LIGHT A FIRE

{Author's Note: This is a flashback chapter that explains a little more about Tessa and Caleb, as well as how they met Harry and his group. Next chapter will be centred around Daryl. Thank you to all who have followed, reviewed, added to favourites and most of all, read. Enjoy! Please read and review if you have the time :)}

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character(s) you don't recognise.

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[ONE MONTH INTO OUTBREAK]

"You know, I was wondering…"

"Always a cause for concern."

At my reply, Caleb had rolled his eyes playfully, his lips turning upwards into a smirk as he countered back sarcastically, "You know Tess, that's funny no matter how many times you say it."

I chuckled before flashing him a cheeky grin, "Sorry, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity."

Caleb shrugged as he kept walking.
"Anyway, I was thinking that you know what this 'apocalypse' needs-?"

Flinching, I cut him off to say, "I really hate it when you use that word Caleb…"

He threw me a sheepish smile, "Sorry, but anyway, I was thinking that we need someone like Alice-"

"The woman from that zombie movie that you fan boy over?"

"Resident Evil, Tess! It's called Resident Evil. And yeah, we could do with some chick who kicks ass…wait, do you think that the outbreak was caused by a company like Umbrella?"

At his question I couldn't help but laugh, "Caleb, that was based off a computer game which is fiction, this…is real life…"

Caleb shrugged, "Real life, but we're fighting zombies?"

I knew that he had a point, but it still didn't make it easier to digest and understand.
"Okay, I'll let you have the delusion that there could be some gun-toting model who can kill the abominations like it comes natural to her and she will be waiting for you."

He grinned, leaning over to put his arm around my shoulders, "That's all I want. Pretty fair, huh?"

"It is, if I can get Sylvester Stallone, you know, from that movie with him in the jungle?"

"Stallone? You want Stallone?" He started to laugh hysterically, "Why the hell would you want Rambo?"

"Because, he would be able to take down as many of these things as your fan boy crush could!"

Caleb scoffed, "Yeah, right…"

Both of us then turned to glance at each other before laughing.
I couldn't help but smile to myself as I started to push away all of the painful memories of the last few weeks and focus on getting my brother and I to safety.
Safe zones were probably already over-run by now, but I still maintained that we could find a building to hole up in until we could figure out what we wanted to do.

"Hey, Tess, I was thinking…we could go to Washington?"

Pausing, I raised an eyebrow before turning to face my twin, "Washington? Caleb, that's a distance, and we haven't come across a car for miles-"

"Because we spend most of the time walking through the woods! Come on, what have we got to lose? You saw Atlanta! The whole city was…" He sighed, "Washington could be in better shape?"

"We'd need a car that's in good enough condition to handle the journey, and gas and-"

"Tess, it beats walking around these same stretch of woods for miles. Mom always thought that we should go there instead of Atlanta, right?"

At the mention of our Mother, I found myself struggling to not get emotional, "Caleb-"

"Please Tess?" He looked at me seriously, his eyes showing just how tired he really was.
"We need to find people and start to rebuild what is lost. Hell, if there's a cure for this shit then it'd be there!"

"A cure?" I shook my head lightly, "I don't know about that…"

"We gotta try! We are running out of supplies and vitamins. I'm not a hunter! I have no idea how to trap and catch a rabbit or a squirrel!" He then grinned, "We should find someone like that."

I found myself laughing, "No one exists like that Caleb…I mean, still?" I made a grimace at the mention of eating a rabbit or a squirrel, "No way am I eating rabbit or squirrel! I can't…"

He shrugged, "They say most of that meat tastes like chicken anyway."

"Can we please not talk about food? I may be a vegetarian, but I'm still starving…" I shoved him good-humouredly before nodding to myself, "Okay, why don't we hit that grocery store up there for whatever supplies are still left and then we make plans on how to get to Washington?"

"Sounds like a plan!"

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[THE GROCERY STORE]

The small grocery store was mainly untouched.
There was still enough packets of food that had only just passed their sell by date for us to eat-albeit, very carefully-for the next few days.

"Anything other than bran flakes?"

I could hear Caleb make an unattractive retching sound as I shook my head, "They are good for you! Release slow-burning fuel or something…"

"Yeah, and pop tarts can do the same thing! At least they don't make me want to tear out my taste buds!"

