"Beca, please. Just consider it. For me."

"For the last time, no! Now drop it." Stacie had been trying to get Beca to apply to the University of Georgia for the past three weeks. To be completely honest, Beca was becoming extremely annoyed with her best friend recently due to this. She feared that the topic would come up every conversation they had.

Stacie slumped over the kitchen island and huffed. "Becs, this is your future we're talking about."

"Come on. Not you, too. I've already heard this from my parents a hundred times." Beca looked over at Stacie and saw the girl resting her head against the marble. She got up from her seat at the table and walked over to the girl. "What's this really about Sparrow?"

Stacie looked at the short, alt-girl next to her with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to lose you." Stacie said barely above a whisper. "I already came so close before."

Beca was surprised at the revelation. She hadn't considered the leggy brunette's feelings when they discussed college. She grabbed the tall brunette and engulfed her in a huge hug. "Hey, hey, hey. You aren't going to lose me. You never will. It's only an hour away. We can see each other every weekend."

"I can't risk it. I was lucky enough my parents agreed to let me live with you last year. I'm not going to put us through that situation again."

"Stacie, you're too busy thinking about my future. What about yours?"

"Is there really life without light?" Stacie questioned, touching the locket she gave Beca.

Beca looked down at the locket, catching sight of the engraving that read "You're the star that lights up my world".

"We'll figure something out Sparrow. I won't leave you." Beca assured.

"I know you won't Becs. I love you."

"I love you, too, Legs. Now stop turning me into a sap." Beca chuckled and stepped away from Stacie's embrace.

"Stop calling me that!" Stacie whined.

"I'm going to call you whatever you want since you're making me go to college." Beca smirked. Stacie stared at her with a confused look. Beca just sat there and waited for her best friend to catch on. You know, for as smart as Stacie is, she's really bad at picking up on the little things.

Beca's smirk grew even more when Stacie's face went from confused, to surprised, to excited.

"Wait! You're going to apply!?" Stacie squealed, enveloping the brunette once again. She had only been this happy once before, and that was when her parents agreed to let her live with Beca, meaning she wouldn't have to move to California.

"I'd do anything for you, Stace. Even apply for college," Beca said, and tightened her hold on Stacie. She was being honest when she said she would do anything for the girl in her arms, especially if it meant she wouldn't lose her.

O-o-O-o-O

"He's going to let us stay right?" Stacie asked nervously.

Beca and Stacie walked side by side toward the stairs of the main hall. They were headed to the principal's office where Luke had asked them to go for a meeting.

"I guess we're going to find out," Beca huffed as they climbed the stairs. Once they reached the landing, they stood in a hallway with two large doors directly in front of them. Stacie took the lead and pushed through one of the doors. Sat at the main desk in the room was Jessica. She looked to be drawing something which was a common occurrence.

"Hey, guys," Jessica greeted with a slight smile. Beca was a little surprised to hear the girl talk. This was the first time she had heard Jessica's voice since they arrived.

"Hi," Beca and Stacie said in unison. They walked over to the desk Jessica was occupying; Stacie sat on the desk and Beca chose to stand. Stacie intently watched the girl draw while Beca looked around the room, taking in the details. There was a dog kennel in the corner near the desk that had a blanket on top of it. In the corner opposite of the kennel was a mattress lying on the floor. Beca assumed this is where Luke slept. Next to the mattress was a small vintage couch that looked like it was older than the school. Across from the doors they entered were doors to a small balcony that looked out over the courtyard.

Without either girls noticing, Stacie had walked to a shelf near the entrance of the room and picked up a picture frame. She brought it over to Beca to show her. "It's Luke and Jesse. They're so small," she laughed and handed the photo over to her friend. The boys were wearing soccer jerseys and didn't look a day over nine years old. She observed the large shining smiles they both wore and couldn't help but notice that she hasn't seen them in person yet.

