Max had long since gotten used to not speaking, 4ut after hours of scrounging and a find such as this, she couldn't help a nigh inaudible whisper. "You gotta be kidding me..." A glint of silver shone out from beneath a relatively fresh corpse. By the teethmarks in the bone she could tell that there were zombies nearby, but this guy had lain here for a few days at least. He'd been eaten where he'd fallen, but aside from the blood and remaining bile like residue, she could see the silver shining curve of a handle bar. She was a car girl by nature, but in this festering bloated corpse of a world the best thing for transportation was a bicycle. It didn't need gas and as long as you knew how to fix a chain and had a tire pump you were pretty much set for transportation. She'd suffered with her current ride for months, a bent feather-lite she'd scavenged from the remains of a bike messenger. If this was what she thought it was, she wouldn't have to worry about the frame bending like her feather-lite had. She looked up to make sure she was sill alone and proceeded to pull the shamble of bones and cloth off the bike. She smiled when she saw the word Schwinn followed by Gray Ghost. Oh this was a treat. She'd seen photographs of her father as a child astride his trusty Schwinn and as she lifted the bike level she could feel by the weight that this sucker was going to carry her far. Whoever this guy was he'd taken pretty good care of his bike, it was almost a shame to take it out from under his meatless bones. She left the featherlight where it was and propped the Ghost up on the kickstand. There hadn't been many reasons to smile in the last few days or even weeks, but seeing that shining silver body stand on it's own caused Max' lips to curl back and reveal her teeth. Smiling she proceeded to remove her bedroll and what little belongings she'd packed onto the feather-light and tied them to the sissy bar of the Schwinn.

The remains fell to the ground in a jumble with the slightest of rattling noises. The air had a stagnant feel to it and was made worse by the almost perfect silence that surrounded her. The only thing that cut through the silence was the moan of a far off zombie. The zombies in this town didn't seem as numerous as what Maxine had been running into, but that was due to the large number of anarchists who have taken to raping and murdering people for fun.

Max lifted her head when she heard that moan and decided it was time to relocate. She knew they were drawn to sound in search of food so she snatched a scrap of denim left behind from the body and spat into it. She used this to scrub most of the blood and bile off the seat for now. Had there been birds in the sky she may not have been in such a hurry to relocate. She could have easily found a high place and taken out that distant moaning zombie, but that would have attracted more and God knew who else. She made sure her bedroll was secure and tested the tires on the Schwinn. They would need some air later but there was enough to relocate for the moment. She put her foot down and felt the chain catch beneath her, driving the tires forward. The bike was several pounds heavier than the feather-lite so it made a little more noise as it trundled over the debris scattered about the street. The good thing was was that as she shifted into first gear, she felt she could get enough speed to leave anything roused by the sound in her dust.

It was a good thing she chose to leave when she did, because as she rounded went off three zombies appeared at the street corner heading her direction. They continued to shamble towards her, even when they could no longer be seen. She kicked up dust as she went and was bounced around as she ran over debris that had piled into the road. Traveling through the city turned out to be a bit more difficult then one would have thought. Several large buildings had fallen over, and with abandoned vehicles and random zombie mobs, it was similar to a labyrinth.

Max saw no reason to engage the zombies where she could pass by them. Thanks to that army navy surplus store she had enough water and mre rations to last her a few more weeks. She'd always been a stickler about conserving ammunition and therefore there was no reason to stick around. On the open road there were always less zombies and that was where she felt most comfortable. She couldn't get out of the city limits by nightfall so she needed to find a relatively secure place to hold up till morning. Zombies seemed to be more active at night for some reason.

There was a number of options, but to find one that was truly secure would take some looking. Her best choice would be in a residential district where the zombie population should be lower.

The city proper gradually dwindled behind her as she made her way into the suburbs. After riding for several hours the Schwinn was already proving a much more comfortable ride. It took a lot of the strain off traveling over and around all the debris. She only had an hour or so before the sun sat. She preferred a bit more time to look for a place to hold up, but she was sure she could find someplace out here in Yuppyville. Houses were often secure, but they usually had rotting bodies in them somewhere and she preferred to sleep without flies buzzing her. A garden shed was just the thing. They might only have one real exit, but thin walls would alert her to nearby groans and few windows would ultimately protect her. She began pedaling through the back alleys between homes in search of a small garage or shed to hold up in. Too many of them had broken windows or doors but finally, just as the sun began to dim behind the horizon she found a small shed behind a local lawn mower repair shop. Inside she found a nice dry sheet of plywood to brace the door with and a high window to open to let in some air. In the surrounding neighborhood she couldn't hear any immediate signs of danger so she quietly moved the small engine parts and other obstructions to the walls of the shed and began to prepare for bed.

The open window allowed a gentle yet well-suited breeze to enter the shed and keep it from being too stifling. Most of the engine parts had been looted so there wasn't much to push around and making a bed was a quick task. By this time the sun had set and a few of the street lights had kicked on, flickering on and off as their systems dealt with the neglect. These lights let out a faint buzzing sound that broke the horrible silence.

Max settled down on her bedroll and opened her backpack. She'd managed to find a couple cans of sterno in the military surplus store and was ready to enjoy her first hot meal in weeks. Mre's weren't the most tasty of meals, but warm, they were much better. She removed the small stove from her backpack and took a tin cup of water and set it over the small flame. The good thing about mre's were that they generally just needed water and the thick plastic bags could also double as a bowl. The sterno hissed gently as the water heated, to save on the gas she shut it off it off before the water began to boil. She let the stove cool down while she poured the water into the pack of spaghetti. She used a spork to stir the drab mixture into what resembled food and took her first bite. It wasn't the best, but after surviving off canned dog food two weeks before, it was heavenly. She even had a package of what could be considered pound cake for desert. She'd save that for later though, perhaps for breakfast. This might not be the life she'd dreamed about, but in times like these what more could someone hope for than a hot meal and four walls to keep the zombies out?

She was able to enjoy most of her meal in peace listening to the sound of the rustling plants around her. That's when a something caught her ear, it was still the rustling of bushes, but this was louder and more rough and getting closer.

Max froze in mid bite and listened. She was no fool so she took the cooled sterno stove, packed it into her bag and slung it over one shoulder. That left only her bedroll which she could shove inside her jacket no problem. She could be out of this shed and on the road in seconds if she needed to. She wasn't sure if zombies could scent a person or not, but they could hear just fine. She stayed as quiet as possible, listening past the sound of her heartbeat to the backyard around her. She slowly pulled her machete from her belt and waited to cleave somethings head in two.

Soon, she was able to hear more. Accompanying the loud rustling noise was three rough voices and laughter, quickly eliminating the chance of them being zombies. The popped out of the bushes a few seconds later, their voices perfectly clear as they walked near the shed, most of their conversation was some sort of "pissing contest" about who had the most zombie kills. A flashlight beam danced, briefly, across the ceiling as they shined it around.

Max was more nervous about having normal people near than she was zombies, but she didn't leave her right hand empty for long. She filled it with her twelve gauge and slowly eased onto the balls of her feet. She kept low and was glad she'd leaned the Schwinn onto it's side rather than leaving it up on the kickstand. They may have spotted it through the window with that flashlight of theirs. She knew the plywood barricade wouldn't last long if they really wanted in, but it might at least provide her a few seconds advantage. After all she knew what was outside the shed, they had no idea what was inside.

They didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary and kept on moving. Walking over to one of the houses, they stopped and gave a quick listen before quickly kicking in the back door and charging in. There was a brief moment of silence before gunshots could be heard in the house, accompanied by the occasional muzzle flash. A few seconds later the men returned, one companion short, but were now manhandling two people out of the house.

