He was sewing on some bells to a pair of large pants, trying his best to keep it symmetrical. He looked up when one of the girls crawled over to him, she was about 8 so he gave her a little job to do to keep her busy. He told her to put some rings through the remaining bells and every ten that she did he would give her a piece of candy. He continued his work now surprised with how smoothly it was going, he finished the pants and held them up and heard the sound they made.

“Trying to turn yourself into a beacon for the Dead Walkers?” Jebediah asked.

“I like it,” Kiara said as she happily ate her rewards for helping.

“It’s going to get you killed, Clicks.” Jeb said and pushed himself off the floor and walked out.

“Where you going?” Kiara asked, he was glad that she was here to be his voice. She always asks the questions he wants to, and it seems she understood what he wants to say.

“Going to see Mr. Moral.”

“’Bout what?” now he was curious, what could Jeb want with Dustin?

“I’ll tell you when I get back.”

“Brothers are weird,” Clicks nodded and seen her hold her candy to him. He took it and ate it as he pulled out his voice recorder and pressed play to one of his stories. He grabbed a large zip up hoodie and started sewing bells on it too, he knew that he would have to fix it a lot, but he doesn’t have enough material to make it a permanent fix.

“Clicks, Kiara what are you two up to?” Ethel walked in as she settled to steal a few pieces of candy from them. Kiara made a fuss about it but Clicks appeased the little hellfire with a sucker that he keeps for emergencies.

“We’re putting bells on his clothes.”

“Why?”

“To be a bacon!” Clicks tried to hide his laugher but the bells gave him away.

“Beacon?”

“Yeah, Bacon!”

“Kiara why don’t you go and see what Sabrina is up to, I seen her talking with Daddy.”

“Ok! See you later Clicks,” she left and the two sat in silence until she was gone.

“So tell me, what do you plan on doing?” He stared at her for a moment then nodded.

“I was thinking of using this as a lure, if I can keep them distracted for long enough for the others to go and gather supplies then we can use it for other things as well.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then I’ll have something to annoy people with.”

“No, what if the Dead Walkers are too much for you? What then?”

“Then I lived a good life. Dying sooner is better than seeing everyone else go.”

“Clicks, you’ll leave a lot of people behind, are you ok with that?”

“If they live to see another day, then I’ve done my job. I just hate to think of them leaving before me. Having to say goodbye to them would be difficult, but not everyone can live forever.”

“For someone your age you are mature, have you ever wanted to be a kid?”

“I am one, and if this works then I can dance. I’ve always wanted to be on stage singing and dancing. If you are worried that I’m not living as I should, then I’ll make it more obvious. Getting people to trust you is difficult, and getting them to accept you is even harder.”

“I understand, hopefully these people will accept all of us. If you’re here then surely they will. Just keeping being yourself little one.”

“Alright!” The door opened swiftly to Jeb coming in holding up a bag, “I’m now apart of the Errand Runs.”

“That’s wonderful, Jebediah!”

“I’m with Clicks tomorrow morning, Sabrina is also with me.”

“You’ll have to wake up early, are you sure you can do that? And you have to be alert to everything after you leave. Have you read all of Clicks’ rules for the Errand Runs?”

“I’m going to read them now,” Jeb said annoyed. Clicks sat and watched them interact with each other having put the recorder on just for this.

“You also have to listen to Sabrina, she’s been on more Runs than you so she knows what to do.”

“Yes, mom! I got it! Can I just go and read the boring rules?”

“Go to sleep early, remember if you wake up before Clicks than you can rub it in his face about his lateness!” She looked at him and smiled. Jeb looked excited.

“Be prepared for a whole day of Mr. Early Bird chattering in your ear Clicks,” Jeb left closing the door. He stopped the recording and went back to work on his new suit.

“Sometimes I worry, he’s only 16 yet he acts more mature than he is.”

“I was at that age when my Brother disappeared, I think it was the beginning of the Dead Walkers. My brother probably thought that I had the sickness as well with my Aunt. He probably left because of that since I wasn’t getting better quicker, it was either that or he became one of them. A number of things could have happened, but those two are the most likely.”

