I do not own Twilight. I just enjoy writing stories about them.

Previously

Brice walked over and sat next to Isabella, "You did good last night. You saved me." He kissed her on the side of the forehead as she nodded. "Isa I was thinking… the rest of the group is planning on staying in the south. But, the map you found…. There is a possibility your dad might be alive."

Her hands clenched around the bow in her hands. Could she really hope for that? She shrugged not wanting to think about it. "Look we would have to make some detours, the red line on the map goes through a number of large cities. But I think we should chance it."

She took a breath and held onto his hand nodding her head. "Okay" was all she could muster, she still was only talking when absolute necessary and even then it was only one or two words at a time.

It was late October when they said good bye to the others and headed north in their truck. The cold winter already biting at them as they drove off to the west so they could avoid the city, then they would head north west slowly making their way across the country to where her father hopefully was still alive.

Chapter 5

Sitting in the front of the old car they found the other day, her head swaying back and forth as Brice drove it over some rocks on the side of the road that was littered with abandoned vehicles. Looking out the window seeing a few walkers not too far off as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

Looking over at Brice, "Maybe we should see if there are any auto shops nearby? The damn AC isn't blowing cool air and it is ridiculously hot."

He nodded his head looking at his window cracked only slightly, "Ya, your right Isa."

She nodded, "I can't believe we have only gotten to Texas in over a year." Florida to Texas should only take maybe 2 days.

But they had to find a warm place to stay during the winter, and then they had the unfortunate loss of their truck. With the exception of the occasional vehicle they had been walking. Gas was a problem though, most gas stations were drained dry during the outbreak.

About three weeks ago she learned some new words from Brice when they got about halfway across a long bridge in Louisiana when they found out the bridge had collapsed. It had been so foggy they hadn't known until they were right there, and then Brice just started yelling curses into the night.

They started back and quickly realized Brice's melt down attracted the walkers in the area. Isa had managed to get a few with her bow, however many got too close and they had to fight their way out. Brice had his gun and 9" hunting knife, Isa hand acquired a machete which still gave her some distance but worked better than the bow for close calls.

That event costs them another week to get back across the bridge and around the lake. It also landed them finding a small group of three people who were now in the car behind them since they were all traveling in the same direction.

Brice didn't trust them to watch their backs at night, so Brice and Isa still took turns sleeping. It was 2 guys and a girl, the guys Jerry and Matt were a bit older than Brice and the girl Samantha was about Brice's age. She kept trying to flirt with Brice, but he either didn't understand or didn't care because he never acknowledged her.

Matt always tried getting close to Isa, but she would always get up and sit closer to Brice. She was almost 15 now just another month, but like most survivors boys were not on her mind. Survival was. She hadn't even realized her last birthday came and went when they were with the group last year in September, but then again what did birthdays matter anymore?

They were in the first city they found upon entering Texas now Orange, Texas. They tried to avoid cities as much as possible, but their supplies were now running low and needed to replenish. Plus after their last walker encounter Isa needed a new shirt. The blood stains were just not coming out and the tear in the side of her shirt left her side exposed.

Pulling up to a small outdoor shopping strip they waited for the other car to settle in a few spots down from them.

Brice got out as did Isa and they waited for the others to join them. Brice may have not been the oldest, but he was the one that always took the lead.

He looked at the other four people, "Alright, this is going to be a quick restocking trip. Clothes, Food, Water if you can find them. Let's meet back here in an hour, stay with at least one other person."

Everyone nodded and the three went one direction while Brice and Isa went in the other.

Isa had her near empty back pack with her as they stepped into an old grocery store, the shelves barren of anything. But they headed straight to the back and the loading dock area.

Looking around for a moment before finding a box on its side, opening the box Isa grinned at Brice. "Bingo", as she pulled out 12 cans of pork and beans sliding them into her pack. "They are even pop tops"

He just smiled shaking his head, "Your crazy Sis."

She smiled zipping the pack and throwing it back onto her back again before they searched a bit longer but not finding anything.

Leaving the store they headed to the next one which used to be a clothing store of some sort, both of them walked around each grabbing new shirts and new pair of pants. They changed in the aisle way knowing they were alone. Isa even grabbed some new underwear and a sports bra and threw them on.

Isa smiled looking down, she had a dark blue tank under a black t-shirt with a new pair of dark grey skinny jeans. She grabbed a jacket off another rack shoving it and another shirt and jeans into her pack as well joining the rest of the new underwear.

Lacing up her black boots again she looked over at Brice who was finished changing as well. "I love new clothes, although I am still dirty."

He shrugged, "We both need a good cleaning. We will stop at the next river we find."

She nodded as they headed to the auto store grabbing an air conditioner charger and some new oil for the car.

Heading back they saw the others still weren't around as Brice started charging the AC and adding the oil.

About 20 minutes later Brice checked his watch, "They are 10 minutes late."

Isa just turned looking in the direction they had gone in, but there was no one there, "Maye we should go and see if they are alight?"

Brice groaned knowing that they would, but not liking that he would be putting Isa in more danger again. "Alright, but stay behind me okay?"

She nodded as she followed behind him, her machete at her side as she notched an arrow in her bow following about 10 feet behind Brice.

