"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! We are so screwed!"

Everyone was sat around a small campfire in the tiny clearing of trees they had been using to rest since the hours of the attack at the shelter. The place had been completely destroyed, surely overrun by walkers by now, which meant they were pretty much homeless.

Bear was pacing back and forth, freaking out about their lack of resources, while Derek did his best to calm him down. Eric was sat up next to a tree next to the fire, while Amelia laid next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Andre sat in the dirt nearby, tracing tiny pictures into the ground with his finger.

"We have nothing, no where to go. We're fucked!"

"Would you chill OUT?" Derek asked. "We gotta keep cool about this. You freaking out isn't helping anything."

"I don't think you quite understand the situation we're in here, Derek. We are in the middle of the fucking WOODS. We have no FOOD. We have no WATER."

"We can go to Georgia!" Andre chimed in. "My Aunt has food and shelter there. We'll be safe."

Bear rubbed the cartilage of his nose. "The truck's only got half a tank in her. We won't make it halfway passed Tennessee, much less anywhere near Georgia."

Andre got a sad look on his face, and went back to his doodles in the dirt.

"Look, the only way we're really screwed is if we sit our asses here and do nothing. Maybe we can run back into town and find the stuff we need to get to this magic safe haven of Eric's." Derek proposed.

Bear rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"We can't exactly go grocery shopping for this shit. We got Devs on our tail. We'd be dead or captured before we even made it back into town."

"We run into Dev's, we fuck 'em up. Like we always have."

"Oh I'm sorry, you got some magic back pocket with days worth of ammo I don't know about? Or are you just gonna throw your knife at every one of those bastards?"

Derek began to get more frustrated. "Look, I'm trying to stay positive here. It's only over if we give up."

"Well then, what do you suppose we do?" Bear asked.

Derek sat and thought a moment. "You still have that atlas in your seat pouch?"

"Yeah but, how would that-"

"Bring it to me."

Bear went to the truck and opened the backseat. He dug in the small pouch behind the front seat, and pulled put a book of maps. He closed the door and made his way back to Derek.

"What do you need this for?"

"You'll see."

Derek opened the atlas and flipped through it a bit, he stopped on a map of the U.S. He traced his finger along the page, then tapped on a spot towards the middle.

"La Monte. Ain't that close to here? Maybe we can go there."

"And if it's an overrun walker nest like our shelter is now?"

Derek shrugged. "Then we keep pushing on into Sedalia. See what they got going there."

Bear just shook his head slowly. He let out a big sigh.

"Guess it's better than sitting here doing nothing."

Derek got up on his feet, and patted Bear on the shoulder. "That's the spirit. We ain't got any time to lose."

Bear and Derek started for the truck. Eric tapped Amelia on the shoulder a couple times, trying to get her to wake up.

"What..." she asked groggily.

"We're leaving. We're gonna see if there's anything worth taking in La Monte."

She slowly got up, and followed Eric and Andre to the backseat.

"Everybody ready?" Bear asked from the driver's seat.

"About as ready as we'll ever be." Eric said from the back.

"Cheer up, Eric. We find enough gas for the truck, we just might make it to your safehouse in Georgia."

"I don't think that's an option for us, Nick. Didn't their mom say it was only for their family?" Derek asked.

"We'll get you in." Eric said. "We'll convince them to let you in if we have to. But Aunt Verna is pretty nice from what I remember. I don't think she would mind some extra guests."

"Oh yeah, we'll introduce you guys to our Mom and Dad! They'll love you guys!" Andre said excitedly. Bear looked nervously in his rear view mirror at Andre. "Uh.. your mom and dad? Are there?"

"Yeah, they're already there waiting for us. Eric said so."

Bear then looked in the mirror at Eric, who had turned his face towards the window in shame. Bear just shook his head and turned back to the road.

No one spoke for the rest of the trip.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Wake up. It's go time."

Eric rubbed his eyes and tried his best to keep them open. Everyone else had their eyes fixed on Bear. They were parked in the street, which went down as far as Eric could see, and their was a row of buildings on each side.

"Alright, we need to go through these buildings and see if there isn't anything we cant use. Keep your eyes open for walkers. Anything you can find would be great, but if you stumble on gas, bring it." He motioned to the gas meter, which was only two notches away from empty. "We're gonna need it if we're leaving the state."

"I dont think anyone should go anywhere alone." Derek said. "How about me and Nick take the right row of buildings, and you three take the left. If anything happens, we meet back here. Sound good?"

Everyone in the vehicle nodded in agreement. "You still got that gun on you, Eric?" Bear asked.

Eric nodded and patted his pocket. "Locked and loaded."

"Alright everyone. Be careful, and good luck."

With that, everyone got out of the truck. Bear and Derek walked towards the first building on the right side, while Eric, Amelia, and Andre walked in the first building on the left.

"What do you think this place is?" Amelia asked. There was no sign on the front of the building to be found, and the large sign that stood next the road was damaged, making it ineligible. It was a medium sized wooden building, with black metal doors on the front.