At that moment, the door budged open an inch. All three girls looked toward the door. The door, yet again, budged open another inch.

"Luke?" Beca questioned, hoping he would answer. She doesn't know why she's nervous, but this doesn't feel right.

The door flew open forcefully, and Sheldon slowly stalked forward growling. The girls didn't know what to do, for Jessica has never seen Sheldon act like this toward someone in their camp, and Beca and Stacie aren't very good with dogs. The two brunettes back away from the muscular dog, fear flashing in their eyes. "Stay back," Beca said, her voice wavering.

Luke walked in and saw the situation. He rushed in front of the girls and stood between them and the dog. "Hey, hey, it's okay boy. Shh." Sheldon instantly relaxed at the touch of his owner, becoming a completely different dog; Sheldon's face quickly formed into an imitation of a smile and his tongue flopped out wildly as he licked Luke.

"Sorry, about that. You said dogs bring back bad memories," Luke directed to Beca. He saw fear still present in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were so scared of him." Beca could tell he was being sincere based off his apologetic face and the concern written in his eyes.

"I swear, Sheldon is not as frightening as he seems," Luke tried to convince Beca. Stacie already composed herself and decided she couldn't wait any longer to pet the dog.

"Come on Becs, see? He's just a giant baby," Stacie gushed while squishing Sheldon's face. The dog happily licked her in return for the affection.

"A giant killer dog," Beca added as she remembered how easily the dog had crushed that walker's skull.

"He's harmless. He just needs to get to know you." Beca gave Luke an 'are you serious' look, and Luke just sighed. "Let me show you," He said as he offered Beca his hand. She looked at it not knowing what he was trying to do. "Do you trust me?" Luke asked. To be honest, Beca couldn't trust someone she just met, but she really wanted to be able to trust this group, so she gave him her hand.

He happily took her hand and guided it toward Sheldon, glad that she was willing to do this. "Get down on his level. Let him get your scent," Luke informed. Sheldon proceeded to sniff her hand, whining in return. "It's okay, he's not going to hurt you," the British man assured Beca, feeling the tremble in her hand.

Beca giggled as the big black dog licked her hand.

"Did the Beca Mitchell just giggle?" Stacie asked with a smirk in place. It was a very rare occasion to hear her tiny friend make that noise.

"No. I don't giggle. You must've heard Jessica," Beca tried to blame the girl behind them.

"Nope. Not me," Jessica piped up, earning a glare from Beca and a laugh from both Stacie and Luke.

"Whatever," Beca crossed her arms and pouted.

"You did good. Now, whistle and tell her to lie down," Luke ordered.

Beca did just that, and to her astonishment, Sheldon walked over to the mattress in the corner and lied down, but not before circling the same spot multiple times.

"See? Not so hard."

"Yeah. That was... pretty cool," Beca said. She was feeling much more comfortable around the beast now that she was able to control it somewhat.

"Now, Sheldon will recognize you. He's really well-trained," Luke said while keeping his eyes on the dog. "He was the headmaster's dog, back when this place was still functional. But when the world went to shit, he bailed. Just like everyone else," he continued glumly. Beca only nodded in response. She understood what it felt like for people around you to leave without a second glance when danger came. "Now it's just us left. I'd like it if you and Stacie were a part of that," Luke said. Instantly, he was pulled into a hug by Stacie.

"Really?" she squealed, feeling the happiest she's been in a long time. They haven't had a home in ages, and this place was beginning to feel like one already. She just hoped that this group would finally be different than all the other ones.

"Of course. Both of you are plenty capable, and we need that." Luke walked over behind the desk, next to Jessica. He pulled out a hand-drawn map and laid it down on the desk. "Come here for a second." Both girls complied, walking closer to the desk. "This is the current state of our plan for gathering food. We are starting to run short. It's getting harder and harder to feed everyone in the school."

Beca looked more closely at the map and saw a greenhouse marked at the school. "You guys have a greenhouse?" Beca asked, genuinely curious.

