Dear Readers,

Thank you so much for being fans and loving this story the way you do, I really never thought this story would be liked so much. It's my longest story on here so far and probably the one I hold dearest to my heart because it is so real and raw in the emotions it evokes in me as I write it and the emotions it evokes in you my dearest readers as you read it. I see so much in the reviews you leave me. With that I give a humble and heartfelt thank you. You guys are amazing to be writing for!

With that said there are a few things I feel the need to touch on with this author's note...and they are not going to be pretty things.

I'm sure any of you who have been to school (college, high school, ect) have had it drilled in your head what plagiarism is. If you don't know I will provide the definition here for you:

pla·gia·rize

verb \ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz also -jē-ə-\: to use the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own words or ideas

pla·gia·rized pla·gia·riz·ing

Full Definition of PLAGIARIZE

transitive verb

: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source

intransitive verb

: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

— pla·gia·riz·ernoun

As per Merriam Webster

Now as you see, I've cited MW so I'm not plagiarizing. Citing another author's work inside your own gets you off the hook when it comes to using another author's work without asking their express permission. So Riain, are we all plagiarizing Robert Kirkman's work when writing fanfiction? Unless he expressly forbids it (like JR Ward and others who if you read the ToS, have asked that we not use their characters) in writing with an attorney then no. Many of RK's ideas for the show have came from fan fiction authors, who get massive royalties for their work.

BUT...oh yes there is a but... say you love a phrase, paragraph, or even an entire chapter from one of my stories and you take it and use it as your own without citing me. That my friends is plagiarism. Why is it plagiarism if it's in a public domain? Because all of my writing somewhere within it is copyrighted, using that funky little "C" symbol. It may not show up on your reader side, but know that it is there when you go into my saved documents in the doc manager and on the original copies on my skydrive. I can prove at any time the work is mine and not for use without my express permission. We had a huge problem on here last year with people plagiarizing and it caused a lot of heartache for some writers, to the point they didn't post a thing on here for almost a year. Plagiarizing hurts folks, not just the reader but the writer as well. You may not think you're doing anything wrong, but trust me you are. Oh, don't forget to cite your co-writer as well, if you don't it can be considered plagiarism.

So please do you and me a favor and don't lift my work, it is illegal and I will hunt you down for it.

With that said...

Please folks, don't PM me asking how the story ends, or who dies or who gets bit ect. I'm not going to tell you. Remember it is "MY" story I am writing for "YOU" the fans. JK Rowling first decided in the drafts of The Deathly Hallows that she was going to kill Harry and Ron off, but since the readers loved the characters so, she decided against it and ended up not being happy with the story. Sure it made her millions of dollars, but she says today that she's not happy with the story because she couldn't write it the way she wanted to. Folks, if you're going to write a story, write it so "YOU" are happy with it, because you own it and your name will be attached to the story until the end of time.

I'm off my soapbox now, I plan on having Ch 14 done today sometime, and hopefully 15 up sometime this week. I have to write three pages of poetry for my CW class and I really loathe poetry.

Have a great day readers!

-Riain