Prologue – Day 970

Vince

Striding though grass that reached his knees, Vince did not dare to look back. His hands were held firmly in his pockets, fingers balled into fists of rage. His right set of knuckles were split and his left shoulder still ached and throbbed thanks to the bullet wound that was housed there.

His face was trapped in an eternal wince. Bonnie was still behind him; he could only tell thanks to the incessant bawling of the child the she was carrying; Annie was screaming without relent, flailing and struggling to get free so that she could run back to the town that lay behind them to find the allies who had met their end there.

Vince ignored the child and tried not to think about it. Wyatt, his closest friend, and Becca, his ward, were dead. He did not understand the precise circumstances of Wyatt's death but he knew that he had failed Shel by not being able to save Becca. He had failed Becca herself.

"Shh, shh shh shh." Bonnie muttered soothingly. Vince briefly looked over his shoulder by instinct, catching sight of Bonnie attempting to calm Annie down by stroking the long, brown hair on the back of the girl's head. For a second Vince wondered where the child's blue-green cap had disappeared to until he noticed the peak of the hat poking out of Annie's unzipped backpack. Bonnie had tears in her eyes, but she was doing all she could to hold them back. She briefly made eye contact with Vince who avoided her gaze and turned to face the path ahead, unable to face her.

They just had to get to the Eastland Mall over in Evansville, Indiana. They could make a go of it there, start something new. Surviving a trip from Ohio to Indiana was easier said than done, of course, judging by the fact that they had lost no less than nine people since deciding to set off that morning.

Vince had not exactly come a long way since escaping the collapsing Howe's Hardware four or so months ago. He'd been dehoused, knocked out, stabbed, shot and almost had surgical experiments performed on him. He had nothing to show for his journey.

Inhaling, Vince felt the breath catch in his throat. He almost coughed and spluttered, barely managing to act on instinct and avoid embarassing himself. Pressing his left hand to his chest, he felt his palm collide with the soft material of his coat. He blinked. There was still a hole in the shoulder where Becca had accidentally shot him. He had acquired the jacket with Becca by his side.

He blinked once more.

"I..." he muttered.

Bonnie made a guttural noise that suggested confusion and interest.

"I didn't try hard enough." Vince sighed, finishing his thought. He gripped hold of one of the lapels and pulled, tearing himself out of the jacket and exposing the brown shirt he wore beneath. Becca had been with him when he found the jacket. It reminded him too much of her.

The two sides of the coat hanging limply, Vince freed his arms and tossed the clothing to the ground in a fit of rage along with his backpack. "I could have saved them all!" he yelled.

"Hey- Hey!" Bonnie called, her voice becoming more aggravated as she rushed up to him and gripped his bad shoulder. "Keep your damned voice down! If there's anyone else out here you're gonna give us away!"

Vince freed himself from her grasp, pulling his left arm away and twisting to knock her back slightly with his right. "Don't touch me!" he seethed.

"I know you're pissed, Vince, but you're startin' to test me." Bonnie snapped. Vince's eyes narrowed as he stared her down. He had only been reunited with her a day ago and he had not realised how much she had changed.

"Carver's been rubbing off on you." He grimaced.

A slender hand slapped him in the face, knocking him to one side. "I... am... nuthin'... like that sonofabitch." Bonnie scowled, shaking her stinging hand.

Vince raised an eyebrow, barely able to see through one eye – not because of the slap, but due to another beating from someone else. He turned away from her, leaving his jacket in the grass and muttering, "The Bonnie I knew wouldn't've done that."

In his guilty, aggressive haze, Vince came to a point of realisation. Something was missing; if Bonnie was holding Annie, how could she have slapped him?

But wait. Bonnie had not been holding Annie just then. So where was the kid?

Glancing around, Vince sighed with relief when he saw that Annie had not gone far. The seven-year-old was sitting cross-legged in the grass. He expected that she would have to run off back to Wyatt's corpse, which was most likely undead by now, but she hadn't.

Ignoring Bonnie's presence as the woman's shoulders rose and fell slowly in rage and confusion, Vince wiped his face with the back of his hand and took ten or so steps to reach Annie, making sure to pick up his backpack on the way.

The seven-year-old was sitting on the edge of a hill which dipped down into quite a deep, grassy trench, watching the sun as it slowly sank and turned the sky pink. Vince lay his backpack down and slowly placed his backside on the ground next to her, feeling a surge of guilt as Annie flinched slightly.

