Warning! There is homophobic nguage in this chapter, please take care.

  The setting sun managed to pierce through the few leaf-less spots in the overhanging branches, tall birch trees melded into pines, some were sturdier, thicker than the rest. The healthy foliage spread out above them and bnketed the hunting duo in a cool shade.

  Ralph and Wyatt crept forward, they were low to the ground and listening carefully. Even in the dimming sunlight they could hear the call of birds. The trees rustled with life, squirrels and rodents tumbled through the forest as avians flew by overhead. Deep woods and thick roots. It was teeming with life.

  Ralph scoffed, just gncing around he could see plenty of small targets, birds, skittering fur frilled lizards, he didn't think many of the folk back at the ranch house would like eating bluejays or winter samanders, sure, Wyatt and probably Bonnie would care, but the rest? He chuckled at the thought of trying to feed Dixie a fme roasted lizard on a stick.

  Hopefully a few rabbits, or if they're lucky a deer of some sort.

  "Fuck there's a lot runnin' 'round here." Ralph scoffed.

  "Animals probably fleein' North too," Wyatt remarked, adjusted the bow in his hands and crept closer to his brother to speak quieter "Infection seems to get them too. Think it's safe eatin' 'em?" Wyatt asked softly.

  "Sure, just make sure they ain't got pnts in'em." Ralph said, rolling his eyes.

  "Obviously." Wyatt snapped back. As Wyatt stepped forward, aiming to pass by Ralph, he was shoved forward, stumbling he managed to catch himself and spun around, facing Ralph who smugly shrugged, feigning ignorance.

  Wyatt squinted at him, trying to give him a warning expression but Ralph wasn't fazed whatsoever, he strolled forward, bumping his shoulder against Wyatt's with no care. He pulled out his crossbow, gncing at the many possible targets trying to pick one out.

  A shiver of rage ran down Wyatt's spine and he jolted forward to shove Ralph back. “What's your problem!” Wyatt shouted. His hands were shaking with anger, balled in fists but careful not to snap the arrow in his hand.

  Ralph looked surprised briefly, then he matched the look of anger on Wyatt's face with a simir if not more intense aggression, he surged forward storming up into Wyatt's personal space until they nearly touched, Wyatt fought to urge to step back and stayed strong, expression wavering briefly, then he dug his heel in and faced Ralph “All you ever do is shit on me!” Wyatt growled “What the fuck am I doin' to piss you off so much, huh?” Wyatt asked, tone loud and furious.

  “Yer fuckin' up my aim,” Ralph replied with spit on his lip “We ain't eatin' if yer gonna keep talkin'!”

  “You don't need me to fuck up yer aim.” Wyatt scoffed, he shook his head and was going to turn away when Ralph struck him again, a swift punch to cheek was enough to knock Wyatt off bance and send him to the undergrowth. Wyatt spat, he had bit the inside of his mouth and felt a rush of blood cover his tongue.

  “Yer such a pussy,” Ralph shouted, waving an arm while he held his crossbow in the other “After everything I'd done for ya-” “What have you done for me? Huh?” Wyatt shouted back as he began to pull himself up “All ya done is push me 'round and bme me for yer shitty choices!” Wyatt pointed towards him, hands shaking, he wanted to throw a punch back so bad but he couldn't bring himself to do it, instead he stared, gring, trying to let his words and face show his emotions for him.

  “If it weren't for me yer reputation would be in fuckin' shambles!” Ralph retorted, inching forward every second Wyatt didn't surrender “I got you workin' on the farm, I got sheriff teachin' you to shoot, I got you hangin' out with the right people, if it weren't fer me everyone would be thinkin' yer'a no good useless fuckin' queer and you'd been ughed outta fuckin' town like yer fairy little friend Michael-” as the words left Ralph's frowning lips Wyatt leapt forward and smmed his shoulder into Ralph's middle and speared him to the ground.

  Ralph grunted, shouting out curses as he fred his legs, trying and failing to kick Wyatt off of him. Wyatt punched down and Ralph smacked his fist upwards, they spped and kneed one another, tousling around, disrupting leaves and kicking up dirt around them as they fought on the messy forest floor. They rolled, thrashing about throwing fists and elbows, just trying to hit the other where ever they could, Ralph was shouting any curse or insult he could think of while Wyatt just grunted and snapped back with a few 'fuck yous' and 'Piss offs' but no conversation was had.

  The pain in his chest only got worse as Ralph's balled hand made contact with his ribs. He failed to fight off the yelp that left his grit teeth and punched down twice as hard. Wyatt bloodied Ralph's lip before Ralph managed to jerk his leg up and sm his boot into Wyatt's chest. Kicking hard he knocked Wyatt back, he felt the sharp pain of stones and hardy roots against his back as he tumbled across the ground.

