Marie woke up when she heard a knocking on the basket of the firetruck. "Rise and shine, everyone," a woman hollered. "We're home. Time to take a walk."

The sky had turned dark by the time they hit the brakes. The Harrises rose to their feet and gazed out at the lady who'd awoken them. She had short black hair and tawny skin. Yet, even in the darkness what stood out the most was what she was wearing. A pressed dress shirt, a pair of sharkskin trousers, leather loafers and a waistcoat that was unbuttoned, giving a casual air to her otherwise officious attire. And her easy smile just emphasized that aspect of her. "I'm gonna leave the firetruck out here. Cuz I don't wanna run it all dry of fuel. Also, I have to drop some deliveries so I hope you won't mind a bit of a stroll?" There was a playful lilt to her accent that sounded both foreign and welcoming.

"Sure we don't mind!" Marie said quickly before Clint could answer.

"I thought you didn't trust these people," he whispered to his wife.

"Yeah, and this is the perfect time to get to know them." Marie whispered back.

Clint rolled his eyes.

Brendan threw a small ladder down over the basket for them to get off the firetruck.

"The name's Germaine," the woman said with a courteous bow. "Isn't it funny that we practically met about nine hours ago yet now is the time when we actually get to the introductions?" She laughed an infectious laugh.

Marie noticed that Zack was smiling up to the lady as if he already liked her.

"Amusing indeed." Clint nodded. "I'm Clint Harris. This is Marie, my wife. And that little gentleman is Zack, my son."

"Nice to meet y'all." She nodded back at them, her smile comfortably resting on her lips as she regarded the family.

"Um, so what were you gonna deliver?" Marie asked.

"Oh, just a few smiles." Germaine winked.

That's when Brendan unloaded three heavy boxes from the passenger seat of the firetruck. He stacked them on a push trolley and pulled out a scrap of paper from his pocket. "The first stop is Haldane's place," he said after glancing at the note.

Germaine clapped her hands twice. "Let's roll!"

###

The neon sign at the center of the town square was luminous with the name: Mathesdale.

That's when Marie realized that Brendan had been telling the truth. This place was indeed in the process of becoming an actual city again. Still quite far from it but it was certainly on its way. For one, the streetlamps were working. The roads weren't dark. There were also lights in the windows of the buildings. And there was no sign of the infected. She saw solar panels over all the inhabited roofs and the streetlights. That's where these people had been getting their electricity from.

Mathesdale, Marie thought, it's a name. Not a number. It sounded like the name of a city. And why not? This was probably what it used to be called before Wartime Unrest was declared. Before the bio-weapons were unleashed. Before the death-breath spread. Before the instant-install decontamination units became an essential appliance in each house. This was like a grainy picture of the past. Or maybe a look into a more hopeful future.

"The Haldane's place is just down that road." Germaine pointed ahead as she and Brendan led the Harrises through the square.

"Mom...I can hear...people talking and laughing in their houses..." Zack whispered. "I-I hadn't heard that in a long time."

"Neither had I, sweetie. Neither had I," she said. They kept following the woman in the waistcoat.

Germaine had been right. They indeed delivered smiles in that cold and dark evening. The boxes on the trolley had everything that would make you smile in an apocalypse. Non-perishable food, bottled water, paper towels, clean clothes, batteries, flashlights, soap, shampoo, beer. One box also had novels, comic books for kids, there were even coloring books with pictures of princesses and superheroes. Also a couple of action figures and dolls.

Germaine and Brendan went from one house to another, delivering everything they'd listed down. The people receiving stuff greeted them with smiles, the kids jumped in excitement as they saw candies and chocolates and crayons and even a toy or two Brendan had managed to dig out from somewhere.

The recipients asked them to stay for a drink or even dinner. To sit back and relax a bit. Germaine just graciously declined, smiling the smile that Marie was getting used to.

Marie had been anxious about Clint and Zack getting weary from all the walking and halting and waiting while Germaine dropped the goods and good wishes to the people. But instead, she saw her son and husband enjoyed watching the smiles on the faces of these strangers.

From one house to another. And another. And another. They kept walking and feeling hope and joy swell within them.

"I, uh, think we mistook her kindness for something else?" Clint whispered to Marie as they came to the last house to deliver. The boxes had almost been empty by now. "She seems like a good person."

"I think so too," Marie said with a nervous smile. She looked at Germaine as she stood on the porch of a house that now belonged to a family named Guersons. Marie went pale under her gas mask. "I think I'm really losing it now, Clint. That woman saved our lives when we knew we were done for. She pulled us out of hell. Yet, there I was...calling bullshit on her genuine kindness."

Clint frowned in sympathy. "It's okay," he said. "It's just the survival instinct, honey."

Marie shook her head. "I think we are using our 'survival instinct' as too much of an excuse to be a dick." She bit her lip.

