I was tucked against the back of the front seats, next to Glenn who had his head on top of mine as I drifted in and out of sleep on his shoulder. His fingers were in my hair, his slow movements stroking my head keeping me under as we drove. Isaac was opposite me, his knees touching my own as we both had our legs crossed.

It had been a week since we lost Tyreese, and during that time we also lost the car. Luckily for Isaac, the first one to run out of fuel was the one filled with the blood from Tyreese, and we were left in the other van which fit all of us at a squeeze. The truck was barely big enough to fit all of us, and we had all been in the most uncomfortable positions since the first car ran out of petrol.

I jerked awake as the car slowed down, but kept my head on Glenn's shoulder. Hopefully, we had just stopped for a break, or some of them would loot a building or something because I was too tired to exert any energy at that moment.

Unfortunately, I heard Abraham speak up from the driver's seat in front of Isaac. "We're out. Just like the other one."

The only thing I was happy about now that we were completely on the road was that I didn't have to be squished into the back of a car with everyone. I finally leaned forward so Glenn could reach up and open the door behind me, and I pulled myself to stand up with the seats and stepped backwards out of the car.

Despite the symptoms of taking Naproxen on an empty stomach, I had been taking one a day so I could actually be functional and walk around. Though, my leg was getting better. If we didn't find food soon I'd have to stop using them to avoid a stomach ulcer or heart failure. Then again, if I took them for too long I'd get those effects anyway, so I was grateful that the pain in my leg had been numbing for the past few days.

"So we walk," Rick said, standing up.

Oh, thank God. I crawled out being closest to the door as it opened and felt like I was finally able to breathe. Tara climbed out from behind me, stretching her arms in the air and leaning backwards as she yawned.

I saw Daryl staring back at a group of walkers that had come out of the woods, following us down the road when they saw us. Rick made no move to order a fight, holding Judith in his arms as he followed Daryl's gaze.

"We're not at our strongest," he said. "We'll get 'em when it's best. High ground, something like that. They're not going anywhere."

Daryl nodded and followed us as we walked. I, too, was worried about the incoming herd that seemed to grow every time I looked back, but if we kept walking ahead of them, which was very easy to manage, we would be fine. I just wondered how Isaac was feeling being constantly followed by a group of walkers.

"It's been three weeks since Atlanta. I know you lost something back there."

Daryl ignored him, or at least didn't answer. Whether he'd been listening or not was another story that I couldn't read in his face. I wanted to speak to Daryl about what happened, but there was never a good time. Everyone was always around.

Judith started fussing in Rick's arms, waving her hands and making crying noises that brought Rick away from the conversation he was trying to start. He lifted her, bouncing her as she quietened down a few moments later.

"She's hungry," Daryl said.

"She's okay," Rick said. "She's going to be okay."

"We need to find water, food," he interjected.

"We'll hit something in the road," Rick said and looked up to the sky. "It's gonna rain sooner or later."

There were a few clouds in the sky, but I didn't think that it would rain anytime soon. I hoped he was right because I had half a bottle of water in my bag that I had been refusing to touch for myself. After all, we needed to keep reserves up.

"I'm gonna head out," Daryl said, handing Rick the gun. "See what I can find."

"Hey, don't be too long," Rick told him.

"I'll go with you," Carol said.

"I got it," he tried.

"You gonna stop me?" She smiled and followed him anyway.

If Carol hadn't invited herself along, I would have offered to join him myself. Daryl needed someone around him because he looked so sad all the time. I didn't want him to be alone in his time of need, no matter how badly he tried not to interact with everyone. He was kind of like this when Merle died, but not as bad.

Eugene was not too far behind me when I looked back, walking with Rosita. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes when I saw him because even the sight of him still made me so mad. Nothing much was said about Washington after what he did, and his wrongdoings were ignored by most of the group, which was punishment enough for him—I could see it in his eyes. I, however, thought a more thorough punishment was in order.

I was worried about Maggie, and I wanted to talk to her as well, but she was so upset. There was that doubt in the back of my mind that I could be of any help to her with the mood I had been in for the last month or so.

When we came across a bridge, with what I could only describe as massive cracks in the ground on either side, Rick stopped up. He inspected the pits on either side of the bridge before nodding decisively, coming up with a plan that I couldn't comprehend from the look on his face.

