Lilithana's P.O.V

I was able to make it to my home fairly quickly. Mostly because I was speed-walking, almost running. I wanted to get as far away from that place as possible. It only hurt. At some point, I was sure I started to cry and I only was able to tell because when I went to itch my cheek, it was soaked with tears.

Finally, I reached my little base. I turned the doorknob and walked in casually with a sigh when an axe flew past me, close to hitting me in the head.

"Don't come any closer!" A young male voice shouted. "I have more axes and don't think I'll miss next time!" He threatened.

I took a good quick at him. He wore glasses, had shaggy brown hair with green, possibly hazel, eyes. He wore a dark plain hoodie and a light green scarf. He reminded me of someone. He just looked familiar.

"Hey, I'm not here to cause any trouble." I lifted my arms to show that I held no weapons in my hands and to show that I was not hostile. "This was my hideout, I've stayed at this place for a long while now. I was just gone for the night."

The boy gave me a long look and then squinted slightly, still holding an axe in his hands ready to throw whenever. "So all the stuff here is yours?"

"Yes, it is." I went to take a step forward when he lifted the axe preparing to throw. "Hey, it's fine! We can share, I can give you some and you can be on your way."

The boy stayed silent and his eyebrows came closer together turning his expression to something like anger. Then his face softened and he almost looked sad. "I can't leave." He quietly spoke with hurt in his voice.

I looked at him with a curious expression. "Why's that?"

"Who I was with before," He began his story. "Aren't around anymore." His eyes glossed over and it was obvious he was holding back tears. "First my older brother left and never came back and then our parents," Finally a tear fell from his eye. "We were attacked and I was the only one who made it. I have nowhere else to go, I have no one around." His breathing became unsteady.

"Do you want to stay?" I asked calmly the boy who was obviously in so much pain, yet he seemed like he was a good person. He just slowly nodded at my question, finally putting the axe in his hands down. "You can stay."

Instead of smiling or showing happiness, his expression did not change. He still seemed so hurt, so hopeless.

I walked over to him slowly and he didn't seem scared anymore or ready to attack. He just looked at the floor in pain. "Hey," I touched his shoulder and stepped in his vision. I was shorter than him so I was easily able to put his attention on me. "What's your name?"

Through his unsteady breathing, sniffles, and tears he just wiped his face with his sleeves. He took a deep breath. "Matthew. My name is Matthew."

I smiled. "I'm Lilithana," I introduced myself. "But my friends call me Lily."

He smiled at me. "How old are you, Lily?" He asked with curiosity. "You look around my age. I'm 16."

"17." I returned his smile which seemed to calm him down. "Are you hungry, Matthew?"

He just nodded with his smile still on his face and adjusted his glasses. "Good," I patted his shoulder. "I have some canned food around here as well as some snacks. You're welcome to have anything you'd like." I walked over to where I kept the food pile and rummaged through the different things. I crouched down to get a better look at everything.

He came up next to me and crouched as well and helped me look through the stock. I took a quick look at him and studied his features. He looked so familiar.

"Matthew?" I asked and he hummed in response turning his head to look at me. "You said you have a brother right?"

"Yeah?" He answered slowly and curiously as he furrowed his eyebrows at me. "Why?"

"I'm just curious about something," I said. "What's his name?"

"His name is Lawrence."

...

Eugene's P.O.V

"Eugene, we need to go back-"

"Not yet, Harry." I interrupted his sentence. "I'm sure we're almost there. We'll find it. We'll find her."

"Eugene," Lawrence sighed. "Harry is right. We need to start heading back. It's going to get dark by the time we start heading back. We'd be lucky to make it back without a swarm of zombies trying to follow us."

I groaned in response. "I have to return this cap-"

"Why is it so important to you?" Lawrence became the one to interrupt me.

In all honesty, I didn't know why. I didn't know why this was important but I felt like I needed to do this. Like it was my mission, it was something I had to do and if I didn't I would mess something up. I'd mess everything up. "I don't know, Lawrence," I sighed in slight defeat. "It just is." I softly spoke.

For some reason, they seemed to collectively agree that we can look just a little longer. I almost wanted to camp out here just to continue the search in the morning but I knew that was not an option, especially with how strict Lawrence is.

