Author's Note: Hey All! Here's Chapter Three. Enjoy! Review, pretty pretty please!

I own my six characters: Aaliyah, Mason, Sam, Caleb, Katy, and Julio.
I don't own the Walking Dead, comics or books.

So, I'm thinking about writing from another P.O.V. next chapter. Is there any of the other five you'd like to hear more from? Thoughts and the past and whatnot? Or from one of the existing characters, like Rick, Shane, Daryl or anyone? Let me know in a new message or in a review! Thanks all!

Special Thanks to Cereline for her review! I wrote this chapter in four hours so I could update today!

"Was that…?" I asked, unsure of what I had just heard.

"This is GM1 Potter of the United States Navy. Identify yourself." Mason said in a commanding voice. We stared at the crackling walkie-talkie. My thoughts drifted hopefully.
If there were people out there still, then there is still chance for rebuilding. Soemone out there must have thoughts of a long term goal… and even though the government has practically failed us, there has to be citizen who are willing to lay down stakes and set up a more permanent camp! But even so, I was cautious.

People were scary in the first place. They fought in wars, killed over jealousy and religion, and spread hatred amongst themselves. It was a harsh world before everything ended, and civilization was destroyed. I couldn't trust anyone. Now, even more so – what we had was in such high demand. Real food, water, blankets and tents. People would probably kill for less nowadays.
"This is officer Shane Walsh. I'm just outside Atlanta with a group of survivors, and boy are we glad to hear you. I was starting to think rescue was never coming!" Mason's eyes widened in shock. I lowered my head. Great. The first contact we hear of is some high-hoping idiot who thinks that the government is still intact. The others were just as confused as I was, though probably less snarky. Mason paused, unsure of how to respond. This guy sounded so relieved, like the end of the world didn't come and that he was about to get hot fresh food and a shower.

"Sorry, no… I'm not with a rescue team. I have a group of survivors here, also. If you need some extra supplies, we could spare a bit." His finger clicked off the receiver and Katy hit him lightly with the back of my hand.
"Mason! We can't spare anything. What if this group has twenty people in it? We can't go find them, we're putting ourselves at risk. If they want to be just outside of the city, let them be. Let's continue to Nebraska or wherever. We can't spare anything!" Katy hissed.
"What if there are twenty? What if there are kids? They need it. We'll figure out something." I replied, slightly angry. She was being selfish, and now we knew that we weren't the only people out in the world. We were obligated to help them, hear their stories, give them knowledge. Help them survive.
There was a few more seconds of silence.
"Yeah. We're about two miles east of the highway, and a mile south of the city." The man's voice was cracked, and defeated. This guy actually thought that the Navy was miraculously out here to save the day. I sighed in defeat. The look on the others faces were set – we were going to meet this new group. Probably tonight.
"Alright. We haven't set up camp yet. Be on the lookout for us in twenty minutes or so. We have a blue trailblazer."
"We'll keep a lookout. Which direction are you coming from?"
"We're directly south of Atlanta, on the highway."
"Alright. We'll keep our fires burning."
"Over and out." Mason replied, hooking the walkie-talkie onto his belt loop.

I couldn't help but be excited. These people had to be alright – the guy on the radio used to be a police officer! What harm could come from that? If they had someone of the law, they would uphold basic human rights. But I was also cautious. What if these people were dangerous? Or if they had a particularly large group – it'd be like gathering together for the slaughter. We had to look both ways and be cautious about everything.
We all stood in the circle together, looking at each other, like some sort of twisted, blood spattered football huddle.
"Alright. We're going out to meet these people. But depending on who they are and how they act, this can become a reprieve for us." Mason started, thinking hard.
"What do you mean, reprieve?" Caleb asked, excited at the prospect of a break.
"These people could be dangerous." Katy replied, cutting him off.
"Yeah, and they could be filled with rainbows and sunshine, waiting to give us lollipops and teddy bears. We don't know anything about them." Sam responded to her, raising and eyebrow and shaking his head.

