AN: We're getting close to the end of this story. As always, I want to thank everyone that reads/follows and reviews these stories that I post on here. You have no idea how much it's appreciated and how much I just enjoy writing this shit for you guys, in general. So, I'd say we probably have another four or so chapters to go and then we're done here, and I can move on to some of the other stories I have hidden up my sleeves.

Until Dawn

Chapter Fifteen

I felt as if my heart was going to explode in my chest as I took in Larry's disheveled brown hair and boyish, familiar face. His lips were turned up in a relieved smile and tears were sparkling in his brown eyes, matching the ones that I could feel welling in my own. I recognized the dark blue sweater that he was wearing, one that I had brought him for Christmas, years and years ago, though the left sleeve was now in tatters. His face was cut off from view when Polly finally pulled back from our embrace, grabbing my face in her hands and grinning wildly as she looked up at me. I couldn't have been more relieved to find that my best friend was alive and to have her standing before me for the first time in months, without a prison table or a thousand zombies between us.

"Well, fuck," Polly laughed giddily, pulling her hands away from my face to squeeze my biceps. "Look at you, P! You're alive and damn, I can see why with those muscles! Did you Mike Tyson your way in here or something?"

"You did say that you were going to get ripped in prison," Larry's voice sounded from over Polly's shoulder and once again, his face took up my vision as Polly moved aside. Closer up, my ex-boyfriend looked drawn and beyond exhausted, with dark bags beneath his eyes and his skin was pale, where it wasn't covered with stubble or smudges of dirt. I returned his smile almost tentatively, unsure of how things stood between us after everything that had happened while I was still in Litchfield.

But apparently, what had happened before the apocalypse had been wiped clean, because no more than five seconds after Polly had moved to stand beside me, Larry was pulling me into his arms. I returned the embrace readily, hugging him tightly and breathing in his familiar smell, though I didn't forget for a second that Larry had ended things with me weeks ago or the fact that Alex was still standing behind me. I still loved Larry, and some part of me probably always would, but the parts of me that had been unleashed while I was in prison and after I broke out, the hidden parts of me, loved Alex much more than I'd ever be able to love Larry.

Alex had been right when she said that she knew me, the real me, and the Piper that Larry had loved, died the second that I started pummeling Tiffany's face into the snow back at Litchfield. That Piper had never been truly real, just parts and pieces of me, who I always thought I should be but never really was.

I pulled away from Larry's embrace, ignoring his reluctance over letting me go, and rested my hand on his arm as I gave him a smile. "I'm glad you're here."

"You too," Larry gave me his dorky smile, as I felt a warm presence step up behind me before a gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I couldn't quite repress my smirk at the possessive gesture, as Larry's brown eyes lifted over my shoulder to look at Alex. I was more than a little surprised at my ex-boyfriend's resigned expression as he stared at Alex, as if he had expected her to be with me, though, after our last phone call, it wasn't really so surprising. He didn't know that Alex and I had ended things back in Litchfield, nor did he know of the harsh words that had been passed between us, before we broke out. As far as he knew, we had been together the whole time, and that suited me just fine.

"Holy shit!" It was Polly that broke the almost awkward silence as she suddenly noticed the dark haired woman standing behind me. "Supercunt!"

"Nice to see you too, Holly," Alex drawled as I stepped back to slip under her arm, enjoying the way it felt wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me close. "Glad to see that you didn't get eaten alive."

It was probably the nicest thing that Alex had ever said to my best friend, her tone almost affectionate. I covered my smile with the back of my hand as Polly rolled her eyes, though there was a grin beginning to tip the corners of her lips. It was at that moment that a hand grabbed my arm gently, which I didn't even react to, in my exhausted state. I turned my head to look at Nicky, who had been standing off to the side during my little reunion.

"Hey, Chapman, we're gonna go and find a place to crash," Nicky's eyes were sparkling with amusement as she glanced between Larry, Alex and I. "Do you and the giant wanna come with?"

"There's room where we're staying," Larry offered immediately, his eyes still locked on me as he spoke.

"Yeah, Pete's there right now, with Finn," Polly's grin widened as she thought of her child, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief that both the baby and my best friend's husband were okay. "Come on, Piper, you can come and meet your god son!"

I nodded my agreement, wanting nothing more than to sit down and rest, and quickly introduced Polly and Larry to the rest of our group, before following them to the makeshift shelter that they'd be given when they had arrived in Florida. As it turned out, they had only arrived yesterday morning, after spending the last few days driving nonstop from New York to Florida after hearing the same radio message that we did.

I felt my shoulders slump in relief when Polly pointed out the cots that were laid out in the large army tent, not far from the gates. I instantly noticed Pete sitting on the edge of one of the beds, a tiny infant in his arms, and I felt a grin tug at my lips at the sight.

"Well, well, look at what the zombies dragged in," Pete grinned his infectious smile when he saw me, holding out his free arm to wrap it around my shoulders in a hug before giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Didn't expect to see you here, P, I thought that all the prisons were locking up against the dead guys?"

I frowned at Pete's words and looked over my shoulder at Alex, who just shrugged in response and sat down heavily on one of the empty cots. It was Larry who answered, seeing the confusion written all over my face, from his seat on the bed next to Pete's.

"When all this came out on the news, at first, we were told not to worry, because they thought it was some big prank," Larry started speaking, running his fingers through his short hair. "But when it turned out to be the real deal, warnings were sent out, and one of them was for escaped convicts, from one of the men's prisons, that had started a riot when they heard the news. After that, they said that all the prisons were going on lock down, maximum and minimum security, to keep the prisoners in."

