A/N: Hello people of the world! Thanks for all the reviews, it makes my day. Please leave a review after you finish reading, I want to know what you guys think and if it's worth carrying. Anyways, most importantly, ENJOY!

Chapter Four

'Hell On Earth'

The sun shined proudly in the sky, its rays bounced off of the fragments of glass on the roads outside. Though the sun seemed joyful, the sky was not. Instead it set the mood; dreary, gloomy and sorrow. Normally, there would be morning joggers around downtown Macon, the volume of their headphones blocking out any sound in the streets. Sometimes they would wave at friends or familiar faces from the stores. But the situation was far from your ordinary morning.

Limbs and multiple organs were scattered all around, blood was smeared across broken windows of toppled over cars. Un-dead monsters roamed the streets in search for their meal. Most of them had their arms missing with skin peeling off at the ends. Others dragged themselves on the ground for they were footless or legless. Overall, it was repulsive. How had things come to be like this? One minute children were giggling, their parents watching on with content smiles on their faces, the next they were being ripped to shreds. Shaking her head, Jaiden moved away from the boarded up window and decided to mull over what happened in the past few hours.

Glenn knew all of the shortcuts and the quicker ways through Macon, for Jaiden had discovered he was Pizza Delivery Boy. He had informed her that he was on his way to do his job, when the monsters came. During most of their slow journey through Macon, they rode in silence. Occasionally, they had stopped just in case the monster had followed the rumble of the engine. Along the way, Glenn and Jaiden had come across four survivors. Lilly and her father, Larry were the first. To Jaiden, Lilly seemed like a tough, level headed woman, she wouldn't lose her shit (Jaiden hoped so). Her father, Jaiden didn't like as much, he was kind of rude and didn't care about anyone else's feelings. When they had rescued the other two survivors, Carley and Doug, he had screamed down Glenn's earhole.

He threw so many rude remarks towards him that Jaiden had blown a fuse which resulted in being verbally beaten up as well. Eventually, Lilly calmed her father, reminding him of his heart problems. Other than that, Jaiden liked Carley. She was feisty reporter and she wasn't afraid to speak her mind, though it seemed that Lilly and Larry weren't too fond of her. Doug was cool too, he was your typical IT guy and Jaiden noticed that he was smitten with Carley. The majority of them had agreed on stopping for a while, in order to have some rest, despite Lilly and Larry's protests. After that they travelled to downtown Macon for some shelter, which was the drugstore.

"Glenn, Jay, check that everything is secure, I don't want to be ambushed by even more of those things. Doug, Carley, keep watch just in case. After that we'll fix the barricades," Lilly commanded in a hushed tone as soon as they entered the store.

Jaiden ran a hand through her hair, taking a few breaths. The drug store was in complete disarray, shelves were knocked over, and blood covered the floor. Not wanting to look any further, Jaiden travelled around getting to work. She hoped that the Everetts had escaped before the place was overrun with monsters; she knew that Bill would protect his parents with his life but she could never be sure. When the six of them had arrived, the place was unlocked, which could mean they just left without a second thought. The drugstore was important to the Everetts as they had kept the store going for a very long time.

"We should go check the office," Glenn suggested, his voice brought her away from her thoughts, "Yeah good idea," With one final glance at each other, they made way to the office door. Jaiden held the baseball bat so tightly that her knuckles went white. They chose to be quiet just in case there were some monsters in the room. The other four simply observed them.

"I'll check through the keyhole," Jaiden muttered. Glenn nodded in approval. Whilst closing her left eye, Jaiden sank down to her knees as well as handing Glenn her bat. Peeking inside the office, she spied nothing but a desk pushed to the far side of the room and a bloody sleepy bag. A shuddering sigh escaped her lips; she briefly closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the door.

"What's fucking taking you two so long?" Larry grumbled, advancing towards them. Jaiden ignored him and placed an ear to the door. Inside, she could faint moans, "There are monsters in there," She stated whilst lifting herself up again.

"Don't tell us, do something about it!" He crossed his bulky arms across his chest. In truth, she couldn't do anything about it because she knew that the monsters in the office were the Everetts. She couldn't bring herself to kill them, she didn't care if they were flesh-eating monsters now, and they were people once. People she once knew and cared for. "I'm not sure if I can…" She glanced at Larry, who didn't seem thrilled with her answer.

