The Walker's hold was firm, and despite Arya's constant struggling, his grip would not loosen. After flaying and thrashing her body to no avail, Arya dawned on the conclusion that she would die today. It would not be long before the Walker tore off a piece of her flesh and slowly devoured her until only her bones remained. She let her body go slack and dispelled all the stress and tension building up inside of her. Most people were afraid of death; they desperately clung onto life and fought for the chance to live. Arya had been fighting for her life for over three years now and she never thought she would succumb so easily to death. It felt almost peaceful. Soon enough, everything would all be over. There would be no more Walkers, no more starvation and she would no longer have to grieve over the emptiness consuming her soul. She almost laughed. Soon, all her displeasure would end.

Her body lay limp and she slowly closed her eyes, waiting for death to consume her. A million memories floated through her mind in the short minutes she had left. She remembered the little things: her first day of school, the day when Robb and Jon taught her how to ride a bike and the day when she broke her leg- ironically, this occurred the same day when Robb and Jon offered to teach her how to ride a bike. Let's just say her lesson did not go too well. She remembered laughing with her brothers and getting scolded by her parents. The images of her family floated through her mind and she settled on the memory of her father. As time went by, slowly, the memories of her family had begun to fade. She remembered Bran and Rickon's features, as she had been living with them for the past three years. Though she vaguely remembered how her other brothers and sister looked like but the memory of her father's face was permanently etched in her brain. Arya clearly remembered every wrinkle and freckle upon her father's face and she smiled at that memory. Soon, she would be reunited with him once more.

Suddenly, the image of her father transformed into Bran and Rickon. They were no longer in the comfort of their shed, but they were running through a murky forest with fear evident in their expressions. The smell of rotting flesh overcame her senses and she noticed a Walker approaching her two little brothers. As Arya studied the Walker, she could not help but think she had seen her –it – before. Every Walker had the same milky white skin and electric blue eyes yet this one looked familiar. Too familiar. It was a small creature, with wavy brown hair that reached slightly above its shoulders. She studied her face closely, and finally Arya dawned on the familiarity of the Walker. It was a face she had not seen in quite a long time- her own.

Arya snapped her eyes open and panic took over once more. She would not die today, she could not die today. Bran and Rickon were depending on her and she would be damned if she would turn into a bloody Walker. She squirmed and began struggling with all her might against the Walker's hold. The Walker was momentarily stunned by her new vigor but his hold did not falter. His grip on her remained firm. She dug her fingernails into the hand covering her mouth and attempted clawing away at the flesh. Unfortunately for her, Arya had developed a rather nasty fingernail biting habit ever since she was a little girl and her nails were nothing but dull stubs that had no effect on her enemy.

The arm that was once wrapped around her waist moved to grab her hands and held them in place. What the bloody hell was wrong with this Walker? Why didn't it just eat her all ready? Suddenly, the body encasing her shifted and she felt a warm breeze flowing near her ear.

"Shh, I'm not going to hurt you," A deep voice spoke beside her.

To say that Arya was shocked was an understatement. Her attacker had not been a Walker at all. He was a boy! A stupid, idiotic boy. Now that she knew there was no fear of blood to blood transmission, Arya bit down hard on the flesh covering her mouth.

The boy behind her let out a gasp and let his hold on her loosen. Taking full advantage of the opportunity, Arya elbowed the boy in the ribs and ran to the general direction where she dropped her machete.

Arya was out of breath and exhausted. Her lungs felt like they were on fire but she still pushed her legs as far as they would go until she saw a glimmer of silver a few paces ahead of her. She could sense the boy chasing her, and judging by the heat radiating from his skin, she could tell he was right on her tail. Quickly, she reached for her machete and swung it behind her. Instead of connecting with flesh, she connected with an object far sturdier and the machete was easily knocked out of her grasp. She felt a sharp pain shoot up her arm and when she looked down at her swinging arm, she noticed her left wrist was discoloured.

Looking up she saw a boy – no, a man - with coal black hair and bright blue eyes staring down at her. A baseball bat was held firmly in front of him and she noted the scratch mark were her machete must have dented. Her attacker was much bigger than she initially expected. He must have stood at least a foot taller than her, and his body was taut with muscle. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt and his rather large biceps were naked to her eyes. He's strong, she thought.

Using her cat-like reflexes, Arya quickly bent down and grabbed her shotgun. She pointed the weapon at the man. His eyes went wide with fear and he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Whoa, take it easy kid," The man said, "Like I said, I don't have any intention of hurting you, alright? I only snuck up behind you because I didn't want to scare you and have you attack me,"

Arya stared at the man with disbelief. He didn't want to scare her? Then why the bloody hell did he grab her in the first place? Arya could only draw up two conclusions: one, he was a liar, or two, he was the biggest idiot she had ever met.

