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Lila sat on the floor against the wall of the shower box, trying to catch her breath. She held on to Cheryl tightly who just rested her head on Lila's shoulder not making a single sound, despite the predicament they were in. Lila rocked back and forth, Cheryl's head resting softly on her shoulder, sucking her thumb.

It was as if she was in a trance. She hardly blinked and hardly moved, save for the rocking back and forth. Her breathing was slow; it was like she was possessed. It had been a traumatic day for the two of them, especially Cheryl.

Before the two joined Luther and his group, Cheryl and Lila managed to stay safe without any major danger such as the one that they had just experienced. They usually travelled in secluded areas, places that weren't populated by many infected.

Once, they had spent a year in a farm area in Kansas, which had previously had a population of less than a hundred people. They stayed in a house far even from the town, hitting the jackpot when they saw that it had a bomb shelter filled with food. Lila later found out that the owners of the house had committed suicide.

Chris approached Lila, noticing the traumatic look on her face. He couldn't lie and say that he hadn't grown a fondness for Lila and Cheryl. Lila was usually the one on guard duty, and although they barely talked, he enjoyed her presence. She was the few that viewed him as a major danger, although she kept her distance from him, and didn't hesitate to talk to him when needed.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, he watched as Lila slowly stopped rocking and looked up at him.

It took her a minute to process what Chris had just asked, and once she figured it out she slowly nodded towards him. "Yeah, just a little… shocked. I don't know," she responded, laughing bitterly. "I should be used to this. I should be okay with this, but seeing Cheryl almost getting shot…" Lila trailed off.

Chris crouched down to her level and looked her in the eyes. "Hey, no one blames you for freezing up back there. It's normal to be scared," he tried to comfort her.

Lila nodded and exhaled. Just as she was about to say something, Alice and Luther walked in and instantly went for the hole in the shower that the infected came through. They began to devise a plan to get out of the shower and to Arcadia.

"I'll take point," Chris volunteered and no one protested.

"I got your back," Luther said and disappeared into the whole after Chris.

Claire and Alice both looked at Lila as if to tell her that it was hers and Cheryl's turn to get into the whole, to which Lila nodded to.

"Cheryl honey, we have to go okay," she cooed, nudging Cheryl.

"Okay," she agreed, lifting her head from Lila's shoulder and got up. She walked over to the hole took a glance at it and looked at Lila worriedly.

"I'll be right behind you baby girl," Lila reassured Cheryl, stroking her blonde hair.

Cheryl climbed the whole, immediately followed by Lila. They heard some commotion on the shower box a few seconds after they disappeared into the hole. Lila urged Cheryl to ignore the sounds and just move forward.

They encountered Luther, who gave Cheryl the directions to where Chris would be. Lila stopped as soon as they reached the other end of the hole and told Cheryl to jump. Chris effortlessly caught the tiny six years old and placed her on the ground.

Lila jumped next, hitting the ground with ease, Chris' hands around her waist to catch her. They looked at each other a moment longer than needed, and Lila thanked him awkwardly.

"What's taking so long?" Chris asked, and looked up at the whole.

Lila shook her head. "I dunno, but I think they're in some kind of trouble."

"Shit," Chris swore and looked up at the hole, looking impatient.

"So she's really your sister huh?" Lila asked starting a conversation to get his mind off of whatever was happening, seeing how worried Chris looked.

Nodding, Chris removed his eyes from the hole and looked at Lila. "Yeah, just at the start of the apocalypse I was sent to the prison to free the prisoners. I didn't think it was going to take long, and I didn't think I was going to get locked up. I never should have left Claire."

"It's not your fault. You didn't know."

All of a sudden, Claire dropped down, followed by Alice.

"I knew you would make it," he replied to his younger sister happily.

Lila expected to see Kim drop down but he didn't, disheartening Lila a little bit. Even though she wasn't close to anyone but Cheryl, she still had grown an attachment to the group. They were as close to family to her as much as the situation would allow.

"Luther!" Alice started to scream.

The ceiling started to collapse; Lila wrapped her body around Cheryl, using herself as a shield so that Cheryl wouldn't get hurt. Once it stopped, she gently pushed Cheryl closer to Chris and went under the hole, flashing her flash light on it.

"Luther!" Lila screamed this time. "Luther!"

"We can't help him now," Claire started. Both Lila and Alice looked at her helplessly. "We have to move on."

Without another word, Lila went to Cheryl and picked her up and Alice started walking to the end of the storm drain.

Lila felt heartbroken. Out of all the people in the prison, she was closest to Luther, mainly because he took care of Lila whenever she was on guard or patrol. Also, she viewed him as a great leader that managed to keep them safe thus far.

The five of them walked in silence, all grieving for the friends that they had lost all in one day, Lila more than the others since she was the closest to all of them. The blonde sighed in relief when they reached the end of the tunnel and saw light.

They easily found a small boat in Santa Monica Beach and guessing by the small boat it must have either been a military transport boat or a boat that was used on Arcadia.

Alice went in first, followed by Claire, and then Lila handed Cheryl off to Claire before stepping into the boat. Lila and Cheryl instantly went to the back of the boat. Lila finally got to take a good look at Cheryl and saw that her cheeks were blotchy with tears and her eyes were still red.

"We're almost there baby, we're almost there," Lila whispered and kissed her on the cheek.

The motor roared, making Cheryl jump in surprise. The little girl grasped the sleeve of Lila's leather jacket, her knuckles turning white. Cheryl whimpered and buried her face into Lila's shoulder; she clutched Jane with her free hand.

Lila rubbed her back and tried to sooth her.

Glancing at Cheryl and Lila, Alice sighed and leaned on the edge of the boat. "Where did you learn to shoot like that? I've never seen a civilian be able to shoot dead in the forehead over and over like you."

Lila straightened her back, feeling uncomfortable with Alice's compliment considering they hadn't been getting along all that well. "Before the Raccoon City incident, I had just graduated the academy no more than three weeks prior and I was supposed to be sent to my first mission in the Arklay Mountains, until the virus broke out. I was Alpha team's weapon's supervisor and sharpshooter."

"Weren't you a little young to be a part of S.T.A.R.S?" Alice asked sceptically.

Laughing bitterly, Lila hugged Cheryl tighter. "You'd be surprised what Former General Marks can do for his granddaughter," she said sarcastically. "God I was so pissed at him for pulling some strings. I was supposed to stay in the academy for at least another three years."

It was obvious to everyone that Lila resented what her grandfather did for her. Some might have thought of it as an act of love, but it wasn't. It was just like in the military, Chris had the son of a general in his team and his team didn't take it too well that he got the easy way out. Chris would watch as the team would belittle the poor guy until he quit.

"I was five years old when my Grandfather handed me my first gun and told me to shoot. His philosophy was that you can never be too young to hold a gun. When I wanted to play with a Barbie doll, he'd hand me a gun."

Then it finally clicked in Chris' head. "Wait, you're the General Alfred Mark's granddaughter? The same one that won her first Marksmanship competition at the age of twelve?" Chris asked, slightly astonished.

"Trust me; I didn't win it with genius or natural talent. I did nothing but practice since I was five."

"General Marks was a genius with guns and military tactics," Chris gushed. Chris had met General Marks back when he was in the academy; he had looked up to the man and even once aspired to be like him, the man was a genius.

"Yeah, and he was also a dictator," she brashly said, shutting Chris up.

The fog started to clear up and they could see Arcadia. It was bigger than they had all expected not to mention empty. They had expected to see people roaming around, but just like the view for Arcadia from the prison it was barren.