"In our darkest moments, when life flashes before us, we find something; something that keeps us going. Something that pushes us." - Lara Croft


Chapter 4: More Trouble

The world around her was spinning so furiously that she couldn't make out one thing from the next, but Riley was just glad she didn't black out. Being awake at least gave her the chance to fight, even if she could barely tell what were eaters and what were shelves of food. She just hoped that Carl would at least try to help her or she would definitely be done for. With all of the strength she could muster, she got to her feet, reaching out and using the shelf next to her for support. The world was a blur of colors and movement, but she could still feel the sticky, rotting hand grabbing her wrist just fine. Her eyes snapped to what she assumed to be the eater attempting to shove her hand in its throat and she blinked rapidly, trying to get the dizziness to go away as she tugged her arm hard to free herself from its grip.

Just as the eater's teeth were about to sink into her flesh, a loud, piercing gunshot broke out in the air and the eater dropped to the ground. Riley let out a shaky breath, her vision finally beginning to come back to her just in time to see Carl motioning for her to follow him. The hissing and snarling of the eaters behind her made her jump and she grabbed onto the back of Carl's shirt as she stumbled toward the door.

The two of them scrambled outside and in an attempt to stop the walkers from following them, Riley kicked the door shut. Only the undead were in the way and instead of shutting, it just rammed against their bodies. Everything was still a blur, even though she was starting to see more clearly, but her adrenaline was making everything speed up.

"Riley, run!" Carl's frantic voice broke through her hearing bubble that consisted of her rapid heartbeats one after the next.

Her fingers curled tighter against his shirt and she picked up her speed, breaths coming in rapid and heavy. It was now a race to survive and find somewhere they could hole up that was safe. They couldn't run all the way back to the farmhouse and it would be better if they didn't bring the attention of the walkers to that specific location. It seemed like all they did the past few days was run, walk, and hide. This was getting old really quickly.

The eaters were slower than the two, but they were still living people that needed to catch their breaths. Stopping for one second could be just the time that the dead needed to latch their teeth into their necks and end it for them. Every day was survival. Every day was more running. Every day was hiding and climbing and scratching and clawing to stay alive. There was no resting. There was no relaxing. If they did that for a second, they'd be dead. The world was drastically different, and not in a good way, but it was the way things were now and everyone had to accept it.

"Carl! F-faster!" she wheezed, giving him a light shove, but it only succeeded in making him topple over.

Shit.

Riley landed half on top of him, her hands still hanging on tightly to his shirt. Her immediate response was to scramble back, but she couldn't get anywhere because something grabbed onto her foot. Rolling over, her eyes snapped up to the walkers that were beginning to surround them. This was it. She was going to die. Carl shifted underneath her, promptly scooting out from underneath her and then wrapping his arms around her waist, giving her a hard tug.

"Come...on...Riley...," he breathed, the seconds ticking down as all of the other eaters caught up and crouched down toward them.

Everything got quiet and time slowed down. All she could focus on were the snarling eaters and Carl's warm hold on her. She couldn't just die. She had to keep going. She had to fight back. Her eyes steeled and her eyebrows knitted in determination. With her free foot, she aimed a hard kick at its face, causing it's nose to fly clean off. But it was too late, even if she was fighting back. The others were jumping right on them and her other foot was now in the grasp of another eater. Its mouth opened up as it bent down to rip her flesh out of her leg with its yellow teeth.

And then it was dead.

The gunshot didn't even register in her brain because she was so disoriented, but the rest of the eaters were dropping and she shook their grip off her legs, scrambling backwards and nearly plowing Carl over. Looking up, she spotted a small group of men just a little ways away with their guns aimed at the walking dead. Everything was beginning to go back to normal speed and she slowly got to her feet, dragging her backpack up with her and putting it back on her shoulders. Immediately, she drew her gun, but instead of aiming it at the walkers, she aimed it at the men. The walkers were mostly taken care of anyway and now they had to worry about these people. She had a hard time trusting others and just by looking at the men, she got a feeling that she couldn't ignore. Maybe she was just too paranoid.

"They...just helped us," Carl muttered, pulling out his own gun, but keeping his aim lower.

"But are you about to trust a bunch of strangers?" she asked, keeping her voice low and eyes locked on them as one raised his hands up in the air. His hair was greying and it was decently long. By the looks of it, he had been a biker or something along those lines. The rest of his group didn't look to friendly either. They looked like they could be a group of hunters.

"I ain't never seen a coupla kids on their own. You could have been seriously hurt, ya know? Your parents around?" He smiled slightly, taking a step closer. "We're not gonna hurt you."

