Graves' laughter slowly faded. "Who are you? You look familiar."

"Do you want to know who I am? You killed my uncle in a gas station and left me for dead."

Graves shrugged. "Hey kid, I've killed a lot of people. Do you expect me to remember every one?"

Alex slammed the rifle into his jaw.

Graves doubled back and rubbed his chin. "You're going to pay for that one," he sneered.

"Alex, this isn't the time for revenge. Harvey is bleeding to death and his little girl is inside somewhere," Sarah reasoned.

"I may never get another chance," Alex snapped, and brought the rifle down again, smashing it into Graves's face.

There was a loud crack and blood erupted from his nose. Graves choked and yelled.

"Don't be selfish," Sarah said.

Alex kicked Graves in the stomach. He was about to repeat the action when a gun blast came from the cabin. The bullet smashed into Alex's shoulder, and sent him to the ground.

Sarah fired four rounds into the house and waited. Whoever was inside didn't return fire but started screaming a stream of curse words.

"Hold your goddamn fire! He's dead already," the man inside called. "I don't care about Graves. Kill his ass, but don't kill me."

"Danny Boy, is that you?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Taking care of business," she replied. "Where's the little girl?"

"She's safe, don't worry. Harvey can have her back. I just want out of this mess."

Graves rose to his feet. Despite the blood streaming down his nose he managed a guttural yell. "Danny Boy, you're a fucking traitor!"

"Hey, fuck you, man," he called back from the cabin.

"Give us the girl and we'll let you walk out of here alive," Sarah said.

"Finish off Graves and then we'll talk," Danny Boy replied.

"It would be my pleasure," Alex grinned.

But before he could make a move Graves charged at him head-on like a football player and knocked him to the ground. Alex's rifle was batted aside and Graves planted a fist into his stomach and then a few to his spleen.

Alex grunted as each blow struck, sending blasts of pain throughout his body. He reared his leg back and crashed his boot heel into Graves' head.

Graves staggered and toppled back.

Alex rose to his feet and withdrew the wolf head knife.

Graves' eyes focused on the long serrated blade. "You . . ." he drifted off and then started laughing. "You're a crazy fucking bastard."

Alex brandished the knife. "Come on!"

Graves darted toward him.

The knife extended and slid across his arm.

"You son of a bitch, you don't deserve to kill me," Graves taunted. "Hey Joelle, who's crazier: me or some freak who spent the last year tracking me down?"

Joelle buried her head into Harvey's chest.

Alex swiped the blade across Graves' forehead, making the flesh split just above his left eye. He jerked forward and stabbed but Graves leapt out of the way.

"You're a fucking brat," he said and backed up. "You're uncle was a fucking stupid piece of shit for not protecting that gas station. Did he really think nobody would ever stop by to loot it?"

Alex roared and darted forward. This time Graves didn't have time to escape. Alex shoved the blade into his lower stomach, letting the metal work its way through the ropey muscles and soft organs beneath. He shoved harder and Graves' eyes widened in pain. Alex let go and watched as Graves stumbled backwards. The zombie he'd been throwing makeshift spears at was just behind him. It twitched and gave him a hungry stare, but without a lower jaw it couldn't even take a bite out of him.

Graves toppled over, gripping the knife handle. He lay below the zombie and struggled for the last breath of air he would ever know.

Then, a shotgun blast thundered, sending Graves's head into a dozen fragmented pieces.

Alex turned around to find Joelle holding Harvey's shotgun.

"He had it coming," she said.

Epilogue.

Danny Boy was given a full pardon, enough food to last him a week, a double barreled shotgun with ten shells taken from the cabin, and a warning for any leftover fragments of Marauders surviving on the fringes of humanity: their king was slain.

Sarah, Alex, Joelle, Abbey, and a patched up Harvey watched as Danny Boy walked into the forest alone. He offered a wave before he left, but none of them waved back except for Abbey. Within a few moments, he stepped past a dense group of trees and into oblivion.

Sarah held onto Alex, pressing herself against him.

"What now?" Sarah asked.

"What do you mean?" Alex said.

"Where do we go from here?"

Harvey placed his arm around his daughter and offered his advice. "We go on living and surviving, that's all we can do in this world now."

Joelle kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, actually..." Alex dug into his back pocket and produced the journal containing the vivid drawings and maps of Alaska that he had discovered back in the woods so long ago. "Freedom." He remembered that word and the feeling it had given him when he'd first read it. He opened the book to the map that indicated their current location, traced the route with his fingertip and smiled. "I have something to show you guys..."

He turned and headed back into the cabin. The others, his new family, curious about what he had to show them, followed him inside. They gathered around the fireplace for warmth and conversation, and discussed new possibilities.

Outside, the wind howled and somewhere in the distance a horde of zombies began to move their frozen limbs.

The End.