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Sometimes it feels like just yesterday I was a
coach at an elementary school refereeing dodge ball and hoping the
bullies didn't kill the nerds, ” Stacey said in a soft voice.
    “ I
know the feeling, ” Katie answered as she taped her box closed. “ It
just...changed so fast. One second the world was normal and the next
it was all wrong. ”
    “ And
one second people you loved were alive and the next... ” Stacey shook her head, as if to shake the bad thoughts from her mind. “ At
least here we're safe, or at least as safe as it gets. ”
    Katie
shoved her box onto the pallet behind her and exhaled slowly. She
felt winded and her face was flushed. Nearby she could hear Eric and
Travis talking in low voices about the security of the back doors.
Already any window to the abandoned buildings were being bricked up.
She understood the fears Travis and Juan had about the small gate
built to enter the hotel holding back any large amount of zombies.
Part of her thought they were overly paranoid, yet she knew in this
world that no one could truly be careful enough.
    Stacey
glanced toward Eric and Travis as they walked by them. The men were
talking earnestly and gesturing around them. Stacey looked at Katie
and Katie quirked her eyebrow upward.
    “ When
they talk shop, I have no idea what they are saying, ” Stacey confessed.
    “ You
and me both, ” Katie agreed. She wiped more sweat from her face. She was wearing
gloves to prevent cutting her hands. They felt obscenely warm.
    Stacey
sighed and looked back at Katie. “ Don't
get me wrong. I'm glad Eric is involved with fort business, but
sometimes I just wish... ” She let out another long sigh. “ You
know, sometimes I wish we could just relax, for a moment, and be glad
we're with each other and safe. But it's always about scrambling to
be safer, scrambling to survive, scrambling to anticipate every
little thing that could go wrong. ”
    “ I've
been thinking about that lately, ” Katie confessed. “ That
maybe we'll never know real peace ever again. You know that feeling
that the world is safe and sane. That we can get up in the morning
and there will be food on the table, a job to go to, a loved one to
curl up with at night. That the world humanity has created is
secure. ” She was thinking of Lydia and their beautiful home again. She
blinked her eyes hard to fight back tears.
    “ I
guess if that's true, then any little bit of happiness we find, we
should just hold onto it. ” Stacey looked toward Eric. Katie knew from what Stacey had told her
that they had fallen slowly in love with each other as they struggled
to survive. “ I
guess, maybe, just being here with him alive is enough. ”
    Katie
found herself looking toward Travis. “ Maybe, ” she said at last. “ Maybe. ” She quickly began to fill the next box, shoving cans into neat
stacks inside.
    Stacey
lifted her box onto the pallet behind them and reached for another
box stacked nearby.
    “ Hey, ” Travis said from behind them.
    Katie
turned around and looked up into his face as he leaned over them.
Stacey sat back on her butt and let out a long, tired breath.
    “ You
two have been in here long enough. Why don ’ t
you finish up your boxes then take a break? ”
    Katie
nodded her head. Stacey looked relieved.
    “ Thanks,
Travis, ” Stacey said and swept as much of the remaining casserole boxes into
the box with one stroke of her arm. “ Done! ”
    Travis
laughed and helped her tape up the box and heave it onto the pallet.
Katie quickly stacked as much of the cans as she could into her box,
anxious to get out of the smelly store and take a break.
    “ I'll
see you on the next shift, ” Stacey said to Katie, and jogged out of the store into the bright
sunlight.
    Katie
hurriedly packed her box and waited for Travis to move on. But he
didn't. He squatted down next to her and helped her pack the box.
She didn't know what to say, but it felt awkward not to talk to him.
She searched for words,