Riley remained still, blue eyes scanning over each of them. One had a bow, the others had various guns and knives on them. "Stay back!" Her voice lowered slightly for what she said next to Carl. "You've got enough breath left in you to run?"

Her head was still spinning and the figures of the men were only just beginning to become clearer, but she would take her chances running again. They weren't safe out in the open and the thought of these men possibly being hunters made her nervous.

"Yeah I think so. Back to the house?" he murmured.

Her response was a slow nod and she chewed on her bottom lip, taking a step back away from the group of men. As she did so, the leader took another step toward her and her finger jumped toward the trigger in case he tried anything stupid. He immediately stopped, raising his hands higher in the air.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. We just wanna help. Name's Joe."

"We don't want your help!" she shouted. "We want you to leave us alone!"

"If they still have their weapons, there's no way we can outrun a bullet!" Carl hissed under his breath.

He was right. They needed to be unarmed before the two attempted to run off. If they ran now, they could easily whip out a gun and shoot them down if they tried. Okay, think Riley, think... Her eyes narrowed slightly and she muttered over to Carl, "just follow my lead."

Quickly blinking away the dizziness and splitting pain in her forehead, she took a step toward them, gun still raised. "You put down your weapons, take a few steps away, and then we can talk."

"Come on, Joe!" one of the others exclaimed, clearly disgruntled by her commands. "We just wasted bullets on these kids!"

"Do what the girl says," Joe said, glancing back at them. "Go on."

And slowly, they began to shed themselves of their weaponry, depositing it on the ground at their shoes. Riley shifted her weight between her feet, and watched each weapon like a hawk as they hit the ground with heavy clangs. And then, Joe motioned for his group to step away from the weapons and they did, though reluctantly.

"Three," she whispered.

"See? We don't want any harm. I promise you," Joe spoke, but she wasn't paying attention.

"Two."

"We may have ran into your group if you're looking for them. At a house in a nice little neighborhood a ways back."

"Riley! I know who they are!"

"One."

And then, springing from her spot like a cat, she took off in a sprint, her eyes fixated on the woods. If they wanted to shake them loose, they'd have to dart through the trees. Which also meant that she and Carl could get separated. Glancing sideways, she saw a blur of the sheriff hat and she reached blindly for where she assumed his arm was. Her fingers wrapped around his hand, which was a little bit lower than she intended, but it was good enough. Running made her dizzy again and she slowed down a bit without realizing it. It made her wonder how hard she really hit her head and what was wrong with it. Hopefully nothing too serious. Though it probably wasn't if she was sprinting through the woods. Or it was just that survival instincts were clouding her pain. Probably that.

Gritting her teeth, she tugged him faster, the echo of a gunshot in the distance reaching her ears. She heard shouts and scampering, but it was distant and they were already far enough ahead. But they had to keep running if they wanted to increase the distance. Maybe even hide a little while before attempting to get back to the ranch house. Where would a good place to hide even be? The world around her was a blur again and the only thing that kept her from stopping was Carl's grip on her hand. He'd gotten slightly ahead of her now without her even realizing, so she pushed herself fast and caught up with him so they were side by side.

"Need to hide," she breathed out, hoping he could hear her voice amongst the rustling of the foliage as they pushed through it. "Can't keep running."

"Just a little further," he wheezed.

He could probably see better than she could right now, so she had to trust his judgement. They couldn't just hide anywhere.

"Over here!" he hissed, suddenly pulling her way off her intended course and causing her to stumble.

It took her a moment to realize that he was shoving her into a bush. A bush? Was he absolutely serious? She winced a bit as the sharp twigs cut at her arms and face, but quickly recovered and stared blankly at him for a moment as he climbed in the bush with her, finding his own spot right next to her and becoming very still.

"A bush are you stupid?!" she exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

"Exactly. This spot is too obvious," he murmured, turning his fluorescent blue eyes to her. "We just need to wait long enough for them to lose our trail."

"But what if it's obvious enough for them to look?"

"Shh!"

Every muscle in her body became tense and still. She could hear shouting that was becoming closer and closer to their location. Her eyes swiveled to the figures of one of the men that appeared, his hand wrapped tightly around a small handgun. She couldn't really make out his face without moving her head up to get a better look, so she just watched his body move cautiously through the growth.

"I don't see them! I think they got away!"

"You sure?"

"I don't know they're gone!"

All she saw were the man's legs now as he poked around the area. He was getting closer and closer to where they were hiding and he breath hitched in her throat as he stopped in front of their bush. If this guy found them, she was so going to feel Carl to the walkers. She remained completely still as he hovered in front of the bush for a moment before turning away as another man came into view.

