Act 1 Part 2: Fighting.

Months passed and the camp is thriving with just the five of them.

While tavia was outside their walls recruiting, she brought in a bunch of new people including a small group.

Tavia smiled as she showed the newest recruits around while Kara watched from afar curiously with her stuffed bunny, trying to figure out who everyone was.

"And this is where we keep our rations, we have strict meal times so do not touch any of the rations without permission, we will notice if anything is missing. Another thing, Bill is in charge, anything he says, goes. We clear? Oh and everyone works here, it's a team effort, so be ready to do your chores."

Kara couldn't help but peek a bit closer, trying to have the faces engraved in her brain.

Bill looked to Kara with a smile, greeting her with joy, "Hey baby girl, how are you?"

She squeaked in surprise before noticing it's just her dad, smiling brightly.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed happily and hugged him.

"Tavia brought so many new people!" She added as she now looked up at her father, continuing to hug him.

He hugged back, the same smile plastered on his face.

"Yeah, and things are looking good. Life is finally going our way," He replied, hugging her tight.

Not too tight but tight enough.

"Today is a good day for you to learn something new", He spoke again, pulling out a small revolver.

Her eyes lit up, smiling brightly before remembering what her mother had said before.

"I thought mommy said I wasn't allowed to learn because I'm too little?" She questioned curiously as she tilted her head.

"As little as you are, you need to learn to defend yourself, no matter what," He said, walking over to a backroom with a ladder to the roof.

She smiled, following beside her dad, holding his hand as they walked.

"Does that mean I'll be able to help you daddy?" She asked happily, practically skipping at his side.

"Of course baby girl," He answered with a smile as he went up the ladder up to the roof where Troy was stationed.

As Troy was on watch he noticed Kara with her father, causing him to have a bit of a worried expression.

"Please don't tell me I gotta teach her how to shoot," Troy spoke up, causing Kara to spit her tongue out at him.

"No, because if she was, I would probably have to go and teach all over again," He replied, clearly joking.

He was always a little hard on him, but it was always in joke form.

"Now, go keep watch of the other side, I've been seeing most of the undead get in through that side, so figure out how they're getting in," He added, walking to the edge of the building.

"Oh haha, very funny," Troy replied with a slight eye roll before nodding, continuing once more, "on it."

As Troy left to watch the other side, Kara looked up at her father curiously with a smile.

"So what do I do?" She questioned with excitement, ready to help her father out more.

"Alright, stand straight and hold the gun with two hands, one over the other, then look through the notch and squeeze the trigger. One thing to remember though is that gun there is a tool, a dangerous one at that, so just be mindful," He instructed as he showed her exactly how to do it.

She nodded, taking the gun and almost dropping it.

"It's heavy," She commented as she lifted it back up, trying to get used to the weight.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to the weight," He assured with a smile.

She nodded before taking aim at the wall, trying to aim properly.

"What do I shoot?" She questioned curiously as she held the gun firmly.

"Aim for one of those walkers down there," He instructed, looking to one down at the far right.

She shakily took aim, holding up the gun the best she could before shooting, missing a walker by aiming too far to the right.

"Awe, dang it," She pouted, hoping she'd be a natural at it to impress her dad.

He smiled at her attempt, guiding her through it as he spoke again, "That's ok, aim a little left this time."

She nodded, taking aim before shooting again, hitting the zombie in the stomach.

"I did it daddy! I hit it!" She giggled happily as she bounded around.

"Good job baby girl" He exclaimed proudly, looking at her, then back at the walker on the concrete.

"Thank you daddy!" She giggled happily, bouncing up and down once again.

"Can we do it again daddy? Pleaseeeeee?" She begged, excited to spend time with him again.

"Alright hun, alright," He replied, looking back at her.

"Alright, aim for the head this time."

She nodded, quickly trying to take aim, but instead she ended up hitting the walker's shoulder.

"I was so close!" She exclaimed happily, looking up at her father with a bright smile.

"Try again dear," He replied, looking to her as he kneeled next to her.

"Breathe and squeeze the trigger."

She took a deep slow breath, taking her time to line up the shot before squeezing the trigger, getting a headshot.

She gasped loudly, her eyes immediately lighting up as she turned to her father.

"I hit it daddy! I hit the monster! Did you see it?? Did you see me???" She bounced up and down happily.

"You did so good baby girl," He praised, picking her up and hugging her.

She giggled happily, hugging her father tightly as she smiled.

"Thank you daddy!" She giggled happily, kicking her little legs with excitement.

He smiled, putting her down and replying, "You are a natural."

