I stared at Rick as he put the bag on the table and started shifting through the guns. My head and back Hurt like hell but I was able to ignore the pain and act like I was fine, but I knew It would hurt even more tomorrow, Im not going to be a burden. T-Dog was standing against the wall with Miguel sitting on the floor next to him, Daryl was pacing back and forth watching Rick. "Them guns are worth more then Gold. Gold wont Protect your family, or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for that kid?" I looked at Daryl unsure of the situation, In my heart I knew I wanted to rescue Glenn but my mind was thinking logically, 'If we go in Locked and Loaded, There is going to be a blood bath and we may lose people. plus there is no guarantee they will hold to their part of the deal of everybody walks' T-Dog then spoke up, voicing my concern. "If I knew we'd get Glen Back I might agree. But you think that Vato across the way is just going to hand him over?" Miguel looked at him in disgust "you calling G a Liar?" Daryl turned to him "Are you part of this? You want to hold onto your teeth?" as he smacked him upside the head. T-Dog turned to him "question is, Do you trust the mans word?" Daryl spoke before Rick could answer "no question is what are you willing to bet on it, could be more then them guns, could be your life Glenn worth that to you?" He asked though probably already knowing the answer Rick put a pistol in his holster "what life I have I owe to him, I was a nobody, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could've walked away but he didn't. Neither will I" Daryl looked at the guns "so your gonna hand the guns over" Rick looked at him and smirked "I didn t say that" Daryl looked at him with interest and respect "there is nothing keeping you guys here you should get out and head back to camp" I looked at him in shock 'He's insane if he s going alone...no he's a fucking moron' T-Dog rubbed his head "and tell your family what?" Rick looked at him then looked at Daryl who stared back for a moment then nodded and grabbed a shotgun.

Miguel stood up "come on, This is nuts" Daryl pointed at him lightly shoving him back silently telling him to sit the fuck down. He did and put his head in his hands then looked up, afraid "Just do as G says" they ignored him loading up. Finally the kid was acting his age, just a scared boy. I looked at the floor frowning debating on what I should do. They all turned to look at me. "Erika" Rick called softly causing me to look up. "you don t have to stay, you ve done so much already for us, go back and take a care of your injuries" I look at T-Dog looked back in understanding and gratitude, I looked back at Rick Who eyes showed concern probably for my injury, lastly I turned to Daryl for some reason his opinion mattered most to me, He looked me in the eye then softly nodded his head. I looked down and bit my lip and closed my eyes clenching my fist. 'NO I am Not leaving someone else behind, I refused to sit back and run like some weak, scared little girl' I growled aggravated and pushed off the wall I was leaning on. I took off my army jacket revealing a gun holster on my waist and a gun on my hip. And having a large hunting knife strapped to my upper arm.

The guys stared at me shocked "What?" T-Dog was the one to speak up "your telling me you carried those the whole time and didn t tell us!" I smirked "you think all I carry around is one knife?. If im going into a Zombie death trap I m preparing myself" I took the one gun out of the holster and put them on the table, then removed the one on my hip. "there that gives you 2 more hand guns. Its not a lot but it will have to do, Sniper and speed both gave me the two before we left, I have 3 knives total. It wont get far but at least you wont be defenseless if the guns run out or you drop them". Rick looked shocked but nodded Daryl stared at me confused "I only see 2 knives" I reached down and pulled up my pant leg where I had a knife securely strapped my leg. I looked back at Daryl who looked impressed, while Miguel looked in fear. I smirked at him as I grabbed the knife. "thank you Erika..but I have to ask a question?" I nodded, as Rick stared back right into my eyes "you carry so much weapons its hard to believe that your new at the whole survival thing, tell me what caused you to be this way?" I looked out the window watching the walkers stumble in the streets. i knew there was a cold glare on my face, It was because if those bastards my life went to shit "I couldn t save her. We ran out of weapons, we were cornered and out of food, we couldn t run anymore, They took her away from me and I couldn t save Her, I am not letting someone else be taken away from me, If I have something to do about it" I looked at Rick as He nodded slightly and asking no more on the topic, to my relief.

