"…Jane?"

"Ugh…" I audibly groan, utterly annoyed by my little sisters incessant whining that's gone on tonight. "Would you just shut up and leave me alone, Jaime?! Seriously – this is the third time within… a fucking hour!"

"But I – "

"Yeah, I get it, already! Can't sleep!" I hiss, having to whisper since Mom and Dad are in the next room over. One more outburst from me, and I'm pretty much done here. I end up startling the girl as I twirl about in my little office chair. "Christ, you're fifteen years old! Why don't you start acting like it for once and stop bothering me with all your problems?!"

Her eyes are downcast as she looks ready to burst into tears; most likely due to a combination of fear and tiredness. With the way that she's been acting lately, I wouldn't be surprised if she was bawling over breaking a fucking pencil.

"Can't I just sleep in your bed tonight?" she pleads with me, already having one foot in the door in case I try to slam it right in her face. "Please, Jane? I won't bother you for a whole week, I swear!"

"No."

"But I just wanted to – "

"OUT. Now, Jaime," I snap, getting extremely frustrated at my little sister as I turn back to focus on my homework. "This shitty paper's due tomorrow morning, and I've barely even started it. Now stop talking to me, and leave me alone."

Pouting her lip, Jaime storms off while muttering something about me being a lonely, angry bitch or something like that – pretty vulgar coming out of her, but I'm guessing that part of that is my fault out of anyone's.

She's also gotten her occasional drinking habits from yours truly as well, but we'll just keep that between us, alright? Besides, it's not as if it takes much – the couple times that I caught her, all Jaime had had was like one glass of wine, and she was out like a light. I'd never seen her sleep so well before.

Getting ready to pull my hair out, I angrily toss the pen against the wall as I spin in the seat. This is so hopeless, and it's getting absolutely nowhere. Who the fuck cares about civil war history anyways? It's not as if it makes a difference now! What good is a musket, a stupid, blue coat and a puffy, powdered wig these days?! They'd probably laugh at you or lock you up somewhere nice and cozy if you were to try something like that…

Glancing at the clock that reads "2:30 AM", I continue to stare at it for a solid minute before my eyes slowly start to flutter closed. Immediately shaking my head and refusing to fall back asleep, I groan as I glare at the paper. This is fucking bullshit – not even off the first god damn page yet! What is even the point of this thing?!

"…screw it," I say to myself, stepping away from the desk and quietly making my way out to the hallway; careful to open the door quickly so that it doesn't creak for too long. This house is getting pretty old by this neighbourhood's standards.

A part of me feels slightly guilty as I see Jaime through the small crack in her doorway; her head buried in the pillow as she tosses and turns. I kind of want to ask if she'd like to come downstairs with me, but it's probably best just to leave her be for now. I'd never hear the end of it otherwise – "Oh, Jane! Did you hear about this nerdy guy that asked me out the other day?! I felt bad about saying no, so I'm going on a date with him this Friday! SQUEEEEEE!"

Yes, I realize that that was a horrible impersonation, but you get the gist of it. Jaime's a teenager now. Whoop-dee-doo.

Tip-toeing down the staircase, I shiver as my feet finally reach the tile floor below. Now let's see here… what would be good for a pick-me-up at this late hour? Cola? No, I've had enough of that for a while… Hmm, what about… bananas? Yeah right, as if a bunch of bananas are going to keep me awake for pulling an all-nighter!

No, I need something with zest… something that's gonna assault my taste buds and help me reduce the stress of writing this thing. Something like –

Oh, hello! Come to Jane, baby!

Checking over both of my shoulders to make absolutely certain nobody's watching me, I grab a small flashlight off the top of the fridge and shine it over to Mom and Dad's liquor cabinet. I'm sure they won't even notice one bottle missing – besides, it's going towards a great cause:

My academic success!

Scrolling through the various selections, I shrivel my nose up in distaste at some of the names. Pinot Grigio, Red Wine, Bacardi? This is all shit that my grandmother would drink! Where's all the good stuff at?

