Louie just stared at Peyton, her thoughts spinning, her expression revealing nothing. His gaze was steady, searching as if trying to predict where her thoughts were taking her.

"What does that mean? For us? For the planet?" Louie finally managed to ask.

Peyton and John shared a look, but it was Peyton that responded.

"It means that if the groups are killed off that we could stop hiding. It would be safe to move around again."

John joined in on Peyton's thought.

"Whether that could happen in our lifetime is too hard to tell, but it could happen and that's all that matters. The human race could live to survive this terrible event." John said.

Louie sat rigid in her chair, her mind taking in the words and their meaning, but another part of her mind was reeling.

"And that's what you have been doing? Searching out groups in hopes of destroying them?" Louie asked, looking to Peyton.

He nodded but didn't say anything more on the subject.

"What this means for your Compound, I do not know," John said, "But I know that this information needs to be spread and told to as many people as it can be."

"We're not really on the beaten track. Very few people pass by our Compound. Maybe a few every couple of years," Louie said.

John waved Louie's comment away.

"I understand, as long as we tell people, so that no matter what may happen to Peyton and me there are people who still know what's going on and that it can be stopped."

"I understand."

Louie's gaze darted to Peyton for a split second, confused as to why this information hadn't been the first thing he shared with them if he believed what the Doctor said was true. John pulled himself slowly to his feet, the effort bringing a sheen of sweat to his forehead.

"Now if you would be so kind as to help me back to the Med Wing, I believe that is all I have for today."

Instantly Louie and Peyton were by the Doctor's side, supporting him out of the office and back to his bed. Peyton left as Louie got the man settled, pushing aside her whirling thoughts for the time being.

The Compound was buzzing once again when Louie stepped from the Med Wing, her focus traveled to the kitchens but she found she had no appetite at the moment. Instead made her way to Chief's office. She knocked twice but received no answer. After her third knock got the same results, she left, heading to security. Marc was stationed behind the desk and looked up as Louie approached, his hands falling too behind his back. His eyes studied Louie as she moved closer, seeing a look he had never seen cloud her eyes, distraction.

"Afternoon ma'am," Marc said.

The deep voice roused Louie from herself and she straightened, immediately imitating Marc's stance.

"Hello Marc, have you seen Chief at all?"

"Yes, ma'am, he headed to the greenhouse about an hour ago. Is there something you need, ma'am?"

Louie paused at the question, trying to decide whether there was.

"Yes, a knife and a rifle."

Marc held her gaze for a second longer and then produced what she asked for.

"Would you like me to accompany you, ma'am?" Marc asked as Louie strapped the holster to her thigh.

"Sure."

Marc gave her another look, the word foreign coming from Louie's lips. Louie started moving towards the gates, as Marc slipped the rifle strap over his shoulder and fell in beside her. The same scene from earlier that morning greeted Louie and Marc as they stepped from the safety of the Compound. But to Louie, the world beyond the fence looked, somehow, different. She headed off towards the barrier, Marc making no comment, as she made no sign of heading to the greenhouses.

The same derelict buildings stood off in the distance, their dilapidated forms the same as Louie had always seen them; their caved in levels still barely supporting each other, just as they had been for years and years. Yet Louie didn't see them now as things that had once been but as things that could be. Structures that could be rebuilt. Homes that could be lived in again, a world where there was a future beyond being born in one place and never leaving it until death took you away.

The world around her blurred into a noiseless void as she kept walking, always looking out to the world just beyond, her thoughts wrapping itself around every part of her. The same tugging growing strong in her stomach. Her Compound could one day branch out. The kids that ran and played on hard concrete floors, could one day know what it was like to climb trees or dig their toes into the dirt. The corner of Louie's mouth twitched, she could be the one to lead people into starting new lives.

The hint of the smile faded as the doctor's words came back, he didn't know if it could happen in their lifetime. Her shoulders sagged and Marc looked at her, but she didn't notice the curiosity burning in his eyes. A thought came to her and her spine straightened, her chin taking on a challenging angle. It didn't matter whether she saw the Compound free from confinement. What mattered was that she take care of them enough that one day the next generation might be able to. With that thought in her mind, she headed back to the Compound, Marc closely following, silent and patient.

**********************

The lights of the Compound were dim, all noise had ceased. The only sound that could be heard was the soft snores and heavy breathing of the Compound's sleeping occupants; and the light tap tap tapping of boots on the concrete floor, as Louie slowly walked, her hands clasped behind her back.