I took one of the shot guns off the table. And looked at Miguel who looked back in slight fear "If This guy Keep his word and things work out well I will make sure no harm comes to you, But-" I walked over and kneeled in front of him glaring into his eyes "If He tries to double cross us and any harm comes to my friend, I will not hesitate to kill you I am trained to save, protect, and Kill if need be Got it?" He gulped and nodded I smiled and patted his head. I stood up and felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked over and saw Daryl "its time to go". I nodded walking toward the door frowning 'I hate threatening people but I cant let it seem like were push overs' when we got to the place The doors opened and Daryl shoved Miguel inside. Guillermo walked forward frowning as he saw us armed. "I see my guns but their not all In the bag" Rick stared at him "that s because there not your s I thought I mentioned that" I smirked as one guy said to just shoot us. "I don t think you fully appreciate The gravity of the situation" Rick lowered the gun "no I think I m pretty clear" he took out a knife and cut Miguel s restraints pushing him forward. "you have your man, I want mine" Guillermo frowned not liking the fact that someone was making a deal with HIM. "I m gonna chop up your boy. Im gonna feed him to my dogs, Their the evilest, Nastiest, man-eating bitches you ever saw, I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale" I chuckled well just to let you know I m Satans Personal Dog-trainer it s a pleasure to meet you...nah im just kidding but I dont remember selling any dogs to you" I saw Daryl smirk at my comment as Guillermo looked even more pissed." I told you how it was to be, are you woefully deaf" Rick looked at Him "no my hearing is just fine, you said come locked and loaded well" we all cocked our guns. "well then were here" all of a sudden an Old Lady came into the room "Felipe! Felipe!" without looking back The man, Filipe, yelled back "Abuela Go back with the others Now!" Daryl Looked at her and shouted "Get that old lady out of the Line of Fire!" Guillermo looked at her "Abuela listen to your M'hijo ok? This is not the place for you right now" She went over to Filipe, "Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing, He needs his Asthma stuff, Carlito didn t find it, He needs his medicine" I frowned confused by the situation. what the hell is going on?

Rick started to lower his gun as Guillermo looked from us to the old lady then back at us Filipe "Go take care of it, ok? And take your grandmother with you!" I tensed as the old woman came over to Rick directly in the line of fire "Don t you take him, Filipe is a good boy He have his troubles but he pull himself together, We need him here" I sighed and lowered my gun all the way 'either This old lady has no idea what her grandson does or Their lying sack of shits' I heard Rick tell the old lady they were helping us find a missing person. "The Asian boy? He s with Mr. Gilbert, come, come I show you, He needs his medicine" she went over and grabbed Rick s hand I smiled at how cute she was as we followed her Guillermo allowing us to pass. I followed walking next to Daryl looking in the rooms that we pass seeing sick elders. We continued down the long hallway into a large auditorium, there I saw a group circled around an old man he must be Mr. Gilbert Filipe walked over and helped him take his medication, I looked over and saw Glenn standing among the group I let out a sigh of relief seeing he was unharmed. Rick looked at him like he had six heads "what the hell is this?" Glenn looked at him "An Asthma attack, couldn t catch his breath all of a sudden" T-Dog looked at him annoyed "I though you were being eaten by dogs, man" Glenn looked over and we followed his gaze to Three Chihuahua s. I giggled at the sight, causing Daryl to look at me and smirk. "still up to training Satan s dogs?" I shook my head "nah I don t like little dogs, they remind me of rats" He chuckled and looked back towards the group as Rick said Guillermo that he was insane and start talking to him. I shook my head and turned to walk away, when I took a step The room started to spin and my head started to pound. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked to see T-Dog looking concerned "You ok Erika" I nodded but groaned at the pain and nausea. "No you aint, what s wrong?" T-Dog asked even more worried. Thankfully the group didn t noticed my pause, I looked at T-Dog, no longer nauseous, "I m fine its just my head, please don t tell the others please I don t want to be a burden" He looked unsure for a moment but then sighed and nodded "fine but if it gets worse Im telling them" I smiled "thanks T-Dog" He just waved me off.