I'm about to call it a night and just accept the fact that nothing's gonna keep me from getting an F on tomorrow's assignment, when all of a sudden another brand catches my eye. Sitting in the back collecting dust is a decently-sized bottle of liquor with an orange label and some yummy-looking liquid inside of it. "Earthquake", huh? Sounds kind of dumb, but sure, I'll give it a shot.

Holding the bottle underneath my arm, I struggle to get the stupid thing open as I try twisting and turning the cap open. When I immediately realize that there's a cork at the top and that our corkscrew got busted last week, I quietly groan under my breath. This is gonna take some good old-fashioned knife work, right here.

Grabbing the kitchen knife, I delicately shimmy it underneath the side of the cork as I move it back and forth. This shouldn't be too difficult – just a few more moves and… pow, there we go!

Not bothering to grab a cup, I debate bringing this up to my room in order to finish my homework in relaxation. However, not wanting to get caught drinking at eighteen years old, I shake that thought out of my head and take the first swig. Down the hatch it goes; at first burning my senses with the new flavour, but once I force myself to take another couple of sips, the alcohol actually doesn't seem too bad. Kind of a sweet-spicy sensation.

"Down the hatch," I comment, taking another big gulp as the alcohol burns down my throat. This is gonna make my homework sooooo much easier, you just watch!

…

After nearly the entire bottle later, I'm definitely feeling the effects of this thing. That buzz in my head feels so nice right now… it's almost as if all of my problems have just flat-out disappeared! No more bullshit homework to worry about, no more fights with the folks, and no more having to worry about being thrown out on my ass! And best of all, I haven't heard Jaime complain to me once for at least an hour now!

Isn't life just fantastic?

Having to hold myself up against the dining room table, I struggle to balance out my legs when I see them – tiny crystals at the bottom of the bottle! Oh my fucking god, is that sugar candy?!

I love me some sugar candy!

Immediately deciding that I want to eat those, I chug the rest of the liquid down into my body as I clumsily try to stick my finger in the bottle; flicking it around inside in a desperate attempt to get at them. No such luck, as my hand is much too big to fit in there.

However, there are always other ways to get what you want in life.

Not thinking any of this through, I walk over to the cabinet, smash the bottle into a billion pieces all over the dining room floor and hold the tasty-looking crystals in my hand. Stepping on shards of glass and barely feeling a damn thing as some of them cut into my feet, I look upon the candies with content. I bet these taste like Smarties or M & M's!

Holding nothing back, I pop those suckers into my mouth and crunch down; finding it harder to do with how hard the candies are. Still I persist, as I gnash my teeth together and practically shred my mouth to bits with the sharp edges of the crystals.

This definitely is NOT candy.

"Oh fuck…" I giggle in a drunken fit, putting a hand to my chin to find that blood is absolutely oozing from my mouth downwards. Well, that's definitely gonna leave a scar in the morning! I want to head back upstairs and act like none of this had ever happened, but my body refuses to move; choosing instead to lay back against the cabinet like a zombie.

When Jaime blinds me as she switches the lights on, I know that I'm in deep shit.

"OH MY GOD!" she screeches, rushing over to the phone and immediately dialing 911 as she bends down towards me with tears in her eyes. "H-hello? I… I need an ambulance at 45 Crescent Avenue! Ple-please hurry… my sister, I… I think she might be… d-dying…"

I ain't dying, dummy, is what I want to say to her, but all that comes out is a garbled mess. Mom and Dad bolt it down the stairs soon after; wondering what the hell is going on.

As the hours pass and my stomach is pumped as my mouth is stitched up, it doesn't take long for me to realize that I'm done. Finished. I'm getting kicked out of the house, with nobody to look to for guidance except myself, and absolutely nowhere to go to.

For the first time in my life, I'm truly alone.

"You still following us, or what?"

