Z

"Are we going the right way?" Beth asked, coming to a stop and holding our map out in front of her. I peered over her shoulder at the winding lines crisscrossing the state. I followed the line she'd highlighted.

"We're just past route 12," I said, pointing at our rough location, "The highway should be just over this ridge. We gotta keep heading south." Beth nodded and folded the map up, tucking it in her back pocket. We began walking again, anticipating finally getting on the highway.

"You know something I really, really miss?" Beth asked, kicking a few rocks ahead of us.

"Hmm?" I glanced over at her. The late August day was hot and muggy. We both had our hair tied up in buns, but despite the weather we wore jeans and long sleeves to protect us from mosquitoes and the forest.

"I miss telling a bedtime story to my son," She said quietly, her eyes were trained on the road ahead, "I'd start telling him one story and he'd add bits to it, so we'd end up taking turns telling the story," She looked at me and I could see the tears shining in her eyes, "then he'd fall asleep and we'd pick it up the next night."

"How old was he?" I asked walking a little bit closer to her.

"5," She answered, "Tyler was 5."

"I'm sorry," I said softly, reaching out at putting a hand on her shoulder, "I really am."

She just nodded as my hand fell away, "Who did you lose?"

"Well," I said, "I'm assuming I lost my parents, they live - lived in California," I said, thinking about my family for the first time in weeks. It hurt, not being able to have said goodbye or see my family one more time. Early on all I could that was that I should have called my mother more, I should have visited them more often. Once you branch out and make a life for yourself, it's easy to get caught up in your own life and forget about your roots, "My ex, I didn't look for him, so he could be alive, but..." I trailed, "He would have been at his office when everything got out of control, I don't think he would have made it out." Beth nodded and patted my shoulder. We continued forward in silence, walking towards our only hope for salvation.

The static of the radio was interrupted by one word, "Infection". Beth stopped scanning the stations and tried to clarify the connection.

"You heard that too, right?" She asked over her shoulder. We had the old hand powered radio's volume as low as possible to avoid attracting attention.

"Yes," I whispered, peering out between the boards of the covered window and into the woods. I could see the dark figures moving among the trees. Thankfully, they were still oblivious to our presence, "I think we'll be able to stay here tonight." We'd stumbled upon the ransacked cabin and decided to try the radio, just in case.

"If you can hear me," The voice from the radio was clearer now, I joined Beth to listen to the broadcast, "We are alive and free from infection. There are many of us and we are able to fight them off. Please come to us, we can help. We're at the Naval air station in Pensacola, Florida." The message repeated over and over.



We'd finally made it to the highway and began carefully making our way through the parked cars, keeping an eye out for walkers.

Beth asked, gesturing to an old yellow Ford, "Is that food?" We walked over to the car and sure enough there was canned food and water laid out on the hood along with a note painted on the windshield.

SOPHIA, STAY HERE. WE WILL COME EVERY DAY

My stomach growled looking at all of the canned foods, reminding me that we had last eaten the night before. One look at Beth and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. She picked up a can of pears.

"If we each take one can, we can leave some for her," Beth said, looking at the windshield, "I'm so hungry."

"Me too," I nodded, picking up a can of soup, "I think there's a river just on the other side of the highway," I pointed to the woods on the opposite side of where we'd come onto the road, "We can wash up and settle in a car for the night?"

"Sounds good," Beth looked ahead a few cars and spotted an Escalade with darkly tinted windows, "Bingo." We both set the food back down and approached the vehicle to make sure there was no one trapped inside. Thankfully the SUV had been empty and we'd even found blankets and pillows in the trunk area as well as clean clothing, "This is so perfect." There was a hint of excitement in Beth's voice.

"You know what I really miss?" I asked Beth as we headed down the ridge towards the river. Beth raised her eyebrows at me, "A nice, hot shower and lotion. My hands are so rough," I thought for a moment, "And manicures."

Beth laughed, "Oh god," She stretched her neck, "What about a massage? Doesn't that sound good?" We reached the running water and began rinsing our hands and faces. I got my hair wet, trying to rinse some of the dirt and sweat out of it.