  There was a sudden roar, low, gurgling, Wyatt turned his attention attempting to follow the sound when another strike to the head dizzied him.Ralph shoved him to the ground again, the back of his skull hitting the chilled earth below him and before Wyatt managed a protest, or even a warning, Ralph was on top of him, Wyatt raised his arms in an attempt to shove him off but Ralph gripped his wrists and pinned him down to the dirt, Wyatt kicked, tried and failed to knock him away all while Ralph ughed as Wyatt's face turned red in frustration.

  “Say uncle!” Ralph mocked, then sucked in air, a sickening noise left his throat as he tried to drag together enough spit to threaten Wyatt with.

  “Ralph!” Wyatt shouted, his eyes darting around trying to spot what made that noise.

  Branches thumped against uncaring flesh as a small pack of undead stumbled forward, bustles of vines, roots and thorns snagged at clothes and fur, a few humanoid silhouettes were seen but there was a shambling heap of what used to be a dog, mangy fur matted with blood as the four legs, two of which were clearly broken, forced its way through the foliage.

  Wyatt gagged, the sight of Ralph's loogie dangling from his pursed lips made him want to throw up. So did the sight of ripped up Veriyn's creeping closer.

  Growling. Canine and human, the mixture of moans and hungry howls were low and threatening, Ralph didn't react to them at all, he inched his head closer, spit dripping further, Wyatt kicked again and screamed out “Fuck!” as he threw his head forward and smmed his forehead against Ralph's nose.

  Ralph cried out in pain and flung himself back, sitting up, his butt hit the ground.Then he was shoved. Wyatt lunged forward and threw Ralph to the side as he rolled towards the now running undead, or as close to sprinting as their fractured bones would allow, in the same motion Wyatt snatched his brothers' crossbow and shot the second he managed to aim.

  He fired at the shorter target, Wyatt never shot a dog before but he did what he always did: aimed for the head. The arrow embedded itself in the undead beasts rotting eye socket and the creature fell before it managed to lunge for them.

  Wyatt wiped his face and excimed “Get off yer ass!” as he tossed the crossbow back into his chest, Ralph staggered, only briefly, then threw himself to his feet and stormed forward.

  Wyatt used the well tended hunting knife clipped to his belt to defend himself, Ralph loaded another shot and loosed an arrow, it stabbed into the undead man's neck however the blow didn't even faze the Cress. Cwing hands still grabbing forward.

  Wyatt stabbed the bde forward and twisted it in the gut of the undead, which had no effect, much to his dismay. Using the momentum of his knife thrust he knocked the Cress back and yanked the arrow from its neck, then stabbed it back into its ear. Then as Ralph finished reloading Wyatt took down the second with a few hard stabs to the skull, then with a quick shot from Ralph's crossbow the final fell.

  Ralph heaved in a few breaths. Then he spat into the grass.

  There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared forward at the unmoving corpses before them, now heaps of meat to feed the maggots. Wyatt still felt the desire to vomit, he fought it off and shook his head, deep breathing shot pain through Wyatt's soar body, his ribs creaked with every huff and his throat burned with every breath. His eyes locked onto Ralph behind him. Alone. Sat in the disturbed pnt life and print riddled remnants of their fight.

  Their eyes met. Both filled with a mix of emotions.

  “You okay?” Wyatt broke the long silence at st.

  “Yeah.” Ralph replied curtly, he stood, fixing his jacket he then gestured towards the bodies “Get my arrows, let's find somethin' we can eat.” he said, however his normal confident drone didn't' come, he spoke quickly, to the point. Voice forced to be ft.

  “Sure.” Wyatt ghosted his reply, looking down at the bodies by his feet.

  The ranch home the remaining survivors took up in was louder than it probably ever was, the living room was filled to the brim with people, the couches had no more space and a few of them stood around, lingering in each others company, while the rest of them either tended to the kitchen or prepared themselves for a goodnight sleep.

  Ruth was fitful, breath heavy and hair damp with sweat but Irvin and Iona kept serving her water and remained in her company. She managed soft conversation as the family reminisced about their lives together.

  El-Mae had cleaned herself, changing out of bloodied clothes into a new winter dress with thick leggings, the dress itself was simple and modest, a light grey in color with small yellow accents, canary colored ce or buttons. Something to keep warm. Ford was sat out in the living room, also in a new change of clothes, listening to the chatter around him.

  As El-Mae passed the bedroom doors she saw Asja in the tiny bedroom, she wiggled her fingers above the small baby who cooed and grabbed at her hands. Asja smiled at Zerina but her voice was too quiet for El-Mae to hear.

  “Hello.” El-Mae greeted, mostly just to make her presence known.

