Grim and wary, Charles challenged, “So, what’s it gonna be?”

Denton grinned, the first he’d smiled in weeks, “Absolutely.” With that, both men lowered their weapons and continued scavenging the remnants of the charred convenience store. The two men, a fledgling alliance just formed, worked mostly in silence.

“What,” Charles asked grumpily, “in the hell are you humming?”

Denton smiled, though his eyes betrayed a bit of sadness, “What’s gonna work…teamwork!”

“I may have to rethink…”

Denton sighed and tossed aside the half-opened and utterly spoiled package of Hoho’s, “It’s from a kids’ show, okay. Just a stupid kids’ show.” True silence pervaded, a tiny moment in defiance of the abject chaos swirling around them in the world at large.

“Right,” Charles said with a snort while tossing a Payday bar to his new comrade, “We all had losses, huh?”

Denton shook off the memory and pocketed the chocolate bar, “Yeah, sure. Losses. We heading East or West?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Not much.”