Falling into the Undead

Chapter Two

Look What I Found

This is the chapter that is missing!

I don't know how my stuff got mixed around but chapters two and three did. I'm so sorry!

For those of you who didn't know who that character was this is the chapter that clears it up!

Supposed we get a bonus chapter this week due to my mess up :D

I wanna find a home

and I wanna share it with you

-Hello, my ole Heart by The Oh Hellos

The next morning Remington found she didn't sleep as well as she normally would have. Any sign of noise had her startling awake, finding the dogs already alert and staring at the wall opposite them. It made her feel paranoid, knowing that there was probably one on the other side of the wall. If it had been human, she was sure whomever it was would have tried venturing over when they heard sounds of other people. Whether for good or bad intention she didn't know, so for now, she was only glad it was one of the undead. They were predictable, and humans, Remington knew from her old favorite show, were far more dangerous.

As soon as light crept through the curtains Remington was up and taking inventory of what they had. She stole from the snack bar, which typically would have cost a small fortune to eat from back before the undead and was now free for her to take. There were bottles of water, soda, and juice, along with peanuts, chips, and various other snack food. It filled the backpack she had brought with that held her laptop and charger. Unfortunately, she had decided to take it out and leave it when they did decide to go. No longer was it useable. Even if they had electricity, she wouldn't want to waste the power on something useless like that. She did, however, bring the tablet and her phone. Both would do her daughter some good until the batteries died, and if she were honest would be easier to find a way to charge. At least for her phone, all she would have to do was find another battery that fit it and hope it still held a charge.

That was the plan and they both took up little space, so she felt it was okay to talk herself into keeping them. Next, she had planned on finding containers to keep water in. Water would be an issue she was sure in the future. With the taps still flowing she figured the apocalypse was only a couple of weeks in, a month shy, as things tended to stop running by themselves around that time.

Remington wasn't sure if she was just dropped into her own world where the apocalypse happened, because she was sure she had to have been dropped, there had been no Walkers the night they had fallen asleep in the hotel, or if she had somehow fallen into The Walking Dead. Neither made her feel better about the situation. She was all alone, now solely responsible for keeping her daughter alive, and from being eaten. It terrified her.

It had caused her to want to buckle underneath the weight of the knowledge on her shoulders, but that wasn't an option in her mind. She hadn't survived everything thrown at her recently to roll over and die now.

Even though all she wanted was her father's advice, Remington took steps forward without it. It would be smart to pack their car full of supplies before they left.

The map was first on her list, and thankfully an item she knew where to find. She had seen one on the front desk when searching the day before. That left her only to find more food, any kind of medicine they may end up needing, and water. Those were her top priorities. Well, that and weapons of any kind. Remington knew she wouldn't get far without something better to kill the Walkers with. Just evading them wouldn't be good enough in the long run. She was hoping to find a gun, but only for emergencies. Loud noises weren't smart, so she'd be fine with settling for a knife until she could find a crossbow or compound bow. Remington owned one of each but had sent that ahead of them in the moving van. Something she had dabbled in, finding it fascinating, but never had had the time to put any real effort into getting good at. Now, she regretted that decision. For sending them ahead, and not practicing more.

Glancing over at where her daughter was sleeping, both dogs on either side of her, Remington wondered what she was going to do with Maisie today. It wouldn't be smart to take her with, especially if she were to run into one of them, but her anxiety about leaving her alone once more had her freezing in fear. It didn't matter that Maisie was obviously afraid from yesterday. Remington wasn't even sure she would be willing to stay by herself this time, even with her tablet. Grabbing a piece of beef jerky, she opened the wrapper to eat it. Unless she found more food, she wouldn't allow herself more than one other piece before bed.

Having put together the plan for the day Remington moved to wake up Maisie. Breaking the news to the girl would probably go over better if she ate first. She had a bottle of juice, a banana, and a muffin for the girl to eat. The small amount of fruit they had was needing to be eaten fast before it went bad.

Maisie moaned and complained, temporarily forgetting where they were, as her mother prodded her awake. Little arms waved up into the air silently asking to be carried. Remington obliged, grabbing the girl, and pulling her onto her hip.

"I've got a banana, and a muffin for you," she whispered as blue eyes blurrily popped open. "And a bottle of orange juice. Isn't that yummy?"

