I'm Still Here

A Walking Dead fanfiction

Enjoy.

The world was on fire.

Everything, as far as the eye could see, was ablaze and the air was full of a thick, acrid smoke. Flesh was burning, that of the living and the dead- that much she knew. Green eyes were hypnotized by the flames, an insistent tugging on her upper arm and a faint voice in her ear, "He's gone! We have to leave- listen to me! Run!"

A lurching figure to her right caught her gaze and she was filled with an inexplicable fear, backing away from the pyre before her.

"He's gone… He's gone."

And then they were running, escaping the flames that burned away everything she had ever known.

In the months after the outbreak, the world had become an absolute wasteland- debris and trash filled the streets and the air smelled like utter decay, a thick hanging stink of decomposition.

And the dead walked.

A reanimated corpse let out a groan, tasting the scent of prey upon the wind; something was out there and it could just smell that tasty flesh…

Heavy boots pounded against the asphalt and the running blur tackled the walker, taking its head off with a few stomps to the throat. The figure panted as a massive black German Shepard ran to its master, growling at the dead body at its feet before reaching out to lick a comforting hand. "Guys, we need to move! The herd we saw last week is moving this direction, so make sure you find everything you can. Spread out through this sector, but stay within my sight," the figure said as it stood, tucking a wayward lock of hair behind its ear. The group moved to do as they had been told, rummaging through the wreckage of cars, the highway resembling something close to a graveyard with all of the dead bodies piled up on the road and the occasional walker coming to inspect the newcomers.

"Hey, we got two moving in fast," a deep voice shouted out, the smaller figure moving up onto the top of a car to line the bodies up in her sight. There was the nearly silent spit as both fell, a sharp whistle bringing two heads popping up from behind an overturned car in a way the made the sniper smiling. "Alright, just making sure y'all were okay."

Looking out over the post-apocalyptic landscape, the figure perched atop the car inhaled the ever-present scent of death and air of hopelessness, sighing. With a glance over a tattooed shoulder, cold eyes returned to keep watch, "World's gone to shit, ain't it babe?"

Walkers.

What had seemed to be just an isolated outbreak of disease turned into an all-out, worldwide epidemic that completely decimated the human population. Normal, healthy individuals became mindless, bloodthirsty cannibals- after they died, of course, reanimating to wreak havoc on anything that breathed. They had been at the helm of the outbreak when it happened, doing their best to contain it, to protect their fellow man. And then there had been no more of that, knowing that they had to fend for themselves, to protect what was really important: family. There had been little time to prepare, the survivors only able to pack a few bags before they had to run.

And they had never stopped running since.

It was quiet for a long time until the sound of engines came over the horizon, the group running back to its leader at the sound of that all-too familiar whistle. "Put the supplies in that culvert behind the bridge and hide- I'll stay here," the slight but imposing figure said, turning back towards the tree line. "Seems like we have visitors; ain't nobody getting through this crush." They did as they were told, scattering into the dense forest, leaving their leader to prowl around the blockade.

No matter where they went, their leader was always at the helm of the group, ready to do whatever was needed to keep them all safe; it was all that mattered.

Careful eyes watched as a motorcycle slowed to confront the cars, an RV and two other cars coming to a stop behind it. There was smoke pouring from the hood of the RV, faint cursing heard from within.

"There a problem Dale?"

A long, muscular figure stepped off of the motorcycle and started towards the abandoned cars, trying to scavenge what he could even though everything looked picked clean. "There's whole bunch of shit here. Food, gas, supplies," he muttered to himself, his bow within his grasp as always.

The second group poured out of their vehicles, navigating the graveyard to find supplies- they were desperately in need of anything, everything.