I started to walk down the hall into the back yard enjoying the sun. All of a sudden I heard footsteps, I looked up and saw Miguel standing a little away from me. I smiled at him "hey kiddo" He looked at the ground nervously. I laughed softly and motioned for him to come over "Relax hun, Im not going to threaten you, I think were passed that part anyway" He chuckled "yeah I guess we are" He walked over and sat next to me on the step. "so what s going on? you look like you wanted to ask something". he rubbed the back of his neck "heh yeah back in the lab you stood away from the group, almost like you didn t like them, yet in the alley You protected that Redneck-" I cut him off "Daryl" He nodded "you protected him without hesitation, getting hurt yourself in the process, and when your friend was grabbed you didn t want to go back without him .why? Why protect them If you don t really know them?" I looked at the sky thinking about what he was asking 'why do I protect them, I don t owe them anything, It s almost like I have to' I paused for a second "I guess its because I consider them my friends. Just like these guys are to you. You would do anything for them right?" He nodded "of course, but what about Daryl what s he to you, you seem Drawn to him the most?" that made me stop it was true out of all the group I always was near Daryl even though he was such an asshole. 'do I consider him a friend?' I smiled as I stared at the sky "I don t know, I guess Its just that I consider him a friend even if The feeling isnt mutual" He nodded accepting the answer as He stood up "it was nice talking to you Erika" he said surprisingly with no attitude I smiled "same to you kid, Take care" he started walking away but froze and turned back around "I just have one more question" I nodded waiting for him to continue "who was it that you couldn t save?" I stood up watching him yet imagining someone else standing in his place, "My daughter, I couldn t save my daughter" He looked at me and nodded as he turned and walked away leaving me there in my thoughts.

I sighed and turned to walk back inside and walked into the room the guys were in. Guillermo was saying how they were all these old folks have left. Rick made a decision and gave them some of the guns and ammo. 'At least they have protection, for as much time as they have left' We said our goodbyes and left. Glenn turned to Rick as we were walking "admit it you just came back for the hat" Rick smiled "Dont tell anyone" I couldn t help but laugh, It was as if zombies weren t around waiting to devour our flesh, yes that s a nice way to put it. Then Daryl had to be a stick in the mud and ruin the peaceful moment. "You ve given away half of our guns and ammo" Rick glanced at him then looked back ahead "not nearly half" I sighed here we go again "for what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die of momentarily anyhow? Seriously how long do you think they got?" I looked back where we came from "How long do any of us?" Rick asked all of a sudden we all stopped in surprise, our van was gone. "where the hell s our van?" Daryl asked, Glenn Had his mouth wide open "we left it right there who would take it?" Rick answered without hesitation "Merle" Daryl looked at Rick with what looked to be guilt "he s gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp" I groaned and kicked a rock in frustration "just great we come to rescue him only finding his severed hand, and go out to look for him get the crap beat out of us and one of us gets taken, we go in ready to kill anyone and find out the people where only protecting elders we leave some guns and ammo to go to our van only to find out he stole our Van and now he s going to go attack the camp! Shit can this day get any worse" I said, my head felt like it was going to fucking explode and my back was on fire. "Erika Calm down your going to make your injuries worse" Rick said turning to me "what are we going to do Rick? It will take us till night fall to get back to camp" I said nervous at this point. "we gotta go now, Come on" We took off afraid of what we were going to encounter.