"There could be kids. And I for one would love the chance to sleep for the whole night." Julio replied, sighing.
"If there group is five or if there is fifty, it shouldn't matter. There are people out there, surviving even through everything. We know what we've been through, what it's cost us… these people could have been through even worse. We don't know yet. Even so, with splitting duties like watch and whatnot, it would make the work easier on us." Mason replied waving his hands to cut everyone off.
"Look, guys. As much as we want these people to be our guiding salvation – or as much as we think they could be devils in disguise, we don't know. They're human, just like us. We all have our stories, right? They'll have theirs. We should go out there, and figure them out – then we'll decide something else." I said, staring at all of them, thinking of the most logical conclusion to this. "They may not even know that the government has collapsed. That we're stuck on our own out here, and that there really are no safe zones. We at least need to educate them, before they go and do something stupid." I finished, hoping for the best. I truly did want to see these people. Who knows how long it would be if we decided against it? And we could be sending these people to their deaths, if they try for some sort of safe zone.

"Does everyone agree?" Mason asked, looking at everyone in turn. Katy scoffed slightly and turned away. I could hear her mumbling as she walked away. "You practically decided for us already, of course we're going to follow you, asshole. We don't have a choice."

"Anyone else?" Mason asked, the annoyance plainly written on his face.
I shook my head and gave a slight smile, looking at the others.
"It's settled. Let's go." His face was set in grim determination as we piled into the car.

The drive was a bit rough, and tense. Especially since we couldn't quite see far in front of us, and we had no way of knowing if there were any beasts lurking in the shadows, waiting to follow us back to camp. We saw the dimply lit fires in the distance, as we surveyed the camp.
They were settled in a grassy field, above a cliff. They had a couple of cars, and a clunky looking RV. On top of the RV I could see a shadowy figure with a rifle, looking our way. Then, I could see the group. There were a fair amount of people standing, but not too many. As I saw the distance small shadows of children, hiding slightly behind their parents, I tried hard to hold my smirk back. I was glad that I was right, and Katy wasn't. I glanced at her, as she stared out with her arms crossed. We rolled to a stop and I sprang out of the car. The others quickly followed.
The first person to meet us was presumably Shane. He was dressed in a pair of brown slacks and matching open jacket with a slightly dingy metal badge clipped above his heart. He was wearing a plain white shirt underneath, which was only slightly dirty and stained. It was hard to see his face in the flickering fire light, but I could tell he had a strong chin, with a few weeks beard growing in. He wore a smile, but his eyes betrayed that. I could tell he was crushed at the sight of Mason, who was wearing his stained working uniform, still all neat and tucked in.

"Shane Walsh?" Mason asked, reaching out his hand. I watched the others, as they watched us. Our group was sticking closely together, weapons loosely in hand. Most of the adults were slowly making their way over to us, though reluctant to leave their fires. We walked close to the nearest fire and stood stock still, silently watching everyone.
"Potters?" Shane asked, taking Mason's hand and giving a firm shake. Despite roughing it for the last several weeks, the others looked in pretty good condition.