A blur of tan and black caught his eye and he whirled around, raising his bow. "What the hell-"

He spun again, hearing the clatter of a hubcap against the pavement, "Guys, something ain't right! Watch yourselves!" Their leader looked at him, raising his gun and allowing his eyes to scan the scene before him. "Daryl, what's going on? What are you seeing-"

A dog moved to bare its teeth at Daryl, the hunter ready to put it down if it made one false move.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He looked at the woman standing there with him lined up in her sights, cocking her gun. The entirety of his group turned to aim at her, seeing her eyes grow wide before she ran at Daryl, "Infected!" Everyone turned to see the horde of walkers trudging through the wreckage towards him, the woman pushing the archer to the ground and pinning him there with her knee on his chest. "Everyone get down, now," she shouted, raising her deadly looking AK-47 to her shoulder. She started firing into the herd, the walkers falling underneath a hail of bullets that seemed too vast for only one woman to be behind. Even as they laid on the ground, hearing the pinging of ricochet around them, the survivors were in awe, surprised by the way in which the lone fighter seemed to be at ease.

Once the last walker was down she turned to the group, looking over them calmly even as she tried to slow her heaving breaths, "Y'all alright?"

Each of the shaken men and women- the two children as well- picked themselves off of the ground, a less than thankful Daryl glaring at his new-found 'savior'. "You shouldn't give me the evil eye," the woman said plainly, ignoring the intense pounding in her chest. "I coulda let the geeks overrun you, take your shit and walk off. It is a dog eat dog world after all- wouldn't you say so Fenris?"

"You making friends?"

A tall man emerged from the tree line, holding a gun at his side as his eyes traveled over the weary group of survivors. "Damn, they look worse off than we do, don't they," he asked his companion conspiratorially, the woman smiling wryly at him. "We were trained and equipped for this world- not many civilians were," she replied quietly before looking at Rick and jerking her chin at him. "You the boss man?"

He chuckled uneasily, shrugging his shoulders, "You could say that."

The young girl from their group went looking for her doll, trying to navigate the fallen walkers without arousing any worry. She found the only possession she still had from her life before the end underneath a decaying arm, reaching out to grab it when a tight, rotting hand wrapped around her wrist. "Mom!" The woman who had already saved them once pulled a large hunting knife from her thigh holster and moved to kick the walker away from the child before plunging the blade within its skull. When it was finally down she panted and picked up the doll, brushing the dirt from it before handing it to the girl. Her mother came running towards her, wrapping her arms tightly around her daughter before whisking her away, throwing a grateful glance to her rescuer.

"I hate these fucking things," the tall man said, looking at Rick. "I hate this fucking world."

"I know how you feel, all too well… I hope you don't mind me pointing this out, but there's no way the two of you covered an entire highway; where's the rest of your party?"

The man and the woman exchanged a glance before she whistled, everyone startled when two wild-haired girls no older than eleven or twelve bounded out of the tree line with guns strapped to their backs and pistols on their hips, moving to the woman's side. Another, older female followed after them, carrying a bundle in her arms with another semi-automatic weapon upon her person and a teenage boy brought up the rear, two pistols on his hips. The first woman took the bundle from the second, tying it to her back as she spoke. "These are my sisters, Carter and Kennedy. He's James and she's Claire- the kid's Lincoln," she said, feeling a rustling on her back. The newcomers all watched as a cherub-like face popped up over her shoulder, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby letting out a laugh. "And this is my daughter Jude; my name is Evan and it is nice to meet you."

"You've got quite a group," Rick noted, Daryl moving behind him to lean against a car. "Where exactly are you all staying?"

"We've been holed up in a couple of train cars about a mile west of here for about two weeks, but it's not a permanent arrangement: we're moving as far from Bennington as we can," Evan replied with a steely look in her eyes. Shane pushed forward to the front of the group, looking at the woman, "Why? What's wrong with Fort Bennington?" James smirked humorlessly, looking around at their surroundings and spreading his arms wide. "Man, seems like everyone was programmed to think that we could solve this entire world's fucking problems; it's exactly why Bennington was bursting at the seams. And I say was, because Bennington ain't there anymore brother- we set it on fire when the walkers overran it."

