Author's Note: I really got nothing to say here that's different from the previous chapter. Thank you everyone for reading and have a good day.

Edit - Changed the AR - 15 to a M4 Carbine as it is more common among U.S. police units. Still going to call it a rifle even though it's a carbine, or a M4. I'll be swapping the terms out ambidextrously. Already changed it for previous chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or TWD as they belong to Microsoft/343 Industries and Skybound.

"Quotes."

"Radio Messages."

Thoughts and/or reading

The Woods

September 23, 1208 Hours, 2012

Cal and Danny prowled through the woods looking for the area for the bandit camp Danny talked about earlier. However, a near two hour search came with no results, that was until Cal spotted an object discoloring the leaf ridden forest floor. Picking up the object, she realized it was an eaten can of soup.

"Danny, have a look over here," she said, showing him the can. "Found this in the fork here. It's lower than the rest of the forest floor and looks like they both loop around to the same location. I think we're getting close," she told him.

"Good find," Danny replied, nodding his head. "Once we see'em, I'll let you take the first shot for what they did to ya."

"Noted. I want you to take the left route and I'll take the right. We'll use this path to encircle them. Move slowly, they could have traps or scouts watching and waiting," she said, cautioning him.

"Got it. Let's get these sons - of - bitches."

Slowing down to a crawl, they followed their sides of the path eventually ending up on two different sides of a camp. Danny looked to Cal who nodded and began pushing. Trading her rifle for her shotgun due to the decrease in distance, she raised it high, ready to kill.

Stalking their way onto the camp, they found it empty. Not satisfied, Cal pointed to Danny, raised a fist, then looped her index finger. Danny, confused by what this meant, shrugged his shoulders.

"Hold position and watch the perimeter. I'm going to check the tent," Cal whispered to him.

He nodded, noticing her wanting to stay as quiet as possible. Placing the barrel of her shotgun at the small opening in the tent, Cal moved in a hook formation, sweeping right to left. Finding no one currently occupying the tent, she held up an 'ok' sign to Danny, giving him the all clear.

"Well, no one's here. I'm sorry if you don't get your opportunity," Danny said, giving her his sympathy.

"Let's take a look around. There might be something here for us to identify who these guys are. Be attentive, give because no one is here right now doesn't mean we put our guards down."

"Got it. I'll take a look in these boxes," Danny told her.

Sighing, Cal got to work looking around at the other table. Two items of notability caught her attention. The first was a gas can, the other was a recording device of some kind. Picking up the gas can, she shook it to try and hear if it had anything left, and, unfortunately for her, it was empty. Placing it back onto the table, she then picked up the device and tried turning it on. When it failed to power on, she put it in her pocket, determining it might have useful intel.

"Danny, I found a recording device. It's dead though," she notified him.

"Oh… good," he stuttered, his voice becoming unclear for just a brief few milliseconds.

A normal person might not have noticed his differentiation in speech, but Cal was the last thing from normal. Sensing he may know about something on the device, her trust in him, and the St. John's as a whole, had a pocket.

"I'm going to search the tent. Keep your eyes on the perimeter while I'm in there," Cal reminded him. Opening the zipper door, she saw two sleeping bags laying on the ground with a stuffed animal on one of them. She gave a quick sigh and shook her head before continuing to look around.

A further investigation came up with a random lump under the larger sleeping bag. Lifting it up, she found a hat, and not just a random hat, but Clem's hat.

"Don't you think about making a fucking move," someone, a female most likely, ordered her.

"Don't you threaten my partner lady, I'll blow your brains out," Danny threatened her.

Dropping Clem's hat, Cal got up and raised her shotgun at the woman. "Put your weapon down," Cal ordered.

Ignoring her, the woman then spoke to Danny. "I know what you are, what you do, you're monsters."

Cal, using the woman's distractedness to her advantage, seized the chance to rush her. Grabbing the crossbow and easily pulling it out of the woman's hands, she then hit the woman across the face with the stock of her shotgun, knocking her out cold.