After they checked three of the stores they heard a female screaming for help, cursing about her making too much noise Brice took off running towards the screaming with Isa behind him.

Once there they found Samantha had shut herself inside a chain link enclosure with 9 walkers trying to get inside. After Brice and Isa cleared the room, which wasn't too hard considering none were paying attention to them they got Samantha out.

Isa stayed with her as Brice looked around the room, "Where are Matt and Jerry?"

The red headed woman shook her head, "I don't know. There was a noise and the went to check it out, and they the walkers came in here." Pointing to the chain link, "I locked myself inside but they never came back."

Brice sighed, "I said stay together….." Rolling his eyes, "Where did they go?"

She pointed down a hallway leading to the back of the store, and they started walking with Brice in front.

Samantha threw up once they got to the back, Jerry was walking straight towards them with half his face missing and a huge chuck taken from his neck area.

Brice walked up to him and stabbed him in the head with his knife.

The three looked around the now empty room, there were storage units along the walls as one of them opened Matt stepping out. "Thought I was gonna suffocate in there."

Brice just glared at him, "Why didn't you come out? The walkers weren't even in here with the exception of Jerry…."

Matt just held his hands up, "They were in the other room, and they could have come back!"

Samantha crossed her arms, "Didn't you hear me yelling for you?"

Matt just shrugged, "Ya, but you could have already been bitten."

Brice apparently had enough and punched Matt across the jaw, sending him to the floor. "This is not a world for COWARDS! I ran to help you, Isa ran to help you! We didn't know what was waiting! Samantha came with us to help you! You left her and Jerry to fend for themselves. Jerry is DEAD now! Maybe we should leave you here?"

Matt held his jaw looking up at Brice, "No, no, no. How could I know they weren't already dead?" Glancing at Samantha, "Or dying?" Getting up, "You can't just leave me!"

Brice glared at him, "And how can we trust you to not leave us when we need you?"

Matt just looked defeated, and Brice gave up grabbing him by the shirt. "You betray us again and I will feed you to the walkers myself." Pushing him back before leaving the room, Isa and Samantha following him and Matt bringing up the rear.

Heading back into the front of the store they could see that there was a horde of walkers heading to the parking lot, "Run to the cars!"

Everyone took off running, but Isa caught her foot on a raised plank in the floor board that sent her flailing to the ground as the deteriorated wood gave way and fell into the basement. Her nails griped at the wood as she screamed out, pain lacing her scream.

Brice turned back, "ISA!" He ran back into the store grabbing her wrists and tried to pull her up out of the hole in the floor, however it just caused her to scream out louder.

He glanced over her body trying to see what she was caught on when his breathe caught seeing a piece of rebar sticking out of her side, "Hold on Isa, you must have impaled yourself."

Trying to offset her weight so it wouldn't rip through her he called over his shoulder, "Samantha get the car pull it right up to the door. Matt, help me get her off this and up!"

Matt grabbed her left arm and held her weight with his, Brice did the same on her right side. "Isa, I need you to stay with me. We are going to have to pull you off the rebar."

She nodded her head, sweat and tears mixing on her face as she gripped onto him. "Okay"

The two men gripped her tightly as the car screeched up to the door blocking the entrance from the walkers, "1…2…3!"

"AHHHHHHHHH…." She screamed out digging her nails deep into the flesh of the two men as they pulled her off the rebar and up onto the floor.

She released her arm from around Matt gripping her side before having her hand brushed away so Brice could look at the wound in her side, "It looks really close to your left hip, we need to clean it and get you bandaged. And hope nothing vital was pierced."

She nodded and they helped her to the car laying her down in the back seat and resting her head on Brice's lap whip Matt crawled into the front seat.

The door was shut and they took off heading for the nearest river on the beat up map they were following.

The next few weeks were agonizing, they had found a small boat house by the river they set up. Isabella was laying on a mattress and went in and out of conscious state depending on her pain level.

They did their best to keep her wounds clean, and it was finally looking like she was going to heal up.

She looked over at Samantha who was cooking in a pot that was hanging over a small fire on the side of the building open for the boats.

Looking around she noticed they were alone, "Wh…where is my brother?"

Samantha looked up placing the spoon down on the table as she walked over grabbing a moist cloth dabbing her brow cleaning off the sweat. "He is out patrolling the area with Matt, and seeing if there is something they can kill for meat."

Isabella nodded her head, "Thank you for helping me."

She nodded, "Well you helped me as well. Just sucked you fell like that."

Nodding, "Yes it was not my most graceful move."

Sitting with her back to the wall, "You know Isa, another 2 weeks and we can probably move on from here."

She smiled as well as she could through the grimace, "Yes well, I might just sleep for two weeks this is not ideal. There is no wall on that end."

Samantha nodded a frown firmly planted on her lips, watching the small girl "Seeing you like this, I almost forgot you were just a kid. 14 right?"

Isa shrugged, "How long was I out? My birthday was 3 weeks from the day I got hurt."

Samantha nodded "Then you are 15, it has been 3 and a half weeks."

Isa rolled her eyes, "What does it matter? It is another year in hell. We are just surviving, no life though."

Samantha sighed, "One day there will be life again. We just have to make it until then. Okay?" she rubbed her hand down Isa's back trying to give her comfort.

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