SARAH

Two weeks.

Sarah was sure that it had been two weeks since that day. The day that has changed everybody's world.

Glenn had saved Sarah and her little sister Nicki and from that moment they never speared, and Sarah was glad of that. They were stuck in a different state with no possibility of coming back home. The two girls were from San Francisco and without a plane it would have been a long trip to go back. Moreover, she had no possibility of calling her parents, she didn't know if they were alive and well. That really broke her heart. No one seemed to have a cellphone anymore and even if they had it didn't work and that didn't reassure her one bit.

"Morning" said Glenn entering their tent with some blueberries on a napkin.

Glenn was a little bit older than Sarah and he was working in Atlanta as a pizza's deliverer. He knew the city very well, most importantly he knew how to move around it. It had only been thanks to him that they had been able to escape, all the three of them alive.

"Thank you, Glenn" Sarah said stretching her back getting fully awake before taking the blueberries in her hands.

"Have you eaten?" Glenn nodded at her question.

"Nicki and I got up a few hours ago" he said fixing his hair before putting his baseball cap back on his head "She said she wanted to be outside"

"Is she near?" Sarah asked glancing outside trying to get a glimpse of her sister.

"Yeah, yeah" he said nodding his head "She is sitting a few meters away, just looking at the others"

Nicki was a very silent girl, some people even had described her as cold and maybe she was a bit, but mostly Nicolette liked to observe, she felt more comfortable like that, getting used of what was around her. And right now, it could just get worse; because of the situation and because of the new people.

Sarah, Nicki and Glenn had been running for miles after they got out from Atlanta, but they had been far too scared to feel tired. The imagine of that man in the alley be eaten alive was printed in Sarah's mind, and she was really hoping that Nicki hadn't seen any of that. Nicki was just fourteen...

The three of them had walked in the woods until they had felt safe enough to stop.

"What is happening? My god" Sarah had asked out loud as she found herself sitting on the ground, taking long breaths to calm down her reaching heart.

"No idea" Glenn had answered on his knees panting "It's like a horror movie".

He was right; that didn't feel real, nothing of that could have been be real. Nor whatever was happening, nor the blood on their clothes and skin.

"Thank you" Sarah had said "You saved our lives"

Glenn smiled weakly "You could have managed"

Sarah found herself chuckling as tears ran down her cheeks "If there's something I'm really bad at is orienting myself" she leaned her back against the bank of the tree, feeling just in that moment how sore her legs were, how badly her hands were shaking "I get lost always, it's like a superpower of mine" she chuckled sadly thinking of what could have happened to her sister if she had to try and lead them out of Atlanta... they would have not made it. Nicki wouldn't have made it. And that thought made Sarah tremble before she looked up to the young man in front of her:

"You saved us, so thank you".

"Don't mention it" Glenn said trying to be supportive, making the girl nod her head.

"They are getting stuffed, over there" Sarah heard Nicki say as the younger girl was standing up, looking at the lights coming from the road.

"People..." muttered Sarah looking over to Glenn who seemed surprised and relieves as much as herself.

"Are they trying to get to Atlanta?" Nicki whispered with wide eyes.

Sarah was immediately on her feet; if those people would have reached Atlanta, they would have run towards a trap. The city was full of those monsters. They would have all died.

"We have to warn them" she had said as she started to walk towards the lights.

"Sarah, wait!" she had heard Nicki exclaim as she and Glenn followed her.

As the three of them made it to the road, people were outside of their cars. It must have been hours that they had been stuck on that road. It was night time now...

"Hey" a man's voice made them turn "Are you alright?"

He was and older man, maybe around his sixties. He had white beard, a fisherman's hat on his head and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

"Are you alright?" he asked again with a worried tone.

"We have to get away from here" said Sarah walking closer to the man "You can't go to Atlanta, it's not safe"

"Have you been attacked?" asked the man putting a hand on her shoulder and the girl couldn't help some tears from ran down her cheeks again. She felt so much comfort in that simple touch.

"We were in Atlanta" said Glenn walking closer with Nicolette, who just observed the man "It's bad there, very bad" Glenn kept say.

"We all have to go back" Sarah insisted nodding her head.

The man looked at them with worry in his eyes and he soon patted Sarah's shoulder again.

"You... you don't have to worry" he said "On the radio they said that help is coming"

"Help?" asked Nicolette with a frown.