Awe hell... there was no way Max would get a safe night's sleep after what these guys had done. She rolled her bedroll up and lifted the Schwinn onto it's kickstand. She tied it down and slipped her other arm in the strap of her backpack. She stepped onto an old plastic milk crate and took a peek out the open window. The distance between the house and the shed was a bit too far to see if they'd pulled zombies from the home so she took a peek through the scope of her Mouzer to see what was going on.

The two remaining men did not have zombies in their clutches, as was obvious by the subjects' attempts to break free and not to bite or eat the men. They had dragged out two survivors, both female. One was in her mid-forties while the other one looked to be around 12-15 years old. It was pretty obvious what they were planning on doing as they threw the two women to the ground and began to undo their own pants. That is when the older woman pulled a knife from her belt loops and, like a snake striking, stabbed it down to the handle into one of the men's leg. She immediately got up and began to run. This attempt was short lived however as the wounded man pulled a pistol and fired four bullets into the woman's back, who crumpled to the ground and didn't move. "Fucking bitch shanked me!" The man with the bloody leg said as he walked over to the corpse and kicked it sharply in the face. "I thought you checked them you dumb fuck." He said, gesturing angrily to the other man who just flipped him off, "Check your own toys, ya zombie's chew toy!"

One thing that Max could not abide by was brutality against women. She'd suffered too many black eyes herself. Sadly before she could load the mouzer the woman who'd broke and ran was face first in the dirt and if she wasn't dead yet, she would be in a few minuets. She wasn't about to let the girl meet the same fate after what they had planned for her. She squeezed back the trigger and a split second later the shooter's head exploded all over his buddy. Max ejected the cartridge and pushed the lever forward, loading the next.

"Oh shit!" The other man said as he was shown what was on his friend's mind. He quickly reached down and dragged the girl back to her feet and held her infront of him as he looked around frantically with his gun pressed hard into her temple. "Show yourself! Or I'll turn her head inside out!"

"You first pal." Max whispered and squeezed the trigger. Perhaps it wasn't the nicest way to get away from her attacker, but a second later this man's skull exploded all over the teenage girl. These two shots would have easily carried over a mile. Max had to relocate, especially before she ended up with some stupid kid to take care of. She slung the mouser over her shoulder and pushed the plywood away from the door.

The man's body fell forward, pinning the girl under it. She struggled for a bit before managing to get free and she ran over to her mother's body, knelling next to it before leaning down and wrapping her arms around it in a hug, sobs wracked her body.

Max pushed the door open and peddled out of the shed. She passed the girl and reached the sidewalk and was just about to head down the street when the sobbing made her stop. She sighed and turned the bike around. She rode to the body of the first man she'd shot and removed his pistol and any ammo or weapons she could find. He had a nice looking kabar so she slipped it into her jacket and began searching his buddy.

His buddy had a pistol as well as a shotgun on a shoulder strap. The girl didn't seem to register that she was there, and just continued to weep.

These were fine weapons, used but one of these guys knew how to keep them clean. She took the pistols, shotgun and ammo and approached the girl. She had to do this quick before any zombies got the bright idea to come towards the sound of her shots. "Hey." She told the girl. "Get up. You can cry later."

The girl didn't respond, didn't even pause in her mourning.

Max sighed and kicked down the stand on the bike. She grabbed the girl by the arm and hauled her to her feet. She gave her a good firm shake to try and bring her around if only for a few moments. "Listen to me!" She growled. If the girl didn't pay attention in half a second Max wouldn't wait around any longer.

The girl reacted to the sudden actions and lashed out at Max, slapping her hard on the face with her free arm before ripping herself free of Max's grip. She calmed down immediately, looking down at the ground in between them. "Just leave me alone." she said, her voice carried little care with it.

Max didn't waste any time reacting. The girl's strike was sloppy, but it stung. Max let go of her arm but caught her by the throat and pulled her close. "Pay attention." She growled and threw the girl to the grass. "Magazine release." She said indicating the button on the side of the first pistol. She hit it, ejected the mag, removed a bullet and put it back in before sliding it back into the pistol. "Pull back." She pulled the slide back and released and said. "Safety." Indicating the little button near the trigger. "Squeeze, shoot." She dropped that pistol at the girl's feet and went through the same process with the second one. Once she was done with that she demonstrated how to load and cock the shotgun. She dropped it too at the girl's feet. "They're drawn to sound. Don't stick around." She pointed towards the city. "Don't go that way." Max then slung her leg over the ghost and peddled toward the sidewalk. She reached inside her jacket and found that she'd shoved the kabar down in her pack of spaghetti. Riding with one hand she licked the sauce off the kabar scabbard and wedged it between her butt and the seat. The mre was cold by now, but she had enough skill to ride one handed and eat at the same time.

The girl just sat there where Maxine had thrown her, staring at the guns. Chances were that the girl would use them before the zombies ever got to her.

Max was long gone. She could have taken those weapons for herself, but they would have weighted her down. She couldn't in her right mind leave the girl defenseless and she wasn't about to take care of her. That was just looking to be attacked in the middle of the night. She peddled on, traveling through the streets, eating what was left of her smashed spaghetti. She wasn't completely without remorse though. That girl had just lost her mother and even though Max hated her's, she half expected to hear a shot go off before she could get out of earshot.

Surprisingly there was no shot, whether that meant she decided not to shoot herself or just waited longer Maxine would never know. As she peddled down the roads, there was no sign of zombies, other then the occasional corpse that had been left around for awhile. How many people was she riding past, people hiding in fear of what lay waiting outside wishing their life could be better, but too afraid to try and find out.

It wasn't bright to travel at night, but the best thing to do was just stay on the move. She'd missed her window due to that little fiasco and now it looked as if she had another night of peddling away from what used to be civilization. Maybe once she got out of the suburbs she could find a tree. It wouldn't be the first time she slept in a tree.

She wasn't that far from the city limits, so it didn't take long to leave the suburbs behind. The landscape outside of the city seemed untouched, as if this was just a normal day in a normal world, at least till you gave it a good look and saw the shambling figures in amongst the trees.

Max sighed and peddled on, swerving between cars and completely around them when the way was blocked. She did her best to keep her distance should something try to reach out at her. Yeah... unless she found a semi or something else high to sleep on she would just have to peddle the rest of the night.

This far out of the city and on the road, the only light offered was that of the moon. Unfortunately, this was not very much and made searching for a resting spot difficult. However, there seemed to be a large vehicle ahead, either a Semi-trailer or an RV.

Max slowed to a stop and pulled the Mauser around to check out the vehicle through the scope. It was hard to tell exactly what it was, but to Max, it looked like a cross town buss that had seen better days. She peered at the windows, expecting to maybe see a shambling corpse inside.

There didn't seem to be any corpses nearby, nor inside the bus, just extreme silence. One of the windows looked like it may be cracked, but otherwise all of them were intact.

Max knew better to trap herself in a tin can like that, but it was high enough that she could keep a lookout and hear anything coming. It looked like the best place to sleep for the night so she began to peddle in that direction.

The bus grew larger as she neared it, giving Max a better idea of what condition it was in.

As max got closer she indeed saw a crosstown bus. It looked as if it had seen better days, but aside from some body damage and an absurd amount of blood, it looked to be in alright shape. Max circled the bus slowly, looking beneath it, into the windows as best as she could see. The door was locked and the emergency exits were secure so she decided to sleep on top. The Schwinn proved a bit heavier than she would have liked, but with the air of a nearby truck, she managed to haul herself and the bike to the roof of the bus without making too much noise. From up here she'd be able to see or hear anything coming her way while remaining relatively hidden.

