After the dramatic ordeal, everybody tried to get some sleep. I couldn't.

My eyes gazed across everyone individually. Rebecca sat on the floor with her new baby, cradling it in her arms and watching it breathe like she feared it would stop, while Sarah lay next to her. The love in Rebecca's eyes was clear, but I sensed she was thinking more about the deceased father and how the baby resembled him.

Mike and Bonnie lay on the floor near her, both fast asleep. I knew they'd both been working hard, since they'd been trying to find supplies for the baby and Rebecca.

Clem slept near me, her head resting on Travis' arm while he slept too. I stared at the two of them for a while, noticing how they both looked so calm and peaceful. I wished they could look that relaxed more often, but circumstances meant the stress was evident everyday.

I remembered Ashleigh, the young girl from the woods. We had a moment of feeling relaxed and normal again when we were singing together. I wanted to feel normal again. To not be battling to survive.

I felt a warm tear slide down my cheek and contrast with the cold temperature of my body. If we didn't move soon then we'd freeze to death.

My leg hurt a lot, the broken bone aching whenever it wasn't perfectly still. I wished I could just go to a hospital, get it fixed up and then spend a few days recovering at home watching movies on the sofa. Those times were so underappreciated before.

"You're still awake?"

I wiped the tear from my face and looked at the speaker.

"Yeah," I replied. "This leg is hurting too much. How's the baby?"

"He's so beautiful," Rebecca answered. "I wish Alvin was here with us."

We fell into a silence and the conversation ended.

I shut my eyes and hoped to fall asleep, trying to block out the pain.

My body jumped as I woke up, my breathing rushed in a panic, my eyes darting around my surroundings in the darkness.

"Marcey?"

My eyes settled on Kenny, who sat near Rebecca- presumably so he could be watching the baby.

"I'm fine."

"You sure don't look fine, kid."

The man stood and walked over before sitting down beside me.

"I just had a nightmare, but I'll be fine."

"You should talk about it," he suggested, trying to comfort me. "You keep things bottled up and you'll end up like me."

"How so?" I wondered.

Kenny ignored that, but I think I knew what he meant.

"It was horrible," I told him as I stared at my hands. "I was alone and surrounded by walkers. They were closing in to me and I was shouting for help, calling names of people... but as I said their name, they appeared as the walkers around me."

"Who?" Kenny gently asked.

"Doug was there... And also Lilly and Carley," I paused. "Katjaa... And Ben was there, with Omid and Christa. Lee was with my parents. And then you, and Travis and Clementine."

Kenny put a hand on my shoulder. "It wasn't real, Marce. That's not how things have turned out for them and not how it'll go for us."

"How do you know?" I whispered weakly. "We don't know how we'll die."

"We ain't gonna let it happen," he assured me. "I ain't gonna let it. You three are still kids to me, I'm still gonna protect you."

"You can't protect us forever, Kenny."

The reality of that seemed to ring through his head, and the man nodded once. "Try and get more sleep, we still got hours til daylight."

I nodded and he went back to Rebecca and the baby. I glanced at Travis, who to my surprise was watching me with eyes that couldn't stay open.

"You okay?" He asked drowsily.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Go back to sleep."

He held out an arm to me in his semi-asleep state and made a noise of slurred speech.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"C'mere," he repeated.

I shuffled closer, wincing at the pain of my leg, until Travis' arm landed around my shoulders.

"I'm so tire..." He mumbled. "I feel like I'm dreamin'."

I smiled at him as he blinked slowly. He'd hardly been able to sleep for weeks, especially during the time where we were separated from Clementine. Always having to swap our schedule meant there was no routine and our bodies struggled with staying awake or falling asleep- but that was just a sacrifice we had to make in order to stay alive and keep everyone else safe.

"Go back to sleep, you need it," I told him again.

He didn't need telling a third time and was out like a light.

Clementine lay further away on the floor and had moved from before, so must have woken up in the night. I noticed her shivering but was hopeless at being any help since she was far from me and I couldn't move well.

"I got her," Kenny spoke in the silence.

He rose from the floor and draped his jacket over Clem for extra warmth before sitting back down with the baby in his arms.

I noticed how he cradled the child while it slept. The way he held it tightly like he had to protect it- like he would never let it go. I was sure we would all act like that, since there was a shared responsibility between all of us to care for the child, but this was a different kind of thing for Kenny. I think he was reminded of his own baby, about how he couldn't protect him. And at that moment, I completely forgot about how Kenny had seemed to full of anger recently. Instead he was just a sad, grieving man... And I had never sympathized for anything more than I did for him.

So I'm thinking of doing two updates a week instead of one because I finished writing last night so the story is complete! Eight chapters left, so you guys can choose. Would you like one update a week for eight more weeks, or two updates for four weeks? Leave a little review or message me with your vote.

I hope this story is still good for you guys, I'm really proud of this and I think the upcoming chapters are really intense. Thank you for the support you guys give! It means so much. See you next chapter!