"We'll take 'em here," Rick said. "Push 'em down. We don't have to fight them, we'll save energy doing it this way."

"Nobody fall in," I muttered, looking over the edge.

"I'll stay with the others," Rosita said. "Take them across the bridge. Watch the kids, make sure nothing comes up behind us."

"Yeah," Martinez agreed. "Last thing we need is getting flanked by biters."

"Okay," Rick nodded. "Ace, you helping."

"Oh yeah," I muttered sarcastically. "I love stuff like this."

"I can help too," Isaac said. "Let's face it, not letting them touch me is one of my specialities."

Glenn whispered something to Maggie who had just been staring down solemnly, but she nodded as he finished. Glenn then turned to Rick, "We're in."

"Me too," Sasha added.

"Okay, wait for the others to cross the bridge then line up near the edge," Rick said. "We'll take them one at a time, keep it controlled and push them over."

I watched as Martinez and Rosita led the others across the bridge, each with a weapon in their hands in case anything lurked on the other side. Rick was giving out more instructions, telling the others how to move and not to waste too much energy as we fought the small herd.

As I went to line up on the side, Rick stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "You sure you're okay to do this?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

He frowned. "You look pale."

Oh—not something I would be able to see. I was just a lot paler than the others anyway, but I knew he thought that maybe I looked ill. I didn't feel ill, maybe a little headache, but it wasn't too bad. "I feel fine."

He was hesitant but nodded. "Okay, just be careful."

"I will," I promised.

We all lined up ready to fight as the walkers grew closer. Rick took a few steps back to the ledge, and the ground crumbled under his feet causing him to almost trip. I gasped, my heart racing as he regained his balance but the walker went closer to him and Rick swung his body back out of the way and pushed the corpse before it could grab him. The walker fell into the cavern.

I moved up in front of him, ready for the next one. I lined myself up in the same way as a woman walker made her way over to me, reaching her arms out. Stepping back, I made sure I was close enough to the edge, and when the walker lunged I ducked under her grip before turning around and pushing her hard. Glenn stepped in front of me.

Two went for Abraham, but he kept his cool and watched them get closer and closer. As the walkers came for him, he grabbed the two of them by the shoulder, stepped backwards and shoved them both down the hill in one motion. All Glenn had to do was stay out of the way and his walker just tripped following the others, Michonne did the same as him.

Over the other side, I watched Sasha walk forward and away from the ledge. I frowned, knowing that she wasn't giving herself a lot of room to work with when she grabbed the walker in front of her by the shirt.

"Sasha," Michonne tried to stop her, but Sasha pulled out her knife and stabbed the walker.

That was it—the plan was over because Sasha was just going to keep fighting them. "Fucking hell," I muttered.

"Stay in line," Rick said, walking forward as he pulled out his machete. "Flank her. Keep it controlled."

"Plan just got dicked," Abraham said, reaching for his knife.

"And we're out of the realm of my specialities," Isaac muttered.

I gave him an empathetic look, but pulled out my axe and followed Rick forward. Michonne moved over to the other side of the road and followed Sasha. When Michonne caught up to her, she grabbed her arm and Sasha tried to plunge the knife backwards before realising who it was.

"Stop," Michonne snapped. "Just get out of here."

Sasha pulled her arm back.

I shook my head and followed Glenn up, before swinging my axe down into the walker coming up at his side. Glenn grabbed the next one and jammed a knife in its head, and Rick got one with the machete, almost falling over as the weight of the corpse brought his arm down.

After killing the next walker with a long swing around, avoiding hitting Isaac, I felt myself get warm. My heart was racing and I was sweating so badly. I panted and struggled to pull my axe free. As the next body came closer I could only see the shadow that grew bigger and bigger around me. Isaac ran past me, stabbing it before it got closer.

"Ace, are you okay?" He asked hurriedly.

I nodded, managing to get my axe back. "Yeah—yeah, I'm good."

Isaac didn't look sure, but he didn't have any other choice than to believe me. We had to kill these walkers. As I stood up, I felt my head start to buzz and there was tension in my temple, and I had to press my fingers into the side of my head to feel any relief.

"Ace—" Glenn started, but before he could get anything out, a walker grabbed Rick and was so close to biting his arm. Daryl came barreling out of the woods and grabbed the walker by the hair and shirt, before pulling it away and knocking Rick over in the process.