Slowly, the boy put the baseball bat down, his eyes never leaving hers. Arya did not dare lower her guard and kept her shotgun pointing firmly at the man in front of her. Her finger was over the trigger and her aim was pointed directly at his chest. With one flick of her finger, the man would lay dead at her feet. She expected him to talk again but the man remained silent and simply stared at her for a few moments.

"Why did you grab me?" Arya demanded.

"Like I said, I didn't want to scare you. I didn't know if you were armed and I didn't want to risk getting shot at. Now, if you can put down the gun-"

"Shut up!" Arya screamed with fear clearly evident in her voice. The man immediately shut his mouth and Arya began surveying him. She looked around her surroundings and noticed the crates stocked up with supplies. He must have been here for the food as well. There was an abundance of edible food but Arya was not even willing to part with even the tiniest portion. If the No Frills was empty like the Freshco had been, then they needed all this food, so they would be sustained for a long time to come.

"Take your stupid bat and get out before I change my mind," Arya declared.

The man raised an eyebrow at her and looked at her with disbelief. "Can't do that, kid. I sort of came here for something," He jerked his head towards the food storages.

Arya scoffed. She was the one with the gun and he was making demands? "No you're not. I found it first and it's mine,"

The man took a couple of steps towards her and Arya kept a firm hold on her gun. The gun shot might attract more Walkers but she would not hesitate to kill this man if he came in the way between her and her food. He stopped a couple of paces before her and bent his knees, so he was now closer to her height.

"Look, kid, I didn't come here alone. There are five of us all together and my allies are armed as well. I think the fairest and the smartest thing for us to do is spilt the food. You take half, I take half and then we go our separate ways or if you want, you can join our group. We'll take care of you- we can make sure you're well fed and we'll protect you from the Walkers,"

Arya snorted at him. "Smart? This is coming from the idiot that grabbed me,"

His eyes narrowed and he gave her a somewhat bemused expression. "You know, you shouldn't insult people that are bigger than you,"

Arya shrugged her shoulders. "Then I wouldn't get to insult anyone,"

To her surprise, the black-haired man burst out in a fit of laughter and he shot her a wide grin that reached his eyes. "How old are you, kid?"

"I'm sixteen and I'm not a kid!" Arya yelled defensively.

Suddenly all the amusement from his face was gone and his eyes scanned her entire body, as if he was studying her. "You look like you're twelve," He commented.

Arya had always been small for her age and a part of her understood why he mistook her for a child but that did not stop the anger from building up inside of her. "And how old are you? Forty?" She snapped at him.

Now, it was the black-haired man's turn to frown and she knew she had tugged a nerve. Truthfully, the man looked to be in his late twenties, perhaps early thirties, and like her, he did not take too kindly for someone mistaking his age. "I'm twenty-two," He corrected her.

Arya let her jaw drop; he certainly did not look twenty-two. This man had laugh lines on his face and stubble covering his chin, making him appear much older than he claimed. Plus, he was huge and Arya had never seen a twenty-two year old as big as him. "I'm Gendry, by the way,"

Gendry held up his hand towards her and Arya stood there, momentarily eying him. Reluctantly, Arya raised her right hand and grasped his own, giving him a firm handshake. "Arya," She responded.

"Arya, would you mind putting the gun down?" Gendry asked her politely.

Arya had forgotten that she was still holding the shotgun. Her weapon was still pointed firmly at his chest. She didn't lower the weapon initially but surveyed Gendry instead. He did not look like he wanted to harm her. She took a good look at his eyes and noted the sincerity behind them. Arya had two options: she could either kill him or she could trust him. Arya was not sure if she could get away with killing him. If he was telling her the truth about his accomplices, she wouldn't stand a chance against four armed men. Plus, the gun shot would attract every Walker in the area and Arya doubted she would have enough time to stock up the rest of the food and make a run for it. So that only left her with option number two, to trust him. Reluctantly, Arya lowered her gun and tucked the weapon in the waist band of her jeans.

Arya tried to calm her racing heart. Since the pandemic began, she had never worked with someone who was not a part of her family. Her heart was beating so loud, she was positive Gendry could hear it. She was perspiring and she felt a trickle of sweat drip down from her forehead to fall onto the floor, where it landed with a dull thud. Just as she tried to settle her nerves, Gendry bent down to pick up the baseball bat and the machete. Once Arya saw him pick up the weapons, she quickly grabbed her shotgun and aimed the weapon at his chest once more.

"Whoa, calm yourself, kid," Gendry teased. He handed her the machete and Arya hesitantly took back the weapon and tucked the gun away once more.

"I'm not a kid," Arya declared once more.

"Milady, then," Gendry teased.

Was he intentionally trying to piss her off? "Do not call me milady!" Arya screamed at him.

"As malady commands," He announced while giving her a little bow.

Letting the anger get the best of her, Arya pushed Gendry with all her force and he tumbled to the ground. Instead of getting mad, he burst out in a fit of laughter. "What kind of lady are you?" He asked jokingly.