Waiting ten seconds or so for Annie to become comfortable in his presence, Vince took a deep breath and exhaled with an exaggerated amount of effort, pursing his lips. "Rough day, huh?"

Annie emitted a tiny little squeak of sadness as she drew her legs into her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Placing her right cheek onto her knees so that her face was pointing towards Vince, the man recognised the tears streaming from her sore eyes, down her tiny face.

The wordless act was not one that instructed Vince to leave, in fact the child's acknowledgement of him suggested that she required a comforting presence, now more than ever. The truth was, so did he.

"Wyatt was my friend." Vince started, wincing as Annie choked a sob at the mention of her guardian's name. "Wyatt was my best friend." He smiled. "I can't remember when we met, but I remember how. I was with this guy, Justin. He was a weird guy, a huge wuss."

"Like me." Annie muttered, her words distorted as her face pressed itself into her knees.

"No," Vince shook his head, speaking monotonously, "Justin ran away a long time ago. He left me and the others behind because he was in it for himself. You're not a coward. I've never seen you run away. Anyway, Justin and I were running from these walkers. It was night time, and it was foggy. Then we hear these cars screaming as they burn rubber and decide to check it out. By the time we're in the area we don't see any cars and it's pitch black. I can't even see my hand in front of my face – then Justin like walks face first into this other guy we don't even know is there, the guy's glasses fall to the floor and he almost shoots me in he face because he's scared."

"Wyatt." Annie sighed.

"You know it," Vince said, rubbing his brow with an open hand. "Then, right after trying to kill me he asks if I can help him. We almost left him behind but I decided he'd probably be more useful than goddamn Justin. And y'know what would've happened if I hadn't?"

Annie glanced at him, requesting that he continue.

"If I didn't bring him along, he never would've come to Howe's with me. He never would've been there for you all those times; when Howe's went down, when all those bad guys chased us. Wyatt always had your back."

"I'm gonna die without Wyatt." Annie mumbled feebly.

Vince smiled, then rested his hand on her shoulder. "You know what? You don't need Wyatt to have your back, because I know you can do it. You got out of a fortress on your own, found help and came back in time to spring us all out. Wyatt wasn't there that time and people were hunting you down, so I know you can go on walking across a state with two people by your side, making sure you're okay."

A brief smile crossed Annie's lips, telling Vince all he needed to know. She believed in him. At least he'd been able to inspire someone rather than failing to save them.

Vince reached for his backpack and unzipped it, pausing for a moment. While Wyatt had done everything for Annie, died for her, what exactly had Vince done for his own ward, Becca? He'd told her she was old enough to make her own choices when in truth she had only been fifteen in a fucked up world. He had neglected her until it was too late, and she had not been ready to go it alone. If she was still out there now, Vince knew he had not given her the tools to survive and she probably wouldn't last five minutes.

Sighing at the thought, Vince glanced at Annie again. He would honour Wyatt's memory by guarding the man's ward, Annie, with his life. He'd respect Becca by looking after the child that was almost her adopted sister.

"I'm gonna give you something." Vince announced, reaching deep down into his backpack and revealing a rolled up item of yellow-camouflage design. "I picked this up yesterday when we were escaping that... Sanctum place." he almost spat at the ground in disgust as he uttered the name. "This jacket was Becca's. She kept it for a long time even though it didn't fit her - I think her mom gave it to her or something, I don't know. It's too small for her now, and it's too big for you. Better bigger than smaller, though, right?"

Annie's eyes widened as Vince passed the splodgy-designed coat to her. "She was wearing that when I first met her." He smiled. "Always had a storm cloud over her head back then, the moody little..." he paused and looked at the child next to him again, silencing himself before he could say any more. He didn't think Annie was listening any more; she was too busy hugging Becca's jacket and attempting to wear it simultaneously.

Pressing his right palm to the top of Annie's head he gently patted her long brown hair and slowly pushed himself to his feet. "Come on, we've got a long walk ahead of us."

Turning and spying Bonnie in the distance, Vince started to walk but felt something warm and small grip his left hand. He looked down and noticed Annie's right hand connecting to him as she fed her free arm through the other sleeve of Becca's jacket. It hung down by her knees and the sleeves were pushed up so far that it made her forearms look incredibly bulky but it didn't seem to worry her. So long as Becca was with them, he presumed.

The two of them began walking to Bonnie, slightly reassured. Vince wasn't sure whether Bonnie presented a problem or not but he'd deal with that when it came to it. He had to finish up Wyatt's job and make sure Annie was fit for this world, like he had failed to do with Becca.

Not this time.