As he spoke, he heard footsteps coming up the ladder, glancing over to see who would be there while Kara simply stood closer to her father, not sure if it's one of the newer recruits or someone else.

It was one of the newer recruits, Bonnie, who was told to come to the roof to stand watch.

That would be changed later on, but that was her job for now.

Bonnie smiled, kneeling down once she noticed Kara.

"Hey there sweetie, what's your name?" She questioned curiously.

Kara became a bit shy, hiding behind her fathers leg while slightly peeking out to hold eye contact with Bonnie.

"K...Kara," She mumbled.

"It's lovely to meet you Kara, I haven't seen a little girl since the start of this whole mess," Bonnie replied with a smile before standing to her feet once more, looking to Bill.

"You have a lovely daughter," She commented before beginning to walk to her post.

"I appreciate that, she's my pride and joy, if anything happens to her I just might lose it," He replied, putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

Bonnie laughed a bit, smiling warmly at Bill and Kara as she replied, "Any good dad would."

She held out her hand to Bill, holding the same warm smile as she continued, "My name's Bonnie, I just came in today with Tavia."

He shook her hand firmly, "Good to meet you, seems tavia knows how to bring good people in to say the least."

She nodded with a smile, gently squeezing his hand as she shook it.

"Well, I sure hope so," She laughed before gently pulling her hand back, continuing with, "Anyways, I better get to my post before Tavia sees me chatting it up. It was lovely meeting you both, I hope to talk more soon."

As Bonnie walked away, Kara smiled, looking up to her dad.

"I'm glad we're bringing in more people, it makes it feel more like how it used to be," She spoke with the same joyful smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah, it truly does. Let's go see what mom's up to," He replied, looking to her as they went back down the ladder.

Vanessa was taking count of the supplies and rations, writing down some notes as she kept a close eye on the inventory.

Once Kara saw her, she ran up happily exclaiming, "Mommy!"

As she ran up, she quickly hugged her, causing her mother to stumble a bit with a giggle.

"Hey sweetie," She replied with a smile, gently hugging their daughter before gazing up at Bill.

"Did you meet the new recruits yet hun?"

"Not yet, I was teaching Kara how to use a gun," He replied, looking to her as he looked around, seeing everything in order.

"...Kara, sweetie, go meet some of the new recruits, I want to talk to your father," The mother spoke blankly.

"But—"

"G o."

Kara looked up at her mother, seeing her struggling to hold back her anger, so she nodded slightly before quickly walking away.

"William, we agreed that she wouldn't even be touching a gun at all until she was AT LEAST sixteen! And even then that's a big if!" She stood up straight, giving her husband a look as she crossed her arms.

"Even then, that wouldn't anger me as much if you hadn't done it behind my back! She's our daughter, not just yours, so don't start keeping me out of these very important choices. Just because we're in an apocalypse does not mean you can start making decisions about our daughter behind my back."

"I don't get it, anything I've done has been wrong these last couple of months Vanessa, not one thing I do is right. I try to teach her to work, wrong, I try to teach her how to provide for herself, wrong, the smallest things are wrong Vanessa," He remarked, looking to her while trying to keep himself calm even though he was a little pissed.

She rolled her eyes, placing her hand to her forehead as she heavily sighed, "You're missing the point! While you're in charge of our camp, you're not the only one who gets to make decisions when it comes to our family! Before everything happened we used to work through everything together! Now you teach her things an eight year old should never learn and do it behind my back like it's nothing!"

She took a deep breath to try and calm down, not wanting anyone to come over to check on them.

"Look, Bill, I know you have a lot on your mind, and I get that, I know that you work tirelessly to keep everyone safe and you have been a wonderful leader, but Kara is not another soldier of yours, she's our daughter, so stop treating this like you're the only one responsible for making sure she's raised right."

Little did the two of them know, Kara was listening from afar, curled up in hiding as she hugged her stuffed bunny.

"Fine, go get ready for supper then, it's about ready," He replied, going to his office, the place he usually went to think and make announcements.

Vanessa sighed, pressing her back against the wall as she covered her face, waiting for him to leave before crying quietly, going to get ready for supper.

Kara watched her mother leave the room, feeling a bit concerned as she hugged her stuffed bunny tighter.

He leaned back in his chair with his head up towards the ceiling, thinking about everything he just said to his wife that had been with him for as long as he could remember.

After Vanessa finished preparing for supper she sighed, having finally calmed down and began searching for Kara, but couldn't find her.

"Tavia? Have you seen Kara? It's almost supper time and I can't find her" She questioned curiously.

"I'm sorry, I haven't. Maybe she's with Bill?" Tavia suggested with a slight shrug.

