Chapter 2

Organisation

Logan walked down the corridor after Hershel but instead of turning right and heading out into the main courtyard like he had done, he turned left. He was determined to do Rick proud and recruit some members for the run and he had good idea of who he was going to ask.

In his time at the school since the outbreak, Logan had formed a number of friendships with a lot of people; some so strong that he considered them his family. He though that, in a way, all of the people at the school were a family of sorts. Two people who he'd formed a particularly close friendship with were Matt and Ed. They were some of the first people to arrive at the school after the initial group. Matt was twenty-five and Ed was twenty-four, which was one of the reasons why Logan thought they had grown so close. He himself was twenty-four, so they were all of a similar age.

Logan reached the end of the corridor and almost collided with someone as they turned the corner in simultaneously. He stopped abruptly, almost loosing his balance as he stumbled backwards slightly. He managed to steady himself and looked up to see Glenn standing in front of him with a shocked expression on his face. Sighing slightly with relief, Logan noticed that Glenn's fist was clasped tightly around his pistol, though it was still in its holster. This was completely understandable nowadays, surprises did not usually result in anything good and the best reaction was to draw a weapon. The alternative being a potential Walker bite.

"Logan, sorry" Glenn said, his voice strained slightly as he caught his breath. He took his hand off of his pistol and relaxed, leaning against the wall, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Logan replied with a smile, "all okay with you?" he asked politely. Glenn was a really nice guy. Logan had only spoke to him a couple of times one-on-one since their first meeting, but he thought that the two of them were quite good friends.

"Yeah, all's good with me. I was just on my way to find Hershel, you haven't seen him have you?" Glenn asked as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket like a teenager.

"He's out in the main courtyard. Council meeting just finished and he went in that direction" Logan explained, happy to be of assistance.

"Cheers, Logan" Glenn said as he moved passed and patted Logan on the shoulder.

"Ooh, Glenn" Logan said suddenly.

Glenn stopped and looked back towards him with a smile, "yeah?"

"There's a run later today, if you're up for it?" Logan asked, deciding that the more people he could recruit for the run the better.

"Definitely. I'll jut speak to Hershel and then I'll head down to the hall" Glenn said, as he started off up the corridor. "Catch you later" he added with a wave.

Logan returned the wave and watched as Glenn disappeared around the corner at the other end of the corridor. He felt like he'd achieved something having recruited Glenn for the run. He wasn't sure why, but he always wanted to do right by Rick and help out as best he could. He'd thought on occasion that it was because Rick was the closest thing that he had to a father. Besides Calum of course. He'd always kind of looked up to Rick in a "dad" sort of way. But since Rick had lost his son, Logan had began to question whether or not he should think of Rick in that way. He didn't want to seem like he was trying to replace Carl or anything. He'd lost his family too, so he sort of knew what Rick was going through … but he hadn't seem his family die …

Remembering that he was supposed to be looking for Matt and Ed, Logan pulled himself away from his thoughts and continued on down the corridor. He had a good idea where the guys might be, so he thought he'd stop off and pick up his gear first. Once the school had gotten safer and more people were starting to arrive, they'd decided that it would be better if guns were kept r emergencies instead of carried around the school. People argued that they'd be safer if they could all carry guns, but there were armed guards on all of the lookout stations around the school and certain members of the group carried weapons. Logan thought that it was pretty safe, but he could also see why others disagreed.

Turning into one of the old classrooms, he crossed the threshold and closed the door silently behind him. This was his room. Well, it was the room that he slept in along with a number of other people. Most of the people in the school slept on mattresses that had been taken from the nearby houses, though certain individuals preferred to sleep on sofas or in vehicles. Logan's mattresses was positioned under the farthest window of the classroom, alongside his brothers. All of their belongings were in that small vicinity; their weapons, clothes and personal belongings. Logan had a couple of books that he he'd now read about a hundred times over and a framed picture of his family. He avoided looking at it as he crossed the room and dropped down beside his gun bag. Just thinking about the picture was enough to bring a tear to his eyes