Clint glanced at Zack who was now idling by a street light, spinning in a reel around it, not really paying attention to anything else. Clint turned back to his wife, he took her hand in his. "I know how you feel. But regardless of everything you think about yourself, I want you to know that I'll always trust you, Marie." He stepped closer to her, gazing into her eyes. "And I wouldn't choose to be with anyone else no matter how many mistakes you make."

Marie looked like she was about to cry. She threw her arms around him and clutched him tightly.

Clint let out a sigh of relief and held her close. "This may be it, Marie," he said in a soft voice. "This may be what we were looking for all along." He smiled at the quiet city around them.

Marie managed to smile herself when she saw the one on his face. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him so...at peace. She hugged him tighter. "You're right. This just might be it." She nodded.

That's when Zack touched his Dad's leg and let out a yawn. Clint shook his head and lifted the boy in his arms. Zack rested his head on his Dad's shoulder and dozed off eventually.

"I apologize for making you folks run around with me," Germaine's honey smooth voice called out as she walked back towards them. "The little man can certainly use some rest, it seems." She gestured at Zack asleep on his dad's shoulder.

"Yeah he is surely tired from a stressful day." Clint shrugged.

"Wouldn't blame him," Germaine said. "Why don't y'all stay at my place for the night? We have plenty of guest-rooms that are waiting to be used."

"That would be really nice of you, Ms. Germaine," Marie said.

There was that cheerful laugh again. "Ms. Germaine? Pfttt! I can hardly ever get used to that formality. Call me Gemma," she said as they started walking back to her place.

"So this is why you and Brendan were at Sector 24?" Marie asked. "To scavenge these supplies you delivered. He also told us about the truck."

For a split second, Germaine's mask of cheer seemed to slightly shift. "Well, sort of yeah." She shrugged. "We were also trying to find someone."

"Oh?"

Germaine nodded. "We were looking for my brother actually," she said, now a more vulnerable look came on her face. "He...he and I had a falling out over something. And he just stormed off. Mama always used to say never step out the door with a frown. You never know, it might be the last expression you have on your face. The kinda world that we live in...it might just turn that thing true." She gazed up at the starless, moonless sky.

Marie regarded the taller woman with sympathy. "It's okay, Gemma," she said. "He is your family. I bet he understands that you are the most important person in his life. Especially because of the kinda world that we live in now."

The strain didn't seem to leave Germaine's face. "I don't think so," she said. "The thing about my brother is, he knows what he wants. And he goes after that thing even if he knows he is gonna die. I don't doubt he loves me. I know he does. What worries me is the fact that he is also a headstrong idiot who is liable to get his brains blasted while trying to get what he is after." Germaine's shoulders slouched in defeat as she let out a long sigh. "Family is such a tedious thing to hold together. Especially when the world is ending."

"I'm sure things will get better, Gemma." Brendan said.

Germaine just nodded. They walked for maybe fifteen minutes before Gemma pulled a key from her waistcoat and unlocked the wrought iron gates to a three storey mansion.

"This is where you live?" Clint gawked at the estate. "It's...still intact."

That managed to bring a chuckle out of her. "My father owned a clock company," Gemma said as she led them up the gravel path woven between the burnt patches of grass. "It started with him repairing watches from a small shed in his backyard to slowly making cuckoo clocks and then the more ornamental ones. But the success really came when later his slightly bigger company started to manufacture wrist watches for the army. And then later on for the air-force and the navy too. And this is the result of it all." She gestured at the mansion.

Clint frowned. "What was your last name again?"

Germaine gave a sly smile. "It's Koehlwin."

Clint's eyes went wide. "Hey, I have this analog watch that your company made!" He brandished his wrist watch to her. "It's still working and trust me, it's seen some pretty tough times."

More cheerful laughter poured out of Germaine's lips. "Papa would've been proud if he saw that."

The decontamination chamber at the massive front door of the mansion hissed and sprayed them with disinfectant. Then they stepped inside.

"Although my great grandfather was a foreigner, my Dad and the rest of us are as Ardvenian as we get," Germaine said, waving the Harrises to settle into the lush sectional sofa lined with velvet. "Me and my brother, Erik, were born here, raised here. We spoke what everyone spoke and wore what everyone wore. My father always wanted to visit our home country. Unfortunately, it was caught in another war as Ardvenia is right now."

Germaine walked up to what looked like an antique liquor cabinet and pulled out three glasses and an odd looking triangular tumbler. She handed a glass to Clint, Brendan and Marie. "I don't know if it's ironic that my great-gramps migrated here to outrun a war. Only for the rest of us to get caught in another war here. But I'm starting to see that Fate is a dame full of mischief. And she has a vile sense of humor." She poured the three of them a pinkish looking drink that gave off a whiff of something flowery and almonds. "It's a wine made from the jogir flowers that grow back in my native country."