"The bad kind," Arya announced as she kicked him in the side, which only made Gendry laugh harder. She then turned her back to the idiot and began marching towards the area where Gendry had grabbed her. She found her backpack discarded on the floor, protruding with food. She stuffed the backpack up as much as she could and zipped up the bag before throwing it around her shoulders. She did not have to turn around to sense Gendry standing right behind her. "We should grab a couple of shopping carts and load it with the rest of the food," She announced.

"Does that mean you're coming with us?" Gendry asked.

Arya turned to face him and noticed all the humor was wiped away from his face. The look he gave her was filled with desperation and hope. The vulnerability in his eyes took off years from his face and he donned on a child-like expression, similar to the one Bran and Rickon would give her. She wanted to call him stupid or push him again but, the look he gave her stirred something deep inside her chest, where her heart had once been. "Come with me," He pleaded with her.

She surveyed Gendry and noticed that, despite his stupidity, his strength would come in handy. If she was looking after her own survival, she would have gladly accompanied him and the two of them could have made a strong duo. But, she already had a pack. Bran and Rickon were in the shed waiting for her, and their safety meant much more to her than her own.

"I want to," She told him honestly, "But I can't. My brothers are all alone waiting for me in our safe haven and I have to get back to them,"

"Safe haven?" Gendry questioned.

"Yeah, you know, like shelter. A place to sleep where you'll be safe from the Walkers," She then proceeded to tell him about their shed and he looked at her with wide eyes. "Don't you have a safe haven?" Arya asked him.

Gendry shook his head from side to side. "We sleep outside. One person stays awake on 'Walker Alert' while the rest of us grab some shut-eye. We never once thought of finding a shelter,"

Again, Arya was dumbfounded. How the bloody hell did he manage to stay alive for this long without a safe haven? She would never take the risk of sleeping outside, even if Bran and Rickon were not with her.

"There used to be thirty of us," Gendry continued. "One day, the Walkers attacked. There were just so many of them. Only five of us made it out. My guardian, Tobho, was among them. I tried to save him, but by the time I got close enough, a Walker had already torn out his throat. I was shocked for a moment- there were hundreds of them just towering over my Uncle's body and eating his flesh. Then one of the Walkers turned around to look at me and I had no choice but to run,"

If Gendry had told this story to her years ago, she may have responded with something sympathetic, like an apology, or she might have told him that she too had lost her parents to the Walkers. But Arya was not the same little girl she was years ago. Her heart had turned to stone the moment her father died, and she was practically a woman, with no emotions to weigh her down. "This is why you should have had a shelter," She responded coldly.

She saw Gendry's face drop and his smile was replaced with a frown. Momentarily, Arya felt a bit guilty for upsetting him, but this was the fucking end of the world. If he expected to survive it, Gendry would need to grow some backbone.

"So your allies," Arya commented, quickly changing the subject. "Are they close by?"

"Sure, kid. Follow me, I'll introduce ya," Gendry's frown immediately turned into a smile after Arya scowled at him and cursed under her breath. A part of her was annoyed at Gendry's stupidity and constant teasing but another part of her admired him for it.

Prior to the pandemic, Arya had been raised as an upper class citizen. Her father was a powerful business tycoon and her mother was the daughter of a corresponding agency, almost as wealthy as the Starks. She had attended a prestigious private school and had been forced to socialize with other upper class men. She once had a friend named Mycah, whom was a medium class citizen. His father had been a butcher of a local store where her family would buy meat and Mycah frequently assisted him in their little shop. Arya always hated the rich; they were egotistical and flat out rude. They would all place themselves on a pedestal and believed the less wealthy citizens were beneath them. Arya did not like to associate herself with those types of people and she had rarely spoken to anyone who was not her family. Mycah was different. He was a part of the common folk and he did not treat her like everyone else had. The rich people would engage her in polite conversations while forcing to participate in dreadful tasks such as knitting and sipping tea or attending high-social events- operas, theatres or art exhibits. To her face, they paid her polite compliments and carried out intellectual conversations about the news or other current events, but behind her back they would gossip and say vile things about her. She even heard one woman, Cersei Lannister, refer to her as 'the wild Stark girl'. The common folk were no better; they would ignore her out of fear or jealously or perhaps a mixture of both. It irritated her that she was casted away by both members of society simply because of her birth. She did not belong in the high-class world. Arya was not a proper lady like her mother or her sister had been. She had never asked for this life, nor had she wanted it, but that did not seem to matter to anyone else. Apart from her family, Mycah was the only friend she had, until one day, his mother had gotten a very generous job offer in New Zealand. Apparently, it did not matter whether you were a butcher in England or a butcher in New Zealand. Common jobs like that were easy to find, so Mycah's mom graciously accepted the offer and that was the last Arya ever saw of her beloved friend.