I went behind Glenn and lowered my hand to Rick, who took it. When he stood up, I checked his arm, still holding his hand, but there were no bites or scapes.

"I'm okay," he assured.

When I turned back to Sasha, she spun around with her knife and slit the walker's throat, cutting Abraham's arm at the same time. He grunted and looked down at his arm as Sasha looked out of it, and walked ahead, leaving Abraham to deal with the body she just cut him over.

Michonne swung her sword at the next one and pushed Sasha to the ground once she'd killed one of the corpses so Michonne could swing her sword at the last one. Sasha panted and kept her eyes on the ground, but Michonne was pissed.

"I told you to stop," Michonne pointed at her.

Sasha stood up, glaring at Michonne who just stared back at her. Sasha decided against doing anything and turned back to the others on the bridge to walk away. We all watched her, no one knowing whether they should say anything else.

I breathed out a long sigh, and tied the axe to my holster, following everyone when they decided to go back to the group. We all walked back across the bridge in silence, still able to hear some of the walkers at the bottom of the pit.

Daryl walked at my side. "Y'alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," I nodded. "It wasn't supposed to go down like that."

"I could tell," he said.

Daryl walked ahead of me, joining the rest of the group as Rick told us to carry on down the road as we were doing before we found the bridge.

Carl tried reaching for his water bottle with an arm on Judith when I stepped in. "Here, Carl. I can take her for you."

"Thanks, Ace," he said.

I followed the group with Judith in hand, who babbled and grabbed at my hair and constantly wanted to change position as I carried her. Eventually, she settled on reaching out for Carl who was not too far in front of her. I saw Isaac walking not too far ahead of them, talking quietly with Noah about something I couldn't make out.

After a while, it didn't even feel like I was moving anymore. The others were just shapes that remained ahead of me, their voices distant if they ever spoke to each other. It felt like time was passing so slowly that I could feel every millisecond last a whole minute.

I didn't recognise any landmarks that would tell me how far we'd gone, because there weren't any. The incident at the bridge had just happened, didn't it? Pain welled below the surface of my eyes, and having my hair so close to my face made them hurt just looking. I wanted to brush my hair back, but as a hand let go of Judith, I felt her get so much heavier and I was worried I would drop her.

Everything was warm. I couldn't get any cooler no matter how slowly I walked to trick my body that I wasn't using much energy. I had to keep taking deep breaths in through my nose, panting the entire time my feet carried me forward.

The pain in my temple returned after a while, another reason for me to squeeze my eyes closed until the pain subsided. I shook my head, and my eyes felt like they were moving in slow motion compared to the rest of me.

"Ace, hold on a sec," Isaac's voice was soft, cutting through the haze of my empty mind. His hand was on my shoulder, gently stopping me from going any farther. I trailed up from his touch, but my gaze was unwillingly focused on everything but his eyes. "You look a little out of it, why don't I take Judith for a while?"

His reasoning, I noticed, was infallible. I had no concept of where we were and how far we'd walked since I last remembered anything. When I looked back, I couldn't even see the bridge we fought the walkers on. Has it been that long?

Without me even noticing, Isaac slipped a hand between me and Judith, lowering his body so she was sitting on top of his arm. When he pulled back, he adjusted her in his grip, which was when I realised the weight of her was gone. The second she was out of my arms, my body grew heavier. It was like it was giving up now there was no reason for me to keep using it.

"Ace?"

I fell forward and slammed into Isaac as one of his arms came around me. Everything went blurry as he lowered us to the ground, my feet slipped out from underneath me and went limp. My head fell onto Isaac's shoulder and as my eyes were closing I heard him calling the others for help. I wasn't even completely gone as Isaac called for help.

The voices around me came in hazed sounds that I couldn't entirely make out. There were some words here and there, but I couldn't get myself to respond to anything. My body felt weightless for a moment, and my head fell back with an arm under my neck.

"You're going to be okay," was the first full sentence I could make out as I was laid on the ground. "She's boiling, she needs water."

"It's almost as warm as she is, I don't know if this is going to help."

"It's something."

"Get that shirt off her."

