It is a warm afternoon in the summer, Shawn Miller and his best friend, Mason Wallis dips their buckets into the fresh creek.

Shawn looks behind him once to make sure Alicia is watching out for walkers. Alicia is, clutching her hunting knife and peeking through the trees. Shawn did not know Alicia very well, usually the watchout is Mia, Mason's girlfriend. But today she is very ill. Shawn fills his bucket to the brim along with Mason. Shawn takes one glance at the clear blue sky.

"Beautiful day." Shawn comments optimistically. He pushes a brown bang out of his eyes.

Mason looks at him impassively. "We need to get back to the camp." He stands up. "You can go skygazing all you want after we get back."

Shawn wants to roll his eyes, but he silently complies.

"No walkers." Alicia whispers loudly.

"Good." Shawn whispers back, holding up a thumb up at her. The three all trot into the thick forest, their full buckets in one hand and their guns in the other.

"Keep an eye out." Mason orders.

"I am. Chill." Shawn says.

Alicia is silent, she scans her surroundings for walkers. The walk to the creek to the camp always take a full two hours. Shawn has expressed his desire to discover a shortcut, but Mason doesn't allow it. It is thirty minutes on the path to the camp, the three hear rustling in the bushes nearby.

Shawn and Mason aims their guns at the bush, their fingers inches on the trigger. Alicia is behind them with her knife ready.

There is a grunt. A pained human grunt. Within seconds, a filthy woman rises from the bush. She is plump with messy ash blonde hair and tousled clothes. "Hello…" Her voice is a mere whisper. Her quivering blue eyes are full of desperation. "Help. I have a child." She pleads, tear streaming down her hollow cheeks. With that, she bends down to pick up a pallid little boy. He is small and bony, his hair is the lightest shade of blonde, his cheeks are hollow and his body is covered in blooming bruises. The little boy is limp, unconscious in his Mother's arms.

"Help us." The woman begs.

Shawn blinks at this site and instantly feels pity for both of them. "We have water." He showcases the bucket.

"Shawn!" Mason growls, shooting Shawn a cold glare. Mason turns back to the woman. "Get out of here. You're not apart of our group. Go!" He barks.

Shawn is alarmed by this remark, but he is not shocked. This is how Mason operates. "We should at least give water to the boy. He's a baby." He argues.

Mason is stubborn. "No, we need this water for our group. She can get herself to the creek and get water. Why is she insisting on us?" Mason points to the direction of the creek, his hard stare on the woman. "Go, there's currently no walkers."

"Please, my boy is sick. I can't move anymore. I have been walking for so long!" The woman croaks.

Alicia walks in between the two men. "Who are you?" She says calmly.

"Karen. This is Joey." The woman answers weakly. "Help us, my husband got bitten. My daughter is dead. My home got overrun with walkers and I need help!"

Shawn lowers his gun. "You can temporarily come to our camp. But…" Mason cuts him off.

"No," Mason's voice grows sharp. "We are leaving! Karen, take care of yourself!"

"Mason!" Shawn protest. Shawn watches Mason's hardened expression alters. "I'm sorry, Shawn. We can't just add random people into our group. We have enough. We have enough mouths to feed."

The woman begins to sorrowfully cry.

Mason shush her. "Stop! You'll attract walkers!" He whispers harshly.

Alicia rolls her eyes at Mason. "Mason, this is evil. We can't just leave this woman alone. She has a child with her!"

"This is not a democracy. We don't know this woman. We have our own people back at camp! Come on!" He starts to walk down the path slowly. "Come on, before we get eaten." Mason doesn't wait and continues to trot down the path.

Shawn sighs ruefully. He understands his friend's point of view, though he find it callous. If Shawn could give them the bucket water, he would. But he had to boil it at the camp and Mason would be apoplectic if the woman and the child arrives at the camp.

With a heavy heart, Shawn turns away from the weeping woman. "I'm sorry." He says gently.

Alicia's eyes flare with fury. "Are you serious?" She hurries after Shawn.

"Unfortunately. We need to go." Shawn placates. "The last thing we need is conflict." The two trots down the path, ignoring the resounding weeping of the woman.

Shawn could not remove the woman or the boy from his mind. He wanted to run back to them, take them to the camp, and give them food and water. Maybe he could convince Mason to agree to the new arrivals. Shawn knows his friend of 14 years is a good person deep down, but he is focused on cold survival.

Alicia spits at the ground during the walk. "I can't believe we just left that woman and child there!" She pushes her black bangs out of her flaring eyes. "I could understand leaving the woman, but the child!" Her voice is full of disgust.

Shawn sighs. "I know. All of this is fucked up. Maybe we can have a meeting and talk about it with the rest of the group."

Alicia rolls her eyes impetuously. "We might as well be talking to a wall." Alicia scowls darkly. "This is unbelievable!" Shawn decides silence is the right answer. He resolve himself to discuss his issue with Mason when they get back to the camp.

The camp is large and spacious, enclosed from the forest by a built wooden fence. Shawn walks into the camp to look for Mason, Alicia is too angry to talk to Mason and storms off to her tent. The camp consists mostly of large tents and homemade shelters made from scraps. There are only six people in the group. Him, Mason, Mia Weiss, Alicia Richards, Harry Robbins, and Sawyer Lincoln.

Shawn puts down the bucket of water and searches for Mason. There is no sign of him. "Sawyer." Shawn heads over to Sawyer who is beginning to chop up wood with an ax. He is a burly man in his late forties with curly copper hair and green eyes.

"What?" He says through clenched teeth.

"Where's Mason?" Shawn ask.

