivered slightly, as she entered the massive building. "Trepids?"

"That's just what we call the undead," Charlie shrugged.

The group waited for Whynn to toss her correction at them in her regular, saucy, tone, but it never came. She just nodded vaguely and glanced around the area.

"You'd think there would be more guards or something here," Layla whispered, gesturing back toward the front of the building as they made their way in.

"We don't even have a leader yet," Charlie told them. "Authorities will come next. But that's one that we need to be careful about. The oldest guy here is 28, and we don't want to give weapons to just any teenager,"

"What about the youngest?" Whynn asked. Max led them through the corridors with blind familiarity.

"We've got several babies around the Eden," Charlie smiled. One was born just a couple of weeks ago, and one should be due any da-"

"Charlie!" A younger teen sprinted up and seized the side of Charlie's coat. "Thank God you're back! Connie and the baby. It's not good, we need you right now!"

Without even a glance back at them, or the last word to finish his sentence, Charlie took off down the hallway, his coat floating behind him.

"Who's Connie?" Layla asked.

"Connie Brittiania," Max told them. "We found her a couple of weeks ago, hiding out in the Arizona desert. She had a severe sunstroke and it's a miracle she and the baby survived. She turns 22 tomorrow,"

"How many people are in the Huntsville Unit?" Adam wanted to know.

Max smiled and opened one final door for them to pass through, leading to the outdoor common area. And the trio caught their breath.

Hundreds of people, children, teenagers, and young adults, were gathered around a large stage, with two men speaking into a duct tape-covered microphone.

Never had it been more obvious, how resilient humanity was. It was so much bigger than just the three of them anymore.

"-before you come to a decision," Surif was informing the people. "But make no mistake, this will be a quick decision! Since we need to start as soon as possible if we hope to rebuild our civilization from the ground up,"

From amongst the applause and hollers, a voice rang out: "Who is it?"

The rest of the people cheered even louder for this inquiry.

"What is this?" Adam asked, observing the meeting with a wary eye.

"We're holding an election," a strange teenager to their right informed filled them in.

"Ah. Whynn, Adam, Layla," Max patted the stranger's back. "Meet 306,"

"What kind of a name is that?" Layla asked.

"Nobody knew my name, so the orphanage matron called me by my room number," 306 informed them, obviously uninterested in small talk.

"Three oh six..." she muttered a few times over, tasting the phrase. "Three oh six... Hey, I could get used to that,"

"You don't have to get used to it, just don't forget it, and we won't have any problems," he told her, immediately shrugging off their attention and taking several paces away from them.

"Well isn't he a barrel of laughs,"

"Max Edison!" Surif called from the stage. "Come forwards and start your debate!"

"Make yourselves comfortable, if you have any questions, just call me, Charlie, or Surif up there," Max shook each of their hands and smiled warmly. "Welcome home, you guys,"

"What now?" Whynn mumbled, as Max disappeared into the crowd and made his way to the podium.

"I don't know about you, but I'm watching an election," Adam told her.

Whynn groaned. "Do we have to? I don't know if you can tell, but sitting around and listening to people talk isn't exactly my idea of a good time,"

Layla snagged her coat and pulled her back towards them. "Yes, we have to. If we're going to call this place our home, let's have a say in how it's going to be run,"

"Max Edison and Phillip Starr, everyone!" Surif announced, cutting off any chance Whynn had at a retort.

The crowd applauded the candidates hesitantly, as they mounted the makeshift stage.

"Phillip Starr was on the Jacksonville High debate team, a fast thinker with big ideas. And the man behind the thinking of how we sectioned the Huntsville Unit, to make sure everyone had the space they needed," Surif introduced him.

Then he gestured at Max. "Max Edison has run one Eden in the past already, founded the very one you're standing in, and is the captain of the SAR squadron,"

"SAR?" Layla whispered.

"Search and rescue," Whynn and Adam responded simultaneously.

"We'll begin with the most popular public concerns, that everyone has voted on," Surif announced to the public, fishing a note card out of his pocket.

"The questions are: What now? What comes first? What are we focusing on?" He turned to Phillip. "Mr. Starr. You have the floor,"

"One word," Starr addressed them matter of factly. "Population. We live in the Huntsville Unit, once the largest prison in the state of Texas. The city of Huntsville used to be home to nearly half a million people. The prison itself used to hold nearly a couple thousand,"

The crowd murmured in surprise, and a few of the Huntsville proud whistled to let everyone know they were there.

"We have to start rebuilding this population," Starr told them all. "If humanity is ever going to get off the ground again, we need numbers. There's safety in numbers. So let's make babies!" That got a laugh and more than a few cheers from the audience.

"But we have to understand that this is a burden we all have to undertake," he announced. "If you have a loved one, fantastic. If you don't, make one. This isn't just about individuals anymore, we had that chance. The days of being exceedingly picky are over now. Whether that be about food, housing, or partners. Those days are behind us now. From this point on, everything we do, we do for the human race,"

"Thank you, Mr. Starr," Surif nodded at him. "Mr. Edison?"

"I think our biggest obstacle at the moment, is the beasts beyond our walls," Max announced. "Sure, humanity can grow. But with them out there... by how much? When comes the point where all we're doing is feeding the madness?"

The crowd muttered in acknowledgment.

"We have plenty of room in this building! As my fellow candidate pointed out already. We're barely filling a fifth of capacity. There's plenty of room for expansion. And expansion is encouraged! But that's not what we need most right now," he spoke lowly into the microphone, as if he was having a conversation with an individual, rather than making a speech to a crowd.

"We need armed posts. We need guards. We need to eliminate the threats before they eliminate us,"

"You suggest that we go to war with the undead?" Starr demanded. "Is that what happened to your old Eden?"

The crowd gasped and covered their mouths. Even Max was surprised by taking a blow that low.

"Max Edison," Starr gestured at him as if introducing him to the crowd again. "The pioneer of global Edens. The very first to have the idea. Surely that means you've done this before as Surif said. What happened to the other one, Mr. Edison?"

The crowd sucked in a collective breath and stared at Max. The response was late, as he took a moment to compose himself.

Max turned to Phillip and studied him for several seconds. "I'm here for the same reason you are, Mr. Starr. For the same reason as everyone else. Do I have to ask what happened to your home? No. Because I know what happened. It's the same thing that happened to all of us. And if all we do is breed like mindless animals, that's all we'll ever have a chance to be. And when they break down our walls, all we'll be doing is feeding them,"

Max turned to the crowd for support. "If we grow, but never learn, we will be stuck this way until someone down the line decides to change things for us. We'll trap ourselves in our instincts. Not just us. Our children will have to start over and over again, like ants rebuilding an anthill every time it rains. We learn to fight them, we learn to survive them. Only then can we outgrow them,"

"Alright!" Surif raised his hands and rushed to the front of the stage. "I told you it was going to be quick. We'll do this in the simplest way possible. Everyone in agreement with Starr's candidacy, make some noise!"

Layla, along with a few others, applauded briefly.

"And let's hear it for Max Edison!"

Even without Whynn's screams, and Adam's echoing claps. Without 306's thundering applause. Hell, even without half of the Huntsville Unit's population, the outcome would have been the same.

Max Edison by a landslide, president of the Huntsville Unit.