"Um, not exactly. We used to maintain it real well. Had plenty of vegetables growing, but it became overgrown. Upkeep was impossible. Yeah, uh, we keep away from that now," Luke said.

"Do you think we'd be able to revive it?" Stacie asked. A greenhouse could do wonders for their large group if they got it working.

"No. Last time we were there... it got overrun by a horde. The school nurse was with us at the time, and she uh, she sacrificed herself in order for us to escape," Luke answered sadly.

Sensing he didn't want to talk about the subject more, Beca pointed to the area marked 'Traps'. "What's the trap area?"

"Hunting grounds, more or less. Jesse built some traps out there to catch game. He and Donald are set to go check them today." Beca was a bit surprised that Jesse was actually useful for something other than annoying her. She knew it was unfair how she acted toward him, but she couldn't help it. He just had such a punchable face.

"I didn't realize how much forest surrounds this place," Stacie adds, looking at all the green crayon.

"It's how we've kept ourselves from unwanted attention for so long. Well... for the most part anyway." Beca and Stacie looked at each other, both sharing a look that showed they were both curious about what he meant by that.

"What's the old shack?" Stacie asked, pointing toward the bottom right of the map.

"That's where we go fishing. That's our storage shack," he informed. "It's secure, mostly. Get the occasional walker or two that come by. Bree and Ashley should be heading out there in a bit." Stacie nudged Beca at the mention of Aubrey's name. Beca slapped the taller girl's arm and stared her down.

Looking back down at the map, Beca noticed the train station was marked on there. "That's the train station. There was a whole stash of food under the floorboards," Beca says, pointing to it on the map.

"Oh, where you crashed you car? Pretty sure that place is a lost cause. There was a hell of a lot of smoke coming from it when we found you two. Walkers flooded in there after all the noise you made." The girls looked at him sadly. They had found the jackpot just to get it taken away from them right under their noses.

"One more thing... see these red lines?" Luke asked, pointing to the red dashed lines on the map. He saw the girls nod and continued, "So everything inside is the safe zone. It's been getting smaller over the years, and food's become more scarce."

"So why not go outside of it?" Beca questioned. She thought the solution was pretty easy to figure out. If there's no food on the inside, why not go outside of it?

Luke shook his head. "We can't. Whenever someone goes outside the safe zone, bad shit happens. People die or disappear," Luke choked back a sob. Beca knew he was talking about Chloe and Barbara. "I just... I could really use the help, guys. Taking care of this group, it's not easy. I'm worried that if I don't figure something out, if... If I don't fix our food situation... I can't lose anyone else," Luke finished. Everyone could tell he was trying to hold back tears and saw them in his eyes, ready to break the surface. "We've already lost so much. Friends, siblings... I can't let anyone else die. It could break us."

"We won't let that happen," Beca said confidently.

"I know you won't." Luke smiled gratefully at the brunette. He walked over and hugged Beca and Stacie before returning to his previous position behind the desk.

"Everyone's counting on me to step up. Be the leader they need me to be. I really want to be that for them. You and Stacie are two more mouths to feed, but maybe you can help feed the rest."

"So what do you need from us?" Beca asked. She wanted to show her appreciation toward the group for taking them in.

Luke pointed toward the map, his finger landing on the hunting grounds. "Jesse and Donald are heading to the hunting grounds to look for rabbits. Well, Donald will, anyway. Jesse... I just hope he shows up, if I'm being honest." Moving his finger to the spot marked 'old shack', he continued, "Bree and Ashley are going up river to do some spear fishing. Hopefully, those two get along long enough to get some work done. Both teams could use some extra hands," Luke finished explaining.

Beca turned and smirked at Stacie. "We're going fishing." Stacie groaned in response. She has hated fishing ever since her father took her on a fishing trip when she was little. It was so boring.

