Apologies to anyone who read Chapter 11 in the hour following its posting. I made the mistake of uploading Chapter 11 from another story, the mistake has been corrected and I apologise for any confusion caused.

Chapter 11:

One Week Later…

Two weeks.

She couldn't believe it… Two weeks.

Two weeks since it had all started. Two weeks since the dead had risen. Two weeks with nobody helping them.

Lori paced in the kitchen frantically losing her last strands of sanity. Surely it couldn't be two weeks… It hadn't been that long had it? Well the calendar wasn't lying; it had been two weeks since this mess had started and nothing had happened that even signalled an end to this.

Lori was properly scared now, in her heart she had always felt like there was someone out there, someone going from town to town evacuating people, getting them out, but with two weeks having gone by and them not seeing another human being except for themselves her and her group had come to the shocking realisation.

All was lost.

Some came to the realisation faster than others. Paula was there since the moment she had shot her husband. Just over a week and she hadn't done anything, she had just layed in that bed, gotten up, eaten what little food they had, cleaned up, gone back to bed and slept. Lori knew lost hope when she saw it… and Paula had lost hope.

Second was Carol, the woman had collapsed to her knees and cried when she heard about Ed.

Ed.

Shane had barely made it back by nightfall, he looked terrible, he had brought a little food back with him from the gas station but no gas and no Ed. He said the man had been bitten and overrun, Lori never liked the man, she thought he was a terrible influence on Carl and a danger to them all but he didn't deserve to die like that. Not as a piñata for the walkers to crack open.

Carol has told Lori that this world was lost and that Ed was in hell for what he did. She said she would keep her daughter alive but she couldn't help but relish the freedom of heaven, Lori had been scared that the woman was contemplating suicide but remembered that she had a daughter here. She has Sophia to draw strength from like Lori had Carl.

Shane was out again, they had little to no food once more and the water was low, Shane had been going out every second day to help them. Lori didn't want him to go alone but knew that she and the other women would only slow him up somewhat, he was doing his best but it was barely enough.

"Lori." Paula called from the other room, Lori broke from her daydream and walked into the living room where Carol, Carl and Sophia sat on the sofa playing checkers, Lori saw Paula looking between the drapes out the front. Lori was concerned about Paula, she hadn't saw a hint of emotion all day and had received a cold demeanour from her formerly-fun friend.

"What is it?" she asked looking at the woman. Carol rose and looked out the front as well.

"What?" the fragile woman asked, Paula kept her eyes on the outside.

"I saw something." She said simply, Lori let out a frustrated sigh but spoke calmly.

"What?" she asked again but Paula still didn't turn around.

"I think I saw someone running past, there is definitely a walker out there." She explained and Lori's heart stopped.

"What?! Get away from the windows then!" she ordered in a loud whisper as she dragged Paula and Carol back and moved the drapes so they were completely closed. Carl and Sophia stopped their game and looked at their parent worryingly.

"Mom, what is it?" Carl asked as Lori crouched beside him.

"Stay close and stay quiet." She ordered as Carol held onto Sophia, they knew the drill for walker sightings, to make extra sure the walkers didn't see them they always hid out in the guest room since it is the only room that has a window that doesn't face the street but the yard.

They sat in the guest room for several minutes as Carl and Sophia chatted quietly, they chatted about silly stuff as kids did, school, television and their old friends. Lori sat next to Carol on the bed as Paula was pacing.

Lori really wished she would stop, it was giving her a headache, however when she opened her mouth to say something she was cut off by the sound of a man yelling outside.

Everyone stopped everything for a moment, Carl and Sophia stopped talking and Paula stopped pacing as Carol grabbed Lori's arm.

"What was that?" she asked Lori who was frozen in place.

"Probably nothing." She answered but Paula took over.

"Didn't sound like nothing." She said moving out of the bedroom, Carol followed as Lori turned to the kids.