"What's the point of you then? I can't believe you've survived this long. Wait, someone else had to save your ass, now go help someone else and do something that matters!" Larry snapped, his hurtful words caused tears to prick in her eyes but she decided to stand up for herself, she was going to have to learn how to be tough now. She'd heard these insults too many times; she didn't need to hear them again, especially from an old man, whom she had just met. Adjusting her glasses, she made motion to retort, only for her moment to be crushed.

"Jay, will you help me with this shelve please?" Carley requested, Jaiden knew what she was trying to do and it worked. Jaiden visibly deflated, any confidence she had washed away, she'd rather not start a quarrel. Arguments lead to nowhere. "Sure thing, Carley,"

As she helped Carley with several of other tasks, she willed herself to block out the commotion coming from the office.

Now Jaiden stood in the middle of the office, lost in her own world. A million words were flying through her mind, all the voices in her head were shrieking at each other.

This is so fucked up!

What are we going to do?

You're gonna lose your mind

Shut up!

You aren't going to get anywhere!

You couldn't save Scarlett or Jimmy

Oh My Fucking God!

The old man's gonna cause problems

What makes you think you can save anyone else.

By this point, she was hyperventilating. Her fingers knotted themselves into her filthy, bloodied locks, she screwed her eyes shut, wishing for the voices to go away. In the past few years, the voices had becoming increasingly louder and more predominant whenever her emotions were running wild. The only person who knew about this was Ben, who comforted her when the voices became too much. Unknowingly, tears made salty tracks down her face and a sob made its way up her throat. A hand nestled itself on her shaking shoulder, which caught her by surprise.

"Hey, it's okay. It's Carley," The reporter's tone was soothing and it calmed Jaiden down almost immediately. She refused to face Carley as she was too ashamed, instead Carley moved in front of her.

"Are you okay Jay?" She wondered, concerned about the teen's behaviour. Rather than answering, Jaiden awkwardly stared at her shoes, which were covered in muck and dried blood. It was all just blood, blood and more blood. She'd never seen so much in her life, it made her want to throw up again.

"You disappeared into the office fifteen minutes ago; we were starting to get worried. Well, me, Doug and Glenn did." Jaiden glanced up at the slightly tanned woman, who was slightly short than her by an inch or two.

"I'm sorry," Carley's expression morphed into confusion, her shaped eyebrows knitted together, an action which reminded Jaiden of her sister. "What are you apologizing for?" Jaiden shrugged, she guessed she was apologizing for a lot of things.

"I-I don't know, I shouldn't be a baby about all this," Jaiden folded her arms together sluggishly. "It's okay, this zombie apocalypse shit is a lot to take in,"

They lapsed into a brief silence, in that time; Jaiden ambled around the office poking around. Accidently, she trod on a photo frame. Removing her foot, she bent down to collect it. Gingerly, she brushed away the broken glass before scooping the picture out of the frame. Jaiden fiddled with the frame of her glasses as she observed the picture. They were all standing outside of the store.

Mr Everett had one arm wrapped around his wife's slender shoulders, his held his cane tightly to keep him upright. Bill was situated on Mr Everett's left in his pharmacy uniform and Lee (she was guessing, she had only seen his face once or twice) was positioned on Mrs Everett's right, a hand in his black slacks. All of them had bright grins plastered on their faces. They just seemed so ecstatic, it broke her heart to know that two of them were lost and the other two would be as good as dead too.

"Did you know these people?" Carley wondered from beside her, she glanced at her before returning her tired eyes to the picture. "Y-yeah. Well kinda," She began, "Mr and Mrs Everett were the kindest people, I've ever had the privilege to meet. They hated me calling them 'Mr and Mrs' but it didn't seem right calling them Jerry and Denna. This one time, some dickhead come over to me and started saying rude things. He wouldn't leave me alone and then Mr Everett came over and whooped his ass straight out of the store. After that I pretty much came to see them every other day. I helped out when I could…" She trailed off, reminding herself that was all in the past but she tried to savour any good memories she had left.

