MATT'S POV:

I was never an incredibly violent person. I am a bit deceptive, a bit sadistic, but that was only in a joking way. I also never let my anger get the better of me. Until now.

Heath's grip on Beth tightened as his eyes scanned over everyone. Tyler looked like he wanted to tackle Heath, but I put my arm on his chest. Fighting Heath would be suicide.

"Heath, you gotta come." I muttered. Heath raised an angry eyebrow and loosened his grip.

"Why? I'm just looking out for my sister."

"Heath, think about it, what if one day, you let your guard down once, just once, and Beth dies in front of you?" I said. Heath grumbled and started towards me. I put my hand on his chest, which he swiped off.

"I won't."

"You tell yourself that everyday, but how do you think you lost your pals? How I lost Leon and Nicole, how I almost lost my life? We let our guards down and Peter freaked out and we didn't notice, and it's only us here."

"Kid's got a point." Henry said. Heath sighed.

"If I see something I don't like, I'm leaving with Beth." Heath said. I nodded in response as Heath removed his hand from Beth, who rubbed her wrist.

"Well, if that's that, follow us, the truck's not too far thankfully." Sal said.

As the truck rolled around the concrete road, I entertained myself by talking to the new people sitting across from me.

"Sorry about your friends…" I said. John simply muttered something while Noah nodded.

"It's fine...not your fault." Noah said. We sat in silence for a bit, then Noah spoke up.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Matthias, but these guys usually call me Matt." I extended my remaining hand, which Noah took and shook. Noah noticed the stump with a crowbar sticking out.

"What's with your arm?" Noah asked.

"I was bitten, my pal cut it off."

John's head perked up and he crawled over to me, touching the crowbar like it was a foreign object.

"Is your pal here?" John abruptly asked.

"No, we lost him in a herd."

"I'm sorry." John said. He crawled back to Noah, and I turned my attention to Tyler, who had a bandage wrapped around his hand.

"Hey Tyler, what happened?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your hand." I tilted my head at his bandaged hand. He sighed.

"I saw Penelope's group." I was surprised for a brief second, but instead of acting out, I continued to ask.

"What did you do?"

"Three people were in the forest, talking about Penelope and Terrance, one even called him some racist term." Tyler said. "I told Beth to shoot one of them."

I looked over at a cross legged Beth as Heath glared at Tyler.

"She got one, but the racist one found us. I distracted him and ran a good distance before he caught me. I broke his glasses and cut him, and he went right into a beastie."

"Shit man, I'm guessing Heath knows?"

"Yep, I'm lucky he didn't kill me. I don't blame him for being mad though-"

"I'm right here you twits." Heath suddenly spoke up. I decided to leave the conversation at that and head over to Heath and Beth. Beth was doing a crossword while Heath was attempting to help her, with minimal success. I leaned over and saw one of the hints.

"Scarlett Johansson's first role."

Admittedly, that was a tough one, but I knew the answer.

"It's North." I said. Beth and Heath looked at me incredulously, and Beth filled it in.

"How'd you know?" Heath asked.

"I'm a movie buff. I was going into college for film." I simply replied. Heath nodded.

"You're right, you know that?" Heath said. It was the first time I heard Heath agree with anyone without being forced.

"Huh?"

"What you said about letting your guard down? You're right. I can't keep track of her forever."

"Maybe you can teach her a bit more about this world."

"I think I should. In fact, I oughta do it now." Heath said as he began to scoot to Beth. I moved to Eli, who was working on Terrance's leg.

"Matt, thank god, can you put some pressure on his leg?" Eli asked. I pressed my hands onto the wound, which Terrance winced at. I noticed he wasn't looking and was keeping his eyes away from Eli.

"Terrance, what's wrong?"

"I hate blood."

"What?" I asked.

"I hate blood." Terrance said quickly. I raised a brow.

"You killed beasties before."

"Beastie blood I don't mind...but human...just freaks me out."

"He has hemophobia." Eli said sternly. I asked him if I could remove my hands, and he said sure. I took this chance to talk to Sal and Kaitlyn. I knocked on the window, which Kaitlyn opened.

"Yes Matt?"

"This place, what's it like?" I asked. Kaitlyn smiled.

"Well, it's got big walls, made of wood."

"Lumberyard?"

"We got the wood from there, and we got a brick wall for extra protection. It's a small town, but quite roomy. We had to scrap a few cars, but we still got some in working order. We got families, kids, and many others. Of course, we got a few jackasses, but nothing too bad. Any other questions?"

"How many people do you have here?"

"Twenty-five, you got eleven, including you."

"Is there enough food?"

"Obviously. Why do you think we invited you guys here?"

"Point taken."

"Hey, check on the others will you?" Kaitlyn asked. I decided to talk to Drew and Zoey next.

"You two ok?"

"I'm so good, I'm on Santa's nice list." I grinned and so did Zoey.

"How about you Zoey?"

"I'm fine, I'm just hoping we can live the rest of the apocalypse out there."

"I'm sure we will." I said. Drew was looking down with a forlorn look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"I still don't get it." He said.

"Get what?"

"Why Leon saved me over Fiona. I mean, Fiona was more useful than me, why did he save me instead?" Drew asked. I paused.

"I honestly don't know. I'm guessing he thought you were in more danger, and wanted to save you first. He just didn't get to Fiona in time. Are you still mad at him?"

"No, I'm not. He's a good person, and I'm sad he's gone...just a dead-"

"Drew, please…" I didn't want that grisly image in my head.

"Sorry."

Finally, I talked to Henry, who seemed the least talkative of the two. Henry was humming some tune that I didn't recognize.

"Whatcha humming?" I asked. Henry stopped humming and looked at me.

"One of my old songs, Fist Hump Couch." Henry said. I forgot Henry was a pop star. Or a rap star?

"That sounds like someone from a random word generator." I said. Surprisingly, Henry smiled.

"It was." Henry said. Henry rubbed his shoulders and looked back at me.

"It's getting cold."

"Yep, but I love snow." I said. Suddenly, the truck jolted and began to slow down. I looked up and I felt my jaw drop.

In front of us were twenty-five foot walls made of wood and brick. Two people stood up at the top, looking down at us, and a large, brown building towered over the walls.

"Philip, Jack, open up!" I heard Sal say from a radio. I looked forward to see two walls split from each other, almost like double-doors. The truck moved again, and as we went in, I saw literal heaven.

Tents, buildings, grass, and people. A number of people were busy doing their thing while a number of others stared at us curiously. The truck stopped and Sal got out.

"Alright, we're out, try getting yourselves settled in." Sal said. At the sound of that, everyone pretty much got out of the car and began running around, thriving in their new environment. I simply took it in, noticing the giant walls, buildings, and many other things.

"Matt?"

I turned and saw the person calling my name. My jaw dropped as I ran over to the person.

"It's great to see you again Jenny."