"Hey Lane, gimme the map would ya?"

Snorting, I took the map and unfolded it on my lap. No way I was givin' it to Sean. The guy couldn't read a plan to save his life and I intended to get somewhere safe within the next century, thank you very much. On my right, Jay smirked and looked at the red lines and city names spread out in front of me.

"Here is Atlanta", he said.

"And here – he traced a blue line with his finger and stopped at a green spot on the map – is the old camping area."

"Camping area?"

He nodded.

"Yep. My ol'man went there when Mum tossed him out. Grabbed a couple of drinks, a load of cash and got the hell out. Ne'er came back. Mind ya, she would've killed him."

Yeah, sounds like Jay's Mum alright. The woman is a sweetheart but give her a reason and she'd turn into a red-eyed monster. Bashed a walker's head in with a pipe once, just before she got bit and turned into one of them. Jay shot her himself.

Gareth took the map from us and handed it over to Sean, who stopped the car and spread it over the wheel.

"We can't go there. It's out in the open, must be crawling with walkers as we speak."

Liz bit her lip at this. Walkers aren't her thing, one of them almost got her to the throat when it all began. She's been struggling with her fear ever since. Not that we're not scared, the rest of us. But we cope better.

"We need shelter. And a bath. God I'd kill for a bath."

Coal shot me a look.

"I agree with ya on that one. You reek."

I scowled.

"Well, if someone had not sprayed me with walker's guts I'd smell much better."

"Not that much, actually."

Hitting Sean over the head for his off-handed comment, I got the map back and threw it at Coal who barked in laughter.

"Go fuck a donkey, Mason."

Coal wriggled his eyebrows but shut up.

"Why don't we go to the next town?" my sister's sweet voice calmed me down a notch.

Mary-Ann had snatched up the map and was peering at it with the utmost concentration, an adorable frown between her blond eyebrows. Blushing at the attention she was getting, she pointed.

"Here, you see? We're running out of food, we need to restock. And Lane could use a bath."

Liz burst into laughter as I scowled harder, glaring at my little sister who was smiling up at me sheepishly.

Traitor.

Neals nodded and ruffled her hair.

"Sounds like a plan t'me."

"Then let's go", Sean said, playing with the brakes.

The old Buick coughed big time – I swear this thing is gonna die before we do – and we were gone.

I should've slept, now that I think about it. But I was still high with adrenaline, the thrill of the fight still thrumming in my body. I was the most reckless of the group, I knew, but I'd never bothered to care. We needed someone reckless, someone not afraid to dive right into the fray and get bloody for the greater good.

I snorted.

The greater good. Right.

I didn't care about that, really. Never did, never will. But Mary-Ann did, and that did it for me. Outta the two of us, she was the sweet one. She got the conscience and I got the muscles. She thought, I acted. She was nice and sweet, I was harsh and mean. She cared about them, yearned for human company and so I kept them safe. Well, as safe as one could be in this madness.

Jay and Sean were alright, I guess, Gareth too, when he was sober, but Coal was a douchebag. Mary-Ann liked him, though, so I let him drag his ass along with our rag-tag group. Liz couldn't shoot, couldn't fight and was scarred witless most of the time, but she knew how to patch us up and she could cook, when given the chance, so we kept her with us. As for Neals, the guy was freakin' strong. I once saw him grab two walkers and smash their heads together, then punch one so hard that it literally flew into its friends. We could use someone like him, even if he was as good as useless with a gun. And he adored Mary-Ann, which was definitely a plus in my book.

Reclining in my seat, I got as confortable as I could while sharing the backseat with four other people – well, three and a half since my sister didn't take much place – and dozed off, hand on the handle of the blade strapped to my belt. I heard Coal mutter under his breath – "dude, she reeks more than a fuckin' pile of shit" – and gave him the finger, eyes still closed.

Asshole.