The pounding in my head was the first thing I felt as someone lifted me until I was in a sitting position, moving my arms as they pulled my arms out of the button-up. I groaned, squeezing my eyes further closed as the person lowered me and back down again with my head on something a little more comfortable than the ground.

"She's waking up."

When I opened my eyes, shadowy figures were standing around me. My arm came up over my eyes to block the sun, and I rolled my head to the side, the fabric of my shirt brushing against my face. Every sense in my body just made me feel sick.

"Ace?"

Rick's voice came, and he knelt closest to me. He was the first person I recognised beyond the shadows. I placed my other arm on the ground and tried pushing myself up to answer him. There was a hand on my shoulder, making me lay back down as I tried to sit up.

"Hold on," he said. "Don't try to get up yet."

Nausea washed over me and my mouth started to fill with saliva. I tried telling Rick to move, but no sound came out, my voice quiet and hoarse. I tried again, my hand on his chest as I rolled onto my knees. "Move."

I crawled a few paces before keeling over. The bile raced up my throat, burning my tongue in my mouth. It was one of the worst things I'd ever tasted. I held myself up with one hand and tried desperately to keep my hand back with the other.

Someone came up by the side of me, and I saw Glenn out of the corner of my eye, reaching over me to pull my hair behind my head. He started rubbing my back when I gasped, finally able to catch a breath without the need to vomit.

"It's okay, you're okay."

After waiting a few seconds to make sure that everything had come up (despite there being nothing in my stomach at all) I pushed myself away from where I'd just thrown up. My leg slipped out from under me as I sat down. Glenn grabbed my arm, helping me back until I was leaning against a tree.

Part of me was embarrassed, knowing now that one of the shadowy figures was Isaac and he had just watched me dry-heave bile on the ground. Rick walked over from where he was, grabbing a bottle of water from the ground and opening it as he stepped towards us, squatting in front of me.

"You need to drink," he said. "Can you do it?"

I nodded, reaching to grab the bottle. It slipped a little in my hand when Glenn's hand shot out under the bottle to make sure I didn't drop it as I raised it to my lips. I hated using so much water when we had so little of it, but I was past the point where I could argue.

Glenn put his hand against my forehead as I took a few sips. "She's so warm."

"It has to be heat stroke," Carol said.

"I didn't know we should have been watching out for this," Tara said and then asked, "Has this happened before?"

Rick shook his head. "Not that I know of—"

"Once," Carl interrupted him, and I noticed that he was now holding Judith. "In Atlanta. She didn't pass out or anything, but, it was kind of like this. She was out of it and had a headache. She slept for like two hours in the RV."

Rick looked back over his shoulder, confused. "When was this?"

Carl took a second to think about it. I remembered the day as he was speaking, but even thinking about opening my mouth felt like too much work right now. I just breathed heavily through my nose as Glenn quietly recommended drinking more water.

"The day you came back," he said finally.

No one seemed to question what Carl was referring to, some of the people around already knew and the others weren't focused on their conversation too deeply. I held the bottle back towards Glenn so he could put the lid back on.

"Do we . . ." Isaac trailed off. "What should we do?"

"There's no water near here," Carol said. "We can't wait."

"She can't keep wearing heavy things like that," Rosita said. "An overshirt and jeans? She's like a walking thermos. We need to find something lighter."

"We don't have anything else," Maggie told her quietly.

"We'll find something," Rick said.

Tara held her hand down. "I can take her bag for a little while."

"Thank you," Rick nodded, lifting the bag to her. He turned back to Glenn, who was still next to me. "We have to keep moving, more chances of finding water or food that way."

Glenn nodded. "I know."

"I don't think we should be so hastily getting her back on the road," Eugene chimed in, and I clenched my teeth at the sound of his voice. "It's recommended for a person in her condition to lay on the ground with her legs elevated so the blood flows back to her head—"

"Shut up," I muttered, and he stopped talking immediately. I placed my hand on the ground, ready to push myself up. "I can walk, I'll be fine."

"Ya sure?" Daryl questioned. "We don' wanna be going through this a mile down the road."

"We were lucky with the walkers gone," Maggie agreed.

"Could've been the fighting that set her off," Michonne said, loud enough for Sasha, I assumed. She had been pissed with her since Sasha began killing the walkers, riling them up and causing the fight. But Sasha had been angry since Tyreese died, just like Tyreese was when he lost Karen. Anger makes you stupid, stupid gets you killed.

