Red stood up quickly, then reached a hand down to help her up. As soon as she was on her feet, he picked up a flashlight and moved over to Dembe and knelt next to him. "Dembe." Dembe's eyes fluttered, but didn't open as he continued to groan quietly. Liz knelt on his other side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Dembe, it's Liz and Red. You're safe, wake up."

Dembe turned his head towards the sound of her voice and furrowed his eyebrows. She squeezed his shoulder, and he cracked his eyes open then closed them again. Red reached down and patted his arm, then said to Liz, "Will you get him some water?"

Liz nodded and took the flashlight from him, then walked into the kitchen and plucked a new bottle of water out of one of the bags. When she came back into the room, she found Red leaning over Dembe trying to inspect the wounds on his chest and abdomen with a tiny mag light. She handed him the flashlight and water bottle and took the mag from him, then waited for him to check over Dembe's injuries with a better light.

"How do his injuries look?"

He grimaced. "Some of the lacerations look infected, and there is deep bruising around his ribs. I'm not certain there's anything we can do."

Liz walked back around and took her earlier place. "I'm pretty sure I found some antibiotics in one of the houses, but I'm not familiar with the names. Do you want to go look?"

Red nodded and stood up then walked out of the room. She tried not to admire his body in his undressed state while his best friend was lying on the ground in bad shape, but found herself doing it anyway.

She started to speak to Dembe, trying to coax him to open his eyes. She set the light on its end, and could barely make out his face, but it was better than nothing. She picked up the water bottle, then put her arm under his neck and lifted slightly. "I have some water here, you need to drink at least a little bit. Nod if you understand."

Dembe gave her a slight nod and she tipped a tiny amount of water into his mouth, then repeated it a few times until Red walked back in the room with a pill bottle in his had. She gave him a small smile and said, "So there were some in there?"

He nodded. "They've been expired for six months, so I'm not sure how effective they'll be, but we can definitely try." He opened the bottle and took a small pill out, then said to to his friend. "Dembe, I'm going to put a pill in your mouth and Lizzie is going to pour some more water in after that. Do you understand?"

Dembe nodded again, and Red put the pill in, then Liz poured in a small amount of water. As Dembe tried to swallow, he coughed a little and began to gag. Liz put the bottle down and began to massage his throat to help him swallow. After a few seconds, it seemed to go down and Dembe let his head flop a little to the side. Liz laid him back down gently and looked at Red with concern; his expression mirrored hers.

Liz stood up and gestured with her head for Red to follow her to the kitchen. When they were out of earshot she said quietly, "You don't think he's going to make it do you?"

Red stepped closer and put his hand on the counter behind her, then leaned in a whispered, "It doesn't look good. I'm not certain he's going to ma-"

He was cut off by a loud bang on the window from the living room. Liz jumped so badly that she knocked heads with Red. "Shit!" Liz yelled at the same time Red grimaced and rubbed his chin in obvious pain. She mumbled an apology as they both made their way quickly into the living room to see what had made the noise. Red shined the light at the window and saw a Walker moving around in front of the window. As soon as it saw the light, it moved back to the window and began to hit its body against it. Red turned to her and handed her the flashlight, then moved over to his clothes and began to pull them on. "I'm going to go outside and take care of it before it attracts more attention."

Liz shook her head vehemently, "Red, it's too dangerous."

Red finished tying his shoe then stood up and framed her face with his hands. "Lizzie, I'll be fine. I don't plan on going anywhere. If I don't kill it now it will attract unwanted attention; It's just one of them right now."

Liz furrowed her eyebrows and nodded in defeat. He smiled softly and leaned down to kiss her firmly on the mouth, then pulled back and squeezed her shoulder and went into the kitchen and picked up a long carving knife.

He stopped in the doorway of the living room and gave Liz a reassuring nod, then began walking towards the garage. Liz listened to the sounds of him opening and closing the door, then everything was quiet again besides Dembe's labored breathing below her. She walked up to the window and turned the flashlight off so she could see outside. As her eyes adjusted, they widened in horror as all she saw in front of her was a sea of moving bodies moving towards the house. She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the scream, then turned and quickly pulled her clothes on. Just as she finished, she heard the door open and close, then Red's hurried footsteps as he ran into the living room with wide eyes. "Lizzie, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid we're going to have to leave. Now."

Liz stood up and nodded. "I saw. We're not going to be able to take the car are we?"

Red shook his head with a grim look on his face. "I don't think so. There are hundreds, if not thousands of them."

Liz blinked back the tears that were blurring her vision and nodded resolutely. "Then we'll go on foot." Dembe coughed below them and Liz groaned quietly. She had temporarily forgotten about Dembe. He was a large man and she didn't know how they were going to carry him while carrying their supplies too. As if he could sense what she was thinking Red said, "Go reduce our supplies to two bags while I try to rouse Dembe." She knew he would refuse to leave Dembe, but she just didn't see how it was going to be possible to bring him.

