Chapter 1

The Council Meeting

Logan entered the Council Room and was instantly reminded of what it looked like before they'd chosen to stay at the school, back when he was a student and it was the school library. In his minds eye, he saw the plush sofas and the large, square shelving units. He saw the colourful beanbags over by the windows and the rows of shelving holding all of the school library books.

It didn't look like that anymore. Now, the room was more open and bare. The book shelves had been removed; broken down for other purposes or else moved to another room where they could be more useful. The plush sofas had been distributed out to people for comfort in more appropriate areas and the beanbags had long since disappeared, though Logan wasn't entirely sure what had happened to them.

Remembering the library as it once was reminded him of life before the outbreak; of a time when he was a teenager and would come here with his friends to chill out. Thinking of his friends, of people long since forgotten, was a bad idea. He repeatedly told himself that he shouldn't think of them, it hurt too much. Most, if not all, of them were probably dead. Even if they weren't dead, he'd probably never see them again.

Despite telling himself this, Logan can't control his mind as it takes him back to a time when everything was relatively normal. At least, before people were eating each other on the streets. The faces of the people he used to know flashed before his eyes; some of them he liked and was close with, others not so much. But he missed them all just the same. He would give anything to go back to that time.

But that's exactly why he shouldn't think of them. It was not healthy and it certainly wasn't healthy.

Logan was dragged out of his mind suddenly as he took his seat at the Council table. Early on, shortly after they'd arrived and set up a community at the school, he and his brother been voted on to the Council because of their knowledge of the area. There were eight people altogether on the Council; Logan, his brother Calum, Rick Grimes, Andrea Harrison, Hershel Greene, Jim Worth, Daniel Francis and Ellen Morris. The small group was in charge of the school community, representing all of the people and making decisions to better their survival. There were about fifty people living at the school at the moment, though new people arrive occasionally; less now than they used to.

With everyone seated around the table, Logan looked up towards Rick and waited for him to start the meeting. He notices Rick's eyes meet Hershel's and could instantly tell that they had been discussing something in private; most likely the subject of the meeting.

"As many of you may already know, we're running dangerously low on food supplies" Rick said, looking around at each of the Council members in turn. "The harvest isn't due for another two weeks and until then we've got nothing"

Logan noticed Daniel moving closer towards the table, resting his elbows on its surface, "might be a good idea to take a trip into town then, see if we can scavenge anything?" he suggested.

"I've been thinking about it," Rick answered, "but we've pretty much emptied the town already. Whatever is left down is of no use to us"

"Well, surely we have to try?" It was Andrea; she looked at Rick with an expression of annoyance. "We can't just sit here and starve to death. If there's nothing in the town then we head to the next town, and the next!"

"But we don't know if the next town is safe" Rick retorted in a stressed town, his eyes widening slightly in a what Logan considered to be a threatening manner.

"Nowhere is safe these days, Rick" Ellen spoke up in a motherly voice. "Andrea's right. We have to try at least. We have to take risks if we want to survive"

There were murmurs of agreement around, Logan included. He figured that he would definitely be up for a run. Despite the fact that he was thankful of the school's safety, he always liked to get away from it for a few hours when he could.

"Alright," Rick said weakly after a few seconds, defeated, "I'll put a team together and we'll leave this afternoon"

"You don't have to, Rick. I can take a group out" Andrea said warmly.

"No. I need you to stay here and … oversee things. I can handle it ..." Ricks voice trailed off.

As Andrea sank back into her seat with a look of disappointment on her face, Logan's eyes were locked on Rick. He completely understood Rick's feat of going out in to the world; especially after what had happened six months ago. He's lost his wife and son in an attack. It had devastated him and it had taken him a while to recover. He still wasn't himself. But then again, where any of them? They had all changed so much.

"I'm sensing that this isn't all that you've brought us here to talk about, Rick?" Jim, the old but wise drunk, asked from beside Logan making him jump. No one noticed, however. Logan had got pretty good at hiding his fear.

Everyone turned to look at Jim before glancing back towards Rick, wondering what he was going to say.

Rick just stared at Jim with a blank expression for a while before looking over to the left, avoiding everyone else's gaze.

Everyone was silent.

As Logan waited in anticipation, he began to grow worried at what the problem might be. He willed Rick to speak up, to tell them what it was. Why was he stalling?

Finally, he turned back to the table; though his eyes continued to avoid everyone else's.

"I'm worried about the fences around the school. I've noticed a couple of weak spots and I'm not sure that they'll hold if a herd comes through ..."

Everyone was left in complete silence for a moment, mulling over what Rick had just said. Logan found himself imagining a herd coming through, ripping at the fences to get to them. The fences had to hold, the had to! They were the only things standing between the Survivors and the Walkers. That's what the group had started calling them; the dead things. Walkers.

"... We can easily reinforce the fences Rick. It's not a problem" Daniel said cautiously. Logan could sense that he was trying not to anger Rick in any way. That was once of the things about Rick nowadays, he was very unpredictable which made others around him wary.