Chief had been tied up the whole day that by the time she had been able to see him it was late. Louie decided to wait on her news, seeing the tired look in his eyes and knowing he needed rest more than anything.

She had finished her evening rounds and her check-in on the Med Wing an hour ago but her thoughts seemed determined to keep her awake. So instead of fighting it, she had pulled on her boots and started walking.

In the distance, there could be heard the faint cries of one of the newborns and the gentle tones of its mother soothing it back to sleep. Louie seemed unaware of time and place, her feet guiding her around the familiar grounds, leading her in circles as her mind turned over idea after idea. Too wrapped up in the constant chatter of her thoughts, Louie didn't hear the soft treads that approached her until Peyton was standing beside her.

"Hey," he said.

Louie's heart jumped half out of her body, but she managed to contain her reaction, so all Peyton saw was a slight tension in her muscles.

"Hello," Louie said, after a moment's pause in which she settled herself. "What brings you out here so late?"

"I was going to ask you the same question. I saw you leave and..."

Louie looked at him then, trying to figure out how that sentence was supposed to end. There grew between them an awkward uncertainty that stretched and twisted until Louie felt it would fill the entire Compound. Suddenly, Louie stopped and turned to Peyton. He halted, looking at her expectantly.

"Peyton, why didn't you tell me about this information from the start?"

Peyton seemed to expect the question and rested against a post, his arms crossed.

"I needed to know what kind of place this was, the type of people you were." Puzzlement flashed through Louie's eyes, so Peyton went on. "The information we shared with you today, tends to generate a lot of different reactions from people."

"Explain."

Peyton ran a hand through his hair.

"In the past, I have told over twenty different groups about what we have discovered. At first, I came out and said it thinking that it would be believed. That people would start to have hope. Though that was true for some of the groups I encountered, others were skeptical. Others dismissive, the Artillery being the main one, while there were some that got angry.

"This mainly came from groups with a dominate male ratio. See, when I told them that I knew the Soulless...I mean Crawlers could be killed, they were angry. They felt threatened and embarrassed. They had hidden away behind tall fences while, in their eyes, a kid was doing what they should have been."

"They didn't know what you knew. If they hadn't protected themselves they might not be alive to hear what you said to say."

Peyton shrugged, his expression impassive.

"They don't see it that way. They see it as a point of pride, they should have fought and they didn't, even though they needed to protect their families. They still see it as being weak."

"I see, and you needed to see how we were run. Judge how we would take the news?"

"Yes."

There was a brief pause as Louie's next question rearranged itself and settled on her lips.

"I assume this is why you wanted to leave so badly in the beginning? To keep hunting them, keep telling people?" Louie said.

"I'm not built for confinement. I can't stay here, this isn't my world. I'm supposed to be out there."

"I understand. After what I've heard you can do it surprises me that we managed to keep you here at all. Though I suspect it had something to do with the four broken ribs, a concussion, and you want to see the people you protected safely settled."

Peyton smirked, his eyes flashing with a cocky look.

"Peyton." Louie paused for a second, his gaze locked on her. She straightened her shoulders. "I know we can not keep you here. Eventually, you would most likely break one of my security man's arms to get out, but I want to request something of you."

Peyton raised a single eyebrow.

"Stay." Surprise skipped across his face. "As your nurse, I still believe you're not in the shape you should be to be out on your own. But more than that I would like you to stay until you have trained us how to really defend ourselves. Then you are free to come and go as you like, I will not make you stay longer than you need to."

Silence fell around them as Peyton seemed to pick over her words, his mouth moving slightly as if the words were repeating themselves on his tongue. His focus was downcast, his face hard. He met Louie's gaze and his shoulders lowered.

"Alright, I'll stay, until you are ready to be on your own. But after that, I'm leaving."

"Thank you."

He nodded. There fell another pause and Peyton pushed himself off the post, making to walk away before Louie's words halted him.

"Why didn't you share the information about the maps? I understand why you would withhold the other information. But the maps could have warned us that Crawlers are closer than we thought. Why keep that from us?"

Peyton held her gaze for a long, steady moment.

"It's what I have been spending years working on. People seem to think they have the right to take it without my consent. So I needed to know I could trust you."

"And?"

"I'm starting to."

******************

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