No.

No.

No.

Oh God, please, no!

He could hear gunshots around him. Will fired through the fence, killing some of Mick's soldiers. Maybe even Mick himself, he didn't know. All he could do was look at the collapsed body of his brother. The red spread across his chest. He had to get him out of here.

"We need to go!" Will bellowed. The gunfire had stopped. "Eli! C'mon."

Eli looked over at the gate to see corpses on the ground.

"I can't leave him," he sobbed. He crawled over to Casey, whose eyes were closed. The tears filled his eyes. "Casey?"

Casey stirred and started violently coughing. Eli could see the bullet had gone in through the side.

"Will, he's still alive," he told his companion. "Casey, it's okay man, we're gonna get you out of here. Will, help me carry him."

Will looked as though she was about to start crying. Why? Casey was going to be just fine. Eli threw her a pleading look and she came over.

"You're gonna be okay," Eli assured his little brother. The blood was still pouring out of his chest. "It's not even that bad. You're gonna be okay."

He had to be. Eli shrugged off the button down he'd been wearing for the past week and pressed it to Casey's chest. They decided that the easiest way to move him would be to have him use them as crutches. Eli and Will each grabbed a limp arm and threw it over their shoulder. Casey cried out in pain as they lifted him up off the ground.

"You're gonna be okay, just hold on. Okay, Case? Just keep breathing," he pleaded his brother.

Eli kept one hand pressed to his brother's chest, trying to stop the bleeding.

"We gotta make it to the road," Will said. "Can't be far."

They started to walk down the trail. In the darkness it was hard to know exactly in which direction they were headed, but they walked. The full moon lit their path. Eli wasn't even afraid to face the dead ones, he didn't care about any of that, right now he just needed to get Casey to safety. He had to get him home.

Casey let out yet another gasp in pain as his breath labored. Eli's sweater was soaked in blood.

"E-Eli," he croaked. Will and Eli stopped. All the colour had drained from Casey's cheeks.

"We'll set him down by that tree," Will told Eli in a hollow voice.

"B-But those people?" Eli looked back worriedly.

"They're dead," she assured. "C'mon."

Eli and Will sat Casey down at the trunk of the tree. Casey coughed again, blood dribbled from his mouth. His head lolled to the side.

"Casey?" Eli dropped to his knees in front of his brother. His eyes closed. "Case? C'mon man, this isn't funny."

Casey's chest stilled.

No.

"Casey?" He grabbed his little brother by the shoulders and started shaking them. "Casey, c'mon wake up. Wake up, please."

"Eli…" Will started, but she couldn't say anything as she broke down into tears.

"Casey, wake up. C'mon, just open your eyes," he begged. The tears started flowing from his eyes. "No. No. NO! Casey, please…"

"Eli…" she said again through her tears. "Eli h-he's gone."

"No, no, you can't be dead," he pleaded. He reached forward, trying to find a pulse but there was none.

Eli's eyes widened in horror.

"Casey?" He whispered desperately. Instead, even in the darkness, he could see his brother's pale skin.

Casey.

He couldn't control his sobs now. It felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest.

Dammit.

Dammit.

DAMMIT!

He couldn't keep himself up anymore as he fell to his side, sobs racked his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Will taking her knife out. She too was letting out horrible sobs.

The virus.

Oh God, Casey.

"S-Stop," he begged Will.

"Eli, we can't let him…"

"He's my brother," he interrupted. "It has to be me."

Will nodded, understanding him. She handed him the knife. Eli feels his hand tremble as he takes his knife and walks towards his brother's dead body.

I'm so sorry.

It should've been him. He closes his eyes as he drives the knife in Casey's skull. Fresh tears poured out of his chest. He felt like he couldn't breath. The world around him was spinning. Once again Eli dropped to the ground. He let out a loud gut wrenching cry.

I can't do this.

I can't do this without you.


Willow watched Eli cry at the foot of Casey's body. She was shaking from the grief in her chest. The entire thing was a blur. She didn't remember killing Mick, or his people. She remembered pulling the trigger again and again until she ran out. Based on the amount of bodies piled up at the fence, she'd killed at least five people. They underestimated her. She wasn't sure whether or not she'd gotten them all, but she had to get Eli to stop. Casey was in pain. Her hands found the tags around her neck. She knew that some of Casey's blood had splattered across her face when he got shot.