"I know that," said Rick, not looking at Dean and instead choosing to glare at the window behind Calum's head, "it's just … these are the things that I've seen. What about the weak spots that I haven't seen? The ones that we don't notice?" his voice was growing more and more desperate as he went on.

Logan considered this for a moment. He didn't want to get all philosophical, but he interpreted what Rick was saying as metaphor for their current situation; that every single one of them had their weaknesses but that we didn't show them to each other. He thought that this applied to them all; everyone at the school. Especially Rick, after all that he'd been through. Logan found himself looking around the table at all of the others, trying to work out if they were thinking along the same lines as him. The only two people who were showing any kind of acknowledgement of Rick's statement were Hershel and Calum. Hershel was wearing solemn expression, though his eyes were twinkling with empathy. Calum, on the other hand, was eyeing Rick with a strange look upon his face which Logan, knowing his brother, took to be frustration.

"Well, we've survived this long haven't we?" Calum blurted out in a short voice, "as long as we keep alert we'll be fine! Rick, we're safe here"

Rick turned to look at Calum, his eyes unblinking as he scowls slightly. "We're not safe," he said through a clenched jaw, "it's not safe here!" He pulled himself up from his chair almost manically and started pacing the length of the table, "don't you get it?! We're not safe here! We're not safe anywhere! Nowhere is safe anymore! Sure, we're safer in here than we are out there. But we're sure as hell not safe!"

Everyone looked away from Rick as Calum sank back into his chair slightly. Logan knew that his brother could be quite abrupt with his opinions, but he wished that he could be more lenient with Rick. He understood exactly what Rick was saying, and he understood exactly why he was saying it. He began to feel like he should say something, to cover his brothers foolishness, but his mouth felt too dry. He'd never been very good at speaking up in front of others, he was always better at listening to others.

"Rick..." he managed to say, his voice a small croak. Rick turned and looked at him, a tear having escaped his eye. Logan watched as it sank down his face and over his rough cheek. "I know that it's not safe here," he continued, his voice a little more normal, "those weak spots, I've seen them too. I know exactly what you're saying. But we have to stay strong and not let ourselves crumble. It's our job to set an example for the rest of the group, they all look up to us and they don't need to see us panicking. We might not be one hundred percent safe, but we have hope. And hope is a strong things to have. We can do this, Rick" he finished, realising as he did that during his speech he had stood and moved closer to Rick. Feeling eyes on him, he began to feel very small in such a large and empty room.

As he began feeling like he wanted to retreat into himself, someone started clapping. Before he could acknowledge who it was, someone else had started to clap as well. Within seconds, everyone around the table was clapping. They were clapping for him. For Logan.

Rick joined in, clapping as he gave Logan a wide smile before dropping his gaze to the floor. He raised his hand and put it on Logan's shoulder, smiling at him again.

"Thanks, Logan. I really … really needed to hear that. I know we can do this, I just … I just"

"You're a leader, Rick," Logan said, his voice determined from the confidence instilled by his ovation, "that's what you are. And you can't always be expected to be faultless" he told the older man as he rested his hand on his shoulder.

Logan felt good. He felt like he'd done something to help Rick, he felt more confident than he ever had in his life and he felt happy knowing that everyone around the table appreciated what he had said.

Rick dropped his hand from Logan's shoulder and Logan mirrored this with his own hand. The two of them resumed their seats at the table and before long the meeting was ended. Rick explained that he would get a group organised for the run later today. Logan volunteered straight away, and Rick agreed to have him.

"I know some other's who might be interested" Logan told Rick, still revelling in his newly found confidence.

"Perfect" Rick said with a short nod in his direction.

As the other members of the Council began to leave the room, Logan positioned himself by the door and held it open for everyone. Calum was one of the last people to pass him, giving him a wink as he did so. And then it was just Logan and Hershel left in the room. Logan remained by the door, propping it open as Hershel began to hobble over on his crutches. He'd lost his leg quite early on from a Walker bite, Rick had amputated it and saved his life. That was definitely an example of one of the many hard decisions that Rick had had to make. It had certainly paid off.

As Hershel neared Logan, he stopped and stared at him for a moment with those twinkling eyes that he always wore.

"Thank you for what you said to Rick, young man. You're a good lad" he said in a fatherly tone, his lips curving up in a smile as he gave Logan a nod and continued passed him out of the door. Logan watched him as he made his way down the corridor. He'd always liked Hershel. He was sort of like the moral compass of the group; he always knew what to say and he his very presence at the school showed everyone that there was hope. He was bitten by a Walker and was still alive. How many people could say that? Logan really saw Hershel as an inspiration.

However, as Hershel turned a corner and was lost from Logan's vision he thought back to what Rick had said before, about not seeing all of the weak spots. Did Hershel really have as much hope as he made everyone think? Did any of them?