"What about the other son, Lee?" Carley pushed on, though Jaiden didn't mind as much. Normally she wasn't very good with strangers but Jaiden liked the reporter, she seemed like a loyal woman who would stick by you.

"They didn't talk about him much, I didn't ask why but for what I've been told, he was a good man. Did you know them too?" Jaiden queried, as Carley mentioned Lee, maybe she knew him.

"No but Lee was in the news a little while ago," Jaiden could sense that there was more to the story but didn't press on. "I might keep this," She mumbled, folding the picture delicately before placing it in her jean pocket. "We should head back out, Larry's bound to start getting pissed off," Carley recommended

"Sure," Together they travelled out of the office,

"So you and Doug then…" Jaiden commented, a faint blush tainted the reporters cheeks, despite her mood, the corner of Jaiden's lip tugged upwards, she was all for teasing.

"Shut up," Carley bumped Jaiden lightly with her shoulder

A little while later, it was Jaiden's turn to be on watch. Well watch was observing the streets through a tiny gap between the boards. The sun was starting to dim behind the the buildings, there were no more monsters roaming the streets. It slightly unnerved her, where had they gone? Who knew what the world was like out there. Jaiden wondered how many lives had been destroyed because of this and how it all began. Was there some kind of virus going around that seemed to infect people? Or was it the kind of situation that no one knew how it started? Either way, it was still fucked up. The teen shook her head, knowing that all these thoughts would start to muddle with her mind. Rather aggressively, Jaiden toyed her father's ring, her skin twisting along with it.

Out of no where, five people, appeared in her line of sight. She could tell that they weren't monsters. They didn't have the grayish tint to their skin nor was it peeling off, instead they were full of life.

"Shit, what are they doing?" She wondered aloud. There were two children, one boy and one girl. The girl wore a baseball cap on her head, her frizzy hair springing out from underneath, the boy was far more ahead then the others. There were three adults, one blonde, slightly plump woman, a man with a really awesome mustache and an orange cap (which seemed very similar to Nate's blue one) and a man who she had seen before…

Lee?

"Guys! There's people out there!" Jaiden seized everyone's attention and they travelled towards her. "How can there be, you're just imaging things!" Larry argued, his usual scowl coated on his features. Defensively, Jaiden folded her arms across her petite chest. "See for yourself!" She said in a hushed yet heated tone, tired of Larry's doubt.

"That door stays shut no matter what," Cries resonated from outside and without a second thought, Jaiden grabbed her baseball bat and sprinted outside, ignoring the others pleads to stop. She wouldn't let any more children die or people for that matter. She needed to start learning how to be a stronger person even if she was a pathetic, unwise teenager. A monster had knocked the boy over, prepared to devour him. The memory of Jimmy's corpse lying on the concrete flashed in her mind, this made her sprint even faster towards him.

She lifted the bat with all her might before swinging it back down, smashing the monsters head in. It landed next to the child, whose eyes were wide in fright and he was covered in the monsters filth. Gently, she lifted him up by the nook of his elbow. Several gunshots were fired from behind her. "RUN!" Glenn ordered over the gunshots. Jaiden allowed the five of them to run ahead of her before following Carley in shortly afterwards. As soon as Glenn had entered the store, she closed the doors after them.

"We can't take risks like this!" Lilly exclaimed, her attention fixed solely on the teen, who had been responsible for the rescue of the newcomers. "Well, I think saving people is more important," Jaiden stated firmly as she positioned her bat on the shelf next to her. Lilly placed a hand on her hip, her facial expression one of a disapproving manner.

"When I say 'that door stays shut no matter what', I fucking mean it," Jaiden rolled her eyes, who did she think she was? She didn't have to listen to her. "We don't know who these people are; they could be dangerous," Jaiden glanced at the two men besides her. Lee folded his arms together and the other glared at Lilly. "Worse they could've led them right too us!" Larry, of course agreed with his daughter. Jaiden gave the man, the deadliest death stare she could. What kind of person says that? "We have kids with us," Lee reasoned.

"I see one little girl…" he pointed to said girl, who grabbed Lee's hand, "What is it?" He whispered, instead of listening to the argument around her, she listened into their conversation, "I-I have to pee," The girl sounded very sweet, inside Jaiden melted, she'd always loved kids. "In a minute," He stated, a slightly pissed off expression written on his face. In defeat, she let go of his hand and stared at the ground.

