VPOV

"Faster! Faster!" Aly laughed.

Aly held on to Zach's back as we walked through the woods. I was a little bit ahead, keeping an eye out, checking for tracks to catch some dinner, and to make sure there were no walker's around. Houdini stayed close by me, ready for anything.

I turned, seeing Zach running in a zigzag pattern, grinning widely as Aly laughed in his ear. It was nice to see that they were still having fun, even though the chances of all of us surviving were slim...

It's not that I didn't think I could keep them all safe, I just knew it didn't matter what I did. The past told me it didn't matter how safe you were, it was easy for things to change and get bad really fast.

Houdini whimpered next to me. I looked down at him, seeing him crouch in the grass, looking out in the distance. I followed his gaze, seeing three walkers wandering around.

Spinning on my heels, I rushed towards Zach. "Walkers." keeping my voice low, I warned them.

His eyes went wide, setting Aly down. I picked her up, holding her close as I moved to a nearby tree, holding her up to it.

"Climb up and don't come down till I say." I told her before looking to Zach. "You go up too."

He shook his head. "You can't get them all on your own. You're still healing from being sick and getting shot."

I gave him a pointed look. "You're still healing from getting sick, and I'm better at this than you. We don't have time to argue, so climb."

Without giving him a chance to argue I walked away from him, knife ready, I hid behind a tree, waiting for the walkers. If they didn't come closer I wasn't going after them. But we weren't running away either. We were too tired and we couldn't stray from the path anymore. We had to keep east.

A twig snapped close by, I counted to three, waiting for a moment longer before jumping out from behind the tree and stabbing the walker in the head, quick and easy. But the other two were closer than I had thought, and they'd heard me. Groaning, they made their way towards me, arms stretched out, snarling and moaning.

Houdini jumped out of the bushes, pouncing on one of them and knocking it to the ground as I pushed the other against the tree and stabbed in in the head as fast as I could.

Running over, I pushed Houdini out of the way before the walker could bite him. Grabbing the thing, I held it down, stabbing it in the head over and over, panting hard as I killed it several times over.

"Vickie."

"Ah!" I grunted, stabbing the walker. I hated it, I hated this thing.

"Victoria." a hand rested on my shoulder.

I pulled my knife out of the walker's head, turning it on to whoever touched me. Before I stabbed them though, I stopped myself, seeing it was only Zach.

Eyes wide, I dropped the knife, moving back a bit. I couldn't believe I nearly stabbed Zach... I could have killed him...

"I'm sorry." I looked away.

He knelt beside me. "Are you okay?"

Panting hard I slowly shook my head. "I don't know what we're supposed to do, Zach. I don't know where to go from here. Our friends, my family. They could be scattered all over the place. I know chasing after the bus is stupid, and dangerous, but I can't do this again."

"Do what?"

I sighed, looking up, out in the distance at the trees that surrounded us. "I can't be out here again. It does bad things to me."

"What do you mean?"

"The first time I was out here it was only a month maybe two. It wasn't that bad, everything had only just happened... but the second time? I was out here for eight months, all on my own. I became something different, an animal. Crawling on the ground like an ape, I lost all my memories, forgot how to talk... I can't do it again. I can't be on my own."

He rested his hand on my shoulder, reaching forward with the other to wipe my tears away. I looked up at him as he smiled down at me. "You're not alone."

...

We had set up a camp, using the cans and tins and rope from the RV to make a border. If walkers came, we'd wake up.

A fire sat in front of us, the rabbit I'd caught earlier cooking over it. Aly was sleeping, curled up with Houdini, Daryl's poncho wrapped around her to keep her warm. Her toys hugged up to her chest tightly.

"She's doing good." I turned to Zach as he sat next to me. He shrugged, going on. "She understands what's going on."

I sighed, looking up at the sky. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm the right person to take care of her. Maybe if she'd been with Maggie, or Beth, or my dad. She'd stand a better chance. I'm not exactly stable..."

"I think you're wrong. I don't think anyone else would be right. She doesn't see you the way you see yourself. She cares about you. You're her family... you're her mum."

My head snapped in his direction. I wasn't going to deny or accept what he'd said. I wasn't her mum, I'd never replace the family she would have had before everything happened. But I was the closest thing to it...

He nodded, looking down at the fire. "I heard her the other night. I see the way she looks up at you. How she gets so worried when you're hurt. How she lit up when you came back from hunting. At the prison, when you and Daryl went out on runs or went hunting, she'd look so sad and lost.

"But then you'd come back and she'd be happier than a kid on Christmas day. You're all she's got. And she loves you." he reached for the rabbit, taking it off the fire and putting it on a plate. Using a clean knife, he cut it up, evenly separating it on two other plates.

Turning around I crawled over to Aly, looking down at her as she slept, Houdini's eyes open, watching me, tail lightly wagging.

Shaking her gently, I woke Aly up. "Come on, sweetie. Dinner's cooked."

Her eyes fluttered open, sniffing the air. "Mmm." she smiled, sitting up. "Yummy."

Laughing I handed her a plate, and fork before grabbing my own. I shared half of my rabbit with Houdini, not leaving him to starve even though there already wasn't much to eat. He was grateful for it, I could tell. Wagging his tail faster, eyes big and happy.

"Here, Dini." Aly giggle, throwing a piece in the air. He caught it, swallowing it whole which made her laugh harder.

Shaking my head, a pulled her closer to me, her head resting on my chest as she watched the dog sniff the ground for more meat. Daryl the Deer in one hand, her grip tight, she sighed happily.

I brushed some hair behind her ear, smiling down at her. Zach watched while he ate, smiling along with Aly. It was a nice moment, and it warmed my heart.

"Okay, bed time." I told her.

