OLD WOUNDS

Gareth was startled awake the next morning by the sound of gunshots. He instinctively reached for his crowbar, before realizing it was already clutched in his hand. For a long time now he had slept with the weapon held tightly, resting it on his chest. That habit had started the day after Alex lost Alicia.

Now, as he tried to make things out in the surrounding darkness, a soft light approached from the staircase.

"Here. Eat", the person behind the light said, tossing him a bag of food.

Hannah placed the candle in a stand on the coffee table in front of him.

"We need to move off soon."

"This early?" he muttered, rubbing the sleep from his face with a quick motion of his hands.

"Best time to go is just as the sun's coming up," Hannah explained, "Those things are sluggish. Most of the time they're already distracted by meals they've found during the night. People are more unassuming when it's dark. Seem to think that they're hidden, that those things can't see 'em. Don't realize they can smell them."

Gareth, still half-asleep, picked up the little Ziploc bag Hannah had tossed on him. It was filled with dried fruit and nuts. Still looking confused, he sat up and began to eat.

He watched Hannah, as she took a seat on the arm of the sofa across from his, her hands resting on her rifle. Her expression was particularly stormy this morning.

She had dreamt about him, her subconscious dredging up memories of their relationship and the way it had ended. She had woken up with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach and the dull pang of anxiety in her chest. She should never have let them in.

By the time they were on the road, Gareth found it very clear that something was amiss, as he jogged to keep up with her.

"Hannah?" he called out, "Hey, Hannah!"

She slowed and spun around to glare at him, her rifle clutched to her chest.

"Is your plan to bring out all the stragglers in the neighborhood? I mean, if it is, keep going, by all means."

"Why are you so pissed?" he asked, his voice slightly lower this time.

"I'm used to doing this on my own. I know what's safe and what isn't when I'm on the road. Making a lot of noise isn't."

"That's not what I meant."

She turned around and continued walking.

"You don't think we should probably get this out of the way now. I don't want to get into trouble in this store and have you finally get your revenge." He gave a laugh to sound like he was joking, but she realized he thought she might actually do that to him. The thought had crossed her mind a few times, to be fair. After the dream she'd had, she realized she had never really forgiven him. Him and all the other men who had used her or hurt her. Deep down, she hoped they had all met bad fates, unlike the man in front of her.

"Alright, I had a dream about you last night, okay? It brought back a lot of bad feelings. It reminded me of…of exactly how I felt when you broke things off."

They stared at one another until their attention was drawn to a couple of roamers heading their way. Hannah shouldered her gun and drew her knife from its sheath, creeping towards them and taking them out with two swift jabs.

Gareth watched with his crowbar gripped tightly, barely shifting from where he stood. She glanced over at him and shook her head, wiping the blade on a soiled cloth she carried for that singular purpose.

"Little help next time?" she told him.

"Sorry. You just…you looked like you had it," he replied, frowning.

"Well, this isn't my first rodeo," she replied, words slathered in sarcasm. "Let's keep moving. We want to be there and back before sundown."

The convenience store was just as she has said it would be. The metal shutters that covered its exterior were still rolled down, though there were a few signs here and there of attempted forced entry. A couple of abandoned cars blocked the front entrance, but that wasn't where they were aiming for.

"There's a back entry," Hannah told him as they drew closer, "Only part that's not covered by the shutters. Should be easy enough to get through, especially with that." She nodded to the crowbar he was carrying.

"Worth a shot."

They cleared the side of the building and were about to round the corner when Hannah stopped and shoved him back.

"What?" he mouthed at her, rubbing his chest.

"There's a whole heap of them back there," she replied in her quietest whisper.

"So now what?"

She looked around at the abandoned cars for an idea.

"We'll have to draw them out so we can get in there."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"I've got an idea."

The car alarm screamed the presence of intruders much louder than she had anticipated, but it seemed to do the job. The horde began to shuffle away from the back entrance, following each other like a herd of startled sheep. When the last of the stragglers had disappeared, they ran for the door, Gareth wedging his crowbar in the jamb just below the lock. After a few hard yanks, they heard a click and the door swung open. Hannah took out her knife again and closed the door behind them. Though the lock was damaged from the force, it held. Just.

