A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome!

I hope you'll enjoy my story, and I just want to say to everybody who is reading this for the first time, that I am rewriting the story from the beginning. It's just some quality of life improvements, nothing that will change the plot in any significant way. Anyway, that's why there might be some inconsistencies. But you'll know which chapters are rewritten, as I'll state it in the Author's notes.

Thank you, and enjoy the story!

BOOK 1 - Vengeance

Prologue

A cold breeze whistled gently in the night of the full moon. It was partly hidden by the dark clouds that lingered above, but it still provided enough light to illuminate a settlement in the mountainous region of Wyoming. The wind gently swayed the oil lamps that hung from the posts and beams and which, besides the moonlight, were the only source of light, thus creating a mixture of golden and cold blue. The dirt streets, wide enough for three horsemen to ride side by side, were cleared of snow. Winters last a long time in this part of the world, making it necessary to clear the snow every day, even in March. But if the shovel was not enough, hundreds of feet every day do their work, paving the way for those who come after them. Drab wooden houses from a bygone era stood cheek by jowl, with only narrow alleyways in between.

Ben Walker trudged through one of the streets. With his hands shoved into the pockets of his red jacket, he was shivering in the night's cold. He felt like his ears were going to crisp and fall off, and he hated himself for forgetting his hat. The streets of Jackson—the settlement itself was only a small portion of what was once a city of Jackson—were pretty empty, and for good reason. Most of the people were either sleeping or gathered in the courthouse in the center of the settlement. He looked jealously at the couple who walked past him, and their warm, cozy knit hats. Warmth had never felt so near yet so far away. However, he had almost reached his destination, and he didn't even consider returning home for the hat. The extra minutes of freezing weren't worth it.

The longer he walked, the more people he saw. People around him were talkative and in a good mood. The tallest building in the settlement appeared before him. The wooden church was located in the very center of the settlement, and was usually the center of all events, be they celebrations or musical events. Across the street, the ever-full Cooper Peak Inn was swarming with people, its rough exterior decorated with dozens of light bulbs stretched out in various shapes. Next to it, a half-dozen people stood atop the stairs of the town courthouse, chatting over cigarettes and plastic glasses, and Ben could smell mulled wine even in this cold. Except for one glance, they paid him no attention as he approached the door.

In front of the door, Ben paused and took a deep breath. He was never fond of these events or any events that included a lot of people at one place in particular. But he'd rather suffer through another one of those than deal with his older sister tomorrow morning. He twisted the door knob with his right hand and walked in. Immediately, he was swept over by the sound of music and laughter, and he saw people dancing to lively and uplifting music played by the man on the far end of the courthouse. Everyone was into their own thing, whether it was drinking, dancing, or talking. Hardly anyone paid any attention to what was around them. The bulbs were used as décor inside as well as outside. They were hung on the cable, which stretched along the walls and on the ceiling in wondrous shapes and patterns. Taking off his jacket, Ben placed it on one of the racks by the door, on which a couple dozen jackets in all colors and shapes hung.

When he turned around, he stumbled backward after bouncing off the man who appeared in front of him. He felt something wet spill over his sneakers. Wet and red, on his white sneakers.

"Easy there, junior." Joel said, flashing a smile. Even though Ben felt he collided hard with him, Joel didn't move an inch. Looking at him, Ben smiled nervously and said, "Good evening, sir. And, um, sorry about that." Joel was always kind of a scary man who radiated the aura of Don't mess with me. But he was always kind to Ben, though they were never really close.

"You've got it worse than I do. Those are nice sneakers."

"Not anymore. Have you seen Emily?"

"Your sister?" Joel asked and looked around the room, "No, I wouldn't say I did."

"Ah, well." Ben said as he slowly paced around Joel. "Um, Sorry again for spilling your drink, sir."

Joel patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. I just wanna say, good job yesterday. With the clickers, I mean. I heard what you did."

"Oh, it's nothing. I was lucky." Ben said as he slowly walked away, looking over his shoulder at Joel. "Thank you."

