Before you start reading this story, I want to let you know that I have a full-time job to keep up with as well. I hope to upload once or twice a week, despite the chapters being slightly on the shorter side.

Please bare with me as this is my first project again in a time span of four years.

Let It Go (It's Long, Long Gone)

Chapter OO1

With a last glance at the ten dozens of dead bodies sprawled across the concrete roads and dried out grass patches, she closed her eyes. Her legs were about to give out under her poorly maintained body, the realization of the chaos hitting her mindset like a train.

She opened her mouth to breathe but all she was capable of doing was inhaling sharply and exhaling a shuddering whimper. Her breath going up in small strings of steam into the frisk winter air around her.

Green eyes slowly opened again, this time darker than before. The guilt settled deep within her body, clinging to it was a toxic kind of sadness - the kind she knew she wouldn't get rid off by having a glass of whiskey and a good night rest. She had felt this sadness and guilt before, and she still hadn't coped with it in a proper way.

With a slow pace she made her way through the mass grave that had appeared after the act of a massacre, combat boots getting dragged through small puddles of blood on the concrete. Her eyes scanned over the countless faces of the people she used to give shelter to, the people she considered family.

One day without her was all it took for Polis to hit the ground.

She can't deny the fact that her sanctuary had been running low on supplies lately. People were getting suspicious, complaining and rioting against her leadership.

She had sent as many people out to hunt as she could afford, but they rarely returned with a loot that could feed the whole sanctuary. Supply runs were an empty promise as well, Washington DC had been going down fast, there was nothing left anymore. Houses had been torn apart, stores had been burned down and from the units that were still intact, all the cupboards had been robbed empty from anything edible already.

She had spent one day on the road, giving her brother and sister the only working truck left so they could drive further up North and check how the borders to Maryland looked before moving her people up through the Northern states, hoping for a chance of survival. But as soon as she returned, everything had been torn apart.

Polis was created three years ago. Lexa had just returned home to her fiance from a full tour at Afghanistan. Little did she know she would get an emergency call only two weeks later, emerging her to take her family with her to one of the nearest evacuation points. A virus had spread, but of course by the time the government had 'discovered' it, there were more guns than doctors needed. Her platoon was digging mass graves, people getting executed - at least 20 at a time.

Children where screaming for their parents, women crying for their husbands. But none of the screams were as loud as the ringing sound of the guns shooting every couple of minutes.

It took only a couple of days after that for the army to withdraw from the case, they lost contact with base, ran out of ammunition or they got infected themselves.

Lexa had refused to come with them, wanting to stay with her family, hoping to give them a chance on safety. All she ended up with at the end was loss. Her parents and her fiance didn't make it, she relied on her siblings and the remaining soldiers of her platoon, they grew close - families coming together as one. Knowing the army wouldn't come back anymore to help, and knowing the situation wouldn't better anytime soon, her platoon and their families started to build wooden fences, creating a big

perimeter where nobody could get in or out without permission. They had build their walls all around the Lincoln Memorial in just a matter of three months, the survivors of whatever the Hell this virus was - running to her for safety.

And here she was. Alone.

Her brother and sister had gone to see if there is any life out there. She knew they could take care of themselves, they were older than she was. Yet she couldn't help but worry, a safe trip home is never guaranteed in the current state of the world.

Lexa scrambled herself together, gaining all the dog-tags from her platoon and hanging them around her neck. It were at least 9 of them, she lost count after that - not wanting to know how many people she had lost today.

These people had counted on her, they turned to her for protection.

"My people. My responsibility." The green eyed woman spoke softly under her breath, knowing she had failed miserable and that it had cost dozens of lives. Woman and children had been shot, men had been gutted like fish. There were no signs of intruders, all the gates were still in tact - but everything within the gates was an apocalypse on it's own. The threat didn't come from outside, it was probably someone inside - but no matter how egocentric it was, she wasn't interested in doing a headcount and make a list to see if she was missing one person out of the at least 145 dead people laying across the perimeter.