"Call me Mason." He replied, with a quick smile. "Quite a large group you have here." He tilted his head, looking at everyone.
"Yeah… that it is." He smiled back. I realized that they were doing a sort of non-verbal leadership dance in their minds. Figuring out the strengths and weaknesses, if the other was friendly or if he could be trusted. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Men.
"I'm Aaliyah!" I responded with a small smile, staring at Shane, and holding out my hand. He took it with a nod. He had a strong handshake, but I made sure to respond with just as much force. My father had taught me that you can get the feel of a whole person just by shaking their hand. If they had a weak grip, or went limp, you couldn't trust them to have your back. If they were too strong, they were trying to assert themselves over you. If they shook for too long, they were too excited to see you and they were probably a salesman. If they shook for too short they didn't trust you. From what I could tell from Shane, he was some sort of de facto leader, and he wanted everyone to know that – and for some reason, he sort of trusted us. Maybe it was Mason's uniform.
"I'm Caleb and the grumpy one over here is Cathy." Caleb said, motioning over at Katy who still had her arms folded so severely, I thought she was going to cut off oxygen to them and they'd fall asleep. She scoffed at him and scowled at Shane and his group.
"Sam." Sam said succinctly with a curt nod. Usually he was friendlier, but I suppose the end of the world takes it's toll on people.
"I'm Julio." Julio replied with the tiniest of smiles.
"Well it's great to see some other people from the outside world. Uh… this here is Allen, his wife Donna and their twin sons, Billy and Ben." Shane pointed to the group of people to his right. I was standing directly in front of them, on Mason's left. Allen was a larger man with a bit of a pot belly and a worn plaid shirt. He had a thick beard and head of hair, which me must have been growing far longer than just three weeks. Donna was also a bit on the heavier side. She wore a white shirt with the American flag on it, the stars studded with rhinestones. Her hair was short and blonde. She gave a slight smile at us, while Allen nodded. Next to them was a pair of twin boys, no older than seven or eight years old. They both had short, light brown hair and had mischievous looks. I smiled and waved at the younger ones.
"Over there, the blonde by Allen is Amy. Up there on the RV is Dale, keeping watch." The older man waved at us. "By the other fire is Carol, and Ed and their daughter Sophia." Amy looked young, about my age, and Carol was a older – probably around 40 or so. She had short light grey hair with streaks of dark grey throughout. Ed was still sitting, his eyes on the fire, not looking at our group. He had a pot belly that spilled onto his lap, and wore a scowl on his face. Sophia was a cute little girl with long curly blonde hair, probably around 8 years old, who wore a grey hoodie and held a teddy bear in her arms. She had a tiny button nose and looked at our group curiously.
"The man on the log is Jim."
Jim looked really skinny to me, and held a depressing air over him. I knew that aura well – it was a dark mind that held it. Sam looked exactly the same right after everything happened. Before we knew what was going on. Jim's eyes looked hollow and his cheeks were gaunt. Something about him didn't sit right with me.

As I was observing Jim, a woman walked out a tent, and up to Shane. They exchanged a few whispers as she looked up at us warily. She wore a thick plaid shirt and jeans. I would think that someone raided some sort of department store and all they grabbed was plaid, with how much of the pattern I'd seen around the camp. Her eyes were heavy lidded, and her mouth was thin, with her nose a tad bit on the large side.

She had long, straight black hair – I remember back in the day, that was the hair I had always wanted. Long, straight, thick, black, and manageable. Now, I suppose I was glad to have the hair I had. It was fairly long, just past my shoulders. It was a medium brown, with dark and light streaks running throughout my curls. My hair was fine, and tangled easily. I ran my fingers through it everyday, but that didn't stop knots from forming. But I had grown used to it – if I had hair that was always a straight black sheet down my back, I would be more upset with it. As it was now, I had learned to put up my hair with my own hair. Both Katy and I had lost the few hair ties that we had. I could just take one of my curly locks at the base of my head and wrap it around a dozen times, and tuck it in. It didn't come out of it's ponytail as often as I thought it would, so it was pretty secure. I liked to think of myself as kind of handy with it.
The kid was pretty cute, and pretty young. He looked to be around eight or nine. He wore a shirt with a paw print and an atomic sign behind it, along with a red jacket and blue jeans that were torn at the knee. He had medium length brown hair, and a grin.
"This here is Lori and Carl." Shane mentioned with a slight smile. I could see that the Shane and Lori had some sort of connection with each other, just in the way he said her name. He looked at us and gestured over to the fire, sitting himself down facing the RV. I had to admit, it looked tempting to go and warm myself. Mason looked back at me and then to the others. Sam shrugged one shoulder. Without waiting for them to really respond, I decided to just go and sit – I was pretty damn cold, you know? And that fire, while low, was enticing. I looked over the whole site as I walked, taking everything in.
It looked like the camp was in a giant half circle, all sort of facing in. Behind the several erected tents was the RV, and cars, fortifying the camp from behind. To the other side, the way the tents were facing was the cliff, dropping off to a small rock quarry and lake. The path was pretty short, but the cliff walls were high, protecting the group from that side. I could see around the entire camp. The trees were mostly barren here, and I could see the city skyline in the distance. The wind blew ever so slightly away from the city, bringing the ever so slight scent of decay. For some reason, I still wasn't used to it. The others, they were. Even Katy, who always said she was the most sensitive of us all being a chef, had grown used to it. Well, not when the fuckers were up close and personal with us, but when we were safe. When we were out in the open without the beasts walking around, without the corpses close to us, I could always smell it. It was faint, but it was there. Maybe it was even in my mind, who knows.
I sat on the ground, facing away from the RV. The space there was open enough for us to sit down, if we spread out enough. I was cross legged on the ground, my jeans protecting me from the stiff dirt and grass. I motioned to the others with a smile. We're here, we might as well enjoy it. I rubbed my hands together and faced them toward the fire. I felt content, if still wary of the situation. The people seemed nice enough – just normal people like us. I wonder how we must have looked to them, a bunch of twenty something's. We probably all looked too young to really survive on our own, without too much trouble. I suppose looks really are deceiving.
"So where are you all from?" Allen asked curiously.
"Florida. We've been traveling from the beginning." Mason replied, the last person to settle down.

