-Zachary's POV-

"Walt, when is dinner gonna be ready?" I asked loudly from the fireplace. I stuck my hands out a bit, warning them up over the flames.

"I haven't even started it yet," he shouted back, loud enough so I could hear him. I scoffed and stood up from the fire. "I'm going to wait a little bit longer so it's not cold when Matthew comes back."

"Where even is he?" I questioned and turned around.

"By the bridge, I think," Walt answered, opening a book and sitting on the armchair near me.

"He better hurry," I said and stretched out my back. "I'm starving."

"Me too," I heard Miranda say from behind me. She put her arms around my stomach and I instinctively flexed. She joined Walter, Matthew, and I after I joined the previous two and her and I kinda had a thing together for almost half a year now. I turned around and locked my fingers with hers.

"Wanna come hunting with me?" I asked Miranda and looked back to Walt. "It'd be nice to have some meat with dinner."

"Sure," Miranda smiled and went to go get weapons.

"Yeah, it would. Thanks, Zach," Walter said back and I went to the front door to get on my boots. I finished lacing them up as Miranda came back with a crossbow and rifle. I grabbed the rifle from her and slung it around my shoulder, sliding a knife in the holster on my thigh.

"Ready?" I asked Miranda, turning back to her. She nodded and I smiled, nodding back. "Let's go."

I opened the door for her and she exited, me following behind her. I carefully shut the door, not making a whole lot of noise, and followed Miranda down the deck steps and to the outskirts of the forest surrounding the ski lodge. My eyes scanned the tree line, searching for any animal, big or small. I spotted a rabbit and my eyes locked on it.

"Hand me the crossbow," I said quietly to Miranda, since it would make less noise if I were to shoot it as opposed to the rifle on my shoulder. She handed me the crossbow and I quickly took aim before the rabbit had a chance to get away. I fired, and hit the rabbit right in the head and away from the body where all the meat was. "And that's how you do it," I gloated and Miranda sneered and grabbed the crossbow from me.

"Go bring that inside and I'll have a deer down by the time you get back out," she said and playfully nudged me. I grabbed the arrow, picking up the rabbit with it, and removed the arrow while holding onto the rabbit. I gave the arrow back to Miranda and ran inside to give Walter the rabbit.

"That's all you got?" He joked when he saw the rabbit in my hand.

"Miranda promised me a deer when I got back out, so there'll be more," I laughed and Walter laughed back. I put the bunny on the counter and my eyes wandered over to the window, where I saw a group of six or seven people out on the deck. "What the hell?" I asked myself and Walt overheard.

"What?" He asked in regards to my remark.

"There's people out there," I said, already heading for the door and grabbing my rifle. I opened the door and saw Miranda already pointing her gun at them.

"Who the fuck are all of you?" I asked, aiming my gun at them. Two people from their group aimed guns and I heard Walter come outside.

"Listen, everyone. Just stay calm," a guy in an orange shirt said, who was one of the two holding guns.

"Are you here to rob us?" Miranda asked viciously.

"Honey," a pregnant African-American woman asked back. "Do I look like a fucking thief?"

"Everyone just stay calm," Walter said, trying to diffuse the hostile situation. I kept my gun up, steady and firm.

"Everyone put your guns down!" An African American man pleaded.

"Fuck no," I hissed back and the guy in the orange shirt spoke up.

"Woah, calm down, man," he told me and I tensed up even more, aiming my gun at their heads now. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small figure push through the small crowd of adults and my eyes shifted down to them. It was a young girl, maybe 9 or 10 years old, with a baseball cap on. The hat looked oddly familiar and I saw her looking up at me with wide eyes. That's when I recognized her, even though she looked a little different form when I last saw her, which was probably three years ago.

"Zach?!" she asked with surprise while looking up at me. It was my sister.

"Clem?" I said with the same awe-stricken tone and lowered my gun. "No way."

"You know this guy?" The man in the orange shirt asked as Clementine ran into me, embracing me. I hugged her back tightly, holding back tears of joy as I squeezed her.