Evan swallowed, her eyes skillfully sweeping the horizon before she looked at Rick. "This crush continues on for about four or five miles- there's no way your caravan is getting through there. If you want, you can stay in some of the cars for the night; its better protected than just sitting on the road like ducks for the picking. Besides, it getting dark and I hate having them out in the open," she said as she looked back over her group, a worried look coming into her eye.

The two groups moved back onto the highway, swinging back around and off of the road into the woods. They parked their cars in front of a long string of train cars, Evan jumping out of the back of their pickup truck to open the other cars, Fenris disappearing under the train. "There are four cars that y'all can have. I just ask that you keep the noise down- geeks seem to hear everything," she said before moving to her own. Daryl watched as she ushered her sisters in before her, moving to jump in and closing the door behind her.

She sighed and moved to change her daughter's diaper, seeing Kennedy looking at her.

"What's wrong?"

"You said that we had to take care of ourselves, Ev. You said that other people didn't always have good intentions, that they could hurt us-" The woman looked at eyes as green as her own and shook her head, lifting Jude up against her chest. "Look, they have kids too. I know how hard it is as a mother to be worried about everything all the time, whether you guys have enough food or… whether or not you'll live to see another day. It's why I brought them here," Evan murmured, reaching out to run her hand over unruly red curls and pinching a fat cheek from Carter. "So don't worry, they won't be here long and I promise you both that I will protect you. I promise."

There was a banging on the door, Evan reaching out for her pistol before hearing James' voice, "Hey, come on out. I need to talk to you Evan." She jumped out and took her gun, looking back at the twins. "Keep this door closed and don't leave the car- I'll be back in a few minutes. Take care of the baby; we'll eat soon, alright," Evan asked, Carter nodding. She reached up to kiss the closest girl's forehead before closing the door behind her and looking at James, her friend coaxing her deeper into the darkness.

He turned to her once he knew they couldn't be heard, folding his arms over his chest. "Are you fucking crazy? How can you just make a unilateral decision for our group without asking anyone," James asked in an angry whisper, moving closer to her. The woman narrowed her eyes, gesturing back towards their makeshift camp, "They've got kids! I understand that things are more dangerous now than they've ever been, but Jesus Christ, we gotta let someone in eventually-"

"Yeah, we did that with Claire. And then with Lincoln," James snapped quietly, his brow furrowed. "The fact of this world is that we have to look after our own- I promised him that I'd look after you and the baby. And you yourself made me promise, no matter what, to do whatever I had to, to keep Carter and Kennedy and Jude alive."

"Enough," Evan said quietly, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears.

She sighed and rubbed her face- wondering herself- why she would risk her life and theirs for a group of strangers. And then it was simple, the answer revealing itself: because it's what she should do as a human, as a mother, as a soldier. To protect and give shelter to those who couldn't defend themselves either at all or as well as she could.

Because it's what he would have done.

They moved back to the train cars and Rick looked up at Evan from over the fire they had started, the women in his group preparing to cook. "Y'all eating tonight," he questioned, the woman simply smiling and nodding.

Evan knocked on the three train cars before her, calling out for her group, "If you're hungry, you better start cooking. Lincoln, get us a fire going."

Jude stretched out for her mother and cooed, catching the attention of the newcomers. Lori, ever the gracious guest, walked over to the younger woman, smiling at the baby. "She's gorgeous Evan. She's gotta be, what, a year and a half," she asked, Evan shaking her head and kissing Jude's curls. "She's barely a year. She's built just like her daddy, though; makes her look bigger, older," Evan said, her thoughts on the man who had given his life for their daughter. She smiled then and looked back over Rick's group, bouncing Jude in her arms, "Which one's yours?"

"The little boy; his name's Carl," Lori replied lovingly, sighing as she folded her arms across her chest. "The blonde-haired woman is Andrea, the old man Dale. That's Carol and her daughter Sophia- and there's T-Dog and Glen… The guy you tackled today, sitting there with the murderous glare is Daryl. And the last one is Shane. That's our group."

"Y'all met up on the road or…"

Lori smiled, though the gesture did not meet her eyes, shaking her head, "That's a longer story than I have time to tell."

