When the apocalypse started I was not exactly ready to become 'The leader'. I guess it's always been in my blood. Hidden away from view until I needed to step up. My brother is a Sheriff and my mother was a Mayor for 20 years. My father... well let's not talk about him. When the Zs started to show up and the infection spread that's when I stepped up. People say it started somewhere in New Orleans. They don't know jack. Anyways when the Zs showed up people started panicking. They grabbed as much as they could and took off to search for family. The people that stayed in this 10 second town were scared and were being killed by the day. The death toll rose to 400 in just 1 week. Our town's population was 674. After a little over 2 weeks only 30 were left alive. I would do regular checks through the town, supplying the families that remained with what I could. I don't care if I was technically stealing. This was the end of the world, whoever was left alive in the end would never be able to remember what the world was like before. Even myself after just over two-in-a-half months can't remember a time where is was just me and my animals. Four weeks after the end of the world as we know it I moved the remaining 13 people into my home. Minya Roosevelt and her one year old daughter Athena moved in first, just a few days after. Minya was one of my closest friends. After them the twins moved in, James and Alaric Stanton were both in and out of Juvie their whole 17 years of life and were often working with me when they were out. Their parents had been killed in the first week and then the two showed up on my doorstep the next day. Their parents were the first Zs they killed. The Davis's came next. Sam and Cara Davis were highschool sweethearts. They had been married at 18 and are still going strong after 22 years. They had three kids, Sydney who was 10, Wilson who was 9, and the youngest at 7, Brantly. I convinced them to come to my home to better protect their family. Lucas and Alexis Christen came the day after the Davis's. When they noticed their neighbors came here they followed suit. Their 16 year old daughter had been killed while she was at school that day. Lou and Alexander Basil were the last to come to my doorstep. Lou was basically the mother that my mother should have been. She was my babysitter for as long as I could remember. Lou was the oldest of the group at 63. Alexander was her only grandson. He was eight, his parents had died when he was just a baby and had been being taken care of by his grandmother since. Lou was married once upon a time but he died 10 years back. They were all my responsibility and I would protect them.

I suppose you are wondering who I am. My name is Armina Grimes. I'm 35 and have been living in this town since I was 23. Right out of Highschool I registered for the Marines. I served 5 years before being honorably discharged. I couldn't go back to my hometown and my messed up family so I drove until I broke down. I found a college. Got a veterinary degree and built the house I now lived in when I was 30. I owned 10 acres of land that was mostly forest. My house was fairly large. There were 8 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 living rooms, an office, den, kitchen, library, and dining room. Plus there was the huge basement and the decent sized attic. We're spaced out pretty good with each family getting their own room. My home was mostly solar powered so we could still cook, clean, shower, and see at night. I had well water as well so we won't run out anytime soon. I had started a garden when I first built house so we were set with fruits and vegetables. I raised chickens as well so we had eggs as well as milk from my two cows, Bettsie and Reba. I had pigs as well so if we were ever pressed for food we could always slaughter one of them even if I really didn't want to kill one of my girls. What was really helping us though was my security gate. 14 feet tall and 1 foot thick, my steel gate surrounded the property. It was put in before I bought the land, it was one of the reasons I bought it. It came together at the end of my driveway to a slotted fence that was only 3 inches or so thick. You needed a code to get the gates open though too, no Zs were getting through anytime soon. I was the gatherer, hunter, and protector of our little home. I owned one horse, Spartan, but was boarding two horses when the Zs hit so we had three perfectly operational horses to get around with but I was the only one that I let ride them, though I was teaching some of the adults and the twins how to ride.

Today marked the 65th day since the Zs took over. I got up out of twin bed that was located in the attic that I had been staying in for a couple weeks. My two german shepherds/wolves mix dogs followed me as I stumbled down the steps that led back down to the third floor. I brought Phobos and Deimos home 3 years ago when they were just puppies that were found out in the woods by a couple hikers. They wouldn't let anyone other than me take care of them so when we had to put them up for adoption I jumped at the chance to have them as my little buddies. I had trained them since I brought them home and now they obeyed my every word. When I got to the kitchen I had to stop and watch as Minya was singing to herself and Athena as she made coffee and danced around the kitchen. I laughed lowly as I walked up behind her silent as ever as I sneaked up on her.