"Take this. I don't want you getting lost," Luke spoke while handing Beca the map. "We're going to need all hands on deck if we're going to find any more food. Just remember to stay within the safe zone. We need you to come back home in one piece," he said while rounding the desk to stand in front of the two.

"So, I'm taking that as a 'we can stay'?" Stacie asked nervously. She had been worried sick since this morning, hoping they wouldn't be kicked out.

"Of course," he replied smiling. Stacie hugged him tightly before quietly thanking him. "As long as we got enough to eat, you're both welcome here."

"Thank you, Luke. You're a life saver... literally."

"You're welcome. Thanks for helping out yesterday. I'll see you guys for dinner," Luke said before walking out the door.

Beca could see the stress ooze out of Stacie's body. "See? Everything is going to be fine," Beca assured. The girls fell silent and realized there was still another person in the room. They both looked at Jessica who was still drawing. What they didn't notice the first time is that she was drawing an exact replica of the room. Every detail was perfectly inscribed on the piece of paper. "Wow, Jessica, that is amazing," Beca complimented the blonde.

Jessica looked up from her drawing and smiled at her. "Thank you. Drawing was something I was always good at. I actually came to Barden as an art major. After the world ended, I just had more time to perfect my skill."

"Perfect is an understatement," Stacie snorted. Jessica was truly talented. She was easily the best artist either Beca or Stacie had seen. Jessica shyly smiled at Stacie, not used to the appraisal.

"Look, we have to go, but we'll see you later?" Beca asked. She thought Jessica was a good person and wanted to get to know her better.

"You bet."

O-o-O-o-O

The woods were peaceful. For a second, Beca could imagine that the world was back to normal; she could imagine that everyone she loved was back. There was a slight breeze blowing through the trees, rustling the leaves. The river moved calmly as they walked alongside it.

"You know, I've been thinking... I wish we could all go on a road trip together," Ashley stated, breaking the silence of nature.

"Road trip? Why bother? It's not like there's anything worth seeing anymore," Aubrey questioned rudely.

"Aw, come on. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff to see. Maybe Beca could show us around," Ashley responded, unphased by Aubrey's tone. She directed her attention to Beca and commented, "You were able to get a car working and you know how to drive!"

"Barely," Aubrey muttered. Beca glared at the tall woman. What's her problem? She was fine when we talked last night.

"Come on, Bree!" She looked apologetically at the two girls on her left. "I've never learned how to drive, but I'd love to learn."

"You sure you trust my driving?" Beca laughed, causing Ashley and Stacie to giggle. Beca smirked as she added, "I promise I don't usually crash."

"Oh, right. On second thought..." Ashley replied playfully.

Aubrey looked at the short brunette and smiled. "Yeah, I think Beca just totaled the last working car in the world."

The four girls fell into a comfortable silence, just enjoying the beauty around them. Beca kept stealing glances at Aubrey until she got caught. Beca looked away to hide her blush, but what she didn't see was Aubrey smirk at her. Within a couple minutes, they arrived at the hut.

Ashley walked over to a rusty, old truck and patted it. "I wish this old thing was working. We could just jump in and start driving," she said longingly. She had a distant look in her eyes as she imagined the trip they would go on. "We could take turns sitting in the back - it'd be like driving one of those cars with the top that goes down!"

Ashley's imaginary road trip was ruined by Aubrey's input: "We'd run out of gas eventually."

"But still. It's fun to imagine, isn't it?"

Aubrey just huffed and turned away, toward the river and walked away. Ashley watched her go with a sad look in her eyes. Shaking her head, Ashley switched her focus to the new girls. "Where would you guys go? If you could drive anywhere you wanted."

Stacie knew her answer immediately, "I'd drive down to the coastline. Park on the beach and go swimming."

"That'd be an absolute dream," Ashley agreed. "How about you, Beca?"

"I'd drive through the mountains. I've always found them to be very peaceful. The scenery, the environment, the lack of people."