"Well, that's one way to handle a situation I guess," Danny commented. "You were pretty fast ya know. Before I even saw you, she was already falling to the ground. What do you want to do with her?"

She tossed the crossbow to Danny then picked up the woman and threw her over her shoulder. "I'm going to question her, find out what she knows," she stated coldly. Holstering her shotgun, she went back to the tent and grabbed Clem's hat before the two of them began to head back to the farm.

By the time they had gotten back to the farm, the weather had begun to get worse. Walking up to the gate of the property, she could see Kenny and Lilly fighting… again.

"They sure do fight a lot, don't they," Danny asked her, opening the gate.

"Yeah. They disagree on so many things that I Lee has to come in and cool them down while I take over leading, and with the current situation of low rations and morale, no one was willing to argue."

"I see. Hungry people don't always have the clearest of minds."

"Yeah well, I hope a proper meal after so long will help us start thinking straight. Anyways, I'm going to head to the barn, see if I can get some information out of loud mouth here," she said, adjusting the woman.

Danny started walking off back to the house. Looking over his shoulder, he told her, "Well good luck with that. I can't say how useful she'll be," before disappearing into the building.

Making her way to the barn she passed by Kenny and Lilly who continued to argue. Trying to ignore them for what felt like the tenth time that week, she couldn't stop herself from hearing what they said thanks to her augmentations.

"They're hiding something Lilly, behind that big ass door in the barn!" Kenny yelled.

Lilly, not shy from expressing her emotions, responded threateningly. "If you want to ruin it for yourself, fine, be my god damned guest! If it turns out you break their shit and it was nothing, I'm kicking your ass!"

"And I doubt Cal would be very happy with that, don't you think?"

Opening the door to the barn, Cal heard something that honestly surprised her. For once in her life, Lilly stayed silent, remembering the last time he got physical.

"I thought so. You should start doing that more, it would honestly be better for the group."

Entering the barn, Cal found a chair and set her guest on it. Grabbing some rope off of the wall, she bound her arms and legs to the chair. "Andy, could you go get me a bucket of water?" she asked the farmer.

The man, seeing no reason to question her, went and did as she asked. When he came back with a nearly full bucket, he asked her, "So, what's her story?"

"Found her in the woods. She may know something related to our bandit problem. You should get out, I doubt it will be pretty."

Andy chuckled nervously. "I'll take your word on that, seeing how you pulled an arrow out of your hand earlier today." When he walked out of the barn, it felt like a Scorpion was lifted off her shoulders.

"Katjaa, Duck, you two should also get out here for now."

"Alright Cal," Katjaa said with a worried look on her face. "Come on Duck, let's go get ready for dinner."

"Dinner? Awesome!" Duck exclaimed being none the wiser.

"Should I leave too Cal?" Clem asked her.

"Not yet Clem. I have something very important I want to give to you. Close your eyes and don't open them until I say so." Doing as she was told, Clem kept her eyes closed, waiting to see what Cal had for her. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out Clem's hat. "Go ahead and open your eyes now."

Opening her eyes, Clem saw Cal holding the hat her dad gave her. "My hat! Where'd you find it?" Clem asked happily, taking it from Cal's hand.

Cal pointed to the woman she brought inside. "She did. Do you recognize her at all?"

Clem took a good long look at her, joggling through her memories trying to see if she did. "No."

"Ok. Go on inside, I'll meet you there."

After Clem left the barn, Cal closed the door, leaving herself and the woman the only occupants. Grabbing the bucket, she splashed some of the water onto the woman, waking her up from the improvised 'shock therapy'.

"What's your name?" Cal asked, not giving her a chance to think about her current situation.

Cal only got a sarcastic reply, one that she wouldn't tolerate a second time. "Wha- what? Ohh ho ho, it's you. You think you can just ask me questions, don't ya?"

"Listen, if you want to live, you're going to answer. I'll chop that up to being a fluke, but you don't get another chance," Cal replied calmly. "If you want to be on your way, then all you have to do is cooperate. So I'm asking again, what is your name?"