She stood while Zach and I made the bed. A plastic sheet under nether and the thin blanket from the RV on top, with jumpers rolled up to make pillows. Once we were done, we all laid down together, Zach and Aly singing and laughing together.

"There were three in the bed and the little one said 'Roll over, roll over'. So they all rolled over and one fell off..."

Aly giggled, pushing at Zach. "Roll off. Roll off." she laughed.

I laid there, smiling at them as he rolled over and off the sheet. She buried her face in the blanket, muffling her laughs.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe things were going to be all right...

...

Rattling woke me up with a start, groans and moans pulling me out of my sleep. I sat up looking around to see two walkers pressing against the rope which was about to give way. More walkers behind them, coming towards our camp.

"Shit." I shook Aly, waking her up. "Come on! Come on! Zach!" I stood as they woke, grabbing what I could.

If the walkers got closer we were going to get caught. Two we could deal with, but it looked like there were at least fifteen more eight or ten feet away. We didn't have time to waste.

Zach sat up, eyes wide, seeing what I saw. He started grabbing everything too, stashing it in his bag.

Houdini growled at the walker's snarling at them, baring his teeth. But he didn't attack. He knew not to unless they were closer.

Aly got to her feet, tugging Daryl's poncho on tighter as she picked up her two toys. "Vickie..."

I stepped towards her, grabbing one of her toys and shoving it in my bag. "You hold on to me and you don't let go. You understand?" she nodded and without hesitating, I pulled her up on to my back. "Don't let go!"

Zach pulled the rope down on the only cleared side, letting me and Aly run through first before he followed, with Houdini behind him.

It was still dark, and there was a light fog surrounding us. It made it harder to see, and more dangerous for us to run. If I tripped, Aly and I would get caught by the walkers, he same with Zach.

"Come on! Come on!" I yelled.

"Vickie!" Aly tugged on my shoulder. "Vickie, Zach's gone."

I stopped looking over my shoulder. She was right, Zach wasn't following us anymore, and there's weren't as many walkers...

Houdini whimpered, looking up at me.

I sighed. "Shit." setting Aly down, I kept her behind me. "Stay with Houdini." I told her before moving forward.

Grabbing one of the walkers as it reached out for me, I backed us up until I was pressed against a tree, using the walker as a shield. I managed to stab it, and hold it in place as the other walkers pushed up against it, one at a time.

Grunting, I did as best as I could, stabbing the walkers as they tried to get to me from behind the body. A pile started to build around me, the last walker falling.

Panting I dropped my shield, looking down at the bodies. There were about six or seven... which meant the others were either killed by Zach... or eating him.

Aly was gone. I knew she wouldn't have gone too far, just far enough to be safe. I could track her easily later. But for now, I turned, running in the direction we'd come from to try and find Zach.

He was on top of a large rock, four walkers trying to grab him from the ground.

I ran forward grabbing one and stabbing it in the head from behind. The other's turned to me, moving my way. I backed up, leading them away, waiting.

One pounced at me, going for my neck. I grabbed its shoulders, struggling and groaning against to as I tried to get my knife pointed towards its head. I managed to push it away just as another went for me.

I stabbed that one, before stabbing the second.

The last came for me, stumbling a little more than the others. Somehow I'd managed to turn and move back towards the rock. I was coming close to it now.

Once the walker was close enough, I quickly stepped aside. It tripped and before it could get up I grabbed it, slamming its head against the rock until there was nothing but meat hanging from its neck.

"Argh." I looked up, seeing Zach, holding his bleeding leg...

"No." I gasped, stepping closer. "You're bit."

He nodded, body shaking. "I tripped, and I couldn't out run them. While I climbed up here, one got my calf. I kicked it away, but..."

"No." I shook my head. "No, no, no."

He looked at me with sad eyes before they went wide. "Where's Aly?"

"She's fine. She's hiding." they had come close since we'd left the prison. He had made her laugh. They were friends. We all were... and now we were going to lose that. "I'll- I'll get her-"

"No." he cut me off. "I don't want her seeing me like this."

"Then what do I tell her?"

He slid of the rock carefully, hissing when his foot hit the ground, the contact vibrating through his leg to his calf. "Just tell her you didn't find me... tell her I'm gone."

I felt my eyes begin to well up. "Zach..."

He just smiled lightly. "I'll be okay. Just take care of her."

I knew what he was saying... he didn't want me to kill him. He knew I couldn't do it, not while he's like this. And I couldn't wait for him to die and turn either, it could take days...

Nodding, I wipe at my cheeks. I couldn't say anything, just look at him with sad sympathetic eyes.

He shrugged his bag off his shoulder, handing it over. "You should take it. I won't need anything for much longer."

"Zach... it could take days before you... you know..."

But he insisted. "You and Aly will need it more."

With a heavy sigh, I took the bag. "Thanks."

Nodding, he slid down to the ground, resting his head against the rock. "You should go... Go find her."

I watched him a moment longer before turning on my heels, making my way back through the woods. It was dark, but I could still see my tracks just barely. So I followed them. Whistling I hoped Houdini would come up, bringing Aly with him.

"Come on boy." I whispered. Staying low, I continued to follow my tracks until I got to where we separated. "Aly?"

A twig snapped behind me. I sun around, seeing Aly run out of some bushes, clutching Daryl the dee to her chest as she ran towards me.

Dropping Zach's bag. I fell to my knees, opening my arms just as she reached me, throwing her arms around my neck and burying her face in my hair as she held me tightly. I silently cried against her and we stayed there holding each other.

"Where's Zach?" her little voice asked.

I took a deep breath, calming myself before answering. "I lost him, sweetie... He- he's gone..."

There were two in the bed...

BaMbY