"It can get worse?" Bunny asked.
Rosa nodded slowly. "The government, more or less, is still in operation. The military is doing all it can to hold the line. For the most part, people are still trying to work together. It won't be long until that collapses as well, though. Give it another day, maybe two, and it'll become every man for himself."
"You're a real glass is half-full type, aren't you?" Bunny asked with a snort.
"I'm a realist, Bunny. We're at the end of our rope here. It's just a matter of time before we let go."
"Before we left to make our run for the Park, we were watching the television. The news programs all seem to think that the military will get a handle on this," Bunny said.
Rosa laughed a little. "The last station stopped broadcasting about an hour before you woke up. Even if the military can get a handle on this, by the time they do, there won't be enough people left to do much with."
Bunny mulled that over for a minute. "There're more survivors out there. More than we think, I suspect."
"Not enough to rebuild society," Rosa told her. "Look, here's the real problem we face, in the case the army beats the dead back. Who's going to do what? Everyone will have gotten that little taste of anarchy, that feel of true lawless freedom. It won't ever go back to the way it was, not now, not after that."
"I'm not saying it'll go back," Bunny told her. "But I think that with enough people willing to pull together, we can rebuild something at least. Maybe even something better."
"You really believe that?" Rosa asked.
Bunny nodded slowly. "I have to. Or what's the point?"
Rosa leaned back, pondering that. "Survival isn't enough for you then, is it?"
"Not survival alone, no," Bunny said. "If it were, I wouldn't be here now. I'd have bailed on my friends and taken my chances alone. No, if we cannot survive as a society, for better or worse, then we may as well not survive."
Rosa smiled at her. "I wish you luck in that endeavor, Bunny. I truly do. And I hope, if you really are determined to leave, that we'll run into each other again someday."
"You don't plan on heading for the Park, then?" Bunny asked.
Rosa shook her head. "I can't. Marco would never get past the guards, and even if he did, they'd just carve him up to see what was going on inside him. I owe him too much to just leave him out here alone."
Bunny took that in. "Did you know him before?"
Rosa shook her head. "Not even a little, though I understand he worked just a couple blocks from here. Funny the turns life takes, isn't it?"
"Hilarious," Bunny admitted.
Both turned at the sound of the cafeteria door opening, admitting a man Bunny immediately disliked. His disheveled appearance and the slightly off look in his eye made her uneasy with him before he said a word. He paused in the doorway, looking Bunny over in a way she was too familiar with before sauntering into the room.
"Well, hello, hello, hello, pretty lady. How are you?" he asked, smiling in a way that wasn't quite right.
"Peyton," Rosa said.
He held a hand up to silence her, saying, "I ain't talking to you, doc. Why don't you run along and count your pills or something while I acquaint myself with our new friend."
"I'd rather she didn't," Bunny told him.
Peyton looked at her, making her skin crawl. "Now, that wasn't right friendly. I mean, here I am, tryin' to be cordial and all, and you go and say something that hurts my feelings. How are we ever supposed to get off on the right foot like that?"
Bunny fixed him with a dark glare. "You could try being a little less scuzzy."
It was dead silent for a moment, Rosa staring at Bunny in something akin to awe. Peyton looked at her with surprise then started laughing, making Bunny's skin crawl even more. There was something off in the laughter, something that was no longer neighbors with sanity.
"She's right funny, ain't she now?" Peyton exclaimed. "I do like me a funny lady."
“Peyton, it's been a long day," Rosa told him. "Why don't you get some sleep."
"Be easier to sleep if I had me a warm body to curl up with," Peyton replied, hugging himself as he gave Bunny, or her chest, a smile.
"Get a teddy bear," Bunny sniped.
Peyton slammed his hands on the table, making them both jump. "Be nice," he hissed.
Bunny met his glare with her own. "I was."
Suddenly smiling, Peyton backed off. "Sorry. Like the good doc said, it's been a long day. I'm just tired, and not myself. I've gone and made you uneasy with me, which wasn't my intention at all."
Bunny nodded slowly. "It's been difficult on everyone."
He smiled slowly, setting her more on edge than the dead had. "I'm sure that once you get to know me, darlin', you'll like me. I'm a real people person, ya know."
"Peyton, please," Rosa said softly.
"Still ain't talkin' to you," he growled. "So why don't you just shut it, okay?"
"Enough!" Bunny snapped, kicking the chair back as she stood.
"Whoa now, pretty lady," Peyton said, offering his eerie smile again. "I'm just tired, as I said."
Bunny snagged a handful of his dirty jacket and jerked him forward. "I don't give a damn. You watch your fucking mouth, or I'll rearrange your fucking face. Now, have I made myself perfectly clear?"
Peyton stared at her, his smile widening. "Come on now, don't be like that. You an’ me, we need to be friends. World’s going down, burning up and the dead are walkin'. If we're gonna live, we gotta live together, yeah?"
