The tall woman grabs my hand and pulls me up, with enough force to send me flying forward and easily into a fast run as she tails behind me.

I'm sprinting through the forest, dodging trees and hurtling over rocks and fallen logs like a track runner doing hurdles. All of the training from the police academy gave me enough fitness to run fast, keep up stamina, to dodge quickly and learnt to defend myself with all sorts of weapons. I guess I was lucky to have had enough of this training to survive out here for the past couple of years.

Marie is having trouble keeping her stamina up but her long legs are carrying her as best they can.

I take notice of this, and decide we should stop. I look behind us, trying to spot any walkers but they're like specs in the distance.

In between breaths, "We can stop now, not for long, but we'll keep our pace slow. We just have to keep moving until we find my cabin." I say panting like I've just run a marathon, which sure as hell feels like it by, the way my lungs burn.

Marie and I set out, heading for the cabin I'd found roughly a week ago. The two of us walked across a small water crossing, and stuck to the sides of the roads rather than on them, just in case we came across more walkers or even another creepy guy coming for us with that sickening grin.

I shake at the thought. I notice a familiar sign post, "We're close!" I pick up my pace and Marie follows.

The brown, log cabin comes into sight after a minute or two and a wave of relief washes over me.

"Here we are, home. For now.." I say walk up the wooden stairs, leading me to the front door. I grab the door knob and turn back to Marie who looks more than a bit sceptical. "what..?" I ask her, frowning a little.

She shakes her head, her messy hair moving with it, "Nothing. Just, the last time I slept in a real room was when my sister was alive." She looks down, but grabs the railing, hesitantly walking up the stairs. She reaches me, stunned that I haven't moved or entered the small house.

I reach out and gently place my hand on her arm hesitantly, "I'm not good with, emotions. I hide my own, mainly because I have no one to care so I have no reason to cry but to move on. I have to stay strong to stay alive, especially by myself, it's just easier that way. I can't say I'll have all the answers or know how to comfort you, but I can try, you can talk to me." We stare into each other's eyes just a little too long.

Marie looks down at my hand, still on the door knob, "What are you waiting for?"

"Oh, right." I turn the knob and enter the cabin. Pictures line the walls of a family. Dead flowers, placed in a vase, are sitting upon a small table in the entrance which once gave the room character. As we walk in, there is a small dining table that would fit about 4 people slightly to my left, and around the left corner is a black couch with a flat screen tv upon the wall opposite it. To my right is a hallway leading to the bedrooms and in straight ahead is a clean kitchen that looks like it hasn't been touched in years.

Marie gazes upon the picture on the wall, "It's sad. Why haven't taken these down?"

I gaze upon them also, "I don't feel the need. I'd feel like I was disrespecting their family. I try not to think about where they are right now but I respect them, whoever they are." I start to walk down the entrance, following Marie as she side-steps her way into the middle of the small house, keeping my eyes upon her.

She turns to face me, "I didn't have you picked." She giggles.

"What do you mean? Picked?" I cross my arms, looking at her, confused.

"You know, like, I didn't think you'd be tha' sor' of person, yeah? You have, I guess, a hard exterior. Bu' on the inside, you're all mushy and respectful." She says, heading into the kitchen. "Have you go' any food, I'm starvin'"

"Yeah, I'll make something, I'm a bit hungry myself." I'm stunned by what she just said, heading over to the kitchen to make something for the both of us to eat. "And hey, I'm not all hard. I guess the world we live in doesn't always go the way you want, shit happens and you end up losing who you were. I wasn't always like this. I had a girlfriend before all this shit happened, and I lost her. She was literally ripped from my arms by walkers and eaten like she was nothing. But she was something..she was something to me. I cried, for what seemed like weeks. My father, my sister, and my niece were held up in our apartment for a few months when this all started, and I lost my father one day when he didn't wake up the next morning." I offer her the cans, asking which one she'd like and she nudges her chin forward for the peaches as I continue, "My father and I were extremely close, so it hurt to lose him. After those two losses, I lost strength, but gained some." I walk over by the couch and sit down as Marie follows in suit. "A few weeks later, a guy comes into the building and he seemed all nice and innocent. My sister fell in love with him and I started to trust him. Megan, my niece, she loved him like a father. One day he led us to a prison with his group that we reunited with on the road, where these people lived that he turned us against, telling us that they were bad people. But what we didn't know was.."

Marie butts in, "He was the bad one..?"

I whisper and slowly nod, "Yeah.."

Marie places a hand on my leg, giving it a reassuring squeeze as I continue,

"The guy we were following chopped off one of the other's heads to torment them. I never fired a single bullet that day, I couldn't. My sister and my niece died. We led walkers into the yard and let them over run the place as the group shot at them and they shot back. I hid behind one of the trucks, too scared to even move. And hours after, one of their people found me in a cage that I'd locked myself in, wanting to die, hoping. He let me out and took me with him regardless of me being with the other group. He trusted me. His whole group reunited eventually with my help but I still feel horrible for even being a part of something like that." Tears escape my eyes. "That was the last group I was with. The last people. They were more like family than anything and helped me going, they found out I was with the other group and they still took me in like I had done nothing wrong. I think it was because the guy I followed..had done them wrong before and truly believed me, that I didn't know he was such an asshole. I lost my group, after we got swarmed with walkers in a barn we'd found for the night. I haven't seen any of them since, but I hope they're all alright, especially Judith." As I finish speaking, I notice Marie has made her way closer to me and wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace and I grip her shirt, crying.

"Was Judith your girlfriend?" She asks, inquisitively.

I shake my head, "No. The group, they had a baby. She was beautiful, and probably a little bit of hope towards actually surviving this thing. She kept us all going."

By the end of our conversation, Marie picks me up like I was a small child with ease and carries my nearly sleeping body to the bedroom, laying me on the bed. She pulls the blanket over me and turns to leave.

I grab her wrist and ask her to stay with me.

She climbs into the bed and she rests her head on my chest.

We both sigh and fall into a peaceful and warm slumber that involved none of my usual nightmares.