Once we were as settled in as you could get in this situation, Zoe practically dragged me out of the condo to see if we could find John or Darren. The good thing about the neighborhood is that they had their own integrated septic and water systems for the whole cul-de-sac, so the toilets and sinks worked. Their system ran off of the nearby lake and streams and drained onto swamp land a few miles away. The majority of it was powered by the various solar-lights strategically placed on various front lawns.

Roy was excited to see how it worked exactly, since he was the one who had rigged the downstairs bathroom to work in the apartment. I had asked what exactly he did before the infection took over and Roy just said, "A bit of everything." I had assumed he was an engineer or something.

Chloe had introduced Ethan to Amanda and was currently telling her all about our life at the cabin.

"There are a few other kids here too. Some of the older ladies organized classes for 'em," Ethan mentioned and Chloe's face scrunched up.

"I am not goin' to school."

Ethan looked at her, "That's what you think."

She crossed her arms, "That's dumb. School is the last thing we need." She looked up at me expectantly. "Bailey?"

I floundered for a second and fought the urge to say 'Listen to your brother', "You want to stay smart? Then you should definitely take those classes otherwise I'm going to have to dye your hair blonde."

"You're blonde," Chloe retorted.

"Yes, but I'm the exception to the rule," I said like I was the Queen of England.

Laughs echoed around me.

"Hey! I'm smart; I just don't make smart choices. There's a difference you know."

"Well, I can testify to you not making smart choices," Zoe added. The pot calling the kettle black right there.

They were still laughing when we reached their condo. Zoe opened to door and did a quick patrol of the space. Chloe put down her pack and scrutinized her new house.

"I think I like the cat one better."

No one else was in there so Zoe and Ethan offered to give us a tour of the premises. I had made sure that I put my fully loaded Beretta in my waistband, just in case. I didn't know how secure this place was.

"You won't need to carry that around in here," Zoe said when she spotted my gun.

I shrugged, "Kind of a habit now. How exactly do they handle the weapon situation here?"

"If you need a weapon, they assign you one. They keep track of 'em at the club house and monitor who has what," Ethan answered. "You have to hand over your weapons, but you can take them out when needed if you pass their trainin' course. Basically they just want to make sure you can handle a weapon without casualties. Most people feel better with less guns floatin' around."

"And I assume that's where John is?"

"Yep, they have him and a Sergeant running the course."

I guess I would be subjected to this training course soon, but I sure as hell wasn't forfeiting my Beretta.

We passed by one of the make-shift guard towers. A Filipino woman nodded at us briefly from her perch at the top of the ladder platform, then turned back to outside the walls. She was decked out in all camo and wielded a massive sniper rifle; she looked like she took her job very seriously.

We were introduced to many wandering faces and I instantly forgot their names. It turns out there were four other guard towers spread out around the block. Two were along the wall with the gate up front and one for each other wall; all manned with a body and a fancy sniper rifle. Ethan explained that the guards took shifts during the day and at night they only had one on as more of a lookout to sound the alarm if something happened. Any artificial light at night would mean more power usage and would draw in the infected like a beacon.

Zoe said Darren sometimes took guard duty, but had decided today to go with one of the scouting crews. Obviously he hadn't been with Byron's crew and still hadn't returned. It seemed like everyone had a job to do. It made me wonder where I would fit in. I had no desire to farm or teach kids, which didn't leave me with many other options.

Zoe mentioned that a lot of the women tended to the various backyard gardens. There wasn't enough space in the cul-de-sac to plant a large, proper garden, so they utilized all the backyards to grow separate small crops. My mouth was already salivating at the thought of fresh vegetables. They also had a small chicken coop that provided eggs and meat and even had two cows. I was thankful that our condo wasn't the one with the livestock in the back, which would stink.

It was fairly well put together considering the circumstances. The rest of the people volunteered to do supply runs and scavenging trips to gather more supplies. That was the thing with a community. More people meant more mouths to feed and care for. Large groups were great until you had logistics to think about. Zoe had mentioned that the official population of Hargrove was eighty-three with us here.

"What exactly do you do here?" I asked Zoe.

She smiled, "Well, I teach every other day for the kid's classes and take care of some of the gardens."

I gawked at her. She never mentioned a desire to teach.

"I wasn't expecting that."

"Yeah well, the Arts Degree was just because my parents said I had to go to college. I wasn't particularly interested in it."

"You never mentioned that before."

Zoe shrugged, "Never really wanted to think about my future before, so I had no idea what was out there."

"Fair enough." I hadn't thought past graduation before all this.

"My job's a lot less exciting than Ethan's," Zoe nodded towards Ethan.

"Naw, it's not excitin'," Ethan waved her words off. "I help out Wyatt with anythin' that needs gettin' done."

"So you're kind of in the inner circle then?" I asked. That could come in handy.

Ethan looked almost embarrassed, "I dunno 'bout that. I do a bit of everythin' instead of just one job."

"If you're looking for an in, Byron and the Sergeant are Wyatt's second hand men," Zoe added.

