Chapter 3

You broke your promise...

Amber's eyes snapped open whilst her body lurched upright. Blinking a few times, the young woman awaited the grogginess to pass. "Morning Amber"

Rubbing the back of her neck Amber looked up and noticed Lori cooking breakfast. "Morning Lori... Man my back hurts." She slowly pulled herself up from the ground before stretching her arms in the air - resulting in a few back clicks - just as Daryl emerges from the tent next to her. Amber watched on as he kept a steady pace towards the bodies left around the camp.

"Want something to eat? You look like you could use it," Lori smiled politely. Amber hesitated before nodding. She knew herself and Lori hadn't exactly seen eye to eye before but hopefully things could be different now. Amber grabbed her rifle and slung it over her back to its usual place before heading over. Lori handed her sister-in-law a plate of meat and beans. "It's squirrel. Daryl brings them in for us all the time."

Nodding, Amber picked up the fork from the plate and tucked in. She didn't realise just how hungry she was until the food touched her tongue. In minutes she'd eaten the contents on the plate and smiled to Lori who was watching her questioningly. "That was amazing," she joked as she patted her belly. Lori smiled and held out her hand for the plate. Amber notices anger cross her brother's wife's face but in an instant it's gone.

A few moments of silence later after Amber sat back down on the log Lori spoke, "We haven't seen you in so long…" Amber looked to her as she carried on cooking the food.

Looking into the fire the young woman thought about how to answer. "I know…" Glimpsing at Lori's face, Amber couldn't tell what she was thinking. "Been nine years right?"

"Nearly ten," Lori quickly corrected. Looking back into the fire, the crackling made the only sound between them. "Why did you abandon us?" she spoke softly.

Amber's eyes widened as she looked back at the woman before her. Lori's eyes were full of accusation. Anger began to boil inside of the sniper. "Come again?" she asked seriously.

"I remember phoning you last time about this. But you never did do anything about it. You abandoned us Amber! Do have any idea what that did to Carl? Thinking his Aunt hates him! Hell I'm surprised he even thinks of you seeing as you've never been around in our lives! Not to mention Rick. His own sister wants nothing to do with him and his family." Others began to watch from their places in the camp. It was clear to see how angry Lori was, her body was practically shaking. Before Amber could say a word Lori carried on. "How do you think that made him feel?! Do you even care about what we've gone through? The people we've lost?!" Lori had completely stopped cooking now and had turned towards her. Something snapped in Amber when the faces of the people she'd lost flashed through her mind.

"You haven't got a clue Lori! You haven't got a damn clue about what I've gone through! I don't sit around and lecture you or accuse you. I know I wasn't there but did you ever think about why I wasn't there? Why I stopped the contact? No. You just think you have all the answers, always have done. Everyone has lost someone Lori, you're not the only person this is affecting. I'm not gonna sit here and listen to this." Amber got up to leave but stopped when in the corner of her eye she saw Lori march towards her.

"Oh no, you're not brushing me off this easily again! You need to answer me Amber!" she spat as she pointed her finger in Amber's face, "Do you expect us to just let you back in suddenly after all these years?! You're not using us like this!"

Amber lurched forward and grabbed the collar of Lori's shirt, fear soon replaced the anger in her eyes. "I don't expect anything off anyone! Especially not you Lori!" Amber spoke coldly.

"AMBER!" Rick's voice cut her off from saying anything else. After a moment Amber let go of Lori's shirt, pushing her slightly as she did. Looking around she noticed the other members of the camp looking at her uneasily. The mothers holding their children close to their bodies again. Rick was walking towards her with a frown on his face. Judging her under his gaze. Movement caught Amber's attention to her left. Her eyes widened as she turned to see Carl stood there staring in shock. Amber looked away from his innocent gaze.

The young soldier stormed off past Rick before he could say anything. "Whatever" she said as she made her way back up to her bike.

After a few yards Amber heard hurried footsteps behind her. "Amb wait up!" She turned her head slightly and rolled her eyes before continuing to her bike.

"Leave me alone Shane! One lecture is more than enough for today." As she stomped up the dirt track a firm hand grabbed her shoulder, slightly turning her to a stop.

"Ain't like that darling. Just chill will ya?" He smiled as she glared at him. He raised his hands in the air as surrender.

"What do you want Shane?" she asked rather rudely. He raised his eyebrow to the tone of her voice, before leaning on one leg and crossing his arms over his hulking chest. Rolling her eyes she sighed, "Okay, okay, okay! I'm sorry Shane. What do you need me for?"

He smiles to the fiery girl he once knew as he tossed a red tank top and black jeans in her arms. "Andrea said you could have them." After a few more moments of staring at him confused he laughed. "You stink Amb, go wash up at the river."

"Gee thanks a lot" she frowned at the smirking cop. Amber started making her way back the way she came.