Oh god, Casey. Her guilt weighed heavy in her chest. It was because of her that he'd died. She should've made sure they were in front of her. She should've protected him, now he was gone. Too pure for this world. Casey was just a kid. She'd failed him. She said they could trust her and now he's dead.

Another one to add to the list.

Will knew that walkers were bound to show up sooner of later, what with all that gunfire. She kept Eli's rifle on hand. She didn't want to make him move, but they had to leave. She swallowed her grief. She couldn't let herself feel it, maybe she had to be that monster just a little while longer. She would let Eli grieve and Will would make all the tough calls. She had to do that.

"We gotta move," she told him. Her voice sounded hollow, numb. "All that gunfire, this place is bound to be full of walkers."

Eli sat up and looked at his little brother.

"I-I can't leave him," he whimpered. "I can't."

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying.

"We won't," she told him. Willow put the rifle strap over her back and bent over. She didn't have much that didn't hurt at this point, but Will knew she could take it. She carried Casey's body as if he were a sack of potatoes.

Her muscles protested at the amount of dead weight on her shoulders, but she had to do this. They couldn't just leave Casey in the woods. Eli followed as they started walking deeper into the woods. They managed to stay out of sight of whatever walkers they saw. One crossed their path, but Eli took care of it with the butt of the empty rifle. He angrily smashed the walkers head in, Will had to all but pull him away.

They walked for what felt like hours. Every part of her body throbbed to a point where she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She was about to collapse when she saw a small cabin. It was a strange thing to have near a school, if they were even by that school, but they needed to hole up somewhere.

"There," she whispered and gestured towards the cabin.

Eli went to clear it since Will still had Casey's body on her shoulders. He gave the clear and she stepped in. There was a couch where Will gently laid Casey's body down.

"Thank you," Eli said in a dead voice. Will nodded and went to sit on watch.

She set up a chair facing the front door. She put the rifle on the ground and kept her knife on hand. She picked it up after Eli dropped it. Mick was dead, she knew that for sure. Good riddance. She'd seen his bald head in the moonlight. Everything happened so fast, One second Casey was there, the next he was on ground bleeding.

Her heart felt like it was about to shatter. She let herself care about them. She should've known better, after Oliver, and Andrea and Michonne, Will said she wouldn't care about anyone else anymore. Caring is a weakness in this world. Surviving is all that matters.

"That's bullshit." Ollie, it was always Ollie. She hadn't seen him since the first house after the general store.

Fuck off, she told him. He didn't know what happened. Casey was her responsibility and she let him down. She got him killed.

Will cast a look over her shoulder to see Eli just staring at his brother's corpse, silent tears were rolling down his cheeks. She felt that guilt weigh on her once again.

She stayed perfectly still on watch. One walker went by but didn't seem to realize there were people in the cabin, if she could really call it that. It took her a while, but Will realized what this place was. It was a small clubhouse. As the sun started rising, Will started seeing more details. It was a tiny cabin that seemed to only have room for a couch. Other than that, there were a few posters, one funny enough was of 28 Weeks Later, that fucking zombie movie. Will noticed there was a shovel leaning up against the wall.

Eli had finally passed out at some point in the night. She didn't want to wake him up, so she quietly went over and grabbed the shovel. They couldn't take Casey with them, but they weren't going to leave him behind.

"…those two boys, they'll be the next graves you dig." She remembered Carter warning her about this. He'd been right. She'd be a grave digger again. Just once more, for Casey.

She tried to push away all her feelings and focused on digging. Unlike the other six times she dug graves, Will didn't take her time. All the pent up anger she had, she channeled it into digging. By the time the sun rose completely, she was waist deep in the ground. Her already tired muscles complained even more. She was straining herself to a point where it felt like she would collapse.

Will heard the moaning coming towards her. She looked up from her hole and saw two walkers heading towards her. Their rotting teeth snapped hungrily. Her nostrils flared in anger. Because of those fucking things, her husband was dead. She'd gotten separated from Andrea and Michonne. Casey and Eli lost their entire group. All because of them. Will climbed out of the hole. She grabbed the shovel and angrily charged at them.

