Chapter 1 - Not alone

"I can help you" the woman whispered as she placed the box of food into the boxcar "I can help you get out" she said without raising her eyes to look at the group that was standing at the back of the boxcar, as instructed.

Rick stepped forward but was stopped when a gun was pointed at him from outside the car "back" came the male voice.

He stopped and looked at the woman "how?" he whispered.

"The box" she said as she purposefully brushed past him and down the wooden stairs, the door clanging shut.

In the darkness, Rick crouched over the box of food, pulling out and placing the food onto the floor. At the bottom of the box was a folded piece of paper, Rick frowned, picking up the paper and moving into the little bit of light that flowed into the boxcar.

He opened the paper and grinned.

"What is it?" Daryl asked, his eyes straining to see over his friends shoulder. Rick turned to the group, his grin now visible to everyone.

"Our way out" he said "a map, a map of Terminus, where weapons are kept, and sleeping quarters" he paused and looked around the group "everything."

Kara bit her lip as she walked back to the communal area; she had been drawing that map for weeks, she wanted out of this place, this hell. She was going to ask the Asian guys group for help but when this man showed up, through the back entrance without being detected, she knew he was the one she needed.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Gareth asked her as she sat down under one of the umbrella picnic tables.

Kara looked up at him "nothing" she looked down at the table, willing for the group's leader to leave her alone. She didn't like him, there was something evil about him, well there was something evil about all of them. She knew what they did but when they found her she was starving, dirty and exhausted. Straight away she knew what they were and what they did, she told them that she didn't eat meat, that she never did and survived happily off fruit, berries and salads.

She refused to become one of them.

"Now, I know that's not true" Gareth sat down next to her, facing out from the table. He had liked the mysterious woman the moment she had entered the sanctuary. She was pretty, in an ordinary kind of way, her black hair always tied neatly in a low ponytail, her clothes as clean as they could be in this world. And no matter how hard he tried to get her to eat the meat, the human flesh, she refused out right.

"You can tell me" he said leaning into her slightly "you can trust me."

Kara gave him a small smile "I know, you have all been so kind to me, letting me in here, helping me" she said as sweetly as she could. "I guess I just miss my old life sometimes" she lied "remembering how it was, I think it's good to remember how we were before this all happened, don't you?"

Gareth shook his head "maybe" he said, Kara finally looked up at him, he played his past close to his chest. No-one really knew anything about him, where he came from, what he did before the outbreak.

Kara stood up "you know, maybe more people would want to stay here if you weren't so" she paused "closed" she turned and walked away from him.

"Do ya think we can trust her?" Maggie asked, leaning into Glenn.

"What do ya think that X means?" Daryl pointed at the map where an X was clearly marked.

Rick shook his head "no idea, but if she has gone to this much trouble drawin' out this map, let's see where it goes."

"We can always have a back up plan" Michonne said, wishing she had her katana with her "if she double crosses us."

Rick nodded and looked up to Daryl "we can work with this, get a plan up and see what she does."

"Timeframe?" Daryl asked biting his lip.

"If she doesn't make contact again within 12 hours, we go it alone."

The group nodded in agreement and huddled around their leader, whispering ideas for a plan of escape.

"What are you doing in here?" Alberts voice boomed in the small armoury.

Kara spun around, Michonne's katana in her hands "I ain't never seen one of these before" she said holding up the well looked after blade "wish was had the cover for it."

"You shouldn't be in here" Albert lowered his rifle and stepping into the small armoury "c'mon, you Gareth hates people snoopin'."

She put the blade down and pushed past the larger man "I wasn't snoopin'" she said defiantly as she passed by him.

"Well just, don't go in there again" he said closing the door behind her.

"Ok" she said walking away from him and back up to her own room.

She closed the door behind her and went straight to her bed and looked towards the door again, listening for footsteps, hearing none she emptied her pockets. Laying the weapons out on her bed she smiled, a number of hunting knives, two machetes - that she had stuffed down her boots, a crowbar and weird looking knuckle duster that had spikes sticking out of it.

She grinned and piled the stash onto the floor and lifted up her mattress, cut into the end of the bed frame, in the middle she had cut a hole and in that hole she had placed a box. She grinned as she leant in and pulled the box out from it's hiding place and looked into it, inside was full of knives, hatchets, small axes and machetes. How they had not noticed these weapons were missing was a mystery to her and she carefully put the new items into the box and lifting in back in place in the bed.

She looked at her watch "shit, lunch time" she said, she had to make sure that she was the one that took the food box to Rick's group or the plan would fail, they wouldn't know where the weapons would be, what the X meant or how they were going to get out of this place called Hell.