"Hey, little girl," The girl's head snapped upwards, "I'll take you to the bathroom, I don't really want to listen to them. Is that okay with you?" Jaiden wondered. At first the girl nodded slowly, Jaiden noticed that she was afraid. "There's nothing to afraid of sweetie," Slowly, Jaiden reached for the girl's hand, the latter took it warily. Jaiden offered her a reassuring smile, to which she grinned back. "C'mon," She tugged the girl to led her away from all the mayhem going on between the adults. A mayhem that she created. Along the way, Jaiden decided to start a conversation, so she could take both their minds off what was happening. "What's your name sweetie?"

"Clem-Clementine," Jaiden glanced down at the child to see a sheepish look on her face. "As in the fruit Clementine?" She questioned, "Yeah,"

"Well it's a very beautiful name, suits you just right," Jaiden released Clementine's hand from her own, there was a bulky shelve blocking the bathroom door, it needed to be pushed. That's odd, I could've sworn we checked every thing…

Maybe there wasn't a point in moving it dumbass.

Shut up!

Make me!

Do you guys fucking mind?!

Sorry

Whatever

"T-thanks," Clementine's cheeks flushed pink, an action which reminded her of Ben. Shaking away the thought, Jaiden began to shove the shelve over. She wasn't the best person at anything physical, so she put all her effort into moving the shelve for Clementine.

"What's your name?" Jaiden paused in her task, the adults still arguing. Apparently, Larry thought the little boy had been bitten. In all honesty, he seemed to be using any excuse to rid of the strangers. "Jay. Pleased to meet you," She introduced.

"Isn't that a boy's name?" The question was so innocent, it caused Jaiden to chuckle.

"Well, my full name's Jaiden but I don't like people calling me that. I only get called that when I'm in trouble," Jaiden explained before resuming with her task. "Do you want some help?" She smiled at the little girl, "Sure, if you don't mind," Clementine waddled over and together they cleared the way to the bathroom.

Only to hear faint moaning coming from inside, "Oh fucking shit!" There must be one a monster in there. "Clem-" Jaiden began but the girl called for Lee.

"Yeah?" He answered in a distracted tone, for the quarrel was still going on. "There's someone in there!" Clementine hopped from one foot to the other, desperately needing the toilet now. "It's just locked, the key's behind the counter… properly,"

"Jay, I really have to go!" She exclaimed, panicing. "I know you do, sweetie but for now, could you maybe stand over there for a second…" Clementine's pained face became confused, as if asking why. Jadien pondered over what to tell her. She didn't want to alarm the girl by saying there was a monster in there. For Clementine, Jaiden took too long to reply, so she twisted the knob to open the door. Then she screamed.

"CLEMENTINE!" Lee yelled. Jaiden seized Clementine by the arm to move the girl away from the monster. She was weaponless but she'd be damned if it got to Clementine first. Her bat was too far away. Jaiden couldn't abandoned her in favour for the bat, she'd be willing sacrifice herself. It may sound stupid, she'd only just met the child but quite frankly, she didn't care. The monster dragged itself closer and closer to them, snatching Jaiden's leg in the process. She tried her best to shake it off but the monster was too overpowering.

"Get away from them, you son of a bitch!" With sheer force, Lee hauled the monster off of her but its jaws snapped for him. Shell-shocked, Jaiden took several steps back, her breathing laboured and her glasses crooked on her nose. A hand latched onto her own, squeezing forcefully. Jaiden watched in horror as Lee struggled with the monster, grunting as he tried to push it off him. A bullet flew into the monsters skull, dark blood squirted everywhere and it died instantly. "Man…" Lee bent down to rest his hands on his knees, panting heavily. She glanced back at the source of the shot, Carley. "You okay?" She wondered after she lowered the gun, she seemed frightened as well.

"Just great thanks," Lee replied. Jaiden gave Clementine one last comforting squeeze before freeing her hand. "Thanks for saving me, Lee," She fiddled with her thick glasses, which she often did when she was anxious. "No problem kid," Normally she would be a total bitch about someone calling her a kid but right now she couldn't care less. They had more important things to deal with. Speaking of which….

