There was a few moments of silence as we each took the scene in, all coming to the conclusion that while this sucked, we needed to divide it up into what was still good, and what was now waste. Two and a half hours later and we had about a fourth of the food in the good pile, half in the bad pile, and another fourth in the pile which we deemed could be used if it was used in a timely manner. But this still left half of the stockpile just completely ruined. Most of what had been saved were canned items, and random stuff that managed to be overlooked.

I busied myself with cleaning up a bit while Cody and Beck took a more in depth inventory, writing everything down in a notebook.

"We'll need to call an emergency meeting, let everyone know what's happened and see what we can do from there," Beck said, sounding a little bit drained, but the anger at the situation still lingered.

Cody nodded, "Once we finish up here, you and Kodi can go clean up and I'll go get the people gathered," he said, closing the notebook and running his fingers through his hair.

I cleared my throat before dropping my rag into a bucket of water that I had been using while cleaning, "Don't tell them what the meeting is about until everyone is present," I said, and continued while trying to ignore their confused expressions, "I mean, if you tell each person as you find them, there's the possibility of them telling someone else, and then soon enough once the meeting is called, there's a panic before we can even think of a plan."

Beck gave a smile, and crossed his arms as if approving and Cody nodded thoughtfully, "I think you're right, this needs to say a secret until we can come up with a solution," he put a hand on my shoulder as he passed and squeezed a little bit, "Good thinking, Kodi," he said, and gave me a rare smile.

Cody and Beck's approval had me in good spirits as Beck and I headed back to our house to change out of our dirtied clothes. I had taken off both jackets to clean up and now held them draped over my arm. Beck was quiet as we walked, though he did reach for my hand again. A fluttering in my stomach broke out, but I pushed those feelings to the back of my mind while I thought over what we could do now that so much food had been wasted.

*

*

*

I once again found myself walking up towards the court like building, though this time Chester wasn't beside me, and I was holding hands with Beck. He let go to hold the door open for me and I smiled in a silent thank you. Cody hadn't come back to the house to change, so when I saw him in the hallway I wasn't surprised to see that he still had oil and random flour patches all over.

There was even a bit of rice in his hair, which I walked over and promptly brushed out of his hair for him. He gave a smile of thanks and nodded at Beck behind me.

"Everyone is here, and I've managed to avoid any questions, but they're not being very patient," he said, nodding for us to walk with him into the room that Mabel had been trialed in.

I looked back to see if Beck was following Cody and I, only to be met with a grumpy expression, when he saw me he scowled a little bit and looked away. Hurt and confused, I turned to face the right way and walked into the room after Cody.

Beck's attitude towards me was pushed to the back of my mind as I took in everyone who was present. Doctor Venson was sitting in a chair, looking tired and talking with a red haired man who I instantly recognized as Tucker, also talking with Doctor Venson was Evan, whom I had only talked to once but I knew he was a nice guy. There were a few other people who I recognized vaguely as people who stood guard and watched over the compound, and then there was Miss B. Lastly, there was Adam, Michael, and Benjamin.

Everyone looked over when the door fell shut behind Beck. Evan grinned softly upon sighting me, and gave a wave, "Hey Kodi," he said, and then patted a chair next to him.

I looked over at Cody in question, wondering if I should go sit or stay standing with him. He nodded for me to go ahead, I turned and walked past Beck, who somehow looked even more grumpy than earlier. As I past though his eyes softened slightly, before he looked away and scowled. The act made me think that maybe I had been imagining the softening of his eyes.

Once seated next to Evan, who was by far in a much better mood than Beck was, Cody clapped his hands and got everyone's attention.

"Are you going to finally tell us whatever is going on? Because I have patients to be tending to and I can't do a very good job of it if I'm stuck here," Doctor Venson said, looking very put out, "And you two," he motioned towards Beck and I with a disapproving tone, "were supposed to be helping," he said, making me feel bad that I had forgotten we were supposed to be making soup.

I wanted to slink down in my seat and disappear but instead, and much to my surprise, I sat up a little bit more, and looked him in the eye, "Doctor Venson, I know this. But something came up, and if Cody called you here to this meeting, and Beck and I are here as well instead of cooking up some soup, then you better believe it is very important."

This made Doctor Venson loose any words he might have had, and he looked a little flustered, "Right well, if that's the case then get on with it," he said and gestured for Cody to go on.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something like approval flash across Miss B's eyes, and I noticed that the men I didn't know seemed to stop looking at me in wonder as to why I was even present.

