Tired, dirty, and anxious.

That's all Riley felt for a while. The apocalypse hadn't been kind in the beginning, not that anyone would expect it to be. There were times when she couldn't remember when she last felt completely clean and wasn't running off a few hours sleep. Her stomach had always had a small pang of hungry to it. There was never a moment when Riley hadn't been on her toes, always alert to any oncoming threat. She could barely remember what life was like before all this. Running around, dodging the animated corpses, and trying to find a form of food or shelter. This was what life had become. The end of the world came and went, leaving humanity in an awkward mix of extinction and rebuild.

When it all first happened, she had been living with her twin brother Kyle in Virginia Beach. After her life had gone to shit in New York Riley had decided she needed a change of pace for a while. Like always, Kyle was there. Her move was supposed to be temporary until she found out what she wanted to do next. However the universe had other plans because a couple of month later is when hell on earth happened. When the reality of the situation sunk in the twins packed what they needed and headed out to find some form of salvation. At the time they had thought that was possible. There was always something in the movies, the scientist with the cure or the secret hideout. But the twins soon realized this wasn't the movies. All they found were more people like them. More lost and hopeless souls. They had started their journey by heading north (they had heard a rumor of a government safe house is D.C, though it turned out to be false), and as time went on their pair soon became a group. Riley found it funny how everyone fell into a role once they joined. No matter what a person did before the apocalypse they had some underlying version of themselves that was ready for this kind of thing. Some people took charge while other fell into more task specific roles. A man by the name of Ryan slowly became the unofficial leader of their group. He was in his late 50s and had a strong determination. He was a cop before the world went to hell. The twins had run into Ryan's group early on. He had been travelling with a pregnant woman named Rose, a man named Tyson along with his boyfriend Jeremy, and Clara. They had run into each other in an abandoned strip mall. Ryan and his people had been hiding out in a walk in clinic due to Rose starting going into labour. Kyle had jumped in to help, barely explaining that he had gone to med school, and started shouting instructions. After the baby was delivered, the group had rested a couple days together until Rose had enough strength to continue. In those few days together they decided it was better to stick together. Kyle could help Rose with the baby and they could provide more together than apart. Utility soon turned into trust and companionship. That's when everyone fell into their roles.

Ryan started to be looked up to for decisions, and Riley slowly became Ryan's right hand. They'd plan the runs and where to take shelter for the night. Tyson and Jeremy were on their college track team and were the go-to guys for supply runs. They were quicker than any walkers and had a silent connection keeping them in sync. With Clara's knowledge of the road from her experience as a truck driver and Rose's old love for cooking shoes, they had a pretty solid group. As the months went on they added about 20 more people to their numbers. Everyone eventually found a role to play.

About a year later they settled in a firehouse near Fairfax. It had a large fenced yard in the back that was used for training and ample sleeping quarters. They were able to plant a few crops in the back after finding some seeds, as well as put another fence around the outside to keep any walkers out despite the strong walls of the fire hall. After a couple months the world felt almost normal again. Supply runs became habit, the walking dead were just an everyday nuisance, and their group really felt like a family. Time passed and they continued to live their new lives. They hadn't run into any other survivors that had been more than a group of three or four, and even that hadn't been for a few weeks.

Riley slowly started to be grateful for the apocalypse. With her life hitting a wall months before, the walking dead were almost a blessing. It was a new start. Not ideal but a new start all the same. The brunette fell renewed in her new role in life, quite content sitting in the meeting room in their firehouse, planning the next run.

"You payin' attention, kid?"

Riley blinked her eyes at the sound of Ryan's gruff voice, not realizing she had zoned out. Her chocolate obs moved from the window to her friend sitting in front of her. "I'm thirty, boss" she replied with a lazy grin. "Hardly a kid."

The pair were sitting across from each other with a large wooden desk separating them. It was covered with papers containing various supply lists and hand drawn maps of the area. Ryan gave a snort like laugh and gestured back to the map. "I was asking where you thought we should head to next. We've scavenged everything close by at the point."

Ryan and Riley had been discussing their groups next run in the room that became their command centre. It had been the main office of the firehall back in the day. Now it was home to planning the future of their group and all their decisions. It had luckily already had maps of the area filed away which proved very useful to the pair. They used them to keep track of their movement outside the building and anything (or anyone) they may have encountered. The exposed brick walls and leather furniture became a haven for Riley, feeling completely at home and in her element within the large room.

She realized she had started to zone away again and adjusted her position in the chair. The woman tucked her legs under herself and leaned forward in her chair. She propped herself up on one elbow and hummed in thought, pointed at a spot on the map with her free hand. "This is where we found Sam and his wife. They said they had met a man coming from somewhere north. He was babbling about getting away from some sort of camp and how someone was going to kill him. Sam said he seemed pretty out of it. Possibly bit and slowly turning." She moved her finger over to the map and tapped on a section. "While it's probably nothing, we shouldn't risk going that way if we don't have to. To be safe we sound stay south. Maybe head to Mount Vernon?"

Ryan ran a hand over his blonde and grey beard. After a moment of thought he nodded. "We got a lot of harvesting to do still, think you can do it a bit short handed?"

"Of course" Riley replied. "I'll take the Ty and Jer, maybe one other person. We'll still be able to hit a fair amount of spots with four bodies. We'll be out for a couple days."

After coming to an agreement, Riley rose from her chair. She stretched out her now numb legs and exited the room. As she walked the narrow halls, she passed various members going about their jobs. Most said hello or offered smile, while others were so involved in their work they didn't notice anyone around them. Her boots clicked on the white tiled stairs and she bounced down the stairs to the main floor. She made a quick stop in the kitchen to see Rose and go over the supply list her and Ryan made. The older woman had added a few things before wishing the girl a safe trip. Riley headed out to the yard to find Tyson and Jeremy and inform them of their upcoming journey. A slender hand reached up to shield her eyes from the glaring sun as she walked out into the day. She found the men strolling around the perimeter, double checking the fence as they went.

"How are my favourite track stars?" she said with a grin.

Tyson elbowed Jeremy, his own grin pulling at hip full lips. "Oh on, I have a bad feeling about this."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Pack your bags boys, we're going on a field trip!"