"Yes, momma," she said, but as her eyes lost the glaze of sleep the girl seemed to realize where they were. Remington, herself, had a revelation. Knowing she would need to have a talk with the girl about what was going on. The girl loved her video games before this, knowing what zombies were due to the YouTube videos her cousins would watch around her, so the concept wouldn't be completely lost on her. However, she didn't want to do it until after she came back from scavenging. Wanted her to stay calm, and not be full of fear while she was gone.

Handing out the food Remington watched as she ate. The girl kept eyeing her discreetly, but she caught it every time.

"Are you leaving again momma?"

"Yeah, baby," she said with a tight smile. "Mommy has to get some things for us. You'll be fine with Nala. Stay in the room like before, and you can color while I'm gone. Mommy will try to be quick."

"All right, mommy."

․° °․

Finding the map was the easiest thing she did. It caused her the least amount of courage to do, as she once again had an easy time making her way to the lobby. Shoving the map into her purse, the only bag left for her to shove things into, after she had emptied it of everything not useful, moved on to her next part of the plan. This one was harder and completely relied on the hotel having a generator, or a crowbar. She needed to build their supplies and planned on taking them from the rooms of the other residents.

Deciding the next place, she needed to get to, was wherever the manager stayed, it would be where she could find a list, hopefully, of which rooms were being used, and maybe a map of the hotel. She was sure if there was a generator it would be in the basement, and would be her next destination, but the mere thought of going down into a dark creepy place was off-putting. Like never before she wished that she weren't alone, that someone else would have her back in case something went wrong.

Ransacking the manager's office had been easy but left her with little knowledge she had gone looking for. She would need to just pick rooms at random or go through every one of them to figure out whether those would be occupied or not. There had been no list, probably kept on the computer. She was forced to go about it the hard way, which only left her to check the basement. The fear running through her body was crazy. It shook her bones, forcing her muscles to tense, and a cold sweat to break out over her brow.

As she stared down into the pitch black of the basement Remington thought of how she had never truly been afraid of the dark, only what was in it. Now, knowing that nightmares existed, that something scary truly could be hiding in the dark, only made it worse for her. That fear she felt was one hundred times worse than what she had ever felt before. Those moments in the past, where her mind would come up with something crazy, where it would freeze her body for just a moment before she took off running, had nothing on this. She felt like a small child again. Like she had just watched a scary movie, knowing she hadn't been allowed to and was now imagining the creature from the movie staring at her from the closet.

Having Pixel by her side didn't help comfort her like it would have done in the past. Instead, she had to force past the thoughts of fear, to think about why she was doing this, and why it was needed. She thought of every horror movie she had ever watched, reminded herself what they did wrong, what they did right, and more importantly, Remington thought of what they did in the Walking Dead. It would be smart to figure out if something was down there first before walking in blind. Her only weapon was still the bat, but it was solid, and that was all she needed.

With all that planning Remington knew she would need to find a flashlight, something to produce light, and realized she would have to use up some of the battery of her phone. It held the only source of light she had.

Pulling it from her purse that was slung over her back she was quick to turn it on before searching the area for something to throw down into the dark. All that she had found was a book, something she hoped would make enough noise to draw anything's attention down there, but from nowhere else. So far things looked clear, and she had been lucky enough only to hear those creatures shuffling behind closed doors, but it didn't mean there wasn't any she had caught the attention of yet roaming free in the hotel. Remington knew it had to become a part of her checklist, making sure the hotel didn't have any nasty surprises for when she finally let Maisie out. She couldn't keep the little girl locked up in that room for forever, but continuing to put it off, to keep her safe just a day longer, kept her from going insane with worry. So, until the hotel was safe, and she had a conversation about the new dangers in their life, Maisie and Nala were tucked safely away.

Glancing down at Pixel she gave the dog a tight smile. He stood beside her, his muscles tense as he stared up at her, waiting for a signal.

"All right, boy," she said. "Let's see if anything is down there." She shoved any fear, those feelings of horror that would lock up her body and get her killed, deep down inside her mind to be let loose later in the safety of the hotel room. For now, this would be how she dealt with everything. At the moment she wouldn't be allowed to properly react, she could compartmentalize later when the danger was gone.

Picking up the book she tossed it down into the darkness. Her phone was clutched tightly into her hand, ready for her to use at a moment's notice. Several minutes crept by with no sounds of growling, or the undead shuffling around.

