I woke to light streaming into the tent, and the heat was almost unbearable as I was wrapped completely in my sleeping bag. I struggled out of it and clambered to my feet and out of the tent.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, but eventually I could fully see.

Alex was sat by the fire pit, running a knife in his good hand across a piece of wood about the size of his arm that sat between his legs. It looked considerably awkward, but he seemed to be doing quite well considering he only had one arm free.

"Morning." I sighed as I sat next to him.

"Sleep okay?" Alex asked idly.

"I guess so."

"I should think you have - you've slept most of the day away!" He laughed, signalling to the sky.

I looked up and saw that the sun was pretty far over, showing that it was probably early afternoon. The heat was pretty strong despite the face we were sitting in partial shade.

I brought my eyes back down and snorted, thinking about how light I thought my sleep was getting. I suppose not. Alex raised an eyebrow at me, and I merely shrugged.

"Where's Helena?" I asked, having just noticed her absence.

"With Patricia. She's teaching Helena some first aid stuff." Alex said, concentrating on the piece of wood in his hands.

I lay back on the ground and rolled my short sleeves up, soaking in the sun. The sound of the wood against Alex's knife was considerably soothing so I stayed there, totally absorbed in the noise.

"Alex, what are you doing?" I asked, not moving or opening my eyes.

"I'm making a baseball bat type thing." Came his reply.

"Why?" I asked, slightly humoured.

"I figured that you have your machete as well as guns, where I just have guns. I need a silent weapon." He said, and I thought about his logic for a second.

"Good thinking." I chirped.

He carried on in silence and I let him, totally relaxed.

When was the last time I did nothing, just totally forgot everything and just 'was'? A very, very long time. It was nice, but at the back of my mind, I knew I was going to have to sit up and some point and come back to the harsh reality.

"Eugh. Can I not just take this stupid sling off?!" Alex cried after a while, making me jump. I sat up and looked at him, trying not to smile. His face was screwed up in annoyance.

"No. Patricia said keep it on for a reason." I pointed out.

"But she said she was going to take it off today anyway. So why not now? And it's starting to smell." He groaned, throwing his good hand in the air.

"Because she wants to check you over, and she's busy." I said, trying not to snigger at how childish he sounded.

"Whatever." He grumbled and carried on working. I laughed a little before laying back down, smile lasting on my face.

The minutes ticked on and I didn't move an inch. The heat had caused beads of sweat to dribble out of all my pores and across my skin, being dragged by gravity. I sighed, thinking that some music would be perfect right now. Something acoustic...

"Sam, you're awake!"

I lifted my head to see Helena walking quickly towards us, Patricia close by her side.

"Hey." I said as I stood up to greet them. Alex waved at them before carrying on with his work.

"Patricia said I did really good today. I'm learning quickly." Helena grinned and I smiled.

"She is. She's a born medical student." Patricia laughed.

"We really appreciate you teaching her this Patricia." I guffawed. She waved a dismissing hand at me and smiled.

"Sam," Patricia started after a short silence. "I was talking to Helena about prevention of infection, and she mentioned the cut on your face. If it's alright with you, I'd like to check it over."

I looked at Helena who had a deep blush painted on her cheeks. I bit my lip and nodded at both of them.

"Sure." I said. I was wondering about the cut anyway.

I stood up from my place and followed Patricia, giving Helena's hair a playful ruffle as I went past.

We walked side-by-side up to the house, passing Hershel on the way.

"Ladies." He mumbled and nodded, and I smiled in return.

I watched him walk off as we entered the house, trying to work him out. Why was he so short with everyone? I didn't think for long, however, as Patricia pulled out a chair from the table and signaled for me to sit down, which I obliged.

She pulled out another chair and sat right in front of me. She already had out a small kit on the table and a bright lamp. She wasted no time as she turned the lamp on and shone it on my cheek and began assessing the cut. I flinched as the light flashed across my eyes, but she didn't take any notice.

After a few minutes, she seemed to have made her conclusion and was rummaging in the kit that lay by the lamp.

"This is going to sting a little." She said as she poured some anti-septic wash on a small cloth.

It did sting and I hissed at the contact slightly, but I let her continue to dab the cloth on the cut on my cheek. I shut my eyes as she worked and bit the inside of my mouth.

"It's definitely been infected, but nothing too bad that has festered, so that's good. Your body seems to be fighting quite well." Patricia said as she worked, emphasising 'too'. "But because it has actually been infected, the wound hasn't begun healing properly, so I'll need to sti-"

I cut her off with a groan. I knew what she was planning to do, and I really don't want that!

"Please don't give me stitches!" I whined. I realised I sounded incredibly childish, but I didn't care.

"Sam, do you want a gaping cut across your face, begging to get infected again?" She asked curtly, cloth in one hand and the other on her hip. She gave me a glare my teachers used to give me when I'd forgotten my homework at school. I sighed heavily.

"Fine." I grunted, and Patricia gave an approving nod which made me sulk even further.

She went to the small kit on the table and began rooting around again, looking for the needle and thread. When she pulled the needle out, I snapped my gaze away. The needle itself didn't bother me - I'd used one of Alex a few times - it was just the reality that she was going to put that thing through my face that bothered me quite a lot.

"Okay," she said after a minute, "I'm going to start now." Patricia said, touching my chin and moving my head so she could get better access.

I shut my eyes and I felt the needle make an entry. I gasped and squeezed my features tightly, the pain totally uncomfortable. She did a few stitches despite my face being extremely contorted. I could feel my eyes watering under my eyelids, desperately trying to seep out but I kept my eyes firmly shut, biting my tongue to keep my from crying out. I was probably making a bit too much fuss, but that didn't really phase me at that moment in time. She was sticking a needle in my face!