"Stay here." She ordered and they both nodded, Lori followed the two women as Paula picked up the machete from the couch (Shane said that he had lost the axe with Ed) and looked outside the drapes with Lori by her side. There was nothing outside but another shout erupted, this time out of view from beside the house.

"Sounds like someone's in trouble." Paula said as she made for the door however Lori stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"Paula you can't go out there, what about the walkers?" Lori said firmly but Paula wrenched free.

"They are attacking someone Lori we can't leave them out there!" she shouted as she wrenched the door open before Lori could stop her, with a worried look back at Carol Lori ran after her and tried to grab her again but Paula was running around the street and on the other side of the house now, Lori tried to keep up with her but saw there were no walkers outside.

"Paula get back inside!" she shouted as Paula ran ahead but she stopped dead when she looked around the corner, as Lori caught up to her she grabbed her arm but let go when she saw.

A man in a green shirt and beige pants was being set upon, he didn't look bitten but a walker was on top of him, the man was struggling and shouting as he writhe beneath the creature.

"You grab the gun?" Paula asked as they ran forward.

"No!" Lori yelled hesitant, should she run back and get it?

"Fuck!" Paula shouted and ran ahead of Lori who stopped, she wanted to scream at Paula to stop, she didn't want to lose her but the red-headed woman was set as she ran up to the walker yelling what could be a war-cry, as she closed in on the walker she swung the machete hard and caught it in the face.

Lori flinched and stepped back feeling a body behind her, she turned to see another walker looking at her. It was an elderly woman but missing it's lower jaw, Lori screamed and tried to move away but it grabbed onto her and pushed her down, however before it could do much more the machete had embedded itself in its skull. Lori looked up to see the man standing over her holding the machete which was still embedded in the walkers head.

"Are you ok?" Paula asked as she helped Lori up, Lori nodded a bit lost for words as she finally got a good look at the man before her.

She didn't notice it before but she had recognised him, his neat brown hair and slightly off-kilter facial features were dead obvious.

It was Fred Drake.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Fred?" Lori asked the man as Paula stood beside her, she was still coursing with the adrenaline from her second walker kill, she hadn't even thought about it, she had just seen who was now known as Fred under a walker and drawn on instinct.

"Lori! Great to see you again! And you must be Paula!" he greeted happily hugging Lori, Lori hugged him back and in a rush of understanding Paula remembered him, she had met Cindy briefly at Lori's 28th Birthday party but hadn't met Fred, she had heard about him off Lori though.

"Oh my God so good to see you are unharmed. Where's Cindy?" she asked the happy demeanour vanishing as they remembered where they were again, Fred's face fell into confusion then into a look of fear.

"Cindy. She was with me on Salem Road… We were heading back to our house. Cindy wanted to get some things… We got split up when the walkers came, I gave her the gun and I drew them away so she could get there!" Fred shouted as Lori's face turned stone white. Fred looked at them before looking back towards where Salem Street was.

"We gotta go get her Lori!" he shouted as he gripped the machete tighter, Paula was all for it but knew Lori would never come with; Carl was still inside with Carol and Sophia.

"Fred I can't. Carl is in the house… We can wait for Shane to get back and he can go with you." She offered but Fred shook his head.

"No… I gotta go now, she doesn't know how to shoot Lori she could die!" he sounded frantic as Lori started panicking.

"Fred I can't…" she strained but Paula stepped forward.

"I will go with you. Lori you go find Carl and close up shop, I will try and find my way back when I can." She ordered, Lori looked shocked but nodded her head.

"Thank you." Lori said as she turned on her heel and sprinted back towards her house. Paula turned to Fred to see him looking at her.

"You ready?" he asked and Paula nodded, never had she been so scared yet so ready for adventure.

"Then let's go." He said before taking off towards Salem Road, Paula hot on his heels.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They had been hiding out in the house for a week. Morgan knew it was only a matter of time before they ran low on food again but they had hit the jackpot here, it had enough food for a week with their added provisions.

