Thanks for all the reviews and favourites. And thanks to CosmicGunslinger for the edits.

Lara felt her mind stir as the distant sound of gunfire echoed in her dreams. Screams and screeches slowly faded in the background to be replaced by the chopping of helicopter blades. She felt a ghostly arm slip around her and saw the wrinkles of a frown.

Lara squeezed her eyes tighter as she felt herself returning to consciousness. Thoughts began lingering in her mind again, tugging her awake. She took a breath and tried to expel them.

But it didn't work.

With a groan, Lara sat up in the darkness and pulled her knees towards her chest. She rested her forehead on her knees and closed her eyes.

Every year, she thought taking a shaky breath.

I need you to promise me you'll stay strong Lara.

"I'm trying," she whispered. She blinked rapidly as her eyes prickled and took a deep breath. Somehow her fingers had found the pendant around her neck again and she forced her hand down.

I should talk to Roth, she thought, leaning back against the headrest. He would be awkward about this, but at least he would be there for her.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

She needed some serious rest, but she didn't think she could fall asleep again. Maybe if she took a walk along the lake she'd tire herself out.

She tied her hair up into a ponytail then grabbed her jacket from the counter and strapped her pistol to her belt.

The winter night was cold, even with her jacket on and a jumper underneath. It was still early in the night, and curfew was not in place yet. Roth would probably be in the common area hanging out with Reyes and the others, so she headed there first.

The common area was one of the few buildings which had electricity at night. It also had a fireplace which kept the building heated during the cold winter. Almost everyone came here after dinner or even during the day to play games or just chat. It was one of the most well maintained places, as it was one of the few things which staved off boredom.

Lara spotted Alex, Reyes, Alisha and Jonah playing a board game at one of the tables. Roth was suspiciously absent though. Did he head back to his cabin already?

"Hey guys," she said. "Do you know where Roth is?"

The group looked at each other. It was only then she realised that everyone was talking amongst themselves in hushed tones, as if something bad had happened.

"Did something happen?" she asked. "Where's Roth?"

"Roth's fine," Reyes said, looking at her. "He needed to go deal with a problem."

"What problem?"

"Well…" Alex began sheepishly. "It's nothing important really. You should probably head back to bed."

Lara stared at him flatly. "Where is he?"

"Ahh well…" he rubbed the back of his neck and looked around.

Reyes sighed in exasperation. "Roth rescued these two people from the biters," she said. "Mathias is treating the man now and Roth and Vlad are talking to the woman."

Lara frowned. She always took part in deciding what to do with new arrivals. "Why didn't anyone wake me?" she asked.

Alex coughed into his hand. "Roth told us to let you sleep."

"He said it was for the best," Jonah added.

Lara rubbed her brow. Of course he said that. Was this his way at getting back at her for not agreeing to let that Asian guy stay?

"Great," she mumbled. "So he's in the reception building?"

"I don't think he wants you there," Reyes said bluntly.

Lara ignored her. "Is he there or not?"

Alex sighed. "Yeah."

Lara turned and walked out of the building. She stormed towards the reception building and pulled the door open.

Roth had been in a concentrated frown when she entered but his eyes widened in surprise as he turned around. "Lara," he said, "What are you doing here?"

She ignored his question and scowled. "Why did you feel the need to exclude me from this?" she snapped.

Roth sighed. "You needed the rest, girl, and you know why."

Her scowl deepened. So much for him being there for her. "I'm not a child, Roth. I don't need you to pity me."

"Lara?"

Lara looked past Roth and felt her breath catch in her throat. Was that…"Sam?" she asked.

Sam looked as stunned as she felt. She lunged forward suddenly but Vladimir caught her and threw her back. "Don't," he growled menacingly.

"I was just going to hug her!" Sam protested.

Lara just stood there, gaping. Sam had grown since she last saw her…when was it? Five years ago in boarding school? She had no makeup, no designer clothes, long hair and was streaked with dirt, but it was no doubt the Yank she had shared a room with.

"Wait," Roth said, looking between them, "You know her?"

Lara tore her gaze away from Sam and looked at Roth. It took a moment too long to process what was happening. "Umm… yes," she murmured. "We shared a room back in school…before all this." She locked eyes with Sam again who gave her a small smile.