That was one of the reasons why she admired Gendry. With the exception of Mycah and her family, he was the only person who did not mind spending two seconds with the brash and wild Stark girl. Even after Arya had threatened to kill him, he had still offered for her to join his group and did not treat her like a proper lady. Perhaps it was because he was unaware of her high-birth or perhaps it was because they were in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Either way, she enjoyed the boy's inadequate grammar, slurred words and the fact that he treated her the same way as he would treat everyone else. Gendry and Arya were not friends but perhaps they could be considered accomplices? Or maybe allies would have been a better word. Either way they were neither strangers nor enemies and Arya found comfort in knowing that there was another person out there that did not wish any ill harm towards her.

She followed Gendry out of the storage room and kept up his pace despite that fact that his legs were much longer; therefore leading him to take longer strides. They walked around in the seemingly empty Walmart and Gendry began darting around aisle to aisle searching for his comrades.

"YOREN!" Gendry shouted. His voice was deep but still booming and Arya cursed him for being so loud. Despite the fact that they would now have six armed men including her, Arya did not want to risk running into another Walker. Gendry seemed utterly unfazed by her insults and began shouting another names; "LOMMY! HOT PIE! WEASEL!"

"Shut yer yapper, boy! Do you want to attract every Walker within a twenty mile radius?" A tall man entered her line of vision and Arya began observing him. He looked rather menacing. He bore a couple of scars on his face and his filthy brown hair was flaked in dandruff and covered in grime. His shaggy brown hair reached his shoulders and curled inwards at the tips. His outward appearance seemed rough around the edges but his big brown eyes were filled with honour and kindness.

"Yoren," Gendry called, his face beaming. "You'll never guess what I found," He exclaimed excitedly while placing his arm over Arya's shoulder.

Arya was tempted to bite him for being so bold and she was about to do just that until two other boys stepped into her line of vision. They both looked to be about her age and had mistrust in their eyes but that's where their similarities ended. One of the boys was tall and gangly with blonde hair that reached his shoulders. His skin was pale and the boy had pale green eyes. He shot her a disgusted scoff when he saw her eyeing him and Arya responded with a glare. She shifted her gaze to focus on the other boy beside him; he was a big fellow. Where Gendry was big due to his height and muscle, this boy was just plain fat. His belly protruded outwards and it appeared that he had three chins. She noticed that the fat on his body would jiggle with even the slightest movement. His skin was much darker than the blonde boy's, perhaps a tan or a light brown, and his eyes were a dark murky colour that resembled the colour of mud. He did not look at her with the same animosity her friend had, but by judging his facial expression and his body language, she could still tell that the boy disliked her. Yoren on the other hand, gave her a neutral expression. His face was like a mask- it appeared that he was not surprised to see her and it didn't seem like he cared either.

"He's got a machete, this one," The blonde boy announced, causing Arya to shift her attention back to the two boys.

"What's a gutter rat like you doing with a machete?" The fat one asked.

"We should take it off him," The blonde boy suggested.

Gendry shifted his weight and looked like he was about to defend her but, Arya was no damsel in distress and she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

"I'm a girl!" She snapped at them. The two boys eyed her with disbelief and both shifted their attention to look at her chest. They were concentrating hard but Arya was wearing a loose t-shirt that obscured her already too small breasts. They did not seem convinced even after Arya had spoken revealing her feminine voice. "I've already killed several idiots," She announced while pointing her machete at the two boys who immediately looked frightened. "I'm good at killing idiots. I like killing idiots," Arya proclaimed. She was about to lunge at the two boys, proving to them that she was someone to be feared not mocked but Gendry grabbed her shoulder and held her in place.

She turned to face him, expecting him to look mad for threatening to kill his two allies but, he carried an amused expression on his face and shot her a goofy smile. "She's a feisty one," Gendry announced. "And smart, too. She found an abundance of food in the storage area. I wouldn't have even noticed it if it wasn't for the noises,"

"Storage," Yoren muttered to himself. "How could have we been stupid enough to forget about storage?" He then shifted his attention to Arya. "Well, girl, you've proven yourself to be useful. Which is a whole lot more than I could say about these sorry sons of whores. So, how 'bout it then? Want to join our group?"

The two boys shot Yoren a look of disbelief- they were obviously not pleased by the suggestion. The blonde boy was about to rebuttal before Arya interjected. "Don't waste your breath. Gendry already made the same offer and I respectfully declined,"

"Respectfully?" Gendry commented, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Shut up" Arya snapped at him and again he shot her a wide grin. It was then that Arya noticed his arm was still wrapped around her shoulders and she roughly removed his arm before slamming it back to his chest. Again Gendry smiled at her and Arya shot her tongue out at him. He was just as annoying as her brothers had been and Arya thought if given the chance; Gendry, Robb and Jon would have been good friends.