"It's Jolene. There, you happy now?"

"Quite. What were you doing in that camp alone? Where's the rest of the bandits?"

The woman chuckled. "I… killed them. They told me it would be safe with them, but it weren't safe. So I killed them!"

"So, Jolene, if you weren't with them, then who was it that shot me?"

"I wasn't me, that's for damn sure! I killed them ALL after they took my daughter from me. They dragged her into the forest and she never came back. I begged and begged and begged them to tell me where she was and they just laughed."

"Well since I guess you're not part of the group that attacked us, I have another question for you." Pulling out the recording device she found at the camp, she held it out for Jolene to see. "What's on here?"

"A confession," Jolene vaguely answered.

"A confession about what?"

"If you wanna find out, you gotta find some batteries."

Not accepting that as an answer, Cal kicked one of Jolene's shins. The impact easily broke the bone causing her to yell in pain. This clearly alerted someone, as a few seconds later, someone knocked on the barn door.

"Hey, what's going on in there?!" a muffled voice asked.

Cal opened the door to see who it was outside. She would consider herself lucky to see that it was Kenny who came knocking. Kenny gave her an odd look before leaning to see beyond her. He then saw Jolene tied to a chair with blood coming down a crushed leg.

It took a moment but Kenny finally caught on to what Cal was doing. "Is she with the group that attacked you guys this morning?"

Shaking her head, she gave him a bittersweet response. "No, but she knows something I don't. Earlier, when Danny and I found her camp, I found this recording device." Showing him the device in her hand, he took a look at it before determining Cal was onto something.

"So what do you suspect she knows?"

"Something about the St. John's that we don't. When I found this, Danny was hesitant for a moment when I tried using it. No one does that when a random device is just found with someone else's stuff."

"So you suspect them too huh? I'm not sure what it is about these people, but I'm paranoid Cal. When you went out looking for that camp, I took a look around and heard something behind that door," Kenny informed her, pointing to the door on the other side of the barn. "I haven't been able to get it open since it's locked and nearly under constant watch by Andy."

Cal thought for a moment, deciding what she wanted to do. "Ok, let me finish up here then I'll get that door open. I trust you Kenny. If you suspect there's something behind it that they're hiding, I'll find it."

"Thanks Cal, I can always count on you to have my back. Ever since Hershels, you've done good by me. I'll head on back and tell'em that your little personal venture is taking longer than you expected, should be enough to keep them off you for a while."

"Appreciated Kenny. I'll let you know what I find."

Heading back to the house in preparation for dinner, Kenny left Cal to her own devices. Cal shut the barn door and got back to work. Jolene by now was in and out of consciousness from the pain in her leg. Grabbing the bucket again, Cal splashed the rest of the water on the woman, bringing her back to life.

Grabbing Jolene's jaw and forcing her to look at Cal, she asked another question. "Since you don't want to cooperate on the previous matter, how about when you talked to Danny and called him a monster. What did you mean by that?"

"I mean what I said," Jolene replied with malice in her voice.

"Elaborate."

Jolene laughed asking Cal, "Don't you know? These people are monsters. You want to know what they do? They eat people. Every night there's the screams of the damned coming from this cursed place. These people are no better than the undead."

Cal's eyes opened wide. In all her time of serving, she had run into everything from fanatical insurrectionists to the most genocidal of the covenant, but she had never experienced cannibals. Rushing to the other side of the room, she gripped the lock holding the doors shut and ripped it off. Yanking the doors open, she saw a sight that reminded her of what happened to cornered Marines. Several bodies of bandits that she had shot earlier in the day were stacked in a corner with their limbs missing and blood soaking every inch of the room.

Oh god this is sick. I'm ending these motherfuckers! she thought angrily.

Tying up loose ends, she quickly disposed of Jolene by a swift punch to the throat. Charging out of the barn, she brought her rife to bear. Not even caring to be stealthy, Cal kicked the door, sending it flying off of its hinges. Going in, she rounded the corner to the dining hall and aimed her rifle at the St. John's.