The man nodded his head "Yeah, military are coming"

Sarah looked back at Glenn blinking her eyes in confusion. Military... what could they do? They city was in ruin; people were in panic or dying and it had happened hours before.

"Do you know what is happening?" said Nicki to the man. But before he could answer they heard a faint noise getting closer.

"What is it?" asked Sarah looking around afraid that those monsters could come out and kill someone else. But as the sound come closer, they all looked up to the sky.

"Helicopters?" Glenn said as three helicopters flied over their heads.

Sarah and Glenn looked at each other before they started to follow wherever the helicopters were going. Nicki was running closer looking up too as the two of them were doing. But what they witnessed as they arrived on the top of a hill, was Atlanta burning as the military were dropping bombs wherever they could.

"Was that the help?" Nicolette said as she looked at the burning buildings.

Since then, they had to find a place to live. The man they had meet, Dale, had a camper and he was travelling alone so he had offered them shelter. But they hadn't traveled far. Soon they had met other people and they had decided to camp in a quarry, where they could have had water to drink and woods for the fire. Atlanta wasn't too far from them, but it was far enough to be safe from those monsters.

"Do you need help with anything today?" Asked Sarah as she got out from the camping tent with Glenn.

"Shane said that we should take shifts to be sure none of the walkers get too close" he said as they walked near each other.

Shane Walsh was a cop. They had met each other the day after their encounter with Dale. Shane wasn't travelling alone; he was with a woman, a friend of his, named Lori Grimes and her son, Carl. They had soon decided to stick together, since no one really knew what to do and being alone hadn't felt right.

"Oh, alright" Sarah said nodding her head "Do I have a shift?"

"Erm... not that I know of" Glenn said with uncertainty "But I'm sure Lori needs help with something" Sarah raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, I get it" she said rolling playfully her eyes "The world is ending and you boys all men up and become over protective"

"Don't get offended" Glenn said with a worried tone, but that just made her chuckle.

"Not at all" she reassured him "I'm sure I'll find something to do and..." she lowered her voice "If I have to be honest, I really don't want to see those things any time soon" Glenn smiled at her before waving and walking away.

Sarah looked around; it seemed as if they were a camping group. Tents were all around and a camp fire had been set in the middle. Woods were all around them and a big lake could have been seen from the cliff. And around her all different kind of people, with different backgrounds and stories... It would have been nice if nothing had happened.

"Morning, Sarah" the girl turned to see Amy greet her with a smile. Amy was around Sarah's age, she had blond hair and blue eyes and she was always smiling. It had been easy for the two of them to get along almost immediately.

"Hey" Sarah waved.

"What can we do today?" she huffed looking around "It's like living the same day everyday"

Amy was right. It wasn't easy to get used to that life, with nothing to do, no school, no work, nothing that you were used to... now everything that they did was cooking, washing cloths and wonder if things will ever get back normal.

"We should try not to get depressed" said Sarah with a small smile, making Amy nod.

"Maybe Andrea and I could find something to fish with"

"You know how to do that?" asked Sarah with curiosity.

"Oh yeah" Amy said "Our father taught us since when we were little" Amy and Andrea were sisters. Andrea was the older one and she really seemed a strong woman.

"Amazing" Sarah said making Amy smile wide.

"At least we wouldn't have to depend on those people anymore" Amy gestured to the side of the camp where the Dixons brother had set their camp. They were two men, they talked with a strong south accent and everyone thought they were quite scary. Merle the older one was annoying and nasty, Sarah really felt very uneasy every time he was around. It was frequent for him to pick a fight with Shane or angered T-dog with his racist's comments. Daryl, the other one, on the contrary never talked and really preferred to be on his own. He just glared at everyone and growl sometimes. He usually stood by his brother's side and even if he was far less annoying, he was quite scary too. No one liked them in the camp, but the two of them were able to hunt and they always brought back food to the group... so they could not lose them...

"Do you want to play?" Sarah turned as she heard a girl's voice. Not far from her she saw Nicki sitting on the ground and Sophia standing in front of her.

Sophia was some years younger than Nicki and she was Carol and Ed's daughter. Sarah had never talked to Ed, but she had sometimes with Carol. The woman was quiet and she always volunteer on washing people clothes.

"No" Nicki simply said.

