Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing related to The Walking Dead. No copyright intended here.

Warning: This is rated M for language, gore, and suggestive themes.

"Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the dead bite."

—Hollywood Undead

Cries in the Night

It wasn't until dark that they reached the winding dirt road that trailed up the canyon toward the quarry. Still, they had a long way to go. They'd been fortunate enough to not run into any trouble along the way—living or otherwise—and Jenna was seriously starting to doubt whether Merle could've made it this far in his condition anyway. Even if he'd been driving the whole way, he was in bad shape.

So far, they'd remained at a jog, each of them panting in exertion. How far away from the city was the quarry, exactly? Jenna had no idea, but her lungs felt like they'd been worked over with sandpaper, in any case. She longed for the sleeping bag in Dusty's tent. Even the hollow feeling in her empty stomach couldn't curb her desire for sleep.

But then, the sound of gunfire echoed in the distance—and the fact that it hadn't ended at just one shot had Jenna bursting from a jog to an all-out sprint.

She wasn't aware of Rick and the others—whether they were behind her or running with her, she didn't know, and she doubted whether she would've noticed them if they were in front of her—but she was aware that the closer she got to camp, the more she could hear the distinct sound of screaming along with the gunfire. The fact that she didn't know whether or not Thao was safe and unharmed had her streaking up the dirt road at a speed she would've never dreamed herself capable of.

And as she came upon the edge of the camp, she was met with absolute chaos.

It was a swarm, and pandemonium was in full flux. People were being ripped apart by rotting corpses, blood was spilling in all directions. There were more of the dead than there were living, and that ratio was remaining fairly consistent as both sides continued to lose numbers. For every walker that was put down, a living person was torn into.

Thao was nowhere in sight. He was not one of the many campers running about the area, nor was he one of the many being eaten alive. He was not among the small group that was backed up against the RV behind Shane. He wasn't anywhere.

Pulling the Beretta from her belt, Jenna rushed right into the mayhem, shooting down walkers as she went. Before she knew it, she'd emptied her clip.

Not about to stop and reload, she just stuffed the gun into her belt and pulled her machete free.

She couldn't find Thao! And there was no possible way to search for him with the way things were. So she continued to help the others take down the walkers, knowing that the faster they were eliminated, the faster she could seek out her boy, all the while keeping an eye out just in case she spotted him. And all the while, she struggled to keep the mounting dread and anxiety for his life from crippling her—no easy feat, that. And it certainly didn't help that no matter how many walkers they killed, there were plenty more to take their place.

Down by the fire pit, Gabe was busy smashing the skulls of the walkers that were tearing into Tito—and completely unaware of the two approaching behind him.

Not wasting time or breath, Jenna sped forward and barreled her shoulder into one's side with enough force to knock it into the other, sending them both tumbling over. She ended them with the blade of her machete, and spun around, searching for more.

Seeing a group of three walkers crouched over a bloody mass that Jenna couldn't see clearly, she dashed off in their direction next. The bloody mass wasn't very big—definitely not the size of an adult—and the fact that she still hadn't seen Thao anywhere had her seeing red. That could not be Thao. It just couldn't. But she had to see that for herself.

Coming upon them, she swung out her machete with such force that the blade nearly sliced through the skull completely at a downward slant. Not pausing, she twisted the handle and yanked to free the blade and swung in the other direction at an upward angle that time, taking out the second at her right. The third lunged at her and its long arms grasped onto her stomach, squeezing her ribs over the thick leather of her jacket. Blood and gore fell from its open mouth while it snarled at her.

Hiking her right knee up, she brought her leg up in the space between herself and the very skinny walker and planted her foot into its ribs, forcing it stumbling backward with one solid kick. The fingers, which had withered down to the bone at the tips, lost their hold on her jacket.

With one swing, she brought things to an end as the blade of the machete cracked through the rotting corpse's skull.

It collapsed onto the ground in a heap, and she yanked her machete free before kicking the disgusting thing off of the bloody mass it had been tearing into just moments before she'd interrupted the meal.

It wasn't Thao.

The reason for the small size of the bloody mess was evident to Jenna now that she could see it clearly—it was only half a body. One of the women of their group—her name was Tamara, if Jenna remembered correctly.

"Dusty—look out!"

Jenna turned her head in response to the frantic command that rang out sharp and clear over all of the mayhem in time to see a boy with a trucker's hat dive at a particularly large walker, as though he were merely on a football field preventing a touchdown.

"Tyler, no!" Jenna yelled—far too late.

The boy had succeeded in knocking the large walker in coveralls away from Dusty, but had brought himself down with it as they rolled across the ground at a slight downward slope. Jenna ran toward him as fast as she could, hoping in vain that she might be able to save him before he was lost too. But when the much larger frame of the walker ended up on top at the end of the roll, all hope she had for Tyler's life diminished, though she didn't stop running.

"Tyler!" Dusty screamed in terror as she lurched forward and rushed to help him, even as the boy hollered in obvious agony.

Seeing that Dusty was completely unarmed, Jenna increased her speed, desperate to keep her from becoming that walker's next victim. Tyler's screams cut off in harsh, gurgled choking, and as Jenna neared the scene, she could see why—the walker had ripped away the majority of the boy's throat, and blood was gushing out in a violent red torrent.

He was dead as soon as Jenna reached Dusty, just in time to grab her by the arm and swing her around, away from the horrific scene. She struggled out of Jenna's hold, but Jenna held tight, not about to let her get herself killed.