"Well, I don't think you need to worry about that last one anymore," Ashley sighed. She was right. There were people far and few these days. Her and Stacie were just lucky they ran into a group of people who were good willed. "I've lived here my entire life. I'd say I know every inch of these woods. I'd kind of like to un-know it," Ashley continued in a somber tone.

"No use dreaming of what could be. We've got shit to do," Aubrey cut in. Beca didn't know what was going on between the two or why Aubrey was constantly rude toward Ashley, but she figured it wasn't her business.

"We got spears inside the shack. Come on," Ashley ushered, heading toward the small hut.

"You go ahead, I'll stay out here," Aubrey muttered.

"I'll keep you company," Stacie suggested as she walked over to the blonde.

As Beca and Ashley walked up the steps to the small building, Beca couldn't keep her eyes off of Aubrey. She was intrigued by the mysterious girl, and she wanted to unravel everything that Aubrey kept hidden. Due to the fact that she was distracted by Aubrey, Beca tripped on a step, falling forward onto Ashley. Luckily, Ashley was able to catch herself and hold Beca upright at the same time. The other girls looked over at them with a questioning look, but all they got in return was a flustered Beca dusting herself off.

Once Beca and Ashley made it inside and started looking for the spears, Ashley took advantage of the moment to have a one on one. "Hey... about Bree... I'm sorry she's being a little mean. It's my fault."

Beca looked at her in astonishment. "What do you mean? You're one of the nicest people here. How could someone possibly be mad at you?" Ashley had been nothing but nice to them ever since they got to Barden.

"I was there when those walkers killed Chloe and Barb. They were really close with Bree and... I think she blames me for what happened to them. I mean, how do even apologize for something that fucked up?" Ashley kept her eyes downcast. "I don't know. Maybe I deserve it," Ashley mumbled.

Beca felt bad for the girl. She doesn't know what happened, but she knows she shouldn't blame herself for another person's death. "You should talk to her about it. I'm sure she'll listen," Beca advised.

"Yeah, right," Ashley huffed. "I tried, I have. It just never seems like the right time." She went quiet for a few moments. Looking up, she spoke again, "We all used to be friends. Guess I just kinda miss that. But when you showed up... I don't know, I just haven't seen her warm up to someone in a long time." Beca was surprised at the revelation. Aubrey made Beca seem like more of a liability if anything. The only time she felt close to said girl was when they had their talk last night.

Ashley shook her head and turned around, finding the spears. Before she grabbed them, she paused and asked, "Do you... I mean, I'd hate to ask this of you. But do you think you could talk to her? See how she feels? About me? It's just been eating me up inside."

Beca felt the need to help Ashley. It was an unfortunate situation, and she would hate to be in a spot like that herself. "Sure thing, Ashley. I can talk to her."

Ashley's face radiated with happiness. "Really? That's great!" She gushed. "Thanks, Beca," Ashley said sincerely. Turning back around, she grabbed the spears. "I'm going to go check our fish traps downstream."

They were interrupted by Aubrey's annoyed yell, "Hey! What the hell is taking you two so long?"

"I'll take these to Aubrey, can you get the other two over there." Ashley pointed to the spears across the room before walking out of the shack. Beca walked over to the spears and reached down to grab them. When she stood up, something on the wall caught her eye. Etched into the wood wall was a heart with an arrow going through it surrounding the letters 'A+C'. She felt a weird sensation run through her that she has never felt before. Doing what she does best, Beca disregarded her feelings because confronting emotions just made life harder.

Beca slowly walked up to Aubrey who was currently trying to spear fish as they swam past. Stacie was about twenty feet away, and Ashley had gone to check the traps. "Can I join you?" Beca asked cautiously. She didn't know if she and the blonde were on good terms or not.

"Sure," she shrugged and returned to attempt to spear a fish. "Hey, check out these guys over here," she pointed out the fish.

"They're swimming against the current," Beca noticed.