She was amazed to see that very little of the store had been touched, as if the owner had locked up for the night, gone home, and simply never come back. She checked every aisle, behind the counter and in the employee restroom, but there were no signs of movement, living or otherwise.

"This is unbelievable. We could get by for weeks on this. Maybe months, if we stretched it," she said to Gareth, picking up a bag of potato chips and tossing it to him.

"All junk food?"

"You're right. Let's try the organic market next door."

He smiled and placed his crowbar on the front counter before vaulting over it.

"A couple of crates back here we could use to carry stuff," he told her.

"Nice. Pass them over and we'll start loading up. Hey, what kind of candy does Alex like?"

"Um, Junior Mints, I think. Why?"

She held up two handfuls worth. "I guess he's going to love me."

He snorted and she looked up.

"What?"

"Alex had a huge crush on you when we were at school. Maybe you should have dated him, instead of me."

"Maybe I should have," she only half-joked, approaching the counter. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned forward against it to see what he was doing.

"Too bad none of us smoke," he said, dumping dozens of cartons of cigarettes onto the ground.

"What are you doing back there?"

"You know, I just realized I was looking for money, and now I have no idea why."

"Well, it's pretty ingrained."

"Ah, here we go."

He pulled up a box of matches and another of cigarette lighters.

"Nice."

He dumped the items into one of the boxes and kept searching, while Hannah grabbed another box and headed for one of the aisles.

Amongst some of the usual items he found were batteries, bottles of aspirin and some torches. He spotted a selection of condoms and picked up a pack, looking over at Hannah as she tossed packets of instant noodles into her box, then he thought better of it and placed it back on the shelf.

"Oh god," he heard from towards the back of the shop.

"What is it?" he asked, reaching for his crowbar.

"Don't go near the milk fridges," she choked, and he chuckled.

He soon joined her, finding more than enough to fill their load in the form of candy, potato chips and granola bars.

"I still can't believe this," she said, as they made their way back to the entrance, "This is great."

They pulled the door open and the roamers began to pour in.

"Fuck!"

They dropped the boxes, Hannah's spilling over the floor as she stepped back and tripped.

"Gareth!"

"I've got you," he said, pulling her to her feet and raising his crowbar, but somehow unable to bring himself to swing it. There were around ten of them inside by that time, shuffling down the aisles as they continued to back away towards the register.

"In here," Gareth said, vaulting over the counter for a second time. Hannah climbed up and slid over to the other side. He pulled her closer to the back wall. "I don't think they can climb."

He was proven right as they crammed themselves up against the sides counter, arms stretched out towards them as they moaned their hunger.

"I don't want to use the rifle in here," Hannah said, "It'll draw more of them in."

"I think the crowbar should be long enough to reach," he replied, testing out the theory as he stabbed one of them through the eye. For a moment the weapon seemed stuck, then he pulled it free and moved on to the next one. One by one they began to fall, until finally only a few stragglers were left at the other end of the shop.

"Little help next time?" Gareth joked, out of breath. Hannah smiled, and leaned forward to check that they were all down for good. When she felt certain, she slid back over through the pool of gore that now covered the counter, and helped Gareth jump over. They took out the remnants of the horde and then headed for the door once more. Gareth checked the area outside was clear whilst Hannah salvaged what she could of their pickings.

"We're all good to go," he told her, failing to see the dead woman creep up behind him.

"Gareth!" Hannah called out, but he wasn't quick enough. In a matter of seconds the woman had him on the floor as he desperately tried to push her off. Dropping her box of supplies once more, Hannah ran towards him, picking up the crowbar he had dropped as he fell. She swung the curved end up through the dead woman's jaw and yanked her back off of him, before stabbing her through the head with her knife. She attempted to yank the crowbar free while Gareth got back onto his feet, but it seemed caught on something. She gave a final yank, and the woman's jaw came clean away from her head. Gareth stared for a moment, then turned away and threw up.

