Note:This has been the kind of story that doesn't have an obvious happy ending. I don't think there will ever be one. All I wanted was to create an ending where there is some kind of happiness, some kind of safety, the idea that life is still possible against a backdrop of death. I've struggled a lot with these last few chapters and with my own life getting increasingly busier, I've decided to leave this story here, at its end. Thank you all for reading.

Chapter 13

It was almost lunchtime by the time the cars were packed up. It had taken them longer than expected because a group of crawlers emerged from behind a neighbouring house and it took Amanda, Melinda and Fin fifteen minutes to get rid of them before they could carry on. The rotting bodies now lay spread out across the front yard. They hadn't bothered to move them this time as there seemed to be no point.

The three cars were packed full with food, clothing, candles and blankets and the group members climbed into the vehicles. Amanda drove the vehicle she and Olivia had taken during their last part of their journey home. Nick was behind the wheel of one of the other two cars, with Zara in the backseat. Fin, Cragen and Melinda had all piled into the third car. Nick would lead the way to the compound.

"Ready?" Olivia shouted from the passenger window and she received two thumbs up from the other drivers. She turned to look at Amanda and briefly covered the blonde's hand with her own. She couldn't help but smile. They were taking the next step towards proper safety, a chance to live. "Let's go."

They drove in convoy, leaving the house they had called home throughout recent weeks behind. It had served them well but it was time to move on. Amanda watched the house grow smaller in the rear view mirror. As the car veered around the corner, she caught a glimpse of the pile of corpses that lay in a neighbouring yard. This was what they were leaving behind; their own little corner of hell.

"You allright with this?" Olivia asked as Amanda slowed the car down a little.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Amanda questioned. "You're doing this for us, Liv. I know what Nick said but I also know that you'd never let your own feelings and emotions cloud your judgment like that. You're doing this because it's best for the group."

"I'm also doing it because it's best for us," Olivia admitted and Amanda briefly glanced at her. "I want a chance, Amanda. A chance at some kind of life. If they can offer it then I'll take it. I'm done fighting. I don't have Nick's anger. His hatred towards the world scares me. Eventually it would have brought us all down."

"I know," Amanda said. "I don't think he always realises how much of danger he can be." She fixed her gaze back on the two cars in front of her. "Do you think he'll stay?"

"You think he won't?"

"I don't know. He seemed so against coming here."

Olivia looked out of the window. The streets were deserted. No sign of survivors or crawlers. There was only silence. It could have been beautiful if it hadn't been for the situation they were in. She ran her fingers through her hair and let her head rest against the glass.

The drive was uneventful other than passing two crawlers that were eating what looked like a stray dog. They took a right hand turn at a crossing and Olivia suddenly noticed they were approaching an industrial site. The cars began to slow down and Amanda hit her brakes too. A wall loomed up in front of them, adorned with barbed wire and car tyres. Three men with automatically rifles strategically walked the top of the wall, their gazes fixed on the road.

"Open the gate!" one of them shouted and a metal fence was slowly pulled aside.

Slowly they drove onto the compound site and when Olivia looked over her shoulder, the gate was closing again. The cars in front of them came to a stop and Amanda pulled up alongside them. From different directions people emerged. They seemed weary of the new arrivals but when Cragen and Fin got out of the car, they relaxed. It looked like they remembered their previous visit.

"You made it," a woman said as she approached the car and shook Fin's head. She had long blonde hair that was held back in a loose braid. Her jeans seemed a size too big and her shirt clung to her upper body, revealing the curve of her breasts. Stains covered her clothes but she looked well fed and relatively healthy. "We kept wondering if you'd come."

"We had to wait," Fin answered and smiled. "We had to be sure."

"Did you find them?" the woman asked. "Did they come home?"

Fin pointed at Amanda and Olivia as they climbed out of the car. "They made it."

"Oh thank God for that!" the woman exclaimed. "Come with me, I'll go find Melvin and we'll get you all settled in. How many quarters will you need? Four? We've just finished converting one of the other storage units so there's plenty of space. Ten more people arrived since you were last here. The last ones only arrived last night. They'd been walking for days!"

"Who's that?" Amanda whispered as they followed the woman across the site.

"Her name is Caitlin," Cragen answered. "She and Melvin were the first to arrive here. They've been building this compound, or sanctuary, ever since. There are a lot of empty buildings here and the site's surrounded by a brick wall. Only way in or out is through that gate. No crawler has ever been seen inside the walls. People thrive here."

As they walked Olivia could see Cragen wasn't wrong. Clean clothes were hanging across various washing lines that had been hung up between buildings. They collected rainwater and boiled it so it could be used for cooking and drinking. There were even pots of flowers and she could smell the scent of fresh meat being cooked somewhere in the distance. When she heard the sound of children's laughter and stepped aside to let two little boys around Zara's age run past her, she realised they had done the right thing.

"Melvin?" Caitlin called and a man carrying several planks of wood looked up. "Look who's here!"

"Fin!" Melvin smiled as he recognised the group walking towards him. He put the wood down and shook Fin's hand. "Good to see you, my man. You've decided to join us after all?"