She raised the shovel and smashed against one of the walkers' heads. It fell to the ground with a thump. It remained unmoving. The other walker came at her and she raised the shovel again before smashing it in the head. It too fell to the ground, but Will wasn't done yet. She lifted the shovel once more and started beating the living shit out of this walker. All the memories from the previous night came in flashes.

Pete, Lee, and Carter coming into their cell.

She brought the shovel once more down on the walker.

Running through the hall.

There was the sound of a skull cracking.

Mick's sadistic smile as he pulls the trigger.

Squish. Squish. Squish.

"NO!"

Dark red blood pooled around the walker's head.

The blood seeping through Eli's sweater as they leaned Casey against the tree.

Blood splashed up, splattering over her shirt.

"H-he's gone."

With trembling hands, Will let the shovel go. She felt the grief she so desperately tried to hide rise. It felt like she couldn't breath. Her knees began buckling and she collapsed to the ground on all fours as the sobs poured out of her chest.

Oh God, Casey. I'm so sorry.


Hannah loaded her crossbow and eyed the squirrel. She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The arrow soared through the air and landed dead center, pinning the squirrel to the tree. She grinned and looked over at Daryl who had a small smile on his face.

It had been about a week and a half since the pit incident. She got out of the sling a few days after, then Daryl insisted he take her hunting. Ever since that night, they went hunting more and more. She was getting very good with that bow. She always hit the target and now one in three shots hit the middle. Her first kill during a hunt had been a rabbit. She'd nearly cheered as the arrow skewered it. The had been about three days ago. Now she was catching squirrel.

"What're we tracking?" Hannah asked, pulling her now dead squirrel off the tree. Daryl took it from her and tied it on the piece of rope. He found a trail of something.

"You tell me," he said. Hannah stopped and crouched looking at the ground. She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to figure it out. She had a hard time seeing the tracks. The brush around was zig zagged, as though something that barely knew how to walk came through.

"A walker?" Hannah asked.

"You askin' or are you tellin'?"

"Telling?" She sounded questioning again. Daryl raised an eyebrow. She cleared her throat. "Telling. I'm telling."

"Good," he said. "'N you're right."

Hannah smirked proudly. She was getting the hang of this whole tracking and hunting thing.

They tracked the walker to a backyard. Hannah missed it, her arrow sinking into the walker's shoulder. She went to reload again as it turned towards them. She could feel the anxiety starting up once more as she raised her bow. Every instinct in her body told her to run.

"It's alright," Daryl spoke. "You got this."

Hannah took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. It hit the walker right in the eye. She grinned once again.

"Nice shot," her dad complimented. Yeah, she really was getting better at this whole thing. It was nice because finally she could actually do something that didn't make her head throb.

Daryl decided they would go look around the neighbourhood. There were a few houses they could scavenge. There wasn't much, but Hannah did manage to find a couple of cans. Hannah was walking upstairs of one of the houses. She could hear moaning and pounding from inside the bathroom. Hannah took out her knife and reached for the doorknob. She heard footsteps from behind her. She turned to see Daryl walking towards her.

"There's one in there," she said gesturing to the door.

"Go check the rest o' the rooms. I got it," Daryl said. Hannah nodded and walked away.

She went into the first room; it was painted a bright green. There were shelves full of trophies, and a rather large bookshelf. She walked over to the closet to see a few summer dresses along with some button down flannel shirts. There was a long mirror on the inside of the closet door with pictures taped around it. The that kept repeating in every picture looked to be around her age. She had long dark hair with equally dark eyes. In every picture she was smiling. Hannah's eyes drifted from the pictures to her own reflection in the mirror.

The last time Hannah really got a good look at herself, she was a tiny girl who was clean and smiled all the time. Now, her clothes were tattered, stained with blood. Her long blonde hair hadn't been washed in weeks and was getting so long, that even pulled back, and with a baseball cap on her head, it still reached the between her shoulder blades. She didn't recognize herself. She wasn't that same little girl that was too scared to hear walkers.