"You're being melodramatic, and anyway, until we find this supposed 'hunter who is going to show us the way of the land', we need to think ourselves lucky that there are bran flakes."

Caleb laughed, "He's out there! Or maybe it'd be a woman?" He smirked.

"I really don't want to see that look on my brother's face again…" I faked a shudder whilst laughing before shoving the last of what I could find into my bag, "What did you find?"

"Other than bran flakes? A jar of peanut butter…one twinkie that had been trampled on and a can of cheap beer."

My eyes lit up as I pointed towards the twinkie, "Fancy sharing that? The wrapper is broken, but that should still be fine to eat. And guess what I found? Cigarettes!" I held up a packet that had been discarded on the ground.

Caleb looked down at the packet like Christmas had come early, "Hell, yes! Wait…two are missing from the packet big sis'…that means that this swap would entitle you to a quarter of the twink-"

I cut him off by gasping in fake outrage and jumping onto his back, both of us play fighting as Caleb tried to shake me off.

"You're not getting the twinkie now!" He then managed to grab the twinkie from his open bag and tear off the remainder of the wrapper before shoving most of it in his mouth.

"Caleb!" I laughed as I tried to grab what was left from his hands, "I'll kick your ass!"

He tried to laugh whilst eating, an action that he soon regretted as he started to choke.

I quickly got off him so that I could give him a two hard thumps on the back; one to help him, the other for eating most of my half of the twinkie.

"Oh dear, doesn't somebody know the Heimlich manoeuvre?"

Both of us suddenly froze as Caleb forced himself to swallow the bit of twinkie that was in his mouth before turning to look over at the doorway of the store where a group of people were standing watching us.

The man that had spoken was smiling at us in what I presumed was a friendly manner, as he said, "Just you two out here?"

I studied his body language, my eyes taking in everything about his appearance to try and determine what to say or do.
He wasn't any different appearance-wise to what the average guy you walk past on the street may look like.
Jeans, dark jacket, cotton shirt…buck knife.

I eyed the knife cautiously as I made a move to stand protectively in front of my brother.
No way were they going to hurt him without a fight.

The stranger noticed me staring at the knife as he held it up.
"Does this scare you? It's just for protection against those things outside…you must have had to kill a few by now?"
He watched me closely, his eyes seemingly able to bore into my soul.

Nodding lightly, I finally replied back with, "Yes..."

He nodded in return, smirking slightly at me, "Oh, come on now! I'm not going to hurt you two; you are just kids! How old are you both?"

"Old enough to know not to talk to strangers." I answered back sharply, my senses on full alert as I watched the other men behind him move around the store.

The man laughed, "Sharp one, aren't you? I like that! You have to be sharp in these times…"

"Is everything okay in there?"
A woman's voice could be heard as I felt myself starting to relax slightly.
Women wouldn't let anything happen to other women, would they?

Caleb seemed to think the same as me, as he calmly placed his hand on my arm and stepped out from behind me.
"We're twenty-eight…"

The woman that had spoken earlier had now made her way inside as she smiled soothingly at us both.
"Oh, you both look like you've been through a lot…I'm Connie!"
She then held out her hand to us both with a smile on her face that I guessed was meant to be motherly.

I still stayed where I was though, my protective instincts towards my brother stopping me from trusting the strangers.

Caleb gave a look that basically said, 'We have to trust people in order to move forward!'
I watched Caleb smile as he took her hand and shook it, "Hey, I'm Caleb, this is my sister Tessa."

Connie gasped in delight, "Twins?! That's so nice to see! You look so alike…and Tessa is such a lovely name, I was going to call my little girl Theresa-"

"No one really calls me Theresa…it was my Grandmother's name, so they nicknamed me Tessa." I found myself explaining a part of my past as though it came naturally, my defences slowly starting to weaken.

"Ah!" She smiled, "I see now…oh! We should all introduce ourselves! That man over there with the beard is my husband Marty, and the two men to the left of him are Jonas and Lucas. Outside we have four other women who we have picked up on our travels, I can introduce you to them?"

The man whom had been talking earlier now chose to introduce himself, "Where are my manners? I'm Harry."

