It was a snapping twig that caused Beca and Aubrey to turn around with their hands on the hilts of their knives, prepared for a fight. Relief flooded their bodies when they turned to find their fiery redheaded companion standing there in place of the walker they thought was surely behind them.
"Chloe, you scared us!" Beca exclaimed. "We thought you were right beside us."
"Sorry, Beca," Chloe apologized, blushing as she did so.
"It's okay, just... stay close. We don't want to lose you," Aubrey instructed.
On any other occasion Beca and Aubrey wouldn't have cared. They wouldn't have minded if Chloe was walking behind them before, but now they were three into a zombie apocalypse and they would have liked it a lot more if Chloe was right beside them. They had already lost the rest of their group and, not only did they want to avoid being in this hellhole of a world without Chloe, but they loved Chloe unconditionally. Losing Chloe meant losing what little sanity they had left. Sure, Beca and Aubrey loved each other as well, but Chloe was the only one keeping them from falling apart. Their mission: protect Chloe Beale to the death.
It only took one time meeting the group to realize that Chloe was the more positive, more affectionate one of the three. She was the one to remain calm and stay happy during almost any bad situation which would have anyone else in ultimate panic mode. Her affectionate kisses helped melt away all of their fears and worries, even when all seemed hopeless. She was their rock and they needed her more than anything.
They were in the woods somewhere in northern Tennessee, attempting to find a place in the mountains to crash for a little while. Together they had agreed that they needed to find a building of some sort to camp in instead of being out in the open because being out in the open made them more vulnerable to the walkers and the unforgiving elements.
For the first week it wasn't so bad but after a while it became exhausting for the three of them. Beca began staying up for inhumane amounts of time in order to let Chloe and Aubrey get some well deserved rest. Eventually she would become so exhausted she was near passing out when they set up camp at the end of the day. By this time Aubrey knew that she was going to have the first watch while Chloe cuddled Beca until she fell asleep. A little while later Aubrey would wake Chloe up and trade off with her, Chloe keeping watch and Aubrey cuddling the tiny brunette as she slept heavily.
The rain for the longest time was their biggest enemy. There was a point where it rained on and off for a week, causing the temperatures to plummet quickly. Aubrey became sick and nearly died due to lack of medicine and proper rest. During this time Chloe and Beca took turns cuddling with the blonde to keep her warm and to comfort her. Chloe even took to carrying her so they could start to move again, leaving Beca to handle any of the walkers that happened to
cross their path. This continued until the two managed to nurse Aubrey back to full health after Beca riskily raided a pharmacy in an abandonen an abandoned town where they had taken refuge. Chances are they would have died if they hadn't found that town and saved Aubrey. They would have lost their hunter and survivalist expert.
It was a little known fact that Aubrey knew how to hunt and actually enjoyed the outdoors, despite her girly appearance. Her father had taught her how to survive out in the wild at a very young age, even dropping her off in the woods alone outside of their secluded house every once in a while with the bare minimum once she turned ten. These trips would last for a week and leave Aubrey starving, dehydrated, and exhausted every time. She couldn't wander back to her house, as much as she wanted to, because her father would blindfold her and they would walk for hours through the woods before her father picked a location to leave her. She hated every second of it. Aubrey never quite understood how her father found her again after the week was over. Looking back at it now she was glad that her father did that to her otherwise they would be dead.
When Aubrey began to get older she actually started to enjoy the trips, looking forward to them when her father told her to be prepared for the worst. The older she got, the less supplies she was allowed to bring and the longer the trips became. When she reached the age of thirteen her father began to train her for all weather survival, staying with her for two trips in each weather condition before leaving her again with little supplies. For whatever reason these trips were Aubrey's favorites. By the time she went to college at Barden University she could survive pretty much anywhere if she wanted to. It was something that Aubrey took great pride in.