"Really? All of you?" Amy asked quietly.
Julio and Sam nodded. "We're all from the Daytona Beach area." Julio replied.
"How about you all? Where are you from?" Katy asked, leaning against Caleb. She had lost the scowl and decided she might as well learn something about these people as well. She could hold a grudge, but she wasn't above learning or looking for help.
"All over, really. Lori, Carl and I are from Cynthiana, Kentucky. It's just a small town… It was. Pretty much, we all just came here to Atlanta. We'd heard it was a safe zone. But of course, that wasn't true. So now, we're just here, right outside the city. If rescue is coming, they'll find us real easy." Shane said, hope filling his voice.
I exchanged a fleeting look with Mason, and bit my lip. I knew that must have been why they were so close to the city, but actually hearing it? I saw the subtle shake of his head, and looked down. There was a moment of silence, before Caleb broke it.
"Is this the whole group? Have you lost anyone?" Now that wasn't a question I would have thought of. I just thought that this would be the only group. Shane looked at Amy. She looked away while Shane then looked into the fire. This was obviously a touchy subject for them.
"No. We have another group in the city, searching for supplies…" Amy replied this time.
"What? In the city? Jesus." Sam replied, sitting up at attention, and rubbing a hand through his hair.
"They're… trapped. In a department store. They contacted us earlier in the day…" her voice faltered as she looked at the ground, close to tears.
I was appalled. I couldn't imagine the inner struggle going on in their minds. It seemed like some of the people in this group must have been close to each other.
"Who went out?" I asked, looking at the others. Shane looked back at me, obviously upset that we were all talking about this of all things.

"A couple of our own. Amy's sister, Andrea. A boy named Glenn. Uhm… T-Dog and a man named Merle. His brother, Daryl is out in the woods somewhere, but he's a tough one."
I swallowed this information hard. If they're trapped… in the city no less… they aren't getting out. It's would take a miracle for them to get out, and if they did… to be sure they'd lose some people. Overall, the chances of them coming back at all were slim to none. And they knew this, I could see it on their faces. Amy stood up and walked away, into the RV. We all watched her go in silence. What on earth could anyone say?
"Okay, so better topic of conversation…" I said lightly, hoping to change the mood. What was the harm, right? It would get their minds of off the horrors they faced. I smiled lightly at everyone. I saw that I had caught them off guard. "Is anyone hungry?" I knew that our group hadn't eaten that night. And from what I could see, I didn't see any canned goods or anything around. They must be living off of hunting, and what supplies they could scavenge from the city.
"Hey, Julio, Sam, Caleb. Could you help me set up the tents? If you don't mind, that is." Mason glanced at Shane.
"Nah, go right ahead. And we are all sure hungry, we haven't had much but canned carrots and peas. It's why Glenn and the others went into the city in the first place." I smiled at him, and I looked at the children's faces. Their eyes were wide with hope of a full stomach. I looked at Katy, who looked slightly sullen. We all stood up, and began to walk to the car. The boys got the tents, with help from Allen and Shane. Katy and I got the largest bin of canned goods, and started to rifle through them.
"I'm sure we can spare something other than carrots and peas." I joked, handing two cans of beef stew to Donna.
"Oh, my goodness. I haven't had stew in ages! Thanks!"