Or gets me killed, which was an acceptable change of the quote.

Martinez pushed through the group and kneeled in front of me beside Rick. "Here, let me check something," he held out his hand, palm up. "Give me your hand."

I put my hand out to him, and Martinez did the same trick he used when he found me shot on the side of the road. He pinched the skin on the back of my hand, which remained elevated above the rest for a few seconds.

"She's dehydrated," he said. "But if we don't make a move we're going to burn through our water just trying to keep her alive."

"We have to keep moving," Rick agreed, holding out a hand to help me up.

He stood up with my hand in his, before I was hoisted up onto my feet. Rick caught my other arm in his hand and held me there for a few seconds to ensure that I was going to stay on my feet this time. I kept my eyes on the ground, making sure I was standing on the even section.

"I'll help you walk for now," Glenn said, taking my arm from Rick. "Make sure you're steady on your feet."

"Keep her closer to the trees, in the shade," Rick agreed.

"Alright, everyone keep an eye on her," announced Martinez. "Yell timber before her head hits the ground."

"Funny," I muttered.

"You're like a walking time bomb," he said with a grin. "Just an accident waiting to happen."

"Just leave her alone," Glenn snapped quietly, a hand on my arm to make sure I was steady.

Martinez wasn't taken aback by the tone but did step away. "Sure thing, man."

Glenn held onto my arm as we walked, keeping me upright and balanced as my shoes scraped against the ground. I held onto him, keeping myself up. The unfortunate part was that walking in the shade meant walking on the treeline where the dirt and uneven ground were, which meant that I often kicked an upturned root and almost tripped.

After a while the road turned and the shade moved up onto the concrete, so Glenn brought me over to the side where it was much easier to keep on my feet. He even let go of my arm after a while, letting me walk alone beside him.

"Dad, look," Carl said.

Up ahead of us was a group of cars left on the side of the road appeared over the horizon, abandoned for what seemed to be months. They were all covered in dust and dirt, all left in precarious positions which didn't seem to make any sense, but I had to blame my terrible sense of situational awareness at that moment.

"I'm gonna head into the woods," Daryl said. "Circle back."

"May I come with?" Carol asked.

"No," he stopped her. "No, just me."

I wanted nothing more than to help Daryl, he'd been really down these past few weeks and I wanted to make him feel better. He needed it after everything that happened. Losing Beth killed him, more than I would have expected, but I needed to remind myself that they spent that time together in the week we were separated after the prison. He bonded with her, things only he could have felt.

If I was in a better state I would have offered to go with him, he needed someone around to help. I hadn't seen Daryl upset a lot, and I didn't know how he acted. Sasha got angry, a lot like Tyreese—but there was something about his isolation that worried me.

I watched as he walked into the woods alone but followed the others to the group of cars. Almost everyone had a weapon ready to kill any walkers lurking around, apart from me, because I could barely keep my eyes open without feeling tired.

"Looks clear," Abraham announced in the solemn voice he'd been using for the past few weeks.

Glenn went ahead, leaving me standing in the middle of the road. I went to follow, to find somewhere shady to sit down when Rick placed a hand on my shoulder. "Just take it easy for now. Don't push yourself."

I nodded. "Yeah."

He patted my shoulder as I pushed myself onto the car. I sat down on the boot of a car, swinging my legs as Rick moved off to search one of the vehicles. Afterwards, I placed my feet on the bumper and ignored how hot the metal was against my hands when I leaned back.

Rosita was in the back of another boot with a few open suitcases, rifling through the clothes and throwing away most of the things that resembled jeans or woollen pieces. When she grabbed another item she held it in her hands in the car and inspected it, but

As soon as she saw me looking she walked over to me, with an item of clothing in her hands. Without saying anything, she held up a maroon button-up dress with two pockets at the breast.

"Here," she said finally. "It's not the most reflective colour, or practical by any means, but I couldn't find shorts or anything else that would fit you. This will do for now. Keep you cooler at least."

She was right about it being completely impractical. But it seemed almost fitting to get the most impractical outfit from Rosita, someone who often walked around in shorts where she was exposed to getting bitten. I didn't blame her, I wasn't sure how much extra protection jeans or cargo pants provided.