"Joe wants us all back at the parking lot."

"Alright I'll meet you there. Just wanna look around real quick."

"Don't be too long."

They weren't clear just yet. It was another agonizingly long ten minutes before he went out of sight and another ten minutes before she decided that they were clear. Slowly, she pulled herself out of the branches that caught on her skin and stood up, letting out a shaky breath and drawing her hair back behind her ears. Now they had to get back to the house.

"Told you so," Carl muttered, moving ahead of her and scanning the area.

Riley rolled her eyes and watched him for a moment. She was surprisingly not irritated with his quip, but his idea had worked so she wasn't going to complain about it.

"We need to head back to the road. If we tried to find our way through the woods, we'd probably get lost," he said, looking back at her for a brief second before turning his gaze back on the trees.

"Yeah," she agreed. "We just have to be careful not to run into that group. They could be hanging around anywhere."

"Yeah, I bet you didn't count on me still being here."

She gasped as strong arms grabbed her tightly and a knife was suddenly digging into the soft tissue of her throat. Beads of blood flew down her neck and her eyes jumped up to meet Carl's as he spun around, pointing his gun at the man's face. Her heart began to race and it pounded hard against her ribcage. She should have known. It had been way too easy. The metal of her gun that rested between her hip and the waistband of her jeans was suddenly gone and she knew that the only other weapon she had on her was...the knife hidden inside her jeans. And this guy didn't seem to notice. Idiot.

"Put the gun down, kid. Unless you want her to lose her pretty little head," the voice behind her growled, the knife digging further into her neck and causing her to stiffen.

Carl's fingers slackened and the gun fell to the dirt with a soft thud. "Riley..."

"You shut up and start walking!"

She was shoved forward by the man and both teens began to walk slowly. However, Riley wasn't going to go through with this willingly. She had the knife in her jeans and she wasn't one to just give up unless there was good reason. If this man could be distracted for just a moment, she could slip it out and get free.

The three walked in silence for a minute before the Carl broke it. "What do you want with us?"

"What do we want with you? Oh there's plenty of things. But I can't spoil the surprise."

His voice hovered by her ear and she shuddered, not liking the way what he was saying sounded. Her jaw tightened and she looked over to Carl, who'd stopped completely to glare at the man.

"I never said stop, kid! You better start walking or I slit her throat!"

"Just tell us what you want!"

They were arguing. He was distracted. This was her chance. As subtly as possible, her fingers slipped just inside the waistband of her jeans and in one quick, fluid motion, she pulled out the little pocket knife and clenched her fingers around it. More pressure was suddenly applied to her neck and she shied away from it, pressing her back into the chest of her attacker to try and get as far away as possible from the blade of the knife.

"Look, you're being selfish. The girl's getting uncomfortable."

She could hear the grin in his voice, but he didn't know what was going to happen to him in a few minutes... Vibrant blue eyes jumped up to the brown-haired boy across from her and she caught onto his gaze, staring hard for a moment before her gaze flickered down to her hand, the handle of the knife just barely poking out from her fist. The understanding jumped across his expression for a split second and she nodded slowly. With a huff, he started to walk again and she and their attacker followed suit. If she attempted to stab him now, he could still hurt her. She needed another distraction - something that would cause him to loose his grip on her.

Suddenly, Carl tripped and fell to the ground a pace behind them and she grinned wickedly. Perfect.

"Get your ass off the ground, kid! Keep walking!"

And as the man reached behind him to grab him by the collar of his shirt, his grip on her loosened. Now was her chance. Flicking the knife open, she thrust the blade backwards into the soft part of his abdomen, then spun in his grasp, her eyes narrowing as she twisted the knife sharply in his side. The knife he was holding slipped from his fingers as he cried out in pain and she lifted a foot, pressing it to his stomach and pushing him roughly as she pulled the knife from his flesh. He stumbled backwards onto the ground and using all of her strength, she kicked him in the head, causing him to black out immediately. Her blood-splattered hands shook slightly as she wiped the blade off on her jeans before tucking it away into her pants. She then bent down and took her gun from his belt and searched the rest of his pockets for anything useful. Another gun resided in his belt on his other side and she found a few loose bullets in his shirt pocket. Not much else on him. Standing back to her feet, she wiped her hands on her shirt and looked over at Carl.

"Nice improv," she commented. "Grab your gun, we shouldn't be here too long."

He disappeared for a moment and while he was gone, she slid her backpack off her shoulders and pulled out the half-empty water bottle. After exerting herself, she was feeling a little faint. The cool water slid down her throat and felt refreshing and it woke up her senses. She glanced back as he came back and she stuffed the water bottle back into the backpack and hoisted it onto her shoulders.

