Before anyone has a chance to say anything, a blur flies across the room and collides with Jade.
"What is…" Jade trails off, looking down at Cat who has clamped herself around Jade's waist. "Cat?"
Cat sniffles, and I expect Jade to tell her to get off, or push her away, but she tightens her arms around Cat, pulling her even closer. "I can't believe you're alive." She looks up and locks eyes with the boy with the ponytail, who's pulling off his own bandana. Beck.
When the third member of the party reveals himself to be Andre, I nearly burst, throwing myself forward and hugging him.
"We thought you were all dead." I mumble into his shoulder.
"Nah, you can't get rid of us that easily. Where've you been girl?" He holds me at arm's length, looking at me like he can't believe it's me. "And why are you here?"
"Everywhere." I laugh, swiping at my eyes. "We came back to California a month ago, got fed up of roaming around. We were looking for water."
"It's good to see you, girl."

"You're coming back with us." Jade tells me when she finally lets go of Cat. When I open my mouth to speak she stops me. "No argument. Cat can ride with me. Andre will ride with you and give you directions."

She turns and leaves the supermarket, Cat and Beck trailing after her.
Andre smiles apologetically at me. "Come on, we better get back before everyone starts to worry." He turns and heads towards my car, Dad's old SUV. We've made some modifications to it, adding armour and barbed wire to keep away the infected. I've even kept up work on the engine.
We found books on car maintenance in an old garage when the SUV first started to splutter and we were trying to fix it. I got pretty good at mechanics, and it kept us moving. Cat got good at handing me tools and pretending to sound interested in what I was saying.
Andre whistles lowly when he sees the car. "This car is sick girl, you do all this?"
I nod as I round the car to the driver's seat. "I'd say Cat helped me, except she didn't. She tried to fill the car up with pepsi once. It's a good job I caught her or we would've been walking through Seattle." I laugh climbing into the car.
Andre chuckles as well as he makes himself comfortable. "Sounds just like Cat. How long have you been back in California?"
"Not long. We ran out of places to go." I start up the car, watching Jade pull away from the curb and following her. "We figured we'd just hide out in a small town until we decided what to do next." I watch as Jade makes a turn, easing my own car around the corner after her. "What happened with you guys? How did you get out?"
Andre sighs, leaning back into his seat. "It's kind of a long story."
"How longs this drive?" I ask.
"Long enough, I guess. Alright." He shifts around again, obviously trying to make himself comfortable. "I guess it starts back at that day at Hollywood Arts. You know, the coffee day?" He chuckles and I roll my eyes. "When I got back to the classroom, there was some guy there I'd never seen before. Some military guy, guns and everything, standing next to Sikowitz on his little stage, serious expression, you know, very official and important looking. Sikowitz, he tells us that there's some drill, that we've gotta evacuate the school, that there's buses outside to take us somewhere safe. No one would tell us what was going on."
"We do as we're told, obviously, grabbing our stuff and following the army guy out the classroom, down the hall. We see all the other classes filing out as well, and any hope that this is one of Sikowitz's acting exercises dies.
We get outside and they line us all up to get put into buses. Won't tell us what's going on, still.
Then we notice Little Red's missing. We try going back into the school to look for her, but the soldiers block our paths, won't let us back. Jade gets angry, starts waving her scissors round, shouting that they better let her back in. They look like they're gonna start relenting until there's this loud noise from inside the school."
"We didn't realise at first, not until the soldiers' radio crackles and tells him that the infection is inside the school, that it was gunshots.
The practically shoved us on the bus, and Jade was screaming the entire time, still trying to get back into the school. A soldier had to hold her in her seat while they drove off. When she finally calmed down, she wouldn't speak to anyone, not even Beck. She didn't speak for the rest of the day. Not when we pulled up at the stadium they were keeping us, not when anyone asked if she was okay. She didn't even speak to refuse food, just stared at it blankly until it went cold.
We all thought Cat was dead, and it was a hard thought to deal with. But Jade and Cat had known each other as long as they can remember. Cat was practically family to Jade, and she was gone."
"She didn't speak at all until late that night. We were trying to sleep when the first gunshots broke through. They sounded far enough away that we thought we didn't have to worry at first. Jade shot straight up though, looked around frantically. "We need to leave." She told us, kicking at us to get us to get up. By the time we started taking her seriously, the soldiers that were dotted around had all left, gone out to the front to fight."
"Jade just knew we had to get out, screamed at us all until we were squeezing though one of the back gates and into a car someone had left the keys in.
I don't know if it was all those zombie movies she used to watch or if it was just instinct, but she saved us. We heard over the radio that the stadium had been overrun, that nearly no one got out alive. She even had the foresight to steal guns."

