Decided to be nice and give another chapter today, since I made everyone wait so long for the last one.

Still taking commissions for art! TwitchingHades93 on deviantart. twitchinghades93 at gmail. Or you can PM me here! I would give you guys links, but FF is so picky about links! You can't even send them through PM.

Enjoy!

CH. 11: Settlements

So, you found a nice little settlement for you and your 'family' to live in and you want to be sure it's safe. Most settlements aren't safe like a community in the world before, and every place comes with some pros and cons. So, here are some things to keep in mind when picking your (temporary) forever home.

Safety is a big priority, as you don't want those zombie assholes sneaking up on you when you are trying to get some R&R. What kind of barricades do they have? Strong walls are most ideal, but you're lucky if you find a place protected with wooden sticks and the inhabitants don't try to kill you on sight. If the defense is lacking in your settlement, try to bring it up with the people in power and work out some sort of defense system that doesn't burn their best men out.

The difference between a tight knit family and a random group of strangers is the people in it. Good company is a little hard to come by now, though, so pick your battles and push through the unbearable assholes if they're not going to kill, eat, or betray you in any way. Trust me, it's better to play submissive sometimes than try to take on someone twice your size.

Sammy wiped at the sweat that beaded down her forehead. She pushed a few strands of stray hair out of her face, not caring about them enough to redo her ponytail. She had been walking for several hours with Peter, one of the more physically intimidating men from camp, two scrawnier men, and another woman who looked like she could at least hold her own against the zombies. Peter had told her a little about each member, though his knowledge on them wasn't very wide. Stone was what the bigger man was called, preferring to go by his last name; no one knew his first name at that point. Ben and Jerry were the two other men; they usually stuck together because of their names. It was a joke that they enjoyed every time they introduced themselves to someone. The final member was Abigail; while Sammy didn't know much about her, she knew that Abigail and Peter had become acquainted during the boy's time with the group.

"Are we there yet?" Sammy asked her friend quietly, still not used to walking everywhere. She did have a car for the last few months, and they didn't stop or get out unless necessary. Though she was sweaty and tired, and her feet ached again after they had just healed from her last pilgrimage, she was trying to keep from letting her negative feelings show to the rest of the group.

"Just a little farther," Peter promised, buildings coming into view as they ascended the hill in front of them. Sammy stopped at the top of the hill, looking out at the city in awe for a moment. She hadn't been to a big city in a very long time; she had forgotten how intimidating a wide expanse of land filled with large buildings could be. When Peter stopped to nod at her to keep up, Sammy obeyed and picked up her pace.

The group she was put with went in like pros. They used smoke bombs and flash grenades to draw the walkers away. They only had to kill about five zombies in total before they picked a house to raid. They split into pairs upon entering the house. Peter stuck by Sammy's side as the two headed to the opposite side of the house of the others.

"I'm thinking we take over," Peter said quietly once they cleared the room they were in. "Take out the leaders. Make this settlement our own. It wouldn't be hard, I already have everyone ready for a mutiny."

Sammy laughed quietly at the man, but she shook her head lightly. "I don't want to take over," she told her friend. "I think we should head to the coast, us and anyone who wants to join us. And, I told Daniel that I'd help him get to Washington."

"Okay," Peter said, chewing his lip in thought as he mulled the idea over. "They won't let us leave, we'll have to take some supplies and sneak out."

Sammy nodded in understanding, expecting no less. Most places wanted to keep their population as high as possible. Easiest way to do that, kill anyone that tried to leave. Not many people are willing to take the risk of actually trying to leave.

"The fuck are you two whispering about in here?" One of the men, Jerry, stepped through the doorway of the room they were occupying. Peter easily fell into a smile, his voice smooth and his tongue quick.

"We were just trying to decide what sounded best for dinner," Peter lied easily. He smiled at Sammy as the girl easily joined in the lie.

"I was telling Peter how much I wanted a can of Raviolis," she stated with a bashful laugh on her lips. "I loved those things, it would be awesome to have some again."

The man laughed quietly, all signs of hostility gone. "I used to get those cans of Spaghetti - O's for my son, back before all this," he said, sounding nostalgic as he remembered better times.

"The ones with the beef franks are the best," Sammy chipped in, her mouth watering at the thought of the foods she once had at her convenience. Why did she ever give two shits what people thought of a grown woman eating a can of spaghetti - O's? If she could go back and change something in her life, it would be to eat more spaghetti - O's when she had the chance. More Lunchables. Those mozzarella cheese sticks that pull apart into strings of cheese. Food that most people had deemed for children.