"That's not what I meant, but I'll keep that in mind. What kind of job do you think I should take?" I re-directed the conversation.

"Do they still need a handyman?" Roy asked.

"You guys don't have to worry about that right now. Wyatt prefers that people get adjusted before they start contributing," Zoe answered.

"You guys can't have been here that long, two and a half weeks at most, but you're already doing jobs," I pointed out then pressed on, "how did you guys all end up here anyways? The cabin was chaos when I got back."

Zoe and Ethan shared a look.

"Yeah, let's hear!" Chloe tore herself from talking with Amanda to butt in.

"Darren and I arrived here first," Zoe started, guilt lacing her voice. "When we realized the cabin was being overrun, Ethan ran out to go find Chloe. He was gone for a long time before Darren demanded that we leave, so we took the truck and hoped that we would run into Bailey on our way out. There were so many infected and we had no idea of what to do other than leave. And once we got in the truck, we couldn't spot any of you. So we left."

She looked ashamed, so Ethan placed a hand on her shoulder, "There's nothin' you guys could've done against that many infected, especially with us scattered 'round like we were."

Zoe looked at me, pleading, "I didn't want to leave you, but we had no choice."

"Zoe, I left when I didn't see you guys too, so I'd say we're even." I gave her an awkward one armed hug.

"We're together now," Chloe added. "That's what matters."

"You're like a little fortune cookie," I grinned.

Chloe narrowed her eyes at me, but before she could retort, Ethan started his story.

"As you can guess, I wasn't goin' to leave without Chloe. I stumbled upon John who was headin' back from where ever he had been. He was screamin' like a mad man 'bout bein' surrounded, like we we're in the middle of a battlefield or somthin'," Ethan took a breath, "John convinced me to check back by the cabin since he hadn't seen any sign of Chloe that far out. Once we got within range, the crazy bastard knocked me out cold."

"What?!" I took a step back in shock, like I had actually been pushed.

"Yeah, he knew I wasn't goin' to stay put so he knocked me out and locked up the cabin. When I came to, I was so mad that I took a swing at him. It was dark out, but there were still lots of roamin' infected. He claimed that he could tell from the tire marks and foot prints in the dirt driveway that you had come back and that Chloe was with you in the car."

I nodded impressed with John. All the tracking and hunting wisdom Taylor had attempted to pass onto me had originally come from John, so I wasn't surprised that he could fit the puzzle pieces together. I do think knocking out Ethan was a bit much though. Leaders always had the tough choices.

Ethan continued, "I knew John would know what he was talkin' 'bout and trusted him. But I'm still pissed 'bout bein' knocked out. We waited for two days in the cabin with no lights on and not a sound until the infected had mostly moved on. From there we started out on foot with any supplies we could carry and one canister of gas just in case. We found an old dirt bike on another property 'bout seven miles away; would've preferred a car, but it was better than nothin'. Using the bike, we headed for John's shop hopin' you guys would show up there too."

"I'm glad you left my present there. I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't," I thanked Ethan.

If John's store had truly been empty, who knows what we would have done. Unprotected in the city was like being dropped in an ocean full of sharks. We probably wouldn't have run into Byron and thus, would have never found Hargrove. So many different outcomes, but we had been lucky enough to find the best one.

"From John's shop, we checked out nearby places and ran into Byron who brought us to Hargrove. Zoe and Darren had been here 'bout four days at that point. We went back to John's shop every other day see if you had found the Berretta and map in his office," Ethan stopped and hugged Chloe again, "I still can't believe you two are here."

"That makes-"

I was interrupted by a familiar bellowing southern accent, "Ho-ly shit, Bailey!"

I turned to see John's cowboy hat bobbing towards me, with the man himself underneath. He jogged over and gave me a giant hug. The heavy duffle he had on his shoulder swung around and whacked us in the side.

"Ouch," I said as I pulled away, pushing the bag off.

"Sorry 'bout that, forgot I had the thing on. Can't believe my eyes." He walked over and gave Chloe a hug too.

"What do you have in there? Bricks?"

John grinned, "Guns and ammo from trainin'."

We all looked over when John hefted his thumb to the entrance. Various people were filing out of two large SUVs, including a larger man decked out in full military attire.

"I see that you noticed Sergeant Grant, I'm helpin' him run the gun trainin'. Some people just can't handle a weapon with a darn. You get to meet Wyatt and some others yet?"

I nodded, "Just coming off of the official tour. Pretty good setup here."

"Who's your friend?" John jerked his head towards Roy.

My introductions were severely lacking today.

"Sorry John, this is Roy and his daughter Amanda from our last survivor hideout."

They shook hands, "So you're the gun store owner I've heard about, nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Any friend of Bailey's, is a friend of mine." John tipped his hat for emphasis. "Guess I should introduce you to the others."

He started back towards the group at the entrance expecting us to follow. John seemed a lot more like the old John now. The last time I had seen him, he was still grieving Taylor. I caught up to John after a couple of beats.

"So, what's this I hear about you knocking out Ethan?"