Suzie was right. The cold chili was disgusting, but we still ate our fill.

Somehow the guys had found several cans of baby formula for Mindy. She had a few large packages of diapers and wipes too, but not nearly enough to get us through the next month.

I was grateful we had enough for a couple of weeks, but it worried me to think about what we would have to do once her supplies ran out.

Mindy was currently sitting on my lap eating Cheerios. At least she could eat solids. I didn't know much about babies, but I assumed since they were usually introduced to baby food before they could walk, Cheerios would be okay.

After Derek and I emerged from my bedroom, Thomas was doing his best not to ask about the status between us. Thomas assumed something because there were several occasions when I could feel the heat of his eyes on me, and when I'd glance at him, he would look away.

I cared about Thomas, but it was too much to wrap my mind around right now. We were friends, and I didn't want to hurt him.

Derek bumped my shaking knee when he sat down on the couch next to me. "What's on your mind?"

Biting my lips together, I shook my head.

"Come on. I know you're thinking about something. Casey Whitmore is always thinking something especially when her leg is bouncing a thousand miles a second." Derek slid his palm along my leg slowly.

My knee slowed its bouncing. "I was just thinking about what we'll do when we run out of supplies for Mindy."

At the sound of her name, Mindy's eyes widened as she worked to grab another piece of cereal from the bowl.

"You're not going to like what I have to say, but..." Derek watched Mindy as he ran a hand through his hair. "I think we need to go back to the storage facility."

I shook my head, hard. "No."

"Come on, Sweetheart," Thomas walked into the living room and sat next to me.

Mindy held up her Cheerio to Thomas as an openmouthed smile took over her face. Thomas laughed and ate the Cheerio out of her hand. Mindy clapped and went back for another piece.

"No," I repeated with even more force.

Derek's eyebrows lifted. "Case, we have to. No one other than the employees know what's stored there. People won't think to look there, at least not yet."

"And then what? We get murdered by the trained killers we stole from?" I was angry they were even considering this.

"Sweetheart, I know you don't want to hear this, but you're not going back to that warehouse." Thomas studied my face. "You've already been through too much."

They'd lost their damned minds if they assumed I would just sit by while they went off to slaughter.

"Hold that thought," I set Mindy's Cheerios on the coffee table and made my way to Suzie in the game room.

She and Grant were playing cards under the remnants of dying light shining through the window. "Su, grab that blanket and spread it on the carpet for me, please?"

Without complaint, Suzie did as I asked, which was still a little shocking. This new version of Suzie would take some getting used to.

"Auntie Casey is going to talk to the big bad know-it-all boys, and then I'll come back and get you." I used my baby voice on Mindy as I gently placed her on the blanket.

Mindy fussed until she realized that Suzie and Grant were next to her.

What I was quickly discovering was that Mindy didn't like to be left alone. She was great when people were around, but as soon as Mindy was alone, she would cry.

"Watch her in here for a bit, okay?" I whispered to Grant and Suzie.

Suzie glanced out the window. "It'll be dark soon."

"So?" I shrugged, but Suzie wouldn't look at me. "The dead walk in the day and at night, Su."

"Things get a little strange at night for Suzie," Grant placed a hand on Suzie's shoulder. "Tell her."

I stared at my sister, but she didn't speak. "What is it, Su? You can tell me."

Suzie's blue eyes flicked to mine, and I could tell she was ashamed. "Everything that happened the night you were... hurt..." Suzie's gaze fell as she played with a piece of carpet. "Anyway, that night was the scariest night of my life. Since then I've been hearing stuff that isn't there, and I don't trust myself around Mindy at night. I don't want to hurt her. I don't know what's wrong with me, Case. I haven't been sleeping well, and when I do sleep, I have nightmares."

Grant nodded. "It's true. She punched me in the stomach last night when I checked on her, but in her defense, she didn't know it was me. Your little sis has a wicked punch. Took me down for like three minutes."

Suzie released a nervous laugh, and glanced at me.

I went to Suzie and wrapped my arms around her. "That's natural. We've been through a lot. You shouldn't be afraid to talk to me about stuff like that. I know you were trying to be strong for me, but I'm okay, and now I can be strong for you. If you can't be left alone with Mindy at night, that's fine.

"I think it's smart of you to know your limits. We'll take it step by step, okay? If you hear things or feel anxious, talk to someone before you start over analyzing. You can sleep in the same room as me, and you can wake me up whenever you want. You can even sleep next to me if that'll help."

Suzie pulled back and her eyes reluctantly met mine. "Thanks. Sometimes I think I might be going crazy."

The sinking in my stomach didn't help with the guilt I harbored for ignoring my sister. I didn't know what to do for her, but I would never stop supporting her.

Suzie had witnessed a real-life nightmare and had nursed me back to health. She'd been through hell.

Of course, she wouldn't want Matt to stay, and even though he went next door, it would still be hard for her to know there might be a sick person next door who might attack us.

Not that I wanted Matt to stay here tonight. He was out of his mind if he thought he was just going to walk in my house and expect the red carpet to be rolled out for him.

I rubbed Suzie's back. "For now, Grant, will you please watch Mindy while I talk to the guys? I'll make it quick. Just let me talk some sense into them."

Grant's smile was soft. "Yeah, no problem."

I thanked him and walked away.

"Why did you tell her that?" Suzie snapped in a whisper. "She just got better, and she already has to do everything. She doesn't need me making it worse."