A banging on the wall of the other room grabbed there attention, and the three quickly and cautiously moved toward the noise, weapons at the ready. The rest of the group stood in the kitchen, searching through the cabinets. Sammy sighed and lowered her weapon when she realized there was no immediate danger around.

"A more gentle and discrete way of signalling each other from a distance would be good," Sammy stated quietly as she stepped fully into the room with the two other men. "Whistles, maybe. Shouting out 'Hey, I'm over here,' might also be a little better than pounding loudly on a wall."

The biggest man in the group stared her down, as though she had offended his ancestors. He took a few large strides toward her, standing a little closer to the woman that she was really comfortable with. Still, she didn't move, standing her ground and returning the intense gaze the brute shot down at her. "Do you have a problem with the way I run things?" he asked, his voice gruff and threatening.

"Well, that depends," Sammy started, "Is your way of running things going to get someone killed?"

That only seemed to anger the brute more. His face turned red at her snarky tone and he leaned in, his breath rank as it hit her nose. "If anyone dies, it's on them."

"She's fine with your way of doing things, Stone," Peter tried to smooth the tension between them. They didn't need an incident to break out between them right now.

"Stay out of it, you fuckin' fairy," Stone growled out, poking the smaller man hard enough in the chest to send him stumbling back a bit.

Sammy saw red. She grabbed Peter by the arm and pushed him behind her, glaring dangerously up at the man in front of her. "Don't fuckin' touch him." Peter was a little brother to her. They were family, and they were all they had right now. There was no way on Earth that she was going to let some testosterone filled ape hurt her little brother.

"Don't you fuckin' tell me what to do!" The man grabbed Peter from behind the brunette, but before he could tug the boy more than an inch, Sammy punched the man in the gut. She almost regretted it immediately after, though, as pain soared up her arm as her fist met with rock-hard muscle. The grunt of the larger man as he stumbled backward and doubled over was more than satisfying enough to make up for the pain, though.

Stone reached for the gun holstered on his hip, but Sammy wasn't about to let him get any further. She stepped forward, punching him in the face and sending him to the ground. There was an audible crack as she made contact with the man's hard jawbone, and Sammy wasn't sure that the noise didn't come from her own hand. It hurt like a bitch, but she ignored the pain and grabbed Stone's gun before he recovered enough to stop her. She handed the weapon to Peter, letting her friend have the final say in what happened to the brute.

"We can work this out like civilized adults," Peter started, taking control of the situation and jumping straight into negotiator mode. "Stone, we'll forget you tried to pull a gun on me, forget this little quarrel happened, and I don't tell Boss that you just tried to kill a valuable asset of his team. No one dies, no one gets eaten. Everyone's happy." He had a serene smile on his face that matched the tone of his voice, but neither matched the threat of his words. "Well, except the Boss. I really think he likes his human meat, the crazy old bat."

"You're holdin' the gun now, Petey," the man said, his voice low and on edge. "What're you going to do with it?"

"No, no," Peter laughed, a cynical undertone creeping in at the man's refusal to cooperate with him. "I'm trying to make peace. I'm negotiating with you, and I have witnesses of what happened." He looked back to the other three of the group, which stood behind him. "You guys saw everything that happened, right?"

"Stone attacked Peter," Abigail stated, not a waiver to her voice.

"You were disarmed, but you refused to stay down," Jerry added on, glancing at Peter as thought to make sure the man approved of his words. "He had no choice but to put you down."

"You were a threat to us all," the final man, Ben, agreed with a nod.

"And Boss wouldn't be mad at me," Peter informed Stone as the brute's body began to tremble, just enough to be noticeable. "Because Sammy is ten times the fighter you'll ever be, and I'm the one that recruited her to the group."

The brute turned red again. He started breathing heavily, his chest heaving. He went to get up, pushing off of his knees to try to lunge at the boy, but a shot rang out and he fell against the ground with a heavy thud. The dirty blond did his best to contain the smirk that pulled at his face.

"I tried to give him a chance," Peter said with a shrug, walking around the mess that was Stone's body to continue their raid. He started pulling more cans of food out, and the others got to work packing the things away in their bags. "I never did like him, though. He was always such an asshole."

But, honestly, you've just gotta stand your ground sometimes. Fuck shit up. Take on that behemoth of a man, and take his ass down. Because, sometimes, there are things worth risking your life for.

Fight on, Survivor.