"Uh…guys?" Glenn's voice sounded vexed. Monsters started to rattle on the weak boards, their moans intensifying every second. Fearfully, she ambled backwards, caution in every step she took. "Everybody down, stay quiet!" Without a second thought, Jaiden collapsed onto the icy, tiled floor, holding her breath. The boards creaked, they weren't a decent barricade but it was all there was and it would have to do. "There gonna get in,"

"Well if you shut the fuck up maybe they won't," Jaiden retorted bitterly. She found it humorous that Larry had the nerve to talk and talking could end everyone's lives. Yet he was the one complaining that the newcomers were the problem. Jaiden's eye darted to and fro, gazing at everyone's facial expression. There were all alarmed. Who wouldn't be? Out of nowhere multiple bullets were fired causing the moaning to rapidly die down. "Is that the miltary?" Lee kept his voice low just in case. "I don't know,"

"Thank God for whatever it is," Glenn's voice sounded full of relief. Jaiden let out a shaky sigh, praying for all of this to be over. She never did have any luck. Larry paced the length of the back shelves, "We almost died because of this bitch and her-" he was halted mid sentence, "Don't call her a bitch, you old fuck," Jaiden snapped as she lifted herself away from the tiled floor. Hatred bubbling inside of her, her fingers curling into the palm of her hands, creating fists. She was sick of him! She'd had enough!

"You can't tell me what to do! If anything you're the bitch here. All you-" Suddenly, Larry gripped his chest, pain twisting his grumpy features. "Dad!" Lilly sprinted over to the man as he fell over. Any anger Jaiden had been feeling morphed into concern. "What's the matter?" Jaiden questioned softly, her tone caused everyone to gaze at her oddly.

"It's his heart," Lilly glared at the teen, making Jaiden feel as if it were her fault. She supposed it was, if she hadn't have made him so worked up, maybe he wouldn't be on the floor suffering. "My pills…" Larry muttered, finding it hard to utter a word at all. "Uh-um, Nitroglycerin pills?" Jaiden turned her attention towards the woman with a Belgian accent, it was the first time she had heard the woman talk. Her voice came off as the sweet motherly type.

"Yes! We're out. We've been trying to get into the pharmacy since we got here. Please, try to get in there. Behind the counter were the pills are." Lilly pleaded desperately. Melancholy washed over Jaiden, Larry was the only thing Lilly had left to love in this new cruel world. "There's proberly another entrance. Maybe through the office," Lee suggested. Jaiden mentally whacked herself, maybe she should've checked the office more thoroughly after they had dragged the Everetts outside. Though Lee knew the store brick by brick. "How'd you know that's an office?" Carley narrowed her eyes, whilst positioning a hand on her hip. "Educated guess," Lee shrugged.

"It doesn't matter," For whatever reason, Jaiden could sense the two woman wouldn't get along in future. "We need nitroglycerin pills. Please get in there, I'll keep an eye on my dad," Lilly told them, although her utterance was more directed towards Lee. "Everyone else should get comfy and look her anything useful. We could be in here a while," The man with an awesome accent piped up. As she observed everyone, mainly the front of the store, Glenn ambled into her line of vision.

"I'm starting to think this drugstore isn't a permanent solution," She bobbed her head in agreement. Somehow, they'd have to find a safer place to reside. A safe place were it was quiet and monsters could be heard from miles away. "You're right, this ain't exactly Ft. Knox," The man stated. "What do you suggest?" Lee queried.

"We need as much gas as possible so we can all get out of downtown Macon. Fast." Glenn suggested. "Agreed," Lee commented. As she listened to the conversation, Jaiden stuffed her hands in her jean pockets. "Then I'll head out and get gas. There's a motel not far from here, out towards the end of Peach Tree. I'll work my towards it and then loop back, siphoning what I can," he explained, determination written across his features.

"I'll come with you. Y'know just in case and I'd rather do something useful then stand around," Jaiden piped up causing the three men to glance at her. "Are you sure?" Jaiden nodded, stretching her posture so she stood straight. "Positive," Jaiden said with the tiniest smile graced her lips. "You two are insane!" Lee's eyebrows were raised, clearly supporting his utterance.