The sound got everyone's attention as they were staring at Cal coming in looking like she would kill anything that even breathed. "Get your hands behind your heads and face the wall!" Cal ordered the trio.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what's going on? Cal, are you out of your damn mind?!" Lilly accused.

"Of course she has Lilly. She's pointing a weapon at our good hosts like a lunatic!" Larry stated.

"Everyone, stand up and get behind me. These people are cannibals," Cal coldly informed them.

"Hey now, there's gotta be some sorta misunderst - BANG" Andy tried saying but was cut off.

"Andy NOOOOO!" Brenda shouted.

The sound of a shot from Cal's rifle rang out, striking the man in the forehead. If Cal didn't nail the message in before, she did now. Everyone jumped up, in both fear and anger.

"Everyone else get out of the house now, that is a FUCKING order!" Cal ordered them, her voice laced with enough venom to stop a Jiralhanae in its tracks. The group, not wanting to mess with their residential behemoth, did as they were told.

Brenda and Danny began to do as Cal said. Placing their hands behind their heads, they started to back up against the wall. It was then Danny did something stupid. Trying to be a hero to save his mom from the big bad soldier, he quickly reached behind his pants.

BANG. Another shot rang out dropping Danny on the spot. Now having both of her children be shot dead, Brenda collapsed to her knees. Finishing the job, Cal put the muzzle of her rifle against the cannibal woman's head and pulled the trigger. BANG. Once her lifeless body hit the floor, Cal searched the three of them for any weapons they had. Finding a single Glock 17 on Danny's corpse, she put it in her holster deciding she would keep it.

Walking outside, no one said a word as she passed by them. "Let's go," was all she simply said. Her twelve companions followed her without asking a single question as they marched through the woods making their way home.

On their way back through the path from whence they came, Cal eventually heard a noise that stuck out amongst all of the night time ambience. She held her bandaged fist up, getting everyone to stop before waving downwards and crouching.

A concerned Kenny came up to Cal and asked her, "What is it? Do you hear something?"

Cal nodded and held her hand back, letting everyone know to stay put. Crawling closer to the source of the noise, she could determine that it was a rhythmic beeping. Finally getting close to the noise, and put her back to a rock and took a peek. She saw a red vehicle with its lights on and two front doors open.

Raising her rifle, she stood up and stalked her way to the car. Taking a look inside showed two very different results. The first of which was that there were no people and the other was the trunk full of supplies.

"It's all clear," she called out to her group. "It's an abandoned vehicle, but there's a ton of supplies in the back."

The twelve others came up and joined her at the car. Holstering her rifle, she used her elbow and easily broke through the rear windshield and unlocked the trunk. Opening it, everyone couldn't believe how many supplies there were.

"We need these supplies," Lilly declared.

"But we can go without them. What if this car isn't so abandoned and the person who owns it comes back only to find we robbed them?" Lee asked with a worried look plastered on his face.

Cal placed a hand on his shoulder. "Lee, now's not the time to be a moralist. It pains me just as much, if not worse than you about having to steal someone else's supplies, but we need them."

Kenny grabbed the first box and passed it to Doug who was standing right behind him. "You have a good grip?" he asked.

"Yeah. I still can't believe we found this. I mean… with this we're virtually saved," Doug said with a big smile on his face.

Cal stood by as the others continued to loot the car, making sure to watch the area around them. Feeling someone tugging at her leg, she looked down to see Clem.

"Cal, are we stealing these from other people?" she innocently asked.

Cal sighed. "Yes, we are Clem. But don't worry, whoever was here has probably run off and was forced to leave it all behind so it's ours now." She hated lying to the girl she was spending so much time to protect, but if she could shield Clem from anything that could do her harm, she would.

"Alright folks, it looks like that's it. Hey Cal, I found you some batteries for that camcorder you have and a sweater that might fit Clementine," Kenny told her.

