Charlie and Bass sat staring at the charred mess on the floor, still crouched behind their little fort.

"So... that... that was Aaron?" Charlie whispered, turning her head to face him, eyes wide. Bass nodded, he had seen Aaron do this once before and was less shocked, but had to admit it was still very creepy.

"We should go, Miles is probably waiting," Bass said, rising to his feet.

"Yeah, " Charlie agreed, though she hadn't moved. Bass waited patiently until she finally tore her gaze away from the bodies and stood up. "I hope they're alright."

"I'm sure they are, let's just get out of here," he told her. They walked carefully around the bodies, to the gym exit and carefully through the high school's hallways. They went through, quietly searching every room for their friends.

"Mom?" Charlie whispered into one and peering inside before jerking away with a start. Bass grabbed his gun before realizing it had been another charred corpse that had scared her.

"Damn it, Charlie."

"Sorry." She must've been a lot more shaken than he had thought. He sighed and they continued. He almost wanted to comfort her in some way, but there was nothing that could make you unsee that.

Down the hall there were two bodies outside of a barricaded door, this had Miles and Rachel all over it.

"Mom, Miles, come on," Charlie hissed, not seeing that something was wrong. Her mom turned around, her face covered in tears. "Mom, what's-?" She was about to ask before she and Monroe saw Miles laying on the floor. The two of them ran and knelt beside him.

"Miles!" Bass grabbed his arm and lifted up the sleeve, the infection looked much worse. "Damn, you idiot."

"Mom, what happened? What's wrong with him?" Charlie shouted, holding Miles' broken hand.

"It was infected," her mother choked out, still sobbing and grasping Miles' other hand tightly. "It's too late."

"Shut up," barked Bass. "He has a pulse, we can get him to your dad and he'll be okay. The infection didn't spread that quickly, we can save him." Rachael shook her head, they didn't even know where her father was! "Help me carry him, Charlie." He glanced at her as she obliged, she wasn't sobbing like her mother, she was teary-eyed but also looked pissed as hell. "What is it?"

"You knew, you knew he was infected." It wasn't a question. He looked her in the eyes, but she didn't continue speaking as they both carried Miles out of the room. Rachel still sat weeping on the floor. Charlie, without turning around, told her, " You go find Aaron and Cynthia and meet us back at that old house."

They half-carried, half-dragged Miles through the hallways and then through the forest, not saying a word. Bass finally broke the silence. "He's going to be okay, Charlie. I'll make sure of it." She sighed haughtily. "Just say it, you're mad that I didn't tell you he was sick." His gentle voice switched to annoyance.

"Of course I am!" she hissed, still walking forward with Bass and Miles between them. "Miles does stupid things like this without telling people, he's always trying to pretend he's fine! But you knew! You let him do this!"

"He told me not to say anything!He's my friend, what was I supposed to do?" Monroe was angry now. Did she not know how worried he was too?

"He's your friend? He's my uncle! Screw all of that, his life matters more than your loyalty," she seethed. He sighed.

"You're right." Charlie stared at him over Miles' head, they made eye contact for a while before he looked away. "How do you know he'll be okay?" Charlie whispered gently.

"I just do. Miles is still breathing and he won't stop because of some dumb infection, it's not like him. He's too much of a proud son of a bitch," Bass chuckled. Charlie smiled just a little bit in agreement. Finally they arrived at their safe house. Inside it was Aaron and Rachel.
"Aaron," Charlie gasped. He was on the floor weeping the way Rachael had, his hands bloody with Rachel knelt beside him. Bass took Miles upstairs to set him down and Rachael stared after Miles hopefully.

"Cynthia's dead. It's all my fault, I shouldn't have brought her. I shouldn't have told him to go away, he could've saved her," he said to them, still crying. Charlie knelt by his other side and grasped his arm.

"I'm so sorry, Aaron," she was about to ask what happened exactly, when Monroe came down and whispered something to Rachael and then motioned for Charlie to come outside with him. "Monroe, I can't-"

"Go Charlie," Aaron said. He had stopped crying. "I heard about Miles... " Charlie nodded gratefully, Aaron was such a generous person, how could he, of all people, be responsible for what happened at the school?

Monroe was standing outside, waiting for her. "I'm sorry about Cynthia." They began started back to the town.

"Me too," Charlie agreed. Poor Aaron. But they couldn't afford to waste time.

"I have a strategy for us, we-"

"We? Us? No, just me," Charlie said.

"Excuse me? You need my help," he told her, a little offended.

"I don't think so, but even if I did-" she began.

"Is this about me not telling you about Miles? Or me leaving you at the school, 'cause yeah, I left, but I came back, you can trust me."

"No, it's not about any of that. It's too risky to be walking around town with a dead guy."

"Oh." He seemed embarrassed about his reaction. "Well, I'm good at not being seen. I'm batman." Charlie could not believe he was once general of a militia unless Chuck E. Cheese had a militia.

"Whatever," she groaned. "You can come, just shut it, please."

"Well as long as you say please," Bass countered. Soon they reached the the walls of the town.

"Got a plan, batman?" Charlie asked.

"Well, we don't got caught," Bass said, helping Charlie hoist herself up. She coughed awkwardly as he pushed her up. Just touched her butt. Woops.

"Exexcellent plan," she muttered, pulling Monroe up as she reached the top. "But I have a better one: we split up and find him."

"Un uh, too much could go wrong," he whispered, scanning through the dark town.

"We don't have that kind of time- Miles doesn't have that kind of time," Charlie hissed.

"Charlie?"

"What?" she sighed turning back to Monroe.

"What?" he replied.

"You just said my name... didn't you?" she whispered back, her eyes searching around them. Monroe drew his sword expectantly.

"Charlie?" the voice called again. Her grandfather appeared from down the street. "Charlie! Where's Rachel?" His ayes froze on Monroe. "What the hell is going on?!" Bassclamped his hand over Gene's mouth.

"Grampa, I'll explain later, come on. Miles needs help," she said, leading him out of the gates.

"Was it Rachel?" he asked, following her.

"What?"

"Was it Rachel who saved him?" he asked somewhat angrily.

"Yeah."

"Why? Why would she help him? Why would you help him?" Bass averted his eyes uncomfortably. "Have you forgotten about-"

"About?" Charlie asked, wheeling around. "About Danny and dad?" Bass stopped, unsure whether he should push her along, but the menacing look on her face advised him not to. "I am so sick of everyone saying that. You and mom and even Miles judging me, how dare you! They were my family, mine! And now, they're rotting in the ground," Gene flinched. "While I'm up here, just trying to keep the family that I have left alive. And Monroe's helping me do that. And yeah, he's not the most suitable person, believe me, I know!" Now it was Bass' turn to flinch, recalling how he almost left her to die earlier. "But at least he's never lied to me." "True, now," Bass said. "I'm telling you that if we don't move this alone, Miles will die." He gave her a pointed look forward and she immediately picked up the pace. "So doctor, how'd you get out?"

"The guards were sent out, all of them. So I picked the lock and escaped," Gene explained. "What happened to Miles?"

"His hand, it's infected- badly." Gene swore at this.

"I was afraid this would happen. Charlie, I need medicine for that, it's in their base."

"Done," Charlie said, turning back around without missing a beat. Bass stopped her about to explain his hesitation. "He just said all of the patriots left, all of them. I'll be fine." Bass nodded reluctantly. I doubt it, you're a magnet for trouble, but you also have Miles' scrappyness. Let's hope that's enough.

With that they split up.