"Dusty, Dusty—he's gone!" Jenna said intently, knowing she needed to instill that understanding in and do it fast. "He's gone, Dusty," she repeated in a less harsh tone as the sounds of chaos and tumult all around them began to die down. "I'm sorry, he's gone."

Dusty threw her head back and howled in grief, and Jenna looked around the immediate area quickly, scanning for danger. She then released the sobbing girl and gripped the handle of her machete tighter as she approached the large walker that was making a meal of what had once been a playful, smart-aleck kid. She brought the blade careening down until it was embedded into the thing's skull, and yanked the blade out when it stilled and slumped over on top of Tyler's body.

With an angry grunt of exertion, Jenna shoved the rotting corpse with her booted foot, sending it rolling over onto its back beside Tyler. She looked down at the boy, trying not to look at his shredded and mangled throat. With a heavy sigh, she knelt down and closed his eyes.

She returned to Dusty's side, who'd been looking on in tears, and wrapped her arms around the girl. Dusty sobbed into her shoulder, and she looked around at the rest of the camp—all of the walkers seemed to have been put down.

"Dusty," said Jenna urgently, holding her out by the shoulders, locking eyes with her. "Dusty," she said, giving her a slight shake to get her attention. "Where's Thao?"

She turned to point toward the RV, where Shane was lowering his Mossberg, the small group standing behind him. "He's with Carol an'—" She broke off when she too saw that Thao was not among that group. "He was right there!" she cried frantically, pointing at the RV.

"You're sure?" Jenna asked intently, hoping to God that she was.

Dusty nodded quickly, her eyes wide in fright. "I swear to God, Jacki an' I left him right there with Carol an' Lori behind Shane to go an' help the others," she rambled in panic. "We told him to stay right there! We told him!"

Without another word, Jenna darted over to the RV, weaving through the severely diminished crowd of living campers. Was he there? Was there hope of finding him alive? He was smart, and she'd taught him what to do in the most dangerous situations. He'd never actually had to follow those instructions without her, though, and he was a five-year-old child. Who was to say that panic and fright hadn't gotten the better of him? But he had to be there. There was no other option.

"Jenna, I'm so sorry—" Carol said in a trembling voice as she approached the RV.

Jenna paid her no mind as she wove around her and Shane right up to the side of the RV, unaware of the curious eyes that were following her. She lowered down onto all fours to peer beneath the vehicle, half hopeful, half terrified of what she would find—or what she wouldn't find.

"Thao?" she called gently as lowered her head to gaze into the dark space between the bottom of the RV and the ground.

Two big, black eyes stared back at her, wide with fear. Eyes she knew better than her own.

"Baby boy," she sighed, washed over with a fierce wave of relief. She held her hand out to him. "It's alright, sweetheart," she murmured gently, panting in combined relief and exhaustion. "It's alright—you can come out now."

He crawled toward her and she pulled him out as soon as he was within reach. On her knees still, she clasped his small frame within her arms, feeling the warmth of his living body and the rapid beat of his pumping heart. He wrapped his arms around her neck in return, clinging to her with all he had while he cried.

She pulled back and held him out at arm's length, looking him over intently. "Are you okay?" she asked him, checking his arms and turning his chin from side to side to answer that question herself. "Did anything get you, sweetheart?"

He shook his head while she continued to give him a good scan for injury. She was hit by another wave of relief when none could be found.

She looked up at him then, seeing tears spilling over his cheeks, and sighed heavily as she scooped him up into her arms and held him close once more, rising to her feet. Thao buried his face into her shoulder and cried quietly, wrapping his small frame around her upper body, clinging tighter than ever before.

"Shhh…" she soothed in a whisper, stroking his hair and swaying on her feet in a gentle rocking motion. "You're safe, sweetheart, nothing's gonna hurt you."

A little ways away from the RV, Rick had both Carl and Lori wrapped in his arms, almost weeping in his own fierce relief at their safety. The others were looking around the blood-stained campsite with wide eyes, beginning to really come to terms with the severity of the situation now that things had calmed.

And then, the shrieks of terror that had flooded the camp just a minute before were replaced by mournful weeping all around as people took note of exactly how many had been lost.

Dusty and Jacki were down near T-Dog, holding each other like frightened children while they cried. Carol had her arms wrapped around Sophia in a vice grip while the little girl began to choke with sobs. Shane stared around at all of the bodies that littered the campground, a look of haunted bewilderment in his eyes. Daryl glared at the fallen walkers spitefully, and Glenn looked close to tears himself.

They'd lost more than half of their group, Jenna realized as she looked around at those still standing.

"Amy!"

Jenna turned her head to the left to see Andrea kneeling on the ground beside her sister, shaking her shoulders as though trying to bring her back to life.

"Amy!" she sobbed in agony, and Jenna closed her eyes, not wanting to watch.

When Thao began to turn his head in response to Andrea's weeping, which rang out louder than the rest, Jenna placed her hand over his head to keep it in place. He'd already seen way too much in the past few weeks, and he didn't need to see this too. This was not an image he needed to have burned into his memory.

Jim, who was standing not far from Jenna's right and covered with spatters of blood from head to toe, turned to look at Shane. "I remember my dream now," he said to the other man, who seemed to understand a lot more from this statement than Jenna did. "Why I dug the holes…" he added, and his wide, haunted eyes turned to look around at all the carnage.

The weeping only seemed to grow in volume, echoing and gaining strength, becoming a force all its own.

Note: Sorry this one's so short, guys, but I hope it has enough action in it to compensate.