"You know if you keep singing you're going to break the windows and I really don't want to deal with the hassle of getting them replaced," I said as she used the spatula as a microphone. When she heard my voice she jumped a couple inches in the air and turned around spatula at the ready to defend herself.

"Yeah," I laughed as I pushed the spatula out of my face, "that's really going to hurt me."

"Don't scare me you bitch!" she yells in front of her one year old.

"Bitch!" Athena yelled raising her hands into the air. Minya's face drained of color as she turned around to face her daughter again.

"No! That's a very bad word, we do not use that language," she pleaded with her daughter as I tried not to laugh. She does know that Athena with probably not remember this right?

"Anyways," I said to get her attention, "i'm going to get going. I'll try to be back in a couple hours. Tell Alexis that the eggs need to get brought in."

Minya nodded as I walked out the front door and to my stables. They were pretty small, only having 4 stalls, but they worked. In the empty stall I had weapons and lots of them. I grabbed my Beretta and two magazines as well as my normal bow and quiver. I wrapped my Katana around my waist securing it to my belt. I walked over to my best boy, Spartan, and opened the stall. I quickly brushed him and secured his saddle onto his back. After I was situated on his back we trotted out of the stable. I whistled for by dogs and made my way to the main gate, Phobos and Deimos falling along my flanks. Time to find us a deer.

"Now where are we going?" Andrea said as we all stopped after driving a few hours from the CDC.

"I'm telling you we should head to Fort Benning," Shane said as I leaned against the handlebars of my brother's bike.

"That's in a complete opposite direction!" Dale yelled as him, Shane, and Rick were standing in a circle debating where we go next. They were going to lead us in circles, I just know it. Suddenly Lori came running up to Rick.

"Rick, look at that sign!" she said loudly pointing to a sign just right of to where we are.

"What about it Lori?" Shane said.

"Wait, does that say Burnet?" Rick said as he walked a bit to get a better look at the sign.

"What's Burnet?" I asked finally speaking up, Rick turned around and glanced at me like he was surprised to hear my voice.

"Well my sister lives there," he said as he pulled out one of Dale's maps. He traced his finger over the map trying to locate the general location we were.

"Armina? I didn't know she lived around here? Didn't she just up and skip town?" Shane said while scratching his chin and growing beard.

"Yeah, Armina," Rick said as he got a good look around, "She lives just a little over 10 miles north."

"You think she's still there? Or you know alive?" Lori said. Well that's nice of her, I mean the girl wouldn't be your sister-in-law or anything.

"She's a marine, she won't die easily," Rick replied looking a little annoyed at Lori's comment.

"Aunt Army?" Carl said as he walked up to us.

"Yeah," his mom said obviously looking distracted.

"Would you guys mind if we went and looked?" Rick said as the group fell silent. By now everyone had crowded around was listening. We all knew what he meant. He wanted to know if his sister was a walker or if there was a chance she was still alive.

"I'm in," I said, I knew a bit of what he was saying. I wanted to know if my brother was alive or if he was a walker. Even if it was that Bastard's fault.

"Me too,"

"Let's go,"

"What are we waiting for."

Soon everyone was agreeing to go except Shane, he had yet to say anything and he should know Rick's sister.

"I don't know that's a lot of gas for nothing," Nothing? How about Closure?

"If she is a walker and the propriety isn't overrun, she'll have guns, ammo, water, gas, and who knows what else," Rick said trying to convince him. Shane hesitated a moment before nodding.

"Well let's get going, Rick you lead the way," Dale said as he got in his RV and soon everybody followed. It only took maybe 20 minutes until Rick slowed to a stop in front of a huge fence. He parked and quickly got out motioning to us to stay in/on our vehicles. He typed a code into the box and the doors silently started to open. Rick got back in his car and we all started to move through the gates. When everyone was through Rick got out again and closed the gates.

We continued through a tree-lined driveway till we saw the giant house in front of us. What did he say his sister did? All of a sudden the door burst open and a man that looked to be in his 40s stormed out holding a high powered rifle. Following him was another man and a woman that looked around the same age, two teenagers followed after them. All of them were holding a gun.

"Woah!" Rick shouted getting out of his car with his hands up.

