Max and Lizzie stood in silence for well over ten minutes, reading and re-reading every single heartfelt word in Dawson's letter. It was like being given a suicide note, or an obituary, somehow it felt as if they had already lost her, which in a way, they had.

Max's hands trembled slightly as his eyes slowly clambered over the section directed purely at him, like an inexperience mountaineer scaling the sheerest of rock faces. It was an impossible, heart-wrenching task, to read her words, to be incapable of reply.

"She always had to get the last word in, didn't she?" Max scoffed, hiding his tears behind forced laughter.

Lizzie peeled the note out of his hands, a victim of the same affliction, repeating her own section of the letter like an addict, unable to stop herself.

"She's really not coming back," Lizzie whispered in revelation. "She's really not coming back?"

Max shook his head.

"We have to go and find-"

Another shake of the head muffled Lizzies urges.

"You can't find someone who doesn't want to be found, kid."

"So, what do we do now? Just sit around with our heads up our arses?" Lizzie argued.

"When have we ever sat around?" Max asked.

Lizzie sighed, "Then what?"

Max gestured to the walls around them, "We're in a safe place with hundreds of people like us, most of whom have never set foot outside those walls. We have to make sure that it stays a safe place! I dread to think how they'd cope with life on the road, or being forced face to face with a horde of clicker bastards."

Lizzie nodded, agreeing with the sentiment, but Max's words grated on her, "Don't say that...don't...call them that."

"What?"

"Clicker bastards," Lizzie breathed. "They were people too, sometimes we forget that. It won't be long before Dawson..."

Lizzies words escaped her, as her mouth gasped for air and tears rolled down her cheeks. The words were too painful to form on her lips, but that didn't prevent them from rattling around her head and searing a hole through the very centre of her heart.

Max pulled her in tightly, the paper crunching against his chest, a constant reminder of Dawson's absence. It felt as if all they did these days was hug and mourn the loss of their friends or live in constant worry of inevitable upcoming turmoil.

"When does it stop, Max? All the death... I don't know how much more I can take," Lizzie whimpered.

Max rested her head against his chest, rubbing a comforting hand around in small circles on her back, "It never really stops...it just gets easier...normal."

"What kind of fucked up existence is that?"

The door beside them eased open, and familiar faces from the meeting began to file out, throwing the odd sympathetic but awkward glance their way. No one wanted to spark another outburst from Max, but they did feel their pain. Few people at Novus had lost loved ones in a long time, not since the start.

After ten or so bodies had exited the room and shuffled silently down the stairs, Val appeared in the doorway, softly beckoning Max and Lizzie inside.

"I'm so sorry," she said, simply, sincerely.

Max appreciated her condolences but was already suspicious as to the nature of their little meeting. "What's this all about?"

"What do you mean, Max? I'm afraid I don't follow," Val enquired, apparently baffled by the tone of his question.

Max sighed with a wry smile, "You're not the kind of person who invites someone into a room for a talk without having an end goal to the conversation, so what is it?"

"Actually," Val explained. "It's Giovanni who wanted me to ask you in here, but you're right, it isn't just to offer our sympathies.

There was always an angle with Val, Max had learned that already. He had worked with people like her for years before the world went to shit, everything that they pursued had a clear and calculated purpose. It wasn't malicious or heartless, it was just the way that some people operated. He almost respected how she had been able to keep her sense of calm and precision amongst the global chaos.

"Although, I am sorry, my friends. From my brief time with Dawson, she seemed like an amazing woman, and she will always be that," GiGi said.

"Thank you," Lizzie replied, forcing a smile.

"So, what are we really here for?" Max asked.

Val looked to GiGi, who looked straight back and waved a hand, urging her to take the lead. Val obliged. "As you know, here at Novus we expect everyone to chip in with work. Whether it's the cooks, cleaners, medical, entertainment, council, security...or-"

"The scavengers," GiGi interjected. "Although all members must go through a rigorous training regime to ensure that they are the best of the best to take on such a pivotal role."

Max glanced at Val, "He's the only scavenger, isn't he?"

"Of course," she sighed. "But, Giovanni here has expressed an interest in expanding this particular job sector."

"Why now?" Lizzie questioned. "Why us?"

"We have yet to find anybody suited to the role, besides Giovanni himself. Not surprisingly, people aren't overly willing to leave their families each day and swap the walls for the chaos of the city. However, you come highly recommended," Val explained. "I believe your words were 'badass people', Giovanni?"

"Badass motherfuckers," GiGi corrected. "But yes, continue."

"Yes, right," Val stammered, flustered by the colourful language. "Well, that's about the long and short of it. Is it something that you might be interested in?"

Lizzie interjected immediately, "Would we be allowed to look for Karl and Dawson out there?"

Max sighed, he knew that she would find it difficult to let this go.

"I wouldn't advise it, my friends," GiGi warned. "I was there with Dawson after she wrote you that letter. She was very clear that she didn't want anybody coming after her. Even if you found her, I doubt she would return. Plus, you'll only get yourselves killed doing it. Then she will feel bad, and I will feel bad for letting you go, and you will feel...nothing. That's a lot of negativity."