Andre laughs, pulling me out of the story. "If you'd have told me ten years ago that Jade West would save my life I would've laughed that you, told you that she'd probably be the one to end it, but here we are."
"What happened after that, where did you go?" I question further, wanting to know how they survived.
"We did the same as you, I guess, drove around the country. Met up with a few other survivors, started up a convoy, tried to find supplies and what not. Came back when we realised there'd probably be more supplies left in Cali than anywhere else. Found an old house with high walls and a lot of room and set up home. We've been broadcasting our location ever since, trying to find more survivors." He looks around the car. "I guess you don't have a radio though. We've been out here for about a year now, and it's safe enough. Most of the infected tend to stick to the cities, so we only ever deal with one or two at a time."
"Sounds too good to be true." We're on a country lane now, bobbling about. The old car in front of us looks like it's going to wobble to pieces. "You guys need to fix that car man."
"Well, Miss Mechanic, I guess it's a good job we found you." He laughs as I watch Jade turn off down an unmarked track. We drive for a few minutes before an old manor house comes into view. Andre rubs his hands together. "Home sweet home."

Someone opens the gate for us, and we drive, parking carefully. The house is beautiful, and huge, and I can't help but admire it as I slid out of the car and approach Cat, who's standing with the other group.
"They have real beds, Tori." Cat tells me with wide eyes, looking amazed. "And running water! And you'll never guess what…" She's interrupted by someone storming out of the house behind us, shouting loudly.
"Where have you guys been!? We were worried about you, you didn't radio and you've been gone so long that we were about to send out a search party!"
I bring my hand to my face, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Trina, can you not…" My eyes widen in realisation. "Trina?" I spin around and see my sister standing at the bottom of the stairs to the house, frozen.
"Tori?" She questions, eyes pooling with tears. She looks older now, and more mature. No ridiculous boots and too much make up. "Is that you?" She takes a step forward, then stops, hand stretched out in front of her like she's reaching for me.
I move towards her, wrapping her up in a hug and feel her let of a shaky breath against my shoulder. "It's me, I'm here." I mumble into her shoulder.
"I thought you were dead" She cries, tightening her hold on me. My own tears fall as I tighten my grip, holding my sister as though she would disappear if I let go.
We stay like that for a few minutes before someone clears their throat behind us.
"As touching as this reunion is, we better give the newbies the tour before they do something that gets us killed." Jade smirks.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat frowns from behind her.
Andre wraps an arm around her shoulder, "Nothing, Little Red, come on."
"I don't even have red hair anymore." Cat sighs.
"Yeah, that's true," Andre tells her, "But you'll still always be my Little Red."
Cat blushes slightly, before hugging him and turning to Jade. "Come on then, show us around!"
Jade stalks off into the house and the group follows behind her, leaving me and Trina standing at the door. She takes my hand. "Come on, Jade will probably throw us out as a snack if we don't catch up."
She takes off into the house, still holding onto my hand.

We spend a good hour listening to Jade tell us what we can and can't do. Half of this stuff is common sense, and she's looking at me like I'm an idiot even though I've managed to keep myself and Cat alive for seven years. Even when the worlds on its knees, some things never change.
After she's done practically berating me, I head out to our car with Cat and Trina to bring in what supplies we managed to get from the supermarket.
I'm pulling the last crate of water out from the car when Trina appears behind me.
"What happened to Mom and Dad?" She asks me, arms crossed. "And don't lie to me, I know that's Dad's car. And Dad's gun," She points to my holster. "What happened?"
"I… Me and Dad, we went to find you. We didn't know if the school had been evacuated, and Mom was safe at Grandma's, so we headed down. You weren't there, but we found Cat." I thrust a thumb at where's she's sat talking to Robbie, the guy with the puppet. Without the puppet now, I guess, because I haven't seen it. "When we finally got to Grandma's, it was like hell, and Mom was… She was one of those things… I had to… I didn't want to but she was going to kill me, and I…" I start mumbling, but Trina cuts me off.
"It's okay, I get it. I don't blame you." She rubs my arm comfortingly but I can still see the tears in her eyes. "What about Dad?"
"After I… After Mom, he became obsessed with finding you. He wouldn't listen to us, listen to reason. We thought you'd be at the stadium, we didn't know it'd been overrun, so we headed into town.
When we saw what had happened, Dad just… flipped. He started yelling and screaming, kicking out. Attracted the attention of the Infected. By the time he realised what he'd done we tried to run but it was too late. He stayed behind to hold them off, so we could get away.
I didn't want to leave him, but I knew it would destroy him if I died because of him. So we ran, got into his car and left." Trina's crying now, and for a minute I think she's going to yell at me, hit me for letting our father die.
Instead she hugs me. "I'm so glad you're here. It wasn't your fault." I sag into her slightly, feeling seven years' worth of guilt lift from my conscience. Cat had told me a thousand times that it wasn't my fault. A huge part of me knew that it wasn't, but hearing my sister say it made me really feel it. If she could forgive me then maybe I could forgive myself.
She lets me go and swipes at her eyes, laughing. "I haven't cried in so long and then you show up and I'm a mess."
I raise an eyebrow. "You used to cry when you couldn't find the right shade of nail polish to match your shoes."
She shoves me gently, laughing. "Not much call for nail polish anymore Tor."
I laugh with her, picking up the last of the water and heading into the house, smiling brighter than I have done for seven years.

