The crowd of teenagers watched him along with the others, not quite knowing what to do, or how to console him in his grief.

"I'm so sorry," he said looking up at them and pulled a revolver from his jacket. He pressed the barrel to his head and blew a fist size hole in it.

"You don't have to leave today," Monaco told Sarah. "We want you to stick around. All the other kids agreed on it."

Sarah slammed her duffel bag on the floor of the classroom. The motion jarred her wounded arm and she shook in pain.

"Stay and rest of the night at least," he urged her. "You can leave in the morning. I'll make sure that you have enough supplies and an armored vehicle. Please, do this for me."

Sarah picked up her bag and placed it near the mattress in her room.

"Fine, but we're only staying tonight. I don't care how much my arm hurts tomorrow, we're going."

"Thank you," Monaco smiled and left her alone. He made it halfway down the hallway and ran into Joelle.

"How is she?" Joelle said.

"She'll be okay. I think she over exerted herself on the trip to Townsend. I didn't realize she'd been shot in the raid. She never complained about it at all."

"She's a tough bitch. But even Wonder Woman needs to rest sometimes."

Monaco laughed at her comment, but then grew quiet.

"Do you really have to go? After everything that's happened here we could use your help."

"I'm sorry, Monaco. Sarah is right. This isn't our home. We don't belong here."

"Then where do you belong?"

Joelle chewed her bottom lip. Her shoulders lifted and fell. "I don't know, but I feel trapped in here. This isn't freedom or a safe place to me, it's a prison. You might succeed in keeping out all those dead folks and the Watchers, but you'll eventually go crazy in this place."

"We'll branch out one day. You and your friend are welcome to come back any time you wish." Monaco thought to himself for a moment then added. "And Alex as well, when he's finished searching for whatever it is he's looking for."

Joelle patted him on the back in a friendly gesture, "I'll let you know how things turn out."

She headed for the room she shared with Sarah and didn't look back.

Monaco found a broom in the janitor's closet and began sweeping the long hallway. He had a mess on his hands, and it would take years to clean everything up.

Chapter 14.

As dawn awoke, spreading streams of light across the sky, an armored Winnebago thundered out of the school's gates and onto the highway. Inside, Sarah drove, Alex kept a visual vigil in the passenger seat, and Joelle napped on a stale bed. They'd said their goodbyes, made promises to return one day, and didn't stick around for Dr. Adams' funeral. The road was relatively clear of zombies and wrecks and, as the school disappeared over the horizon, it started to rain.

Alex darted his eyes back and forth, scanning the terrain for anything out of the ordinary and avoiding Sarah's sharp glares.

"Do you know where we're going?" She asked him after awhile.

"No, I'm just here for the ride."

"Is that so?"

She slammed on the brake pedal and had a handgun pointed to his head before he could make a move. Joelle removed the blanket covering her body and aimed a shotgun in his general direction.

"Who are you working for, Alex?"

"No one, I work for myself. I don't have any affiliation with the Watchers, Marauders, or the survivors."

She jabbed the barrel against his head. "Start talking or I'll start shooting."

Alex took a deep breath. He steadied himself and thought up a quick lie.

"I'm trying to find the Marauders so I can join them. I thought you to could lead me in the right direction but then you were taken prisoner by the Watchers. I'd planned to free you but you managed to escape from them."

"Why didn't you say something sooner? And why the fuck do you want to be a Marauder? I thought you worked for yourself?" Sarah pressed.

"What did you expect me to say? I knew who both of you were, I thought those kids in the school didn't have a clue. I know how to keep my mouth shut," he said, and risked smiling at her. "And don't forget I saved both of your asses. If it wasn't for me you'd be zombie chow."

"He's got a point," Joelle conceded.

Sarah lowered her handgun.

He breathed a little easier, and relaxed into the seat.

"I guess we'll keep you around for now. At least you're easy on my eyes," Sarah replied. She put the gun back into its holster and drove onward.

Joelle propped her shotgun beside the bed.

Alex eyed them both with renewed interest.

"How far away are they?" He said.

"We don't know. We're going to check out one of the strongholds and hope we find them or at least a clue to where they went."

"They move around a lot, don't they?" he said, instantly regretting his tone, but the girls didn't seem to notice any hint of malice in his voice. They had slipped into a semisecure state and focused more on the road ahead than on him.