"All of you out of your vehicles!" The woman shouted. We all got out but I just stayed on my bike but raised my hands. Lori and Carol both put their kids behind their backs.

"How did you get in?" One of the teenagers said. Now that I looked at them I noticed they looked a lot alike, possibly twins. They both had light brown hair and stood about 6 feet tall. The woman was blonde and slim. One of the men had black hair and had really tan skin. The other was blonde and average height.

"The gate, listen I'm loo-" Rick was suddenly cut off as another woman came out from the house. How many of them where there?

"Wait, Sam! Look!" she shoved something into the blonde guy's hands. He looked at it and then up at Rick then back again.

"What's your name?" The woman asked.

"Rick!" we heard but it didn't come from Rick. In fact it sounded feminine. Then the sound of hooves on dirt and dogs growling came to our senses right before a woman came into view. She was riding a large black horse that had a white stripe on his head and two black dogs were following her. She stopped the horse in between us and the people from the house. When she got off the horse I got a good look at her. She had long dark brown hair that was pulled back with a baseball hat on her head. She had pale skin and was pretty tall for a girl. For a second she looked right at me and I could see her bright blue eyes that were very similar to Ricks. She was wearing denim jeans and worn boots along with a black tank top. When I first looked at her I didn't even notice her weapons that were slung over her back. A bow and quiver were on her back and a sword of some kind hung at her side. Another weapon was attached to her other hip, it looked to be a regular looking gun. I didn't notice until the horse turned but there was a deer slung over the horse's back.

"Rick!" She smiled and sprinted toward Rick. When she reached him she jumped and wrapped her arms and legs around him. He laughed and swung her around a couple times before setting her down.

"Aunt Army!" suddenly Carl was also running towards Armina, Lori following him a bit more slowly.

"Carl! How's my favorite nephew doing?" she said as she grabbed him into a hug. The rest of us just watched on as the family was reunited. My eyes drifted towards the people that had confronted us with all looked strangely clean and happy for that matter.

"Come on in," I heard Armina say bringing me back to the current happenings, "Minya can show you in I just have to take care of putting Spartan away."

"Hey, I'm Minya," the woman who came running out earlier said. Everyone started to follow her knowing this was not what we were thinking would be here. I for one was thinking that we would find a bunch of walkers.

"I'm Rick, this is my son, Carl, my wife, Lori, my best friend, Shane, then that's Carol and her daughter, Sophia, T-Dog and Glen are over there then those two are Dale and Andrea and that's Daryl," Rick said pointing to each person as he said their name.

"Nice to meet you guys," Minya said, "this is Sam, his wife Cara, and Lucas. Those two trouble makers are Alaric and James. James has the scar above his eye and Alaric has the one along his jaw."

"Minya, chores getting done?" Armina asked as she unstrapped the deer from her horse and dragged it to the ground. When I got a good look at it I saw it was already gutted.

"Yeah, Alexis got the eggs and milked the cows. Lou's supervising the kids schoolwork."

"Take them in and gather everyone together, we'll have to rearrange some rooms and figure out some things. Walk them through the rules."

"Got it girl, come on guys lets get you introduced and cleaned up. Soon as that's done you guys can shower." Minya said as she opened the door. Armina walked off leading the horse over to a barn beside the house her dogs following her. I heard someone clear their throat. When I turned one of the twins was standing their with his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised.

"Come on man, wouldn't want her brother to catch you staring' at her," he said. I scoffed

and walked past him into the house noticing as I past him the scar along his jaw confirming

him as Alaric.

"Cowboy couldn't do nothing to me."

"Maybe but she could." He said following me into the house. I was surprised when I walked in the coziness of the house seemed off in a time like this. Not to mention right when you walked in you enter a living room which was filled with over 20 people.

"Okay so I already introduced you to us 6, this is Alexis, Lucas's wife, then those three are Sydney, Wilson, and Brantly their Sam and Cara's kids. Then this is Lou and her grandson Alexander and this little one is my daughter Athena. Guys this is Rick, Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia, Andrea, Dale, Shane, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl. Rick is Armina's brother."

"Rick," the old lady said walking forward to greet Rick.

"Aunt Lou," Rick said surprising us, I didn't think he knew any of these people, "It's good to see you. Alex, hey buddy."