He mumbled the low "excuse me" as he tried to push his way through the crowd in the middle of the dance floor, but the people who were in a trance from the music paid no attention. However, he did earn a few sidelong glances when he accidentally pushed the people who were dancing, disrupting their steps and rhythm. When he finally got out of the dancing den, he looked around the room, but there was no sign or sound from his sister. She made him come, and yet she was nowhere to be found. He mumbled to himself, annoyed that he couldn't find her. "You better come, or I swear to God…" he imitated the way she spoke, earning a couple of weirded out looks from people who walked past and saw him talking to himself. "Great, now they'll think I'm also crazy."

But then, something else caught his attention.

Leaning against the bar, a freckled, auburn haired girl watched the people on the dance floor, a glass full of some clear liquid in her hand. Except, she wasn't exactly looking at the people; instead, she looked lost in her thoughts. The sleeves of her unbuttoned flannel shirt were rolled up unevenly, revealing a tattoo on her right forearm, and a Do Not Disturb aura radiated around her.

"Move it, move it!" the bartender shouted angrily as he squeezed between Ben and an older man, snapping Ben back to reality only to understand that he stared like a dumbfounded jackass. The girl with auburn hair seemed to notice that and looked back at him, her face straight, though her eyes seemed to ask a question.

Caught red-handed, you stupid idiot, Ben thought angrily as he approached the bar, doing his best to act as if he wasn't staring at her right now. He poked around the bar, looking for a glass, which was weird in itself since no one but Andy, the bartender, did that. But he didn't care; he tried his best to make her forget about the fact that he stared at her as if he saw a ghost. He swallowed hard when he noticed she was still looking at him, and he got red in the face. He looked back at her, and their eyes met for a single moment before she broke the contact.

Looking away, she still said, "I don't think Andy would be too happy to see you poking around his bar." He came to a halt when she added hastily."It looks like he's coming back."

"Nah, I… Yeah, well… So, how…?" Not only did he forget what he wanted to say, but he also forgot how to form a sentence.

"What are you even doing, Ben?" She inquired, a smirk of amusement on her face. He wondered if she was amused by his inability to speak or by the fact that he appeared to be a complete idiot. Why was he always insecure around her? His face turned red.

"I am, um, trying to get a drink. Duh." he said, leaning against the bar next to her and trying really hard to look relaxed.

She scoffed, "I know you well enough to be able to tell when you're lying." Crap.

Ben was trying to think of a response to that, something that would not make the situation even more awkward. Something that would prove to be his escape from this situation. Something smart.

"Right." He hated himself.

"Okie dokes." Her answer was even worse.

Crap. Did I make her uncomfortable? Jesus, why do I always turn into a mumbling mess when I'm around her. He wasn't always like this, especially not around her. But ever since they grew apart from each other, every interaction with her became a giant to be slain. And to think they used to spend so much time together. Is that what it means to have a best friend, someone who hangs out with you all the time? Or is this what they call growing up? Realizing some friends were not really your friends. It was hard to tell, especially since he had only recently turned eighteen. But in their world, being eighteen was more than enough to become an adult.

Suddenly, someone leapt over the counter and planted himself next to Ben, making him the one in the middle. "I hate these things." Jesse said, holding his own drink, making Ben the only person without one. Not that he even paid any attention to it, either. He was just glad that Jesse was there to end the awkward silence. Thank you, Jesse. Being almost a head taller than him, Jesse observed the scene through the gaps in his black bangs, which he parted to the side every so often whenever they got in the way of his eyes.

"Tell me about it." Ellie replied, just as bored.

"What the hell happened to your shoes?" Jesse asked, staring down. Ellie leaned forward and, curiously looked at what all the fuss was about.

"I bumped into Joel and spilled his drink." Ben explained, feeling the urge to scream because he ruined his new sneakers. He found them on a patrol two weeks ago, and they were as good as new. Though, they were not an ideal choice of footwear for the snow. But well, style over substance. He noticed Ellie suddenly losing interest in conversation.