'OK coming back to camp to a zombie attack is defiantly worse, damn me and my fucking big mouth' I though shooting a zombie in the head, I ran forward looking for Sniper and speed, shooting any walker I saw, I heard Rick desperately calling for Lori and Carl. I heard growling from behind I turned around and saw a zombie about to attack I quickly used the butt of my gun and knocked it back then shot it in the face. I looked around and saw all the other walkers dead, like they were supposed to be. I looked around frantically calling out "Aiden! Seth!" I got no response. My heart was filled with fear, "AIDEN! SETH!" I cried out near tears. I held the gun Tighter in my hands as I looked around. "ERIKA!" I turned and saw Aiden and Seth standing by the RV. I gasped and hugged them not letting go crying into their shirts. "I remember my dream now, why I dug those holes" Jim said , I turned and looked around at the bodies that covered the ground. I then looked at the group Rick held Carl and Lori tight as they cried, Andrea was crying over Amy s dead body, Morales held his family, as Carol Held Sophia crying, Glenn looked around afraid, Daryl was on guard as was Shane, T-Dog looked around not wanting to believe what just happened. Jacqui and Dale stared at Andrea in sadness, and Jim just stared Horrified that his dream came true.

I got no sleep that night, neither did anyone else. The sun was up Shane and Rick were digging graves, Daryl was driving a pickaxe through the bodies heads so they didn t turn. I raised my Hunting knife and drove it into one of the head of one of the bodies. Standing up I wiped the blood off it nodding to Aiden and Seth. They nodded and took the body over to be buried, I couldn t lift anything because of my back, But like hell I was going to be the weak link. I turned when I saw Rick walking towards Andrea which resulted in her pulling a pistol on him, He backed away slowly apologizing. Daryl walked over shouldering the pickaxe, "y'all can t be serious, let that girl hamstring us? The dead girls a time bomb" he said motioning towards Amy and Andrea I walked over crossing my arms. "and what do you suggest?" Rick asked unsure of the answer himself. Daryl walked closer "take the shot, clean in the brain from here, Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance" I shook my head 'well thank God she s not a turkey' Lori looked at the ground "No For God s Sakes, let her be" Daryl scoffed and walked away, as He past me I said to Him "she knows what has to be done" He didn t answer and just continued walking. And went over to help Morales move a body, Glenn asked in panic "whoa what are you doing?, our people go over there, this is for geeks" Daryl grunted "what s the difference they re all infected". Daryl stopped and dropped the body staring as Glenn walked closer "our people go in that row over there, WE DON T BURN THEM!, we bury them" he said softly. "understand?" He said challenging Daryl, who looked at him then moved the body over in the other row "you reap what you sow" he said Morales looked at him "you know what?, shut up, man!" which caused Daryl to drop the body. "Y'all left my brother for dead! You had this coming!" He screamed storming off. I ran my hand through my hair as Aiden and Seth watched worried. "let him be, He s just blowing off some steam" They looked at me then nodded. Then I heard Jacqui shout "A walker got him, A walker bit Jim" I looked over and saw Jim looking at everyone afraid trying to convince everyone he s ok. Daryl walked over "Show it to us" Jim backed away grabbing a shovel Daryl told T-Dog to grab him, which he did as Daryl lifted up his shirt, showing us the bite mark, He backed away unsure of what to do now, we had a person infected but alive.