"Too good to be true yeah?" Hannah said beside him in the kitchen, he could see the Drake's had spent what looked like thousands on a new kitchen set, the black bench tops were still shining like they were brand new. Morgan couldn't deny he had enjoyed cooking in a clean and shiny kitchen again.

"Perhaps. I like to think we just got lucky." Morgan said and the woman smiled, Hannah had looked worn the last few days, she and him had been talking about going on a food run for at least a few days but neither were anxious to leave the house.

"Mom." A small voice came from behind them in the living room, Hannah smiled at Morgan before following her small daughter, Morgan had grown to like Jamie and Billy more as they came out of their shells more… Well Jamie did anyway. Billy didn't speak to Morgan much since he mostly just hung around Duane or Jamie, Jamie was a very polite girl and was very witty but Morgan knew she was scared, just trying to be a big girl.

As Hannah left Morgan looked across the kitchen at Duane, he was sat staring off out the window into the back garden, Morgan looked to see two colourful birds flying around each other. Morgan had seen something like this on the discovery channel or something, the male bird would often pester and follow the female bird trying to woo her with elegant or crude mating rituals, by the looks of things outside the female wasn't that interested, considering she was trying to fly away from him.

"Beautiful aren't they?" Morgan said as he sat next to his son, Duane had been quiet the last few days as had the other kids. Morgan knew that Duane was still in mourning over Jenny, hell Morgan was… But Duane was only a kid, he and Morgan had exhausted themselves talking about it over the last few days and Morgan knew they had spoken all that they needed to.

"Kinda… I always preferred the other birds though, the dark coloured ones that hang around our school." He said as the birds flew the coop, he had been getting better with general conversation but it still stung and Morgan knew the feeling.

Morgan had found the way to cope without Jenny by looking at her life. She had lived it full and happy; she had always been spontaneous and did what she loved when she wanted to. An upside to her death was that she didn't have to live in this world… Morgan knew that having to sit inside for days at a time and be constantly hiding would drive her insane. She was always the one who was going out and Morgan was always being the level headed one but he loved it like that… He could take solace knowing that Jenny hadn't seen too much of this horrible new world and she had died before her life was stripped away.

Suddenly he heard something, a knock from the basement. He turned to Duane and saw by the look on his face that he had heard it too.

"Daddy…" he said quietly but Morgan shushed him, he moved through to the living room to see Hannah, Jamie and Billy all sitting frozen as they looked at Morgan, Morgan looked at Hannah and nodded as he sent Duane over to her. They had planned that in the case of home invasion Hannah would guard the kids and Morgan would deal with intruders. Morgan grabbed his revolver off the kitchen counter and made his way to the basement, he knew that there was a hatch that led into an alleyway near the back garden but it had been locked from the outside. Morgan was sure walkers couldn't pick locks.

He opened the door to the basement and picked up one of the flashlights by the door. He shined it around the room to see if anything was there whilst holding the revolver aloft, he knew he should have bought the axe instead but in the dark with next to no light he didn't want to risk it.

He looked around the many shelves that the Drake's had in their basement, when they had first checked Morgan and Hannah had actually laughed there had been so much stuff, it was a goody basement.

Morgan was growing weary, nothing had jumped him yet and he knew walkers weren't well known for their hunting prowess, their main tactic was to find food and lumber after it.

Morgan laughed at his mental joke but stopped when he heard the hammer of the gun click behind and the hand on his should squeeze hard.

"Don't fucking move." A surprisingly delicate voice ordered as Morgan turned around, in the dark he couldn't see the woman's face but he knew not to fuck with her, he could see the gun pointed at his own face.

"I don't want any trouble." Morgan said calmly but the gun seemed to be shaking in front of him and the woman sounded scared.

"This is my house. Me and my husband own it and you need to leave." Her voice quivered but she held the gun still at his face.

"Wait… You own this house?" Morgan asked as a light bulb flashed in his mind illuminating the dark room with understanding.

