"We're not getting home by dark," I pointed out, tired and exhausted and upset. I couldn't believe T-Dog got kidnapped, leave alone by Merle. At least it meant that he was alive.

Daryl simply grunted and Shane huffed what seemed like an annoyed breath. Glenn was ten seconds from heaving out of exhaustion.

We stood in the middle of a road that lead to one of the suburbs of Atlanta, waiting for a decision to be made.

"We make camp?" Glenn asked enthusiastically, putting his hands on his knees as we stopped walking.

"We're almost there," Shane said from in between gritted teeth, looking pretty exhausted himself.

The sun was slowly making its way under the world, and with the time passing, it put us in more risk.

It reminded me of the one time I made a short trip to Bronx. From where I usually spent the night in the lobby of the apartment complex, it was only two miles away. But anyway, I had a few - ahem- connections down there that I was visiting. I was only supposed to allow myself a couple hours, careful not to stay until dark. But before I knew it, I was standing in their front yard at midnight, soaked in a liquid that I had hoped was water. Someone must've called the police, because once I heard sirens, my legs fled me away. The police never caught me, most likely because I've had more experience outrunning police than your usual everyday bank robber, and I went back to the apartments and crashed on the couch.

I think that I might've been drugged that night.

But you probably already assumed that.

So, anyway, I learned that you never get caught doing something terribly important in the dark. That, and don't go to strange parties in the ghetto.

"Ayden!" Daryl yelled, shaking me back into the present. I stared up at his frustrated face and waited until he took his hands off my shoulders to reply.

"What do you think we should do?" Shane yelled, apparently thinking I'd gone deaf. I shot him a look.

"How long do you think we have to go?" I asked slowly, wondering why he was looking at me for answers instead of himself.

"Quarter mile."

I sighed and raked my brain for an answer that seemed viable.

I looked at the tip of the sun, which just had disappeared down the hill, leaving streaks of orange and purple across the sky.

"We walk," I said, looking around at Glenn, Daryl, and Shane. Glenn sighed and rolled his eyes while Shane and Daryl stiffly nodded in tolerance.

"Why can't we just-" Glenn started complaining, then before he could finish his sentence, his concentration went into the distance.

There was a huddle of something big down the road, heading in a group like fashion right to us.

We all looked to where he was staring, and in disbelief, Daryl, Shane, and I glanced at each other.

"Is that a group of Walkers!" Glenn yelled.

"Shit," Daryl scoffed, readying his crossbow.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Glenn asked. "Aren't we going to run or something?"

"We can't risk them following us back to camp!" Shane yelled, getting his shotgun ready. In step with the boys, I swallowed hard and pointed to the herd of Walkers. My forehead started beading up with sweat as they came closer.

"There's too many of them," I muttered, "there's no way."

"Yes there is," Shane grunted, giving me a look that told me to shut my mouth.

"I only have nine arrows," Daryl added, clenching his teeth and looking at Shane. "One is about to go through your forehead for makin' us stay here!"

"We fight," Shane finalized, his tone telling us that this conversation was over.

They became closer and closer as my anxiety lever reached the treetops. I was not one to back out, but if it didn't mean I'd also be leaving Daryl behind, I would've made a run for it. Cowardly was not what me, well, usually.

They were now in shooting distance. There had to be at least thirty of them, and since Shane and I were the ones with the most capable (no offence, Daryl) weapons, our job was to basically protect Daryl and Glenn. It made me feel higher up on the hypothetical totem pole concerning who was most capable in the group. The fact that I was using Shane's gun instead of my own made my confidence level lower a few notches, though.

It's how you use it that counts, Raine, my M.E.T.R.O counselor's voice rang in my head.

I metaphorically told her to shut up.

"Walker's arrive in T-minus ten seconds!" Shane shouted over the ring of the Desert Eagle and his own shotgun. "Ten, nine, eight, seven-"

"Now is not the time to be cheesy, Shane!" I yelled. I was already running out of ammo and we didn't even have half of them to go.