"Take a right by the RV!" he called back. "And cool that temper of yours while you're at it!" Amber shook her head as she went.

…

When the young soldier emerged back into camp newly washed and dressed, she notice everyone stood near the RV, apart from Andrea who is still staring down at her dead sister. Making her way over and weakly smiling to the group, it seemed like they were thinking of the next course of action. They fall silent after Rick suggests the CDC and Shane says Fort Benning. Amber thought it would be best if she just sat at a distance, she hadn't exactly made a good first impression.

Dale cleared his throat grabbing everyone's attention. Looking over to him she noticed he was staring directly at her. "I don't mean to pry miss but last night, I saw the way you fought and by that dog tag... you're from the military aren't you?" Amber dropped her gaze to the shining metal resting against the hem of her top, unsure what to tell the group.

Looking up to their faces again she realised they're all waiting for her answer, even Daryl. She supposed she could tell them bits of information but not everything she knew. "I'm a soldier yes, or was depending on how you look at it these days." Everyone exchanged glances as questions seemed to cover their faces. Sighing to herself, Amber got up and stepped towards them, "Look I'll tell you all I can but don't think I know every little detail on what's going on".

"Well could you tell us what happened from a military perspective?" Dale asked.

The young soldier's eyes shifted around the group once more before landing on the red neck who was looking at her with mild interest in his eyes. Lowering hers again she thought of what to tell them. "Erm... okay. Well… I wasn't a part of the main body of the military for starters. I was in a separate group of squads so I can only tell you what happened from that perspective." She rubbed her chin thinking back. "Reports started coming in of groups of crazed people attacking in small communities." Amber spoke slowly, careful of what she was revealing, "We got word that the local authorities weren't able to cope so my squad was sent in. See they were shooting them down but as you know they don't stay down for too long. After we figured out how to kill them we sent word back to other squads, which were then sent out to eliminate the rest of the problem. But we started getting more and more reports about the Rotters appearing, everywhere."

"Rotters?" Daryl scoffed.

She simply frowned at him. "We call them Walkers," Rick said as he smiled at her.

She thought it over for a second before nodding, "Okay… well we started getting more and more reports about Walkers appearing everywhere. Next thing I know we were getting shipped from one place to another but it didn't matter there was just too many. One group of walkers gets taken down and then two more groups appear. We were fighting a losing battle." She shifted her gaze around the group.

"Orders were then sent out to eliminate any possible threat so I know that squads from the main military group were sent to hospitals and what not. Then when communications went down, soldiers started getting trigger happy. Wasn't long before they started shooting everyone, it didn't matter if you was a walker or not." Shane paled as she spoke. Everyone else just watched. Turning her face down she stared into the ground, like they weren't even there anymore. "Don't immediately think that the military will save you. Always be on your guard and don't ever trust them. It's survival of the fittest to them. As far as I'm concerned we're on our own and you should all remember that." She turned her head away as the others processed everything she'd just said.

"How can we trust you then?" Amber turned to a short haired woman, she believed her name was Carol.

"Well… I guess if you do take my advice then you probably shouldn't trust me, should you?" she chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. "I hope I'm not like them, I mean I did run from them so that must count for something." She paused for thought. "I won't kill you guys, I give you my word. You all know my brother so I don't exactly want to go killing his friends now do I?" The young woman looked to the worried faces, she wasn't exactly making them feel better. Her thoughts went back to the night she'd lost everything… everyone she'd known. "Look… I hate them. They took something… precious from me and I can't… I won't forgive them for it. So, I give you my word I will not harm any of you. I'll protect you guys as best I can. If I see them on the other hand I'm gonna kill them. So you really don't have to worry about me attacking you. My bullets are saved for some other people."

This seemed to somewhat relax them in her presence, though it probably hadn't helped from them witnessing her little argument with Lori earlier. Clearing her throat to get their attentions again Amber swallowed. "Besides, I think you should all just concentrate on what you're going to do with him" she said sadly as she pointed to Jim leaning against the RV. After a moments silence Daryl stepped forward.

"I say we put a pick axe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it!" Amber stared at him for a while as the others started to argue again. He was clearly a survivor. She both admired and understood that. If there was someone who could survive this, it would be someone like Daryl. She couldn't help but look more closely to his features and had to admit he was quite handsome for a redneck. Muscled body, stubble with mousey brown hair just like her own. Moving up his body she looked into his eyes. He was looking right back at her, well more glaring at her than anything. Amber felt her stomach tighten and looked away.

Rick started saying about getting help from the CDC again. A few months back Amber remembered she was meant to have gone there to find out what the scientists had come up with so far. Her squad had other ideas though. If the group decided to go she'd have to be careful. She turned from the group, letting them make the decision on their own. If military were still stationed there and alive, then things would become problematic...very problematic.