"In his tent. With Mia." Sawyer answers precisely. Shawn takes one step towards Mason's tent, but Sawyer calls out to him. "No! Don't go in there! They're having a screaming match right now and I don't want that shit out here when I'm chopping!" As if on cue, Mason storms out of his tent, yelling out obscenities at Mia. His face is beet red, his fair hair is tousled from him pulling it. "Goddammit!" Mason snarls, running his fingers in his hair.

"Mason!" Shawn shouts out. He walks over to him, keeping his voice low. "Calm down. We need to talk."

Mason glares at Shawn furiously. "The only person who needs to be spoken to is Mia and Alicia! I need to get some fresh air, don't bother me!" Mason doesn't wait, he rushes away in a haste. Shawn walks after him and pauses when he hears Mia's soft weeping.

The tent's entrance is slightly open and Shawn hears Mia call out to him. "Shawn, can I talk to you?"

Shawn stops in his tracks. "Um...I don't think that's a great idea..M." Mia cuts him off.

"Just come in here!" Mia says impatiently.

Shawn sighs and complies. He didn't want to be involved in Mia and Mason's constant spats.

Mia and Mason's tent is spacious with a large mattress in the center and several dressers. Mia stands in front of her mirror stand. Her thick auburn hair tumbles down her shoulders, her blue eyes are sharp with indignance. Her once rosy skin is now flushed."What happened?" She inquire.

"Mason, me, and Alicia met this woman, she had a little boy with her and she was asking for help. Mason just turned his back on her. He didn't want to waste the water."

Mia shakes her head in disapproval. "I can't believe this!" She seethes. "A boy? How old was he?"

Shawn shrugs. "Maybe two or three. He was pretty young, too young to be out there."

Mia sighs sorrowfully. "I just can't believe Mason would do that. He told me and he actually thought I would be okay with it!" Tears swell up in her eyes. She appears to be deep in thought, her face grows ashen.

"I felt terrible about it. I wanted to help, but I got his point." Shawn says.

Mia's eyes flares. "Abandoning a woman and her child is not a good thing!" She chastises.

Shawn shakes his head. "No, it's not like that. Even though I hated it, I got what Mason was doing. He wants to make sure the group has enough resources. Ever since this shit happened and the dead started walking, finding food and water have been impossible." Shawn rubs his temples. He couldn't see himself in Mason's shoes. He took on the leadership of the group.

Mia is stubborn. "Leave someone, especially a child is not survival. It's cruelty! It's selfishness!" She declares passionately.

"I agree. But sometimes you have to make tough decisions." Shawn reasons.

Mia shakes her head. "What he did was not tough. It was shameful!"

Shawn could see that Mia was intractable and changes the subject. "How are you feeling now?" Shawn ask. Mia places a hand on her stomach. "Still terrible. I finally stopped throwing up though." She replies wearily.

Suddenly, Mia appears downcasted, her face falls. She sits down on the mattress.

"Are you okay?" Shawn ask concerned.

"I'm not sure." Mia breathes.

Shawn arches an eyebrow. Mia still appears deep in thought, her eyes widens with an unreadable emotion.

Shawn eyes Mia with confusion. He never seen her like this. His confusion turns into trepidation when tears trickle down Mia's cheeks.

"What? What's wrong?"

Mia opens her mouth, but only air comes out. Shawn stands there baffled.

It is a long time before Mia speaks."I think I'm pregnant." Mia whispers. Disbelief flows through her voice.

Shawn feels like he was punched in the stomach. "What?" He utters.

"I think I'm pregnant." She presses both of her hands on her stomach. "Oh my God, I think it was a few weeks ago..oh my God." Mia murmurs.

Shawn looks at her stomach that is slightly bloated. "Maybe you just have a flu." Shawn points out.

"No!" Mia gasp, she stands up abruptly. "No, I haven't had my…." Her voice trails off. Shawn knows what she was about to say. Shawn has one thought that maybe Mia is just sick and is mistaking her regular ailments for symptoms. Maybe it's stress. It has been only seven months since the Dead started walking.

But Shawn didn't find the idea of a sudden pregnancy impossible. She is in deep disbelief. Tears overflow down her cheeks. "Oh...oh...my God…the nausea….the mood swings...how? Why? Now?"

Shawn glances out of the tent. There is no sign of Mason. Shawn promptly turns back to Mia. "Mia, we should tell Mason about this." He says.

Alarm flashes in her eyes. "No! Mason will lose his mind!"

Shawn shakes his head. "No, Mason isn't like that. He….." Mia cuts him off rudely.

"I was just told that Mason allowed an innocent child and the woman to die out there, simply because he doesn't want more mouths to feed." She rubs her belly slowly. "Now a new baby is coming. Mason is going to have a fit!" Mia begins to count softly to herself. "I must be at least six weeks if my math is correct." She whispers. Mia's face hardens, her hands are firmly on her stomach. "You can't tell Mason about this. You can't tell anyone about this!" Mia shoots Shawn a fierce glare. "Promise me, Shawn!" Mia walks over to him, her eyes locking onto his.

Mia clutches his hands and squeezes as hard as she could.

"Promise me, Shawn! I have enough to deal with. Just promise me you will not tell Mason anything!"

Shawn bites his lower lip. He was not fond of the idea of keeping secrets from his childhood friend.

"Mia, I…" Shawn protest.

"Please!" Mia pleads.

Shawn gives in. He didn't want to upset her, especially in her vulnerable state.

Next chapter will come soon. Reviews and thoughts. Updating Walking Alone, Infection, Mercy, and my other stories soon.