The groups cooked in silence, everyone seeming to watch each other carefully, gauging reactions and taking in information. More importantly, it seemed that all of the men's eyes were fixed on Evan, especially Daryl's. He had never had anyone- much less some woman- manhandle him like that. He didn't even know how someone like her could be in the military like she said she was, not with how she looked. Evan had curly blonde-brown hair that tumbled over darkly tanned shoulders, her body soft and supple just like a woman's should be. She wasn't no soldier, no matter how good she could shoot and he would never believe it, not without more proof.

Rick decided to break the silence, curious of the other leader, "So Evan, what's your story? How did you get here?"

"Just like you," she smiled as she stared into the flames. "The world ended- I had nowhere else to go."

It was quiet for a few moments longer other than the sound of Jude playing with Kennedy, Evan's gaze moving to fall on her. "The morning the news broke, we were laying in bed. Staring at each other like we always did… it was our day off," Evan murmured as she reflected back on the day her whole world had ended.

Eyes opened to the sun streaming through her bedroom, her neck being kissed ever so lightly. She smiled and rolled onto her side, coming face to face with the man she loved more than life itself. Stroking his face, she leaned in and kissed her bedmate, giggling as he began to gnaw playfully at her neck.

"I remember getting up and taking a shower- the last one I ever took, by the way. And getting ready to have a normal day with my parents and my sisters: they had just gotten into town the day before to celebrate my birthday. In retrospect, I guess that in itself was fate…"

I found myself standing in my daughter's nursery, smiling down at her- the gesture was a familiar one, but there was always a certain… sadness there. However, Jude was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen, a perfect mix of her father and I. Curly hair like my own, but platinum blonde like Danny's; her eyes were still closed, but I knew they were doe-like and blue, and even though my own eyes were green, I was still there in her face, elsewhere.

Sometimes I wondered what the future held in store for Jude, if she would grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer, or famous even…

Danny was standing at the stove when I came down the stairs with Jude in my arms, smiling at both of us widely- his girls. He made sure I knew how much he loved us and his eyes told me everything. There with him were Carter and Kennedy, both curly-haired and bright-eyed like myself, their parentage clear in my eyes. My parents were sitting on the couch as they watched the morning news, everyone greeting each other with smiles. I put Jude in her high chair and moved to stand behind my father, watching the images full of violence and anger flashing across the screen almost as quickly as it seemed to be moving across the world…

"General, all I am saying is that this is not something the government can handle with propaganda- the people are pissed off and tired of taking shit. It's enough-" My father let out a sound of impatience as his wife brushed her graying blonde hair back away from her face, continuing the heated discussion, "Well then Geneva, what do you propose we do about this then? It's not like we could just go back to zero and start over!"

I sighed and looked at my mother, shaking my head, "There's more to this outbreak of violence than just anger aimed at the government. It's too… coincidental with it happening in every country at this very moment in time for it to be simple rebellion. And it's never happened like this in America before, a massive civil uprising. That doesn't happen here."

We sat down for breakfast, discussing our plans for the day when the phone began to ring, Danny reaching over and smacking the receiver to silence it. "We'll have no work related bullshit to deal with today. We put in our time, isn't that right," he asked Jude adorably, our daughter giggling as she ripped up her pancake with small, pudgy fingers.

Not a moment later did his cell phone go off, then my own and my father's as well, the three of us looking at each other. "It's the Pentagon," my father said, standing and answering his phone, his tone authoritative, "Major General Collins Easton speaking…"

I stepped away from the table and answered the call from my CO, tucking my hair behind my ear, "Chief Warrant Officer Evan Harper speaking."

"Harper, I need you and Warrant Officer Harper to get to your secure line immediately for debriefing."

"Randall, what's going on?"

The line went dead and I went back into the kitchen to see both of the men standing with severe expressions on their faces, my mother and the twins looking between the three of us. "Dad, anything you can discuss with the family," I asked, his dark eyes looking troubled.