Detracted from my hazy memories of that life-changing night (and not the good kind of life change), I look ahead to find Zayne and Emily a good distance out in front of me. Clearly I need to get out of my own head – too much thinking about my old life has gotten me distracted.

"Just gimme a sec," I holler, kicking some mud off my boot as I pick up the pace and catch up to the two strangers. I'm still getting used to being around Ellie, for crying out loud, so you can bet that these two are in my "untrustworthy" book for right now.

"Are you feeling alright?" Emily asks me suddenly. "'Cause to me, you looked a little lost back there."

Grr… why can't these people mind their own damn business?! Don't they know it's rude to pry and stick your nose where it doesn't belong?!

"I'm fine," I shrug off icily, "just got distracted for a second. Won't happen again."

Glancing over at her partner with concern, Emily shrugs her shoulders before glancing straight ahead to keep an eye on the path. "If you say so," she remarks, pulling out a water bottle and taking a sip. When I refuse the offer, Emily keeps holding it firmly out in front of my face. "You need to drink something to keep your strength up, you know. You're no good to us dehydrated," she insists, causing me to roll my eyes before muttering "thanks" and taking a few gulps.

Not watching where it is he's going, Zayne panics as he trips over an arm just laying out in the road, but thankfully the body has been decomposed and actually dead for some time now. Checking his leg for any bites just in case the impossible were to happen, Zayne breathes out a sigh of relief as he bounces ahead with a skip in his step.

"Are you really that paranoid?" Emily asks jokingly as Zayne smirks back at her.

"Only when I'm around you!" he answers. "Most of the time I can just relax and be myself, but when you come along? Oh boy, gotta watch my every step!"

Picking up an empty soda can and playfully tossing it at the back of Zayne's head, Emily whistles innocently as the two of them enjoy each other's company. Kind of reminds me of what Clem, Lilly and I used to be like back at Houston Hills… but that didn't last very long either. Nothing really lasts in this world any longer; be it the people, the shelters or anything.

Damn… Lilly was right. I am getting to be a depressing load.

"I hope you're right about this," I comment, breaking my silence as I put my hands in my pockets. "She better be there…"

"We can't guarantee anything. You do realize that, don't you?" Emily asks me, causing me to dart my gaze in her direction. "To be fair, we haven't actually been to this place in over a year. Who knows what might be inside now?"

"If we don't find her," Zayne adds, "what are you gonna do?"

"Track them the fuck down, obviously! I'll go out all night if I have to!" I reply with annoyance.

Not liking that idea, Emily tries to persuade me to come back with them if things don't work out, but I immediately shut that notion down.

"Don't try and stop me – I'm going with or without you."

"You've got no idea where you even are right now! How are you supposed to track anyone down, especially in the dark?" she questions my course of action. "Look, I'm not saying that we're not gonna go look for her – Racheal can't make that call. But just be smart about it, alright? Like you said before, we've got a common enemy out there. No sense in trying to fight with us when we're both after the same thing."

Lowering my head slightly, I frown at the ground as I kick the dirt up with my boots. This girl doesn't understand – neither of these two do, not really. "We're not after the same thing…" I angrily mutter. "Not even a little bit…"

Wisely choosing to drop the conversation, Emily and Zayne turn their attention back towards each other; talking amongst themselves as I delve back into my thoughts. I've had quite a bit of time for reflection over the past few weeks, and I've gotta say that my progress has largely been… a conundrum. On the one hand, I've firmly established my relationship with both Clem and Lilly, and for once I actually don't want to go out on my own. I can see the benefits of travelling with a small group of people that you can actually trust, and being with those two has given me a much-needed sense of comfort.

However, my actions recently have left me more than a little bit concerned. The blow-ups, the anger, the lashing out… It's starting to get out of hand. At first I thought that maybe it just had to do with me being worried about Lilly, but this has been going on long before then. On more than one instance have I had the urge to just pull out my gun and shoot somebody just because they looked at me funny – something that I would never have done in… well, ever.