"Your fight it over." She calls out softly for only her to hear once she had reached the gate, ready to leave her former home behind. With a last glance at the broken Lincoln Memorial, she closed the gates behind her and locked them up. "May we meet again." She whispers, eyes closing and resting her forehead against the wooden fence.

With heavy shoulders, Polis was left behind. Lifting up her radio she told her family about the chaos.
"Polis is down." Her voice steadily crackled through the other side of the line.

"What do you mean 'down'?" A hoarse female voice came back almost instantly.

"They're all dead. I will be coming for you guys at the border." Lexa says, having nothing on her but her knife as she starts walking. She didn't grab spare clothes, or food. She didn't want to go back into that horror scene.

"The truck stopped on the 29, a few miles before Silver Spring. There is a rent-a-car further up here. We are trying to fetch ourselves a new car and get to you. Alright?" The woman grumbled through the radio.

"It is only three hours to there, I am walking for it now. Just, get to the rent-a-car and stay put till I am there." Lexa orders, not wanting to stay here and not willing to loose her family either. "Just sit tight. Three hours max."

"Alright. We'll stay put. Be carefull out there Lexa." The woman urges.

"I will, Anya." The brunette said quietly - eyes flashing to the sky and back, with that she stuffed the radio away and started to jog.

Dusk was coming and she had to hurry.

Cabinet after cabinet she tore open, shoving all medicine she could possibly find in her backpack.

She wasn't all too far out of Silver Spring, were her parents and friends were sheltered in the secondary house of her mother. Flying over for an early Christmas break to celebrate it with her friends and their family was the best decision they had ever made. It wound them up together in this shit storm instead of having to cross a couple of states - without a car - to get together again.

When she left the house she knew it would get dark soon, but her father was sick and he wasn't getting better. She needed to make the supply run, if it wasn't for him - it would be for her own sanity to try and save him for as much as she could.

Her friends had offered to join, for extra safety. Clarke declined the offer like always and went out on her own once again.

The blonde barely made a move to read the titles on the countless jars and small tubs on the shelves, she just stuffed them all away in case she needed them.

After completely emptying all of the shelves and cupboards she slung her bag back into place, picking up her shotgun from the ground and heading out warily.

Complete darkness had come when she left the pharmacy again, eyes scanning the empty streets for safety as she got struck by a loud noise just a couple of feet down the road.

Raising her gun on instinct she slowly walked towards the source of the sound. Heart beating in her chest, she parted her lips to speak. "Get up." She ordered sterny by the sight of someone struggling to stay hidden behind a slim row of barrels.

Lexa cursed to herself as she heard footsteps approach, the sound of a shotgun being cocked didn't make her feel any more at ease.

The voice was clear, and so she gently raised her hands behind her head and got up from behind the barrels. "Take it easy, alright?" She says through gritted teeth, looking up at the person in front of her.

"You really think it's smart to order commands to the person holding a gun to your head?" Clarke spat out as she kept her safe distance from the girl in front of her.

The girl chuckled, but it was hollow. "I'm just passing by to find my family. No harm done, Blondie."

The blonde clenched her jaw, willing to keep her gun up but something about the girl in front of her made her lower it and step closer to her. She let her eyes scan over combat boots similar to her own, worn out khaki cargo pants and a way too loose fitting shirt. This girl has been on the road for a while now, not only determining that conclusion by the choice of clothes, but also by the scarred face and hollow eyes locked on the ground.

Lexa didn't move, eye cast down at the ground as the girl stepped closer once again. Only now she noticed the black combat boots, the ACU digital Navy camouflage outfit and the heavy black combat vest the woman was wearing. Her face was bruised up, cuts on her chin and cheekbones. Lips pursed together and blue eyes piercing, seeming like they were looking straight through her.

Clarke noticed the woman eyeing her up. Dark green eyes settled on her own, and she was almost taken aback by the hurt in them, the emptiness she showed.

"Just let me pass and I'll be on my way. They shouldn't be far." The brunette said, her tone less hostile than before.