Getting up, she took the pair of items from the man. Putting the sweater on Clem first, they found that it was a perfect fit. "Good, you'll stay warm in this. Just make sure not lose it, I don't want you getting sick when winter approaches," Cal said, giving Clem a light smile.

She only got a quiet, saddened response. "Ok."

Knowing that would be the best she would get, Cal didn't push the issue. Looking back to her pretty happy group, she nodded to them and continued heading home.

Macon, Georgia

November 16, 1053 Hours, 2012

Three weeks had passed since the events of the diary farm. The food they had found from the car disappeared faster than they had hoped, being forced to make trips back to Macon in search of anything left.

Cal and Kenny walked through the empty streets of what was left of Macon. Cal decided Kenny was worthy enough to use her rifle while she held out her shotgun. Their objective was to search for what remained inside the pharmacy, if anything.

"So, what did you find on that camcorder you found a while ago? You've yet to tell us," Kenny asked, making conversation.

Cal shrugged. "Nothing useful. More or less just Jolene being crazy. It doesn't matter now."

"That's a shame. I thought it would have shown us something about those bandits that have been harassing us for weeks now ever since you killed the dairy farmers."

"Yeah, that would have been pretty nice. If I still had all my military assets available I could track them down and destroy it within the week. But," she said, looking at a crashed VTOL, "I don't think there's a military left."

"That reminds me. What was your time in the service like?" Kenny asked curiously. "You've barely talked about it, and when you have, it's short, vague descriptions."

"I guess there's no point in keeping it a secret from you guys any longer. I'll tell you when we get back to the motel otherwise we'd be out here longer than we need to be."

And with no UNSC, I guess I just have to be straightforward with them. I'll have to leave the child soldier part out though, can't risk anything breaking morale.

"Well whenever you feel like talking about it just know, no matter what comes out of your mouth, I'm on your side."

"Yeah I know Kenny. You've told me a dozen times already."

Kenny chuckled. "Hey, I'm just trying to make sure ya know?"

They passed by the entrance to the drug store. Ever since the military tried to retake Macon and lost, debris from their abandoned equipment blocked several routes.

Coming up on the wrecked eighteen wheeler truck they typically climb, Cal kept remembering a line drilled into her by Chief Mendez. It doesn't matter what the situation looks like, there's always a way around it!

Kenny holstered the rifle and climbed the ladder. As he got to the top, it broke off the trailer, catching him off guard. He quickly grabbed into the roof of the trailer before it detached completely and crashed onto the floor with a loud DING.

The two of them were silent and motionless for a minute. Their eyes scanned the area around them in case any zombies heard the noise. After a minute of waiting and nothing coming to check out what happened, Kenny let out a sigh of relief.

"Got a plan on how to get up here? It's pretty high, probably even for you," Kenny teased Cal.

"Oh yeah? Catch," she said, tossing her shotgun up to him.

After catching the weapon, Kenny looked at Cal, wondering what kind of voodoo magic she'd use this time. The Spartan in question backed up before taking off in a sprint towards the trailer. Once she got about a foot and a half away, she jumped up halfway then planted a boot onto the side of the trailer. Using the friction between her boot and the trailer, she pushed herself upwards, easily grabbing onto the top of the trailer. After climbing up, she took her shotgun back from Kenny.

"Honestly, I'm not even surprised that you managed to do that kind of stuff anymore. Lilly's been bitching her head off to me about you because of everything you can do, but the way I see it, fuck her," he said nonchalantly.

Cal firmly nodded. "I've got to agree there. Ever since the diary farm she and Larry could not stop complaining about how much I messed up and how everything is my fault. The way I see it, I'm just going to kick them out soon because they're just tearing the group apart."

"My question is why haven't you done that already?" Kenny asked.

"Because they were useful up until about… three weeks ago."

Kenny smirked at that one. "And this is why you're more or less in charge."

Cal jumped off the roof of the trailer and made her way into the back entrance of the pharmacy. Not one to fall behind, Kenny went in after her. In the pharmacy, they started filling their backpacks with whatever food and medicine they could find that hadn't already been taken.

