It stalked towards the men but Alex was frozen, unable to peel her eyes away from the walker. Its face was sunken in, eyes unfocused. Its mouth twitched and drooled as if craving for the two men no more than a few meters away. The smell of its rotting face made Alex's stomach churn and it was all she could do not to vomit on the spot. Its nails were dark and bloody, but the blood dripping from them wasn't its own. This time Alex was close enough to see its discoloured skin was falling away from muscle and bone. It was close and drawing closer to the men. Arms outstretched and jaw snapping. Its mangled hands were inches from her fathers arm. Somehow, Alex's body found itself as of discovering how to move again. She lifted the gun and aimed it at the walkers head, and squeezed the trigger.

The gunshot ripped through the early morning silence sending a bullet through the temple of the infected. It's brains exploded over the two men as the corpse hit the tarmac with a dull thud. In the distance a flock of birds screeched and took flight. Adrian and Daniel stood staring at the lifeless shell of the monster that lay at their feet. Daniel was still sat astride the first walker with Adrian's knife still buried in its skull. Their heads snapped in the directed the bullet came from- to where Alex was stood on top of the platform, gun still raised and hands shaking. Her ears rang from the offending gun shot as her heavy breaths shook her body, her eyes fixed on the woman she had killed.

"No," she reminded herself "that thing wasn't a woman."

The sound of snarling and the drag of feet pulled her out of her current daze as three more walkers appeared at the end of the road.

"Shit!" Daniel exclaimed tackling the walker closest to him as Adrian drove his knife through its eye "Alex get the gate!"

Alex's feet were moving before her mind caught up and she was down the wooden ladder and at the gate. Tobias was already there and with fumbling with lock. He, like the others, had fled to the sound of the gunshot. They heaved open the heavy gate and the men slipped inside. Quickly they chained the gate back closed leaving the two walkers pounding and snarling on the other side of the wire gate.

"What the hell happened!?" Yelled Peter taking in the scene.

"There was a walker over on the dump." Daniel calmly explained, wiping his bloody hands on the hem of his shirt "We couldn't leave it so we drew it in and took it out. The noise must have drew another one out. We didn't see it and it nearly got us."

Peters eyes widened, eyeing the men's blood stained clothes and took a weary step back.

"Have you been bit?" He inquired, moving himself in front of Layla and Claire.

"No." Adrian asserted wiping walker brains off his knife "Luckily we had Alex covering us. Blew its brains out."

The group turned to Alex with confusion and some admiration.

"That was you?" asked Peter raising his eyebrows in disbelief at the girl.

Alex just nodded.

"Wicked!" Billy mused. Alex smirked at her friend, but quickly diverted her attention to her hands.

"It wasn't the smartest move." Daniel added, throwing a stern look at his daughter. "The gun shot drew more, we have no idea how many are out there now."

Her head snapped up at his absurdity.

"You're kidding right?" She almost laughed in confusion "You told me to cover you, that's what I did. It nearly got you both... I stopped it."

"Yeah but you could have warned us. We could have took care of it. And quietly"

"I tried. You wouldn't listen." She was suddenly aware of everyone still watching her, most still in their night clothes "I only did what I had to do."

"Whatever happened... It's done now." Daniel sighed "We need to get people on watch. No more going over the gate and no more using guns."

"Yeah." Peter agreed "We need to check all the fences to make sure we keep track of the Walkers. And we need to conserve ammo, keep the noise to a minimum. We hold out until the army come back. We can't risk something like that again. No where is safe anymore. "

The group murmured in agreement. The adults began splitting up watch shifts between themselves as the children wandered back to the house for breakfast. Behind them the walkers slammed against the chain fence rattling it loudly, determined to get to the fresh meat inside.

"Won't that noise draw more anyway?" Zoe asked plodding alongside Alex.

"I dunno." She shrugged absentmindedly "I suppose."

"Come on, let's get you kids some food before we set you up with some chores." Betty said steering the children into number 15 as she caught up with them.

They sat around the table with a bowl of runny porridge that Jayne had scraped together from their rations.

"Do you still think Mr Evans will teach us how too shoot?" Billy brought up through a mouthful of porridge. "I mean like after this morning.."

"I don't see why not," Zoe reasoned "if anything it's more of a reason to teach us. The more of us that know how to shoot, the more people that can be on watch."