"If it's these two you`re worried about," Yoren began, gesturing at the two boys. "I can assure you, I'll keep them in line. You don't have to be afraid of this lot-"

"I'm not afraid!" Arya snapped at the older man. Despite her size, Arya was a force to be reckoned with, and if Gendry had not stopped her from pouncing on the two boys, her point would have been proven already. "My brothers," She explained. "They're depending on me. I have to take care of them,"

Yoren let out a chuckle. "Gods, girl, I ain't asking you to leave your brothers. We'll take them with us. The more the merrier, I say,"

Arya shook her head. "My brother, Bran, he's not erm... fit to travel," She noticed Gendry was eyeing her oddly, and even Yoren seemed intrigued on Bran's situation, but Arya did not dare tell them anymore. These weren't her friends, allies or companions. They were just a group of guys she had run into. They would spilt their spoils and each of them would march their separate ways, probably never running into each other once more. "Plus, we are doing well," Arya added, quickly shifting the subject. "We do not have any need for allies, so if-"

"Oh, Yoren, I forgot to tell you," Gendry interrupted her. "They have a safe haven. A little shed that is secured completely from the inside. We could all sleep peacefully and not have to worry about the Walkers-"

"No," Arya growled, her eyes boring into Gendry's. Immediately, Arya regretted telling him about the shed. How could she be stupid enough to reveal one of her biggest secrets? And the location of her two brothers, nonetheless. Gendry was a stranger to her. She was perfectly aware of what he was suggesting and she did not want him to bring his hopes up for something that would never happen. The shed was hers, and despite her initial thoughts about Gendry, she could not trust him. She could not trust any of them. These men were strangers and Arya would not succumb so easily to them. She had no idea what these men were like and what they were capable of. The two boys had already left her uneasy and to put them in a room with Bran and Rickon was out of the question. She would not risk their lives for more able bodies, no matter how useful they could be.

"What?" Gendry questioned.

"You heard what I said. You are not coming with me. The shed is mine and I will not share it. I don't even know you people. Do you honestly expect me to put my brothers' lives and my own in your hands?"

Gendry shot her a pained look. Yoren still carried the same neutral expression upon his face. "Look, kid. This is a war. There is no bloody disease as far as I'm concerned. It's just us versus them and if we want to stand a shot against those bloody Walkers, we must unite together, in order to take down the common enemy. We will split the food amongst ourselves either way but you still have something we want. We need a shelter and if we had been bloody smart enough to find one in the first place, our numbers would be far greater than they are right now. You're smart, kid. You are one step ahead of me and my men and you know how to survive this war. I am sick and tired being tethered to these bloody idiots and I need someone like you in our group. Plus, we have things you desire, too. I bet you didn't find any medicine in those storage areas did you?"

Yoren had grasped her attention. They had medicine? She remembered last year when Rickon had come down with a fever. She had scowered the empty streets for three days straight and came home with nothing but a bucket of cool water and some clean clothes. She could find no medicine to offer her brother and all she could do was hope that the fever would pass. It did eventually but it took twice as long as a normal fever should have lasted and the sickness had put Rickon in the state of general weakness for a couple of more weeks after the fever had passed. Arya was positively frightened to see her brother like that; she could have lost him. Medicine would ensure that would never happen again. If she had some antibiotics, or even some Tylenol, Rickon would have recovered faster. She did not have anything and Arya had never felt so useless. Medicine would be the answer to her silent prayers that she dared not recite. As far as she was concerned, God had taken everything away from her and she did not feel like begging for mercy. God hadn't listened to her three years ago; why would he listen now?

"How do I know you're not lying?" Arya demanded. The group of men could have easily been lying to her. They had something she wanted. Did they truly have something she needed? Arya and her brothers had very scarce resources; they barely had any clean water. If Yoren was telling her the truth about the medical supplies, she really had no choice but to allow them to accompany her. Perhaps Gendry was right- they should stick together and divide their riches. If they had any chance of surviving this pandemic, their health was their top priority.

Yoren did not question her mistrust. If anything, he seemed to respect her even more for being as cautious as she was. "See for yourself," He told her while slinging a large black bag off his shoulder and tossing it at her direction. He let the bag go with such ease and Arya made an attempt to catch it in the air. The bag was much heavier than she initially guessed and the straps slipped through her fingers, causing the bag to fall on the floor with a loud thud. She bent down on her knees and unzipped the bag, beginning to check its contents.

Yoren was telling her the truth about procuring the medical supplies. Inside the bag she noted items that you would find in your standard first aid kit: gauze, Band-Aids, cotton swabs, normal saline, hydrogen peroxide, sterile scissors, rubbing alcohol and iodine. There was also an abundance of prescription and over the counter medication; Tylenol, Advil, Allegra, Claritin, Benadryl, Buckley's, Cold FX, Midol, a variety of antibiotics, Tums, antacids and anti-hypertensives. The epipens were expired and the multi-vitamin bottles had all been empty but Arya was grateful for the remainder of the medication.