"Hey uncle Rick," the little boy said. He looked around eightish. I heard footsteps coming up behind me and the sound of nails on the floor.

"Good, you've all been introduced. So why don't you all take a seat," Armina said coming up to my side where I was leaning against the doorway. Her two dogs were standing at her feet and seemed to be observing the newcomers. "First off, do you guys want to stay here? We have power, food, gas, propane, land, and enough space, plus we're pretty damn protected."

"What do you guys think?" Rick asked and most of our people nodded. Rick looked at Shane and then Glenn for their opinions when they both nodded he did something I wouldn't of expected and turned to me for my opinion when I nodded because truthfully this seemed like paradise he turned to his sister and nodded.

"Okay then there's a few rules. So pay attention if you break them they'll have varying consequences," for some reason she looked at Shane when she said that, "one, you are not allowed to leave unless you first notify me and you are with someone who can use a gun. No one goes out alone unless they have the okay from me. Two, you do your part. That's gardening, cooking, cleaning, gathering firewood, patrolling, scouting, hunting, feeding the animals, and laundry. Laundry we do by hand most of the time but every couple weeks or so I'll power up the washing machine, though we still go hang the clothes to dry. Three, no one has a gun or a knife unless they know how to use it and how to use it good. What I say goes on that so i'll have you guys do a test. Another thing if you're older than 15 your learning to shoot and how to use a knife. We'll consider younger at a later time. Four, no one rides the horses unless they have permission from me. I'll teach you to ride if you want. Five, no cars in town if we can help it. It attracts too many walkers. I haven't cleared the town yet. Six, if I find out that you purposely caused harm to another here you will be severely punished and either detained or banished. Seven, what I say goes. Minya is in charge of cooking, cleaning, feeding the animals, gardening, and laundry. Sam is in charge of organizing patrols, hunting, scouting, and what not. However I can change those orders. Eight, I have working water and electricity. Water is not to be used in excess. I do have my own well but I really don't want to risk it running dry. So that means no daily showers you get one every five days unless your filth is literally over the top your showering immediately type thing. Don't leave the water running. Be careful when brushing your teeth and washing your hands. While we do have indoor plumbing be careful on the TP. Electricity. No lights on during the day unless I give the okay. They can be turned on once it get dark but they are not to be turned on past 10 pm unless on certain occasions. We play one movie every night choice rotates. We occasionally pick a time to play video games I decide when those are. Kitchen we do have a microwave, fridge, freezer, toaster, coffee maker, and a dishwasher. Wash dishes by hand as much as you can we'll use the dishwasher once or twice a week. Any questions?"

There was silence all around us as we stared at her dumbfounded.

"Rick, I am so glad we decided to some here you have no idea," Asian said.

"Well then, now room assignments," she said as she walked across the room and grabbed a piece of paper, "We'll have to do a bit of rearranging guys. Davis family you're going to have one room instead of two but because there's five of you you get the master. Rick your family gets the next biggest one which is the one you normally stay in. Christens stick to your room. Carol and Sophia you'll get your own. Lou you'll stay in yours. Minya you too. Jamie and Ricky you two are going to be sharing so Ricky move your stuff to Jamie's room. Andrea you'll get your own as well. So that's all we have for rooms but T-Dog and Glenn there's two living rooms and each one has a pull out so you'll get those. Dale there is the most comfortable sofa you will ever have the honor of sleeping on in the Den so that's all yours. Shane there's a couch in the library calling your name. Then Daryl you're in the attic there's a twin bed up there you can use."

"Why does he get the attic?" James asked. What's the big deal about the attic? Seems fine to me at least I get a bed.

"Stop your complaining Jamie and go clean the horse stalls," Armina said getting up from where she was writing the room assignments down on. "You guys on the couches feel free to switch them up if you want. Dale I know you're a little older so if you want a bed feel free to kick one of them off a pull-out or even kick one of the twins out of there bed."

"Where are you sleeping Armina?" Rick asked and the rest of our group peaked up this is something that would probably be good for us to know.

"The attic," I froze.

"You sure I feel bad about kicking you out of a room with us being here?" Rick asked.