Jesse poked Ben with his elbow, a poke that Ben felt was harder than he'd prefer. "Heard you got three clickers on a patrol yesterday. Nice work, dude."

Ben was one of the regulars who went on patrols around the town to clear out the infected and search for supplies. Not that many of the supplies could be found anymore. Yesterday, he killed three clickers on patrol, which was a feat in itself, though he still thought it was all luck. All in all, it was brave and definitely worthy of praise, according to others, except for his sister. "Tell that to Emily. She wanted to strangle me and poke both of my eyes out because I engaged them without her."

Jesse grinned insecurely, but didn't add anything. Everyone was aware of Emily's temper. If they didn't witness it, they were on the other end of it. Their topic seemed to attract Ellie's attention. She wasn't talking, but she was listening. Ben felt inspired to continue and give Jesse what he wanted to hear, but he was never too much of a bragger.

"I mean, it was kind of difficultish. Really, the best trick when they spot you is to make use of your surroundings."

Jesse laughed, saying, "The way you said made it look easy. You should write a book about it, since you write sometimes. How to kill a clicker 101?"

"I just said it wasn't easy." Ben was already annoyed.

"You said it was difficultish," Jesse persisted. "Kinda difficultish. More like kind of arrogant, don't you think?"

"It's just a figure of speech."

"I'm just messing with you, Walker," Jesse laughed, "You did good, all in all, considering what happened a week ago."

A week ago, two young drifters that came to Jackson about four months back, decided to go outside without permission. Ben felt a sting in his chest as he recalled the event. They made it to the first town to the east before they were cornered in an old diner and eaten by a dozen infected. Ben and Jesse were the ones that found them, or rather, what remained of them. He recognized them only because of a dog tag that was laid on the floor beside the corpses, all of which were bloodied. Jesse said it was one of those carried by the Fireflies, but Ben found it hard to believe. He heard they dissolved a long time ago.

"Anyway, Ellie," Jesse, reluctant to speak about it as much as Ben, changed the subject before finishing his thought, "About those schedules that Joel mentioned…" Ellie didn't seem too excited to talk about it, and gave only short answers to whatever Jesse asked her. The bartender, Andy, a man of wide proportions, his white apron sparkly clean, walked past them holding a tray with several drinks on it. Using the opportunity and quick hands, Ben snatched one and took a sip of the strong beverage. He immediately felt the heat rush down his throat and held a hand to his mouth, trying not to cough.

"I give you guys two weeks to get back together," Ellie said, directed at Jesse. They seemed to be talking about a different topic. He hated that he was between the two of them, fairly quiet, with nothing to add or say.

"She, uh, say something to you?" Jesse asked, suddenly looking hopeful. Ben finally grasped what they talked about. It seemed that Jesse used the schedules only as a means to strike up a conversation with Ellie.

"Make it one week." Ellie said, still looking straight. But Jesse insecurely shook his head. He and Dina split up not a full week ago. Or rather, Dina broke up with him. Jesse said the breakup was mutual. They apparently grew distant, but he still held on to his feelings, looking all eager to get back together with her. Ben still felt weird talking to Jesse about it, because they felt like one of those couples that were destined to last. Worth mentioning is that they dated for quite a long time—over two years, if he could recall. The people who danced on the floor changed the tempo, tuning down to a slower pace.

"Speak of the devil," Ben whispered absently as Dina approached the three of them, making her way through the crowd that danced on the floor. She wasn't as slim as Ellie, and her most striking feature was her black hair, which complimented her bronze skin. That and her nose. Making a stop in front of Ellie, she took a deep breath, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. Ben didn't see her dance, but knowing Dina, she probably didn't miss a minute of it.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Dina asked Ellie. Ben and Jesse exchanged glances, both asking a silent question about whether or not she was ignoring them.

"Well, I am here, aren't I?" Ellie answered in her typical unenthusiastic fashion, only to have her drink snatched by Dina, who drank it all at once. Ben recalled seeing a glass half full before the liquid vanished in Dina's mouth.