Connie smiled, "Of course! I'm sorry honey, I should of mentioned you; Harry leads us. We couldn't do what we do without him…"
She threw him an odd look of admiration that made me furrow my eyebrows in confusion.
Something was off but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Caleb didn't seem to notice, as he grinned and nodded at them all in turn, "It's great to meet someone other than the abominations. We've been travelling for miles, and haven't come across anyone."

Harry looked over at us, "Where you two headin'?"

"Washington."

He nodded thoughtfully, "Makes sense, but uh…I'm afraid that we have come from there and the whole place is totalled; there's nothing."

I raised an eyebrow, "Really? You've travelled a long way then…"

"A very long way Princess…"

Stiffening, I turned to look at Caleb before whispering quietly to him, "We need to go Caleb, they aren't-"

"Oh, please don't leave!" Connie pouted as she took a hold of both of Caleb's hands, "I'd love to actually have an intelligent conversation-no offence boys!"

The men with her grunted in response as I heard Caleb laugh.

"Can't blame you for that! What you think Tess?"

My brother's weakness always was how he trusted people too easily, then again, he said mine was always not trusting people.

I shook my head, "We need to keep moving…"

Harry tilted his head as he studied me, "I'm not gonna hurt you Princess…"

My hands inched towards the knife that was still in its sheath on my hip as I watched him closely, "We just want to leave. It was nice meeting you…"
I indicated for Caleb to follow me as I tried to move past Harry but was blocked by his body obstructing the exit.

"You really are a sharp one…"

Caleb looked nervous as he watched all of the men surround us.

"Don't fight it Tessa…" Connie looked over at me with a blank expression that made her lips thin into a harsh line.

Harry had reached out with a large hand to stroke back my hair, "You're a very pretty girl…"

"Keep your hands to yourself!" Rage was building up within me as I sharply turned my head away from his grasp, my eyes narrowing into tiny slits.

From my side Caleb was trying to get in between us, "Don't touch her!"

One of the men who I vaguely remembered was called Marty had pressed his body into my hip, his lips curling upwards into a smirk, "Drop the knife kid or your brother won't be breathin'!"

"Think this through Tessa, you're a smart girl! Look around you; you're outnumbered."
Harry smirked smugly.

I looked all around us, realising that he was right.
Begrudgingly, I dropped the knife onto the floor, glaring at Connie who had swiftly leant down to pick it up.

"Good girl…" Harry then looked down at me, "I'm going to make you a deal Tessa, and I think that you should take it." He cleared his throat before continuing, "We all have those we need to protect, I have a son and these gents get…'rowdy' when they can't let out their frustrations. You get me?"

My chest tightened as I could feel my bottom lip start to quiver.

"So my proposal is this: we let your brother go-maybe he'll find Washington?"

The other men started to laugh as I could feel myself shake in anger.

"But, you come with us. What you say Princess? Make the smart choice…"

"Go to Hell!" Caleb had suddenly spoke up, his eyes blazing in fury as he stood in front of me, "I'd rather die than let you assholes take my sister!"

"Caleb!" I shook my head at him as I could feel tears falling freely down my cheeks, "I made a promise to Mom that I would protect you. Please…"

"Are you crazy?! Tess, these men…" He trailed off to run a hand over his face, his eyes full of sorrow as he finished quietly, "I won't let them take you…"

Harry watched us both with a look of interest, "Hmm…the first group we've come across who would sacrifice themselves for the other…admirable!"
He nodded to himself before gesturing to Marty who then brought the back of his gun down onto Caleb's head, knocking him out cold.
"But this was takin' far too long."

"CALEB!" I gasped in shock and horror as I tried to shove Marty out of the way so that I could get to my brother.

"Bring the girl! She resists too much then you know what to do!"

"Caleb…" I repeatedly brokenly as I still fought against the heavy-set men who were blocking my view.

Connie rolled her eyes as she grabbed onto my arm harshly, "Stop acting like a brat! We are saving you! Come with us quietly or they will put a bullet between his eyes!"

I stiffened at her words as my lips twitched in anger, but I knew that she was telling the truth.
I had no choice but to go with them in order to save my baby brother.

Refusing to cry, I breathed deeply before following them, my eyes keeping their focus glued on the buck knife that Harry was holding.
Right there and then, I had made up my mind that I'd use that knife to chop his balls off if he made a move towards me.