"How does your dad know how to shoot anyway?" Tobias asked, finishing his own bowl.

"Him and his friends used to go the shooting range a lot." Alex said idly stirring the porridge. "He got himself a licence and started teaching some of the older kids how to use the air guns and stuff."

She continued poking at the porridge, hardly eating thing. She couldn't bring her mind away from the walker she shot.

"How did you do it?" Layla asked looking Alex right in the eyes. Alex furrowed her brow in confusion.

"How did you know how to use the gun?" She pressed "It was the first time you shot one right? So how did you know you would even hit it?"

Alex glared at Layla but acknowledged what she said. How did she know she would hit it? What if she missed? Would her dad or Adrian be dead? Or even both of them? Alex wasn't horrified that she killed the walker...she wasn't scarred traumatised. If anything she was...relived? She shook the thoughts out of her mind. Alex had shot the air rifle at the shooting range before and was a decent shot even then. But the walker. The smell. The blood. It was all too much.

"I dunno." She replied "I just aimed the gun and pulled the trigger."

"What if you missed and it got Adrian or even your dad?" Layla provoked "It could've killed them like the man back on the street."

"Don't you think I know that?" Alex raised her voice "But I didn't. I didn't miss and I blew that fuckers brains out."

"Okay okay I was only asking, don't take it out on me." Layla retorted under her breath.

The table went silent and Betty raised an eyebrow at Alex's language but didn't scold her. The child had been through a lot. Monsters were stalking the streets they once called home. They were locked up and forced to share their homes with strangers. Her mother and her siblings were on the other side of the country with no way of contacting them. Not twenty minutes ago she had shot a gun and watched as it took down another one of the monsters. These children were stronger than they looked.

"Sorry." Alex mumbled hanging her head and stirring the food again.

"It's okay sweetie." Betty assured clearing up the empty cups and bowls on the table "Once you finish you kids can go next door and sort through all the clothes we moved into the bedroom yesterday. See what will fit who and what we can use for rags."

"I'm not hungry." Alex said pushing the bowl away and standing up with the others. The smell of the rotting flesh still churned her stomach.

"Okay but you have to promise to eat at lunch." Betty said clearing her bowl away as well. Alex nodded in agreement and followed the others out of the house and saw the rest of the adults manning the gates.

As they went Zoe and Billy excitedly talked about how they would go about convincing Daniel to teach them about the guns. Layla just huffed and told them they were being childish.

"Childish?" Zoe laughed "These aren't toys. We're gonna shoot real guns Layla. Reals guns! How cool is that?!"

Layla rolled her eyes.

"Why are we doing more work?" She complained again "We did loads yesterday and we're not just slaves. I don't..."

"Do you ever stop moaning!?" Tobias snapped out of sheer frustration. He earned a glare from Layla but it did shut her up.

"I don't care if you're older than me, it doesn't give you the right to be rude." Layla huffed. Tobias just scowled at the back of her head as she entered the masters room with Billy.

"Is she always that rude to people?" Tobias asked obviously irritated and still scowling as he trailed behind Zoe.

"Yeah," Zoe chuckled "but you get used to it."

"You shouldn't have to be used to it, she should be nicer to people."

Alex was in a world of her own, staring off into space, not realising she'd been left standing out on the hallway on her own.

"Hey, you okay?" Tobias questioned poking his head around the door and snapping her out of her daze.

"Huh? Yeah... Just tired.."

Being awake half the night, up early the next morning and the little sleep she got plagued with nightmares was alone enough to make anyone sleepy but topped with the events from this morning.. Alex was exhausted.

"If you wanna sleep for a bit we can manage you know.." Tobias offered "We're only sorting clothes- you won't miss much.

"Yeah," agreed Zoe, appearing next to Tobias "and I can get you some things if I see anything you like."

"Okay. Thanks guys." Alex yawned and smiled sleepily as she turned into her own room.

Alex collapsed onto her bed, not even bothering to remove her shoes. Taking her weapons from her holders, she placed them next to her bed, rolled over and shut her eyes.

Within minutes she was asleep, mind no longer plagued by the fear of the undead. Deep down she knew she could fight if she needed to. Alex stood half a chance in this world if she ended up alone.