Vanessa nodded, making her way up to her husband's office, hesitating for a moment before knocking on the door and opening it.

"Bill? Is Kara in here?"

"No, she's not with you?" He asked as he got out of his chair, walking over to her with worry in his voice.

She began to get more concerned, her heart sinking in her chest.

"No, I thought she was with you," She replied in shock before the worry began to fully sink in.

"Y-You don't think she got outside do you???" She questioned in a panic, worried that their daughter's curiosity might've caught up to her.

"I'll tell everyone to comb warehouse, you start looking" He replied, looking to her as he went to get some more ammo for his revolver incase she was outside and grabbed his radio, "Everyone, new recruits and old, Kara is missing, I need you all to comb the warehouse, leave no space unchecked."

Vanessa began to search through all of Kara's favorite spots frantically, her heart pounding in fear as she began to think of countless different scenarios.

"Kara!? Sweetie!? Come out!" She exclaimed, searching through several different rooms quickly.

Tavia began to instruct the new recruits on where to search before looking for Kara on her own.

"Kara!? Come out! We're worried sick baby girl!" He yelled out to her as he seemed to be more worried than he has been in a long time.

Kara was by a tree, quietly crying as she hugged her stuffed bunny.

She sniffles, looking at her stuffed bunny and shakily saying, "I know Mr Snuffles, I wanna go home too, but we can't. Mommy and daddy are better off without us...they only fight when it's about me. Maybe with me gone they'll finally make up."

Vanessa ran up to Bill in a panic, exclaiming, "I can't find her anywhere! Tavia!?"

"Sorry, nothing so far," Tavia replied, causing Vanessa to start tearing up.

Vanessa began to breathe heavily before running off to her sleeping bag, grabbing her pistol and quickly checking the amount of bullets before closing it back up, turning the safety off.

"Vanessa what're y—?"

"If my baby's out there then I'm going to find her!" She yelled.

"Where are those new recruits?" He questioned, looking to the two of them.

"You and you, grab a gun, you're coming with us," Bill commanded, looking to Vince and Wyatt before opening the door.

"Where're we going??" Wyatt questioned as he grabbed his gun, looking towards Bill and Vanessa as he loaded his gun.

"Just keep an eye out for a little girl who looks similar to Bill and I," Vanessa commanded, heading towards the doors with a wrench.

Vince grabbed his gun instinctively, "Alright then, been sitting too long anyway."

"You two take one side, we'll take the other. You find her, radio us and get her to the warehouse," Bill spoke firmly.

"Right," Wyatt nodded, quickly beginning his search for Kara.

Vanessa was very quickly taking down any walkers in her way with the wrench, her instincts taking the lead while keeping a close eye out for Kara.

"Kara! Where are you??" She exclaimed, searching the area carefully for their daughter.

Kara stayed curled up beside a tree, sniffling as she hugged her stuffed bunny tighter.

"Kara! Baby girl! Come out! You know we love you! Come out! We are worried sick!" He yelled, looking around carefully, holding his revolver to protect himself from any lurkers.

Kara eventually perked her head up upon hearing her parents call for her.

"Mommy? Daddy?"

Vanessa spotted her and her eyes brightened, "Kara!"

She quickly ran over and hugged their daughter tightly.

"You had us worried sick!"

He went over and hugged her as well, holding her tight.

"Jesus baby girl, don't run off like that," He spoke, holding her tight as the sound of gunshots rang out, causing Bill to immediately let go and stand at his feet.

Kara was about to reply until she heard the gunshots, freezing up and clinging to her father.

"What the hell??" Vanessa questioned as she looked over towards the origin of the gunshots.

"Vanessa, I need you to get her inside, I'll be there in a minute, I need to get those two back inside. No one is getting killed, not today,' He commanded as he looked to her before running towards where the two men were.

"Be careful," She quickly replied before picking up Kara and running with her back towards the entrance of the warehouse, gripping the wrench in her free hand.

"Holy hell!" Wyatt exclaimed as he shot another walker.

Bill saw this and shot the walkers around them.

"You two, go now!" He yelled as Vince looked at him and tried to get Wyatt out of there.

"Come on man! We gotta move!"

Wyatt nodded, helping Vince get ahead before quickly following behind him, running back inside as he was breathing heavily, shooting any walkers that might be behind Bill.

As they got inside he quickly shut the door behind them.

"You two alright?" He questioned, looking to them with concern.

"Yeah, we're ok," Vince replied, looking around them, making sure they had no bite marks.

Wyatt breathed a heavy sigh of relief before turning to look at Bill.

"How'd the kid even get outside?" He questioned, not realizing how blunt his question may be.