  Asja turned to wave at her, then gestured her in. El-Mae smiled back and took her offer, following her into the room she approached the modified wardrobe and looked at the child.Her skin was warm honey brown with chubby round cheeks and small sleepy eyes.

  “She's beautiful.” El-Mae remarked, watching as Zerina pyed with the wispy strands of hair on her own head.

  “Thank you,” Asja replied “I just got done feeding her so she's energetic.” Asja said with a light titter “Careful, she likes to tug.” Asja warned pyfully, giving a quick gesture to El-Mae's own wavy blonde hair, which nearly touched her shoulders.

  El-Mae nodded “I will,” as she looked back at the baby “What's her name?” she asked

  “Zerina,” Asja replied and the little girl seemed to react at the sound of her name, babbling something that sounded close to words but not quite there yet “She's just about five months.” Asja added.

  “Wow,” El-Mae said without thinking, then felt guilty, stumbling voer herself as she added “It must have been difficult, her being born right after all this happened.” then she huffed, feeling worse “It shows you're a great mom, keeping her safe, that's what I mean, sorry.”

  “It's okay,” Asja replied warmly “You don't need to worry so much, say what you think. It's been hell raising her alone while avoiding getting eaten, it's true, but I have her, and that's all that matters I suppose.” Asja spoke, despite her pin tone El-Mae wasn't put off. “You look a little young but you have that motherly quality about you, I bet you babysat a lot, didn't you?”

  El-Mae flustered, face going red at being found out “Yes, my nieces and nephews- or, I'd call them that but they were the kids of family friends, so, we weren't actually reted but they'd call me auntie or big sister anyway.” she replied happily, a small and genuine smile now over taking her polite one.

  Asja nodded “I could tell. You seem like a very sweet girl.”

  “Oh, t-thank you ma'am!” El-Mae excimed happily.

  Asja tittered.

  The front room was the focal point, rge couches taken up by the adults, the floor had Cooper and Penelope id out over it, on an old rug, they had pulled a few books of the shelves of the home and had them piled between them, flipping through pages and reading over the backs, passing some back and forth that piqued their interests, deciding which to take with them.Ford was just sitting on the floor, back against the couch, watching the hall waiting for El-Mae to return.

  Arlene was by the window watching the tree line waiting to see movement, sat beside her in the armchair was Nancy who assured her the boys would be back.

  Renáta and Dixie had taken over the duties in the kitchen sure all they really had to do was attempt to spice up some canned food while they hoped some meat would follow, green beans, tinned potatoes and even some sauces from powder packets, Irvin would have whine about the waste of water to make a sauce but he was too being sitting with Iona and Ruth. That room was all that really matters to him now. Jeff wandered from room to room trying to be useful.

  Bonnie stepped outside for some fresh air, trying to ignore Dominic on the far end, sat on the rocking chairs.Brisk mountain air filled her lungs as she breathed in deeply.

  Looking out into the barren fields and watching the sun set over the tree covered horizon was something Bonnie loved about Edgeridge, she always felt like she was built for the colder climate and felt oddly comfortable in the chilly air.

  She let her eyes close and listened to the loud noises surrounding the property. The swaying of branches, the calls of animals, the chirps of flocking birds. The footsteps.

  Her eyes snapped open and desperately looked towards the noise, only to see the McKinley brothers emerging from the foliage. She sighed in relief and waved Wyatt's way.

  He didn't wave back as he and Ralph worked together to carry their kill, it looked to be a rge off white ball. They avoided dragging it to make tracks, avoided letting the fatal would drip and lead anything to the farm, they lugged it forward, then Bonnie began to jog up to them to offer help.

  It seemed to be a sheep, probably a once domesticated one based on the look of the overgrown wool.

  Bonnie wrapped it quickly in the outdoors tarp by the barn to help conceal it from the children, and the more squeamish members of the group. Ralph had his crossbow hooked in his arm and a fat lip on his face. He's not looking keen for conversation so Bonnie gave a fast thank you, but the moment Bonnie took some of the sheep's weight Ralph left it to her and stormed off towards the farmhouse.

  She gave Wyatt a worried smile, she nodded in thanks for the meat and Wyatt grumbled a thank you back for the help.

  Then they moved to the home. Arlene met them at the porch and helped them inside, with four sets of skilled hands it didn't take long for them to break down the sheep. Meat was cooked as well as they could with some basic campers cooking supplies, some of the edges were burnt, and a bit of the fat remained tough, but it was edible, safe to eat, but a bit under seasoned.

  Wyatt at st finished his final task, dinner was ready. He let out a deep breath and it was like all of his energy left with it, Wyatt's shoulders slumped. His eyes were shut as he leaned against the wall, listening to the sounds of everyone making their ptes.

