Author's note: Yay already one follower. Thank you so much because I seriously wanted to update soon haha. Anyways thank you for reading this. I don't think I'm going to follow the episodes exactly, or at all, I still have to see about that. Next chapter will be in Daryl's POV a bit. Please favorite, follow and/or review. I really appreciate it! I'll update when I get two favs, follows or reviews (or mixed haha)

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 2

Maybe I should've stayed inside, that might actually have been smarter, but I was pissed and that got the best of me. I pulled the floorboards from my door and opened it, stalking out of the house angrily.

'What the fuck do you think you're doing!?' I yelled at the soldiers.

As a reflex I quickly looked around to see if any walkers were close by or not. Lucky for me there weren't any, yet. Considering the sound that had been made before though, there would be soon.

The guy who had been holding the megaphone before jumped off the truck. The driver completely ignored me, though I could see him glancing at me through the rearview mirror.

'We're from the refugee camp up in New York.' The megaphone soldier said. 'We're here to look for survivors.'

I wanted to hit the guy for being this stupid. 'Well surviving went pretty well until you came along, making noise like that!' I was still yelling at him.

'Well how do you suppose we get the attention of survivors then?'

Did he really just ask me that? I was about to curse at him when his eyes found someone behind me.

'Hello there ma'am.' He said with a friendly smile, 'Are you ok?'

I looked back to see Sarah walking out of the house, well limping was more like it. She had left her kids inside I guessed, which I was grateful for. The soldier sounded a lot nicer towards her, but then again, she hadn't come out yelling like I had. Plus she was obviously wounded, which called onto the sympathy of others.

'No she's not.' I said, suddenly a lot calmer. These guys might be able to help her, and I didn't want to ruin that by being rude myself. 'She's been hurt badly in a car crash.' I clarified.

Sarah had wanted to get out of this place with her children. She told me that she had taken her husband's car. The last thing she remembered was having to swerve because of some walker and then she crashed into a building. I had been on my way to the store that day and heard the crash. Considering walkers couldn't drive I was interested and decided to investigate.

When I found her I saw she was in bad shape. Her leg had been stuck and she was bleeding heavily. She immediately asked me if her children were ok, though her voice was no more than a whisper I heard her and looked in the back seat. The kids were fine apart from some scrapes and the fright the crash had given them.

I helped all of them out of the car and inside my house. We were just in time as walkers were starting to emerge from everywhere, the noise from the crash attracting them. I have been taking care of her ever since, knowing that what I was doing wasn't even close to the help she really needed but also knowing it was better than getting nothing.

'Ma'am, would you allow us to take you to safety?' The man with the megaphone asked her calmly. 'We can take care of you up in New York and you'll soon be fine again.'

He talked like he was trying to convince her of buying something in the store and I didn't like that at all. I looked at Sarah's face and saw surprise written all over it, and something else, something that I couldn't believe I saw. Hope.

I had thought she had given up on that, like I had. Maybe she had given up on it but this just made it resurface again, or maybe it never really left, I wasn't sure. The thing I did know was that I didn't want it to leave her eyes.

She was a young woman, in her thirties, with blonde hair and blue eyes, like her daughter. She could've been beautiful in better times, right now she just looked tired. She loved her children and they loved her. I didn't want them to lose her because I had been too rude and chased these soldiers away.

I took a deep breath and then smiled at her.

'If you want to go with them Sarah, you can. The kids won't mind leaving either, you know that.' She looked at me, hesitating.

'Are you sure?' She asked, her voice hoarse.

I nodded, 'You should go.'

'You aren't coming with us?'

I shook my head, 'No, I have to finish things down here.'

She frowned at that and seemed to hesitate once again but the soldier was already at her side and said something to her, too soft for me to hear. She nodded at the guy and directed a sad smile at me, 'Thank you Kaitlinn, for everything.'

The soldier put an arm around her waist and helped her limp up to the truck.

'I'll go get the kids.' I told no one in particular and went inside the house.

I knew I would miss them, all of them. The kids and Sarah. It was great to have company around and not be alone all the time, being able to hear other voices than just your own, but I just couldn't go with them. My family was still out here, even if they were undead, I had to finish what I'd started. I'd promised them.

'Zayn, Nico and Kirra. Grab the stuff you need most and come down quick!' I yelled up the stairs.

They didn't have much, but the things they had were important to them so I knew they'd bring those things with them. It took them about a minute to get down, Zayn holding the bag which contained everything.

'Let's..' I didn't get to finish as suddenly the screeching of tires echoed through the house. I turned around and ran outside, seeing the armored truck speeding off. What the hell? I looked around and saw what had made them leave, a horde of walkers coming this way. They seemed to be moving faster than normal and I cursed.