"I'll join you and Danny in the office in a moment. Your CO should debrief you both immediately," he replied seriously, Danny picking up Jude and disappearing into our study. I looked at my father before he turned his attention to my mother- just from the way he was acting, I knew that whatever had happened, was very bad.

I leaned against the edge of the desk as Danny called Major Randall back, my husband holding our daughter securely in his arms. "Harper, is your wife with you," the major asked, Danny replying as my father moved to close the door behind him.

"At 0200 hours today, we started to receive the first reports of disturbances coming from more isolated regions of the world- the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the New Zealand- of severe violence. We believed them to be simply more occurances of the worldwide tensions being felt, until more reports started flooding in from China, Africa, the southern parts of South America, these citing violence… and cannibalism. When we started communicating back in forth with officials, we started discovering these pockets of disease outbreaks-"

"Disease," I questioned, breaking his line of speech. There was a pause and Major Randall sighed, "We have no idea what it is. But its nasty- and from the latest statistics, 100% fatal. Yet, they're coming back."

I turned to look at Danny, his blue eyes searching my own as his arms tightened around Jude.

My mind instantly went into survival mode and I moved to the gun safe, Danny tossing me the keys from the desk drawer. "So… you're trying to tell me that we're experiencing the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse," Danny questioned, watching me start to take out our survival packs. My father spoke next, revealing his presence to Major Randall, "This is Major General Collins Easton speaking. I was debriefed by General Thomas Smith Neal today at 1045 hours- this pathogen has been dubbed the Lazarus Virus. As stated, it is 100% fatal… however, it reanimates the deceased, turning it into a bloodthirsty cannibal. We are not entirely sure how it is transmitted, but it is spreading quickly… and it is here in the United States."

"At 0700 hours, the President and the Cabinet were moved to a secure location. At 0730 hours, the CDC began to mobilize- isolation and quarantine units were set up at each military base and outpost. At 0817 hours, the first identified case of the Lazarus Virus was admitted to Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, NC. At 0823, a nurse on the case came down with the illness. Within an hour, 30 individuals were infected and isolated- however, cases have started flooding in, from coast to coast: Alabama, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, North Dakota, Nevada, California. There have been four cases in Georgia itself and those patients are being transported to Fort Bennington as we speak. As of 1120 hours, all public transportation has ceased and we have placed the United States under an unofficial quarantine to keep this from spreading. The quicker we contain the virus, the quicker we will return to normalcy. However, things are going to get bad before they get better- at 1200 hours, the CDC will finally broadcast the outbreak over the emergency system and the alarm will be raised. We will advise people to stay inside of their homes unless they or a family member exhibits symptoms of the virus, in which case they are to call a mobile transport to have the patient transported to Bennington immediately. We have several scientists, in every country, working towards a cure, but once the patient has expired, we are to dispose of them immediately. There will be panic. There will be chaos. There will be death. But we are to work quickly and efficiently to eradicate this pathogen from reaching our own homes and family. The DoD has been calling in all of our assets to their nearest posts, where they are to be processed, tested for safety purposes and placed on duty. Your job is to keep the sick in isolation, and keep the uninfected, unexposed. Is that clear?"

I looked down at the landline, shaking my head and looking at Danny. "You said you didn't know how the infection was being transmitted. Major, I have a seven-month-old daughter- what if I catch it, or somehow expose her to that? And if anything were to happen to me or Danny-"

"Chief Warrant Officer, you are a soldier first and foremost. We trained you to be all that you could be, invested a lot of money in you- you made an oath to answer the call when needed. America is calling you," Major Randall replied harshly, my father looking at me expectantly. "Are you going to answer that call?"

"Sir, yes sir."

Everyone was quiet as Evan continued to stare into the flames, her hands folded underneath her chin. Daryl could see how white her knuckles were, her jaw clenched and her lips drawn into a thin line. He hadn't wanted to hear another sob story from her- hell, everyone had lost somebody. Who the hell cared anymore?

James chuckled humorlessly, tapping the tip of his knife against his boot as he had been throughout Evan's entire story, "We were expendable assets, weren't we?"