"Yes."

"Then you must be Cindy Drake." Morgan said but this did nothing to calm her.

"Look. This is my house, me and my husband have had it for years and when he gets here you will be sorry so you should just…" however the threat died in her throat as she looked over Morgan's shoulder, Morgan turned to see Hannah there holding a gun pointing at Cindy, however when she saw the blonde Cindy lowered the gun and spoke in a choked up voice.

"Hannah…" she said timidly and stepped forward out of the darkness into the illumination of the the room above, in the light Morgan could see Cindy was in a state, in a photo upstairs she had looked stunning, she had shoulder length black hair, subtle Asian features that gave a look of sophistication and a beautiful skin tone, however now the elegance was gone.

What was once probably a nice knee length red dress with a denim jacket on top was now tattered and somewhat bloodied, the denim was torn in places and she had no shoes on, her face was scratched and there were cuts and bruises on her legs.

"Cindy!" Hannah rung out holstering the gun and hugging her friend, Morgan sighed a sigh of relief when he realised Cindy was no threat; she was just scared that people were in her old home.

"Oh my God you're alive… I panicked when I saw your car crashed over on my way here! I thought you had died. What about the kids? Jamie? Billy?" she asked franticly and Hannah nodded through tears.

"They are okay… Oh Cindy I am so happy you are okay… Where's Fred?" she asked and Cindy began to cry some more.

"I don't know. I group of the dead people spotted us near the park and before I knew it he gave me his gun and drew them away… He told me he would meet me here later or something." She whimpered and Hannah pulled her into another hug as she glanced at Morgan, he knew Hannah was thinking the same thing as him.

Fred was probably dead.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Paula stuck close to Fred as they crept through the street, hiding behind cars and in yards so they wouldn't be spotted, Paula remembered that Fred had been in the National Guard or something once according to Lori but Paula didn't really listen. She didn't know these people really.

"How much further?" she asked and Fred looked back slightly irritated.

"See that house near the end of the street near that body with the white shirt? That's us" Paula looked and saw the body of the walker he was talking about, the head was a messy pulp on the road side near two other walker bodies… Paula could have sworn that was where Ed had hit those two others on the way to Paula's house…

The house…

Fuck, don't do this to yourself Paula. Not now. Do it later when you have time to yourself you stupid bitch.

Paula's brain was harsh but it had a point, she couldn't let those thoughts break her down again until she had time for it. Now she needed to be alert, prepared and ready to fight to the death should a walker sneak up on her. Her heart was still pounding from when she saw the walker behind Lori, she hadn't even yelled out or anything to warn her before Fred had snatched the machete and buried it in the walkers head.

"Got it. Let's go." She said as she ran alongside Fred, the street was clear of all walkers, there had been a few more recently but it seemed this area was clean of them. Fred walked in front of her and walked up to the front door of the house, all the drapes where closed and there was no light from within.

"Looks empty." Paula said but Fred wasn't listening, he had a key in his hand and was fiddling with the lock, it was tedious work and Paula was getting antsy, what if a walker saw.

Then, without warning, the door flew open and Paula saw hands grab Fred and toss him inside, Paula made to run but a hand caught arm and pulled hard, caught unawares she tripped and pulled inside as the door closed behind them.

Paula opened her eyes to see a gun in her face as Fred was lying next to her.

"Stop, it's him!" she heard a woman shout and saw Fred pulled to his feet, lights went on as Paula made to stand as well, she looked around and saw multiple people around her, Fred was hugging a woman on her left saying 'Cindy' over and over again.

Looks like Cindy made it.

She looked in front of her and saw a middle aged black man holding a revolver and a slightly taller woman with long blonde hair holding the gun that had been shoved in her face moments before.

"Sorry about that but we had to make sure. I'm Hannah." She said extending a hand, Paula shook it tenderly, she didn't like how all these people had guns except for her.