Hannah turned away from the mirror and grabbed a couple of shirts from the closet. She stuffed them in her bag. Her eyes darted to the huge bookshelf. It had been a while since she had an actual book to read. For the last few months, she read whatever was at the current place they were staying. Unfortunately, that meant mostly old people books. She read a biography about Eleanor Roosevelt, why? Because it was the only thing around. Her eyes darted over the titles until she picked up a hardcover book with a black and gold cover. There was a bird on it. The Hunger Games, Hannah shrugged and put the book in her bag. It was better than nothing.

Hannah met back up with her father in the hallway. He was wearing a large brown blanket over his clothes. Hannah grinned, trying not to start laughing.

"What is that?" She asked.

"It's a poncho," he stated. "Damn comfortable."

"You're wearing a blanket," she teased.

"Yeah? Keepin' me warm."

"You look ridiculous," she said with a joking smile. Daryl smirked.

"Yeah, well, when you're freezin' your as-butt off, don't come cryin' to me." Hannah always found it funny when the adults tried not to swear in front of her and Carl. It wasn't like she hadn't heard the words before, or even said them. Although, now she got told off for swearing. "C'mon, we gotta get back," he said. Hannah nodded and they walked out of the house.

It was probably about mid-afternoon when they made their way back to camp. Things at camp had been tense for the last bit, ever since she and Carl got back from that pit. Hannah was asleep when this happened, first time she'd actually slept in months, but apparently Carl had a massive blowout with his mom. Carl wouldn't talk to her about it.

Hannah remembered the first time she skinned a squirrel back on the farm. It was probably the most disgusting thing she'd ever done. Now, she did it with no trouble. They sat on the front porch of the small house they'd been staying at for the last few days.

She and Daryl didn't need to talk all that much. When they were hunting, they only talked about hunting. They didn't get into all the feelings stuff; which Hannah was okay with. It used to bother her sometimes, but now it was better. Hannah didn't really want to talk about her feelings. Things were finally starting to get better for her. For the most part, that is. Her family was beginning to get run-down. The tension between Rick, Carl, and Lori seemed to be affecting everyone.

Once they finished cleaning the few squirrels they caught, Daryl started a cooking fire just off the porch. They roasted the squirrels and brought them inside the small house.

"Dinner's ready," Daryl announced. They had about four squirrels ready to go. Hannah's stomach started growling at the smell of food.

She sat next to Carl during dinner. They had squirrel and canned peas on the side. It was virtually the same thing they had the last few days, but Hannah couldn't complain, they had food. Carl's cut on his cheek was healing up nicely. Hershel took out the stitches a few days ago. Glenn and Maggie had gotten back from checking for supplies, as well checking for any herds. Hannah didn't find out until about a week ago, but they were counting how many walkers were in a herd. They were tracking herds, making sure to stay ahead of them. This was why they kept moving. Whenever walkers got too close, they'd take off.

"Herd's getting closer," Glenn announced. Hannah frowned, of course it was. While she was still scared of walkers, she was used to running. All they ever did was run.

"We'll head out first thing," Rick declared. "Meantime, keep the lights off, stay quiet and inside." Well, so much for reading tonight.

"Where're we headin'?" Maggie asked.

"Keep goin' south-east. Haven't been around Greenville yet," Rick explained. "T, you're on first watch. In about two hours we'll switch, Glenn, you and Maggie've got second."

Like Carl and Hannah, Glenn and Maggie were a package deal when it comes to watch. They were always together. Rick continued explaining the watch schedule. Hannah and Carl didn't get one tonight, which meant they might get one tomorrow. That's usually how it went. The only person who didn't have watch was Lori, and that entirely because of the baby. She was due soon. At least that's what Hershel said. Hannah still hadn't gotten the knack of not eaves dropping. She couldn't help it, having spent most of her life deaf, Hannah tuned in as much as she could.

"Rest o' you get some rest," Rick said. "Got a long day tomorrow."


Day one: They buried Casey. It was quiet, and neither of them spoke.

Day two: Will found a house where they could stay a bit.

Day three: Eli still hasn't spoken a word. They went back to the school to finish what they started, only it was on fire.

Day four: The nightmares started again for Willow. She found more painkillers for Eli. She had to force him to take some.

Day five: Walkers came, and they had to run. They found a car and started driving, they ran out of gas outside of Greenville.

