'Where is it you guys broke down?' Bellamy asked, squinting against the morning sun that glowed with a fierce intensity.

'Not far, about a thirty minute walk at most.'

We had emerged from the block of flats and were moving down the main road, relying on my memory of the last few days to guide us back to the supplies stashed in the boot of my car.

The wire fence lining the road on our right was ideal in holding back the scattering of undead that pressed themselves in a futile effort against the barrier, their efforts doubling when we strode past at a safe distance, keeping a close eye on their frantic motions.

'You remember that time Murphy thought it was a good idea to wear headphones on a patrol to drown out Celia's whining?'

'I vividly remember us having to save his sorry ass from the three walkers about to devour him for brunch,' I replied, shaking my head at the memory. 'Good thing we're not that stupid.'

We turned down a road on the left, taking us further away from the massing walkers. No point wasting ammo or energy to take them out.

'How is everyone back at camp?' I asked carefully, not meeting Bellamy's gaze as I swept my eyes over our surroundings. It was clear of any undead, but I focused on the beaten up, black vehicle coming up on my left. The crooked passenger door was hanging from the main body of the car and I gripped my weapon tighter in preparation for anything that might lurch out from the dim interior.

Decent survival skills were not my only reasoning in that moment, more so the hope that my diverted attention would allow my motives for asking such a question to go by unnoticed by my old friend, but of course it was a futile attempt.

'You shouldn't feel guilty for leaving us Elyza,' he insisted, understanding the concealed meaning to my question immediately.

'How can you not hear what you just said? I left you, I left everyone.'

Bellamy grabbed lightly on my wrist and pulled me to a reluctant stop as we passed the empty vehicle.

'You did what you had to, what anyone would have done. Look at yourself now, this is not the Elyza that I saw after everything that had happened. It crushed you and this was exactly what you needed to find yourself again.'

I felt oddly emotional at his words. For so long I had been shrouded by the guilt of abandoning the group, but by all accounts they were still in one piece. The fact that someone as important to me as Bellamy was understanding my actions was certainly a relief. Pre-conceived ideas of distrust and resentment were still applicable to those back at base, but knowing that Bellamy held no such feelings put my mind at rest.

'Are you listening to what I'm saying? You made the right call.'

I nodded slowly, and Bellamy used his grip on my wrist to pull me into a much needed hug. It was odd to think that just a few days ago my hopes of ever reuniting with my friends were close to non-existent, and now here I was, against all odds.

'Now should we adjourn this therapy session or is there anything else I can do for you? Tissues perhaps?'

'Shut it you,' I growled, stepping back from the hug to point to gun at my hip. 'You don't want to get on the wrong side of an armed lady.'

'I'm just the emotional support, no conflict necessary,' Bellamy said and threw his hands in the air in mock surrender.

'You'll be needing the support of a crutch if you keep going,' I retorted, shifting the rucksack on my shoulder and pointed down the road ahead. 'Come on, the idea is to get there before night falls.'

We had set out early enough that there was no rush, though we still intended to scout the prison before we returned to base with the others and I wanted as much time available for that as we could manage.

It was just short of an hour later, due to an unexpected detour down a side road that Bellamy had assured me was a shortcut, that we eventually made it to the broken down car.

We had found ourselves a decent truck to jump start that fortunately had half a tank of petrol left. The two undead in the backseat soon made it apparent why it hadn't been claimed sooner.

'There she is,' I said, gesturing to my car as we pulled up behind it.

'You really have the best of luck don't you? Getting this far only to break down so close to the city.'

'Yes, thank you Bel.' I said said sarcastically, pocketing the truck keys. 'Let's just grab these supplies and get moving.'

I hopped down out of the driver seat and tried not to look for long at the blackened mechanics under the hood that were still on display after my inspection only a few days earlier.

I heard Bellamy slam his door shut and follow close behind.

'Must have been quite the cosy ride with just you and Alicia in this old thing for hours on end,' Bellamy remarked, walking backwards as he observed the surroundings for any danger.

'What makes you say that?' I responded absentmindedly, more focused on how the bonnet was raised. I could've sworn I'd dropped it before we'd abandoned it.

'Well it would be. Cant imagine you'd want to spend so much time in a confined space with someone you don't particularly like,' he responded, stopping by the front of the car to keep watch. 'Is there something more between you two?'

I hesitated at the question, popping the trunk as Bellamy waited for an answer.

'Don't think staying quiet is going to deter me,' he warned, glancing over his shoulder as the silence stretched on.

'Bellamy...'

The trunk wasn't filled with the supplies that I had been searching for. Instead I found my self looking down the barrel of a gun. A gun at very close proximity.

The dark haired woman curled up in the trunk kicked out her legs to knock me back a few paces so that I wouldn't reach for my weapon as she jumped out of the confined space.

'Hello there, sorry for the rude introduction, but if you even twitch in the direction of your gun I will not hesitate to shoot.'

I raised my hands slowly as Bellamy swung his gun towards us, only for an older man to step out from behind one of the nearest cars with a semi-automatic of his own.

'I wouldn't try anything if I were you,' the stranger warned, advancing a few paces with his sights set on Bellamy. 'Drop your weapon and go stand beside the girl.'

Bellamy reluctantly dropped the gun, and walked over to stand at my side. I was stood upright now, a dull ache in my stomach from where the fierce woman had kicked me.

'What the hell do you think you're doing,' he growled, the man ignoring the question to return back to car he had appeared from.