“You had to look after yourself since then, how did you cope with it?”

“When I was feeling better, I repeated my brother’s rules for a few days before going into my tree house to try and figure out what was going on and what route my brother could have taken. I found my old survival book and started figuring out the Morse code. Half of my Aunt was in the backyard, not sure what happened but no use questioning it. I started to figure out what they reacted to and what they didn’t. Clicking was one of them. So I practiced until I had the whole thing memorized without looking at it. Keeping myself busy was the only thing I knew, Robin always told me to read or build something. So that’s what I lived with, keep yourself busy with small chores or hobbies. Then think of something to get yourself out of dangerous situations.”

“You had a good brother to teach you such things. Do you think you can teach everyone else here?”

“If they are willing to watch what I’m doing then I’m sure they can learn.”

“Why won’t you talk to them?”

“To understand a person, silence is required to listen. People can’t stay quiet, so they fill that silence with talking. I learn a lot for just staying quiet and listening, if they believe that you can’t talk then they can just say anything and won’t have to worry about you ratting them out.”

“How many people have said awful things to you?”

“Harold, he said that he took his daughter. Now he’s not alone with the kids or he’s sent somewhere where no children go. Annie, she killed her newborn because she couldn’t deal with the crying. She’s on Dog Watch. David drinks and does drugs, he smuggled some in and tried to get other people to take it. He was kicked out. Phillip constantly makes rude remarks to women, how they should always stay in shape and have a woman body no matter what. I left him out and didn’t tell him about the Dead Walkers in a certain area.”

“So how many people are bad here?”

“There are some good souls now, they think I’m a child because of all that. They are a bit careful of what they say and do but they still think that I won’t be able to talk about it. I’ve gotten rid of about 10 of them, 5 of them are being monitored. I haven’t told Dustin about 8 of them so that they won’t catch on to what I’m doing. None of them are after children, I got rid of all of those. They don’t do drugs either from what I saw, your daughters will have to be careful around them though. But they are mostly around me so that should be solid. Jarred, Nick, Sean, Paul and Kent. They’re a little group together, if you want I can get rid of them tomorrow.”

“I- I don’t know, just watch them?”

“Ok, I’ll see what I can do.”

“It seems like you take care of the group well, you know it almost inside and out.”

“If were going to live together, might as well kick out the bad ones first. If they prove to me that they are useful, I’ll keep them around and keep them in check. Never know if any bad groups will show up and reek some havoc.”

“I feel safer with you, now that I know what you do for us.”

“Don’t, at least not yet. You shouldn’t let your guard down, this is still a dangerous place. I’ll keep an eye on your kids, I’ll teach them how to defend themselves.”

“Thank you, you’re mother raised you right.”

“I don’t have a mother, I grew up with my Brother and my Aunt. She wasn’t around much either, so my Brother took that role. Before this all happened he graduate from the Police Academy. Officer R. Knight. He loved hearing that. He taught me a lot about being a police officer, how to defend myself mostly. It was something he really loved, I didn’t want to disappoint him by saying that I didn’t like it. They were good lessons, but I was mostly distracted by practicing my dancing and singing.”

“He sounded wonderful. I’m so glad for him, I’m proud of you. Keep his memory strong, as well as everyone else that you meet. They will help you get through the tough times.”

“Yeah, being alone is no fun, the Dead Walkers can’t exactly talk and are always grumpy for some odd reason.” He gave a little chuckle.

“You have us now, we’ll be your family. Thank you for reaching out to us in your own ways. You helped us out in so many ways. You gave my Husband his job back, even though he complains he wouldn’t change it for the world. You gave my daughter Sabrina and Son Jebediah something to work for and you gave my youngest daughter Kiara another big brother she can count on. You’ve given me hope, to see my children grow and become the man you strive to be.” He smiled at her and went back to work, she took a sleeve and started helping him.