"Yes," I said from my bent over position. The cold water felt good running down my face and neck, this and our shelter for the night were simple things to enjoy, but they were such a luxury.

"SOPHIA!" We heard from not too far away, this made us both snap our heads up towards the sound of the voice.

"People," I said quietly, backing out of the river and scooping my backpack up from the bank, "C'mon, we'll find someplace else." Beth was already heading away from the voice, I followed quickly. We ran through the trees, dodging in and out of them to put as much space between us and the man we'd heard. The thing about running scared, is that you get turned around easily and doing so in the woods makes you that much more likely to end up going in the wrong direction. I tried hard not to let myself get into panic mode anymore, but I was panicking.

"Rose," Beth said, reaching out and grabbing my hand, "Don't get lost. Stay with me." I held her hand tight as we kept running. I couldn't lose her.

A gun shot rang out and a scream came from Beth.

"Fuck," She spat, holding her upper arm. Blood oozed through her fingers, she had her eyes closed tightly.

"Lemme see," I said, she removed her fingers from the wound and I could see where the bullet had taken a good chunk out of her skin, I pulled my pack off and held it by the strap, "It hit you, but it's not in you," I paused just for a second, debating about getting the first aid kit out, "We gotta keep going, I'll fix it."

"Okay," She whimpered. We turned around to start moving again and came face to face with two men. I stepped in front of Beth, my hand on my parang. The men were about equal in height, one had dark hair - buzzed down to almost nothing - and dark eyes. He wore a tan tee shirt and cargo pants with combat boots; in his hand he held a gun. The other man had shaggy brown hair and clear blue eyes, his face was scruffy and he wore a sleeveless flannel with torn jeans and boots. His crossbow was aimed at my head.

"You the one that shot?" I asked the man with the gun.

"Yeah," He nodded, "I'm-" I didn't let him finish his sentence. I pulled my arm back and slugged him as hard as I could in his face. He stumbled back, holding his cheek and his crossbow wielding partner grabbed my arm and twisted me in a way so I was restrained with my back against him.

"Whoa, girl," he drawled in my ear.

"Shit!" the guy I punched grumbled, looking at me, "What the fuck was that for? I was apologizing for hitting her."

"Let go of me, you dirty hillbilly!" I said, struggling against the man holding me back. He laughed lightly in response.

"Ya'll are running around out here, we thought you might be walkers," the one holding me said. He held me tightly against his chest.

"Obviously we're alive," I said, still straining against his arm.

"It's okay," Beth said, still holding her arm, "I understand. I'm sorry she hit you. Are you alright?"

"I'm not sorry," I grumbled.

"I'm good," The man with the gun said, still rubbing his face, "I'm Shane."

"You got a mean right hook, girl," The man holding me said quietly into my ear.

"You want me to show you it again?" I asked meanly, "If you don't let me go-" He chuckled in response.

"Beth," She introduced herself, "That's Rose."

"I'm Daryl," The one holding me gave his name.

"Now that we're all friends," I said, "You can let go of me." He finally released me and I looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Let us take you back to our camp, we got a doctor that can fix your arm," Shane offered, "But after that you gotta leave."

I glanced over at Beth as she processed things, "Okay."

"What?" I asked, looking from Beth to the Men and back, "Can I talk to you please?"

"Excuse us," Beth smiled, we walked a few feet away from Shane and Daryl, "What's wrong?"

"We can't just go with them," I said in a harsh whisper, "We don't know if they're lying. They could kill us!"

"They're not lying," She said, "That Shane guy was a cop. I think he's telling the truth."

"How do you know he was a cop?"

"His hat, it says sheriff."

"Do you know how many people can have hats that say sheriff, he might have taken that off a body!"

"Ya'll coming?" Daryl asked, sounding impatient, "We got walkers coming."

"Yeah," Beth said, walking over towards them, "Plus they can fix this." I followed her as we made our way through the woods with these strange men. Daryl looked back at me from time to time, from me he received a dirty look and in response I got a smirk.

Where were they taking us?