Day six: They found a small convenience store. Eli started talking in his sleep again. Will hasn't slept since the nightmares began. She found a pack of smokes.

Day seven: The voices came back.

Will was sitting at the back of the store, watching over a sleeping Eli. On her other side, Ollie sat there humming some song. She didn't want to tell him to screw off in fear of waking Eli up. He hadn't really slept in the last week. Now they didn't know what to do. There was no path. The only reason Eli wanted to come home in the first place was because of Casey.

She didn't know what to do. Every time she tried to talk, he wouldn't respond. The closest she got to a reaction was when they went back to the school, rifles in hand, and saw it up in flames. The corners of his mouth twitched like he might smile before he flipped the building off. Will had to drag him away.

The kid was slipping. Whenever they saw walkers, Eli turned into a completely different person. Honestly, he was reminding her a lot of the person she was after Oliver. That thought terrified her. What she was… what she became, she couldn't let Eli turn into that.

The next morning, they left the convenience store. There wasn't any food there, they hadn't eaten in a few days. They were running low on water too. All they had were two backpacks with a change of clothes, a near empty bottle of water, some Tylenol and bandages. While she carried around the rifle, Will never fired it. After what happened, she didn't want to think about what had happened. Besides, there was no need to attract any unwanted attention. They were walking down a street when Will stopped in front of a house. The windows where all boarded up.

"Here," she declared.

"Sure about that?" Oliver questioned. He was always questioning her now. It was getting a bit annoying.

"Good a place as any," she voiced answering Oliver's question.

Eli wordlessly followed her to the door. It wasn't locked, which was not promising, but they needed a place to stay the night. If they were lucky, there might be some food. The thought of food made her stomach growl. She shut the door behind them and then started pounding on the wall, if there were any walkers in here, they'd show themselves.

The first walker came down the hall. The second one came from the upper level and stumbled down the steps. Eli didn't wait a second. He immediately pounced on the walkers coming towards them. He had his knife – one that they found along the way – in hand. Will went and quickly dispatched the other walker. She looked to see Eli still struggling with his walker. It was on top of him now. Willow ran over and stabbed the walker in the head. It collapsed on top of him. Eli roughly pushed it off and got up.

"I had it," he snapped.

"Yeah, definitely looked like you did," she replied sarcastically. Eli rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

Will wasn't exactly sure what sparked her next outburst, but she was furious.

"Don't you walk away from me!" She called after him. Eli stopped in his tracks. "You know what, I'm fuckin' sick of this. You can't just shut down, Eli. I know how you're feelin' and it's a lot easier…"

"You know how I'm feeling?" Eli interrupted. "Are you fucking kidding me?! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Eli stepped closer to her, his face bright red. Will recoiled slightly. "You have no idea what it's like. You've got a sister and a niece out there and you won't look for them. You have no fucking clue how I feel!"

At this, Will was starting to see red. He didn't know what she'd lost. How close she came to disappearing completely.

"I watched my husband die!" She yelled. Eli's eyes widened slightly. "My best friend died in my arms! And it feels like there's this fucking hole in my chest that's gonna swallow me whole. Every fuckin' day I gotta push myself through it. So don't fuckin' dare tell me that I don't know!"

Those stupid tears were coming back. She had to hold herself up on the wall. She could feel those terrible memories rising in the back of her mind. She sank to the ground and couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She was done. Casey dying, all the people she'd killed, she was tired. Eli came and sank down to the floor next to her. They both just sat there and cried.

"I'm so damn tired," he finally said. "I don't know if I can keep fighting. I don't know if I want to."

Will wiped the tears from her eyes. She had to push away how much she wanted it all to stop for him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her chip. After all this time, it was the one thing she never lost. She passed it over to Eli.

"I was a soldier," she told him. "Before everythin', I was in the army. I went to war in Iraq 'n I saw a lot of shit. When I got back… the only way I could sleep at night was because of a bottle of whiskey, or gin, or whatever. I did a lot o' things I'm not proud of. I met Ollie cause one mornin' I woke up in the hospital.