It was a city bus with New Jersey license plates. The front was dented and splattered with blood. The sides were scratched as well but had minimal blood marks...not compared to the front and back that is.

Max unrolled her bedroll and secured her things before stretching out under the stars. This was much better than the shed by far. There was fresh air, millions of stars and not even a blinking plane of moving satellite interrupted their simple beauty. The world might be going to hell in a hand basket, but there were still a few simple pleasures out here on the open road.

There was a small squeak from the bus roof. Perhaps it wasn't stable enough to hold Maxine and a bike at the same time? The rest of the highway was dead silent... not even a cricket chirp.

Max jerked, her hand reaching into her jacket to grip the glock 40 she kept in a docker's clutch shoulder holster as her backup weapon. She froze, listening for another squeak.

There was nothing, then a very faint, almost inaudible mew from a kitten.

Max leaned up on her elbow, listening again. There is no way she heart a cat all the way out here... she was on her guard though. There were always vagrants and malcontents using little tricks and distractions to ensnare the unwitting.

There was a clanking of tin against pavement from the front of the bus, as if someone knocked something over.

OK, yeah, Pedro Rodriguez didn't raise a fool for a daughter. Max slowly got to her feet and tried with every ounce of cat-like grace in her body, not to make the roof of the bus clang beneath her feet. She stepped slowly and evenly, that pistol at the ready should something or some one attack. As she moved she unhooked the machete from her belt, just as a secondary precaution.

"Don't you move!" shouted a youthful voice from behind Maxine. At the same time, a prick pushed against the center of her spine. "I'll... I'll cut you in half, I will!"

Max froze and placed her hands out to her sides slowly. "Easy..." she said. "And if you don't mind, quiet down... they're attracted to sound." Maybe Pedro Rodriguez did raise a fool. Max, to her best knowledge had never been caught off guard like this. Especially not on a noisy buss roof in the still dead of night.

That squeak Max had heard wasn't the roof, but rather the hatch behind opened. "Put the gun down." the youthful voice insisted.

Max slowly placed the gun on the roof of the bus and lifted her empty hand again. A woman like her wasn't defenseless by any means, but she had no idea what was pointed at her back. She certainly didn't like the idea of having her spine severed, but she didn't like the thought of having her supplies stolen ether. "It's down..." Max said softly. "You got me... I'm unarmed." That was a lie, but unless this person searched her, they wouldn't know any different.

"So..." the point was pulled away from Maxine's spine. "Want to share dinner with me?" Behind Max was a kid, roughly 11 at a glance. He had a bus driver's hat on, about two sizes too big, baggy shorts cut at the knee, converse shoes and a yellow tanktop.

Max slowly turned around and saw an adolescent boy, hardly old enough to babysit himself much less hold her at... garden sheer point. Something about seeing that this scrawny underdeveloped brat had been the one to sneak up on her angered her from head to tow. She reached out with a quick hand, snatched the sheers from him and pushed him back off his haunches. He shouldn't have let his guard down because her glock was pointed in his face a second later. She couldn't shoot a kid this young, but he didn't need to know that. Hell, she hadn't even known that kids this young had survived. "You won;t last very long if you invite everyone you meet to dinner..."

"No one invited you on my bus." he said back, weary of the barrel pointed at his face. Still, it was quite ballsy for him to make that remark. "I didn't do anything to you!" he argued against her killing him.

"I didn't know it was yours." Max said quietly, encouraging him not to raise his voice. "And I don't plan on killing you." She put the pistol back in her dockers clutch, but didn't give him back his sheers. "But you shouldn't trust people like that. There are people out there that's just as soon eat you than look at you. Your lucky it's me and not some sicko who thinks you'd make a good sex toy." She moved back towards her bedroll and began to roll it back up. She was apparently not destined to sleep tonight.

"I think it's pretty obvious you weren't going to eat me....you were carrying a gun." he said, standing and pulling his pants up. "Gimme that back." he demanded, holding his hand out for the sheers.

"I didn't mean Zombies." Max told him. "I mean normal people... well, mostly normal." She shoved his sheers in her belt, obviously not willing to give them back yet. "You'll get these back when I'm gone." She told him, continuing to pack up her stuff. As she tied her bedroll to the bottom of her backpack he might notice some tools inside as well as what looked like military rations, a few cans of sterno, a sawed off twelve gauge and water. She looked to be well stocked, probably ten times better than he was.

"Then leave now." he said quickly, trying to snatch the sheers back from her. "Just who do you think you are, missy? That's all I got."

"Easy." She said, holding him back at arms length. "Here." She handed him a green plastic package. "I'll rent them from you while I pack. Eat that, I'll be done and you can have em back."

"The fuck is this? And what are you doing...packing?" he asked, unsure about the packet. Didn't she just say to not trust anyone?

She grabbed the pack from him, tore the top off of it and popped a bite into her mouth. "There." She said threw a mouthfull of moist jerky. "Iff's fafe." She said, proving that it was safe now that she'd eaten some of it. And yes she was packing, that was obvious by the fact that... she was packing.

Gus' eyes lit up and he snatched the packet back. "Oh wow! Thank you so much!" Pulling out a stick, he broke it in half and happily started to gnaw on it. Gus hadn't had meat in months. "You're leaving so soon?" Seems his mood had changed about her presense now that he was being fed.

"I don't hang around people." Max said moving a crescent wrench so it didn't smash her sterno stove. "There could be cannibals in the treeline and your probably the bait. No offense."

"I just got here." he confessed. "Well... earlier in the evening. Something's wrong with the engine I think." Gus went back to eating his jerky quickly. He kept half of the meat in the packet for later and for Barnaby.

Max looked up. There was something wrong with the engine? "You mean you drive this thing?" She asked. How many bands of roaming cannibals and rape happy gangs drove around in a bus? "You?"

"Yup!" he said proudly, placing his hands on his hips, posing. "I'm a really good driver too. WOAH! Is that YOUR bike?"

"I just found it earlier today." Max told him. She looked at the angle of the moon in the sky. It would take a while to find a new place to sleep, if she could find a new place. "Look... uh... Can I see your wrist?" She asked, reaching an empty hand towards him. "I won't hurt you, but I'd like to ask you some questions..."

"Uhm.... that's weird, lady." He looked at his bare arm, dappled in freckles, "Why do you need my wrist?" Gus made a scrunched up expression, lifting the upper corner of his lip.

"Based on how fast your heart beats I can tell if your lying or not." Max told him. "I might be able to fix your bus, for trade, but I won't touch it unless I know your telling the truth."

"Really? That's pretty cool." He gave her his wrist. "Just don't hurt me or my friend Barnaby is going to have to come out here and kick your ass."

Max took his wrist and at the sound of Barnaby she grew rather uneasy. "Who's Barnaby?" She asked.

"I can introduce you two when you are done." Gus explained, rather innocently. It was nice to have some leverage on this...but he did really want his sheers back. Just in case. "He's usually pretty shy though... so be nice."

His heart rate felt pretty steady. Unless this kid was a pathological liar, he was telling the truth. "Am I gonna have to worry about Barnaby or anyone else trying to hurt me?"

"Nah. He's a sweetheart as long as you're nice." Gus explained, shoving the jerky pack in his pocket and pulling his shorts a bit.