"Once they see how well you shoot that rifle they'll want you to join right away. Maybe you can even be part of my unit," Sarah smirked. "Well have to see what Graves says."

Alex dug his nails into his palms at the mention of Graves' name. He turned his attention toward the window so they couldn't see the seething rage expressed on his face.

"Yeah, Graves would love to meet you. Half of the guys on the squad can't shoot for shit," Joelle said. "He'll be overjoyed to have a sharpshooter on our side."

Alex patted the wolf's head knife strapped to his thigh. It burned when his fingertips touched the stainless steel; it was eager for blood.

"I can't wait to greet him," he said.

"It's pouring. Pull over, you can't drive in this mess," Joelle insisted.

"I'm fine. I can see the road. Why don't you go make a few pipe bombs or something?"

"What happened to the ones I made you?"

"I didn't need them," Sarah said. "I gave them to Monaco in case the Watchers attack again."

The Winnebago barreled down the highway doing sixty. Rain hammered the windshield, blinding them between swipes from the wiper blades, and even then it was nearly impossible to see.

"She's right," Alex said. "You should pull over for a few minutes. I need to piss anyway."

"I'm not stopping," she told them. "We're about two or three hours away and I don't want to wait any longer. And Alex, there's a bathroom in the back, just don't leave the seat up."

He grunted and headed to the back of the Winnebago.

"Sarah . . . this is stupid, slow down a little at least."

She ignored Joelle's pleas and drove around a wrecked jeep in the middle of the road.

"Hey! Watch it, I almost fell in the toilet," Alex said from the bathroom.

The girls fell into a fit of laughter and Sarah reduced her speed.

"What am I going to do with that guy?" she said, shaking her head.

"You like him. I can tell. He likes you too. I can see it in the way he watches you," Joelle grinned.

"Shut up," Sarah answered, and brought the Winnebago to a halt beside a long-abandoned tour bus.

"I thought you didn't want to stop?"

"I didn't, but I want to check out that bus, it might have something valuable in it."

"Let's wait for the rain to stop," Joelle said. "I don't need to get the flu on top of my broken ankle."

Sarah peered over her shoulder to make sure that Alex wasn't out of the bathroom yet.

"Do you believe him?"

Joelle shook her head. "No."

"I don't believe him either. I think we can trust him but I'm not sure what it is he really wants."

"Maybe he's just along for the ride, or for you," Joelle chuckled.

The bathroom door creaked open.

"I'm going to kill you, Joelle," Sarah said.

"I'm only trying to help," she shrugged.

Alex leaned against the small kitchen stove.

"Why did you stop? Have you finally come to your senses?"

Sarah opened her mouth to respond but Joelle was quicker.

"There's a bus on the road we want to check out. Sarah said the two of you should go inside while I stay here."

Sarah punched her in the shoulder.

"Ouch," Joelle whined.

"I'll get my rifle," Alex said.

"Don't bother," Sarah told him. "We'll be fighting in close quarters if anything is moving around inside. Bring that machete of yours and grab a revolver. Monaco stored a bunch of weapons in the cargo hold."

She watched him go to the storage and pick a .35 special from the armory. She waited for him at the side door, clutching her .357 magnum.

"Are you ready?"

Alex snatched his machete from the top bunk bed. He strapped the melee weapon to his belt. "Let's roll."

Sarah slammed open the side door of the Winnebago and was immediately pelted by rain. Overhead, thunder rumbled and lighting flashed across the sky. She let Alex get ahead of her.

"We'll be back soon," she told Joelle.

"Have fun you two," Joelle said, smiling.

Sarah closed the door and joined Alex outside. He was looking over the tour bus and pointed to a few blown out tires.

"Let's try to get inside. I'm getting drenched out here."

They ran around the bus until they discovered the sliding glass door. Sarah forced her fingers between the cracks and tried to pry it open but the door remained secure.

Alex motioned for her to get out of the way. He slammed the machete down on the glass, cracking it into thousands of tiny shards, and hacked away at the door until he could reach his hand inside and push the metal rod that would allow them to open the door.

Turning to Sarah, he said, "Piece of cake."

"We'll see. Now move aside so I can get in too."