"That was… a lot of alcohol," Ben whispered to Jesse, who tried to make it look like he wasn't giving Dina the side eye. Ben scratched the side of his face awkwardly, only to replace it with a big, not so genuine, grin when Dina looked his way.

"Hey, Ben, I haven't seen you in a while." Dina greeted him, while completely ignoring Jesse.

"Two days, Dina, a very long time." Ben replied, taking a sip of his drink and bracing himself for another rush of a burning sensation in his throat.

Dina sighed, "Sarcastic as always."

Ben could literally feel Jesse roll his eyes, and he rolled them again when Dina grabbed Ellie's hand and pulled her away from the boys to the dance floor.

"Hey, don't forget, we're headin' out early, so get some rest!" Jesse spoke so insecurely to the two of them that he almost stuttered. Ben laughed. "What?" his friend asked, punching him in the ribs.

"Ellie just took your ex girl right in front of you, dude." Ben mocked him, sporting an evil grin.

Jesse smirked. "Nah, man. Dina took Ellie."

"It's the same, however you look at it." He mumbled, eyebrows furrowed, scratching his chin. What could this mean for Dina and Ellie?

Jesse clicked his tongue, containing a smirk. "Too bad Ellie likes girls." His eyes were glued to Ben's as he stared at him maliciously.

Ben knew the best defense was to try and play it off, "You're after Ellie now?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Jesse kept the smug grin on his face, annoying Ben, who just shook his head and blew it off. "You're reaching."

"Am I?"

The conversation was put to a halt when two girls that were walking past them stopped abruptly in front of them. Both girls had a pitch black hair and Asian features, but only one of them was one of the most beautiful girls Ben had ever seen. Julia Choi let her hair fall loose on her shoulders, and her lips curled upwards into a wide smile when she saw him.

"I didn't think you'd come." Julia said, while her gaze was drawn to Ben for some reason. He never understood why Julia always seemed too nice to him. He couldn't remember if they ever hung out together, at least not alone. His relationship with her mostly came from parties or events that they both attended, and that relationship was mostly forced by Julia, who tried to talk him up more than once. And she kept doing it for some reason. Unlucky for her, Ben was never the most talkative type. It also helped that he was pretty awkward with girls. Not that he tried to change it, it was just that he had no time for girls at the moment.

"Emily made me come." Ben said honestly, "Did you see her?"

"Oh, yeah. She was with that blacksmith. They were talking in the corner over there." When Ben looked at that corner, he couldn't see her. Where did she go? "They're so cute together, don't you think, Cat?"

The other girl had shorter hair, and the sleeves of her shirt were rolled up to reveal about a dozen small tattoos. Animals, insects, signs—whatever a person could imagine. She was the one who tattooed Ellie's forearm. And she was her ex.

"I guess." Cat said, uninterested in their conversation. Ben and Cat never really liked each other, but they were at least polite toward each other. despite the fact that it was often forced and sarcastic.

"Hello to you too." Jesse said, leaning to the side to get into their field of vision. Julia smiled, but she didn't say anything. Ben could swear he felt Jesse roll his eyes again.

"So, I gotta run, but," Julia said, "there's probably an after party at my place. There are going to be a lot of people. Consider yourself invited. You too, Jesse."

Ben just stared with a stupid grin on his face that he knew was forced as hell. "We'll try our best to make it."

"I know you will," Julia said, touching his chin. "I'll see you, then."

With that, the two of them walked away, leaving Ben and Jesse to just stare after them, both of them with their arms crossed, leaning backwards on the bar. It seemed the silence was much longer than it was, until Jesse said, "Wow."

Ben didn't know what to say to that. "Yep. Wow."

"Are you going to that party?"

"Hell no."

"Why, though?" Jesse asked, "Seems like Julia's got a thing for you."

Ben scoffed, "Oh, please. Julia? She can have almost any guy in town. What could she see in me?"