"I'm not sure." Eric asked. "Let's just hope there's something useful in there."

The three made their way to the door, Andre following closely behind Eric. Eric pulled his pistol from the back of his belt and held it ready to use in his right hand. He reached out and slowly opened the door with his left.

Eric quickly stepped in and held his gun up. As far as he could tell, the place was empty. "I think it's clear. Come on." Eric motioned for Amelia and Andre to follow him in.

"Andre, you stay in sight. If you see anything dangerous, you call for me. Got it?" Eric told him. Andre nodded his head, then looked around the building.

"Whoah." Andre said in amazement. "This place is cool!" Eric took a look around the building himself. It was an old gun shop. A lot of racks for assault rifles, shotguns, semi-automatics, but all of them were empty. Only the handguns within the glass cases on the bottom remained. Most of the shelves containing ammo were empty as well.

"Why do you think the people who looted this place left the handguns behind?" Eric asked Amelia.

"Probably because of this." She motioned behind the counter. Upon looking, Eric could see that the case behind the counter was shut and locked, which meant the only way to get to the guns would be to either find the key or to break the glass.

"How come they wouldn't just-"

"Break the glass?" Amelia interrupted. "This is a gun store. If the glass broke it would probably set off the alarm. And nowadays, making too much noise can get you killed."

Eric nodded at her explanation.

"WHOAH! SO COOL!" Andre said loudly. He was staring at something in the case on the other side of the interior.

Eric began to walk up to him. "Little dude, I need you to be quiet. We don't know what's out th-" Eric stopped when he saw what Andre was staring at. It was a single revolver, held within a case that had a shape cut out for it. The metal on the revolver was solid gold (or was at least painted that way, Eric couldn't tell), and the handle on it was snow white. Eric never thought he would think a gun was pretty, but if this one wasn't, then there wasn't one in the world at all.

"Wow. That is pretty cool, Eric." Amelia said from behind him. "Too bad there's no way to get to it."

Eric just kept looking at it. "I want that gun. Really badly." Eric then looked back at Amelia. "There's gotta be some way to turn the alarm off."

Amelia shrugged. "Maybe there isn't an alarm. The power went off in Warrensburg, I would assume it did here, as well."

"Is that a chance we want to take?" Eric asked.

"If we want these handguns, yeah. It is."

Eric approached the glass slowly, looking at the revolver while he did so. He took his elbow and slammed it into the glass, completely shattering it. Everyone stood still and quiet for a few seconds. Thankfully, there was no alarm to be heard.

"Awesome!" Andre said. He grabbed the revolver and held it in his hands, flailing it around and pretending to shoot it.

"Andre, stop!" Eric grabbed it from him. He pressed the small latch on the side and opened the chamber. 6 bullets in each slot. The gun was loaded.

"Andre, you gotta be careful. You could've hurt someone, or worse."

"I'm sorry..." Andre expressed a look of sadness. Eric put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright, little dude, just think a bit more from here on out. Once we find somewhere we can take it easy, I'll let you shoot it. How does that sound?"

Andre's face lit up. "Awesome!"

"Speaking of which," Amelia interjected, "is there any ammo left for that? Maybe behind the counter?"

"Good thinking." Eric hopped over the glass case. "Amelia, start busting the other glass cases and getting everything the bag can hold. Guns, ammo, whatever."

Amelia nodded, and went to one side of the counter to start breaking the cases. Eric knelt down and opened the cabinet below the case that held the revolver. He found 9 small boxes, and a piece of paper. Eric unfolded it and it read:

The Princeton Revolver, owned by Garret Princeton himself, is a beautiful white and gold piece that would make an excellent addition to any firearm enthusiast. Due to the untimely demise of Princeton, we will be shipping his gun and spare ammunition at auction next week. Please see to it the piece is kept in a safe place, and remains undamaged until then."

Eric put the note back. He took the bag he was carrying, and used his arm to funnel the small boxes into it. "Should be enough bullets until we come across more, at least." He said to himself.

"ERIC! ERIIIIIIIIC!" The three could hear Bear shouting outside.

"Amelia, that's Bear. We gotta go!" Eric said.

"Right." The three ran out of the shop and stood in front of the building, on the street. They could see Bear and Derek running as fast as they could towards them, followed by a massive horde of undead. There were walkers as far as Eric could see down the street.

Bear and Derek finally caught up to them, and stood in front of them. "No time to stick around, we've got to fuckin GO!" Bear said.

"Derek... what's that..." Amelia asked, pointing to his arm.

Eric looked where she was pointing, and Eric stared in disbelief.

Above the elbow on Derek's arm, he had 10 little square marks, shaped in a crooked oval. Blood was slowly seeping out of it, and the veins around it had become discolored and bulging.

Derek had been bit.

Quick author note: sorry I haven't put up a chapter in damn near ages. I've just been distracted a lot from writing recently. I'm gonna try and be more consistent from here on out.