"So what do you say girl? Do we have a deal?" Yoren asked her.

Arya looked up to meet Yoren's gaze and shifted her attention to Gendry and the other two boys. She eyed the boys with doubt and began weighing out her options. She was sorely tempted to take Yoren and Gendry along with her and leave the other two boys to fend for themselves, but Arya highly doubted either Gendry or Yoren would allow that. Reluctantly, she nodded her head. She secretly decided she would pay special attention to the two boys. If they gave her a reason to provoke her, the deal would be off, no matter how desperate she was for the medical supplies.

"Good," Yoren announced while flashing Arya a wide, toothy smile. "It's 'bout time we had another girl in our group. It will be good for the little one,"

Another girl? It was only then she looked down to Yoren's hip and noticed a little girl who looked to be about the age of four, hiding behind one of Yoren's broad legs. She had beautiful blonde hair that was tied in pigtails. Her big brown eyes were filled with fear and she cringed when Arya met her gaze. She hugged Yoren's leg tighter and buried her head into his thigh.

"Don't be scared, Weasel, the girl won't hurt you," Yoren assured her while nudging the girl away from his thigh and towards Arya's general direction.

The little girl's eyes went wide with fear and she heard Gendry laugh beside her. Arya turned her head to face Gendry and scowled at him, which only frightened the girl more and she ran to Gendry's direction. Gendry easily scooped her into his arms and she saw the little girl's body shaking with fear as she buried her head in Gendry's broad shoulder. "Don't worry," Gendry reassured her. "She was scared of me too when we first met. She'll grow to like you eventually. You have to admit, though, you're rather scary looking when you're angry," Gendry winked at her and she considered punching him before she realised she would scare the already frightened little girl even more. Arya took a deep breath and began leading the men back to the storage room.

Arya, Gendry and Yoren began sorting out the food when Hot Pie and Lommy the- two boys who's names she had learned- arrived with two shopping carts. Gendry lifted up Weasel and placed her in the shopping cart. Arya remembered sitting in shopping carts when she was a little girl and smiled at the memory. After Gendry had securely placed Weasel in the cart, he assisted the rest of the group as they began to unload all their bags into the carts, along with the rest of the edible food. After they had raided the entire store of its food supplies, they roamed the Walmart for luxuries to bring along with them. The storage room had an abundance of items that were no longer in the aisles of the Walmart, such as deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash. She also went back to aisles and grabbed more items; blankets, shoes and clothes. She also grabbed less important items; moisturizer, lotion, hand sanitizer, razors, shaving cream, hair brushes and hair ties. The items may not have been important or even necessary for their survival, but with the shopping carts they could virtually take everything in the store and it would not matter.

Arya noticed Gendry tossing in a couple of dolls into the shopping cart for Weasel. She wanted to yell at him, exclaiming that the toys were the least of their worries, but the dolls seemed to calm the little girl and she desperately clung onto one of the Barbie dolls. A small smile appeared on her face with the sight of her new toy. Arya did not have the heart to take it away from her. She had made Bran, Rickon and herself give up all their toys, iPods and other possessions in the start of the epidemic. By leaving all their items, they had also bid farewell to their childhood and grown into adults. It was nice to see that Weasel had not given up her innocence and Arya thought that perhaps there was hope for them yet. If God did exist, he would not be so cruel to force Weasel to turn into the same hard and cold person Arya had turned into. Would he? She looked around the room and noticed that Arya was not the only one looking at the little girl. All of the other men had stopped to admire the little girl and her love for the doll. After a while, they had proceeded to load up other luxuries, until their shopping carts were full.

Arya was about to leave the Walmart and lead the men to her safe haven when Yoren spoke. "Alright, you sorry sons of whores, there are Walkers out there that want to rape your corpses," Yoren certainly had a way with words. "Gendry, Lommy and myself will be armed. If a Walker comes, hit them. We won't shoot unless if we happen to cross paths with an army. Hot Pie and-" Yoren stopped and looked over to Arya with a confused expression on his face.

"Arya," She reminded him.

"Aye," Yoren continued, "Hot Pie and Arya you two will push the shopping carts and-"

"No!" Arya interrupted defiantly. All the men stopped and began to stare at her. "I'm not pushing some stupid shopping cart around. I can defend myself. One of you idiots can push the shopping cart yourself. You need me to lead the way and I've never seen any of you fight. I don't trust you guys with a weapon."

Gendry laughed at her. "Don't worry, kid. Yoren, Lommy and I are pretty skilled at killing Walkers. We'll protect you-"

"I don't need protection!" Arya interrupted. She hated when people underestimated her because of her size. They had no idea what she was capable of. Surely they had the sense to realise she did have some fighting capabilities, since she had survived this long.