  He heard Jeff and Dixie whisper about trying sheep for the first time, then Renáta began excitedly expining a dish she tried in Wolvhalle called a gyro. Penelope briefly fussed about eating it but her stomach quickly won over her guilt and she piled up her pte high.

  Wyatt felt himself falling asleep on his feet, arms crossed and eyes shut, he nearly drifted off when a hand on his shoulder woke him back up, he was startled to see Nancy beside him, a somber smile on her face. Her gaze ran over fresh bruises and scuffed knuckles and she simply said “Are you okay?” with a soft, quiet voice.

  “Yeah, are you?” Wyatt snapped back, in a harsher and more agitated tone than he meant.

  Nancy wasn't taken aback by his tone and kept her gentle smile “I'm sorry, for Dominic, and Cooper, and-” “It's alright.” he cut her off, he waved weakly while trying to keep his arms crossed “You got enough on yer pte, don't worry 'bout me.” Wyatt replied dismissively, he tried to urge her to go and eat but she stayed at his side.

  “Thank you for supper.” she said before patting his arm, finally giving in and walking away. Towards El-Mae who had Bonnie hovering over her making their meals.

  Wyatt sighed, lowering his head he was about to close his eyes again when he saw Cooper approach, Penelope was beside him as they stopped and looked up at him. Wyatt hid his nervousness and spoke casually “Hey Coops, Penny.” he nodded at each as he said their names.

  “I'm happy you're okay,” Cooper stumbled over his words “Uh, thanks for the food.”

  “Yes, thank you sir.” Penelope nodded, already chewing a particurly thicker chunk of meat.

  “You two okay?” Wyatt asked.

  “Uh uh.” Penelope hummed, not speaking while she chewed.

  “Alright then, eat yer supper 'n go to bed, got it?” Wyatt replied, growing a tiny smile.

  Cooper rolled his eyes and sighed “Okay.” he whined out before moving forward, back to the living room where the rest of them gathered for dinner. Wyatt watched the two go before checking the length of the line, Ralph had shoved in front of Arlene and Nancy, grumbling about 'killing the damned' thing so he should get a good piece, Jeff was behind them and that seemed to be the end of the line, he was waiting to serve himself st, mostly because he was so tired he didn't want to move but still, he wanted to be polite.

  Renáta gave a cordial nod of greeting as Asja sat beside her, Asja looked down at her pte and chuckled lightly “I was a vegetarian before all this.” she remarked humorously.

  “Really?” Renáta asked, then put the pstic fork in her hand in her mouth, chomping down on a sliced piece of meat.

  Asja nodded.

  “Fronie wanted to go vegetarian once, but she never did.” Ford said, his voice actively losing enthusiasm as he spoke.

  “Well we have a pte saved for her when she wakes up. She won't go hungry.” Dixie added as she passed a napkin to Penelope, who had a bit of gravy running down her chin.

  “Thank you, ma'am.” El-Mae spoke up after wiping her mouth.

  Iona stepped out of the kitchen on her second trip to the master bedroom, she had delivered her parents' food then went back to make her own, leaving the kitchen quiet, and almost empty.

  Wyatt noticed the counter was clear, there was still a small amount left over, plenty for him, even if he was considering just grabbing one of those MREs he's been living off of for the past week. In truth he didn't even really have an appetite, sure he felt hungry, but he struggled to get the will to eat. He didn't notice he had sort of zoned out, staring bnkly at the rge set up of food before him.

  Dominic walked to his side after preparing his own meal, he was going to be the final one out but with Wyatt not moving he figured he'd let Wyatt go st. He stopped right before entering the living room.He gnced at Wyatt's bruised face, his green eyes were so dark they were nearly bck, and with the deep purple around his sockets it only made him look all the more gaunt. His scabbed lips were a ft unemotional line, even with his short tusk sticking out of the side.

  Dominic wanted to go sit and eat with his son but with Wyatt staring at the kitchen like he could see through it Dominic felt the need to pause. “You look ten years older than you should.” Dominic said humorously in an attempt to show his concern.

  Wyatt hardly even heard him, he just sighed and blinked a few times as he met Dominic's eye “What?” he asked, clearly he hadn't been paying attention.

  “I was just checking in, you look tired.”

  “We're all tired, ain't we?” Wyatt harshly replied, he kept struggling to control his tone. Sounding meaner or snappy, he didn't mean it and the guilt took over as he lowered his head and exhaled through his nose “Sorry, I'll leave ya be-” Wyatt went to turn but with a quick gesture Dominic stopped him.

  Hovering a hand by Wyatt's gut to keep him from walking away Dominic then took a step back “I'm not upset,” he assured “Just think about sleeping in tomorrow, you look like you need it.” Dominic finished before stepping away, a fast wave was his goodbye and he walked into the living room before Wyatt's currently slow moving mind could think of a reply.