Halfway through their ventures, they heard gunshots and a person screaming outside for help. The sudden noise startled Kenny who knocked over a shelf causing a loud THUD.

Cal got up and looked outside. She saw a woman out in the street wielding a pistol and yelling for help. "There's a woman out there," she told Kenny. "She's in danger of being overrun."

Kenny scowled at this. "Cal, I wish we could help her, but we have to use her as a distraction to grab more stuff. Even though you're effectively superman, if she's on the verge of dying, there's nothing that neither you nor I could do. We have to keep going and make it back to the group."

Cal maintained the internal conflict of whether to help her or not. A few seconds of weighing the odds, she had to agree with Kenny. They continued grabbing supplies, drowning out the woman's cries for help. Nearing the end of their search, the woman's screams when silent. Shaking her head at the loss, Cal continued filling her bag.

BANG. Another gunshot suddenly went off, this time, from within the store. "Kenny, you alright?" Cal asked through the shelves.

"Yeah, yeah I'm alright. Fucker just snuck up on me while I was grabbing some food. That gunshot will draw them here so hurry up," he warned.

Making her way down the last three isles, she was almost done loading her bag with the supplies. Several thuds against the door warned them that the zombies were near. Grabbing the last item, she went to the back of the room and waited for Kenny.

The door burst open and zombies started trickling in as Kenny finally appeared from around the corner. Taking out her pistol, she fired two rounds directly behind him, killing zombies getting the closest. Once he passed by her and climbed out through a hole, Cal holstered her pistol and dove through it. A few seconds went by while they were dusting themselves off when rotting arms began reaching through, stupidly trying to reach them.

"That was a close one," Kenny remarked.

"For you, maybe. Let's get back to the motel, I'm sure the others will like to see what we got on probably our last trip," Cal heavily suggested.

Running off down the street, they made their way down Peachtree, more than ready to get back home.

Macon, Georgia

November 16, 1053 Hours, 2012

Arriving back at the motel, the arrows stuck in the wall was a reminder of just how desperate things had really gotten. Mark was on watch and his face showed that of someone on the verge of giving up. Entering their degrading compound, Kenny tossed Cal her M4 back then the both of them went to Lee's quarters.

On their way across the renovated parking lot, Clem ran over to them. "You're back!" she said in excitement.

Cal looked at Kenny, motioning him to go ahead of her. "Yeah. How are you doing Clem?"

"I'm good. I got Ben and Travis to play some soccer with me. It was really fun."

"That's nice Clem. I need to go talk to Lee about what we found so I'll see you in a minute ok?"

"Ok," Clem replied with a smile.

Kenny knocked on the door until Lee came out and greeted them. Kenny handed over his backpack, and when Cal joined them, handed hers over too. Taking the bags, Lee opened them and sorted out the various items each of them were able to find.

"You guys found a lot of stuff. I'm proud of you two," Lee complimented.

"Thanks. Ever since you were put in charge of food, you've been handling it much better than Lilly ever did. I'm just surprised that we go through our supplies so fast though," Kenny said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lee responded. "Every morning when I do tally on what we have left, there's something missing. Now, I don't know if someone's getting up in the middle of the night to have more than their fair share, but we need to stop this," Lee warned them.

Cal crossed her arms. "What's been going missing?"

Resting his hand on his chin, Lee thought about it. "Typically it's sweets, chocolate, flavored bars, things like that in terms of food. For medicine, the list is longer. We're looking at antibiotics, oxy, morphine, anything that can count as an opioid."

"This is why I'm saying we have to leave, it's not safe here anymore," Kenny suggested. Sighing, he then asked, "Have any clues or ideas on where to start?"

"All I've got is a broken flashlight that Doug brought to me." He pulled it out from underneath the bed, showing them the broken item. "He said he found it in the trash which I thought was impossible. You know how we typically fix up any equipment that gets damaged?" They nodded. "Somebody used this and broke it, and they didn't want anyone to know."