"I don't know, man." Jesse shrugged innocently, "You did beat the crap out of Noah when he slapped her. Maybe she appreciates the gesture."

"The gesture? It was a fight, Jesse, and an unfair one, at that. I only beat him because he I jumped him when he wasn't looking. Besides, I'm not interested in her."

"Oh, right. You're head over heels for Ellie."

"No, I am not."

"The hell you're not."

Ben sighed, "I'll smack that thick head of yours. For the last time, I don't care about E-"

"Shit."

"What?" Reacting to Jesse's shit, Ben looked at what Jesse was looking at. The music was slow and serene. He could see Dina and Ellie dancing in the middle of the dance floor, except they were not dancing. They were and Jesse just stared dumbfounded, jaws dropping.

"That's..?" Jesse started stuttering.

"That's unexpected." Ben finished what Jesse had just attempted to say. He noticed Jesse's face growing red. He felt the heat rush to his own cheeks for some reason, and he didn't take another drink. Why was he feeling the way he was feeling? For a second, he imagined himself being in Dina's place, and his face grew even more red. Trying to hide his own surprise, Ben attempted to turn the conversation in his favor "You jealous?"

"What? No, dude." Jesse's face revealed his lies. "Dina and I... we're history."

"Your face speaks for itself."

Jesse gave him a mean side-look. Ben laughed at that, but his laugh was partly forced. "You're jealous." Ben continued, saying one thing while thinking about another: "It sucks she's kissing another girl."

Jesse raised an eyebrow, breaking the stare he was giving to Dina and Ellie. "I told you, Dina and I-"

"Dina and you are history. I know." Ben sneered at him. But he wanted to change the subject. "Um, so, you're going on patrol tomorrow?" But that was the wrong choice of question to try and change the subject.

"Yep. It's gonna be a long day."

Ben envied him. He wanted to go on another patrol. But he spent the last five days in a row outside the walls, and Joel, who was responsible for the schedules, insisted on a day off. Ben was a free spirit, and spending whole days in the town made him feel as though he were caged. Spending a whole day on patrol outside with Jesse would be a great thing, but Jesse was probably going with someone else. Ben's patrol partner was usually his sister Emily, but he used to share a couple dozen shifts with Ellie in the past. When Ben first arrived in Jackson, the two of them used to hang out a lot more. Ellie was much more talkative and cheerful back then, and she had good jokes, to which Ben usually laughed his ass off. The two of them were pretty alike, which was the reason they were so close. But that obviously didn't matter much, at the end of the day. Now, they were not as close as before. With all that happened to them, they grew apart. Ellie suddenly changed one day, and Ben… Well, that was a story of its own.

"If you see Emily, tell her I went home."

"Are you leaving?" Jesse asked.

Ben nodded. "Yeah, this is a pain in the ass."

"Later, dude." Jesse replied, obviously disappointed that he was being left alone. Ben headed towards the rack with the jackets. The music was much slower now, it could even be considered romantic. He had to struggle going through the dance floor again, but it was easier this time since there crowd was smaller and people were moving much slower, thus being easier to avoid. Ellie didn't notice when he walked away. Julia did, and she waved at him. But Julia was the last person he wanted to speak to right now.

He wasn't aware of how long he had been sitting on the bench outside. It wasn't as cold as it used to be an hour ago, but that was mostly because the wind stopped. He cleared the snow off the wooden bench and leaned backward, staring at the dark sky, decorated with clouds and a large ball of light right in the middle of it. It was nice and quiet, though the silence would be interrupted occasionally by people walking by. He didn't think they noticed him, but that was because there weren't any lights around the bench. Allowing himself to get lost in thoughts, he wondered what it was that he was thinking about. Nothing specific, probably; he was just thinking about nothing in particular and everything at the same time. He snapped back from his thoughts when the crunching of the snow alerted him that someone was approaching.

Ellie stopped behind the bench. "I thought there was no one here."

Ben was already standing up, "I was just leaving anyway."