They give me and Cat a room together. Cat asked for it, told Jade that she didn't think she could sleep if I wasn't there. Jade scoffs, rolling her eyes, but puts us together anyway. I'd never admit it, but I don't think I'd be able to sleep without Cat nearby either.
We eat our dinner outside, me, Cat and Trina, sat in the shade of an old tree in the yard. It's warmer here than anywhere we've been for at least a year and I shrug out of my shirt, leaving myself in a vest top and sigh contently.
"It's been so long since I just… Sat down." I sigh again, and Cat makes murmurs of agreement. Trina asks us questions about our adventures, laughing at Cat's quest for Bibble and gasping when she hears of our near brush with a feral. She runs her finger along the scar under my eye and looks like she's going to cry again before a loud grinding noise interrupts us.
"What is that?" Cat asks, hands flying up to cover her ears.
Trina laughs "It's the gate. Its needs a new motor. The other scouting group must be home." Sure enough, a few seconds later a car drives into view, parking up next to our truck.
"Tori can fix that, she's super good with mechanics these days. She's the only reason our car is even still running." Cat babbles to Trina but I'm only half listening, watching as a group of people climb out of the car.
"Is that…" I trail off, unsure of how to word my question.
"iCarly? Yeah, it is. We found them a few years back, when we were still travelling. Teamed up with them and they've been with us ever since."
Cat squeaks in delight. "I used to love that show!" She wiggles slightly. "Random dancing!" I laugh, watching her worm around on her spot under the tree. We've been here for a few hours and she's been more like the old Cat in that time than the past 2 years combined.
The blonde girl, I think her name is Sam, is walking towards our spot under the tree. Trina leans over to me. "Don't mention Freddie, I'll explain later." She whispers cryptically. I nod in understanding.
"Hey Trina, who're these two?" She asks, dropping down in front of us and taking Trina's can from her hand. Trina looks mildly annoyed but lets her do it anyway.
She looks at me proudly, which makes me blush slightly. "This is my sister Tori, and our friend Cat."
"Tori?" Sam's eyebrows shoot up, "You're actually alive?"
"Sam, that's rude." I look up and see Carly standing behind her, looking amused at the bluntness of her friends. "And give Trina her food back, Spencer's gone to get us something from inside. Jade will kill you if she spots you eating more food than you should." Carly takes a seat next to her on the grass, lifting the can from Sam's hand and holding it out to Trina.
"Momma's gotta eat girl! Besides I'd like to see Jade try to kill me."
"No you wouldn't." Carly's brother Spencer throws a can at Sam, who catches it easily.
Carly laughs. "Spencer's right, you're tiny. She'd pound you silly." Sam raises a suggestive eyebrow, causing Carly to splutter. "I just mean she'd hurt you, that's all." Sam laughs at Carly's obvious discomfort, and the rest of us join in. I've smiled so much today my face is starting to hurt, unused to the use of those muscles.

"Anyway!" Carly starts when she's regained her composure. "I'm Carly." She introduces herself even though we already know who she is. "This is Sam, and my brother Spencer. And… Where's Gibby?"
"Inside, still trying to chat up Jade." Spencer laughs.
"He's like a boy with a bone… r." Sam snickers.
Gibby makes an appearance in the doorway a minute later, clutching a can of his own with a sheepish expression and a red face. He takes a seat next to Spencer silently.
It takes about 40 seconds for Sam to start laughing, and Gibby blushes even more furiously.
"So…" I interrupt, saving Gibby from more embarrassment. "Is there anyone else here we know?"
"Lane, and Sikowitz. We bumped into them when we went back to look for Cat at the school. They'd had the same idea, to look for people there." Trina tips the can up to her mouth, draining the last of its contents. "That's it, I think. Sinjin's sister was with us for a while, but she… she didn't make it here. There was an incident with a scouting party." She sighs sadly before getting up. "It's my turn up on the watch tower." She bends down and hugs me tightly. "I'm really glad you're here."