'Where's mom?' Zayn asked. I spun around and ushered him inside, not answering.

'You have everything you need?' I asked him while moving to the kitchen and grabbing my bag off the kitchen table again. I stuffed it full of ammunition, a few guns and some other things I came across. I didn't have time to look for anything in particular. The last thing I put in was a picture frame of my family, which lay face down on the kitchen counter. When I was done I saw him stare at me for a second before answering with a hesitant yes.

'Then we have to go.' I said urgently, 'Now.'

Zayn nodded curtly, taking Kirra's hand. I ran to the door and peeked past it as it opened. Like I thought, walkers from miles away all coming this way. Just great.

My house was in the middle of the street facing several other houses. One of those had a car which miraculously had survived everything that had happened. Walkers were gaining in from both sides of the streets, scattered around. There were just a few nearby and I shot them down quickly, running towards the car. I broke down the window and opened the back door for the kids. Zayn helped his brother and sister get in while I used the skills my brother had taught me to get the car running without a key. For once in my life I was happy he was sent to jail for jacking a car.

When the car was finally running I backed out of the driveway to see walkers coming from everywhere. You would think military would be smarter than this right? I sighed and then decided to do something reckless. Sometimes that's the only way to survive and it seemed like a hell of a better option than having these things eat us.

I gave full throttle and the car sped away towards the walkers in front of me. I heard their collective gurgling, a sound I had found I hated more than anything in my life. The front window was soon splattered with blood and had cracks all over it from hitting bodies.

The sickening stench of the walkers made me want to vomit but I had no time, I had to keep going right now. Glancing back in the rearview mirror I saw Kirra's head buried against Zayn's chest, scared. Nico was clutching Zayn's hand and Zayn? He was just staring out of the front window, his eyes cold.

I sighed again and dared to look at the gas meter, I guess I was in luck. The car almost had a full tank of gas, which could bring us far enough away from this place. Not that anywhere else would have no walkers, but I couldn't worry about that just yet. Right now I couldn't worry about anything other than getting the kids to safety.


'You can go to sleep Kaitlinn! I'll keep watch.'

I smiled at Zayn but shook my head, 'It's fine. I'll be fine.'

He was the one to shake his head this time. 'You haven't slept since last night!' He protested.

He had a point. I hadn't stopped driving until I was positive we were far enough away from home. I stopped at around dusk, but only because the road was grid locked by cars. I couldn't drive any further and it had been pretty frustrating, until I thought of sleep. From then on I've been fighting to keep my eyes open so I could keep watch.

Kirra and Nico were sleeping, like Zayn had been before. I smiled at him in, what I hoped was, a reassuring way. 'I have to keep watch don't I?' I asked him.

He shrugged, 'I can keep watch. You need to be awake tomorrow, you're the one who can keep us safe.'

He was right again, he really was a bright boy. I also knew he wouldn't back down, he was stubborn as well.

'Promise me you'll wake me up the moment you hear something out of the ordinary! Anything! And do not go investigating on your own.' I told him. He nodded fiercely.

I leaned my head back against the head rest, the events of the day replaying before me. I had to admit I liked the boring days of staying inside a lot more. I closed my eyes and saw Sarah's face in front of me, she was gone. They had taken her to a safe place, that was something positive right?

They had left the kids behind though, why would she have agreed to that? It didn't make sense. On the other hand she probably didn't have much of a choice, they wouldn't have let her off is she had wanted to, soldiers were stubborn.

Please be alright, I thought. I'll bring the kids to you, I promise, just be ok. They need you.

Slowly I felt myself drift away, feeling better after promising her I would keep the kids safe. I wasn't sure if I really could keep that promise, but I would do everything in my power to.

I woke up as the sun was shining through the front window. I was wide awake within a second, remembering Zayn telling me to get some sleep. I turned around quickly and to my relief saw all three of them still sleeping peacefully in the back seat. I guessed Zayn would probably have fallen asleep himself, but wasn't mad at him. He was just a kid and nothing happened so why worry needlessly.

I sat back a little, scoping the place for as far as I could see, nothing special in sight. I sighed, relieved, and waited for the kids to wake up.

Nico was the first one, his hunger getting the best of him I guessed as I heard the rumbling of his stomach. I opened my bag and took out two granola bars for breakfast, he took them from me and ate greedily.

Kirra probably woke up because of the smell of breakfast and I gave her the same as I had given Nico. She ate them slower, savoring the taste more. She never liked granola bars, but when she was hungry she could eat anything.

Zayn was the last to wake up, he was, like me, wide awake quickly.