"If Karl is out there to be found, Dawson will bring him home," Max promised her.

"And I'm afraid the job is scavenging only," Val insisted. "If you want to leave our compound to find your friends, I will more than understand, but if you're not contributing to the community here, I'm afraid you won't be too welcome for long."

"I'm in," Max blurted.

"Are you sure?"

"Sign me up. It looks as if you have a lack of hands on experience here, and if it helps to keep the families and children here alive, I'm all for it," Max said.

"And..." Val glanced awkwardly towards Lizzie, who glanced up at Max.

Max chuckled, "We both know you're old enough and stubborn enough to make up your own mind."

"Count me in too," Lizzie smiled. "When do we start?"

"Well, that's just the thing I'm afraid," Val admitted. "Our little meeting here today was on that very subject. Unfortunately, we took a vote, and we have decided to temporarily suspend the scavenging team, and any outside travel."

"How are people meant to eat?" Max asked, utterly bewildered by the logic behind the decision.

"We have enough food stockpiled," Val asserted. "We just felt like it was best to remove any risks at this current time."

"What is she trying to explain with her bloody politician speak?" Max asked GiGi.

GiGi giggled at the stern look on Val's face. "Some of the council members thought it best to cut back on activity outside the walls. There have been a lot more of 'them' lurking around Novus lately, quite big groups too."

"We're hoping that they will pass through soon, as long as we don't draw any attention to ourselves, they shouldn't even be wise to our existence," Val added.

Max raised his hand to pause for a second, a dumbstruck look painted on his face from top to bottom. "Let me get this straight. You've spotted more and more clickers gathering around here, and you're scaling back... hoping that they will just wander off?"

"There's no reason for them to disturb us, as long as we don't disturb them. The last thing we want is to ring the dinner bell, or to lose one of you outside the walls," Val protested.

"God, you can tell that you haven't left these walls, Valerie. They're so much smarted than you're giving them credit for!" Max argued.

And now it was Val's turn to screw up her face, "Clever, you know what we're dealing with here, right?"

"Oh, I know far more than you, let's be clear on that! They're not dumb, they won't just 'pass through'. Trust me, if you know they're there, they definitely know you're here too."

"You talk of them as if they have any consciousness, Max. They're dead after all. They don't possess our common sense, or thoughts, or humanity. They go by smell, sight, and sound, all of which we intend to keep to a minimal until they move along."

"I don't know what it is, and believe me, I know it sounds crazy, but there's more to them than that," Max explained. "I don't know whether it's because they still have some humanity left, a capacity to think and plan on some level, or maybe they've gone so far the other way that they're developing an animalistic predatory instinct. But they are smarter than you give them credit for."

"We did encounter something strange out there, Dawson and I," GiGi admitted, as if Max's words had sparked some kind of epiphany.

"Strange?" Val dug.

"Screaming. A loud, piercing, shrill scream of a child in trouble. We ran towards it, naturally, it sounded as if the kid needed help. When we got there, it was an undead, a young undead, screaming, still screaming, like a trap. But then it changed, the pitch dropped far lower, like a deep siren, alerting a load more of them hiding in the rooms above."

"And you're just mentioning this now?" she exclaimed.

"I hadn't put much thought into it until now," GiGi confessed.

"We had a similar situation in a school, months back now," Max reinforced. "One little girl, a clicker, almost acting as bait to draw us in before the rest of them cornered us. And that's just the beginning! We've seen it time and time again! They know how to lure you in, how to cut off your path, how to surprise you and cut off every avenue of escape. I'm telling you, they're getting more and more organised, and the longer you leave them to it, the more fine-tuned these manoeuvres will be."

"We've all seen it, we've all been out there," Lizzie furthered.

Val processed the new information, desperately uncomfortable not being the one holding all the cards, all the information, she felt vulnerable and weak as a leader. It was her duty to care for the people of Novus and being told that you were not achieving this goal was difficult to hear.

"So, what would you propose?" she eventually asked the room.

Max jumped in instantly, "Don't suspend the scavengers. Don't stop people from leaving the walls. You need to start scaling up, start forming small groups to sweep the area outside of Novus. One block in ever direction, set a perimeter, flush out any lurking clickers and put a stop to them before they have the chance to put a stop to us. The longer we let them gather in groups, the more likely that they will somehow coordinate an attack."

"They outnumber us, don't forgot that. It could be as much as ninety-nine to one," Lizzie added.

Max nodded in agreement, "If we don't act soon, there will be ninety-nine knocking on those doors for each and every one of us. And that's not a fight that we win."

Val looked over to GiGi, who replied with one strong nod, making his allegiances to Max and Lizzie abundantly clear.

"Giovanni, call another meeting, we need to present this new information to the rest of the council."

"That's my one condition," Max interrupted. "You want us to help, if you want us to go out there on your behalf... we want a seat at the table. Me, Lizzie, and Rodney. You put us all on the council."