Vanessa was checking Kara for any marks carefully, making sure their daughter wasn't hurt at all before hugging her again.

"Never do that again. Ever."

"She's smart," He replied, walking to her and hugging her.

"Stay with us, you know we love you, and nothing you do or anyone does will change that."

The young girl sniffled, rubbing her teary eyes.

"But you and mommy fight all the time because of me, mommy even cried today after you two fought," She replied, looking miserable.

This broke Vanessa's heart, gently placing her hand to Kara's head.

"Sweetheart, listen to me. Anything your father and I argue about is not because of you, it's because of things we tend to disagree on, but we will never be okay with losing you. You're our baby, and I'd rather get eaten alive by those things out there than lose you."

"No matter what baby girl, we will love you no matter what," He replied, kissing her head.

"Now come on, let's get some food for you."

She sniffled, nodding before holding both her mothers and fathers hand as they walked over to get food while Vanessa put her gun away in her holster.

He did the same and smiled as they walked to get some food.

As they were eating together, Kara smiled, looking up at her parents happily.

"You guys aren't arguing," She commented with the same smile planted on her face.

Her mother blinked in surprise at the blunt comment before laughing a bit, taking a bite of her food before replying, "Of course not sweetie, now eat up."

"Maybe the next time you guys are arguing I should just run away and—"

"Don't even joke about that honey," Vanessa cut off their daughter with a sigh, and while Kara giggled, she still nodded in response as a silent way to promise not to do it again.

Bill smiled as he watched the two talk while he ate.

Everyone seemed happy, especially the two he just saved from being chomped on by a couple lurkers

After Kara finished eating she yawned, her head falling against her dads arm as she rubbed her tired eyes, hugging her stuffed bunny in her other arm.

Her mother smiled, gently brushing some of Kara's hair behind her ear.

"If you take Kara to bed I can clean up here," Vanessa offered with a soft smile.

"Alright," He replied with a smile, walking to take her to bed, relaxing.

"How did you get out of here?"

Kara rubbed her sleepy eyes, yawning softly as she replied, "I know where you have all the people set up. There's an itsy bitsy spot I snuck through where they couldn't see me."

"You're too smart for your own good baby girl," He replied with a smile as he brought her to her room

She giggled, looking up at her father with sleepy eyes as she spoke again, "Maybe that means I can help you soon daddy."

As she climbed into her sleeping bag, she looked up at her father with a smile once more, yawning a bit as she requested, "Could you tuck me in daddy?"

"Absolutely," He smiled once more, tucking her in as requested.

"We may have to get permission from momma, but I'm sure she'd be ok with it."

She nodded a bit with a giggle, smiling for a few more moments before her smile faded away, looking down.

She hesitated for a moment before asking her father, "Are you and mommy gonna make up? I don't want you and mommy to fight anymore."

"I promise me and mom will make up," He said, kissing her head.

"I'll see you tomorrow baby girl."

She smiled once more, nodding before getting comfy, giggling a bit as she replied, "Goodnight daddy, I love you."

"Good night baby, I love you too," He replied before walking to his room.

As soon as he left, Kara was out like a light, immediately falling asleep next to her stuffed bunny.

Vanessa finished cleaning before yawning, brushing her hair out before going over to where Bill and her slept, stretching a bit.

She didn't really say anything to him, just laid down on her side, avoiding having a conversation about the day as she just wanted to forget the day even happened in the first place.

"I'm sorry," He spoke up, laying down on his side, keeping his face away from hers.

She hesitated for a moment, glancing at him before smiling a bit, turning towards him.

"I am too. I know the world's changing, but I just...I don't like seeing our girl grow up so quickly. I shouldn't have yelled at you, I know you're doing your best to protect her...just, tell me before you decide to do something like that next time, okay?"

"I promise, just like I promised to her, I'll tell you everything from now on," He replied, turning to look at her.

"She wants to help. I've oked it, but I need to know if you're ok with it."

She took the time to think for a few moments, looking off to the side before looking back at him with a nod.

"Alright, BUT it has to be something she can handle, don't overwhelm her, and I want her supervised at all times, whether it's by you or someone else we're close to. I don't want her handling a gun without a responsible adult around until she's more than ready for that responsibility."

"Sounds like a fair deal,' He agreed, continuing to look at his wife with a calm smile.

She knew that he was responsible enough to make sure his baby girl was safe

She nodded with a smile, curling up beside him as she replied, "Good, goodnight Bill...and thank you."

She curled up under the blankets before quickly falling asleep, smiling as she drifted off.

"Of course, goodnight Vanessa," He replied with a smile.