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"Jenni"

"Or Jason Or Jack," she hesitated "Or you Nerit Ralph"

He shthtmares I see people-the people around s I have since the first day Juan, the Mayor, Peggy, others When you were sick I kept seeing you as one of those things

Just for a split second A waking night to Jenni that first night I was thinking how beautiful she was, then for a moment, for a flash, I saw her as dead as one of those monsters"

Katie looked up at him, her eyes full of tears "I think we all have those fears"

"We’ll take Laura home with us We’ll help her find her way back to us, to the land of the living We’ll keep each other alive" Travis’ voice was determined, full of eed hihtly to her

"Help each other be strong"

Travis held her in his aro ho and all the others"

Katie felt tears hot on her face and she let herself relax into his warth re And for aher and she wept

"We’ll be okay," Travis promised

Katie looked up at him and nodded "Of course We have no other choice"

Travis smiled at her and said, "Besides, I proet sunburned"

"Oh, you did?" Katie giggled at the thought of Jenni relaxing in the shade of a fancy gazebo

"Yeah I have a soft spot for beautiful wo we have in co his aruided her toward the steps

"You’re the prettiest competition I ever had," he teased her

Katie just smiled at him and they climbed the stairs to join the others

4 In The Heart Of The Abyss

Nerit put Laura down to sleep in the living rooht blanket She sat with her and stroked her clean hair until the girl finally slept Of course, Laura still clutched the VCR remote and the VHS tape, but at least she was asleep

Dinner was a low-key affair Nerit made a delicious meal and they all enjoyed it Ralph even opened up a bottle of wine But at the same tireat sense of sorrow at the table

There was refuge in working hard, planning, keeping alive: a refuge froht the reality of this neorld starkly into view It was hard to deny the horror that existed in the world beyond their tiny conclaves of safety How easily the walking dead had beco, mutilated appearance of the zombies made it easy to hate them, fear them, and even kill them The dead were the enemy and that was a comfort in this world The lines were clearly drawn

But Laura brought it all vividly into focus Her fate was the norm Not theirs They were lucky For one reason or another, they had escaped the initial bloodbath They had not joined the ranks of the dead in that first horrible day It was sobering for all of them to realize that they were alive nearly by the luck of the draw But Laura was also alive, but not nearly so lucky How many, like her, survived only to slowly starve to death as the dead grew in ranks to dominate the earth? How many, like her, were shells of their former self, their minds broken by the horrors they had seen? And would they, the lucky ones, one day see soht world or perhaps find the dead?

But all this remained unsaid They spoke instead of their plans to keep themselves safe, alive, and healthy They had the rare luxury of being in a remote area far from the cities that were overrun with the dead And they knew it It was a blessing and a burden

After dinner, Katie walked onto the balcony and sat in a chair next to Ralph She didn’t speak, but looked up at the brilliance of the stars above as the fragrant smoke from Ralph’s pipe trailed up to the heavens

"It’s not the end, Katie Just the next step," Ralph finally said

"I guess we are all acting like we’re at a funeral," Katie sighed

"We are The funeral of the world And we’re thea way to est sentences she had ever heard him uilty"

Ralph nodded slowly "We all do"

Katie looked toward the living room and waved one hand "I see her and know that I could have easily have been her Or one of those things I don’t understand why I’ Rebuild" Ralph’s eyes were unwavering from her face

"Sounds so easy," Katie said softly

"But it’s not This is a new and dangerous world Got a map downstairs

Got circles around pockets of survivors I talk to them online or on the CB

Have since the first day Each day less people respond Maybe the grid in their area has gone down or the Internet has failed Or h world I talk to a trucker stuck out in the hills every day He ran out of gas He is low on food I can’t go get hi to die out there And I’m his only friend"

Katie shivered and slu you both here"