"You don't have to, but, uh, okay. Whatever." she said and sat down on the bench, hands shoved in her pockets as she stared in front of herself. Ben walked around the bench, toward the light of the street lamps.

"Why'd you leave so early?" Ben stopped when she asked all of the sudden. When he turned around, he saw her looking at him over her shoulder.

"Not my thing. Why'd you leave?"

He realized just now that this was the first time he'd had a moment alone with her in, like, forever. It was definitely not how he envisioned this night going.

"Seth laid it on Dina and me because she, uh.."

"Kissed you."

"He's an asshole."

He was glad it was dark, because she couldn't see his face growing red again. He left because of that kiss. "What did Seth do?"

"This is a family event," she quoted him. "He called Dina a loud-mouthed dyke."

"What a dick." He said, not surprised in the slightest. Seth was known for his loud mouth. But he couldn't imagine it ending in that fashion. Knowing Ellie, she probably punched him or cussed the hell out of him or something.

"Joel pushed him, and a fight almost broke out. Maria walked him outside. I left too, couldn't stand the looks."

"Looks like I missed all the fun." As usual, he attempted an inappropriate joke. She laughed, if it could be called a laugh. For a second, Ben could swear he saw a spark in her eyes.

"Good job with the clickers," she said after a few moments of silence. Ben found himself walking back around the bench to take a seat next to her. "Emily was worse than those clickers."

They both laughed at that. Everyone knew his older sister was very overprotective. It was very, very annoying at times, but he never really blamed her for it. Their father was bitten and died protecting them from the wave of the infected. He held the door for the three of them as they ran. Emily, Ben, and their youngest brother Tom. He was just seven years old when they arrived to Jackson three years ago.

"Tom's birthday was two days ago, right?" she asked him.

Ben gasped when she said it. "I didn't know you'd remember. He would've been ten."

Her eyes were sad when she looked at him. "Tom was the sweetest. Everyone loved him. "You know, he and I used to play quite a lot."

"I remember. He liked you a lot. He even admitted to me once that he had this huuuge crush on you." She smiled again when he said. The second smile was even sadder.

"I miss him, he was like a mini version of yourself. Same blonde hair, blue eyes, and shape of your face. It was a copy-paste."

Ben didn't really feel in the mood to talk about his brother. "You spend a lot of time staring at my face, huh?"

"Keep flattering yourself."

He actually enjoyed this talk for a change. Then he realized it was the first time they'd spoken properly in months. They spent about an hour talking about stupid stuff. At first, it was weird for both of them to speak to each other after months of not talking, but walls came down quickly. The last time they had a normal conversation was probably last spring.

"Okay." Ben announced proudly, "You're going to like this one."

Ellie laughed, knowing what was coming. Another of his dumb jokes.

"What do you call a dinosaur that crashes his car?" She gave him a questionable look, her smile never leaving her face. "Tyrannosaurus Wrecks."

Ellie burst into laughter, holding her belly with one hand while wiping a tear with the back of her other hand. For some reason, she always found his stupid jokes hilarious. Ben couldn't help but laugh with her. When the laughter died down, she gave him a long, thoughtful look with her bright, green eyes. And Ben felt his eyes glued to hers. For a second, everything felt as if it was going back to normal.

"It's getting late. I should go." she suddenly said, looking away, "Jesse will kill me if I oversleep." She finished and stood up. Ben looked down and nodded his head repeatedly, before looking up again to smile weakly, "Good night." I hate you, Jesse.

''Night." she said, almost inaudibly, and walked away. As much as he preferred to be alone earlier in the night, he hated it now. He wished they could talk longer. There were so many things he wanted to talk to her about, and she looked like she felt the same. A realization came like a shock. They talked, finally, after so many months. Ben smiled, his cheeks flushed, but his happiness was fleeting. It was like a blockade; whenever he felt an ounce of happiness, something akin to a brick wall hit him. He looked at the watch on his left wrist. Struggling to see in the dark, he could make out that it was well past midnight, but he didn't mind. Staying there a while longer wasn't going to hurt anybody.