"Alright, let's go," she said, starting forward.

But his hand wrapped around her forearm, pulling her to a stop. "Wait. I just...how did you not panic back there? You knew what to do. You knew he missed the knife and you knew exactly when to... How?"

Riley's brow puckered a little and she pursed her lips, eyes wandering to a few trees just beside his hear before she brought her gaze to meet his curious blue one. "Experience. Everyone panics. Every single time. It's about fighting against your inner panic so you can think clearly. Because if you can't think clearly, you're dead."

That was the one thing she would remember from her father always. Don't let your panic control you. Push it down. And then figure out how to keep going.
She had to put that into practice more times than she could count.

"We need to get moving," she said, redirecting his attention to the more pressing matter at hand.

He nodded quickly, letting go of her arm and starting back in the direction they came. The trek back was pretty quiet. Only small animals scurrying about interrupted the silence and it wasn't too long before they got back to the road. Instinctively, she crouched down in the brush, eyes sweeping over the area to see if Joe and his goons were still hanging around. As soon as she heard the voices, she ducked down further into the foliage, pulling Carl with her.

"You sure they're the ones?"

"Positive."

"I don't know if it's worth it, Joe. They're a coupla kids. We're wasting our resources. They'll die anyway."
"But we need 'em. They've gotta pay, you know that. Now I don't want to hear any more arguments. We split into two and regroup back here once we've swept the area. Remember, we need 'em alive."

What did that even mean? Why did they even need the two of them? It wasn't like they did anything to them...

She peered up over the leaves of the bushes and spotted one of the groups heading back toward the strip mall they were in before. The other group was headed back into the woods with them, but they were far enough apart not to be noticed. Still, she kept pretty low until the crunching of leaves couldn't be heard anymore and she risked another peek at the group that wandered toward the strip mall. They were headed around back, which gave she and Carl the perfect opportunity to go.

"Now," she whispered, peeling away from the leaves and stepping out onto the road.

Her footsteps were cautious, but quick and he kept pace with her easily. Her gaze darted around the environment until she was sure that they couldn't be following and she then brought her gaze onto the black road in front of them. It stretched out for quite a while before they were back at the place they'd met. The bodies of the eaters from earlier were still in the street and the others were still surrounding the buildings. She kept an eye and ear out for any signs of Rick and Michonne, but didn't stop as they circled around the building, back to the train tracks. There weren't any signs of the two adults on the way back to the farm house besides the footprints engraved in the dirt from the other day.

"I know those guys," Carl said quietly. "At least I think I do. A few days ago, my dad, me, and Michonne were in a little neighborhood. Michonne and I went to look for supplies. When we got back, there was a group raiding the house we were staying in. My dad said he had to kill one of them. They're mad. Looking for us."

Well that was just great. Another thing that they had to worry about. If it was revenge they were looking for, they weren't likely to stop until they got it. "We'll have to keep an eye out," she murmured.

The sky was turning a soft shade of crimson as the sun dipped down below the horizon and the trees cast haunting shadows down around them. Time to pick up the pace. They really needed to head back to the stream and get some more water because the bottles they had were practically empty. That meant more walking.

"We need more water," she said quietly, balancing atop the rusty railroad tracks as she walked.

"I know...we'd better hurry. It's not a good idea to be out much after dark. Especially with those guys trying to find us," he returned.

Riley nodded, stepping down off the tracks and picking up a slightly quicker pace. It may have been getting darker, but the heat was still boiling her skin and she was sure Carl wasn't any better off. By the time they reached the creek, it was getting hard to see, so they had to be extra careful. Too much noise or any gunshots would reveal their location to anyone nearby. They just had to make sure to listen more carefully because the woods were a lot more quiet at night. Footsteps would be easier to detect and growls of the eaters breaking through the eerie silence would be louder.

The two of them drank as much as they could before filling up the bottles again and beginning the trek back. Both of them kept very quiet and she strained to hear anything out of the ordinary. There were a few times they had to stop and take a look around, but they were just quick rustles that were most likely squirrels or small animals. No growls or snarls emanated from the woods, but there was no telling when one would appear.

The large field of grass was a lot harder to maneuver in the darkness, but the two of them made it to the house before long.

"I can tie off the door and block it in case they find us. Go sit down on the couch," he said, his blue eyes practically glowing in the low light.

"I can help-"

"No. Go sit down."