Max seemed satisfied so she let go of his wrist. "Alright... bring him out." She told him, reaching into her jacket, ready to pull out her pistol.

"Out here? Why don't you come in. It's cold out here and new people make him a bit nervous." Gus explained, heading over to the hatch he had crawled out of.

"No." max said flatly. "No way I'm getting stuck inside some tin can." There was still a chance that this kid was lieing, though she didn't think he was.

"Stuck? I can unlock the doors." Gus said, a but unsure what this lady was getting at by that comment.

"Bring him out here." Max said seriously. "I'll meet him in the open, not down there..."

"You're stupid." he said and dropped down into the bus. He rustled around before popping his head out. "See?" He held up a calico cat in front of his chest. "This is Barnaby."

Max didn't expect to see a cat of all things. "Oh... well why didn't you say so?" She groaned. "Look, I'm a mechanic. You let me sleep up here tonight and I'll take a look at your engine in the morning."

"Sure lady. But are you going to stay on the roof?" he asked, more then excited for company that wasn't going to eat him.

"I'd rather stay up here than inside yeah." Max told him. "How old are you by the way?"

"Eleven and a half." he said, proud of the 'half' part. "How old are you?"

"Twenty eight." Max told him and proceeded unroll her bedroll again. "So how did you end up with this thing any way?" She asked. "You're awful lit-... young to be driving anything, much less a bus."

"It's my Dad's." he explained, sitting with his feet dangling in the hatch. The calico purred and nuzzled his chin. "He taught me how. My name is Gus, by the way."

"Max." She told him. She wanted to ask where his father was, but thought that in this day and age it was pretty obvious. Instead she asked, "You have any idea what's wrong with it?"

"Not a clue. It's got enough gas an' everything..." he pondered. "For a while, it always made a grinding sound when I turned it on but usually went away. Now it won't let me accelerate."

"Does it eventually get up to speed?" Max asked. To her that sounded like transmission issues. The kid had probably tore up one of the gears shifting and transmission fluid was dirty. This wasn't the best of situations. She might be able to salvage fluid from a nearby semi or a rv for now, but if the gears were shot, this kid would soon be busless. She decided not to say anything about that for now.

"Yup. All I could do was ignore it." Gus confessed, petting his cat. 

"I'll look at it tomorrow when it's light out." Max told him. "For now I gotta get some sleep."

"Can I have my clippers back?" he asked, letting Barnaby jump down into the bus's interior.

"Oh, right." Max said handing them over. "I'm not gonna wake up to my head rolling away am I?" She asked, still having not quite let go yet.

"No. It's nice to talk to someone normal again. Barnaby can't really hold a conversation, you know."

"Alright... well..." Max let go of his sheers and didn't want to be rude, but she wanted to sleep. "Night..." She'd missed out on three hourse of sleep by now and it was going to be hard enough falling asleep with another person near by.

"Night!" he chimed and jumped into the bus. He left the hatch open should she want to join or speak with him.

Max closed the hatch behind him. She'd recognize that squeaking sound again and she wanted to be sure that should he decide to speak with her again or club her in the head with a sledge hammer, she'd be ready for it.

The night went on without another incident and soon the horizon could be seen getting lighter as dawn crept up on the sleeping bus patrons.

Max, no matter how little sleep she'd gotten always woke at the crack of dawn. Three years in the military had bred that into her and in prison those wee hours of the morning were always the most peaceful. She could read or weight train with little interruption. So by the time Gus woke, Max already had the bonnet up on the bus and was head and shoulders inside.

Gus had been up for only a few minutes and was currently sitting on a seat with his foot up, clipping his toenails. "WOAH! Jeez lady! Knock would ya?!" The bus basically looked like a kid's room, that's for sure. Empty Hostess boxes on the floor, accompanied with various knick knacks and clothes.

Max mostly ignored Gus, but already she had grim information about the bus. "You got a bicycle in there?" She asked, closing the hood on the bus and wiping the grease from her hands on her pants.

"A pair of roller blades...why?" he asked, opening the side door to the bus so that they could hear one another better.

Max had already brought ber belongings down from the top of the bus when she'd woken and was packign away the tools she'd been using. "Cause this bus ain't going nowhere."

"W-what?! What... can you fix it?" Gus asked, terrified at what she might say. This bus had been his safehouse since the outbreak hit his hometown.

"Oh sure." Max said tying her pack on the back of the schwinn. "If I had a garage, a transmission and about three guys to help me. This is too big of a job for the two of us and I ain't got the right equipment. It's done."

His heart sank and his expression fell as he stepped out of the bus. Thinking for a moment, his lower lip started to quiver. "No! How am I supposed to get to Nevada now!?" Gus clenched his fists and kicked the tire several times. "FUCKING STUPID BUS!" The tears couldn't be held back any longer. What was he supposed to do now!?

Max felt bad for his situation, but there wasn't anything she could do. "I suggest you take that board and pack what you can into a backpack and go on foot. You attract too much attention in a noisy car or especially a bus like this. It's too hard to find gas, the roads are blocked most everywhere you go. You'll do better on foot."

"Shut up! I hate you!" he shouted and ran into the bus. He hit the lever with his fist and the door flaps shut. He went to the back and sat, crying. He didn't want to die.... he had seen far too many people go, and he was next.

It wasn't her problem. If she stopped to save every down and out person she met one of two things would happen. Zombies would be attracted to the sounds of people talking, their scent or any number of things. Or she'd come across the wrong person and get herself killed, or worse, raped. This boy wasn't her responsibility and she kept telling herself that as she began to peddle the schwinn away from the bus.

Gus sniffled and wiped his eyes. Maybe that woman was right... he had to leave the bus. She said it earlier that this thing was like a tin can he would be trapped in, surrounded by zombies trying to get in. Barnaby mewed and jumped up onto Gus' lap, nuzzling him. Swallowing, he got up and set his cat down for a moment. As quickly as he could, Gus started to throw things into his backpack, including shoes. He pocketed the keys of his father's bus and finally- placed Banaby into the backpack, zipping it almost all the way shut. He left room for Barnaby, should he want to peek his head out. Lastly, Gus took his skateboard and hurried out of the bus.
"I'm going this way too." he said, meaning he didn't necessarily want to admit to staying close to this woman with all the guns.

Max stopped and looked behind her. "What?" Oh no... she should have left quicker. She had a distinct feeling that the kid had designs on traveling with her.

"This is southwest right?" Gus asked. "I need to get to Nevada as soon as I can. Have you by chance wandered upon any vehicles with keys in them? That run of course?"

"Yes this is south west, yes I've found cars with keys in them, no we're not driving." Max suddenly stopped "We?" Since when did she agree to travel with this kid? "Why the hell are you following me?

"I'm not." Gus said flat out. "I'm just going this way too." His voice was rather proud. It masked the sheer terror and sorrow that he actually felt for leaving his Father's bus behind.

"Uh huh..." Max didn't have a set destination for her travels. She'd basically just been zigzagging her way across the state. The next chance she had she might just find a reason to change directions. Two people in one place made more noise than one person on their own. They'd hear them and next thing she knew they'd be up to their necks in biting snapping corpses hell bent on sucking the marrow from their bones. she had to get rid of this kid and soon.

"So... do you have any kids?" Gus asked, trying to make small talk with Max. He had only a cat to talk with for the past few months...that and the radio. Which at this point, were just signals from various crazy people calling for help. Sort of depressing really.

"No." Max said shortly and continued to petal forward. That was a stupid question. If she had kids they'd be with her now and since she was alone, the better question would have been "did you have kids." Which was still no. She was sort of glad too. She just managed to take care of herself. How long would she have lasted with someone else to take care of... well... unless they came to a crossroads where she could change directions, she was going to find out. Damn kid... she should have kept peddling straight on through till morning. Then she wouldn't have a talkative little runt on her tail.

"What do you miss most since before all this happened?" Gus asked, staying pretty close to Max on his skateboard. "I miss Saturday morning cartoons honestly... with sausage and pancakes."

"My d-..." Max stopped herself before she finished saying what she had nearly said. She missed her father... but she'd lost him long before any of this had happened. Fourteen years ago seemed so far away... back when things were simpler, when waking up in time for Saturday morning cartoons were the only thing to really worry about... Back before the sound of her father's bones being crushed beneath the weight of a hemi engine. Back before the army, before Sam and the stench of liquor on his breath... before long lonely hours in her cell, reading and trying to drown out the noise of her bunk-mate's heavy breath as she touched herself beneath the covers... The only thing she missed was him. She'd take this sick maggot infested world over that one any day... But she'd trade it all over again for one Saturday morning with her father, curled up on the couch with waffles and bacon, watching old episodes of Loony Tunes...

Gus tilted his head as he noticed how thoughtful Max looked. Being niave, he asked, "Your what?"

"My dog..." Max told him, blatently lying. She'd never had a dog.

"Aww..I'm sorry. I used to have a dog too. I was really little when she died though....she was old." Gus explained. "What was your dog's name?"

Max's hands gripped the handle bars on the Schwinn and for a moment tensed every muscle in her body to keep from yelling at the boy to shut the hell up. "Look, kid..." She said in a mildly calm tone. "I appreciate that you've had no one to talk to for a while, but zombies are attracted to noise and the more you talk, the better they can focus in on where we are."

"But..." Gus took his eyes away from Max. He wanted to get to know this person, but she had a point. "Okay." Instead, his eyes wandered around as they weaved through the stopped vehicles.

Max sighed... maybe she'd been a little too hard on him. "One question a mile." She suggested. "At the rate we're traveling, we'll be long gone by the time anything tracks us to where they heard us... How's that?"

He smiled a bit. "Just let me know when we've passed a mile, ok?" he said, then zipped his lips. There was a little Mew! from his pack and the little cat's head poked out of the hole in the zipper. "Looks like Barnaby wants to talk to you now though."

Max signed. "Just try to keep it quiet." She told him. "I duno if they're attracted to animals or not, but I don't want to test it."

Gus reached back and pet his little kitten. He planned on feeding it as soon as they rested for a moment or took a bathroom break.

Max sighed and was glad that Gus was willing to follow the rules. There were several more she needed to brief him on, but for now she was willing to let him learn the first one. He did well, but she could see that they were about to pass up that first mile marker. She wondered if Gus would notice... she should probably tel him.

He didn't. Gus was too distracted with the paranoia that an infected person was going to jump our from a shadow. His eyes skimmed around as they walked. There was an occasional mew from his cat, but the poor dear was only hungry.

Max felt guilty as they passed the second mile marker so she decided to speak up. "Ok... one question." She told him. "Or random observation, whichever you prefer."

"Why all the guns? No offense lady, but you kinda look like you just came from the army." Max said, as if it had been on his mind for a while now. Sure, people had guns, but Max was loaded up in a war-outfit...so it appeared at least.

"I was in the army." Max told him. "I was a mechanic, but everyone gets the same training and every firearm has a specific use." She pointed to the Mauser. "This is for long range." She pointed to the twelve gauge. "Close range. Everyone needs a pistol and when things get too close I've got the machete."

"Did you ever kill anyone?" Gus asked flat out. He reached out and grabbed the back of her bike so she could pull him on his board. "Normal people, I mean."

"Not while I was in the army..." Max told him. That was two questions, but she had screwed him out of one by not telling him about the first mile marker. "I was stationed State's Side any way."

"Oh....so you fixed up bing tanks n'stuff?!" Gus asked, obviously excited by the idea of seeing large machinery. Any boy would.

"Yes." Max told him. "That's enough questions for now. remember, we don;t want to attract any attention to ourselves."

"Sure thing!" As they moved down the road, the number of cars increased and they had to resort to weaving in and out of them. Gus did his best to maneuver, but it was difficult on a skateboard. His bum grazed the rear of a car and it rang out with an alarm. Lights flashed on and off and the sound echoed through the area.

"SONOFA!" Max jumped at the sound and quickly realized the noise would attract everything living or undead from here to Carbondale. They had to get out of here quickly. "Grab onto the sissy bar!" She ordered over the blaring squeal of the car alarm.

He was already holding on, but took the bar into both hands now. Gus also planted both feet on his board. He was pale, the sound had obviously scared the shit out of him.

"Hang on!" Max ordered and began to put her feet down one after the other. She'd never ridden a bicycle with a speedometer before, but as she shifted and peddled faster, the needle began to steadily climb.

Gus bent his knees, not wanting the board to slip out from under him. The little kitty in his backpack was scared and moving around frantically. The noise had scared it and before Gus knew it, Barnaby had climbed out and leapt from his pack. "Wait!" Gus cried, releasing the bike. "Barnaby!" he turned and jumped off his board. Grabbing it, he sprinted after his feline friend.

Max just almost kept going, everything in her body screamed to leave him, but for some stupid reason she pulled on the break and came sliding to a halt. "LEAVE THE DAMN CAT!" She shouted. She just knew they'd be swarming with zombies in a few moments and this was the exact reason she shunned people. They made noise, they ate precious food, they put her life in danger.

"Hold on!" Gus said, following the cat under a semi truck. It took a second, but he managed to grab ahold of the cat, shoving it into his pack and zipping it shut. "I'm coming!" Gus called, sprinting back towards Max and the bike.

It was hard to hear at first, a faint vibration of a sound. But it steadily grew louder and more recognizable. The sound of the undead moving towards their newest meal. The worst part is that it sounded as if they were surrounded, and for all they knew, the could be.

Gus managed to get back to Max, but it appeared to be too late. He shouldn't have left his bus! "We need to go!" he said hastily.

"Hold on!" She ordered. "If I stop grab that board and jump on behind me." The classic banana seat of the old Schwinn should be big enough to hold him and allow her to stand and pedal in front of him. She began pedaling again, weaving between parked cars and other stranded vehicles. She should have passed the bus by. she never should have gotten mixed up with some stupid kid. She'd not even known him for eight hours yet and she already felt responsible for him. her life suddenly felt as if it had minuets left rather than the projected years she would have had before she knew this stupid kid.

Gus did so. "Got it!" he replied, readying himself for her to sprint.

Max began to steadily gain speed. A bike like this was designed for speed and maintaining it. She remembered her father telling her that in his youth and peek physical condition, he could easily achieve forty to fifty miles an hour. Even faster if he really put some steam into it. Someone had taken care of this bike and she was glad for that. The frame was solid and it turned on a dime. Her intention was to get as far as she could as fast as she could. "Keep your arms and elbows in!" She shouted to Gus. "Make yourself as arrow-dynamic as possible..." Even as she said it she doubted Gus knew what arrow-dynamic meant.

All he knew was that it had something to do with kites. Gus brought his knees in and bent down, staying low to his skateboard, acting as a train cart, doing his best not to fall.

Max kept going, shifting up as the bike went from gear to gear. She kept at it, feeling the bike hold the speed that they'd reached already. Gus was dragging her down though. She could feel his weight pulling on the bike every time they were forced to veer around a a vehicle.

A few zombies could be seen popping out from the treeline on the side of the road, but most of them hadn't spotting the biking two and made for the still shrieking car alarm. It wasn't much longer till zombies started appearing on the roadway itself.

Gus was glad she had paired up with a lady who had an array of guns. No WAY his shears could protect him from THIS many zombies. He felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest in fear. Gus wished his Dad were here.

Max peddled for their lives, but she could see zombies on the road. The mouser was out of the question at this speed. The machete wasn't quite long enough and she didn't trust her aim with the pistol, not at this speed any way. Instead she reached for the shotgun and prepared herself.

The zombies in the road ahead spotted them and started heading in their direction with arms outstretched.

Well this was going to take some doing... Max cocked the shotgun in the crook of her elbow and fired a load of scattershot in the face of the closest zombie.

Gus wasn't much help right now. He stayed cowered behind the bike, clinging on for dear life. His entire body flinched when the shotgun rang out. Barnaby was trembling in the backpack, scared for his life just as Gus was.

Another shot rang out and Gus felt the bike lurch to the right as Max pulled onto the shoulder. She wanted to stop and have him jump on, but she didn't want to risk loosing even a second of speed.

Gus let out a squeak. For a moment, he had thought the bike was tipping over. He always hated looking at their faces directly. If he squinted, he could see what they may have looked like before all this. If Gus did that, he would soon wonder about their familes and past...and who they could have been.

To Max these things weren't people. Sure they had been, but all they were now were biting, snapping killing machines that deserved nothing more but a round of scatter shot to the face. Max cocked her shotgun in the crook of he elbow again, readying herself.

Suddenly a zombie popped out from infront of some vehicular wreckage just a few feet away from where Max was about to peddle through. It reached out with a hungry growl, its fingers clenching and unclenching readying itself to grab them.

Had Max not been ready already her and Gus may have been in more trouble. She squeezed the trigger and from such close range she and Gus were showered with bits or rotten flesh and... well... just an overall mes of zombie bits. She might seem calm at the moment but really her heart was thundering a mile a minuet. That was it for the shotgun though and she wasn't coordinated to reload. She stuck it in the home made sling on her back and pulled the glock from the docker's clutch inside her jacket. thirteen rounds were better than three, but she'd have to be more careful with her aim from now on.

"AHH!" Gus screamed loudly, trembling as he clung on with all his might. Why oh WHY did he ever leave his bus!? He was vulnerable out here. If something happened to Max, Gus would be done for.

If max hadn't known any better she'd have mistaken Gus' scream as a girl's. It didn't matter so much as getting the zombie mush off her face so she could see clearly.

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Gus shouted, his heart racing a mile a minute. "PLEASE HURRY!" he pleaded, terrified.

She was pedaling as fast as she could through the obstacles of cars and other debris. She instantly didn't like the sound of Gus giving her orders, but that wasn;t so bad as the encroaching hoard.

With Maxine's rapid pedaling quickly outpacing the following horde, the threat of death slowly dwindled away behind them.

Max continued at her hurried pace, but now that they had time to stop for a moment, she skidded to a halt and ordered Gus to hop on the bike with her. "Grab your board and get on. We can't stay on this road."

Gus nodded and slid the board behind his back. It rested between his back and the pack. "Where are we going?" Gus asked, adjusting on the back metal bars of the bike.

"The fuck out of here." Max told him. once she felt him sit down on the seat she stood on the pedals and set off. "Stay straight, don't lean, you'll tip us over."

"Okay." Gus said and wrapped his arms around Max, holding himself close. She was his lifeline afterall. "Thank you." he said, closing his eyes tight, wishing this all away.

"Don't thank me yet." Max told him. They might be out of immediate danger but they needed to achieve enough distance where they could safely rest and not be happened upon by their pursuers.

Despite his fears, Gus turned his head head and looked back. The car alarm was still singing out and probably attracting zombies from all over this side of the city. It was somewhat nice to hear the alarm. For months, cities and towns were dead in silence. The only sound had been zombies scurrying about, causing havoc... or people screaming.

At roughly twenty to thirty miles an hour Max peddled on for at least an hour before she felt safe enough to take a break. The car alarm was a distant memory, but she wouldn't feel safe till she stopped hearing that whaling sound of the alarm in her head. She pulled into a rest stop off an off ramp heading west. There were only a few picnick tables, a rotted sign that marked a wilderness hiking rout not far away and a pair of bathrooms just outside the treeline. She pulled in, put down the kickstand and waited for Gus to get off before collapsing onto one of the tables. She breathed heavily and pointed to the pack tied to the back of the Schwinn's sissy bar. "Water." She asked Gus and dropped her heavy arm on the table with a thud.

He nodded, wanting to do his best to help. Gus hurried and opened the pack. He didn't have to search too thouroughly before his hand touched the water bottle. "Got it!" Running over, he almost stumbled, but caught himself. Smiling, Gus handed over the water bottle canteen.
Figuring they would be here for a while, Gus sat on the other end of the picnic table. He sat with one leg on either side of the plank. Carefully, he took his pack off and placed it in front of him on the seat. Zipping it open, Gus pet and tried to sooth the scared kitty. "It's ok...we're safe, sweetie." he said in a soft coo. Taking Barnaby out into his arm, Gus used his other to pull out a small round tin of tuna.

Max drank and took a moment to catch her breath. "Next time..." she panted. "I won't wait for you." Though even as she said it she knew she was probably lying but also wondering when it was that she'd decided she was going to take care of this kid. Not even twenty four hours into knowing him and he''d already risked their lives once and that was one time too many for Max.

---

"I'm sorry... Barnaby panicked." Gus explained, not wanting all the blame to be on himself. "He'll be better, I promise." The cat walked to the tin and started to chow down as fast as it could.

Max heard the cat eating and rolled over so she could see. A cat eating a perfectly good can of tuna fish. Something she hadn't seen for months. "Damn cat eats better than I do..."

"Eww.... you would eat this stuff?" Gus asked, making a disgusted expression. "This stuff is the worst! My Dad always eats it with peas....it stinks up the whole house."

"What do you eat?" Max asked, sitting up and taking another drink of water. since they were safe for now she took off her backpack and began reloading the shotgun.

"I love the canned ravioli or spaghetti O's.... haven't had one in a few weeks though." Gus explained, petting the back of his cat as it ate.

"What do you eat then..." Max asked. She'd finished with the shotgun and began reloading the pistol.

"What? Oh- I donno... whatever I find as gas stations really. "This one time, my Dad and I found a small bar that had a ton of food stockpiled in a back closet. It was awesome! We even had maraschino cherries!"

He wasn't exactly answering the question and that was making max a little adjudicated. "tell me what you have in your bag right now...." And because that sounded a little harsh she added, "Please..."

Gus opened up his pack and moved some stuff around. "Poptarts, a few granola bars, oatmeal packets, half a bag of crushed cereal, a container of...." Gus squinted as he read the label, "Salad toppings.... and a few more tins for Barnaby."

"It's a wonder you can even survive on that crap." Gus told him. "The granola and oatmeal is good for you, but the rest is empty calories. You need real food. Especially now that you cant drive everywhere."

"Oh! I've still got some jerky that you gave me yesterday." Gus said, pulling out the packet from his pocket. He took a piece out and broke it in half, "Want some?"

"I'm good." Max told him. "Stay here and keep an eye on the cat." now that she'd caught her breath she took up the shotgun and unhooked, machete from her belt and headed in the direction of the bathrooms. She hadn't used a real toilet in months and as long as it was zombie free, she had every intention of using this one.

"Careful." Gus said, moving up and sitting on the picnic table itself. He watched Barnaby as the cat looked for a place to use the bathroom as well.

Max slowly approached the bathrooms, listening for the sounds of groaning from within. She chose to check the men's room first for Gus.

Gus kept his eyes open for any movement in the area. If he saw anything, shouting for Max's name would be the first thing he would do.

Max moved slowly towards the bathroom door, cautiously listening for any sounds of movement.

There were no sounds of movement from either bathroom, but there was a very unpleasant odor emanating from the men's restroom that didn't smell like something Gus should see.

Max pushed the door open with the tip of her machete and slowly waited for it to squeak open so she could see what was in there.

What was inside the Men's room was the remains of several zombies and a man. Looked like he wound up cornered in here by zombies, where he took several of them out before they killed him. The worst part was that he wasn't eaten down to nothing, like the zombies had left before the meal was done, this left his face intact with a permanent scream affixed.

Gus was clueless as he sat on the picnic table. "Come here Barnaby...you don't want to wander off." The cat mewed and slowly walked back to the table when he was finished going to the bathroom.

Max winced slightly when she saw the scene and the swarm of maggots and Flies festering and flying about the room. The smell was the worst of all. she half wanted to walk over and see what he had left on him, but considering that he was dead, he probably didn't have anything worth salvaging. Had he any ammo he probably wouldn't be dead. That and she feared that in this heat, if she moved him, he might just burst. She could see the giant swell of his belly just waiting for the first jostle of movement to pop loose the gasses inside. Gus did not need to see this so she locked the door from the inside and closed it. She moved onto the women's room, hoping she didn't find something similar inside.

The women's room was filthy, but not full of corpses. All the stalls were empty and one of them even had a half roll of toilet paper left.

"Oh yeah..." Max said reaching forward and picking up the paper. A whole half roll. It sure as hell beat the issue of Indoor Living she had been using. It wasn't the good thick kind, but anything was better than wiping your ass with a chicken kieve recipee.

This was taking a while, but Gus didn't want to disturb her. She could be taking a poop for all he knew. Instead he kept on petting his small cat, who was now curled up on his lap.

Max tested the water in the taps but they did nothing but sputter and cough a few rusty drops of moisture. The toilet however worked perfectly well. It didn't flush, but there were enough stalls that Gus wouldn't have to deal with whatever was left behind. When she finished she used the hand sanitizer she carried around and stole one of the soap pouches from the bracket near the sink. To her dismay the paper towel dispenser was empty. She took her bounty of soap and toilet paper and left the bathrooms. "Bathroom's free." she said coming towards Gus at the table. "The men's room is locked. You'll have to use the girl's." She lifted the toilet paper with a slight smile. "We did get lucky though."

"Oh ok... can you watch Barnaby for me?" Gus asked, setting his friend down on the table before hopping down. He walked to Max and grabbed the toilet paper. "I'll be real quick."

"Uh..." Max looked at the cat. "Sure... don't use the whole roll..." Cat... she'd eaten cat before and there was something in Barnaby's face that told her he seemed to know.

Gus walked into the bathroom slowly. The creaks from the door echoed in the empty bathroom, bouncing off the cold tiles. Everything in this room seemed wet with... something. He crept in and although he trusted Max to scout the place out, he still peeked under the stalls to make sure they were empty. Closing the stall door behind him, Gus turned around and hovered above the dirty toilet seat. After a moment, he did his business, flushed and left.

(he peed standing up?)
(no, he hovered his bum above the seat...I do it all the time in public bathrooms... best pic i could find: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_s7Gt2Vc23uU/S9yOWnzQ9RI/AAAAAAAABM8/Zf66oJwuQ1I/s1600/toilet_hover.jpg )
Max just continued to stair at the cat, hoping that he didn't suddenly run away.

Gus returned, feeling much better. "Here." he said, handing over the toilet paper. "Where are we going to go now?"

"Well, they're not smart enough to know that we took that off ramp earlier." Max told him. "I think we could set camp here. Maybe even build a fire. I wouldn't mind setting a snare or two. Something real to eat would be nice for a change."

"You...think that's safe?" he asked, unsure about this area. "Shouldn't we find someplace to hide? Or... a building maybe?"

"You seen any buildings?" She asked. "The bathroom has only one exit and I'm not about to corner myself. We'll be fine in the open for a while. Besides, I should hear them coming before they're too close."

"Even if you're asleep?" he asked, obviously uneasy.

"I'm a light sleeper." Max told him. "Besides, I've been doing this a while longer than you have." Not to mention her cell mate had a habit of trying to kick her ass in the middle of the night.

Gus swallowed and nodded. "If you say so." He paused and thought about what Maz had said, "Wait... you know how to hunt things? Then again... you DO have a gun."

"I'll set snares." Max told him. "I won't waist ammunition or risk one of them hearing the shot and coming for us. If we're lucky we'll have rabbit or raccoon for breakfast." she began rummaging through her pack. "You have anything sweet like chocolate or peanutbutter?"

"Part of my Poptart?" Gus suggested, digging in his pack. "What about the salad toppings?"

"Give me a pop tart." Max told him. "The sweeter the scent the more chance there is of attracting something." She'd pulled some wire from her backpack and began making someting.

"The whole thing!?" Gus asked loudly, opening the packet and taking out a pastry. "How about a corner? The middle is the best part."

"Would you like meat for breakfast gus?" Max asked. She'd made some sort of loop like thing with the wire and went to make another. "Fire roaster rabbit, nice lean white meat. I even have salt in my bag. Can you really tell me one pop tart isn't worth a hot breakfast like that?" She wasn't exactly acting like herself at the moment. For one, she'd have probably just taken his bag and gotten the thing herself and two, she'd actually said all that with a sort of smile on her lips. Perhaps being around other people wasn't such a bad thing after all.

"Mmm..." Gus winced, "Fine fine..." he reluctantly handed over the poptart. "But if we don't catch anything, you owe me a new one." he said with his arms crossed.

"I promise." Max told him and took the package and her wire and headed for the woods. "Hey, do you know how to whistle?" It occoursd to her that they may need a signal should he spot something interested in eating them.

"Yea I little. I can't do it loudly with my fingers though." he explained, letting his cat curl up on his pack on the table.

"If you spot any of them I want you to whistle, caw like a bird or something that doesn't sound human." Max told him. "Then hide in the bathroom. If you lock the door they can't get in. Understood?"

He nodded. "What about you?" Gus heart started to beat quickly, as if his life depended on what she was going to say.

"I'll be ok." Max told him. "I'll whistle if there's trouble. Deal?" Normally she would have just shrugged off any other person and left them to their own devices... like that girl... She felt a little guilty now... Here she was traveling with a twelve year old boy and she'd left a sixteen year old girl with two pistols and a mind set to kill herself.

"Why can't I come with?" Gus asked. "It's going to get dark soon."

"We have plenty of light left." Max told him. "And I'll be back within the hour. You stay here and make sure no one decides to move in on our turf."

"You mean.... this picnic table?" Gus asked, wondering if she was serious. Who in their right mind would WANT it. They didn't have much of a turf.

"No, the bathroom." Max told him. "Or do you like crapping in the bushes?"

"Alright alright...I'll guard the toilets." Gus said, lifting his hands defensively. He just hoped he would get breakfast out of this.

"Good boy." Max said and turned to disappear in the treeline. There was little chance of catching a rabbit with a poptart, but a rat or two might be possible. She set no less than a dozen trip snares in the surrounding area.