"Well, boy," she muttered. "I guess we did what we could. Now we just need to go down there." Taking a hesitant step forward she made sure Pixel was behind her, not wanting him to get hurt if she had been wrong. Clicking on her phone she glanced at the battery life, twenty percent, and hoped it wouldn't take long to find, or not find, the generator. The darkness swallowed them the lower they went. Thoughts of creatures hiding in the dark, ready to drag her away, tried to flood her thoughts. Reaching out she grazed the fur of Pixel, knowing someone else was nearby, even a dog, was comforting.

The basement was cold and damp, but it didn't hold that stinging smell that burned her nostrils. It was a good sign, and she took it with positivity. Pixel stayed calm at her side, showing no signs that there was something down here with them.

Searching the basement didn't take long, it wasn't as big as the hotel was, and with excitement, Remington found what she was looking for. The generator. The machine was daunting but after carefully looking it over she found where the gas went. Opening it up she found that it had under half a tank, but if she turned everything off except for a few things, keeping it going for two days, long enough to open the rooms that didn't sound like it had a snarling Walker behind it. She felt happier than before as she began to work at turning it on.

In the end, it only took her an hour to get it turned on, and another twenty minutes to figure out how to keep everything off except what she wanted. By an hour and a half, she was back in the room checking on Maisie. The girl was still coloring, Nala at her feet carefully watching the door.

"What did you draw there, honey?" she asked, as she sat down on the bed next to her.

"Our family!" she said happily. "You, me, Pixel, and Nala." Remington looked closer seeing something in the background that the girl had left out.

"What's that?"

"Hm," she said as she stopped coloring in the sky. "That's a zombie." Remington stiffened. It could have just been something from before, she had an overactive imagination, and it wouldn't have been the first-time zombies and been brought up by the girl. However, with everything going on Remington was less inclined to think that way.

"You did really good with it," she said, trying to ease into it. Not wanting the preschooler to think she was upset. It was a quick way of getting the girl to shut down. "Why did you add it? Any reason."

Maisie stared up at her mom, her crayon mid-bird, as she shrugged a little. "I don't know." It wasn't a good enough answer, Remington was worried she may have looked out the window and seen something. And she needed to know if there were any stalking around outside.

"Mommy isn't mad," she said after a moment of silence. Tugging the girl into her arms she watched as the crayon fell onto the comforter of the bed. "She's got something she needs to talk to you about."

"Hm?"

"You see, mommy has been running around for a reason. Outside is different now. It's not safe for mommies or Maisie's. I know you know what Zombies are." The little girl stiffened in her arms but nodded. Remington began to run her fingers calmingly through her hair. "I want you to be safe, and I never planned on keeping anything from you, but if you happened to look outside and saw something, that's all right. I'm not mad. You just have to tell mommy. So that we can stay safe."

Maisie buried her face into Remington's shirt, clutching tightly at the material.

"I saw a scary woman."

"Down in the parking lot?"

"Stop asking me."

It was Maisie's favorite way of ending a conversation. It meant she was too uncomfortable to talk about it and had been a line of frustration for Remington herself. But today, she didn't feel upset with the answer, no she would take it. This was something new, and scary, and she could only imagine what was running through the four-year-old's mind. God only knew what was going through her own mind.

"You listen to me, Maisie May," she said, pulling the girl away so she could look into her eyes. "I will keep you safe. Nothing is going to happen to you. Not while I'm around."

Remington promised it to herself, not wishing to vocalize that part out loud because there was a possibility that she wouldn't be able to keep it. While it was just the two of them, while she knew Maisie's survivability depended solely on her, Remington would beat all the odds and keep them both alive.

"I love you, Maisie."

"I love you too, mommy."

"How much?"

"A little," she said while holding out her arms as wide as she could.

It was still the cutest thing her daughter did. It didn't matter how much she had corrected her, Maisie still did it on purpose. It had become their thing.

"I love you a little too," Remington said while swooping her into her arms. The girl giggled, but where before her laughs would have bounced off the wall, she seemed to be holding back. Making them only loud enough for the occupants of the room to hear. It saddened Remington to realize that she was already adapting to this new world.

The walker in the next room having already taught Maisie that if she didn't want to hear it get riled up, then staying quiet was a must.

․° °․

Before leaving the room, she had placed her daughter's tablet on the charger and told her to stay busy on it, playing games, or watching any of the movies, or tv shows she had downloaded on it before. She explained once again how there was no Wi-Fi anymore. The little girl took it better than she had before.

As Remington moved from room to room, searching for anything good to take, most were busts, not having anything in them except for what the hotel supplied, she hoarded the small bottles of shampoo and conditioner in one of the hotel bags from the first room. It wasn't until she was in her twenty-third room that she found anything.