Clarke scoffed. "You are so afraid that you hide behind a pile of barrels, but you do want to continue your search when the night has fallen."

"I am not afraid, simply cautious. Wouldn't be the first time I got shot. Now let me pass." Lexa groaned annoyed, she just wanted to find Anya and Lincoln.

"I'm not leaving you here to get caught by the roamers." Clarke said, eyeing the girl up and down with a deep sigh. She hesitated, but when she saw the group of bloody dog tags hanging from the brunette's neck, she didn't hesitate to pass her on the shotgun.

Lexa was slightly taken aback by the feel of the gun in her hands and looked up at the blonde that now took out her ax, which had been hanging on her back.
"It's not far to where I shelter, you can leave again in the morning."

Lexa barely had time to reply as she got dragged down the road, she could hear the gurgling sounds of roamers coming closer to where they were. The blonde had probably heard it too, causing to drag her along with her.

They harmoniously started jogging down the road.

"I'm Clarke. Clarke Griffin. Navy Seal. Platoon 3, CA." The blonde said, her voice steady despite the jog they were keeping up.

Lexa looked over to the blonde Navy, apparently called Clarke. "Lexa Woods, Navy Seal. Platoon 8, VA."

Clarke nodded and picked up her pace and with a 30 minute, intensive run they reached the gates of quite the big house. The blonde made quick work of opening the gates and letting them both in. She shut and locked them again, leading Lexa down to the house.

"My family is residing here, together with some friends." Clarke spoke out softly, slightly out of breath. She opened the doors and Lexa slowly stepped inside - her eyes scanning over the space around her.

The outside of the house was evenly white, a double door garage build to it and the fence around the estate was high, build from iron and thus sustainable against most damage. The inside was just as classy as the outside. Everything was painted in pastel colors, pleasing to the eye and there were paintings scattered across the walls. It seemed like this was one of the few places where the apocalypse didn't strike yet.

Clarke passed her by, startling Lexa out of her thinking cycle. The blonde walked into the living room, Lexa watched her go and could hear some voices quietly pop up in the next room. She knew people could be cruel in the new world that had developed, but she assumed that there were no threats against her as she was trusted with the soldiers shotgun.

Clarke looked up as an hesitant brunette stepped inside the room, the dim light of candles showing her the slim braids in the girls dark hair - green eyes showing something she couldn't recognize. It was something between fear and safety. She followed the girl's eyes as they scanned over the small group of people in the room.

A man immediately stood up as he saw her and raised a full automatic rifle at her but Clarke didn't hesitate to raise her hand to the barrel and push it down. "Stand down, Bellamy." The blonde spoke softly, calmly.

"She's no threat." She added and looked back at Lexa who nodded and slowly laid the shotgun down on the ground, kicking it over the blonde and her friend.

Clarke picked it up and handed it to Bellamy whom took it and gave it to one of the dark haired girls behind them.

The blonde then took off her backpack and handed it to Bellamy as well. "Bring this upstairs to dad."
The man didn't hesitate to make work of it and left the room in seconds.

Lexa was now left with the blonde, two dark haired girls - one of them holding a shotgun - and an elderly woman that looked an awful lot like Clarke, she assumed it was her mother.

"Guys, this is Lexa. She will be residing here with us tonight so she can be out again safe and sound by first light." Clarke spoke up, nodding at Lexa.

"This is Raven," she said, pointing at the dark haired girl with a brace on her leg. "And this is Octavia." Now pointing at a slightly shorter dark haired girl, the one holding the shotgun. They both gave Lexa a small nod.

"And this is my mother." Clarke said softly, looking over at the elderly woman.

The woman gave Lexa nothing more but a kind smile and stepped up to her. "I'm Abigail, but Abby will do for now. I'll show you to the bathroom so you can clean up, we don't have enough beds left to sleep on though." She now looked at her daughter again.

"She can stay with me, I'll take the floor." Clarke offered to basically everyone's surprise.

Lexa wanted to cut in, saying she was okay with taking the floor as well but Abby was already dragging her up the stairs.