The New World

Sabrina woke up to the sound of the tent being unzipped. She rose slightly to see who it was...Shane.

"Time to get up sleeping beauties," He said cheekily. Shane left and Sabrina started waking Ana up. Once they got up they went out to the rest of the group.

"What'd I miss?" She asked as Ana went to play with the other kids.

"We picked some mushrooms but we don't know if there poisonous or not," Amy said while sitting by the camp fire.

"I told Amy to wait until Daryl got back so he could take a look at them," Lori commented.

"I can take a look at them. I was in girl scouts."

"Really?" Amy asked surprised.

"Yeah, even though I didn't want to be in it."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not really an outdoor person. But since the world has turned upside down I have no choice but to be an outdoor person," Sabrina said sitting by Amy and taking the blue bucket of mushrooms.

"Can I get another bucket or some kind of basket?"

"Here," Lori said handing me a small wicker basket.

"Thanks." Sabrina started examining each mushroom putting the edible ones in the wicker basket and putting the poisonous ones by her feet.

"How can you tell if their poisonous?" Amy asked curiously.

"Well the most common poisonous mushroom is called Amanita. You see how it almost looks like an umbrella with white gills underneath the cap?" Sabrina asked letting Amy get a good look. "This one's poisonous. You can also identify it by the rings on the stem."

"Oh. Can I help?"

"Sure."

Together Amy and Sabrina sifted through the mushrooms. Once they were done the kids came over.

"Don't touch thoughs sweetie," Sabrina said to the Morales' daughter, "They're no good."

"Can we go down to the water?" Ana asked.

"I'll take them down there," Amy said. She got up and the kids followed her down to the quarry. When Amy was out of sight Shane came and sat in her place.

"Little miss girl scout huh?" He asked with amusement.

"Only for a few weeks. I got kicked out."

"How the hell can someone get kicked out of club scouts?"

"Not following the rules," She said with a 'duh' tone.

"Watch it," Shane warned.

"Or what?" She taunted.

Before Sabrina could do anything she was up over Shane's shoulder going to the quarry.

"Shane don't put me in the water again! Please!"

"Say you're sorry for using that tone with an officer."

"Officer? You're not an officer anymore."

They were getting closer to the water.

"Say it."

"Hell no."

"Ok."

Shane was about to throw her in until she grabbed the back of his shirt tightly.

"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry for using that tone. I won't do it again." Shane gently put her down on her feet.

"Next time I won't be so forgiving," Shane said then looked up to the sky. "We better get them away from the water, it looks like a storm's comin' in."

Sabrina looked up at the sky and saw a huge cloud that was getting darker by the minute.

"Amy! Kids! Let's get back to the camp!" She said loudly.

Everyone made it back to the camp.

"Momma can we go into the tent and color?" Ana asked.

"Sure honey."

The kids went to Sabrina and Ana's tent to color. She sat down in her original spot before she got swooped up by Shane to catch her breath. She looked around the camp, Shane was teaching Carl how to tie a rope, Lori was pulling the dry clothes off the clothes line, Dale and Jim working on the RV, most likely trying to fix the hose again. And Amy was pacing back and forth.

"What's wrong Amy?"

"It's late. They should've been back by now."

"Worrying won't make it better," Dale said still working on the hose.

"Hello, base camp!" Sabrina jumped at the sudden sound of the voice coming over the CB.

"Can anybody out there hear me? Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?"

Sabrina got up and followed Dale up the RV ladder. Dale picked up the walkie and said, "Hello. Hello. Reception's bad on this end. Repeat. Repeat."

"Shane is that you?"

T-Dog... Dale doesn't sound anything like Shane.

"Is that them?" Sabrina looked down at Lori and answered. "It sounds like T-Dog."

"We're in some deep shit. We're trapped in the department store," T-Dog said through the CB.

"He says they're trapped?" She nodded to Shane.

"There are geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded."

"T-Dog, repeat that last. Repeat."

Nothing.

"He said the department store." Lori said.

"And that they're surrounded," Sabrina added. She saw that look on Lori's face.

"Shane?"

"No way. We do not go after them. We do not rick the rest of the group. Y'all know that."

"So we're just gonna leave her there?" Amy said angrily

"Look, Amy, I know this is not easy-"

"She volunteered to go to help the rest of us."

"I know, and she knew the risks, right? See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we'll just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do."

"Shane!" Sabrina snapped,

"She's my sister you son of a bitch." Amy said then ran off.

Sabrina got down from the RV and slapped Shane. "You've got to be kidding me right? How can you be so heartless towards her? You don't know if they're going to make it out or not! There's a little hope."

"Rin-"

"Amy..." She said ignoring him and went to look for Amy. Sabrina finally found her by Andrea and her tent sobbing uncontrollably.

