Andrea

Andrea stretched out her arms behind her, wrapping her arms around Dale's neck. She felt his one arm tighten slightly around her waist, and a kiss on her head. She smiled. They had found the hotel's impressive library, and were spending the afternoon hiding away from the others. Andrea had found a copy of her favourite book, 'A Prayer for Owen Meany,' whilst Dale had opted for a collection of short Sherlock Holmes stories.

Andrea loved it in the library. It had somehow retained a sense of peace and order through the chaos that had descended on the land. Even though they were alone together, she and Dale had been whispering to each other, preserving the sense that for a short moment, they were living in the world that had been, not the world that was.

"How's your book?" Dale carefully folded the corner of the book down to keep his place and rested his arm on the table.

"Just as good as I remember." Andrea smiled and placed the open book on her lap. "Although I have to say, it speaks to me so much more now."

"What do you mean?"

Andrea thought carefully about her response. "Well...Owen Meany...he knew when and why he was going to die. And that helped him accept his death. He knew he was going to save those children from something awful. And that it was God's plan. It kind of made me think. Would it be better to know you were going to die? Would we accept it how he did? Even if it was a violent death?" She looked up at Dale. "Do I sound crazy?"

"You sound like you've given this a lot of thought." Dale looked down at her and smiled. "Makes my reading seem superficial." He glanced down at his book. "Currently Sherlock has just deduced that one of the pills he has found is poisonous by testing it on a terrier. Wiggins has called him a cab."

"Don't you mean Watson?"

"No Wiggins. He's a beggar that Sherlock sometimes employs to help him."

"Oh." Andrea turned back to her book. She couldn't help feeling like Dale hadn't quite taken her seriously and it bothered her a little. Before she could get back into it though, Dale spoke again.

"I think it depends on the person." She put her book down and listened. "We're all going to die someday. Perhaps if you knew it was going to be soon, you'd live your life to the fullest. Or maybe you'd give up trying. If you knew it wasn't going to be a while, maybe you wouldn't make the most of the time you had, because you thought you weren't going to die for ages."

"Like Amy and her term papers."Andrea smiled at the memory. "She'd ring me at the end of the semester all stressed out because she had this and that paper due. And I'd say how long have you had to work on this? And she'd always have had weeks and weeks, but put it off because she thought she had more time." Andrea paused, reflecting on what she had said. "I think we always think we have more time than we do. And then, when the deadline comes...we haven't done anything..."

Dale held her with both arms. Andrea blinked back tears and swallowed. "Maybe it's better not to know. And just keep going with all we have."

For a moment there was silence. Then Andrea heard the library door open and someone walk in.

"Hello?" Maggie's voice echoed around the library.

"Hey Maggie." Andrea cleared her throat. "Looking for a book?"

"No." Maggie's face peered around a bookshelf. "For Carol. She still hasn't come back from collecting firewood. I thought she might have snuck in here for a read?" Dale frowned.

"Just me and Andrea in here. Has been all day." Maggie bit her lip.

"She said she'd be an hour at most. That was three hours ago. Rick and T-Dog are pretty worried. So's Sophie. We've looked all over the hotel." She looked at Andrea. "Do you think you could go out with some of the others and just look in the surrounding area before it gets too dark. Georgie's worried that she might have hurt herself and not be able to walk."

"Sure." Andrea stood up. Owen Meany could wait. Dale followed close behind her.

In the reception area, all the adults except Ben and Miao were present. Maggie explained that they had taken Harry, Carl and Sophie upstairs out of the way. Andrea looked around. Everyone's face was tense and worried. The atmosphere was strained. She walked over to Rick.

"Has she really been gone that long?" Rick nodded.

"We're going to go out in pairs and try to sweep the area before it gets dark. Hopefully, she's just lost track of the time." He checked his revolver. "Me and Georgie will pair up and to the left. T-Dog and Daryl are going straight ahead. Dale and Glenn will check the front area and you and Adele will go right." Andrea nodded.

"What about me?" Andrea turned to see Matthew sat on the stairs. He had the beginnings of an angry bruise on the side of his face and was holding a large knife in his hands. The sight of this made Andrea nervous. She hadn't had much to do with Matthew since he had arrived, but she had overheard him talking to thin air on many occasions. Before Rick even opened his mouth, Daryl motioned him over.

"Come wit me n T-Dog. Ya got my huntin' knife anyway." As Matthew walked over to the pair, Andrea turned to Rick.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Rick shrugged. "And how did he get that bruise?" Rick sighed.

"Apparently he joined in the little party last night. Tried to get back into his bed, tripped and wacked his face on the coffee table in his room." Andrea looked back at the boy and flinched. She could see the cut where the corner of the table must have caught the boy.

"Ok." Rick called out to everyone. If you're not searching, you're staying here in case Carol makes her way back here." Katie and Maggie nodded. Andrea noticed that Katie had a sullen expression on her face. "If we find her, fire ONE shot. As soon as you hear that shot, make your way back to the hotel. If you get into trouble, TWO shots. Be back before dark, we don't need anyone else going missing. Everyone understand?" A sea of nodding heads. Adele walked over to Andrea and passed her a shotgun.

"We better get moving. It's getting dark, and if Carol's still out there, we need to get a move on." Andrea nodded her agreement.

Outside was still bitterly cold, but the snow was almost gone. Andrea's whole body was on red alert, looking for both walkers and Carol. Every now and then her or Adele would call her name, and she could hear the other doing the same. In the fading light, every tree, every shadow seemed menacing and she almost shot at something that turned out to be harmless. After ten or fifteen minutes of walking, they came across a clearing surrounded by bushes and trees. Scanning the area, Adele shrugged.

"Nothing. Should we carry on forward, or ..." Andrea suddenly spotted something.

"Wait." Walking forward, she crouched down next to the dark pile she had seen. Cautiously, she reached out and touched it. It felt like a leather jacket. She picked it up and examined it further. It was wet and sticky, and in places seemed to have been ripped to shreds. Adele peered over her shoulder.

"It's Georgie's jacket. What's it doing out here?" She took it off Andrea and looked at it. Andrea looked down at her hands. Something was on them. She raised her fingers to her nose and sniffed. A metallic tang hit her nose, and she realised what it was. She raised her hands to the light and gasped in horror as the blood stood out on her hands.

"OH GOD!" Adele dropped the jacket. Andrea turned to look at her, and saw her were hands covered in blood too. Adele looked at her in horror.

"Georgie, gave her jacket to Carol to wear. When we were getting ready to go out, she had to put on two jumpers because Carol had..." She stared at Andrea. "Carol could be..."

Andrea pointed her shotgun in the air and shot twice. This was serious. Gone were any thoughts of Carol making her own way home. It was obvious that she was at best, severely wounded. More likely, she was dead. And from the looks of the jacket, it wasn't wild animals that had done this. Her mind started to race. Was it possible that walkers had done this? Were there other people in the area? Surely no one in their camp could have done this to one of their own? And then she remembered the bruise on Matthews face. A bruise that could have been caused falling onto a coffee table. Or that could have been the result of someone fighting for their life. She swallowed.

Just how strong could a thirteen year old boy be?