"Yeah, we stocked up. It wasn't the best stuff before the world ended, but now it's like heaven in a tin can."
"Here you go, guys." Katy handed the twins two more cans of the beef stew. Their smiles lit up at the same time. "Awesome!" The replied, running towards their mom as she walked away, staring at the two cans of stew I gave her. If there was really one thing to cheer Katy up, it was a couple of kids. She might never admit the fact, but I knew it.
We passed around a couple of cans of soup, and some fruit. I sat in the car in the back of the car, with the trunk open while Katy went over the guys with an armful of goods. Normally, we wouldn't have done this. I suppose it was just the spirit of the group. I knew that my five friends were ecstatic – they could all sleep for the whole night. We might as well eat well enough to keep us going, and be well rested for the next day. I was content, to say the least.
Things were going well, it seemed. I didn't know what to really expect, but… well, it could have been worse. I looked at my hand, which was still carrying my katana. It was weird, honestly. It seemed like an extension of my hand – I hadn't even noticed I was still carrying it. So fluid, and graceful, yet so horrid and overwhelmingly depressing. I remembered a time when the worst thing about my life was that I was always so busy. Without work, and school, It was hard to get my thoughts straight. Everything had been so straightforward.

Go to work. Make my rounds. Help with medications. Make my rounds again. Do paperwork. Go home, change out of my scrubs into normal, comfortable clothes. Go to class. Take notes. Go home, do homework, study. Go shopping on Thursday mornings, hang out with friends on Friday nights or clean. Repeat the week. Every week, for a year. Such was the life of mine. So simple. Stressful yet simple. I longed for those days. For the kind of tired that could be fixed by three cups of coffee. This kind of tired… This bone chilling, aching numbness sort of tired that didn't go away… It had become my life.
I looked out, over at my group of friends. I'd have never imagined we'd have become so close. They had set up the tents. Katy and Caleb were inside one, doing God knows what. But Mason, Julio and Sam were standing by the second tent, talking. Making jokes. Laughing.
I looked out at them, and I felt this wave of something close to anger. But it was much more like loneliness. I could feel both of the emotions stab me in the chest, sending waves throughout my body. Suddenly, I wanted to cry. Why did they get to continue on, like the world hadn't ended? How could they joke, and laugh? I didn't understand. Bastards. I looked over the rock quarry, and down into the blue lake, lit up by the night sky. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.
I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. Fuck this, I'm not a little bitch, and I'm not going to cry. I'm not twelve anymore. I don't have a reason to cry. People were dead before the end of the world, to me anyway. I was one of them. I didn't have a purpose, really. I had goals, and dreams, but I was dead. Just as emotionless as the fuckers walking around out there. Only waiting for my next big thing to do. Eat, sleep, work. Repeat. I was just as dead. And now, I feel even more empty. What is there to live for, anyways?

I always put on the brave face. The girl who could deal with anything, and come back kicking. Was that really who I was? Or was it an act? I even believed it for a while, the shit I went through when I was younger. I was the logical one, the one to count on in the thick of it. But here, where the others felt safe. Where I felt safe. Even in a world where the dead walk around, I felt the sweet release of safety. For one second, I could lower my guard, and not die. With all of these people around, we would actually have a chance.
I breathed in, closing my eyes. Out. In. Don't think, just for a moment. Just be.