"Amy." She said softly as she sat down by Amy. "Shane can be an insensitive jerk sometimes. I know she'll come back." Sabrina finished and hugged her tightly.

Amy sobbed into Sabrina's shoulder while hugging her. After ten minutes past Amy calmed down. "I'm sorry, I got your shirt all wet." She giggled lightly while wiping her eyes.

"It's fine Amy. I got to get back to camp to see what the kids are up to. You wanna come or do you wanna stay here for a bit?"

"I'll go check on them with you." Sabrina and Amy got up and headed to where everyone else was.

There were a couple of sprinkles until the brutal hot sun came back out. The little raindrops didn't even get the ground the slightest bit muddy.

"Mother nature hates us." She muttered while putting her hair up in a clip and sitting to the right of Lori.

Lori was trimming Carl's hair and of course he was complaining about it the whole time. Ana and Morgan came up to Sabrina and Ana asked, "Momma can you braid our hair?"

"Sure. Which one's first?"

Morgan sat down in front of Sabrina and she started braiding the girls blonde hair.

"Stop fidgeting."

"I'm trying." Carl whined.

"Well try harder."

"Wait until you start shaving. It stings. That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts." Shane said.

"All done Morgan." Shane looked over at Sabrina surprised. "What?"

"You're done with braidin' her hair already?"

Ana sat down in Morgan's spot and Sabrina started on her hair while she answered Shane. "I'm a braiding master. It's not my fault I know how to braid and you can't."

"I can braid."

"Right. And I can clean guns." She said sarcastically.

"You know Carl, if you get through this we'll go catch frogs."

"I've caught a frog before."

"I said frogs-plural. And it is an art, my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means. Few people know about it. I'm willing to share my secrets."

"Can we catch frogs too?" Ana asked.

"Sure." Shane said smiling. "As long as it's ok with your mama."

"It's fine with me."

"Why do we need frogs, plural?" Carl questioned.

"You ever eat frog legs?"

"Eww." A chorus of kids said.

"No, yum!"

"No, he's right. Eww."

"What about you Rina?"

"I've eaten 'em before. They're not bad but there not good either." She answered Shane while finishing Ana's braid.

"When you get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those frog legs, lady. I can see it now." Shane said then tried to mock Lori's voice. "Shane, do you think I could have a second helping, please? Please? Just one?"

"Yeah, I doubt that." She said.

Sabrina heard something then turned to Dale. "Dale what's that?"

"I can't tell yet."

"It almost sounds like a car alarm doesn't it?" She asked Lori.

"It does."

Everybody got up and headed to the entry of the campsite.

"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asked hopeful.

Amy heard Dale mutter something. "What is it?"

"A stolen car is my guess."

Here came a red Challenger with two black stripes on the hood where the engine is and the alarm was blaring. Shane went up to it and started yelling at Glenn to pop the hood. Glenn finally popped the hood with Amy badgering him about Andrea and Shane disconnected the alarm. A few seconds later a white box truck came up the 'driveway'. Mr. Morales got out and hugged his family, Andrea got out and Amy ran to her crying with joy and relief, T-Dog and Jacqui came out looking relieved and exhausted.

"How did you guys get out?" Sabrina asked Jacqui.

"Some new guy helped us out," She answered.

"New guy?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, crazy vato just got into town. Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello. The guy's a cop like you." Morales said.

Sabrina looked at the man approaching and her heart went into her throat. Shane stood there not believing what he was seeing. Lori and Carl looked at the guy and Carl started running and shrieking.

"DAD!"

I can't believe it. Rick's alive!

Rick dropped to his knees with tears as he hugged Carl tightly. Lori went to him and done the same. Sabrina had tears in her eyes, Lori, Carl, and Rick have been reunited. After the reunitement and greetings were done the women started dinner. By the time it was done the sun was setting and everybody was eating. When they cleaned up the dishes everybody was sitting around the campfire, excluding Carol, Sophia, and Ed, listening to Rick's story.

Ed you are such a prick for not letting your family come and join us, Sabrina thought as she was wrapped in a blanket with Ana and Morgan.

Sabrina could hear thunder in the background. Maybe it'll finally rain.

"You girls ready to go to bed?" She asked Ana and Morgan, which were yawning.

The two girls nodded and all three got up.

"We're headed to bed. Rick I'm so glad you're back."

"Thanks Rina. You three sleep well."

Everyone bid the three goodnight. Sabrina tucked the girls into their cots and laid in her own.

"Sabrina?"

"Yes Morgan?"

"Do you think my mom and dad are up in heaven looking down on us?"

"Of course I do Morgan. They're always going to be watching, especially you. They're safe sweetie. They don't have to risk their lives from day to day anymore."

"Thanks Sabrina."

Morgan snuggled into the blanket and fell asleep just like Ana. A few minutes later Sabrina fell into a dreamless sleep.