"It took me three tries but I got it. Haven't had a drink in three years," she explained. "After I lost my husband, then I got separated from my last group… I lost it again. I was hearin' things, seein' things that weren't there. I was just about to give up one day, had a bottle o' whiskey in my hand and I was just gonna quit."

"Why didn't you?" Eli asked.

"Cause I heard this guy yellin' for help," she explained. "I look out and see this kid half carryin' this other guy with a heard of walkers followin' them. So I put the bottle down and ran out to help. You and Casey, you saved my life. You brought me back."

"Casey's gone," he said, fresh tears pouring from his eyes. "He's gone."

"I'm sorry," she told him.

"He's gone," he repeated. Will pulled him in her arms and he cried into her shirt. She comforted him, while tears rolled down her cheeks.

The next day

They left the house early in the morning, with no food Will wasn't sure how long they would last. They were just outside of Greenville. Eli decided he didn't want to go back.

"It was never really my home," he told her. "I grew up in Illinois. I was going to college when they moved to Greenville."

Instead, they decided to by-pass Greenville and head North. There had to be some place out there that was safe, or at least somewhere they could actually live.

They were weak, hungry. They used up the last of their water that morning. Will knew they had to find food fast. She spotted a small grocery store down the street. There were maybe three walkers in the road. The grocery store windows were boarded up. Will and Eli walked up to it. Eli had his rifle raised. She carefully opened the door, praying that there weren't any walkers.

Of course, there were, but only a couple. Will killed two while Eli took down the other one. They scanned the aisles. The store was much bigger than she anticipated. The tall aisles offered plenty of cover.

Will almost cheered in joy when she found a can of peaches. She showed it to Eli who smiled slightly. She put the can in her bag and they kept looking. They found a couple of protein bars and some Gatorade. She handed one of the bottles to Eli.

"We'll hold up here for the night," she decided. "Get some food in us. We'll leave in the mornin'."

"Then where?" Eli asked. "Just gonna keep walking? Keep surviving?"

Will shrugged. "Yeah. We keep movin', we always keep movin'."

"Why?" Eli asked.

"'Cause givin' up's too easy," she answered. "'Cause we gotta. We can't give up, not ever. There's always a reason to keep goin'."

Eli didn't respond. He just kept looking at the shelves. Will knew that he wasn't going to snap out of it overnight. She didn't. Ollie wasn't around anymore, she supposed that was a good thing. There was only her talking in her head.

They dropped their bags off in the bakery aisle. There were still packs of sprinkles hanging. Willow took one. She loved eating sprinkles growing up.

Will and Eli dragged the three walker bodies to the very back of the store. While she was still in some pain from the fights, she pushed it away. She'd gotten surprisingly good at that. They stuck them in the meat cooler. When they walked back from the main part of the store when she heard the front doors open.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath. She grabbed Eli and they hid in a nearby aisle. She could hear footsteps. They didn't drag like walkers' steps. Which means they're human. After Mick, Will knew how dangerous people could be.

"We need to grab the bags and go."

Eli nodded. Will took her rifle off her back and kept it in her hands, just in case. Eli followed suit.

As quietly as they possible could, the two cautiously stepped out from their hiding spot and walked to the bakery section. It was there she saw a man bent over their packs. He had brown curly hair, and was wearing a tan coloured shirt. Will cocked her rifle. She noticed his hand go towards the gun in the holster attached to his belt.

"Hands up, asshole," she said pointing the rifle right at his head. He turned his head and looked at them.

His eyes, they were bright blue. Will's eyes widened in familiarity. Holy shit. She lowered her rifle. All the sudden, she was back on the farm. She remembered his kind eyes. She remembered that boy, his son, laying in the bed.

"Here, take this." He's the one that gave her the gun.

His eyes widened in recognition too. She opened her mouth to speak. All she said was his name.

"Rick?"


So a lot happened. I figured that I wouldn't pull a Season 6 finale and make everyone wait six months to find out who died (I mean seriously, who thought that was a good idea?). Unfortunately, Casey didn't survive, but I feel like I made up for it with Will and Eli finally meeting up with the group. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time, you guys are amazing!

Also, just a little fyi, I have a YouTube channel where I occasionally will post fanvideos. My channel is called 100markProductions.

Anyway, please leave a review, they always make my day.