I opened my eyes. And I smiled. Everything was great. It had just been a moment of insecurity, in the face of the quiet calm. Just a small freak out when facing reprieve from the storm that was life. I knew I held my emotions in check. I breathed out slowly, and looked towards the stars. The moon still shone just as brightly. The stars twinkled in the sky, millions of them strewn across like a glorious painting. That was a wondrous thing about nature. The beauty was astounding – without the light pollution of any of the cities, the stars lit up the sky like tiny sparklers that never faded. Never went out.

Just like humans. When faced with the adversity of brighter light, or the darkest darkness, we don't fade out. We don't disappear. You just don't see us for a little while – and when we come back we're stronger than ever. More beautiful for what we've been through. I smiled at the thought of all of us in a camp, together. It was a beautiful thing.
I was still staring at the stars when I felt eyes, somewhere watching me. I looked around, and saw two people looking my way. One was Lori, though I couldn't see the look on her face, she stood still, her arms crossed over her chest. I wonder how long she had been staring at me, and if she saw my moment of weakness… I knew I showed all those emotions on my face. My wall broke down for the moment, leaving me vulnerable. I couldn't tell from where she was standing. She quickly walked away and into what I assumed to be her tent. I furrowed my brow at the thought of her watching. What a snoop, it was none of her business how I was feeling.
The second one was Mason. He was walking towards me, his eyes trained on me intently.
I started to swing my legs back and forth, the toes of my shoes touching the ground lightly, swishing in the tall grass.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked quietly, sitting next to me in the small space that was available in the trunk of his car.
"Yep." I smiled widely at him, flashing my teeth for a moment. "Just thinking bout stuff."
"Yeah?" He asked. He smiled back, a small, coy smile. I wondered suddenly what he was up to.
"What's up?" I asked, looking at him curiously.
He paused for a moment, I suppose trying to find the right words.
"Well… They had an extra tent, so we didn't have to all cramp in the tiny ones we had. Julio and Sam took them up on the offer immediately, and are probably already asleep."
"Yeah…?" I half replied, half asked. I didn't understand what he was trying to say.
"And Caleb and Cathy both have a tent to their own…" He continued, not really answering me.
"Spit it out, woman!" I joked at him, pushing him lightly.
"Well, we could share the other tent. You know… Just the two of us." He smiled shyly at me.
Suddenly, it clicked in my brain, what he'd been trying to say. I felt like an idiot. I didn't know exactly what to say for a few moments, the realization hitting me hard.
"I… uh…"
"Uh, nevermind. I'll just go and talk to Dale, maybe take his watch…" He stood up and rubbed the back of his head. I could see in the pale moonlight his cheeks were ever so slightly tinged with blush, the blood rushing through his face. As he started to walk away, I stopped him.
"No, I'm sorry. I just didn't realize… that you…" I shook my head and rubbed my face. My tiredness was getting to me, and I really was ready for sleep. "I just don't think that this is the right time to talk about this." I finished lamely. Good God, I was an idiot.
He shook his head at me. "I understand, it's alright." He replied sheepishly. He turned around and walked away quickly, going to a tent I knew wasn't ours. I suppose he went to sleep with the guys, leaving me to the tent by myself.
How did I not see this before? I suppose all of our playing around over the last few weeks could have counted as flirting… I was just dense. Before, that was why I never had any real relationships… I just didn't take hints as easily as most girls. I didn't even know how I felt about the man. We had grown a lot closer, that was for sure… But I had also grown closer to Sam, and Julio, and Caleb and Katy. I didn't know anything.
And I felt exhausted. There were too many emotions bouncing around in my brain. All I felt for weeks was fear and excitement. This was too much. I closed my eyes, feeling a headache starting to form. I grabbed the bridge of my nose and rubbed slightly.
I took a can of peaches and opened it, gobbling them down in seconds. Feeling stuffed, I closed the car door as quietly as I could, though Dale turned around at the sound from his position on the RV. I waved a goodnight to him and he waved back.
Turning, I walked into the tent, curled up in the blankets, puffed up the pillows as best I could and fell asleep within minutes, even the cold, hard ground and grass feeling comfortable under then thin material of the tent.