"It's nice," was all I could think to say.

"I also found these," she pulled scissors out of her pocket. "I was thinking I could cut your hair if you'd like. Get some of that extra weight off."

I thought about what she said and realised that she was right. My hair was so long and heavy now that it felt like a chore to even have it. I couldn't style my hair anyway, so there was no point in keeping it so long. Maggie liked putting it in these up-dos but I couldn't always rely on her to make it stay out of my face. Especially now, she needed time to herself.

"Yeah, okay," I agreed.

"You sure?" Rosita asked like she was so sure I'd pass up the offer. "I don't know if it'll be any good."

"It's fine," I assured her.

Part of me felt that I had little to no care about how I looked. Did any of that even matter anymore? I just needed to do what I could to keep myself alive at this point. The other side of me remembered the boy in blue searching for a car across the road. Would Isaac care if the haircut turned out to be bad?

Again, still confused, she moved to grab the hard suitcase she'd emptied into the back of the car, zipped it back up and placed it on the ground beside me. "Here, sit down. Do you have a brush?"

I nodded, pointing to my bag as I sat on the suitcase.

Rosita nodded and knelt by the yellow bag and rifled through it before pulling out my hairbrush. She moved behind me and started brushing my hair, stopping when she reached the knots that had gathered from that day's events.

"You got a lot of hair," Rosita gripped all of it in her hand.

"I haven't managed to cut it since before," I said.

"I figured," she said.

I felt Rosita pull my hair back and start cutting. The sound was just underneath my ear as she moved around the back of my head and around to the other side. She said something about being almost done as she cut the last piece off in the front. She was a lot quicker than I expected her to be, but she was really just trying to get as much hair off as she could, only worrying a little about how it looked. It was for the best, given my state.

"Here, man!" Martinez called for Abraham to help him with something, distracting Rosita who had stood up straight and looked over her shoulder to just stare at him. There was more of a determination and intrigue in her look rather than anything else, like there was something she was looking for but couldn't find.

I frowned and studied her expression for a while. "Why are you staring at him?"

"Just checking something," she said, her voice full of suspicion. Eventually, she just muttered something under her breath which sounded like, "Coconut."

"What?"

"Oh, I was calling him a coconut. I couldn't hide it by saying it in Spanish because it's just coco," she clarified. "If he ever needs putting in his place just call him a coconut, he should know what it means," she said. "Tell him Rosita told you to."

Umm . . . okay? Still, I had no idea why. Or in what situation that would even come up? Really the only thing I had to add to this conversation was, "Coconut is cnau coco in Welsh."

Rosita just laughed a little, shaking her head. "Okay, tilt your head forward. I know it's longer underneath if we don't do this."

Nodding, I did what she said. The scissors snipped the ends at the back of my head, before moving around to each side. After that, she came around to the front of me and lifted my head with a hand on my chin.

"I just need to even it out a little," she said, cutting a little more hair off the right side. "There, done."

Standing up, I turned and wiped the dust off of the car window beside me. She had cut the hair at the bottom of my neck, just above my shoulders. I ran my fingers up and through my hair, which was so much easier to move than it used to be.

"It's so light."

"It looks good," she told me. "You won't be able to style it much, and I'm not sure how well it will go into a tie. But it's not horrible, at least. The good news is that it looks like it'll curl because of how light it is, which will hide how messy the cut is."

She was right, my hair used to be short and wavy. My mum had the same kind of hair, but she was much blonder than me. I ended up with a mix of her light hair and my dad's dark brown hair to get something in between.

"I like it," I said finally.

As I kept looking into my reflection, I saw the scar on my cheek. The one I got from the claimers. It had healed, but the mark was still really red. I hadn't seen myself in a long time, so seeing me now, so different—it was strange.

"You okay?" Rosita asked.

"Just thinking," was my response, hoping I didn't have to get into it.

The story of how I got it was still hard to think about; it was such a big night for Isaac that I hadn't processed what it meant for me. That seemed to be the theme, though. I don't think I've ever really spoken about the things I'd done. I almost died that night. Even worse was the fact that Rick had to cut them out a few days after Beth died.

"Okay, now you just need to get changed," she told me.

