By the time Teddy returned with Ellie and Oz in tow, the six surviving Jesse-followers had decided to all stay in the same house. And after what they’d just been through, I couldn’t really blame them.

The house had been Mr. Barnes’ house, a retired steelworker, and still had locking doors, running hot and cold water, and was free of monsters and Mr. Barnes’ corpse. Like many residents of Mars, Pennsylvania, Mr. Barnes had died in his car. Not stepped on and smooshed like my mom had been, but attacked inside the car, and left ripped up and flung all over the upholstery.

The survivors weren’t saying much, but they were adamant that they all needed to be in the same house. When asked where Zack and Sara were, the one that was doing most of the talking—his name was Pete—said that they were with Jesse.

I didn’t know if that meant they were dead and “with Jesse”, or they were just still back with what was left of Jesse.

When Ellie showed up I told her what little I’d learned. I asked what else we had for them to eat, since they were covered in gore and blood, and probably were not going to have a good reaction to any food that had red paste seeping out of it.

Ellie fortunately had a shit-ton of Mac and Cheese, so she and Wood pulled some pans out and started boiling water. It was strange that she had all that, and she hadn’t cooked any of it for her and the boys.

I didn’t like mac and cheese. I hated the texture: too soft and slimy. And I knew that Oz and Teddy disliked it too.

It made me wonder what else we all had in our inventories.

I knew Wood had probably thousands of weapons in his. Teddy probably had a library of books stashed in his. Oz had a little known fetish for shoes. He probably had a load of high end shoes in his.

That made me think…

From now on, when we came across a retail store, we should pick up and store whatever clothing and shoes were in our size. Just in case…

Just in case we last for a while out here.

About a half hour later, I helped carry a bunch of mac and cheese down the street and to where Jesse’s fractured army awaited. They were clean, at least. All wearing knew clothing… though they all seemed shell shocked. They all either had dead eyes, or super nervous, jittery ones.

But they all ate well enough. Even if they weren't looking at what they were eating, they just shoveled it in. Which was good. We didn't want them to die. I know I didn't. I felt bad for them.

Later on, when we left and took the dirty dishes, I noticed that not one of them had said a word to us. Not even the one from before, who told us about Zach and Sara. It was creepy.

“Do you think they're a threat?” Ellie asked Wood as we made our way back across the street to the pizzeria.

“I think everybody's a threat,” Wood grumbled.

That he did.

I saw the moment where Teddy looked like he was about to say something, but then he let it pass.

I didn't want to think these people were threats. I wanted to think that they would be joining with us sooner or later. But after what they'd been through, I couldn't know what was going through their heads.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

And I had to remember, they had been following Jesse. Jesse was a jackass, for sure. But he was also charismatic, and there had been a reason they’d followed him… and had put their lives on the line for him.

And now that they didn't have a leader, would they stay together?

They had lost 75% of their number and no more than a day. And though many of them had level numbers close to, or even exceeding our own, they had earned those under Jesse.

If Jesse had treated this real life game like he treated the games we had all played against him online, then we had to figure out if he had been as bloodthirsty, manipulative, and ready to sacrifice his friends as he had been in the past.

But we could ask those questions tomorrow. Maybe, after a night’s arrest, with full stomachs, the group would be easier to talk to.

After all, we boarded up the pizzeria every night. That would keep us safe, even from the new neighbors across the street.

Too bad there wasn't some kind of obvious sign that they were dangerous. Like maybe a skull floating over their heads, or something about it being shown in their pop-up box. Or some kind of tattoo, kind of like the crescent-shaped moon tattoos on the Travai.

One thing was for sure right now, though. The end of the world was definitely not a lonely place.

Of course, the old saying went you could feel alone even in a room full of people.

***

It wasn't the first time I had this dream. Nightmare, really.

I was just waking up, pushing out of the gore that was left of my face. It was when I was resurrected by the aliens. Or at least, that's what I remember. Slipping in that blood and bug infested…

I sat there, staring at that face, the bugs moving around in it, and I can't see myself at all there. I know it's me. I remember getting slammed in the face by the gnome that I now am. I remember…well, I don't remember much. But the body has my t-shirt on it. And it was slumped against a wall in my house. It was most certainly me.

But I still don't understand exactly why I'm here.

I died. I shouldn't that be the end?

“Mort?” A voice called from behind me. I turned, and that's when I woke up.

***

I go out the front door and head off to do my usual perimeter search. I don't see anything unusual. I don't see any new creepy crawlies, furry fiends, or menacing nemesis. All was quiet. The overcast sky above couldn’t decide if it wants to be pink or orange.

When I get back to the pizzeria I pointedly don't sit down anywhere. After the chewing out Wood got for booby trapping the crate, I doubt he would do it again.

But it's best to err on the side of safety.

Plus, he smiled at me as I left today. That couldn’t be good.

We had plans to go out and grind today. Especially since we really didn't get to do that yesterday when we got all those surviving members of Jesse's mini army.

So I made my way to the front of the pizzeria and waited for my friends. Ellie came out first, and then Teddy. It wasn't night time yet, so we hadn't expected to see Oz. He can walk around in daylight pretty well, especially with the overcast. But pretty much he was a nighttime critter.

Teddy looked around, his brows knitting in consternation. “Where’s Wood?”

I didn't know. “He was in there when I left for my patrol,” I said, shrugging.

“He said he was going to see Georgina,” Ellie said, pulling her Negan bat out of her inventory, giving it an appraising look, and then putting it back in.

I was just about to pull up my stats box to take a look at my two friends’ levels, but then Teddy started talking and made me forget all about that.

“I still don't trust her. I mean the things she can do, and how amoral she can be. I mean, she could put those seeds in all of our heads.”

I was just about to roll my eyes, but when he said the part about the seeds it made me think about the dream I had. The dream where she put seeds into our heads, killing us because we're not regenerating vampires like Oz and Miss Biddle.

And then I shivered, remembering how the dragon had just shown up in that rift in front of me.

“So, how are the troops down the street doing?” I said, suddenly desperate to change the subject.

Teddy's head jerked in my direction, but before he could say anything, Ellie reported, “As good as can be expected. They're all still quiet, and shell shocked. But they ate better than they did yesterday.”

I suppressed the laugh. They ate better than they did yesterday. Sounds like they were ill pets, or patients at a hospital.

The three of us started to move towards downtown. The overcast sky has definitely turning more orange than pink. We went for about 15 minutes without seeing even one monster. But Teddy hadn’t stopped complaining about his brother taking off to go see “Her…”