Aubrey smiled. "Exactly. I guess they don't realize it makes them easier targets." She easily thrusted the tip of the spear through one of the fish, pulling it from the water and placing it in the bucket that resided at their feet. "Hey, sorry if I was weird last night... about the whole room thing," Aubrey apologized, breaking the silence between the two. "Seeing someone else in there... Uh, it was harder than I expected. You'd think I'd be less sentimental by now."

By now, Beca had put two and two together. Seeing the heart carved into the shack just confirmed it. Aubrey obviously had something with that Chloe girl.

"I'm sorry, we weren't trying to upset you," Beca said. She really didn't want to be on her bad side, especially if it meant earning the treatment that Ashley was receiving.

"No, no, it's okay," Aubrey rushed. "Seriously, it's kind of nice having someone in there again." Aubrey smiled at the shorter girl. Beca returned the smile and turned to continue fishing. Let's just say she wasn't the best at this, and had caught a total of zero fish so far.

After they caught a couple more fish, they heard a shout from downstream, "Heads up, guys, the haul's not looking too great!" Beca figured that Ashley had no luck with the traps.

"Uh, yeah, okay," Aubrey responded while shaking her head. "Sometimes she just gets on my last nerve, you know?"

"Yeah, I can tell."

"I mean, it's not like I hate her. I just... 'I wish we could all go on a road trip together,'" Aubrey mimicked.

"She definitely thinks you hate her."

Aubrey redirected the conversation, seeing that the fish were appearing less frequent, "Seems the fish wisened up. Maybe Ashley had better luck with the traps."

At that moment, Stacie walked over. "I only got one," she huffed. "I'm going to go check on Ashley," Stacie said, seeing that Beca and Aubrey had been in a conversation.

Aubrey watched her walk over to Ashley and revealed, "I don't know what the problem is between us. With Ashley... I don't know why it's like this. Why is it so weird? I can never relax around her.

"Maybe because she never said sorry," Beca claimed, seeing the look of shock appear on the other girl's face. "About the Chloe and Barbara and not being able to save them," Beca continued.

"She tell you that?" Aubrey asked quietly.

"More or less," Beca shrugged. "She wants to talk about it, you know."

"I just... I feel guilty about the whole thing."

"Why?" Beca looked at her, confused on why she would feel that.

"I was supposed to be out with the sisters that day. I wanted to work in the greenhouse, so I asked Ashley to cover for me, but then... I didn't even get to say goodbye," Aubrey revealed as tears appeared in her eyes. "I... I wanted to talk to Ashley, to tell her I didn't blame her for what happened, but every time I tried, I was reminded of who we lost. It was easier to just not talk about it," Aubrey finished.

Beca wanted to console her, but Ashley chose that moment to walk toward them. "We should get going," Aubrey voiced and turned around, walking in the direction of the school.

Beca grabbed the bucket of fish and saw Ashley catching up to them. "You find any fish?" Ashley asked Beca.

"We caught some, but not a lot."

"I didn't get anything. We should catch up with Jesse and Donald. See if they had better luck."

The three girls sped up in order to reach Aubrey. They all walked in silence until Aubrey spoke, "The Grand Canyon."

"What?" Ashley asked. Beca and Stacie were just as confused.

"That's where I'd go, if we took a road trip. Start driving until we hit the Grand Canyon," Aubrey explained.

"Yeah, that would be cool," Ashley smiled. Ashley trailed back, grabbing Beca's arm to slow her. "Thanks," Ashley muttered once they were out of ear shot of the two girls ahead of them. Beca just smiled in return.

Aubrey looked back, smiling. "Hey, you slowpokes coming?" She asked playfully.

"Yeah, we're right behind you," Ashley responded.

For once, everything seemed to be okay, and for the first time in a long time, Beca could see herself settling down. She could see a future that wasn't complete shit. She could look at the people who surrounded her, and she could see a family.