"Hah! What are you talking about as soon as I moved in, I was the first, she moved up there with Phobos and Deimos," Minya said, "She said she doesn't like the noise we make which makes no sense since she's up before everyone and the last one to bed."

"Shut it, anyways why don't you guys check out your rooms and clean up. Lunch will be in two hours and we can swap war stories. Minya can you show them to their rooms. Daryl follow me," she said as she walked through the living room. I followed behind her as we entered a hallway which had what looked to be the kitchen and a dining room leading off from it until it reached the stairs. We walked up four set of stairs until we were on the third floor. She then walked past a couple closed doors until she reached up and grabbed a string hanging from the ceiling when she pulled it down wooden stairs appeared. She motioned for me to come up and when we got to the top it was just a wide expansion of floor space. There was two twin beds against opposite walls a couple dressers and a table. Though half of the space was filled with boxes and old furniture. I even think I saw a piano back there.

"You can take that bed and feel free to make yourself at home."

I walked over to the bed and sat down feeling it out. It was a pretty comfortable bed. Armina paced a bit before sitting down on her own bed a couple feet from mine.

"Um...so small warnings...you might wake up with a dog on your bed. Most the time they'll stay with me but sometimes I get restless and accidentally kick them off, so they might hop on your bed for warmth. Uh...it gets a little colder up here than the rest of the house because technically there isn't any heat up here. We'll probably move to the basement if it gets too bad during the winter. So I don't know if Rick mentioned but I was a US Marine. It had a big impact on my life and I was forced to do and see bad things. So I have PTSD. If I wake you up in the middle of the night and I'm moving around or yelling out don't touch me. Same with waking me up if you ever have too. Just don't touch me when I'm sleeping I might react violently to unsuspected touch. If you have to wake me up try talking to me first if that doesn't work get a stick or something with a bit of reach and gently nudge me."

"Why not place me somewhere else if you're that worried about your PTSD?" I asked. This was a lot of trust to put on some person you just met.

"With this many people in the house we had to use the rooms on the third floor so it I scream out I need you to get me up fast. No one else knows about my PTSD but Lou and that's because I've known her forever. She's basically my mom."

"Not even Rick?"

"Especially not Rick," she said and looked down at her hands.

"Why me?"

"You're quiet don't ask a lot of questions. You remind me of the guys I served with. I don't know. I had to pick somebody and you were my best bet. I for sure as hell not letting Shane up here."

"Don't like Shane?" I asked because that was surprising from the way he and Rick act you would think they would be on good terms.

"I know what kind of person Shane is and I know he's gotten worse with this bloody apocalypse."

"Nah, it's Rick something was going on with Lori and Shane then Rick comes back from the dead and then there's tension."

"Wait what do you mean Rick came back from the dead?"

"You know he was in a coma when this whole thing started and th-"

"Wait a coma?"

"Yeah he was shot or something," I said why was she surprised at this. She suddenly got up and walked with a purpose down the stairs you could literally feel the waves of anger falling off of her. I quickly got up and followed her wanting to know what this would lead too. When we got down all the sets of stairs we walked into a different living room which held most of our group minus Carol, Sophia, and Carl. They must be taking showers.

"You were shot?" Armina yelled walking up to Rick. She had taken her hat off at sometime and her hair was out of the ponytail so her messed up hair and wide eyes made her look positivly livid.

"Yeah, on duty sometime before all this happened. Didn't you know?" he said looking questionably over at Lori and then at Shane.

"No I didn't," she said anger seeping into her voice, "When did this happen?"

"About two weeks before the start of this," Lori said quietly.

"What?" Armina said her voice dropping to a whisper. All of a sudden her dogs were by her sides growling lowly. What were they turned into her emotion?

"About two weeks befo-" Lori repeated.

"Oh I heard you just fine. You want to tell me why you didn't say anything about my brother being shot?" She exclaimed.

"We just never had the time I wasn't thinking straight," Lori said trying to make excuses.

"Didn't have the time. We talked twice in those two weeks on the phone. You never thought to mention my brother, the only family I have left was shot and in a coma?"

"Look Armina, it wasn't her fault, we didn't know you were this close." Shane said stepping in to the cat fight that was about to break out.

"That's no excuse!" She shouted before turning and walking past me. A few seconds later the door slammed.