"How'd you guys go?" Alex asked when they finally made it back. He noted the blood all over the back of Hannah's clothes and his brother's pale complexion.

"All in all," Hannah began, tossing him a box of Junior Mints, "I think it was well worth the trip."

Gareth lay on the couch that night, unable to sleep. On the coffee table across from him, a candle burned steadily, its warm glow lending him some comfort. He tried to block out the occasional scratching sound that came from the front door.

Sitting up, he decided to go see if Alex was still awake. As he passed Hannah's room, he found the door open a crack, a pillar candle burning on her bedside. She looked up from cleaning her rifle.

"Can't sleep either?" he asked her.

"Not usually," she replied, "This helps clear my head."

She stared at him a moment then jerked her head for him to join her.

"I was actually on my way to see if Alex is awake, but I have a feeling he's sound asleep. Not like he saw what we did today."

Outside, somewhere in the neighborhood, a walker snarled in the dark as it caught scent of its next victim. Gareth stared off towards the window, realizing he had left his crowbar downstairs. Hannah watched him.

"Sit down," she invited, taking pity on him, "They can't get to us in here."

It suddenly felt like old times, sitting around after dark, talking, sharing thoughts. It was surreal.

"So the whole architecture thing, huh. I'll be honest, I always thought you'd end up in some African village in the middle of nowhere, building houses with a big charity organization like those ads on TV."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she chuckled. "You were part of so many of those protest groups. Always raising funds for something."

"Oh, well, sorry for caring about the disadvantaged," he laughed. "You know what, this is going to sound awful, but I kind of outgrew it. My priorities changed after high school."

"Everyone's did. How long were you with Marla?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and pursed his lips as he thought about it. Hannah wondered if he knew how attractive he looked doing that. She tried to stop her mind from going there, but, watching him, she couldn't help it.

"About four months after grad. She was….things didn't work out very well. I had a lot of big plans for myself and she just sort of hassled me when I couldn't give her the time she wanted."

A flash of recognition passed across Hannah's face and she suddenly became very interested in her fingernails, avoiding his gaze. Gareth wet his lips, preparing for the talk he knew he had to have with her since she'd brought it up on the way to the convenience store.

Hannah looked around the room innocently, suddenly not quite sure if this was something she wanted to discuss. It wasn't often you got to actually have the conversation you'd imagined over and over again with your ex; the 'so what really happened to us?' talk.

"I really felt like a coward, ending things the way I did."

Hannah frowned. "Coward? It's not like you ended it by text."

Her attempt to lighten the situation didn't seem to work, as he stared at the floor with a self-deprecating expression.

"You know why I did it? Because I couldn't think of a way to help you."

"What?"

"When you told me what your dad was doing to you, I wanted to help you. I really did. But I couldn't think of anything that I could do. I had this stupid idea that I would be some knight in shining armor for you – I know, it's a stupid male ego thing – but instead I felt powerless. That's really not a feeling I enjoy, I'll be honest. And every time I saw you, you reminded me of that. So I had to end it. I know it was selfish of me. It was very fucking selfish, actually."

He stretched out on the bed beside her, trying too hard to look casual as he spoke the harsh words. He avoided eye contact with her, afraid to see her resentment. She slid off the bed and walked over to her bedroom window, staring out at the stray dead wandering aimlessly down her street.

"I always thought it was because you started to see me differently or something."

He cocked his head, frowning as he braced himself for what might come next.

"What do you mean?"

"Like you thought it was too messed up to even get involved in. I wouldn't have blamed you. I didn't… blame you, exactly. But I was pretty pissed off."

He smiled sheepishly and she turned back from the window.

"If it makes you feel any better, I felt really shitty for a long time because of that."

Hannah glanced at him, then back at the window, unforgiving.

"Good. Because I did too."

Minutes passed, while Hannah continued to stare out the window. Gareth watched her, waiting.

"We should start fresh," she sighed, finally breaking the silence. "This really isn't a time to be holding grudges. I'm glad we had this talk, though. Sort of cleared up a bunch of stuff for me."