She was taken aback by his resistance to her attempts at helping, so she reluctantly took a place on the couch in the living room. As soon as she sat down, she practically sank into the spot and it was when all the exertion from the day hit her hard. She had time to take in her aching feet and sore muscles. And that nasty cut on her forehead was throbbing viciously. It was bothering her earlier, but she did her best not to notice it and her mind was too busy to take in all of this. However, now when the dangers weren't chasing her or holding a knife to her throat, she had the chance to let her mind wander and the pain was hitting her full force. Her eyelids were already heavy, but she fought to stay awake.

There was a lot of back and forth movement from the hallway and then the sound of something being pushed across the floor. Once the sounds quieted down, Carl entered the darkened room and stopped in front of her, a tube of what looked like toothpaste in hand.

"I found some antibacterial cream in the cabinet. There's barely any left, but I think I can get enough out to use on your forehead," he said quietly. "The kitchen's a bit brighter. Come on."

So that's what his plan was. Riley frowned a little to herself, but stood anyway, heading to the kitchen after him. She was perfectly fine patching up her own cut by herself, but she was too tired to make a big deal out of it. There was already a make-shift bandage set out on the counter with a rag beside it when they got to the kitchen and she gingerly lifted herself up onto the counter to sit.

"Is it...really bad?" she asked, watching him set the tube down on the counter and scoop up the rag.

"Uh...kinda. It's not that deep, though. Just...long and bruised," was his reply. "Can you tilt your head down a little?"

She hesitantly obeyed, blowing out a sigh as he reached up to drag the damp cloth across the cut. From the moment the pain erupted, she told herself that she was not going to show it. Not one bit. She bit down on her tongue and attempted to distract her mind with thoughts of what they were going to do in the morning and how they were going to try and find Michonne and Rick. There were miles and miles of woods and roads to search. This seemed to do the trick until he started applying the cream. Her breath hitched in her throat and her face twisted into a pain-filled expression as soon as it touched the wound.

"Sorry," he muttered as he dabbed it around, pulling away slightly and using the cloth again, but this time on the very small cut on her neck.

With the rest of the cream on his finger, he wiped it across the smaller cut, which merely stung a little. Finally, he took the bandage, which was most likely a piece of torn clothing, and wrapped it snugly around her head, covering up the larger cut. She pushed herself off the counter, feeling a little bit better. Her gaze flickered over to him and she nodded slowly.

"Thanks," she breathed, shuffling away from the counter and running a hand through her tousled hair. "I'm guessing you're hungry?"

"Definitely. We didn't eat anything for lunch." He laughed a little, sliding the backpack off her shoulders that she forgot was there.

"What do we have left?"

He slipped open the front zipper and scooped out a couple of things she hadn't noticed before. Old beef jerky, crackers, a bag of chips, and a couple other snacks. Her brows knitted and her eyes locked with his. He was grinning.

"Where did you get these?" she asked, pulling one of the bags of jerky from his hands and looking over it.

"I snagged some stuff when you went down. Just whatever I could grab before I had to take that walker out and save you."

Riley's first instinct was to grin too. Because they had evaded death by just a hair and he still managed to grab some food along the way. That took guts. And some skill. However, her brain processed a second after she grinned that he made her out to seem like a damsel in distress and she scowled, giving him a whack on the arm with her hand.

"You didn't have to save me. I can save myself."

"Ow!" Carl viciously rubbed the spot she hit him, the grin still present on his lips. "You looked like you were drunk. You would've totally fallen over any moment if I hadn't come to the rescue."

And then his grin turned into a smirk and she glowered at him. She knew that if it hadn't been for his help that she probably would have gotten bit, but in no way, shape, or form did she need to be rescued.

"And the way you were clinging to the back of my shirt like it was a lifeline... You never needed me to rescue you." His voice was sarcastic, but not in a nasty way like it had been before when he used it. This time, it was more light and playful. That still didn't make her any less irritated with him.

"I'm eating in the other room." With the bag of jerky in hand, she turned on her heel and slipped away to the living room.

"Just holler if you need rescuing!"

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't hold back the ghost of a smile.


A/N: So yeah. I updated. Sorry it's been so long. I had next to no ideas for this chapter when I first started writing it, so it was a lot of piecing together ideas as they came to me, so hopefully it's not too bad! But yeah, Riley and Carl ran into Joe's group. There's gonna be some fun stuff with them. This will all tie in with a good majority of the main plot, but there will be some changes to make it a little more fresh instead of just following exactly to the storyline. And speaking of the show, dang this season has been so good! I won't give away any spoilers for anyone not caught up, but it's been pretty eventful, especially that premiere. As always, I thank you amazing readers for leaving those wonderful reviews and following and favoriting! You guys really are awesome and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!