She picked up two bags and began to pile all the necessities in them while listening to Red speak to Dembe. She heard Dembe cough a few times and try to say something, but she couldn't tell what was being said between the two. She put clothes and toiletries in one bag, piling as much as she could inside it before zipping it closed. In the other bag she put food, water, medication and weapons in. After finishing, she took stock of all the things they would have to leave behind and sighed heavily; they wouldn't last long without finding more supplies soon. She suddenly wished they weren't in such a rural area; it was going to be difficult to find somewhere safe to stay.

The walkers were banging on the window loudly, and she prayed the windows would last a little while longer.

She walked back in the living room and saw that Dembe had his eyes open and was sitting up with a pained look on his face; his skin was gray and ashen. Red was attempting to get his shirt back on, but was having trouble doing so. Liz walked over and helped him, and together they managed to get it back on without hurting Dembe too badly. She patted his shoulder and said, "It's good to see you up."

He looked at her and nodded, but didn't say anything. Red looked at her with soft eyes. "Is everything ready to go?"

She nodded. "Yes, we need to go befo-"

A loud crack sounded through the room and they looked over to see the large bay window begin to buckle under the constant barrage of bodies and hands hitting against it. "We need to go now!" She yelled and hurried to help Dembe up. Together they managed to get him on his feet, although he was unsteady and beginning to sweat with the effort. With a pinched look on his face, they began to move towards the garage door. "Red, I need to grab the bags. I'm going to let go for a second."

She moved away from Dembe and watched him lean heavily against Red, then grabbed the bags quickly off the counter and swung one of them over Red's free shoulder. She put the other on her own shoulder, then moved under Dembe and took half of his weight back; he was so heavy. The window behind them began to fall apart, and she could hear the groans and moans of the walkers behind them.

When Liz felt somewhat situated, she said to Red, "I'm ready, let's move." They all began a slow walk towards the door as the window broke completely and the sound of bodies hitting the floor began to ring out. They picked up their pace and reached the door, then walked clumsily through it and shut it behind them; they were already breathing heavily. After resting for a minute or two in silence, Red leaned around Dembe and looked at Liz. "Are you ok, sweetheart?"

Liz swallowed and nodded. She wasn't, but she didn't have much choice. "I'm fine, let's concentrate on getting somewhere safe. I'm not sure how long Dembe is going to last on his feet." She looked up at him and grimaced at the sweat pouring down his face.

Red nodded and said, "There's a door in the garage that leads to the backyard. Hopefully the walkers haven't made their way back there yet." They began to walk slowly with the only sounds being Dembe's breathing and the muffled sounds of walkers in the distance accompanying them. As they reached the door to the outside, Red cracked it open and pulled away from Dembe slightly to look outside. Dembe began to sag against her and she grunted under the strain of his full weight on her; he must outweigh her by at least eighty or ninety pounds. She braced herself and watched Red's shoulders for an indication of what it looked like outside. When they didn't tense up, she sighed in relief; they must be in the clear.

Red pulled back and looked at her. "It's clear, save for a few that are wandering around. I'm certain we can get past them without attracting their attention." He set his bag down and continued, "What bag has the weapons in them?"

She squinted in the darkness and said, "I think you have it."

Red knelt and opened the bag, then rummaged around carefully and pulled out two knives. He handed her one, then zipped the bag back up and put it back on his shoulder. "Do either of you need to rest?"

Both Dembe and Liz shook their heads at the same time, and Red nodded. "If you're sure, then let's carry on." He pulled Dembe's left arm around his shoulder and took his half back, then began leading them out the door.

As soon as the cold air hit them, Liz shivered. It had to be in the low forties, and they hadn't had time to put anything warm on. Great. They walked over the still short grass, then past the property lines of the house into a corn field. Liz tried to keep an eye on the walkers that were wandering around them, but found that she couldn't concentrate on much besides keeping herself and Dembe in an upright position; it was exhausting.

As they passed through the tall, dead stalks, something grabbed her foot and caused her to fall. She didn't have time to brace her hands and the knife that she was holding in her left hand pierced her side. "Shit!" She yelled, as she tried not to move too much; it seemed the knife had only gone through the fleshy part of her side, but it still hurt like hell. She watched Red set Dembe down, then hurry over to her and crouch beside her. She was still on her stomach, so she moved her head to say something to him when they both heard the telltale groaning sounds. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a corpse with half of its face and skin missing reach for her foot with its jaw wide open. She tried to move her foot, but it jostled her side so much that it was excruciating and she couldn't move it more than a couple of inches. She yelled for Red to kill it, but he was already almost there with his knife raised above his head. Just as he began to bring the knife down on the walkers head, the corpse clamped down on her shoe.

AN: Gad, I know its taken me forever to update this fic. I'm so sorry about that. This chapter is dedicated to jadenanne7. A deal is a deal, so here's me fulfilling my part. ;) I would love to know everyone's thoughts on this. Too boring? The plot too slow? Please review, it's the only way I can improve. Thanks for reading. :)