If not for my own sake, then I'm going to have to work on this for Lilly and Clem – the latter especially. Jesus, I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Clementine sticking her neck out for me back at that fucking rest stop. Why she chose to save my life I still don't know, and probably never will.

"Looks like that's it up ahead," Zayne comments, nodding in confirmation as we get a little bit closer.

They really weren't kidding – this place looks like a dump. No buildings around except for one of those temporary offices for the foreman to work in, and there are still various heavy-duty machines just sitting around ripe for the taking. If it comes down to it, maybe I could jumpstart one of these babies and get out on the road. Lilly showed me a thing or two about how to hotwire a vehicle (don't ask), so this might be a golden opportunity. A bulldozer might not be very fast, but who the hell is gonna stop me with one of those?

Sure enough, there's a massive hole in the ground where all of the construction was taking place – with various concrete pillars sticking upwards, a small elevator-type thing for going up and down, and a whole bunch of dead construction workers sprawled out on the ground.

Zayne picks up three hardhats from a nearby coat rack and tosses two of them our way.

"Seriously?" I question watching as they both put them on and knock on the plastic with their knuckles.

"Safety first," Emily chirps, but frowning when she looks at the prospects of this place. "Damn… this looks a lot different from the last time we were here. Anything you remember, Zayne?"

As he pulls out a pistol for precaution, Emily and I both do the same as I reluctantly put the stupid helmet on top of my noggin. The thing actually doesn't feel quite as uncomfortable as I had imagined it would, but I still don't look that great in a yellow construction hat… not that I really care, or anything.

"There'd usually be one guy up on the crane for lookout duty," Zayne explains, pointing upwards at the massive piece of machinery equipment. "Looks empty right now, though. We've gotta be careful around here. Who knows? They might just be trying to get the jump on us."

"Aye, let's just take this nice and slow."

Checking my corners and holding onto my weapon with both hands, I try to keep myself calm and collected – if Lilly really is here, then I need to spend all of my concentration on getting her out.

If I can't kill the bastards who took her, then I at least can make sure that Lilly's back home safe and sound.

Clem's POV

"Oshiete, oshiete boku… no naka ni dare ga iru no?"

Frowning in confusion, I slowly unlock the door to Kazuki's interrogation room and poke my head inside; watching as she looks down at the table in embarrassment.

"Were you… singing?" I ask quietly, unsure if that's what I was hearing or not. She's got a pretty nice voice, I'll give her that much at least – despite my anger about her and her group kidnapping my friends.

Nodding her head sheepishly, Kazuki drums her fingers to the beat as she refuses to make eye contact. "It's, uh… my favourite song, actually. Unravel by Tokyo Ghoul…" she quietly murmurs, putting a strand of hair back behind her ear. This kid seems pretty self-conscious, I've gotta say. "Just, you know… it gets kind of boring in here with… with nobody to talk to…"

Well I'll be damned – Kazuki's a person just like the rest of us. I mean, obviously I knew that, but it's just odd thinking that people on both sides have their own personalities, fears and insecurities in life.

Deep down, despite our alliances and goals that we might have, really we're all the same.

"I used to draw stuff when I got bored," I admit, watching as her eye lights up in interest. "Every day after school, I'd go up in my treehouse and draw whatever I felt like. It'd keep me busy for hours at a time, and I never really got sick of it. But… I don't really do that kind of stuff anymore…"

"Why not?" she asks me curiously. Shrugging my shoulders, I slouch back in my chair as I tiredly rub my eyes.

"Grew out of it a little bit, I guess," I tell her, despite remembering that time that I was up with Jane in the treehouse back in Atlanta. "There was no more time for kids' stuff – I had to grow up pretty quickly. We all did, really. There wasn't any room left for drawing when you were running for your life."

Rubbing her wrists tenderly, Kazuki bites her lip as she tries to figure out how to respond to that. Deep down she knows that I'm right – I can see it all over her face. But for some reason, she still tries to believe that things might get back to normal.

