I dropped the empty box of crackers and hauled Duck and Clem up from the ground, a little bit less softly as I'd intended. Clem let out a small shriek and Duck stumbled over on his feet as I ran with them back to an empty room in the inn, leaving Ben and Travis at a loss for what to do.

I didn't trust them yet, not entirely.

"Keep this door shut, don't open it until one of us get you, okay?" I instructed the children.

"Okay!" They said in unison, and I slammed the door shut.

Ben and Travis were stood where I'd left them, frozen on the spot and confused about what to do.

"Get back there unless you've got something to kill the walkers with!" I shouted at them.

I heard Lee grunt and yell for the axe, as he was entirely weaponless with a walker attacking him.

I darted forward, pulling the screwdriver out of my pocket and striking the walker through the head with it. Lee pushed the dead body off of him and gave me a quick look of thankfulness. I nodded once before diving back into action, fighting the undead that threatened the safety of the group.

It took just a few minutes for us to defeat the walkers.

"Dad, help me make a pile of these bodies," Lilly sighed, brushing her dark hair from her eyes and leaning to drag a walker outside of the fence.

Larry did as his daughter said and followed.

"Good fighting there, kid," Kenny smiled at me, his forehead splashed with a bit of blood.

"Thanks," I replied. "Nobody got bit?"

Everyone checked themselves for bites. Everyone was injury-free.

Kat went to collect the children from the room while Kenny and Mark examined the fence to find a way to keep it up.

"Thanks for that."

I turned to Lee. "No big deal."

"You saved my life, Marcey," he waved his arms a bit to emphasise what he was saying.

"You've done the same for me," I smiled, wiping the blood from the screwdriver on my jeans and putting the weapon back in my pocket.

"And thanks for making sure Clem was safe first."

"Seriously, Lee," I giggled a bit. "It's fine."

He smiled back to me and then to Clementine who was walking back to the group with Kat, Duck, Ben and Travis.

"Guys, this walker doesn't have a bite," Lilly raised an eyebrow.

"She obviously does, it's most likely under her clothes and hidden somewhere," Kenny snapped.

"I don't see how it matters," Travis commented.

"Y'all don't know?"

"Know what?" I asked.

"Seriously?" Travis folded his arms.

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"It's not the bite that does it," Ben explained.

"Yeah, we're all gonna turn, no matter how we die," Travis finished Ben's explanation.

"Unless the brain is destroyed?" I asked.

Travis nodded his head.

My heart felt like it'd been ripped out, like I wasn't human at all anymore. How did this happen? Damn. It made no sense, it couldn't be true.

"When we first saw it happen, we were hiding out in a gym and everybody thought we were finally safe," Ben began telling us. "A girl-"

"Jenny Pitcher," Travis confirmed.

"Yeah, her. She couldn't take it, she took some pills. A lot of them."

"They found her in the girls' room the next morning. A few people died," Travis sighed.

Ben looked pained at the story.

I felt a huge lump in my throat and let out a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding. My next breaths ended up raspy and desperate for oxygen. Oh God, I was going to die. I couldn't breathe. I was gonna be a walker.

"Marcey, breathe," Lee told me, looking me in the eyes as I struggled for air.

"Marcey?" Clem asked, sounding worried and scared.

I inhaled deeply. My lungs worked. I was okay.

"You're okay, it's okay," Kat comforted.

I nodded my head. "I'm fine. I just.. I need to lie down."

"I agree, everybody needs a few moments to themselves. This morning has been very stressful for everybody," Kat said.

Lee walked Clem and I back to one of the empty rooms and I climbed onto the bed, curling up in a ball and wrapping my arms around a pillow with my eyes closed.

"Clem, will you stay and watch her? I'll send someone else too," Lee tried to keep his voice down but I heard anyway.

She must have nodded her head, as I didn't hear anything but the door close before I drifted off to sleep.

Screaming.

There was so much screaming.

"Help!"

Doug? It was him. I ran to the sound, seeing him getting torn up by the walkers and screaming for my aid.

"Why won't you save me?" He cried.

"Marcey!"

"Clem?!" I spun around, tears filling my eyes.

"Marceline!"

"Marce!"

"Help me!"

"I'm out of ammo!"

I screamed at the voices, crying for them to stop.

Hands. They grabbed my arms, legs, stomach. Nails as sharp as claws scraped at my skin, tearing it and making crimson blood drip from me. There were stronger hands grabbing my shoulders and then there was a bite. Teeth sunk deep into my neck, ripping the skin from my body and starting to kill me. "NOOOOO!"

The door of the inn burst open, startling me into waking up and rushing my breathing.

"Marceline?" Travis looked helpless about what to do. He half turned so his voice could be heard outside the room. "Carley!"

Travis walked into the room in a bit of a rush, putting his hands out in front of him towards me. "It's okay, breathe."

My body shook as I tried to do as he said. Carley ran into the room and sat down on the bed next to me.

"Copy me," she calmly instructed, breathing in and out big enough that I could see clearly.

I copied her breathing until my own became normal again, then wiped my eyes which were watery and stinging.

"What happened?" She asked when I shut my eyes.

"Nightmares again," I sighed.

Carley put her arms around me and pulled me into a warm hug.

"Is there anything I can do?" Travis suddenly interrupted.

Carley let go and looked at him. "Go get the food basket and then stay with her while I keep watch with Ben."

Travis nodded and left the room.

"Everybody has gone to a farm, two men arrived not long after you fell asleep and took some of us. Ben and I came back with a basket of some food, the others have gone to get a meal."

"Why didn't you wake me? We could have all gone."

Carley shrugged. "I don't think we entirely trust these farmers yet, and we didn't want to lose the motel if something did go wrong."

I nodded in understanding just as Travis came back into the room with the basket.

"I'm gonna go look out with Ben," Carley said, standing up and going to leave the inn. "Eat some of that food, you need it."

I did as Carley said and picked up what was in the basket, eating a piece of it despite how sick I felt. I felt Travis watching me, unsure of what he should be doing.

"I'm not going back to sleep," I told him. "You can leave if you want, I'll be fine here."

Travis looked out of the window. "I think I'll stay, if you don't mind. Ben and Carley look like they're having a deep conversation."

There was a long silence.

"How long has everyone been gone?" I questioned.

"A while, it's kind of dark outside now and it was light when they went there."

If my eyes didn't deceive me, I would have said Travis looked a little concerned at the whereabouts of the group.

"I want to go find them," I stated.

"We've got to stay here and look after the motel," he replied like I was stupid.

"I know that," I snapped. "Two stay here, someone comes with me. It's simple!"

Travis considered it. "Let's ask Carley."

We exited the room and approached Carley and Ben. Ben sat on top of the RV while Carley asked in front of it, keeping her eyes out from a different level.

"Marceline wants to go to the farm," Travis told the pair.

"Two stay, two go," I said before anyone else could speak.

Carley nodded her head. "I think we should go and check up on everyone."

"Travis and Ben, you stay here and guard the motel while Carley and I go."

Ben looked shocked, raising his eyebrows. "I can't fight!"

"We can do it, Ben," Travis told him in a strong voice.

The taller boy just looked from his classmate and back to us.

"Go on," Travis encouraged. "Be careful, we'll keep this place safe."

Carley and I ran out of the motel and to the dairy farm in search of the group.


A/N: Thank you for continuing the story! I hate to beg for reviews, but they will really help me to improve the story if I know what people would like to happen. Obviously I already have it all planned, but reader's opinions are going to be considered a lot!

So please leave a little review/opinion and I will be so grateful! Thank you x