"I say split up!" Daryl shouted, "It'll attract them in smaller numbers, easier to handle 'em!"

Shane and I nodded, stopping the flow of bullets long enough to back up a couple of yards. Daryl and Glenn ran back through where we came from.

"It's not working," Shane said, watching as only a few of the Walkers went in their direction.

"It still lessens the numbers," I said. It also made Daryl safer, but I didn't say that out loud.

Now we had at least fifteen walkers on our asses, without the help of Rick.

Wait a second…

"Where's Rick?" I asked Shane, fear coursing heavy through my veins. Did we leave him behind?

Shane's hands that held the shotgun faltered for a few seconds, the blood draining out of his face.

"D'ya think he took the van?" I asked.

"D'ya think he would leave us?" Shane mocked, the feared anger in his rhetorical question making me nervous.

"He got left behind!" I shrieked. I tried to run back to where Daryl and Glenn went, but Shane grabbed my bicep and pulled me back. Closer to his chest.

"You are not leaving me," he said sharply, staring directly into my eyes. "If you leave, I'm dead. Do you ever think about something else other than yourself?"

Of course, he was only saying these words to make me mad, to make me think.

"We're both dead if we stay here," I replied, attempting to tug out of his grip. Shane dropped his shotgun, grabbing my other bicep.

"If that's what our fate is, then so be it," he murmured. I stared into his eyes in disbelief.

"What?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. What was he trying to say to me?

"If we're gonna die, I want you to know something."

"Shane," I said uneasily, glancing at the Walkers that were now at a very uncomfortable distance away. A shake from his hands sent me back to looking at him.

"I love you," Shane whispered, barely audible, but I knew what I heard. My eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"No! None of this 'last words' bullshit!" I yelled, tugging hard away from his grip. This time it was successful. But before I could raise my gun, Shane made something similar to a squealing sound.

"Look out!" he said before tumbling me to the ground. I was just about to cuss him out of this world until a huge explosion shook the ground and sent us about twelve meters in the opposite direction.

After we got done shooting down a steep hill adorned with plenty of sharp rocks and bushes with hundreds of thorns, plus being sent into a fairly shallow lake, we both crawled back to shore and laid down.

"C4, bitches!" I heard Daryl yell from the top of the hill, followed by a victorious whoop. Shane looked like he wanted to scream in frustration, but he was noticeably exhausted. We both were.

"Anything broken?" Shane grunted. I did a mental check over.

"Nope, think I'm good," I replied. "You?"

"My peace of mind may be a little cracked."

I smirked and arched my back, careful not to strain anything. Well, careful not to strain anything more than it already is.

My leg wound was open again, soaking the white gauze and turning it into a sickening crimson color.

"Maybe I should've gotten new jeans while we were there," I chuckled, wincing as I took a few thorns out of my left hand.

Shane snorted and lifted himself into a sitting position, wincing also as he put two fingers to a big gash on his right eyebrow.

"Ouch," I said in condolence, putting myself in the same position and crawling over to where Shane was. "You have a piece of glass in that cut."

"Are you kidding me?" he laughed, gritting his teeth as I carefully scraped out the piece of a broken beer bottle out of his head. The gesture made our faces very close.

I kind of wanted to kiss him right then.

"Yo guys," Daryl called from the top of the hill. We both scooted away from each other. "You down there?"

"Yeah," Shane was the first to speak, "this is the water source that's right by the camp. We'll follow it the rest of the way."

"Is Ayden okay?" he called back nervously.

"Yeah, I'm good," I yelled, smiling when I realized it was Daryl that blew up the Walkers. "Where did you get C4?"

"I have my ways," he slyly replied, walking away.

Shane sighed and looked at me. "So, you want to start heading back or do you want to wait until round two shows up?"

"Uh, I think we'll go," I said, not one hundred percent sure if he was joking or not.

We cringed as we both helped each other up, limping as we followed the stream of water back to camp. Once we both regained our own strength, I let go of his arm. He shot a half smile and trailed his middle finger down my wrist, ending with a tight grip to my hand.

And we held hands the rest of the way back.