Cody shook his head slightly and then addressed us all, "Right well if everyone is done accusing us of being feeble minded teenagers who don't know the meaning of important, let's move on," he said, not looking at Doctor Venson, who for his part merely looked embarrassed, "I'm not going to beat around the bush, and for that fact alone I ask that there be no uproar at the words I'm about to say. I want everyone to be respectful, and an adult about this meeting," he paused, letting that sink in, "Over half the food stock is ruined. A fourth of it is salvageable, but only that last fourth is good to still be stored," he said and crossed his arms.

It seemed the words he had only spoken moments ago had went in one ear and out the other as people started shouting, louder and louder to be heard over one another. Cody looked as if he had expected nothing more, and was quiet for a few minutes before attempting to direct attention back to the front.

It was no use though, even Miss B was in a heated discussion with one of the guards people, and I distinctly heard Doctor Venson start to have a meltdown of sorts. I watched as Cody started to shout, and then he looked at a loss for what else he could do because his shouts were no more significant than anyone else's.

I stood up on top of the seat of my chair and gave a piercing whistle, a few people close by grabbed for their ears but it had the desired effect because everyone was now staring at me. It took me half a second to realize they expected me to talk.

"Look, your bickering isn't getting us anywhere, so knock it off and sit back down so we can maybe try and come up with a solution, or at the very least a game plan," I said, placing my hands on my hips.

One by one people started sitting back down, many of them were red in the cheeks, either by being so worked up, or out of embarrassment. I plopped back down in my seat and pulled my button up flannel so that it was crease free, and then placed my hands in my lap. I looked up at Cody who nodded in my direction, and turned back to everyone once they were settled.

"Great job not freaking out," he said, causing Beck to scoff, and Evan to give a snort. At once the heavy atmosphere was lifted, and we were able to brainstorm a bit.

It turned out that Tucker was head of the scouters, not officially but it was just something people took in stride and assumed. Evan, Michael, Adam, and Benjamin were all scouters, and the guardsmen were called in because some of them doubled as scouts, but they were also here because Beck wanted to know if they'd seen anything.

They hadn't, which lead to Cody suggesting that a watch duty be placed over the food from now on, and that people needed to be informed of the dilemma, but also informed of the newly formulated plan. Beck, Benjamin, and Adam were to head back towards my old home, and scout for food, bringing back as much as they could, while Evan, Cody, and I were all supposed to go in the opposite direction and do the same.

Beck didn't exactly look thrilled with the arrangements, and wasn't given the opportunity to voice this as

When the details of the trips were finalized, Beck cleared his throat, and Cody moved aside a bit to let him have the floor to speak.

"So now that there's some sort of plan for the food issue," he said, though it wasn't hard to detect the tint of irritation in his voice, "I think we should also discuss the illness that has been going around... Doctor Venson? Would you like to talk a little bit about this?" He asked, and when the doctor got up from his spot next to me, Beck wasted no time at all filling the empty space.

As soon as he sat down he draped his arm over the back of my chair, and it left me feeling even more confused. I thought he was mad at me?

Doctor Venson cleared his throat, "So, the virus going around, and I'm not sure yet if that's what it is, has been causing a bit of hallucinations, at least in a few patients. It's also accompanied by fever, body aches, nausea, and a slight red rash of sorts. While there's no way to tell for sure that they all have the same thing, it's a strong possibility," he paused, "there have been already eight cases in the last thirty-six hours, and some of them look close to death, I'm afraid," murmurs burst out across the room but they were quickly quieted as Doctor Venson continued as if he hadn't heard them, "I'm starting to give treatment, but there's no way to tell if it will help, or only make it worse until the treatment has already done its deeds.

"this isn't to scare anyone, but I want everyone to be on alert and on the look out for anyone who seems to be getting sick."

There were a few more words spoken, and I wondered who the new patients were. By the end of the meeting we had been able to promise Doctor Venson we could get him canned soup but home made soup wouldn't be very realistic at the time.

The meeting was drawing to a close, and I was wrapping up a conversation with Evan about the upcoming supply run when I heard it. It was a bit faint at first, but as I listened more intently the sound became clearer.

"Everyone shut up!" I said, putting my hands out as I tried to identify the noise.

There were a few people who gave me dirty looks, Miss B among them, but everyone listened and grew quieted. This time when the sound came there was no mistaking it, the bell from the tower at the church was being rung, and there was no doubt in my mind that this would be like a beacon for the undead. Our situation had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.