"We're close," I assured the group. "I can feel it. I know it."

A couple of miles later, with a tired group behind me and adrenaline still going through me to explore and find Lily, the group finally stopped me. Someone had grabbed my arm to stop me from moving any further. "Hey!" I stumbled back towards the body. It was Ethan.

"Hey, we have to go." He spoke. "It's not safe."

"Just a little longer-" I begged when Lawrence interrupted me once again.

"We can't go any further Eugene," Lawrence strictly spoke. "She's not-"

Then there was a sound heard. Almost like a can being skipped across the ground.

"So, every time you leave you should be able to do that just for safety reasons. I've noticed they're sensitive to sound, so if you can distract them with an empty can, you should be able to quietly move past them." A familiar females voice spoke.

"Yeah, okay got it." An unfamiliar male voice then spoke.

"Lily?" I spoke under my breath walking towards the familiar voice. "Lily!" I spoke louder in hopes to get the attention of the source.

Then, Lily's head peaked through the door and her eyes widened in shock. "Eugene?"

...

Lilithana's P.O.V

"What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise yet I almost wasn't happy to see him. I fully walked out of the base to walk towards him. I noticed Matthew was slightly confused and still hid behind the door, most likely in fear.

Eugene opened the blue bag he had wrapped around his shoulder and took out the cap that I gave to Harry. "This is yours." He shrugged as if it wasn't important to him.

I slowly grabbed the cap from his hands. "You walked around a completely unfamiliar place," I began with pure curiosity. "To return this cap to me!"

He rolled his eyes. "You say it as if it's some giant gesture." He shrugged off the large gesture.

"Eugene," Lawrence sighed from behind him. "We're most definitely not going to make it back to the school in time now."

That voice seemed to cause my new friend to rush out of our camp and quickly walk to my side. "Lawrence?" He spoke in surprise and almost excitement.

"Matthew?" Lawrence's eyes widened at the sight of his younger brother who stood in front of him. Yet, he didn't seem as excited as Matthew.

"Lawrence!" Matthew jumped with happiness and ran towards his older brother and engulfed him in a hug. "I thought you were dead!" He spoke into Lawrence's embrace.

Lawrence remained in complete shock yet returned the hug with comfort. Matthew wasn't much shorter than Lawrence, but enough to see a difference.

Matthew then pulled away and looked intently at Lawrence. "Why didn't you come back? Where did you go? What happened?" Matthew quickly asked multiple questions.

Lawrence just sighed and chuckled awkwardly. He scratched the back of his neck. "That's a story for another time."

"It's been months since I've seen you, I need to know." Matthew almost demanded.

"Um," Lawrence coughed and went ahead to change the topic. "Where's mom and dad?"

Matthew then froze slightly and choked upon his words. "They," his voice cracked. "They're gone now."

Lawrence didn't seem sad or fazed about this information. "You're okay though?" He did seem genuinely concerned with this question.

Matthew nodded. "Lily was going to let me stay with her."

"No, you're coming with us," Lawrence spoke with a statement instead of asking for Matthew's opinion on the matter. He started to turn around already seeming to just try and leave.

"Wait," Matthew stopped Lawrence from turning around and caused Lawrence to hum in response to his brother's words. "I can't just leave Lily."

Eugene seemed to tense up with the words that Matthew spoke. I wasn't sure why that was his reaction but it mostly made me feel anxious.

"We're barely going to have enough food to feed you-"

"I have a lot of food," I spoke up without thinking before speaking. "I have lots of cans. And weapons. We can bring that." I proposed.

Eugene turned to look at me. For a split second, I thought I could see him have a relieved and happy expression, but it quickly disappear when the mask that was wrapped around his chin was lifted to cover his face. Then he looked away.

Lawrence sighed. "It's getting dark. Can we stay here for the night?" He asked.

I nodded excitedly knowing I'd finally have people to be around.

That I'd finally have Eugene to be around again. Something that I've been wanting to for so long. Despite the unfortunate circumstances and the anger and disappointment I held towards him, I couldn't help but still feel happy with the idea of being able to see him around.

"Follow me," I smiled at the group and lead them all inside mine and Matthew's little home.

A/N: is matthew out of character? yeah probs dont look at me like that