I thought about the last time I did stitches for Alex. It was after Jim and Amy.. When we last saw the group. I swallowed hard, trying not to think of them. We're okay, and they are too. I felt it in my gut. Or I was just fooling myself.

"Done it." Patricia announced after what felt like hours. She cut the remainder of thread from my face and once again began cleaning the cut.

She sat back and smiled. I opened my eyes and wiped away the water that fell, wincing as my fingers brushed the sore skin of my cheek.

"If you want, there's a mirror in the hallway." She pointed out as she packed her kit up and walked away to presumably wash her hands.

After a brief hesitation, my curiosity got the better of me and I walked to where Patricia had directed me. I was expecting the worst, but was surprised at the reflection.

My face stared back, slightly tanned and slightly freckled. The large cut across my cheek was neatly stitched which in some lights the thread was barely even visible. My red hair had streaks of gold in it where the sun had bleached parts of it, and despite my slightly weathered expression, I actually looked okay. I'd lost all the weight around my face, as well as everywhere else, and I had slight bags under my eyes, but it wasn't that bad.

I walked away from the mirror and thanked Patricia as I passed. I exited the house and bit my lip. My appearance was quite a shock - I felt more bedraggled and exhausted as I apparently looked. I thought I'd look like I had been dragged backwards through a bush or something. I hovered on the porch as I tried to ignore the irritating sting in my face.

"Sam, do you think you can help me?" Alex called.

I spun about looking for him when I realised he was waving one-armed at me from within a wire fence to the left of the house. I jogged over to him and he let me in through a wire gate as I reached him.

"Could you give me a hand with feeding these chickens and the cleaning and stuff? I normally have help, and if Patricia won't let me take off this stupid sling until later, I'll need some help." He moaned. I raised an eyebrow at him but nodded anyway and took the small bag of grain from his grip.

I began scattering small handfuls of grain to the floor as a flurry of feathers raced towards the falling and dropped pieces. While they were distracted, Alex took a few eggs from each chicken and placed them in a woven basket, but making sure he left a few so they could develop and grow.

"Call me crazy, but I've started naming these chickens." Alex said randomly, stopping me in my tracks.

"Okay..." I trailed, looking at him with my head cocked to the side.

"No, really. Look, that one there is Dotty as she's got a few circular shapes on her left wing. And that there is Cruella De Ville as she flaps at me and scares the hell out of me. And that one.." He rambled, pointing out bird after bird.

After a while he faltered and looked about him, frown etched on his forehead.

"What?" I asked.

"Sam's gone."

"Eh?" I asked, totally confused.

"Sam? Oh, yeah. There was a hen I named Sam as her hair was almost exactly the same colour as yours." He said, a giant blush ebbing onto his face. I smiled.

"Well maybe Hershel or the others, er, ate him?" I suggested, wincing slightly.

"Oh. Well, I suppose, maybe. But Peaches is missing too. They wouldn't need two, would they?" He muttered as he continued with his chores. I thought about his words, but I couldn't think of any explanation so I shrugged and continued with my work.

Once I was satisfied with the chickens feeding, I set about cleaning the large area out. I threw all the muck into a large bin as directed by Alex and cleared out and changed the bedding in the chicken huts. Eventually we had finished, with only a little dirt on us but sweat trickling into every crease.

"Well," I said as I held the gate open for Alex. "I need to bathe for about three hours now."

"Eugh, don't. I don't want to see any more chickens ever again." Alex groaned, making me chuckle.

"How's your bat coming along?" I asked, smirking.

"It's rough and lumpy, but it's not to look pretty, is it? although I think it is. It's my new baby." He laughed.

"Alex, carpenter slash cook slash crazy baseball-bat man. Suits you." I chuckled. He did a mock bow in response.

"Do you want me to take those eggs in to the house?"

"Nah, I got them." Alex smiled, holding up the basket of eggs in his hand.

We walked away from the chicken coop and went out separate ways.

The sky had taken on an orangey tiny as the sun was setting, and all the small flies were waking for the night. I groaned, thinking about all the bites I was going to get that night from the stupid little flies. Despite that, the sight was a nice one.

I walked back to the tent slowly, taking in the rather pretty scene. Helena was sitting in the doorway of the tent. She waved wildly at me, and I smiled at her. However my view was interrupted by movement in a far off field.

A figure emerged from the tree and was staggering towards the house at quite a quick rate.

I stopped in my tracks. I felt panic rising from all over me at the sight. Damn, why don't I have anything with me? No weapon, nothing.

"Alex!" I cried, spinning round.

He too had stopped to look at it. He looked at me with a shock stricken face before gluing his eyes back on the approaching walker. I span back to look at the thing coming towards us at a considerable speed, only a few hundred yards away. Pulling a band off my wrist and tying my hair up, I slowly ran towards it, stopping along the way to pick up a lump of wood that had just been chopped for firewood. I took a deep breath as I ran up, psyching myself up for the contact. It was 150 yards away.

100 yards.

50 yards.

I faltered as I drew closer, screwing my face up in concentration. Since when did a walker carry another? And climb fences? As it was a few yards away, it all clicked.

"Rick?!"

OOOH. ;]

I know it's a short one, but I really couldn't wait to get to this bit. you may think it happened a bit quick and so did I but eh well.

And now hopefully, I should be back on a regular update as I'm back at college now, so I can work this in to my timetable.

Thanks guys!

- Loré. X