"We couldn't think of a better place," Fin answered. He then turned to introduce the rest of the group. "You've met Nick and Don. This is Melinda and that's Zara, Nick's daughter." He then fixed his eyes on Amanda and Olivia. "And these two are the reason is took us so long to get here. Amanda and Olivia."

"So you two are the ones that got lost out in that crazy world, eh?" Melvin asked and Amanda grinned sheepishly. "Oh well, I'm sure some of the kids would love to hear your stories one of the nights. Did Caitlin tell you where you'll be living?"

"I'm taking them to the new bit. I think they'll match well with some of the folks that arrived last night," Caitlin answered.

They carried on and Caitlin took them to the back of the site. A large building that smelt a bit like an old paint storage unit had been converted into smaller units. Each contained two beds, something to sit on and a couple of candles. Makeshift curtains and sheets created the necessary privacy and some of the separations had been built out of wood.

"We have a shower facility but now that the group has gotten so big, we request that people limit its use to once a week, I'm afraid," Caitlin said before pointing at the quarters on her right. "All of these are still free. You're welcome to set it up as you please. When you've all settled in, Melvin and I will show you around some of the stuff we have here."

"How long have you been running this place?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Since the beginning. Melvin and I found this site after a couple of days of trying to survive. We got in, managed to close the gate and got rid of the undead that were here. That same night, five more people arrived at the gate and we let them in. After that, people just kept turning up and we worked together as a group to make this place work. The kids go to school and they can play here. There's food and water and we do the best we can to provide. It's a safe haven."

"And you haven't had crawlers inside since you got here?" Amanda sounded impressed.

"They arrive at the gate, obviously, but we shoot them and then we take their bodies to a field not far from here and we burn them," Caitlin said. "There hasn't been an incident for all this time. All we ask is that people don't go out after dark. Gate duty is done on a rotating shift. People volunteer and they watch the gate for a few hours."

"It looks like you've done an amazing job here," Olivia said quietly. "I'm glad we came."

Caitlin smiled at the compliment before backing out of the unit. "I'll leave you all to sort out your things. If you're looking for me, I'll be round back."

"This place is amazing," Amanda said quietly as she and Olivia stepped into the small quarters that would from now on be their bedroom. "It's safe and secure." Blue eyes found brown. "We can live here."

"I know," Olivia whispered as she wrapped her arms around Amanda's neck. "We can have a new start."

It took them about an hour to get settled in and once they were finished, they found their way to the back of the building and found Caitlin preparing what looked like vegetables. She was surrounded by a handful of women of different ages and races and they all looked up when the group approached. One of them dropped the potato she was peeling and leapt to her feet.

"Liv!"

Olivia's head whipped around at the familiar voice and her eyes widened when she saw the brunette standing a few feet away from her. Abbie Carmichael hadn't changed, although she did look a little different without one of her expensive pantsuits. Her brown hair fell freely down her shoulders and she wore a pair of jeans and what looked like a men's sweatshirt.

"Oh my God, Abbie!" Olivia sighed as she wrapped her arms around her old friend. "How did you get here?!"

"I got here a couple of weeks ago, just after things started to turn. I travelled with a small group of people but we ended up trapped in the woods, surrounded by…" Her eyes welled up with tears. "Only two of us made it out and along the way we came across another group who were talking about this safe haven so we decided to come here."

"Is there anybody else here?" Olivia wanted to know. "Anyone else we know?"

Abbie shook her head. "I've been waiting for them to come but so far, no one has made it."

Olivia released her breath. "But you're here, and we're here. We all made it."

"So you two know each other?" Caitlin asked as she looked from Abbie to Olivia and back. The detective nodded.

"We used to work together, a long time ago. I was hoping some of our friends would have made it here." Olivia looked around. "There isn't any hope out there. Living in this world isn't what it used to be. We share our world with those things now and the most important thing is that we learn to live with that. Survival isn't everything. We need to live." Her hand found Amanda's. She had never felt more relaxed and settled in her life. "We can do that here."

Caitlin led them around the site for another hour, showing them where they cooked their food, did their washing and where the children went to school. After a little encouragement from her father, Zara joined the children and Olivia watched as a smile broke through on Nick's face. His reluctance over coming here seemed to be slowly fading.

It was starting to go dark when Olivia and Amanda returned to their small sleeping quarters and lay down on the bed together. Amanda rested her head against Olivia's chest and the brunette threaded her fingers through Amanda's hair. She left an absentminded kiss on Amanda's forehead as they listened to the sounds of their new surroundings. None of them included the sound of shuffling feet caused by crawlers or the low growling noise they produced as they searched for food.

"We did it," Amanda whispered softly. "We found a place where we can stay."

"There is never going to be another world," Olivia answered softly. "This is our life now, until we die. We live amongst these things and nothing we do will change that. We can't expect a cure will come. We don't know if it ever will. But we're here and we're alive and I refuse to have those thing take that away from us."

"They won't," Amanda promised her and she smiled against the warm skin of Olivia's neck. "We've beaten, Liv. We've beaten them because we are alive and they're not. We're stronger. And we'll make it."

Olivia rolled onto her side so she could look into Amanda's eyes and she grinned. "Yes," she smiled, her fingers playfully fumbling with the button of Amanda's jeans. "Yes, we will make it. We're going to live."

End.