Arya grabbed her machete and proceeded to march past the men. Gendry looked like he was about to stop her before Yoren interrupted him. "If the girl wants to fight, let her fight. You and I will be able to handle the Walkers. There shouldn't be too many of them- it's still daylight," Yoren turned to face Lommy and pushed him in the general direction of the other shopping cart. "Push, boy. You and Hot Pie will be looking after our supplies,"

Lommy frowned and shot Arya a look of pure annoyance but obediently headed over to the shopping cart and began following the others outside. When Arya approached the store entrance, she noticed that the automatic doors had been pried open much farther and she easily walked outside without having to squeeze herself between the doors. Gendry, Yoren, Lommy, Hot Pie and Weasel followed her lead and they began heading back towards the shed.

The sun was now shining in the West. Arya judged by its placement that it should have been around four o'clock. The weather was ridiculously hot and Arya began sweating with the foul liquid pooling on her forehead, underarms and back. Arya was tempted to reach into the shopping carts and grab one of the sticks of deodorant, but sadly, she had no idea where exactly the item was located. Arya always detested the summer- the weather was too bloody hot. She preferred tobogganing and building snowmen than swimming and lying under the hot sun. Winter was her paradise- she was born in the midst of winter and she missed the cold weather and the snowfall dearly. In summer, the temperature would only drop to a suitable temperature at night time, but for the rest of the day, she was in pure agony. Her right arm began to burn and she noted that her skin was red. Unfortunately for her, the pandemic had begun in the crisp autumn weather and the Walmart was fresh out of sunscreen. Not even a bottle to be found in one of the aisles or the storage area. Her older sister, Sansa, would have basked in the heat. Even without her tanning supplies, Sansa's skin always turned into a beautiful golden luster when exposed in the sun. Her body was made for tanning, whereas Arya's was not. With the exception of albinos, Arya was as pale as they came. When exposed in the sun, despite Sansa's constant attempts to rid Arya of her rather ghastly skin tone, Arya never tanned; she burned. The sun burn was aggravating Arya and she recalled that Yoren had some Calamine lotion in his bag which she would lather on, once they made it to the safety of her shed. In the mean time, Arya just rubbed her arm gently while keeping a sharp eye out for Walkers.

Arya made her way to one of the shopping carts and swiped one of the water bottles, the group had intentionally left at the top of the cart. She took what seemed to be a sip of water but, winded up draining three-quarters of the bottle. Arya was sorely tempted to take the remainder of the water and dump it on her head but, drinking water was scarce and she would not waste fresh water. So Arya drained the remainder of the water in her next sip and tossed the empty water bottle on a patch of grass, where it landed making practically no noise.

Crunch.

Did these idiots really have to be so bloody loud? Whenever Arya frequented outside their shed, she was always quiet as a shadow, making little to no noise. The only noise that she did make was back in the storage area where Gendry had found her, and that was only because she was careless and let her guard down when being presented with the untouched crates of food. She was lucky that it was Gendry who found her, and not Hot Pie or Lommy, or she could very well still be in the storage room of the Walmart, laying in a pool of her own blood.

She brushed the bangs out of her eyes and felt the dampness of the sweat seeping through her hair. The new shirt she had procured from the Walmart was already soiled and damp. Why did it have to be so bloody hot?

She glanced backwards and saw the men following her brisk pace. As much as she tried to hide her fear, she never felt comfortable out in the open with the Walkers roaming about. The sooner they got to the shed, the sooner they'd be safe. They were halfway back to their safe haven when the smell of rotting flesh consumed her senses. Gendry and Yoren seemed to pick up on the stench as well – it was really hard not to – and raised their weapons. Gendry carried the same baseball bat he had on him when they first encountered in the shed and Yoren carried a rather rusty crowbar. Their pace did not falter and Arya continued leading the way even when the stench grew stronger and more unbearable.

Three Walkers had emerged from their right and began heading in their direction. With the amount of noise Yoren, Gendry and the others had been making, Arya was relieved that there were only three Walkers and not more. She saw Gendry tense as he raised the baseball bat in the air and held a firm grip on the weapon, ready to strike at any moment. Yoren behind her also raised his crowbar preparing for the attack and Lommy left the shopping cart to retrieve a shotgun.

Lommy pointed the gun at one of the Walkers and he was ready to pull the trigger before Yoren scolded him. "No, boy! Not for three. We can handle three Walkers, but we won't be able to handle the three hundred that gun will attract,"

Reluctantly, Lommy lowered the weapon and put the shotgun away. Instead, he armed himself with a baseball bat. The bat was much smaller than the one Gendry was carrying and the weapon was made out of wood not metal. The weight was much lighter than Gendry's bat and Lommy would have to put much more force in his attacks than Gendry to create equal damage, but the boy was still ready and was prepared to fight. He had courage, Arya had to give him that.