Her voice was tight as she spoke, the dredged up emotions flooding back to her.

"I wanted to make sure you knew why I did it. I really didn't want to hurt you, Hannah, not if I could have helped it. I tried to make it a clean break. You deserved that. We were pretty good together, for what it's worth."

"If this is turning into a 'if I was the last man on earth' conversation, I think it's time for bed."

Gareth laughed a little too loudly, the laugh of someone who had finally managed to clear the air.

"Yours or mine?" he joked.

She turned to look at him, the way he was lying so casually on her bed with his playful smirk, an open invitation. She realized she was considering it and turned away, embarrassed.

"What was that?" he teased, sitting up with a grin.

"Your cue to leave."

He laughed again and got to his feet, stretching. She turned her head and watched subtly as his shirt rose up a little, glimpsing a flash of his waist and the thin trail of hair she had once enjoyed running her fingers up and down, knowing how it drove him crazy.

Outside, the wind began to pick up to a dull roar as the storm drew closer. The first droplets of rain began to fall against the window and Hannah could almost feel the cold creeping in. Realizing Gareth had moved closer to her instead of towards the door, she crossed her arms and fought the impulse to ask him to stay the night.

"Everything is boarded up pretty tight, right?" he asked, staring out the window at the trees as the branches were battered back and forth against the wind.

"Yeah. I wouldn't be worried. Like I said we're safe."

He nodded but something was bothering him, she could see it on his face.

"What?"

He looked pained to tell her, as if he didn't want to make a fuss.

"I, uh, don't really like the couch set up. It's…a bit close to the front door. There were a few of them banging on it last night. I forgot to blow out the candle before I went to sleep. Stupid mistake, I know, but the thought of waking up in the middle of the night to find them surrounding me. I'd feel safer upstairs, I think."

"That's fine."

"With you."

She frowned and turned to face him, hoping to see a mocking smile. He was staring out the window down to the street below, and it was then she realized he was truly scared.

Gareth had slipped into a comfortable sleep despite his relatively meagre set-up on the floor of Hannah's room. She had given in enough to let him stay in the same space, but was loath to let him share a bed with her again. He seemed happy enough with the sleeping bag and pillows.

On the night stand next to her, a pillar candle burned steadily while she continued to clean her gun. Gareth had spent a bit of time watching her, making attempts to start a conversation, but after sensing her need for silence, had turned in for the night. She glanced down at him occasionally, grateful for the company. After so much time alone, she finally felt a sense of normalcy having someone else around. Odd, since she'd never had much company to begin with, but the presence of another living human after seeing so many undead was soothing.

Halfway through the night, while she was settling into her own restless sleep after her routine check of all the windows and doors, Hannah felt someone slip into bed with her, their arms wrapping around her and drawing her close. The rain outside began to fall harder, and off in the distance thunder cracked across the sky. Shivering, Hannah shuffled back closer to Gareth, and he responded by tightening his grip.

Hannah woke in a sweat and tried to sit up, forgetting she had Judith cradled next to her, with Rick's arm wrapped snugly around them both. She kissed baby Judith on the top of her head as she stirred and felt Rick move against her.

"What is it?" he whispered, his voice hoarse from sleep.

"Nothing. Bad dream."

He was silent for a moment, before kissing her the same way she'd kissed Judith. Then he sighed in a contented sort of way and went back to sleep. Hannah glanced around the darkness and spotted Daryl leaning back against a tree on night watch. He was cleaning his nails with the tip of his buck knife, ears pricked for the slightest of sounds. Hearing their voices, he'd looked over with only the faintest of concern. They exchanged a silent understanding as their eyes met, and Hannah wondered if she'd be able to get back to sleep, or if she should keep him company for the rest of his watch, though she didn't want to risk disturbing Judith again. She looked down at the baby, stroking her soft little cheeks in thought, and felt the same gentle ache of affection she got whenever Rick looked at her a certain way. She decided she was comfortable enough where she was, and tried to drift back into the grip of sleep, but the old memories wouldn't leave her be.