In all honesty, she was surprised that she hadn't gone mad already. There were all in the middle of a damn zombie Apocolypse! End of the world situation was only meant for books, movies, video games and television shows, not real life! She didn't see the point in surviving if she was going to die soon. Death always beat life, so what was the point? Right now, it wasn't about her, in fact it should never be about her, its about helping those in need. "Well its gotta get done. Plus I'm quick and if she has her bat, we'll be fine. I know Macon." Glenn's voice brought her back to reality. "Local?"

"Born and raised," Lee then turned his gaze to the teen, who was know wiring her hands together, "What about you? You think you can do it?" Her facial expression morphed into one of purpose and bravery, but her face deceived her emotions.

Throughout her she wore a façade, never displaying her true feelings. She only ever removed her mask for those she truly trusted and were dear to her heart. He wasn't here, so she'd have to keep it glued to her face for now. "Like he said, if I've got my bat and my head in the game, we'll be fine," Jaiden shuffled past Lee and the mustache guy to reach her baseball bat. As she held it some of the monster blood and muck stained her fingers. She stuck her tongue out in disgust, making a 'yuck' sound in the process.

Hastily, she wiped it off on her jeans. Jaiden raised her head to see the mustache guy and Lee gazing at her in a disbelieving manner, as if they thought she wouldn't be able to whilst Glenn smirked to the side. Rolling her blue eyes, she rests the bat on her shoulder and shrugging the other. "Teenagers," Mustache guy mumbled under his breath, even though she heard him loud and clear. "If you two are going to do that, here's a walkie-talkie if you get into a tight spot and the bat can't help either. Hopefully you won't need it," Lee unhooked said walkie-talkie from his jeans to pass it to Glenn. "Cool,"

"Clementine's got the other one. Check in with her and get back here as soon as you guys can," Lee glanced meaningfully at the two. "Yes sir," She raised two fingers to her forehead before releasing them in a mock salute fashion. As mustache man threw out orders, Jaiden followed Glenn towards the office where the back entrance is, her baseball bat now swinging at her side. Unexpectedly, a hand tugged on her checkered plaid shirt. She froze in her path to twist her body to face Clementine. "Where are you going?" Her eyebrows are raised questionably. She's so damn cute.

You say that now but she's gonna die, just like Jimmy.

Shut the fuck up, you don't know anything!

Yeah, okay, how is a seven year old looking girl meant to survive this if a sixteen year old teenager can't even control her emtions?

Doing that is just gonna make it even worse for her, you little fucker

I'm meant to mess with her mind, I am madness after all.

Gulping as the voices conversed within her mind, Jaiden couldn't help but realise that Maddie was right, Clementine could become a monster at any moment but she knew that Lee wouldn't let that happen. Although she'd only known this girl for a few minutes, Clementine and the boy she had saved earlier, Duck she recalled, where the only things worth protecting in this Hell on Earth. Sure there were others that needed aid but children were vulnerable and always came first, well in opinion.

"Me and Glenn are gonna go get some gas for mustache guy's truck and Glenn's car," Clementine giggled over something she uttered, making Jaiden's eyebrows knit together in a perplexed manner. "His name's isn't 'mustache guy', it's Kenny," Clementine covered her mouth to conatin her giggles. "Oh. Woops," She messed with frame of her glass, awkwardly. "Anyways, I should be heading off," She shuffled backwards, past Lilly and her weak father. Along the way she tripped over her own to feet, causing Clementine to snigger a little louder.

Everyone in the drugstore narrowed their eyes at the two. Clearing her throat, Jaiden picked up her pace to join the patiently waiting Glenn in the office. "You ready now?" She nodded her head once, "Ready as I'll ever be,"

Promptly, they made there way out into back alleyway as quiet as a mouse for they didn't want any monsters to attack them. Her breathing became laboured as she observed how many monsters there were. Glenn noticed her distress and placed a finger to his lips. "It's gonna be okay," he mouthed. Briefly, she squeezed her eyes shut and imagined those that made her strong were with her now. Eventually, she calmed down. Glenn had hidden the car not far from the drugstore, only a block away, just in case any monsters were around a more populated area of Macon. "On my count,"

"One," Slow steady breaths

"Two," Tight grasp on her bat

"Three," Glass fixed correctly

"Go," Sprinting for their lives