"No," Evan replied, tucking her hair behind her ear. "But they treated us like it."

I pulled on my uniform jacket as Danny came up to join me at the exit at the processing station, his gun strapped onto his shoulder. "You don't think this is just a little fucked up we're killing people," he asked quietly, the two of us moving through the base. Everything had been moved around and rearranged, countless tents erected in the fields and at the entrances to buildings to offer some sort of quarantine areas. I shook my head as I started towards the armory, knowing that most of our friends would be there, "They're already dead. We're just making sure they stay down."

"And if they brought your mom in here? Carter or Kennedy? Jude," Danny questioned as I stopped in my tracks, pushing him in the shoulder. "Don't bring them into this- they'll be safest at the house, in the panic room you insisted on having. And you can't keep thinking like that; we have a job to do Danny."

"I didn't sign up for this job."

I swiped my keycard in at the armory door, my subordinates looking at me. "You have any idea how this happened? Why we're here," one of the men asked, the others sitting around and cleaning their weapons. "How much do you know," I questioned, even though their blank faces told me how thoroughly they had been debriefed. Once I had told them everything, they looked at me and shook their heads, "So what do we do?"

"Whatever they tell us to do."

I was on patrol later that night with Danny when my telecommunicator went off, answering the call. "Hey, we need you to help out on a run," a weary voice came. I sighed and looked out over the isolation and quarantine zone, "You can't find a grunt to do that Martinez?"

"We got a call about nine patients that have to come in, two parents, one grandmother, six children. They told us to call you Harper."

"The calls kept coming in and coming in and coming in. We had to start sleeping in two-hour shifts- I can't even tell you how crazy it was to be stateside and feel like I was back in Iraqi working alongside the medics. We didn't have enough beds by day five," Evan murmured, exhaling deeply. She looked at the attentive faces before her, swallowing before she continued, "I'm sure y'all remember how it was. Everyone was in the streets, searching for a way out. Having all those people together only got the infection to spread faster."

Jude started to doze off in her mother's arms, Claire standing up and holding her hands out to Evan. "Here, I'll put her down for the night. Don't much feel like listening to the stories again, no offense," the older woman said, Evan standing to pass her daughter off. She kissed Jude's forehead and sighed, relinquishing her hold on the bad.

When Claire had left, she looked at James, the former soldier nodding and taking over. "I was a medic on the 82nd, working with the CDC specialists to try and just slow it down. But Lazarus spread like wildfire and people were getting scared- soldiers started to tell their families, their wives and kids, to come to Bennington so that they could be together, safe under our watch. But that's how it got out of control inside… All of their wives, their kids, parents, friends- sick. Dying." James let out a heavy breath and reached up to scratch his beard, staring out into the woods, "I told my wife to go to Harper's- me and Danny were buddies, since we were twelve- and stay put. But she wanted to go to the vet and pick up her stupid cat instead; she never made it."

"Danny and I were with James when Nicole came in, the three of us trying to keep some sense of order in Bennington. We were having to take kids and brothers and sisters, moms and dads, wives and girlfriends away from the men we fought alongside… It was hard, but seeing her, sick," Evan said, her eyes filling up with tears. James shook his head, smirking even though the gesture didn't reach his eyes, "Seven and a half months pregnant with our son. And she died to try and save a cat… If I ever see that one-eyed bastard, I'm gonna shove a grenade down his fucking throat."

"It got bad after that. Within a few hours, we were overrun by the walkers- a lot of them people we knew, soldiers, friends. The three of us went to the armory and cleaned out what was left- wasn't much, other soldiers had the same idea- before trying to get the healthy people off of the base; it was Danny's idea to set it on fire, destroy as much of the fomites- sorry, the disease-carriers, as we could. We started fires with the help of the few bomb specialists we had, threw grenades, lit dynamite… everything we could think of. And then we ran…"

I held Danny's hand as we ran, the gunny sack full of guns on my back as my other hand wrapped around the barrel of my gun. The air was full of smoke and visibility was at a minimum, but I could sense them out there, just waiting to lunge-

"Evan!"