Gus let out a yawn and looked for something to play with in his pack. After a moment of searching, he pulled out a small blue yo-yo. Sitting on the edge of the table, he started to roll the toy up and down the white string.

Max knew that the more snares she set out the greater chance she had at catching something, but it would cause them to leave later in the morning. She wouldn't leave without her snares if she could help it. The good thing was that Zombies were more common in the cities than out here on the open road. She could almost lower her guard... almost.

As Max went about setting her snares, she heard a rustle in the bushes about 20-30ft away from her position.

Gus yawned as he played with his yo-yo. It was one of the few things he had taken from his home. A bit distracted, the toy smacked the tabletop and became tangled in a splinter. "Dammit." he cussed, trying to work out the twine.

Max froze and dropped to her knees and as low as she could get. Crouching in the underbrush she fixed her eyes on the position of the noise. She'd just been over there, setting snares. It was too soon and the movement too large to have already caught something. What were the chances she'd caught a zombie?

From Max's newfound angle, she was able to see shoed feet moving in her direction. They were moving slowly, but not in any manner that resembled a zombie, looked like this one was currently among the living.

Max's tenseness didn't ease. People were often more problematic to deal with than the undead. At least you knew exactly what zombies wanted. With people, it was a much different story.

The feet continued towards here for a few seconds before they stopped. They were about 10 ft away now and they looked to be pretty nice looking shoes.

Max was frozen solid, her machete poised in one hand, glock in the other. She'd ten times deal with zombies than normal people... despite her latest traveling companion.

Over the sound of the sparse wildlife could be heard a faint whisper, like someone saying something repeatedly, then silence again. Suddenly the the person sprinted quickly towards her, bursting through the brush and leveling a lever-action shotgun at her. The most surprising thing was the person behind the gun, looked like a Catholic priest.

Max quickly rolled to the side and stuck out a boot clad leg, trying to catch the padre by the feet. She wasn't exactly at the best angle to swing with the machete and being catholic by birth she had trepidations about shooting a priest.

He caught the boot and stumbled to the ground ending up on his back. He sat up quickly and looked over at Max, "Sorry about that. I thought you might have been one of the damned that have been wondering around here." He stood up and dusted himself off before looking around for his gun.

Placed her foot on his shotgun as he got up and brushed himself off. She picked it up as he stood and kept her glock trained on the center of his chest. He might be dressed as a priest, but that didn't mean he was one. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was searching for the remainder of the damned souls that killed the poor man in a nearby rest stop bathroom. So they won't be able to hurt anymore of God's children." The Priest explained, "Oh, my name is Father Hanson by the way."

He didn't seem to mind the pistol pointed at his chest, but he did sound a little nuts. "Father...?" She asked. In this day and age one couldn't be too careful. "Prove it."

Hanson seemed a bit taken back by this. "Prove that I am in fact a servant of the Lord? How should I succeed in your eyes?"

"Priests are issued identification like everyone else." Max told him. "Ether prove it or absolve me now, cause I have no issues in shooting a man, especially one pretending to be a padre."

"Identification is not something that I thought of grabbing as I fled the horrors." Father Hanson said with a shrug before closing his eyes he made a cross in the air with his hands before saying, "Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat; et ego auctoritate ipsius te absolvo ab omni vinculo excommunicationis et interdicti in quantum possum et tu indiges. Deinde, ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, + et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." Then he stood motionless with his head tilted forward and his eyes closed.

Gus was completely oblivious to Max's new aquaintance. As far as he knew, she was still setting up traps. Untangling his yo-yo, Gus pondered where exactly they would stay. Glancing around, he spotted another picnic table nearby. Max didn't want to spend the night in the restroom, but perhaps he could help a bit. Leaving his cat to sleep on his pack, Gus hopped down and went to the other table. Walking around to it's other side, he placed his hands on it and pushed, guiding it over to the other one. He figured if he angled them right, he could make some sort of makeshift shelter.

Any good catholic girl knew the prayer of absolvance (?) when she heard it. It wasn't as if anyone could speak Latin and let it roll off their tongue the way he had. The glock dipped an inch or two. "What are you doing out here Padre?" She asked. "You're an awfully long away away from your parish."

"My parish was overrun when the infection swept through. So now I try and help where I can and try to keep the light of God in the world." Hanson said with sorrow in his voice.

"Move it, Barnaby- this is heavy!" Gus said to his cat, shooing it off the table. Jumping up onto it, Gus walked to the edge of the tabletop and squatted. He grabbed the edge of the new Taking the one he had dragged over top the table he was standing on, making a tent-like shape as best he could. At least big enough for the two of them to stay under should it rain.

"Uh huh..." Max said slowly he may be a priest, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. Not in this day and age any way, she was still cautious about returning his shotgun. "If I give this back to you am I gonna have to worry about you shooting me?"

"I have no reason to shoot you now, my child." Hanson said, "You are not one of Satan's minions nor have you tried to kill me."

Max was inherently untrustworthy of men, but whether it was the white sweat stained collar or the perfect honesty in his eyes, she wasn't sure what made her hand him back the shotgun. "You are alone out here right?" She asked. "I can't offer much in way of hospitality, but you think think my chances of passing the pearly gates might get a little better if I offered you something to eat?"

"I am never alone my child, but in the way you mean it, I am." Hanson said as he took his shotgun back and checked it for damage. "I would appreciate the food."

"I'm traveling with a kid." Max told him as they began to walk. "When we get to the treeline let me go on and tell him. He's not one for surprises."

"Is it your child?" Hanson asked.

"Oh no... no... no..." Max shook her head as if she disliked the thought of having children of her own. "No, I found him yesterday... or rather he found me. You know how when you feed a dog, you can't get rid of it? That's kinda what's happened." She couldn't help but think that she was gaining another pet by walking with the Padre now... What ever happened to her rule about traveling alone?

Hanson seemed upset by this information. "You shouldn't think of him as a lost puppy that you are burdened with. You are that childs guardian angel."

"Trust me Padre," Max began, "I'm anything but an angel." They were coming to the treeline now. "Alright, stay here for a minuet. I'll go ahead and make sure Gus don't freak out."

Gus was still trying to cluster several picnic tables around and on top of one another in an attempt to make some sort of shelter. Or at least a shield for privacy. He was sweating by now, still keeping an eye out as he worked. Barnaby was curled up several feet away on his pack.

"Guardian angels are not always what you expect." Hanson said as Max left to go warn Gus.

Max didn't hear him, but she did call to Gus as she approached the tables. "What are you doing?" It looked like he'd pushed them together for some reason.

"It's a fort! I mean- shelter!" Gus said as if it were obvious. "See?"

"It might be a little small for the three of us." Max told him.

"Barnaby doesn't take up much room. He can sleep on my stomach if you want." Gus explained, whiping the sweat from his brow.

Max had forgotten about the cat. "The four of us I mean." She said, recanting herself. "I found a priest wandering in the woods... He seems pretty harmless. I told him he could have dinner with us."

"Dinner? What's for dinner?" Gus asked, not commenting on someone joining them. All it meant for him was less food.

Max waved to the priest since it seemed obvious that Gus was alright with it. "How do you feel about roast beef?"

"You... have.... beef?" Gus asked, completely lost in a stare. He hadn't had real meat in AGES. At least, not before the jerky Max had given him.

"It's almost real." Max told him. "Freeze dried. It used to be real."

"That's great! How did setting up the traps work out?" he asked, pleased that he had joined Max. She seemed so skillful and knowledge-able about living like this.

"Other than catching the priest we won't know till morning." Max told him.