It was always the same process for her. Knock before entering. Listen really hard and pay attention to how Pixel reacted to the room. After a couple of moments, she would use the key card to enter the room. This one wasn't like the rest. The first sign that someone had lived here was the two bags shoved up against the wall as soon as you entered. The next was an awful smell. It stung her nostrils and threatened her stomach to spill over. It was horrible. She grabbed her nose, covering her mouth as she inched into the room. The smell could only be the sign of the undead, or, as she realized the further, she walked into the room, the dead. Someone, what looked to be a man, was laying on the bed, the top of his head blown to pieces.

Tears prickled at her eyes as she took a step away from the corpse. The wall was splattered with blood, and brain matter, and not for the first time Remington was glad she didn't bring Maisie along. If the Walkers weren't a sign of this strange world being nothing like the one, she remembered being in, this was sure a wake-up call.

Every instinct in her body told her to turn around and walk away. To get out of there as fast as possible, but her practical side, the one that just wanted the survival of her family pushed forward. Her eyes avoided the gruesome scene landing everywhere but on the bed.

Upon finding the snack bar mostly stocked, it seemed before everything went to shit that the man had eaten some of it, Remington searched for the things that didn't spoil and shoved it into the man's suitcase, after pulling all of the clothes out of it. If she had any say in matters her family would be the best stocked in the apocalypse.

A part of her had considered just staying in the hotel. To bunker down and fortify the place, but in the short time span, they had been here the roaming of Walkers in the parking lot had increased. Remington had no idea how close they were to a city, or if it was just a small town, and found the need to know becoming more important with every step closer she took to leaving this place or staying. In her search of seeing if there were any roaming Walkers in the building, Remington had found the rooftop exit and planned on using it later in the afternoon when the Georgia heat had diminished away to more of an evening chill. She could take Maisie with her, and let the girl get out of the room where she had been cooped up.

Dragging the suitcase across the room to the open-door Remington found herself turning back. The scene wasn't one she wanted to see but she had found a box of ammunition, halfway filled, and though she would prefer something quieter, having a gun was a good idea. Remington wouldn't fool herself into believing she was a good shot. Her father had taught her to shoot a gun when she was young and had only touched a gun a hand full of times since then. She was probably terrible, rusty, it would be stupid to waste the bullets until she was better, but up close, it could be a last resort. After all, if they were on top of her, less of a chance she would miss. So, taking a deep breath the woman turned around, silently giving herself a pep talk, as she strode toward the bed. The smell only grew worse the closer she got, and this time she actually did gag. Forcing her eyes to focus on the bed she followed the arm to where it fell, seeing how it dangled over the side.

Upon not seeing the gun right away, Remington drew in a deep breath, before exhaling slowly. Leaning down, she lowered herself to the floor, immediately trying to ignore the way the dried-up blood that had pooled on the floor felt against her skin. Her whole body shook with disgust and fear, but a hint of elation bubbled up as she spotted the gun, only to freeze in her throat at the sight that met her under the bed.

Big brown eyes, full of raw fear, a tiny body shaking, and the unmistakable sound of a whimper escaping from thin lips.

There was a boy, a child, hiding under the bed, and Remington began to wonder if it had been the man eating the food from the bar, or this kid.

Her whole body froze, the arm reaching out hanging in the air between the two. He had flinched harshly upon first seeing her, an action that hadn't been missed by her. Motherly instinct took hold. The need to calm the child down becomes her priority over getting the gun. However, the thought of such a deadly weapon so close to a terrified kid caused caution to seize her mind.

"Hey, honey," she whispered out lowly, not wanting to frighten him. "It's gonna be okay. Can you come from on out there?" The boy didn't make a move, his wide eyes, easily seen even in the dark, only huddled up closer to the wall. "I'm not gonna hurt you, darling. I just want to see if your hurt, to get you somewhere safe."

He wasn't listening to her, and hell if Remington was being honest, she understood why not. The dead were walking, and if looks could be trusted his daddy, or at least someone related to him, blew their head off with him in the room. It was understandable, and when you add a strange lady into the mix, she wouldn't have been trustful either. But, leaving him here wasn't an option, her bleeding heart would never have taken the guilt of leaving behind a defenseless child ust because it meant another mouth to feed. No, she couldn't do it. So instead of backing away and leaving him here by himself once again, Remington shuffled a little closer under the bed.