Kenny was the first to make an assumption. "My bets are on Lilly. You know how she's a total mess right now?"

"Hold on Kenny, we can't just go pointing fingers," Lee reminded him. "Why don't you go take a break, Cal can take this one."

"Alright," Kenny said nodding. "Cal, make sure you find the fucker who's behind this so I can wring their neck." Walking off to his family, he left Lee and Cal alone.

Lee handed Cal her backpack and started closing the door. "Good luck," he said to her.

Taking a deep breath, Cal thought, First I have to worry about Lilly and Larry arguing with Kenny, now I have to deal with a damn traitor! If this can get any worse, I'd rather just have the Covenant show up. It would give me something to do instead of internal investigations.

Deciding to get some comfort before starting her investigation, she walked over to Clem. Sitting down next to the girl, she looked at the activity Clem was doing. "What're you working on there Clem?"

"It's called a leaf rubbing. My teacher, Mrs. Moore, showed us how to do it when we visited the Botanical Gardens on a field trip." She held up the half - finished paper next to the leaf she was drawing and showed Cal the similarities.

"That's pretty good Clem, keep up the hard work. I'll show you some interesting things I can do later."

"Really? Why not now?"

"Because someone in our group has been doing bad things, and I've been assigned to find out who."

"Oooooh ok. I'll help out any ways I can," Clem said with dedication.

"I know you will Clem. You, Lee, and Kenny are the three people I trust most in here, but don't let anyone else know that," she joked. "Anyways, I have to solve this investigation. I'll talk to you once I'm done, ok?"

With a smile, Clem nodded to Cal before going back to her leaf rubbing.

She's a good kid. Cal thought. If anyone tries to hurt her, I'll break their hand and shove it up their ass. Good thing I was raised for war. Without Chief Mendez, I don't know where I'd be in life.

Looking around the parking lot of the motel, Cal looked up and down until something interesting caught her eye. Underneath the gate, there was a scuff mark of pink colored chalk. Pushing the gates open, she drew her pistol, ready to intervene in any unwanted affairs.

Taking a look around outside, she spotted someone crouched down, trying to put a ventilation grate over something. "Don't move," she ordered the person. They stopped what they were doing and looked over to her, revealing their identity.

"Ben? Oh you stupid fucking kid, you really fucked up."

"I - I - uhh…" He didn't get a chance to explain himself before Cal pistol whipped him, knocking him unconscious.

Holstering her pistol, she inspected the grate and found a brown paper bag inside. Opening the bag, she found it held several bottles of medicine and deserts. Stuffing it into her backpack, she then picked Ben up and hoisted him over her shoulder. Carrying him inside, she received several stares with one individual running up to ask her something.

"What happened to Ben? Is he ok?" Travis asked, concerned for his friend.

"He won't be here in a minute Travis. I just caught him putting a bag of our supplies outside the wall, most likely for someone to pick up at night."

Travis tried to defend his friend. "What?! No, there's no way he would do that."

"I'm sorry to say Travis, but he did. Now he's going to be punished for it, so if you'll excuse me." Walking away from the teenager, she shook her head. Heading to Lee's room, she knocked on his door. Once it opened, she walked in the room. "I found our thief," she bluntly told him, placing Ben on the bed.

"Ben's the one who's been stealing from us?" Lee asked, shocked. "I would have never suspected him, but still, thank you Cal. Now how do you think we should go about punishing him?"

"Simple. We kill him."

This made Lee open his mouth and stare at her in utter disbelief. "What do you mean we kill him?!"

"When I was in the service, treason against the country was punished by death as you were aiding the enemy."

Lee opened his mouth to argue, but couldn't find himself a way to defend Ben's life. Here, Cal had caught their thief in record time and she made a good argument for what she wanted to do with him.

"Is there anything I can say that would change your mind?" he begged.

"Nope. He's a traitor who stole our supplies and handed them off to whoever he was working with. No punishment less than death is equal to what he did."

Lee sighed, giving up in trying to give Ben a lighter punishment.