'I fell asleep.' He pointed out, astonished with himself. I knew he had wanted to stand watch for so long and now he was scolding himself silently for falling asleep when he finally got the chance.

I shrugged, 'Happened to me the first few times as well,' I told him. 'It's fine.'

I didn't tell him how falling asleep had cost me the remaining part of my family, that would make him feel a lot worse probably, and me for that matter.

I grabbed one granola bar for him and he ate his as slow as Kirra did, still looking like he was scolding himself.

If it were up to me I would've given him three granola bars, because he was older than the others and needed his strength, but he insisted on saving as much food as possible like I always did. I don't even know how long I haven't eaten for now, probably about three days. I didn't mind though, always thinking the kids were more important and if I didn't eat they could eat more. It wasn't like I was hungry, especially not with the thoughts of zombies roaming the streets. For some reason my stomach didn't want much food anymore these days.

I stretched in the car and grunted, 'I'm gonna get out for a second guys, if you see anything give me a shout.' I directed it at Zayn mostly, who would surely be watching. He nodded and I smiled as I opened the car door and stepped out. That smile soon disappeared though as I saw a walker making it's way here.

It wasn't moving very fast and as I inspected it closer I saw it had no eyes. I swallowed some bile at the sight and contemplated what to do. It didn't seem to notice me, nor was it all too close, so I decided to grab my gun in a second.

I stretched onto my toes to see if there was a way out of this grid lock. I saw cars all the way up to the bend, there probably would be more behind it. I cursed under my breath, making sure the walker wouldn't hear it. Suddenly I saw something heading my way, fast. In the blink of an eye I jumped to the right. My left shoulder was suddenly pushed back with great force and a searing pain went through it. I couldn't scream, my throat having closed shut at the sudden rush of air I breathed in. I fell backward onto the ground all kinds of colorful dots roaming across my vision field. This was not good.

I looked at my shoulder and tried to concentrate and focus. It took me a second but soon I saw that there was an arrow sticking out, that was new. Yes I'd been shot several times already, I even had a knife lodged in the side of my stomach once, but an arrow was something I hadn't seen before.

In the back of my mind I noted the car door opening and slamming shut. 'Kaitlinn!' Zayn shouted, shocked. Kirra screamed and Nico was looking at me with wide eyes, scared. Shit.

'I'm fine.' I tried to assure them, but that wasn't all too credible considering there still was an arrow out of my shoulder. I couldn't get it out though, that would only make it worse, or so I thought. I knew that if you were stabbed you had to keep the knife in to minimize the bleeding, truth is I wasn't sure it would also apply to arrows, but I guessed so.

Suddenly I realized something. I had just been shot which meant there must still be someone out there, I didn't want the kids to get hurt so I instructed them to get back in the car.

Kirra and Nico did as told but Zayn stood in front of me with his arms crossed.

'I'm not getting in.' He said stubbornly.

I sighed and another wave of pain, accompanied by nausea, came over me. I stumbled to my feet and my vision faltered slightly. I looked back at my wound and noticed it was bleeding heavily, the whole left side of my shirt already soaked in blood. So maybe the whole 'leave it in' thing only applied to knives, fuck.

'Are you ok?' Zayn asked, suddenly sounding everything but stubborn.

I forced a smile, 'I'll be fine.'

'Don't lie to me.' He said, his eyes showing me he was scared, really scared. He had lost his mother only about a day ago and I knew he didn't want to lose me as well.

I kept the smile in place and stumbled to the car door. My vision faltered once more but I didn't miss the walker coming up from behind Zayn. How had he gotten this close this fast?

I wanted to open the door so I could get my gun but for some reason I couldn't get a hold of the door handle. I cursed inwardly as a black haze started at my peripheral vision, spreading quickly. This was not good, I thought as I slid down to the ground, my back against the car door.

'Kate!'

Zayn never called me Kate, never. So why was he calling me Kate now, I wondered. I looked up and saw his scared eyes, he sat down next to me and grabbed my hand. I saw the walker behind him, getting closer. I wanted to warn him, tell him to grab the gun from the car and shoot the thing, but nothing came out. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, and I felt like crying at the thought of him being killed together with his siblings. I had failed, already. I was about to lose those who had made me feel like I had a family again.

Out of nowhere I saw the walker fall down to the ground, an arrow sticking out of the back of his head. He was dead. I felt relieved and wanted to smile, but I couldn't. My eyes were only just slits now, not opened far enough to see things clearly anymore.

I did however see another figure, standing in front of the sun on the exact same spot the walker had previously stood.

No! Not another walker... I thought in despair but couldn't make a sound as that was the moment I checked out, darkness enveloping me and leaving me alone and helpless, like Zayn was right now.