It's soon nightfall, and we're told we'll be assigned duties tomorrow, and to get some rest tonight. I'll admit, it's nice sleeping in a bed, not having to worry about the door busting open and getting ripped to shreds.
Still, I can't sleep. Cat went out like a light as soon as her head hit the pillow, not that she's ever had a problem sleeping. I spend an hour tossing and turning before I decide to get up.
The house is silent as I creep downstairs, a few room illuminated by candlelight, shining out from underneath the doorways.
I grab a bottle of water from the kitchen and head outside, sitting down under the tree. I can vaguely make out the shape of Beck sitting on top of the watch tower but I'm not really in the mood to talk so I slump against the tree, uncapping the water.
When I asked Andre about them collecting bottled water earlier, even though they have running water here, he explained that they just stock up in case the water stops. Jade's idea, apparently.
Jade's definitely… She's different. Even if she still seems the same outwardly. The way people talk about her now, even if I've avoided her, still hung up on what happened all those years ago, they talk like she's the best thing that's happened to them.
She might be, for all I know. I sigh and pluck at a few strands of grass, feeling out of place. They're such a family here, even including Jade. And they love Cat. I'm just an outsider.
I see the way they watch me, even Robbie and Beck. Like they can't trust me. Part of me feels wounded even though I know that if any of them had come to me and Cat alone, I'd be the same. I know Trina's here, but she belongs. I don't.

I'm pulled out of my self-pity by someone coming out of the house.
"You should probably be in bed, you know." Jade tells me, dropping down beside me.
"So should you." I don't even know why she's talking to me.
"I was going up, but then you were ruining the grass, and I like the grass, so I thought I better stop you before the garden is bald." She nods to the growing clump of grass by my knee and I blush, ducking my head.
"Sorry. Just got lost in my thoughts, I guess."
Jade sighs. "I know you don't like me, you probably hate me, actually. I can't say that I'm all that fond of you, in all honesty. Even though me and Beck are ancient history now… It's probably just left over from when we were kids. But we're not kids anymore, and I want you to trust us. I trust you."
That knocks me back slightly. "Why?" I splutter out before I can stop myself.
"You kept Cat safe. She told me that you'd saved her life more than once, that you'd nearly died doing it. And Cat's… Well, she's Cat. And she's here, safe… Because of you, which makes you trustworthy in my eyes. I know the guys are a bit anxious around you, but it's because you're new. Unknown. They'll warm up."
We fall into silence, watching the stars. The sky is clearer out here than anywhere I've been in years, and it really feels like paradise. A sigh contently, and Jade smiles slightly next to me.
"Jade?" I question.
"Yeah?"
"I don't hate you."
She smiles again and looks back up at the stars.

We're quiet for a while before she speaks up again.
"How'd you get that scar?" She motions to the biggest one on my face. "Cat said you got it protecting her, but she never said how."
"It's kind of a long story, don't you need to sleep?" I grin a little when she frowns.
"I suppose, yeah…" She thinks for a second before she grins herself. "I need to head out tomorrow, collect firewood. You can come with me, and tell me the fantastic tale." She stands up and dusts herself off before she reaches down, holding her hand out to pull me up.
I take it and dust myself off before I look at her, slight confusion on my face.
"Why're you being so nice to me?" I question.
"Look around. It's the end of the fucking world. There's no time for petty high school drama. I know I still have some… not too great feelings about you, but I'm not gonna let that get in the way of having an obviously capable new member of this little pseudo-family we've set up." She smiles softly. "Now come on, if you don't get any sleep, you'll feel like shit when I get you up to come and kill trees with me."
I raise my eyebrow at her last remark and she chuckles lightly, turning and heading into the house. I shake my head, laughing myself, and follow her into the house.
Jade West is full of surprises these days.

I'm back, baby!
Ants got into our wall and broke the internet. I know, I don't even understand but it's fixed and I have many chapters for you guys. I'm gonna stagger out uploading them while I write more, so I'll probably upload a new one on tuesday. As long as the ants don't come back.
Anyway, reviews are awesome, YOU are awesome for reading it, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
There are big changes a-comin!