Marie tried the wine and felt a pleasant fuzz at the back of her throat. All the day's stress seemed to melt away at the first sip. "It's really good!" She said.

Germaine smiled. "I'm glad you liked it."

"I didn't know flowers could still grow somewhere," Marie said.

"Well, we can't grow all but we can still grow some flowers in water." Germaine was still smiling.

Marie was puzzled. "In water?"

"Hydroponics?" Clint asked.

"Yep!" Germaine said. "Some edible flowers can be grown like that. We have a small hydroponics plant a few blocks from here where we grow some vegetables and fruits for the town."

"Wait but...which water are you using? Most rivers have been poisoned, aren't they?" Marie said.

"You are right. But we have transported a sizable amount of pure sea water and desalinated it to get clean, drinkable water," Gemma said. "The desalination plant looks way uglier than the hydroponics plant though. But it is the easiest water purifying process we could use."

"So," Marie said, leaning ahead. "You mean, you have electricity, you grow vegetables and you know a way to turn the sea water drinkable?!"

Gemma couldn't hold back her laughter. "Yes. I'm ready to accept my praise as a wizard now."

Marie laughed along with her.

After a moment Clint said, "This is such a weirdly pleasant feeling." He was still holding onto Zack who was still asleep. "I'm...not just talking about this great place you've built. But this whole situation. Meeting someone, going to their place, having a drink and just talking like this. I don't think I remember the last time I had this with someone. This feeling of..."

"Of something normal?" Brendan grinned.

Marie nodded. "Yes," she said, leaning back. "I'd almost forgotten that the cities had names before the government gave them numbers."

Germaine's expression sobered up to form something a lot more solemn. "As the war rages on, the name of this country becomes less and less relevant too. We just become an enemy to someone else." She stared grimly into her glass of wine. "That's why I wanna keep building this city, this community. It may not seem like much, but I don't mind being in a dot on the map as long as that dot is populated by good people. I want the kids to keep playing, I want them to know that there was a better world before they were born. And it was like that because of the people who made it that way." Her eyes happened upon Zack who was still snuggled up in his father's arms, still fast asleep. "I think you know what I mean," she said with a wistful smile.

Clint nodded solemnly. "I do," he said. "Even I wish Zack had seen the things I got to see as a boy. All that the kid has done since grade-school is...bomb shelter drill and walking around from one wasteland town to another. And he listens to the government broadcast on the radio as a hobby. I-I really want him to have what other kids his age had before the war."

Germaine smiled at the Harrises. "I promise you, he'll get to see it once we bring what this town needs."

"You saying that means a lot Ger--" Marie stopped herself, "--Gemma. It really means a lot."

Germaine smiled. "Thank you for trusting me." Then she chuckled again. "But enough of the serious talk for now. Lemme show you your room. You must be tired as hell. Also, we've got the finest luxury that you won't find easily these days. A warm shower."

Clint and Marie gasped in unison. "You'll let us use it?!"

###

Marie stepped out of the bathroom after a long shower. It was just twenty minutes but it was like a blissful eternity to be in that bathroom, under the pouring warm water after going for days with just an occasional sponge bath. "A shower and an actual bed?" She said as she stepped out of the bathroom in a pair of shorts and a loose T-shirt. "You sure we didn't die in that City Hall building and just came to heaven?"

Clint laughed. "Look who's talking, you were all about doubting both Gemma and Brendan. All it took was a shower and a bed to win you over?"

"Can you blame me though? She even let me use the aloe-vera shower gel!" she said. "I don't even care anymore. I cleaned myself up and I'm gonna sleep in a real bed with a soft mattress and a pillow. I can die happy. No regrets."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Oh what a drama queen," he said as he crawled under the covers. Marie joined him. Zack was asleep between the two of them.

Marie caressed the boy's hair as she gazed at him sleep. "But all the jokes about bed and a bathroom aside, I do really have a good feeling about this Clint," she said in a soft voice so as not to wake up Zack. "I feel like Gemma knows what she is doing and may just succeed in what she intends to do."

"I won't bet on her chances at success but yes, she does seem like someone you can rely on," he said. "And you're right. I can't help but feel good about this too."

As soon as Clint said that, there was a banging at the main door. Somebody was screaming on the porch. Neither Marie nor Clint could make out what the voice said but it sounded desperate.

By the time they both rushed downstairs, Germaine had already opened the door and let the man into the house. He was dressed in the dark kevlar armor that government operatives wear.

"Erik, where the heck were you?" Gemma said. "I looked for you ev--"

"We don't have time for that!" Erik snapped. "The girl needs our help!"

Then Marie and Clint noticed the girl Erik was holding in his arms. Pale and tied and gagged up and twitching as if caught in an intense fever. Marie stopped breathing for a second. The girl was Cathy.