"So what, they were just going to leave us all there for zombie snacks?" Nicky asked in disbelief, from where she was sitting with Lorna. Larry nodded, almost sheepishly as he rubbed the side of his face, avoiding my eyes.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked, slumping down on the bed beside Alex as my friends from outside prison all avoided my gaze.

"We called, a thousand times, Piper," Polly explained, her face guilty as she stared back at me. "We tried to call the prison, but all the lines were dead and we couldn't get through. All the roads were being blocked off, so we couldn't come for you. You don't know what it was like in that first twenty four hours, P. It wasn't just the zombies we had to worry about, it was people too! When we decided to leave and head here, a guy held a gun to Larry's head and stole his car!"

"My mom was killed by a zombie," Larry continued, his eyes on his hands as he spoke quietly. "But dad was shot down by some crazy guy, who just didn't care enough to tell the difference between who was dead and who was still alive."

I felt my heart break for Larry at the news of what happened to his mom and dad, knowing how close he had been to his parents. But his words suddenly made me think of my own family, and where they were, and Larry seemed to sense it, because he looked up into my eyes sadly and after a moment, silently shook his head. I felt as if I had been hit in the chest with a sledge hammer as I held Larry's gaze, hardly even noticing as Alex wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. "How?"

Larry didn't need to ask what I meant. "After my parents... died, I called Polly and Pete to find out what they were doing. They were packing up their car, and so I decided to meet them. I called some other people too and finally, I called your parents, but I didn't get an answer..." Larry swallowed, breaking eye contact with me as he continued. "I went around there to see if they needed any help and... I'm sorry, Pipes. The zombies had taken over the whole block and your parents were... they were gone."

I felt numb as Alex pulled me closer, until I was basically sitting in her lap with my head resting against her chest. I had no more tears left to cry, so I just sat lifelessly in Alex's embrace, thinking about my mother and father, who I would never, ever see again. Had it been quick? I hoped so. I hoped they hadn't had to endure the pain that Poussey had felt when she died, or the overwhelming fear. I wondered if Cal had been with them, or if he was still in the woods, hidden away from most of the undead with his green peace warrior girlfriend, Neri.

"I'm sorry, babe," Alex was whispering in my ear over and over again, as she pressed her lips to my temple and hair. I felt someone sit down on the cot beside Alex, and lean their body against my back, with their arm wrapped around my waist. I knew instantly that it was my best friend, Polly, and I felt one single moment of peace in my grief, that these few important people were still here with me, even if the rest of my family was not.

"I'm here, Pipes," Alex whispered, as if hearing my thoughts, while Polly gently rubbed my back in agreement. "And I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

/

"Here, I brought you some biscuits," Alex held out her meagre offering to me with a sheepish smile, as she sat down next to me on the bed, later in the night. "They're pretty crappy, but it's all they're giving out right now until breakfast, but it's only one am now, and they don't start serving until six."

"Thanks," I took a couple of the hard biscuits from Alex's hand and munched on one of them, grimacing at the flavor. Alex hadn't been lying when she said they were crappy. "When do the ships leave?"

"As far as I've heard, sometime before dinner tomorrow," Alex shrugged. "They've got another two ships further out, which they'll bring in when these ones are full, but apparently there will be more than enough room for everyone; there's only a couple of thousand people here."

I nodded my head in response and leant in to Alex when she wrapped her arm around my shoulders. I took a deep breath, inhaling her scent, while feeling as if there was a weight sitting on my chest. Hours had passed since Larry had told me of my family's demise, and while I had known that there was a chance they wouldn't make it, a part of me had hoped so desperately that they would. I hadn't been especially close to my mother or my father, not like Alex with her mother Diane, but they were still my parents and I had loved them.

"I'm so sorry, Pipes," Alex whispered into my ear, seeming to read my mind as she always did. It made me smile a little bit, because Alex had been right in the early days of prison, when she said that she knew me. She did know me, better than anyone, and I had spent so long trying to deny who I was, that I felt relieved that I could finally just be me, at least when I was with Alex. No more compartmentalizing myself, no more acting like that nice blonde lady.

I was just Piper here; the Piper that Alex knew and loved, and fuck, it felt good.

It would have felt better, I mused silently to myself, if I couldn't feel Larry's eyes watching us every single moment of the day. Since I'd stepped through the gates, Larry hadn't strayed far from my side and always kept me in his vision. He was now a few beds over with Pete, but I could feel his eyes on me, and on Alex, and while his gaze wasn't malicious or angry in anyway, there was something there that was causing my hairs to stand on end. I turned my head slightly to look at him and met his gaze, and then almost immediately regretted it as he stood and made his way over.

"Oh, here we go," Alex breathed in my ear and I sighed in response, turning to press a kiss against the raven haired woman's shoulder before pulling away, just as Larry reached us.

"Hey, Piper," Larry glanced nervously between Alex and I as he spoke, before settling his gaze on me. "I was just wondering if I could talk to you for a moment."

I felt Alex stiffen beside me, but I had known that this was coming, and gave Alex a gentle pat on the thigh before standing up. "Sure, Larry. I'll be back soon."

My last words were directed towards Alex, who just nodded in response, before I followed Larry out of the tent, feeling Alex's eyes on me every step of the way.