'What are we doing? We were minding our own buisness and gathering these supplies someone kindly left lying around before you interrupted us,' the woman snapped back, her fierce look more than in keeping with the harsh, clipped tone with which she spoke.

'I think you'll find those are our supplies,' I added, not expecting to get anywhere with these idiots. They were clearly not decent people.

'Well now they're ours, so you can both shut your mouths or I'll shoot the pretty one in the kneecaps.'

'There's no need to hurt anyone,' Bel insisted, presenting his hands in a show of peace but it had little effect on the duo.

'Oh, it wasn't your friend I was talking about,' she said, winking in an overexagerated manner that almost made me grimace. 'And what did I just say about shutting the hell up?'

She levelled the gun with steady hands and we decided not to chance any more attempts at sane conversation.

The apocalypse had a varied effect on those that survived past the initial stages. Some would cling to their humanity, behaving in a kind a compassionate way to those left in this wasteland in the hope that one day, when they needed help, their good deeds would be returned. Others, like these people, abandoned all notion of who they were and lived day to day, salvaging what they could with no care for what consequences it meant for others. Or perhaps there had always been a darkness within them.

'The cases are all loaded up in the car babe,' the man called over, focusing his gun on us once more. 'What should we do with these rugrats?'

The woman seemed to think for a moment, motioning to the gun still at my hip.

'Drop the weapon and kick it over, can't have you shooting us in the back now can we?'

I did as instructed and the lady picked up both weapons, putting them on the hood of the closest car.

'Now is there anyone else coming after you or is just the two of you?' she asked, eyes narrowed to suss out any lies.

'They were talking about someone called Alicia earlier, will we have to take care of her as well?'

'It's just us, no one else is following us,' I snapped, just wanting these people to move on already.

'If we find out that you've lied, I'll string you both out for the walkers to eat. Now, you, put these on your friend.'

I stared with undisguised disgust at the handcuffs being presented to me.

'Seriously?'

'I'm always serious, now do it,' the man instructed, waving his gun as added motivation.

I grabbed the cuffs and reluctantly applied one to Bellamy, clamping the other to a nearby pole as instructed. The two strangers gathered our weapons as they did, securing them in a rucksack.

'Wonderful, now we're going to be leaving with the supplies and you won't try to stop us,' the woman said, keeping the gun steady as she held up the cuff keys with the other hand.

'You're taking our weapons as well?'

She glanced at the bag being loaded into the car absentmindedly, as if forgetting its existence.

'What do you take us for? Monsters? We'll drop the bag at the end of the road when we go, can't have you shooting us in the back after all this trouble.'

'Ready when you are,' the man called out, returning from their car to stand in front of me. 'Sorry about this.'

I didn't even have time to ask what he meant when his fist came up in a blur and connected firmly with my left cheek. Sparks exploded behind my eyelids as the pain shattered through my face and the force knocked me off balance, sending me down to the ground.

'What the hell,' I spat furiously, bringing a hand up to my burning cheek as Bellamy pulled against the cuffs.

Footsteps receded away from me as the engine started up, the woman calling a few parting words back over her shoulder.

'I do hope you find the key before night falls, or you could just leave the pretty one to rot and save yourself, that's up to you.'

Her voice was almost cheery and I squinted out with blurry vision to see her disappear into the passenger seat seconds before the car roared away, the rucksack being flung from the window before they turned the corner and were lost rom sight.

'You have got to be kidding me,' I groaned, pushing myself up to sit upright on the concrete surface, a hand still pressed to my now bruised cheek.

I clambered to my feet, ignoring Bellamy's flurry of questions regarding my wellbeing as I stalked down the road to grab the rucksack containing our weapons.

'Yes I am fine,' I insisted upon returning to his side, dropping the rucksack and focusing on the handcuffs restraining his wrist.

'She threw the key behind the barrier,' he directed, pointing where he had last seen the gleam of keys arc through the air. 'Unless you're planning to take her advice and leaving me here?'

'Don't tempt me,' I sighed, not in the mood to joke now that we had just lost the supplies.

I jumped the barrier that lined the road and quickly glanced over the ground, hoping that a shining metal key would be easy to spot but of course that was not the case.

After close to twenty minutes of scouring the dried earth, I finally located the key and freed Bellamy from the cuffs. He massaged his wrist with a grimace as I dropped the restraints into the rucksack.

'Well on the bright side we have a pair of handcuffs now,' I said, my comment not appreciated my Bellamy who sent a kick at the car tyre closest to him.

'Damn it,' he cursed, running a hand through his unkempt hair in irritation. 'There goes any chance of feeding everyone this week.'

I clambered into the front seat of the broken down car, rifling through the glove box to send a lopsided smile at him.

'We have pineapple to share out,' I said, only half joking as I pulled free the unopened can that had been overlooked by the thiefs.

'This is not a joke Elyza!' he snapped, clenching his fists tight to resist the urge to smash them down onto the nearest surface.

'I'm aware of that,' I said calmly, batting the pineapple can over to my over hand, 'but there's nothing that we can do now, they're long gone.'

With the supplies no longer an option, it would be a challenge to scrounge enough food for the camp but we were quickly running out of ideas.

'What now then?' Bellamy said almost to himself, staring blankly into the boot as if the supplies might reappear by some miracle.

'We go to scout the prison like we planned, the rest we'll have to think of on the way.'

Scouting the prison had become the easy part of this trip, at least that's what we had thought. It would turn out that nothing about that night would be short of a nightmare.

Thanks for reading!

Apologies for the wait, juggling stories and university has become rather difficult but I'll do my best :)

Let me know what you thought in the comments, new chapter coming soon!