"If you don't want to see it, I suggest you head outside Lee. I'll make sure it's as quick and bloodless as possible."

Listening to Cal, he went outside so as to not observe the boy's execution. Slapping him across the face, she woke him up. Upon coming too, he mumbled and questioned what he was doing inside someone's room. Cal, not wasting any time, covered his face with a pillow, placed her pistol over it, and shot him in the head. After the deed was done, Lee came back inside looking away from Ben's lifeless body.

"So, I guess it's done," he said, saddened by how it turned out.

"YOU MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIVES!" someone shouted outside.

Looking through the window, Lee and Cal saw that a group of men were holding their group hostage.

"Shit," Cal said. Taking out her M4, she handed it to Lee. "Head around back and get upstairs, I'll cause a distraction. Once you're ready, take the first shot. I'll be right behind you."

Opening the door, Cal walked outside with her hands raised and walked towards the bandits.

"Don't you move another step asshole!"

"Easy, easy. We don't want any trouble," Cal replied.

"Oh yeah? Well it's too late for that missy!"

"Look, we can renegotiate a deal," she offered.

"No, you had your chance. Now we might as well kill you and take everything. I'll start first by taking that gear of yours!"

"Ok, ok." Taking off her shotgun, she put it on the ground and kicked it halfway between her and the bandits. She then took her helmet off, letting her hair fall down to her shoulders.

The bandit leader whistled. "Wow, look at you. Ya know what? Give us double of what you've been giving us, as well as hand yourself over to us!"

"Done, just let them go and I'll come with you," she told him.

"Not until you hand us a bag full - BANG" The sound of Lee firing her M4 gave her the signal.

Drawing her pistol before the bandit even hit the ground, Cal opened fire on the others. After firing four rounds with each one dropping the bandits, the others ran as the screams of more came out of the forest.

The bandits began opening fire on the motel. Cal quickly grabbed her shotgun and helmet before running behind the R.V. for cover. Kenny came running around and threw open the door to the vehicle.

"Cal, kill these assholes while I start the R.V. We need to get the hell outta here!"

"Consider it done, just get it going," she told him as he ran inside.

Peeking around the rear of the R.V., she could see four bandits had some inside the walls. Doug tried running for it but was shot and fell to the ground, injured. One shot at her but missed before another took a shot at those behind cover in the open. Aiming her pistol, she fired, easily hitting the untrained bandits.

Carly, Travis, and Mark ran over to Doug, picked him up, and quickly brought him inside the R.V. Heading to the other side, she saw Clem pinned down with Katjaa, Duck, Lilly, and Larry. Out of the four bandits, she was able to kill three before the fourth was snuck up on by a zombie and promptly mauled to death.

"Move, now!" she yelled to them.

Clem was the first to cross, quickly jumping into the R.V. Katjaa sent Duck across next, but this was miscalculated as a stray bullet hit the boy in the head, killing him. Katjaa was sent into a panic as she ran across and grabbed her son's body. Kenny came running out of the R.V., grabbed his wife, and brought them inside, tears forming in his eyes.

Lilly ran across next, but when she made it to the R.V., Cal grabbed her by her shirt and threw her away from the R.V. "You're not coming with us you crazy bitch!"

Larry came running at Cal. "What the fuck do you thi - BANG." The sounds of Cal's pistol going off signaled the end of Larry as a 9mm bullet passed through his head.

"NOOOOOOO!" Lilly cried.

Cal then looked up at Lee. "Lee! Get your ass down here we're leaving!"

Lee jumped the railing, dropping Cal's M4 in the fall. Running over to him, she picked both him and her rifle before getting into the R.V. and shutting the door. Kenny floored the gas and drove them away, running over bandits and zombies alike. In one fell swoop, they had just lost the place they called home.

Author's Note: Now, I'm fully aware that there will be some controversy over this chapter, most likely due to deaths. Also, if any of you found the motel part a little lacking, I wrote it in a rush to keep up with my calendar, so apologies if it's not up to par with the other three sections.