"She had to know, Su. I'm worried about you." Grant whispered.

I wanted to say something, but I would reassure her later. Grant deserved a solid pat on the back too. If Grant cared enough about Suzie to tell me her secret, then we might just get along.

When I returned to the living room, Thomas and Derek were discussing how best to board up the windows, which was a great idea. We should get started on that immediately.

"There's a hardware store down the street from your trailer." Derek's eyes lit up. "Dude, we should go to your place. It's out away from everything, and you have that generator. We could build a huge fence and—"

"I hate to be the evil sound of reason in this amazing solution, but there's not enough room in his trailer. We have six people and a baby. Where are we going to put everyone?" My hands landed on my hips.

"She has a point, Der." Thomas stood next to me and mimicked my stance. "My trailer only has four rooms, a ginny, lots of gasoline, a huge garage with all the tools we could ever need, a gardening area, a place to dig an outhouse, and plenty of space to see zombies coming. Oh, and there's a cellar full of food and water. So why in the hell would we ever consider going there?"

My jaw dropped.

Thomas laughed at me and spoke in a high pitched voice. "No way would we ever do that. That would be stupid."

I gritted my teeth and started punching him in the arm. "Don't make fun of me! How was I supposed to know about all of that? Of course, it's a good idea."

Thomas dodged my last punch by bending down and flinging me over his shoulder.

I squealed, then pounded on his back until I noticed Derek laughing. I glared at him. "You're not helping!"

"Dude, put her down." Derek playfully instructed as Thomas carried me down the hall.

"Not until she says she's sorry for hitting me." Thomas stopped in my bedroom and started spinning us circles until my stomach churned.

"Okay! I'm sorry!" I screamed and laughed. "I'm sorry!"

Thomas leaned over and whipped me onto my bed.

The giggles that came out of me were uncontrollable.

When the room stopped spinning, I rolled over to see both Thomas and Derek gazing down at me with smiles on their faces.

"Damn, Sweetheart, if I would've known how to make you laugh like that, I would've done that days ago." Thomas sat next to me.

"You're stupid." I giggled more.

"So, first we move to the trailer, and then we figure out what to do about the rest of the supplies. We good?" Derek sat down on my other side and fell backward.

Thomas fell backward next to me, bouncing the mattress. "Is the ceiling spinning?"

"Yep." I smiled.

Derek's fingers grazed my arm. "What do we do about your ex?"

Shit. What about Matt?

"I don't know. What about your scary dad?" Once the words left my mouth, I was instantly overcome with regret, but damn, the facts needed to be faced.

Derek stood abruptly, narrowing his eyes on me. "That's not the same, and you know it."

I sat up and cocked my head to the side. "Are we in the twilight zone here? He hit you over nothing, Derek. In my kitchen. He's always drunk. Where is he even getting the liquor? At least Matt isn't a drunk."

Thomas sat up, and his hand landed on my shoulder. "Okay. The ceiling isn't spinning anymore, and I'm pretty sure you're thinking Matt is welcome at my house, and you would be dead wrong."

I jumped off the bed and moved to the other side of the room, crossing my arms. "Oh, so Mr. Drunk and Abusive can stay with us, but a perfectly capable, respectable young man of society can't. What the hell?"

Thomas and Derek burst out laughing.

"Did you hear that, Der? She called him respectable." Thomas chortled.

"Yeah," Derek nodded, clutching his stomach. "And she called him 'capable.'"

I started pacing. What was I going to do about Matt? I couldn't just let him die.

"Fine." I stopped pacing. "All the males can go to the trailer, and the females can stay here. Then, once Matt has shown he's not sick, he can live here with us."

Derek and Thomas stopped laughing and gaped at me.

I stalked out of the room, leaving them to stew. The guys would come back with a counteroffer soon enough. I didn't want my ex living with us, but damn, what the hell else could I do?

Mindy was asleep on her stomach when I walked into the nearly dark game room.

Suzie leaned into Grant, crying softly.

"Hey?" I whispered, careful not to wake the baby. "What's wrong?"

"We heard everything," Grant said, rubbing Suzie's arms.

I covered my mouth. "God, Suzie. I'm sorry. We're all going to stick together. Don't worry. I just can't leave Matt to fend for himself. I didn't mean what I said."

"What if he's sick?" Suzie asked.

"Then I guess... I'll have to put him out of his misery, but I don't know if he's sick yet, and we won't know for sure until tomorrow. Don't worry. We're not separat—"

Something heavy pounded against the front door five hard times.

I jerked to attention as Suzie huddled deeper into Grant's arms.

Mindy woke up and started to cry when the pounding repeated. With speed I didn't know I had, I picked up Mindy, wrapping the blanket around her.

Derek and Thomas ran into the foyer just as Jim whipped the garage door open and made his way to the foyer.

"Police! Open up!" A deep voice bellowed from the front porch.

"There ain't no police anymore!" Jim yelled.

Smooth Jim. Real smooth.

Derek tried to see our visitors through the peephole and shook his head. "Someone's covering it up."

The pounding repeated a third time. "Open up, or we'll open it up for you!"

Jim leaned his back against the door. "Derek, grab some weapons."

Damn it.

Thomas pulled the gun out of his pants as he stalked toward me and whispered in my ear. "Take the kids into the laundry room. I left something special in there just for you, Sweetheart."

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