"I knew she would say that" Carl rolled his eyes "Come on, Sophia"

The two children ran to play as Lori told them not to get far and Sarah excused herself from Amy to walk to her sister.

"Nicolette" she said making the girl scroll her shoulders.

"What?" she said "I don't have fun running up and down the hill"

"You could try and make friends with them" Sarah suggested, but Nicki just moved her shoulders again.

"I know it's not easy" Sarah said sitting next to Nicki "But we'll find a way to get back to San Francisco"

"Yeah, of course" scoffed Nicki "We'll never get back..."

Sarah looked at her sister with sadness. She really felt useless in that situation. What could she say to make things better? They were far away from home, not knowing how their family and friends were. Where they were. If they were alive.

"You need to keep your mind busy, Nicki" she tried to suggest.

"I lost my bow" Nicolette whispered.

They had left it inside the taxi in Atlanta.

Sarah really didn't know what to do and when Nicki got up to walk away Sarah ran her finger through her brown hair taking a breath. There was really nothing she could do now.

"Kids, right?" She turned to see Lori "I dread the day Carl will be her age"

"It didn't seem so bad when you are one" said Sarah "What should I do?"

"Leave her be for now" Lori said "It's difficult for everyone... let her cope" Sarah nodded her head with a little smile, but she was still worried.

She sat down on the ground trying to get rid of the dinner of the night before. Dale and Morales had some canned food and they had eaten it with some meat Daryl and Merle.

She took one of the cans in her hands to put it in an old bag so that she could put them away so that no one would stemple on them. She would have never believed a few weeks back that she would have ended up like that, far away from home, surrounded by strangers and not being able to communicate with her sister. Sarah tapped her fingers on the metal of the can making a little noise that made Jim, another of their group, turn towards her...

That metal made a clear noise, not too loud, but it ringed with just one touch.

"What if..." she muttered taking the bag in her hands as she got up. The movement caused the cans in the bag to clash together.

Sarah walked towards Dale who was wearing his usual fisherman hat and the only riffle that they had hanging around his shoulder.

"Dale" she said shielding her eyes from the sun since she had to look up due to Dale standing on the top of the RV.

"What is it, Sarah?" he asked sweetly like always.

"Do you happen to have a wire?" she asked.

"A wire?"

Sarah nodded.

"I think I've got an idea" she explained.

Sarah had followed Dale inside the RV and together they had looked for pieces of wire. They had found some, but they weren't enough for what she wanted to do.

"I think that's all I have" Dale said as she was looking at the wire in her hands "What do you have in mind"

"I think we should have a safe zone" she said "I want to build an alarm system"

Sarah had seen how the men of the group were always on the edge to protect everyone, she wanted to try to help them just a bit.

She looked the wire in her hands, it wasn't enough. It would have covered maybe two or three sides... she needed more. She had to tight the cans on the wire and then secure them around the trees.

Sarah started to go around the camp searching for what she needed. Morales's wife found her another piece of wire and the same did Jacqui. As she was looking inside some bags, Sarah heard footsteps behind her.

"Look what we got here. Have ya lost somethin', little bird?" She rolled her eyes at Merle's Dixon's mocking voice "I could help you out"

"I appreciate your concern, but it's really not necessary" Sarah said getting up.

"What ya have in mind?" he pushed with his usual nasty grin putting himself in front of her "With all those ropes an' ev'rythin'

"Can you let me through?" she asked looking away from him.

"Ya'r a sophisticated one, are ya?" he chuckled stepping towards her "Ya can't stand people like me?"

"I just need more wire" Sarah said taking a step back, to get away from the man.

"Merle" the two of them turned to see Daryl, standing a few feet away from them, with his crossbow hanging over his shoulder.

"Hey, lil' bro" Merle said "Was havin' a chat with the lady here"

"We have to go hunting" Daryl said not even turning to her.

Merle laughed loudly "Ya'r right, lil' bro" he said before looking Sarah again "See ya" and then he moved away, making the girl left out a breath. Her heart was beating fast, Merle was a really scary man. He was unpredictable. She was still taking deep breaths as something had been thrown at her feet.

They were ropes.

Sarah looked up to see Daryl fixing his crossbow over his shoulder before walking away. The girl observed him with a curious frown. He was a real strange man, but different from his brother somehow.