Gendry proceeded to attack the first Walker, but Arya arrived at the scene first, swinging her machete at the Walker's head. She did not wait to see if the Walker went down; the force of the impact was so great that she knew the Walker would not rise again. She turned to see another Walker about to a couple of inches away from her. It's mouth was open and his teeth were bared, preparing to bite her. She did not give the Walker the chance. She raised her leg, hitting the centre of the creature's chest with the sole of her foot. The creature tumbled to the ground and before it could get up, Arya plunged the machete right through his skull and the Walker ceased moving. When Arya turned to face the third Walker, she noted that it was much shorter than she initially expected it to be. Arya had to crane her head down to look at the beast, and being a girl of only 5'1", she hardly had to look down at a person before. It was then when Arya had taken a closer examination at the creature. Half of the skin on the Walker's face had deteriorated, showing nothing but bone. The other half was obscured by bites and rotting flesh but, when Arya eyed the creature closely she could see the youth behind the blemishes. This Walker was different from the other two and the abundance of other Walkers Arya had killed. Before the creature had turned into a Walker, it was once a child. A girl, she judged by solely examining the Walker's clothing. Her body was much to worn out to make out it's gender but no boy would wear a dress. She looked to be about Weasel's age or perhaps a couple years older. A normal person would hesitate, perhaps feeling sympathy for the creature but, this war had made Arya hard. The creature was no longer a little girl, she was a Walker. There was no innocence left in that vile creature, it was nothing but a soulless life form whose only desire was to kill. Arya dove the machete in the Walker's skull and watched the beast sink to its knees before falling on the floor, never to rise again.

Arya turned to face her comrades and each one of them were staring at her with disbelief, their jaws slightly dropped. Arya was unable to tell if the look was fear from watching her strike down the little girl or if was from shock that a little girl her size was able to take on three Walkers all by herself. Arya took a part of her shirt and wiped her machete clean of the vile blood tarnishing her blade. She then looked at her comrades giving them a cold emotional stare before muttering, "Told you I could defend myself," and then she was off. She continued her journey to her safe haven and she did not have to turn around to know that her new pack had been following her.

They had crossed paths with a few more Walkers, but it was nothing that the three of them could not handle. Yoren and Gendry were both incredibly strong. Where it took Arya sometimes three to four hits to get the job done, Yoren and Gendry seldom required more than one.

Lommy and Hot Pie followed them easily. Sometimes Lommy would get nervous and Arya noticed his hands hovering over the shotgun and his fingers brushing the weapon but he did not ever use it. Gendry, Yoren and herself killed every Walker they had run into and did not need a fourth person to assist them. Where Lommy was itching to be a part of the slaying, Hot Pie showed no interest in fighting the Walkers, let alone touching a weapon. He pushed the shopping cart forward and never wavered from his task. When the Walkers came, the little girl, Weasel, who had been sitting in the shopping cart Hot Pie had been pushing, would cling onto the collar of Hot Pie's shirt and the boy would sooth her and reassure her that no harm would ever come to her. Perhaps Hot Pie wasn't so bad after all. He showered the little girl with kindness and was incredibly patient with the child. Seeing the boy now, Arya could not place him with the same boy that had threatened her in the Walmart.

Once the shed was within her sight, Arya broke out into a run as she sprinted to her safe haven where her two brothers were waiting for her. The sun was sinking lower and lower- pretty soon it would set and night would be upon them. Yoren, Gendry, Lommy, Hot Pie, Rickon and herself would quickly have to unload all the supplies and store them into the shed before dark. The night time was when the Walkers were prominent and even with her new muscle; Arya was not naive enough to believe that they would be able to face all those Walkers.

Once she was at the shed, Arya turned to see if the rest of her pack had caught up with her. Gendry was not far from her; he followed her lead and sprinted to the shed as well. Yoren, Hot Pie, Lommy and Weasel were still far behind. Gendry stopped when he approached her and began catching his breath. Once he had regained his composure, he took a step back to admire the shed. It wasn't much, but, to Arya, it was home.

"This is your safe haven?" Gendry asked.

Arya nodded, "It's not much-"

"It's brilliant," Gendry interrupted. He turned to face her and shot her a wide smile. Arya must have been delirious from the journey because she actually smiled back at him. She could not remember the last time she had smiled- it was much too long ago. But now she had food, medicine and other luxurious provisions to last all eight of them for a long time to come. In addition, she now had a new pack that could assist her with her supply runs, ensuring a much safer journey. She would not have to leave her brothers alone to fend for themselves- perhaps sometimes she could even stay with them.

Yoren, Hot Pie, Weasel and Lommy had now caught up to them. The four of them were struck in awe, similar to the way Gendry had been. Yoren slapped her hard on the shoulder, causing Arya to stagger forward but, the man hardly noticed. "Good job kid," He praised her and Arya shot a smile at him.

She walked around the shed, until she reached the trap door and proceeded with her secret knock. Two swift knocks, followed by one and ending in three swift knocks. There was a pause and then she heard the latch open with a click. Slowly the trap door had been pushed open and Arya smiled in the sight of it. It was time to merge packs.