"Can we trust her?"

That parted the fog in her thoughts. Sam had been her best friend, but that had been in a different world. She didn't know her anymore, and she may be dangerous.

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know."

When she looked back up Sam was visibly hurt. Lara looked away and tried to ignore the pang of guilt in her chest. I don't know her anymore, she told herself, I'm right to be suspicious.

"What does she want anyway?" she asked, looking up at Roth.

Roth folded his arms and leaned against the table. "She wants medicine," he told her. "And to join us."

At that moment Mathias came in. Sam immediately looked to him. "How is he?" she asked.

Mathias glanced at her, looking irritated. "He's shivering," he told them. "His fever is bad. As is his cold."

"Umm, you guys do have medicine right?"

"We do. But not for him."

Sam winced. "Look, I know you don't know us but Will needs that medicine now, before he gets worse. Can't you just treat him now and we can deal with this later?"

"You not in position to demand," Vladimir growled.

Mathias put up a hand and Vladimir backed off. "We don't want to waste supplies on the enemy," he said. Lara pressed her lips together but had to agree. They wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

"We're not part of a larger group or anything," Sam said, "I told you before."

"Kill them," Vladimir said. He said something in Russian to Mathias and he nodded.

"We can't let them go," he translated. "If they are part of a larger group they know where we are now and might come back with more people."

"So kill them," Vladimir finished.

Lara and Roth both frowned. That was way too harsh and the more she looked at Sam, the more she believed that she was telling the truth.

"We didn't shoot you two on sight when you arrived," Lara pointed out, referring to Mathias and Vladimir.

"That's because we brought enough medical supplies to last a year," Mathias said.

"You guys want supplies?" Sam interrupted. Everyone turned to look at her. She swallowed. "I know a place where you can find some rifles. Ammo, grenades, maybe some food. It's…maybe five days walk from here?"

Roth narrowed her eyes at her and even Lara was suspicious. This sounded way too good to be true. "If that's true why did you only come with a pistol?" he asked.

Sam shifted uncomfortably. "It…might be behind a fence with a lot of biters." Mathias and Vladimir both scowled. "Look we stumbled across this abandoned military camp, alright?" she quickly said. "It looked like they were trying to set up there but they got overrun and everyone there turned. There are supplies there though I swear."

"It's an ambush," Mathias said.

Lara was thinking the same thing. Sam was nervous, but it was probably because they were all talking about whether or not to kill her. Still, this sounded too good to be true.

"It's not." Sam insisted. "I wouldn't tell you the place had a lot of biters if I wanted to draw you there. Just…" she winced, "If we can't join you, just help Will and we'll leave."

"Pretty face, pretty lies." Vladimir said.

"It sounds an awful lot like a trap." Roth pointed out.

"I'm not lying to you," she said firmly. "I can take you there, I swear."

"I'll go," Lara said. Everyone looked at her. She wasn't sure this was her best idea but Sam had been her friend before, and she felt like she at least owed their friendship this. "Sam can take me there and I'll take a look. We'll come back and if she's not lying she can join us."

Roth's brow dipped. "Lara, this is probably a trap," he said.

"Yes," she agreed. "But we could use the extra ammunition." There was never enough these days. "And if she is lying to us," she added, looking directly at Sam, "Maybe Sam will feel guiltier about leading me into it." Sam pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow.

"I agree," Mathias said. Vladimir grunted. "Lara can go with Sam and Will will stay here as insurance."

Lara saw Sam swallow. She watched her carefully, trying to figure her out. Was she just worried about Will, or was there actually a trap?

Roth rubbed his mouth. He didn't look happy but nodded anyway. "It's settled then," he said. "You can leave tomorrow."

"Wait," Sam said, holding up her hands, "So you're not going to treat Will until we come back? He could die!"

Mathias smirked and walked towards the door. "Best hurry then." Vladimir barked a harsh laugh and left with him.

Lara sighed and walked up to Roth, her back towards Sam. What Mathias was doing was stupid. "Are you really going to let him do that?" she asked him quietly. "He's only going to need more medicine if he deteriorates."

Roth sighed. "Leave it with me, Lara," he said quietly. "I'll tend to him. Tomorrow morning I also need you to help clear some of the infected that were at our front door."

Lara wasn't happy about that prospect but she nodded anyway.

Roth looked at Sam. "Right now, though," he said aloud, "You should take care of your friend. Take her to one of the spare rooms for the night."

"Okay." She looked at Sam who was standing there awkwardly. "Come on."

With a nod to Roth she exited the building with Sam following close behind. The crowd had dispersed but she could see them lingering against the buildings, watching them silently. Lara walked quickly past them, towards the back of the resort where the cabins were. She was acutely aware of Sam behind her, almost having to run to keep up with her.

She led Sam to one of the empty cabins, one which was sufficiently far away enough from the rest of the group so that it wouldn't cause as much tension. It was too dark inside so she told Sam to wait outside while she went to get some candles.

"Okay...I guess I'll be here…" Sam said awkwardly.

Lara felt herself relax when she was away from Sam. This night…she ran a hand over her face. It was too much for her to process.

Lara had thought Sam had died. She didn't know how or when, but Sam wasn't built physically and she highly doubted she had the mental strength to do what survival called for. By Darwin's theory she should have been dead by now.

But here she was, a little worse for wear but very much alive.

Honestly, she didn't know how to feel about that. She was glad of course; Sam still meant something to her. But there was also a part of her which told her not to get blinded by the past; that Samantha was as much of a threat as any other stranger that wandered into their camp.

Lara found a few candles and took a blanket from the closet. She also took a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, thinking that she might want a set of warm, clean clothes. Sam was sitting against the door when she returned, her hands under her armpits for warmth. "Hey, you're back!" she said, standing up.

Lara opened the door and put down the blanket and clothes on the bed. She lit the candles with a match, and they illuminated the gloom a little. "I found you a blanket," she said, lighting the other candles. "And a change of clothes. I'm not sure if they fit you but they're the smallest we have."

"Thank you," Sam murmured, "That's probably the nicest thing that's happened today. Well… aside from you guys saving us."

Lara blew the match out when the final candle was lit. "It's fine," she said. She turned around and saw that Sam had her trousers and shirt off. She looked up at the ceiling, sure that her face was red and cleared her throat loudly.

"Oh! Sorry!" Sam exclaimed, "I just really wanted to get out of these muddy clothes."

Lara was afraid to look back. "Are you hungry?" she said to the wall. "I could get you something."

"Uhh… yeah. I won't say no to free food."

Lara turned around without looking at her. "I'll be right back then."

She stepped outside the door and blew out of her cheeks. Sam was never modest to begin with but you would think she would learn from the apocalypse. She blushed again thinking of her body and focused on the cold air in an attempt to forget.

Dinner was just finishing up in the lodge and tonight was one of the rare nights where there were leftovers. Jonah heated up a bowl of soup and handed it to her. She was glad that he was on cooking duty tonight because anyone else would have turned her away.

Sam was clothed when she returned which was a huge relief. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, combing her fingers through her hair.

"Wow that smells so good," she said, sitting up. She accepted the bowl. "I was going to start chewing the walls soon."

"It's venison stew," Lara said, handing her a bottle of water. "Enjoy."

She started towards the door. "Hey, you're not leaving already are you?" Sam asked. "We still…we haven't really gotten the chance to catch up." She gave her an uncertain smile. "You look good. How have you been?"

Lara sighed. She was still trying to wrap her head around how Sam could possibly be aliveand her lack of sleep wasn't helping. "Sam I'm…I'm pretty tired," she said, rubbing her eyes with a hand. "I'd rather go to sleep."

"Oh yeah, sure," Sam said, waving her hand dismissively. "I get it. Go get some sleep. Thanks for the stew, it's really nice."

Lara nodded. "Good night Sam. We have a long day tomorrow."

She left and closed the door softly behind her. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed one of the families looking in her direction as they walked back to their cabin. When they noticed she had noticed them they quickly looked away and chatted amongst themselves.

Lara took a breath and made her way back to her cabin. Sam would be fine and right now she needed to get some decent rest. She was already regretting volunteering for this journey, purely because of the awful state she was in right now. But she was committed, and there was no going back.