As far as food went they ate whatever Aubrey could catch whenever she went hunting or whatever her snares could capture. If Aubrey was unable to catch anything and there was nothing in her snares, which was more often than not, they looked to see what was left in the food bag. If there wasn't anything left in the food bag and Aubrey couldn't catch anything then they hoped that they would find somewhere to raid soon. Now that they were out in the middle of the woods they doubted that they would be able to find anywhere to raid. They were wrong.
It was a month after Fat Amy died, when it became just the three of them, when they found a cabin with smoke coming from the chimney. Aubrey had spotted it first, clarifying that since the smoke was black that the fire was still burning. The trio decided that since they were in desperate need of food and water that they should check it out and see who was in there. Approaching cautiously, they knocked on the door and waited until they heard something behind them, turning to see what it was. Before they could do anything else they all were met with the shocking sensation of a taser and quickly tied up and blindfolded.
Chloe came to and found that she was tied down to a chair somewhere inside with her blindfold still on and a gag tied tightly in her mouth. Her first thought was how sore she was and how much everything hurt. Upon realizing that Aubrey and Beca had been tasered and tied as well she began to panic. She had never been so scared in her life and never had she felt so alone. It scared her even more when she felt a hand caress her face, not because there was someone else in the room, but because of what she thought they were about to do to her. When they removed her blindfold and gag she was relieved to see that it was Stacie standing there and not someone there to torture her.
"Stace?!" Chloe exclaimed.
Stacie smiled as she looked at the worn down ginger. Her hair was in a bun to hide the fact that it was truly a tangled mess mixed with leaves and dirt. The bags and dark circles under her eyes alerted Stacie that she was completely exhausted and her sunken features told her that she hadn't eaten for a few days. Although, she didn't need her sunken features to figure that out seeing as though Aubrey and Beca were practically skin and bones.
"Yeah," she answered sadly, thinking about how horrible Chloe must feel.
"We thought you died! On the highway when the herd came through and we lost Jessica and Denise. When we couldn't find you we assumed they'd gotten you too so we left and moved on."
At that last sentence Stacie suddenly found the floor very interesting. Chloe instantly felt a pang of guilt because she knew how scary it probably was for Stacie to be alone after witnessing two of her friends get ripped to shreds.
"It's my fault you left me," Stacie said. "I was so scared after seeing Jessica and Denise die that I stayed in my hiding spot, even when I heard you guys calling for me."
There was silence before Stacie untied Chloe from the chair and helped her up.
"Don't worry about Aubrey and Beca, they're in the kitchen waiting for you. They refused to eat while you were still out."
Chloe rolled her eyes at her girlfriends' stubbornness. The two of them were constantly pushing her to eat some of their rations when they thought that she needed it. Of course they would wait for her before eating. They always did. It was almost like she was the alpha wolf or something.
In the kitchen Aubrey and Beca were sitting at a round table discussing something, untouched plates of food sat right beneath them. Chloe sad down in between the two of them and Stacie put a plate in front of her. She gladly began eating, causing Aubrey and Beca's will power to break and eat the food that was presented to them minutes ago.
"You guys didn't have to wait for me. You know that, right?" Chloe explained in between bites.
The two of them pushed their food around their plates with their forks and acted like they didn't hear Chloe. They could practically feel Chloe roll her eyes at the two of them. She knew they were overprotective when it came to her and she hated it. She was glad that they cared about her but she just wished that they would take care of themselves for once.
"So, if you're alone then why did you taser us and tie us to chairs?" Beca asked, avoiding Chloe's question. "Where did you even get a taser?"
"Well when you're alone in a cabin and someone knocks on your door you can never be too careful. I got the taser from the group I was with before I went solo again. They gave me that and a crowbar. I already had the knives and the gun when I got there."
"Why did you leave us tied in the chairs?"
"I wanted to make sure it was really you first."
Not quite understanding still, the three just nodded and continued eating. They hadn't even noticed what it was they were eating until they had paused to talk. Their meal consisted of deer meat, something that nowadays was extremely rare, canned beans, and canned mixed vegetables. The three savored the food, knowing that Stacie must have sold her soul to kill a deer and have as much food as she did. Considering the living conditions of the cabin they decided they were going to stay a while.