He blinked them away as he unzipped the bag and looked inside. His weapons were all organised in case he ever needed them in a hurry. All of his knives were in the left-hand compartment and the few firearms that he had accumulated were in the right-hand compartment. Guns weren't very common, but the group were fortunate enough to come across a stash in one of the houses in town. The previous owner had obviously been a collector, albeit illegally. Though Logan wasn't complaining, he was very thankful indeed. Though, the ammo collection was not nearly as good as the weapons stash. On top of this, the group had also managed to raid a nearby armoury that Logan and Calum had known about prior to the outbreak. From there, they were able to stock up on ammunition as well as retrieve some more advanced fire power. Then there were the few weapons that they'd managed to scavenge from overrun army stations nearby. The army had fallen pretty quickly, their attempts at making a stand futile.

Logan grabbed his belt from the centre of the bag and attached it around his waist, buckling it tightly. His favourite weapon was his Walther PP Pistol; a nice weight and easy to manoeuvre. Calum had found it and given it to him early on, just after things had started to go awry. Since the outbreak, Logan had developed into quite a good shot, "one of the best in the group" according to Rick.

As he slipped the pistol into its holster on his belt, he retrieved the first knife that his hand came into contact with; a machete that Andrea had given on him on one of their first runs together. He remembered her finding it after they'd been cornered by Walkers. That machete had saved his life. Andrea had saved his life. That was back when they relatively new to all of this. Now they were experienced killers and Logan wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

He picked up the sheath for the machete and attached it to his belt before zipping up the bag and pulling himself to his feet.

Now all he had to do was find Matt and Ed. He was almost certain that they'd be in the lookout station above the storage bay. That's were they usually were. They always said it was because they were good shots with good eyes, but Logan knew that it was because they liked the peace and quite of it. Out of the two, Matt was the better shot and he was usually the one to handle the rifle if need be and Ed had the better eyes so together they were a pretty good team. That particular look out station looks out over the shool field and into the neighbouring fields, so it's quite a large and open area to cover.

He left the room and walked the length of the corridor, passing through the double doors at the end as he continued sown to what was once the PE department. A shout from behind him caught his attention and he stopped to listen out. It sounded like two women. One of the them was very angry and the other seemed defensive. He decided to carry on his way. Arguing was that uncommon, especially with everyone basically living on top of each other. He can't help but feel guilty as he continued on to his destination, wondering whether or not he should have done something. When the double doors finally close behind him, he can longer hear the women and the guilt started to dissipate.

Logan emerged into the corridor beside the loading bay, previously the sports hall, and was greeted by a vast room full of vehicles, supplies and people. However, the majority of the crates are empty or dwindling. He recognised some of the faces of the people as they moved around. Chris and Jackson were working on one of the jeeps that the group had acquired a short while ago, whilst Lauren was sorting through some of the crates along with Nicole, Jess and Imogen. As he passed by them he caught a snippet of their conversation.

"Peaches? Canned peaches!? Really?" he heard Jess say with a tone of dissaproval.

"They're not that bad, Jess," Lauren answered with a smirk, "anyone found any canned pears? They're my favourite"

"Nope, sorry" Imogen replied sadly as Nicole shook her head. "Pity not everyone's helping" she added, throwing an annoyed face towards the Mini Cooper that was parked about ten feet away from the women.

Logan followed her gaze and noticed Rebecca and Niall standing next to it, locked in a tight embrace and kissing each other passionately.

He averted his eyes quickly and continued on at a faster pace through the doors at the end of the corridor, laughing slightly at the awkwardness of the situation. Even though the the world had basically ended and society had crumbled, people were still people and it was a little amusing.

Sunlight flooded in through the half-closed shutters into the small porch-like room that separated the corridor from the outdoors. Logan ducked under it and was bathed in the heat of the sun as he emerged into the outside. He stood up straight and surveyed the area quickly as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in lighting. Surveying areas had become second nature now; it was impossible to know what was waiting around every corner.

Aside the shutter stood the ladder that stretched up towards the roof of the storage bay. It was the only way up or down, besides jumping; but that wasn't recommended as it was close to a twenty foot drop. Logan began climbing the ladder, thinking as he did about all the times he'd climbed it before. Whether it be to take over a watch shift or to join Matt and Ed for a talk. He realised every time he was halfway up how much he hated climbing it. He wasn't particularly scared of heights, he just didn't like to think about what he was doing.