I used to think that too… once.

"At least you're still alive," she points out, "a lot of people can't say the same thing. Most people have gotten killed already… but at least you've still got a life to look forward to."

Frowning deeply, I shake my head in firm disagreement. I admire her optimism, but the fact of the matter is that this world is a piece of shit, and we're all just trying to get by out here. How she could think like that with her eye all destroyed is beyond me completely.

"We aren't living – not anymore. You can't call this shit living, Kazuki," I tell her, watching as she stares at me; dumbfounded that I'm so opposed to the idea. "No, we've all been dead for years now. The only difference is that we're still walking around with our heads on our shoulders and something worth fighting for in our hearts."

Standing up to leave, I sigh deeply and close my eyes as my hand lingers on the door handle. I need to make this point absolutely clear – holding out hope for something like this is just asking for trouble.

Wanna know what the really sad part about this is though? I'm supposed to be the one person who hasn't given up hope for a better future just yet. Saying this as the leader of the Fireflies might just break our spirit for good.

At least nobody else is around to hear me voice my inner thoughts.

"In this world," I whisper, opening the door and turning my head back to Kazuki for a moment, "we are the walking dead."

Lilly's POV

"Is this thing on? Sound, audio, everything?"

"Should be, Trace. Everything's set and ready to go."

"Good," she smirks into the camera, waving at me from the other side. "I want her to see absolutely EVERYTHING."

Barely able to move off of the floor, I wince as I try to sit up; failing to do so as I collapse once again. Alden opens up my door and bends down beside me; ushering me to try my best not to be held down like this.

"You can't show them weakness…" he tells me as he tries to lift my head up. "Don't let them break your spirit… it's what they want to happen to you."

"What… do they care…?"

"It'll just give them all the more excuse to humiliate and hurt you," he explains, pulling out a squished granola bar and holding it out to me. "Look… they're telling us not to feed you anything. Do you get that? The longer you're here, the worse it's gonna be for you. The group is trying to starve you out – take this while you can."

"…are they… going to kill Bo?" I ask, taking the granola and chewing on it after realizing that he's probably right.

But I won't let them win! They will not break me!

"I want to believe in you… that you'll pull through and that things are gonna work out just fine," he says, dodging my previous question. "…but I'm not holding out much hope. Hoping for things just leads you to massive disappointment."

"Alden… answer me!" I tiredly exclaim, watching through the monitor as a bunch of people pin Bo to the floor. It's difficult to see because the screen is so shitty, but I'm certain that there's fear in his eyes as he struggles underneath their combined weight.

"Tracy can be a cold, heartless bitch at times," Alden says, keeping his voice down in case anybody can hear him, "but she's not completely unreasonable. She just wants what's best for her people… even if it means harming someone else in the process. No… it's Joshua that you've gotta watch out for."

"Alden! Answer me right fucking now!"

"No, alright?! They're not going to kill him…" he finally answers, causing me to ease up a little bit. However, my expression grows worried again when Alden lowers his gaze to the ground. "…but they might as well be shooting him with what's coming next…"

Forcing myself to roll over onto my stomach and fully face the security camera screen, I shout out in a desperate plea for them to stop as Joshua comes over with a big, old meat cleaver.

"FUCKING ASSHOLES! KILL ME! NOT HIM! ME!" I scream, feeling unusually protective over the guy even though I barely know him. Out here though, in hostile territory, he's practically my best friend.

"Jesus Christ…" Alden mutters under his breath, choosing to turn away as the group lays one of his arms flat on the floor.

"This is a message…" Tracy remarks for all to hear; watching as Josh lines up the meat cleaver against Bo's left wrist. "You don't play by our rules, and you're gonna end up dead. This isn't a game anymore…"

With a sickening smile, Joshua raises the cleaver and slices right through Bo's wrist; cutting his hand clean off as the blood squirts onto his shirt and Bo screams in absolute agony.