I turn to the two men I was with and Asked a question I should ve asked when I saw them "were you two bit or scratched at all?" Speed shook his head no "I was in the RV at the time of the attack" I turned to Sniper who didn t meet my eyes "oh sniper please tell me you didn t get-" He took off his jacket showing a bloody bandage on his shoulder. I covered my mouth in horror, Speed backed away dragging me away as well. I struggled "No! NO! its not true, He s the same". The group didn t notice us, they were busy talking about what to do with Jim, they didn t see my meltdown. We looked at Sniper who looked back at us, mainly me, his eyes showing sadness, he was silently asking something, and I knew what it was. I took a deep breath and told Speed to let go of me, he did reluctantly and I walked over toward Sniper stopping right in front of him. I let a few tears fall as I stared at my friend, whom I have know for over 9 years. I threw my arm around his waist, and he wrapped his arms around me kissing the top of my head. We talked about what would happen if one of us was bitten. We knew the rules and requests. "I don t know if I can do It Aiden, Please don t ask me to" I whispered pathetically He looked at me sadly, understanding my pain "I know Erika, Im asking a lot but I d rather it be by your hands, please Let Me die a man, not as a monster" I sighed and nodded kissed his cheek and backed up. Speed walked foreword and embraced sniper, through my tears I chuckled "I knew you two had a thing for each other" trying to lighten up the mood, it worked as they stepped back from each other laughing. Then Speed looked at Sniper "Man you were always my best friend, you save my ass countless of times I m sorry I could help you bro, I ll always remember you" Sniper nodded "thanks man that means a lot to me even though you re a pain in the ass" I walked away and let them have a moment and walked over to the group, When I got closer I heard Daryl speak up "I say We put a pickaxe in His head and the dead girl s and be done with it" Shane looked at it "is that what you would want? If it were you?" Daryl nodded "yeah I d thank you while you were doing it" Dale turned around and said Daryl might be right, Rick tried to tell them that He s just sick, Mentioning the CDC and arguing with Shane. Daryl stood annoyed "You go look for Aspirin do what you need to do, somebody needs to have the balls to take care of this damn problem" as he went to hit jim with the pickaxe, Rick quickly pointed a gun at his head. "we do not kill the living" I turned and walked away one thought crossing my mind 'but what if they want to die?'.

I walked back over to Aiden and Seth, I looked Aiden straight in the eyes "is this what you want Aiden?, The group is heading to the CDC we might be able to find a cure" He shook his head "I m sure Erika, we made a promise before the outbreak happened, This is what I want please don t deny me my last request, I might not be able to make the trip" He begged in his eyes I saw he accepted his faith, he didn t want any false reassurance, I nodded pulling out my handgun. "If this is your wish then I will grant it, Aiden Rain you are an amazing soldier, your devotion would have gotten you very far in life, You protected us and our squad to the best of your ability which was more then anyone has asked for, you are considered a hero and a savior to many and will forever be remembered as one, you fought with great bravery till the very end, I have always respected you as a soldier as a person and as a friend, remember we Love you Aiden and it was an honor to have had you in my squad, You will always be in my heart my friend, I m proud of you" He smiled a lone tear falling from his eye. "thank You Erika for everything, It was an honor working under your command, dont let my death be in vain" he nodded to Seth who was silently crying, Seth nodded back. Aiden looked at me "ok I m ready" I nodded Pointing my gun at his head "Goodbye" He smiled and I pulled the trigger. He dropped to the ground dead. I put the gun away crying silently. Then Rick and the others ran over "what happened?" he asked looking at us, I shook my head not taking my eyes off Aiden s body. "what the hell did you do Erika?" Shane yelled going over to Aiden s body. I started walking away, When Rick caught up to me

Rick stood right in front on me, I looked up at him. "Erika, why did you kill him?" I looked away from him and towards Aiden s fallen body, Let it go Rick your crossing a line...a very dangerous line "he was bitten, Rick, I had to do what I needed to" He looked at me like I had six heads "Maybe we could have saved him, why they hell would you kill a living person? Answer me Erika!" I turned to him, my glare cold as Ice. I walked towards Him "and what if he wanted to die? Huh Rick? Look I appreciate you letting us stay and I appreciate your hospitality but me, Seth and Aiden made a promise to each other when this whole zombie apocalypse shit happened, This was His request Rick, I was not going to let that be his fate" I pointed to Amy and Andrea. He turned to me still not understanding "I let Him die with honor Rick, don t try to taint that reason by saying it was wrong" I said walking back over to Aiden. I motioned for Seth to come over and help me pick up Aiden s body to bury him. after we wrapped him and layed him in the ground I Looked at Aiden s covered body 'yes I put down a person today, Yes that person soldier, yes that soldier was one of my best friends, But I kept a promise that we made .I was able to keep a promise and fulfill a last request& is that such a bad thing?'.