Finally, he reached the top and pulled himself up onto the roof. Breathing a sigh of relief, he drew himself to his full height and glanced over towards the lookout station, a hand above his brow to block out the sun. There are two people inside, and as Logan draws closer he realises that it is in fact Matt and Ed.

"Matt? Ed?" he called as he covers the distance between the ladder and the station. Both of them turn at the sound of their name being called and wave in response.

"Logan, how's it going?" Matt asked as Logan reached the station and ducked inside. Matt was sitting on one of the camping chairs that they'd taken from an outdoors store, his rifle propped up against its arm.

"Going good, yeah. How's everything out here?" he asked, his eyes automatically sweeping over the surrounding area.

"It's been quiet, not much going on at all" Ed replied, leaning against one of the posts.

"So, what brings you up here, mate?" Matt asked with mock curiosity. He raised one of his eyebrows comically and waited expectantly for an answer.

"Well, there's a run and I was wondering if you guys were up for it?" Logan asked them with a smirk, his eyes moving between the two of them.

They both looked at each other and smiled before turning back to face Logan.

"Sure we're sup for it!" They said in unison with matching smiles.

"Anything to get out of this place for a couple of hours" Ed added, stretching his arms far above his head.

"Yeah, it's Lauren's turn to keep watch anyway" Matt added as he pulled himself up from his chair and grabbed his rifle.

Both of them already had their weapons so the trio made there way back across the roof and, one by one, climbed down the ladder. Laughing and cracking jokes with each other, they made their way back into the school and down the corridor towards the loading bay. It felt good to laugh, keeping positive was keeping sane and Logan was adamant to remain sane. He was really thankful for Matt and Ed's friendship.

The three of them entered the loading bay and Logan immediately noticed that a small crowd had gathered around the jeep that Chris and Jackson had been working on. As he drew closer, he noticed that they were all looking towards Rick who seemed to be explaining the run to them.

"Logan," Rick interrupted himself when he noticed them approaching, "boys," he added as he nodded to Matt and Ed, "I was just telling these guys what we're looking for on the run … and going over some ground rules" he informed them.

Logan glanced around at the faces of the small group. Glenn was there, along with his fiancée Maggie. Logan had always had a soft spot for Maggie. He thought that she was beautiful and smart and he enjoyed spending time with her. Michonne was also there, along with Daryl, Katana and Crossbow in hand. Next to Daryl stood Cameron, Daniel's brother, and Jane, Ellen's daughter. Her eyes seemed to be red and Logan could tell that she had been crying. He took a guess that it had been her and her mother whom he had heard arguing before.

"Alright everyone, so this is our group. The ten of us will go-" Rick was cut off as someone jogged over from the corridor.

"Sorry I'm late. I'm coming too"

It was Calum. His face was a little red from running, nevertheless he gave Logan a wide smile coupled with a wink as he settled himself between Jane and Ed.

Logan returned the smile before focusing back to Rick. He wasn't at all surprised that Calum had decided to join them and found himself feeling a little safer knowing that his brother would be around. It was just like the old days when they'd been together constantly.

"Okay. The eleven of us will be heading out. First town we come across we'll stop and scavenge. We keep going until we've got enough to last us until the next harvest." Rick told them all, a professional look on his face that reminded Logan of his old school teachers.

Everyone nodded in agreement and that was it. They were ready to go.

Rick clambered into the front of the jeep followed by Michonne. Daryl jumped into the back of it along with Cameron and Jane. Glenn and Maggie walked over towards a nearby pickup truck and clambered inside. Logan made to join them as Ed and Calum leapt into the back of the pickup but stopped when he noticed Matt jogging off in the opposite direction. He watched him with confusion as he approached Lauren before realising that he was asking her to man the lookout. As Matt started back towards them, Logan pulled himself into the front of the pickup and settled himself next to Maggie before closing the door.

They were ready to leave. Logan watched as Rick pulled the jeep away and Glenn followed in the pickup. Chris and Jackson pulled the lifting system to raise the garage door that they'd installed, and we filed out into the open world.