"I'm Paula." She said simply as she withdrew her hand, she looked around and was shocked to see kids in the back ground. There was a dark skinned kid who look like a young teen standing close to a blonde girl who looked a lot like Hannah, behind them stood a young boy who could be no more than 8 or 9 surely. The older man stepped forward to shake her hand.

"I'm Morgan. There is my kid Duane and those two are Hannah's kids Jamie and Billy." He said as he shook her hand and gestured to the kids, Duane waved and Jamie smiled as Billy just looked on, Paula was still in some kind of shock so she just waved and gave a small smile before looked at everyone, they all looked at her and they realised that she was the odd one out here.

"How many more people are here?" she asked and Fred looked at Cindy who looked at Hannah and Morgan.

"No-one else just us. Until 5 minutes ago we hadn't seen another living person, then Cindy broke in. By the way how did you do that?" Morgan asked and Cindy chuckled.

"Picking a lock is easier when you have the key." She said slyly producing a key from her pocket; she still hung onto Fred as Paula looked back at the door.

"I don't want to be a drag but I come from a group myself, I gotta get back they need me there." She said simply and everyone eyes lit up with the prospect of more survivors.

"There are more?" Cindy asked excitedly.

"Lori's there Cindy. Lori, Carl and Shane made it back with Paula." He said and Cindy smiled and laughed as more tears sprung to her eyes, Paula could see the last few weeks had been tough for her as well.

"That's great! But what do we do about it?" Hannah asked beside Paula, Paula noticed she was kinda right; neither house was big enough for both of their groups and the distance between was too long.

"I don't know. If I can get to them I can talk with them about some kind of deal." Morgan said and Paula nodded.

"How many are in your group?" Hannah asked.

"There are 6 of us left. 2 kids around Duane's age… Maybe younger, Lori and Shane which some of you know and another woman called Carol who is mother to one of the children. We aren't a strong group though but we have two guns although only Shane knows how to use them effectively, I have used them before." She gave them the situation and saw a few nervous lip bites. Paula supposed they all had that shred of hope that Paula, Shane, Lori and Carl had met up with a crack team of army-ninja's.

"Me and Cindy aren't well armed either. Just the gun Cindy has and a rifle I hid upstairs. You found it?" he asked but Morgan shook his head.

"No we have two pistols here. One for me and one for Hannah, we have silent weapons as well." Morgan said motioning to the axe and shovel on the sofa, Fred held the machete up as everyone looked at Paula.

"I came here unarmed but that machete it ours, we lost an axe with a member of the group so we are close to empty." She said and Hannah nodded and looked at the group.

"Okay here is what we should do. Morgan you go with Paula back to her group with Cindy since she knows Lori. Fred you stay here with me and we can check the maps for local areas that can hold us. If our groups are indeed meeting up then we need somewhere bigger." Hannah ordered and Paula was a bit surprised, she had pegged Hannah as some kind of follower but she seemed smart, everyone nodded as Cindy hugged her husband again before trying to give back the gun. Fred however pressed it back to her whispering in her ear. Paula's heart turned cold as she remembered again that her husband was dead.

Seriously don't do it Paula. You need to be strong just a little while longer.

Her brain was really getting on her nerves but it was right. Fred handed her the machete and smiled slightly in what Paula took was the silent thanks for saving his life. Morgan drew his revolver before hugging his son goodbye then hugging Hannah, Paula didn't know if they were close but in this world someone to really on was needed, seems like these two only had each other lately.

Paula stepped out the door first, thankfully the street was still empty as she walked out in front of Morgan and Cindy, she looked around and saw only them so she decided they would take the quick route to get to Lori's, this needed to be sorted before the sun went down which was looking to be soon.

She looked back at Morgan and Cindy before she felt the pressure land on her, they were waiting for her instructions and they were following her leads. The joy of finding people vanished as she realised these people were relying on her.

"Lead the way captain." Morgan said smiling slightly, Paula tries to smile but it didn't feel like it worked as she stepped into the street trying to remember the way back.