"You know," she whispered as she made herself more comfortable on the floor. She was now lying on her back staring up at the underside of the bed. "I understand it's been kind of scary here recently. My presence is probably scary as well. But you wanna know something. I've got a friend sitting just a little way away from us, he's the best when it comes to comforting."

The little boy said nothing, his body visibly shaking as his eyes never strayed from her.

"Pixel, come on over here boy," she commanded. There was a whimper before a shuffling noise, then a nose peeking from the other side of the bed. Slowly the dog shuffled forward revealing his body as he put his head down and whimpered toward the kid again. Remington could see that he wanted to shove himself entirely under the bed and lick the boy. Pixel may not have been much of a people dog, preferring only to be around his family, but he had a thing for wanting to comfort people who were sad. If anyone needed that, it was this boy.

The kid froze upon seeing the dog, no longer shaking, as his wide brown eyes zeroed in on something from the olden days. A symbol of safety, and happiness, something that reminded you of warmer days.

Remington stood entirely still. Not wanting to spook the kid as he thought over what he wanted to do. It almost caused her to flinch when the boy began to move, he shoved himself forward, crawling on his belly toward the dog. Sobs broke through, whimpers at first, before they gave way to a sea of tears, and cries. Snot mixed in with soft white fur as fingers gripped it securely like it would be taken away from him at any moment. As if his safety would disappear with the dog's presence.

Closing her eyes, she shoved herself out under the bedframe. Pulling herself into a standing position before making her way over to the other side of the bed where Pixel's hind legs still peeked out. Calling softly, she watched as Pixel inched backward, the boy still clutching to him.

As the boy came into view Remington was able to get her first true glimpse of him. He had chestnut-colored hair, the slightest curl to it, the ends just brushing over his forehead. It needed a good brushing she noticed. His eyes were more of a honey color rather than just brown, and they held a sliver of hope as he stayed wrapped around the dog.

"What's your name?" she asked softly, smiling at him, crouching down to his level. He didn't answer at first, it wasn't until Pixel began to lick his face that the boy even tried to give out a hesitant smile. "Mines Remington Solace, but my friends call me Remi." She waited in silence as the boy tried to decide whether he was gonna talk or not, his eyes trying to bounce over to the bed where the dead man lay, but Remington reached out to stop him. It didn't matter that he probably had seen it many times, now that he was here with her, she wouldn't allow him to. It was a gruesome sight, something no child should see.

"I seen it before," the boy muttered his voice flat, a slight high pitch to it that young kids had. She figured he was about seven or eight, so young. It caused her heart to hurt to think of what would have happened if she had left before searching the building. To know that once the food ran out in the snack bar, he would have had to venture out by himself. He didn't flinch or try to avoid her hand that had moved out to lightly grab his shoulder. Instead, he moved into the touch as if he needed it, to feel some kind of comfort, and safety from the fact that someone had even reached out to offer it. Like he believed no one ever would again.

"You shouldn't have to," she said, her voice taking on a sad tint to it before trying to shove it away. "Where's your stuff at kid?" She hadn't seen it in her initial search, but then again, the closet was right next to the body, and she hadn't felt inclined enough to go searching around there until she realized a gun was in the room.

"It's Landon Cambell," he said seemingly not liking to be called a kid. Remington smiled as she tugged him softly more toward her.

"Well Landon, it's nice to meet you. What do you say you come with me, and we get you somewhere safe, huh? It's not just Pixel and I, but I've got another dog, and my daughter. I'll keep you safe." She watched as he debated it, his eyes bouncing around like he wanted to look toward the body, but her hand still on his shoulder kept him from doing it.

"You promise?" His eyes bounced again, brief doubt clouded them, before they focused back on her.

"I promise," she said firmly. "If you come with me, you'll be just as much my responsibility to keep safe as my daughter."

She felt terrible at what she could tell he was thinking. The boy's dad had probably said the same thing before letting the pressure get to him. Before he took his own life.

"Where's your daughter?" he asked, his voice hinting at distrust.

"She's back in our room with Nala," Remington said. "It's not safe having her clear rooms with me."

"You'll get my bear? My stuff?"

"Of course, anything you want," she said with a smile. His hand was still petting the dog, a comforting gesture, but his other one moved out to wrap around her own. She squeezed it reassuringly as she began to guide him from the room. Toward the door, but not all the way outside into the hallway. "Stay right here while I grab it." She didn't want him near the body anymore feeling afraid of any trauma it might have already done.

"It's in the closet."

Nodding she gave the command to have Pixel stay where he was at with the boy before she moved back into the room. The smell hadn't gotten any better, but she ignored the rot, and gore, before turning to the right where the small closet was. Opening it up inside she found a small traveling bag, big enough for a kid, and his things. She took it all, deciding that when she began to pack for the car, she would decide what would be going then, and what wouldn't. On her way out she caught sight of a piece of paper, barely staying put where the dead man's fingers lightly gripped it. Not thinking about it, just acting, Remington grabbed a hold of what was the last thoughts of a dead man.

Even he deserved to have his last thoughts acknowledged by someone. Terrible, coward, that he was, should be allowed to make his own case even if she never believed she would be willing to accept it.

․° °․

Integrating Landon in with the rest of her family had been easy. Nala greeted him excitedly, never having been the one to deny playing with a child, while Maisie had been more cautious, but Remington saw the need in her eyes. Wishing to have another child to play with, to not be left entirely alone anymore. It bothered her to see knowing that keeping her safe was also hurting her, but now with Landon, Remington could only hope it would be a little easier. With how he stayed in that room, even knowing the horrors that he lived with, and had not tried to leave, Remington could only hope he would listen to what she said.

She ended up putting off searching anymore of the rooms that day, deciding that taking the time to get to know Landon, and making sure everyone got along was far more important than searching for more stuff. After all they had a steady pile growing in their room from what she had managed to find already, and with a little more than half the hotel left, Remington was hopefully in packing the car completely up by the time they would be ready to leave.

If they planned on leaving at all.

The only thing holding her back, keeping her from completely making that decision, was the not knowing where they were, and that the lobby had one stretch of wall replaced with floor to ceiling glass. Those windows would be a disaster in the making if enough Walkers got pushed up against them. They would be stuck, locked into a building with no way out if that happened. The back exit she found had something shoved up against it on the other side. The door wouldn't budge open and the windows in each of the rooms weren't the type to open. No, if it came down to it, they would have to be broken to get out, and that would cause more noise, but, if necessary, it was a plan.

Her mind whirled with everything that could possibly go wrong. Her anxiety was a mess these days, with literal horrid consequences just waiting any bad decisions she made. It caused her to truly sit down and think over every step before executing them. It probably caused more time for her to make them, not always the best thing to be losing, but she figured she had it at the moment.

Two days later ended up being when she finally got around to making her way up to the rooftop. By then Landon and Maisie had begun to get along quite well, and she had left them alone periodically throughout the morning to see how they would do together, by themselves. It had been a success, allowing her to make them a lunch before heading out and clearing up the rest of the hotel. There was only one room she hadn't ventured into yet and that was the one right next door. She didn't want too, her fear of confronting one of those things on purpose, stalling her every time. It had been a miracle she hadn't run into anyone who turned inside of their rooms as it was.

So, instead, Remington brought the kids, and the two dogs, up to the rooftop.

Here they gave out quiet shouts of glee and ran across with the dogs following after them. Remington reminded them to be careful and to stay away from the edge before surveying the area around them.

She had been right. They were positioned on the edge of a town, bigger than she had expected. The town laid out as far as her eye could see to the south. The hotel was the first building to greet you on this side of town as you entered, and she could just make out a sign not too far off, announcing the name. It wasn't one she had ever heard of. Cementing the idea of wrongfulness, and strangeness of how they had even gotten here to begin with.

Glancing over to check on the kids, Remington saw how they had begun to draw, sitting down on the roof, and using the chalk she had allowed for them to bring up. She wasn't sure how much longer they would have this sense of safety and wanted them to experience being normal kids for a bit longer before she threw them out onto the dangerous road, where they would probably be too caught up in staying alive, to draw. If it weren't by her decision to finally leave, it would be because the decision was taken from her after something bad had happened.

Never one to like being caught with her pants down, Remington continued to plan up on that roof. Mapping out the area in her mind as she gazed over rooftops and trees. Routing out the best way to leave town if a horde of them came tearing through, her eyes settled on the car. She knew even if she decided to stay that the best thing to do would be to pack some of the stuff into the car, so if they had to leave, it wouldn't be leaving behind everything. That was her next part of the plan.

But for now, she would allow the kids to get some sun, to be children, before corralling them back into that room they were all beginning to hate.

I hope this was enjoyable even with all of the confusion.