I nodded and straightened up, grabbing the dress from where it hung from the top of the car. It was the most impractical thing I could be wearing, but I knew I needed to get out of the jeans. I was so warm, and I couldn't focus on anything else. When I realised I had to change in front of all the others, I froze, thinking of a way I would be able to do that.

"What is it?" she asked.

My mind was just foggy as I tried to work through my problems like it was running slower than it normally would have. I would be glad when night came and the sun was off my head, actually able to get thoughts through my brain.

"I just . . . don't know how I'm going to change." (Without everyone seeing me.)

"Oh, right," she looked around, her eyes landing on the suitcase she ransacked and pulled out a large towel. She flipped one side around me and held it up, closing the sides together. "Here."

I tried looking back over my shoulder at the others behind me, seeing that the people in my field of view had ignored my existence altogether, purposely not looking over to give me privacy. The others weren't the ones I was worried about, however.

"Don't worry," Rosita said, snapping my eyes back to her. "He's not looking."

Nodding, I awkwardly slipped out of my shirt. I placed it down beside the dress on top of the car and I felt cooler standing with just the towel around me. Grabbing the dress from the top of the car, I pulled it over my head and down over the top of my jeans. Rosita lowered the towel with the dress covering everything now.

I had to kick my trainers off to get out of my jeans, and when I got them off, I felt so much cooler. Kneeling, I reached for my trainers to undo the laces so I could put them back on. When I got my show on, I accidentally brushed against my leg, the hair scratching my arm. I stopped, realising how much hair I had. I hadn't gotten the chance to shave since the prison.

"You okay?" Rosita asked.

My face went red as I looked up at her, and I started tying my laces again. "I just haven't shaved in a while."

"Oh," Rosita realised. "It shouldn't matter too much, your hair is light so it won't be that noticeable."

Her tone meant something closer to nobody will care because it was noticeable. It was to me, at least. Again, it was embarrassing. Isaac had to see me through all of this, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. He didn't have to worry about how he looked, didn't have to change anything.

"If it's bothering you, I got a spare razer," she said. "Next time we find water and clean up you can use it."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Just . . . don't worry about it," she said. "It's not your biggest problem if you do or you don't anymore."

I suppose not. Maybe I did care as little about how I looked, but Rosita was right. I had to focus on my health, making sure I stopped if I thought I was going to pass out. I was so tired, I wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep.

When my shoes were tied up, I stood. The others looked like they were almost done looting, some waiting near the front of the cars to continue with the walk. Isaac was finished with what he was doing as I passed him, standing up from the car and smiling at me.

"Good restraint boy," Abraham clapped his hand down on Isaac's shoulder, giving him a shake. "I'm proud of you."

I frowned, looking back at him. "What?"

"He's being a pervert," Rosita muttered as she passed me. "Ignore him."

Isaac looked uncomfortable, but I couldn't tell whether it was because of the comment or the fact that Abraham's hand was on his shoulder. He gave me an awkward smile but went to move away from the group and follow the others away from the cars, talking to Noah as he neared him. Isaac had been getting closer to Noah, which I liked. Noah was around our age, but I didn't know how to approach him after what happened.

It was Rosita that worried me because she and Abraham used to be so close. After what happened at the fire engine, Abraham got mean. Even I thought about shooting him, and if Maggie didn't have it covered, there was a chance I would have done it myself. Rosita and Abraham had barely spoken since that day, not that I blamed her.

Me and Abraham had somewhat forgiven each other (not that I had anything to be sorry for). That comment from Abraham was the most chipper he'd been in weeks, and even then there was still the familiar sadness behind his eyes as Rosita walked away and he gave up on his joke.

"We should get back on the road," Rick called out, glancing at me as he passed. He placed his hand on the back of my head which ran down to my shoulder before he continued, his voice quieter. "There's nothing useful left here."

He tapped my shoulder twice and gestured his head for me to follow, keeping close by.

And we've made it to the fun stuff, thank God. Ace gets harder and harder to write every so often, which is fine. I don't know when the next few chapters are coming out because I'm going to be on holiday for a week from next monday but if I can get one out before then, I will.

Also, the dress was ripped from the columbus. I really wanted her to be able to wear dresses without the stupid, I just think she looks cool in this so I'm going to have her wear something completely impractical. But Ace wearing that is so funny to me, so I found an okay reason that the dress becomes practical haha.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought :)