Chapter 1
The sound of nearby footsteps and banging awoke Rick, who had been sleeping on a makeshift bed as he had been doing for years. He looked over at the door, the couch against it already moving as the walkers on the other side clawed and pushed against the old, wooden frame.
"Sounds like a group of them," said Carl, as he shot up from his spot beside his father. Rick went over to the couch, pushing against it as best he could to stall the dead on the other side of the door. Maggie had already started to grab a knife.
"No," Rick looked at her. "You take Levi upstairs, it'll be safer," Rick glanced at the sleeping baby who lay on the mattress. "Me and Carl can handle it." Maggie nodded, quickly throwing her backpack on.
"Alright, but be careful." She carefully grabbed her son, cradling him against herself as she ran up the stairs. Carl nodded at his father, before they both pushed the couch out of the way, letting the walkers spill in. Carl started to fire at them, nearly getting caught by a gnarled hand. Rick backed away, leading the herd into an adjoining room.
"Carl!" Rick called out, "are there any more?" He shouted over the gunshots.
"Yeah a bunch," Carl said from the doorway. "I'm almost out of ammo!" Rick continued to lead the walkers away from his son.
"We gotta run, there's too many of 'em. Go get Maggie, and leave through the backdoor." Carl started to shoot his way through the group that had gathered in what used to be their bedroom, and called up the stairwell to Maggie.
"Maggie, we've gotta go! There's too many coming." Maggie emerged shortly with the sleeping baby tucked into the makeshift sling she had, grabbing as many useful things she could, not noticing some of the baby's burb cloths on the floor.
"Where's Rick?" Her eyes showing concern as she looked around the overrun house while she descended from the stairs.
"He's distracting them, we've gotta go through here." Carl pointed to the hallway that led to the backdoor, which gave them room to run without getting caught. With Maggie leading the way, the pair sprinted through, and Rick quickly joined them as the dead followed.
"Hurry guys!" Rick shouted as their feet hit the dry soil. He shielded his eyes from the beaming sun as he caught up to his group. After the group ran and walked for a good while, and making sure they were well hidden in the forest, Rick looked back.
"We lost 'em, no way they'll catch up to us." Rick announced, as Carl sat on the ground, rummaging through his bag.
"What are we gonna do? You think we can go back there?" Maggie asked as she took the bottle of water Carl offered her.
"I'm not sure, it looked like there were more coming." Rick wiped the walker blood and guts off his face with an old rag. "We can't risk getting caught."
"Why don't we try finding another house? There's gotta be another one around here that's safe." Carl suggested.
"It'll be dark soon, let's wait till morning. We've got tarps and a few blankets, we can camp out here and head out when the sun comes up." Rick began pulling out the few supplies they had, handing them to Maggie and Carl.
"I can keep first watch." Maggie offered, as she finished flattening the plastic tarp on the ground.
"I don't think-" Rick began, but was cut off.
"I'll be fine, you've barely slept and I'll be close by anyway." Maggie reassured him. Rick only nodded in response, settling down on the temporary bed.
"How's he doing?" Rick motioned towards the small bundle in her arms.
"He's doing okay, I can't believe the things he can sleep through." She smiled, stroking the baby's dark hair. His tiny eyelids fluttered gently as he slept.
"Well I guess that if that's all you know, you ain't got a choice."
##############################################################################
"Clear." Glenn whispered, rounding the corner. Michonne and Bob closely followed, keeping their eye out. The group had been jumping from place to place since they had escaped from the prison and lost their group. Michonne had spotted the abandoned hospital when they were on the run, and so far it was their best chance at having a secure shelter. The trio had cleared out a few walkers, but if they could find a closed area they had a shot at staying longer.
"Over here, it's some sort of psychiatric wing so we've got bars. It's all locked up." Bob said, trying to shake the heavy railing against the entrance.
"That'll make it easier for us" Michonne added, "The bars I mean."
"Let's just hope all the patients made a run for it." Glenn said, hoping they could take a break form killling walkers for at least a few hours.
"There's got to be keys somewhere." Michelle told them as she turned to look for any shot walkers. Glenn joined her and flipped over a deteriorated corpse that was a few feet from the door, searching for a set of keys.
"Here, got them." Bob smiled as Michonne tossed him a keychain.
"They must have gotten overrun pretty fast, he didn't even have time to leave." Glenn speculated, walking over to Bob. He tiwsted the key, and the door creaked open. Glenn turned to look back at Michonne.
"Well?"
"Let's go, maybe we can finally get some sleep." Michonne joked, relieved to finally have a door to lock behind them.
##############################################################################
Beth held Judith close, letting her play with the old bracelet that hung on her wrist. She looked over at Ethan, who was staring out of the car window.
"I'm almost out of gas, Sasha." Tyresse sounded concerned, his eyes sunken with exhaustion.
"Just keep going as far as we can get." Sasha said, frustrated at her brother. She knew it wasn't his fault, it wasn't anyone's, but she couldn't let herself think about what they were going to do. After the attack at the prison, her and Ty had found Beth, who was looking for Judith. They found the baby in her car seat beside Ethan, who was silently crying as he saw the walkers approach. The five of them had escaped, but lost sight of the rest of their family. They didn't know who had made it out, and worse, who hadn't. Now it was just the five of them, and Sasha was determined to do everything it took to keep them all alive.
"You doing okay, buddy?" Sasha asked Ethan, who turned to look at her. The seven year old nodded, pushing his glasses back up his nose.
"How about we stop and walk the rest of the way? I can see the buildings from here, it's maybe a 20 minute ways up." Tyresse suggested to the group.
"And what about the kids? They can't keep up." Sasha tried to lower her voice, not wanting the young boy to hear her.
"They'll stay with Beth. You and I can make a quick run for supplies, see what we can find. Who knows, it might not be worth it to have everyone walk down there only to find it useless. It might not be safe."
"It's too dangerous without having the car in case you guys need to run," Beth sounded worried as she bounced the baby on her knee. "what if it's overrun?"
"We'll be fine, and Ty's right, we need the supplies. It'll be okay with the both of us, we just got ourselves to look out for." Sasha tried reassuring the girl as she loaded the few bullets she had left into her gun.
"We'll be back before you know it." Tyresse told Beth, opening the car door. "Ethan, you look out for the girls while we're gone, okay?"
"Okay Ty." Ethan replied, and Beth smiled at the young boy. Sasha turned to her brother and looked him in the eyes before asking,
"Are you sure?"
"We're going to be okay." Ethan spoke up from the front seat, before Tyresse had a chance to respond.
"Yeah, you heard him. We're going to be okay." Tyresse smiled.
##############################################################################
Daryl finished the last bite of snake flesh and tossed what was left over his shoulder. He sat back against the log, looking up at the trees that lightly swayed in the wind. He'd been moving through the forest as best he could since he had escaped from the prison. He didn't know what he was going to do, most days he just wandered, grabbing anything useful or entertaining he could find in abandoned houses and stores. He let himself believe it was his choice, to be alone, that he could find them if he tried, when he tried. He didn't dare think he was the onlt one left, he couldn't be. The harsh groaning of approaching walkers brought Daryl's attention back to the present, and he reached for his crossbow. A small herd of biters was nearing Daryl's temporary camp, and he hid behind a tree. Taking out his kinfe, he stepped out from the tree and slashed a walker, before getting his crossbow to finish the rest of them. The limp, decaying bodies fell to the ground, leaving Daryl's arms coated with their blood. He ripped out the last bolt from a walker's head, wondering what he was fighting for anymore.