I was pushed to the ground as my husband took the brunt of the attack, a huge hospital gown-clad figure landing on top of him. "Danny," I screamed, hearing the thing snarling and growling at him. James turned around to help me off of the ground as I scrambled to my feet, pulling his bowie knife and impaling the dead thing in the head. He kicked it off Danny and I moved to pull him up, checking him over for wounds. My hands stilled over the bite mark on his forearm, seeing the blood well up from it, "No."

"We need to move, brother," James said, moving to pull Danny's arm over his shoulder. I looked at my husband, his blue eyes tearful, "Ev, we don't know how this shit is transmitted… but blood and saliva are the most common methods of infection. You know that as well as I do."

I let out a sob as we took cover in the shadow of the mess hall, cupping his cheek in my hand and trying to reason with him. "We can stitch you up Danny-"

"Evan, I am not going home with you. Not to expose Jude to this," Danny replied, tears running down his cheeks as he pulled his dog tags over his head and held them out to me. I shook my head even as I took them, Danny moving to work his wedding band off, "I'm doing this for her, for you. But believe me, if it wasn't knowing that you're going on to live for a very long time with our daughter, I wouldn't leave you, not for the world. I love you Evan. So much."

James and Danny exchanged a look, grasping each other's hand for the last time. "I'll take care of them, man. Don't worry about that," James said, his bottom lip trembling. Danny nodded and sniffled, still cracking a smile. "Don't bang my wife, or I'll come back up here for you." He then reached out to me, bringing my head to his lips, "Make sure she knows I love her."

"I will."

Danny pulled out his pistol and took a deep breath, steadying himself. "I won't be like them. But I'll wait until you leave," he said, closing his eyes as I protested.

I was forced to run, leaving him behind, James alternating between pushing and pulling me along.

A gunshot rang out and I turned back to look through the smoke, crying out for my husband. But there was no answer from him, James pulling on my upper arm. "Evan-" I struggled, trying to see through the haze of burning flesh, the flames jumping out to where I stood, the heat overpowering, "Stop it, I have to go! I have to-" James snatched me back around to face him, firing off a round at one of the dark figures moving towards them before looking into my eyes. "He is gone Evan! And Danny made me promise to take care of you, made you promise to take care of Jude: our mission is not over. Listen to me- he's gone! We have to leave- listen to me and run!"

"He's gone," I whispered, trying to comprehend his words. It was the first death I had ever experienced, especially so close… but little did I know, it wouldn't be the last. "He's gone."

Carter started to cry and buried her face in Evan's chest as the two embraced, Lincoln sighing as he pulled Kennedy to his side. The newcomers felt the love wavering between the other group, James standing and looking at the kids, "Its late, you three- time for bed."

Evan kissed their foreheads and moved to the tree line, snagging her gun off of a nearby tree branch.

"I'm gonna walk around the perimeter," she said, James giving her a nod.

No one was watching as a long, sinewy figure slipped away from the group as well, blending into the darkness…

Rick and Shane moved away from the camp to have a few words, trying to formulate a new plan. "So it's gone," Rick said, trying to show his friend that he had been right in heading to the coast. Shane shook his head, looking back at James as he moved around the train cars, "And what if it's not? What if they're just a couple of whack-jobs trying to gain our trust then screw us over?"

"Shane, come on," Rick replied, trying to reason with him. "This girl has an old lady, a teenager and three kids! What does she have to gain by screwing us?"

"She could take our supplies, our cars, the gas- look at them! They're weak, broken," Shane said, trying to keep his voice down.

Evan came out of the tree line then, her gun at her side, "That's where you're wrong."

Shane and Rick attempted to diffuse the situation, her eyes tight as she shook her head.

"No, you're right to be wary. My father was Special Forces- he taught me everything he knew and I could kill you both with my bare hands before anyone noticed… And yeah, we may be weak, but we are not broken.: