Ben followed Amelia out into the cool night air and pulled up a chair next to her by the fire.

The night brought such a silence that the crackle of the campfire was all that could be heard, a natural music in the black-duvet night. Flames sent red sparks dancing into the breeze, his face toasted warm, mesmerized, relaxed. The smoke twirled heavenward, charming his worries away.

It appeared to echo the starlight, as if the flames so close and so distant had so very much to say to one another.

He supposed there was one good thing about living in an apocalypse: you could actually see the stars.

Amelia plopped down into the lawn chair, laying the rifle across her lap. She reached up and undid her bun, shaking out her hair and allowing it to fall down freely. "Leland'll be so pissed when he finds out I got into his stash," she giggled, popping open the whiskey bottle. "Sorry you had to witness that shit earlier, by the way."

"Do they always fight like that?" Ben asked her.

Amelia took a swig of whiskey. "Honestly, it's become a weekly occurrence at this point. Leland thinks we should leave here and keep moving until we find a community, but Dad just won't budge. He's convinced that this'll all be over soon and we can just wait it out right here."

Ben nodded. This sounded familiar. "Well, what do you think?"

She shrugged, taking the first swig. "What does it matter? Not like either one of them will listen to me."

"Is it true what Leland was saying? A-About those people that wear the walker skin masks?"

"With Leland? Who knows? The guy was half insane when we found him. But from some of the shit I've seen, it wouldn't surprise me."

Amelia passed the bottle over to him. "So," she propped an elbow on the arm of her chair, resting her chin in her palm as she observed the other teen next to her. "I wanted to get to know you better. What's your story?"

Ben took a swig of the whiskey and winced, coughing as the alcohol burned his throat and nose. He used the back of his hand to wipe the water from his eyes, blinking rapidly. "It's a long one."

"I got time." Amelia smiled at him, taking the bottle back.

Ben leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked up at the night sky. Where to begin?

"I guess lived a pretty normal life before all this. I lived in Stone Mountain with my parents and sister. We were coming down for the playoffs with my school's marching band right when all of this happened."

Amelia snorted. "Yeah, you kinda strike me as a band geek."

A smile broke out on Ben's face and he shook his head. "Shut up." He took the bottle from her and took another sip. "Anyway, it sucks because it was my senior year and I was about to graduate."

Amelia nodded. "Ah. A time when most kids should be worried about prom and applying to colleges, instead of getting eaten."

"No kidding," Ben said, passing the bottle back to her. He could feel himself begin to loosen up. "I didn't even get to go to my prom. Not that I'd even get a date."

Amelia turned her head then and raised an eyebrow. "Whaaaat? Why do you say that?"

"You said it yourself. I was just a dorky band geek."

"C'mon, ladies love musicians."

"Yeah, like guys who play guitar, not the trumpet."

"I've heard band kids are pretty freaky, if you catch my drift." Amelia waggled her eyebrows at him.

"Amelia..."

"You got any freaky band camp stories?"

"Stop."

"Bust out the trumpet and all the girls get their panties off quicker than a bride's nightie."

Ben hid his beet red face in his hand. "You're the worst."

Their laughter echoed throughout the night. Amelia watched Ben there beside her in that moment, soaking in his smile and the happiness he was radiating. The sight made her heart beat a little faster, made her grin wider. She'd become so used to seeing him so closed off in the past weeks and the fact that she was able to slowly bring him out of his shell was a win in her book.

Sure, Amelia could be mischievous and got on his nerves at times, but her smiles and positive attitude were infectious - she made Ben feel hopeful for the first time in months.

"Okay, continue." Amelia gestured to him once they'd settled down.

"When everything started, we all hid in the gym. We were safe there for a while. I tried to make it back home to see if my parents and sister were okay, but no one would come with me." Ben paused, insurmountable emotion filling him as he remembered their faces. "I still don't know if they made it or not."

Amelia felt a pang of sorrow for him as she stared down at her feet, shaking her head. "Oh man, I can't imagine. I mean, even if we fight sometimes, I don't know what I'd do without my parents at this point." She passed the whiskey bottle to him.

"So one day, one of the cheerleaders took a bunch of pills," Ben continued, taking another drink. "I guess she just couldn't take it. She turned, and well... I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

"Fuck..."

Ben passed the bottle back to her. "What was left of us ended up camping out in the woods somewhere near Macon. Then bandits attacked our camp and-" He released a shaky sigh.

"You dont have to tell me if you don't want to." Amelia placed a gentle hand on his upper arm.

"One of the girls was raped and killed right in front of me. They made me watch."

Amelia brought her hand to her mouth, her eyes widening. "Jesus."

"I managed to escape with my friend, Travis, and the band director, Mr. Parker. I don't know if anyone else escaped, or what. But it was just the three of us in the woods. Then Mr. Parker got his leg stuck in a bear trap. We tried to help him, but there was no release latch. Then these three guys came along and helped us - that's when I met Lee, Kenny, and this guy, Mark. But we got surrounded by walkers."

Ben shuddered at the memory. "There was nothing we could do. So Lee had to act fast and cut off his leg with a fire axe. Then when we were getting away, Travis got swarmed by walkers, and he got eaten alive." Ben bowed his head, a hollow feeling in his chest. "He was a good friend."

"I'm sorry, Ben."

"So they brought me and Mr. Parker back to this old motel they were camping out at." Ben closed his eyes as he recalled everything to the best of his memory. "So there was those three guys I mentioned, Lilly and her dad, Kenny's wife and kid, this girl, Carley, and a little girl Lee was looking after, Clementine. I thought maybe they could help Mr. Parker and we'd be on our way, but he didn't make it. And just like that, I was alone with a bunch of strangers."

Ben paused and collected himself, soaking in the warmth from the fire in front of them. "The same day I got there, these two guys showed up and invited the group to stay with them on their farm. I don't know a lot about what happened there - I wasn't there for most of it - but they turned out to be cannibals and they cut off Mark's legs and tried to feed them to everyone, then Kenny had to kill Lilly's dad, and those bear traps in the woods? They were the ones that set them up. To catch people."

"What the fuck?" Amelia breathed. "That's so sick."

Ben shook his head. "The whole thing was fucked. And things just got even more tense at the motel after that, with Lilly and Kenny fighting all the time...it was always a power struggle between them, but I really think Lee was the voice of reason in the group, or at least he tried to be. And once the bandits stopped getting food from that dairy, they started attacking us more, and then one day..."

Ben trailed off avoiding eye contact with Amelia and turning his gaze downward toward the crackling fire in front of him. This was the part he dreaded the most. Despite how hard he had tried to keep these thoughts at bay each time they invaded his mind, they were always there during the long, quiet times he spent alone, waiting to haunt him. He hadn't discussed it with anyone, but he figured if there was one person he could trust with the information, it was her.

It was almost too much, too long for him as he sat there, listening to crickets chirping in the distance and fire crackling.

Swallowing thickly, Ben finally met Amelia's gaze, watching as the firelight reflected and danced in her wide eyes and made her face glow. "D-Do you promise not to hate me if I tell you this?"

Amelia's brow furrowed, but she nodded. "Yeah, you can tell me anything. This is a judgment-free zone, man."

Ben drew in a shaky breath, his fists clenched in his lap. "The bandits cornered me one day. They must've recognized my letterman. They said they had my friend and that they'd kill him and me and the group if I didn't do what they said. But by the time I found out they were lying, it was too late. I still went behind everyone's backs and gave the bandits some of our supplies. I was too scared to tell anyone. But the bandits stopped attacking after I made that deal with them." His voice wavered. "I-I thought I was helping, thought I was protecting the group. I didn't want what happened to my classmates to happen to them, I couldn't live through that again."

He felt something like tears forming against the waterline of his eyes, and he moved his hand to wipe at them, because there was still that little shred in him that refused to yield any show of weakness to the girl beside him.

"And th-then when it got discovered, the bandits raided the motel, and we had to leave. Lilly suspected that I was the one giving the supplies to the bandits, and she was right to, but Carley stood up for me. She told Lilly off, and that's when Lilly just... snapped, and shot Carley in the face like it was nothing. We had to leave Lilly behind after that. And then we found out that Duck, Kenny's kid, was bitten during the raid, and we had to keep him from turning, but his mom, Katjaa, just couldn't take it, and she shot herself in the head."

Ben felt his throat constrict. His chest ached, his eyes stung, he wanted to cry. "They all died because of me. I-" The words caught, but he bit his tongue and through the despair in his chest, continued, "I don't know why you guys didn't just leave me to die."

He looked to Amelia then. The girl did not meet his gaze, did not move or say anything, her face unreadable. Ben was silently begging her to say something, anything as she simply stared ahead.

Suddenly, she stood up from her seat, placing the whiskey bottle on the ground and leaning the rifle against the chair.

Ben was a bit taken aback when she stood right in front of him, leaning down so her face was just inches from his, her hands gripping his shoulders firmly.

"Ben, listen to me when I say this. None of that shit was your fault. They manipulated you. You were terrified, you thought you were doing what was best for your group. Fuck, I probably would've done the same thing in that situation."

"But-"

"But nothing! Those bandits were probably going to attack eventually, anyway. If anything, you just delayed the inevitable. Both Lilly and Katjaa made rash decisions because they were hurt and grieving! You're weren't responsible for their decisions! The whole thing was just shitty luck. Sure, you made some mistakes, but who hasn't? From what you told me, you've seen way more fucked up shit than I have. You were thrown into this living hell alone. It's like everything went to shit around you before you could even blink! I'm lucky I still have my parents and we've all learned how to survive out here without big groups."

Amelia sat back in her chair next to Ben, folding her arms over her chest as she looked over at him, her voice softening. "You're a great guy, Ben. You saved my life today. That counts for something. I may not have known you that long, but you've been a good friend. I don't want to hear you say that you want to die ever again, okay?"

Ben swallowed, staring at Amelia. "O-Okay." He was startled by how sure she sounded, but even more so by how upset her voice was.

"So what happened next?" Amelia asked him. "How did you end up in Savannah?"

"After the motel, Kenny wanted to head to Savannah to find a boat so we could get off the mainland," Ben continued. "We came across an abandoned freight train that we actually got to work. We met this guy who was living in that train, Chuck, and he just tagged along. We met this couple, Omid and Christa along the way, too. We thought Savannah was safe, but it was full of walkers. We hid in an abandoned house for a while. Kenny and Lee went out to look for a boat at the docks. They didn't find one, but they met some other survivors; this girl, Molly, and an old guy, Vernon, and his group. They were part of this community in Savannah, Crawford, that they escaped because it was like a dictatorship there. Kids and people with disabilities were just thrown out."

"Goddamn," Amelia said, shaking her head. "That's horrible."

"From what they described, it was the worst kind of place," Ben said. "Anyway, Lee found a boat in a shed in the backyard at the house we were hiding out in, but we needed a battery and gas for it. Plus, Omid had hurt his leg pretty badly on the train ride there, and it got infected. So we had to get medicine for him, too."

Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Uh-oh. I think I see where this is going."

"Where else would we get these things other than Crawford, we thought? The rest of the city was picked clean. We were gonna have to sneak into Crawford. So we did that night, but it turned out Crawford was overrun by walkers, too, which I guess was both a good and bad thing." Ben sighed. "The whole time we were in Savannah, I got to know Kenny better, and the more we talked, the more the guilt over what I did was eating away at me. We got what we needed in Crawford, but the walkers found us, so we had to get out. But like an idiot, I told Kenny about what I did at the motel, and he just went ballistic. He hated me. How couldn't he? At that point, I wanted Lee to just leave me there to die, but he didn't."

"Ben..." Tears dotted the corners of Amelia's eyes.

"After that, Lee got bit, Clementine went missing, and Vernon and his group took the boat. We had to find Clementine and rethink the whole plan. And even though Lee knew he was gonna die, he was hell bent on saving Clementine. He gave me a chance to prove myself when nobody else had faith in me. He was a really great guy. And when Kenny kept pushing me around and treating me like shit, I just took it. But then when he told me he wished I was dead, that's when I just... snapped, and I went off on him. I'd been through enough shit and I just had enough. And what I said got through to him. He forgave me, or I think he did. He tried to save me when I fell from the balcony, and that's when we all got separated. I don't know what happened to Kenny or Christa and Omid, and Clementine..." Ben sighed, closing his eyes momentarily and looking up at the sky. "God, wherever she is now, I just hope she's okay."

He paused for a moment, then he turned to Amelia and said, "And that's it. That's how I ended up out here."

Amelia stared down at her hands. She looked as if she was still processing everything Ben had just told her. "Fuck. That's some heavy shit, man."

"I let them all down."

"No. You didn't. Stop thinking like that. You did everything you could considering the shitty circumstances."

The strained atmosphere evaporated as the quiet moments passed, and Ben felt just a bit lighter than before, a little more comfortable. After a while, Amelia broke the silence.

"I was in school, too, when this whole thing started. I went to North Atlanta High School. We saw one of those creepers staggering around outside campus, but we all just laughed it off. Probably just some druggie, we thought. But before we knew it, the whole school was swarmed. I saw my best friend get ripped apart right in front of me." She closed her eyes. A single tear slid down her cheek. "I couldn't help her. I just stood there in shock. A couple teachers locked me and some other kids in a classroom. Everyone was holding on to each other, crying, the teachers telling us they loved us in case it'd be the last thing we'd ever hear. There were just so many of them. Creepers were about to bust down the door when someone broke a window so we could escape. Some of us got out, some didn't. I ran all the way home and didn't stop for anything. Mom and Dad were already home when I got there. We grabbed everything we could from Dad's pharmacy and fled the city as quick as we could. Then we found Leland holed up in an abandoned building and let him come with us. Leland's a man of a few words, but his heart speaks volumes. He might seem kinda weird, but he's really a cool guy, you know. It's just been us four ever since."

Amelia sighed and picked the whisky bottle back up, taking a drink from it. "I was an only child. Mom and Dad worked a lot, so they were hardly every home."

"That sounds lonely..." Ben said.

Amelia nodded. "It was. I started getting in trouble at school, probably because of the lack of attention at home, I dunno. By the time I was in high school, I started running around with the wrong crowd, making a bunch of stupid decisions, and honestly, I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but I guess it just feels good to get it out to someone."

Ben wasn't sure how to respond. Amelia huffed out a good-natured laugh and put the cap on the whiskey bottle. "Heh. No more alcohol for us. I guess we both get emotional when we drink."

Amelia leaned in then, resting her head on Ben's shoulder. Ben tensed up at this, turning his head slightly to look down at her - her hair smelled faintly of smoke.

"This was nice," she said.

Ben sat there, unmoving, unsure of how to react.

"It's been a while since I've just had a nice, long talk with anyone." Amelia's eyes were half-lidded as she gazed into the flickering flames before them. "I'm really glad you're here."

Ben was sure it wasn't the campfire that made his face grow hot right then.

"So you're really gonna stay with us?" She blinked up at him.

"I...y-yeah," Ben murmured. "I honestly thought you'd kick me out after I told you all that."

Amelia chuckled. "Not a chance. I ain't letting you leave." She poked him in the ribs. "You're stuck with me."

Oh.

Was she coming on to him? Or was she just drunk? He didn't know.

They sat like that for a few more moments in silence, before Ben pulled away from her, getting to his feet. "I, um," he cleared his throat. "I should probably get some sleep now."

Amelia looked a bit hurt by this, but she nodded in agreement, picking up the rifle and laying it across her lap and turning her gaze back to the fire. "Yeah. It's getting late. Goodnight, Ben."

Ben turned and made his way to his tent. He stopped suddenly, chewing on his bottom lip as he stared down at his feet. "Amelia?" he called back to her.

She turned her head his way.

"I-I'm glad you're here, too."

A pink tinge spread across her cheeks and she averted her gaze, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear, a barely-contained smile tugging at the corners of her lips.