Starting Over...

DARYL POV-

I tromped my way through the woods, backtrackin' from the campsite 'n racin' nightfall.

A few stragglin' walkers had sniffed me out 'n were followin' behind me as I moved. I could hear 'em gurglin' 'n growlin', catchin' up quick 'n nippin' at my heels.

The things were dead, so they didn't need to breathe; which meant they never got tired. They just kept comin', 'n they didn't stop till they were pickin' ya from their teeth. 'N that's why the best thing to do was take 'em out. I didn't mind doin' it, neither.

Once I got ahead'a the walkers a little bit, I turned on my heel 'n slammed my back into a tree trunk so nothin' could sneak up on me. The rough tree bark scraped into my bare shoulders.

I ignored the stingin' feelin', 'n kept my focus as I aimed my loaded crossbow. I squinted my left eye to get a better view'a my targets.

They were still a few feet away, but they were gainin' on me. I fired the first arrow. Bullseye! It took the head'a the pack out, 'n the body slumped over to the side.

That left me with three arrows 'n four walkers... I was one short. I'd have'ta be quick about this. My second arrow was reloaded. I aimed, fired, took out the next walker.

While the last two crept closer, I kept my eye on 'em, 'n loaded my last bow quick as lightenin'. It felt like a reflex by now.

"C'mon, you sons'a bitches..." I heard myself growl as I pointed my crossbow straight forward, just as the first walker in line opened its bloody chompers.

Perfect.

I fired the arrow, shootin' it straight up into the roof'a the walker's mouth. The point exited through the top'a its skull, lodgin' in the brain 'n killin' it instantly.

The force from the blow threw the now lifeless walker off balance, causin' it to topple backwards and crash into the still livin' one. They both hit the ground with a thud. The live walker was actually quite a bit smaller than the one I had just killed, so it was trapped.

I took a second to catch my breath, keepin' my eye on the corpse wrigglin' to get free, but it wasn't goin' no where. I slowly walked closer to it.

When the gruesome thing saw me, its milky white eyes locked onto my own blue ones. It managed to get one arm free, rippin' the skin off the bone in the process. It reached out 'n swiped for my boot, which was just outta its reach.

It squirmed 'n snapped its jaws at me, screechin' 'n hissin'.... I couldn't look at it no more.

So, I lifted my knee above its head, and brought my heel down with all my force, right between the walker's eyes. The skull caved under my boot, makin' a nasty crunch. I repeated the motion, just to be safe. This time, my heel busted a gapin' hole straight through the walker's face. Blood, brain matter 'n shards'a bone splattered everywhere. Yup, it was dead.

After I scanned the area with my eyes to make sure no more walkers were headed my way, I yanked my arrows from the bodies layin' on the ground, one by one.

When they were all collected, I hooked 'em to my bow, 'n then the bow back to its strap. Everything got tossed over my shoulder, 'n I started off again. I wasn't too far off from the prison now.

It only took maybe five or six minutes to reach the treeline; I could see the huge stone building that was "home" for now.

By now the yard was full'a walkers again, stumblin' around 'n trippin' over each other. I didn't pay any attention to 'em, 'n just kept on runnin'. I made it past the lot'a the undead, dodgin' the ones that reached for my arms 'n legs. I sealed myself behind the front gate, just as one last walker grabbed for me, lettin' out a hiss.

I ignored it 'n continued across the empty cement lot. When I reached the main door we all used that led to the cafeteria, I flung it open 'n stormed inside.

Every head in the room turned at the sudden sound'a the creaky doorhinges.

When I got closer to the group, I realized Carl 'n Rick were missin'. Everyone else was huddled around Beth. She was holdin' Rick's new baby in her arms, wrapped in a blanket'n fast asleep.

At the sight'a the new life, somethin' came over me. My body relaxed, 'n I forgot how pissed I was about that camp'a spies.

"Daryl..." Carol said my name softly as she stood up from her seat next to Beth, "You disappeared... We were worried."

She gazed at me with concerned eyes. That woman had always taken a likin' to me, 'n I wasn't quite sure why. Sometimes it irritated me when she got in her clingy moods, 'n sometimes it felt like she wanted us to be more than just friends, or members of the same group.

But I just... wasn't interested. It wasn't that Carol wasn't a pretty woman or anythin'. She was sweet, lovin', and was a good mom to Sophia before... Well, she was a good mom...

But Carol wasn't very strong. She was great with a gun, but when it came down to her emotional state, Carol was like a crumblin' cookie. Even if I was lookin' for a relationship, that wasn't somethin' I wanted to deal with.

I blamed the way Carol was on her abusive scumbag husband, who died a while back. Good riddance to 'em.

I guess she clung to me 'cause she was lookin' for love, but I didn't have none'a that in me. Even before the world went to hell, I didn't believe in no love bullshit... Sex? Sure. Just like any straight man out there, I appreciated a sexy woman who lit my fire in the bedroom... Provided she was gone by sunrise. But...Love? As far as I was concerned, it didn't exit. I wasn't raised to believe it.

Growin' up, my mama was a drunk. I can hardly ever remember seein' her without a bottle'a vodka in her hands; She went through at least two'a those damn things a day... sucked 'em down like water. She never left home, 'n my scumbag father ran around on 'er every night. But really, who could blame him? The woman was mentally absent, drownin' in her liqour. She completely ignored my dad, my brother, Merle, and I, just layin' her drunk ass in bed smokin' cigarettes... And that's ultimately what killed her.

It was late one night and no one was home. My mama had drank herself stupid, just like always, smokin' a cigarette in bed. She passed out cold, 'n her cigarette caught the bedsheets. Firefighters said the fire spread so quickly, it didn't take her more than twenty minutes to burn up.

I don't remember cryin' at her funeral.

A few years before that, my drug-addicted father walked out on us. After abusin' my brother, Merle, 'n I for years 'n makin' our lives a livin'hell... He just up 'n left, disappeared. I haven't seen him since, 'n I hope the walkers tore him apart 'n ate him alive.

That left Merle 'n I alone to fend for ourselves 'n each other, 'n that's a long list'a events that I won't get into.

So, I ignored Carol's concerned eyes. I wasn't gonna tell her where I went, 'cause she didn't need to know.

"Boy er girl?" I asked in a mumble as I nodded toward the sleepin' baby.

"Girl." Beth replied, but she didn't look at me. She just smiled at the baby.

"Do you want to hold her, Daryl?" Carol asked, turnin' her face up in a smile.

I guess she had taken my hint a second ago 'n changed her attitude.

I ignored the feelin' of everyone's eyes on me, 'n gave a small nod. 'cause truth was, I did wanna hold her... 'n I had no shame in that.

I watched Beth slowly hand the baby over to Carol, who passed her into my arms. I cradled her tiny, fragile body 'n stared down at her angelic face. Amazingly, she had stayed asleep.

I felt my lips form a smile. She was precious... Made me wonder what my kid would'a looked like, if I would'a ever had one... But those days were long behind me. Never really saw myself with kids, anyway.

"Hey there, sweetheart..." I whispered to the brand new child. Her tiny lips pursed in her sleep, makin' me chuckle. "She got a name yet?"

I glanced around the room 'n saw nothin' but shoulders shruggin' 'n heads shakin'.

"Huh. Well then I think we should call her... 'Lil Asskicker."

There was a low chuckle around the room from everyone.

"We thought Rick and Carl should name her," Maggie spoke up once she stopped gigglin', "But they went off somewhere to talk a while ago."

At the mention of Rick's name, my memory of earlier was jogged. I carefully handed 'Lil Asskicker back over to Carol, then sat back 'n waited for a few minutes. When everyone slowly strayed off to their own business, I stalked over to Glenn's cell, where he was layin' on the bottom bunk with a hat over his face

"Hey," I said as I rattled my fist against the bedframe.

Glenn jumped into a sittin' position and ripped the hat from his face, starin' at me with wide eyes... Guess I must'a startled him. "You 'n me need to talk."

When I said that, Glenn's eyes went from wide 'n shocked to dazed 'n confused.

"You...Need to talk to me..." He repeated me slowly, as if he'd heard me wrong.

I rolled my eyes, but I could understand his confusion. I didn't really talk much to him or anyone else in the group, 'cept for Rick.

"Will you just get yer ass up, this is serious!"I hissed, tryin' to keep my voice low. "Just meet me at the top'a the stairwell. Bring T-Dog with ya, too."

Glenn nodded at me seriously before I walked off across the cafeteria floor 'n to the main stairwell. I climbed up to the top, which was the third cell block. I could see every inch of the cafeteria, but I was out of everyone's earshot... Just how I wanted it.

I leaned my forearms on the cold, rusty steel railin' 'n waited a minute or two. My eyes followed Glenn as he walked out of his cell 'n made his way to T-Dog, who was cleanin' one'a his guns at the far left table.

Glenn whispered somethin' to T-Dog, who glanced up at me, then nodded 'n got up from his seat.

Both of 'em had confused looks on their faces as they climbed up the stairs.

"Everything cool, Daryl...?" T-Dog asked slowly, his voice low.

Glenn didn't say nothin', he seemed like he was waitin' for me to answer T-Dog's question.

"I don't know.." I sighed, crossin' my arms over my chest.

"What's going on?" Glenn proded, "Are we in danger?"

So, I broke the news to 'em. I told 'em about Kayla 'n Danny fightin' off those walkers like it was a game, the campsite in the woods, 'n most importantly what I'd heard about those strangers spyin' on us.

Glenn and T-Dog stayed quiet, exchangin' glances at each other when I mentioned spyin'.

"...What...?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes. Somethin' was up.

Glenn looked sorta unsure for a second. He chewed on the inside'a his cheeks before finally lettin' out a tense exhale.

"You gonna show 'im?" T-Dog asked Glenn, who nodded hesitantly.

"Show me what?" I demanded lightly. What were these two hidin' from me..?

"C'mon.." Glenn mumbled, noddin' his head toward the bottom'a the stairs.

I followed the two'a 'em down the stairs 'n back into Glenn's cell.

"Stand in the doorway, T-Dog," Glenn instructed, "... Please."

T-Dog did what Glenn asked, standin' in the doorway 'n blockin' some visual.

I watched Glenn as he knealt down by the bottom bunk, liftin' up the mattress a bit. I narrowed my eyes when he pulled out... A bunch'a folded up paper?

"What--" I started to ask, but Glenn just held those papers out to me.

"Just read them." He said, gulpin' slightly.

I grabbed the papers 'n glanced over at T-Dog, who nodded. He looked real serious.

So, I unfolded the first'a three papers. There was a sentence on it spelled out in magazine clippin' letters, like a ransome note.

"Sorry 4 ur loss. There will B more."

My eyes scanned the sentence a few times. I felt my stomach twist. The note was referrin' Lori's death...

On the bottom'a the note, there was a curesive "G".

I read the second paper, written out the same way: "We R Coming 2 Visit"... followed by the same cursive "G" at the bottom.

I felt the anger boilin' in my blood as I read the last paper.

"Not 2 much longer. B Ready."... And there was that "G", right under the sentence.

"The fuck is this?" I growled, slingin' the papers across Glenn's cell.

"We don't know." T-Dog answered me. He crossed his arms and leaned his left shoulder against the door frame. "After you left today, these showed up to the prison, one after the other... We don't know where they're coming from, or who G is."

"Rick's already got enough on his plate right now, so we kept the notes to ourselves.." Glenn added in while he recollected the papers, " And now you're mentioning strangers outside watching us..."

We all looked at each other. By the looks on our faces, we were all thinkin' the same thing; connectin' the weird notes to the strangers in the woods.

So, right'ere in that cell, the three of us came up with a plan'a attack.

Now, we just had to wait for the perfect time to initiate it.

-KAYLA POV-

Two days had gone by since I'd seen the people in the prison. I checked each day for them through the binoculars, seeing nothing but walkers.

Our group had agreed that if we didn't see any of them for five days straight, we would move in on the prison and investigate. I was getting a little anxious.

Now, it was almost noon on day 3, and things around the camp had been pretty boring, to say the least.

When Danny and I came back from hunting the other night, he had to open his big mouth to Zach about our run in with the walker herd. That had earned me an earful from my brother, and he hadn't let me leave camp since... I was going nuts.

I sat with my back propped up against the front left tire of the Cherokee. My legs were outstretched and crossed in front of me, and I was trying to keep myself busy by whittling at a twig with my hunting knife.

I looked up for a second to see what my friends and brother were doing... aaaaand they were all doing the exact same thing as when I looked up before.

In the middle of camp, my brother sat cross-legged by the crackling fire. He had his baseball cap turned backwards, and a focused look on his face. He clutched a giant knife in his left hand, and a freshly caught fish in the right. He finished scaling the fish, set it down to his right, and grabbed another one from the pile of four next to his left leg. He began repeating the scaling process.

While Zach cleaned the fish, Tina set up our frying pan over the fire. Once it was set in place, she used a thick stick to poke and prod at the embers. The fire festered, the flames reaching up and licking the bottom of the frying pan, heating it so it would be nice and hot for the fish.

I got bored of watching those two really quickly, and then found my eyes settled on Danny. He was straight across camp, kicked back in an old lawn chair. He was concentrating very intently on sharpening his machete with a smooth stone. That machete had been his weapon of choice ever since he found it inside an abandoned barn in Kentucky somewhere. Whenever we had down time, he was always polishing or sharpening the blade, and sometimes it gave me an uneasy feeling.

Now was one of those times.

I tore my eyes away from Danny and began to search for Jessie. I spotted her mess of blonde curls a few yards away near the thick treeline. She was crouched with her back to me, looking down at something.

My thin eyebrows furrowed in curiosity as I craned my neck to see what she was doing. I couldn't see, so I decided to go over there. I slid my knife back into its sheath strapped to my thigh, which was exposed; I was wearing my jean shorts today, which meant I had to be extra careful if I had a run-in with walkers.

I pushed myself up off the ground and brushed the dead grass blades off the seat of my shorts. As I walked across the campsite, passing behind Tina and Zach, my brown hiking boots made scuffing sounds against the grassy forrest floor.

Danny glanced up for a split second as I passed in front of him, but quickly dropped his gaze back to the razor sharp blade in his hands.

"Boo." I said as I approached Jessie. She still had her back to me, crouching and staring at something in the bushes.

She turned her head over her shoulder to look at me. Her hair fell into her blue eyes, blocking her vision, so she reached up and tucked it behind her ear.

When Jessie finally saw me, she smiled. Her teeth were white and just a little crooked, but it was the kind of smile that was contagious. I couldn't help but flash my pearly whites when I saw it.

"Hey, bitch." Jessie greeted me.

"'Sup, hoe?" I replied in a joking tone.

Of course we were just joking. We had always called each other vulgar names, ever since we were 13 and thought it was cool to cuss. To us, it was endearing... that sounds weird.

Maybe it was just a girl thing, I don't know.

"What are you looking at?" I asked as I crouched next to my best friend of 18 years.

"Look." she whispered in return, reaching out her long, skinny tan arm and pointing at something.

I followed her gesture, staring through a gap in the thick brush and tree roots. I had to lean over a little, but I could see what Jessie was pointing at.

It was a small bush, no bigger than a school desk, or a mini fridge or something.

The bush must have just sprang into full bloom, because it was covered in vibrant, healthy looking yellow flowers. They swayed about serenely as a warm summer breeze passed through.

"They're gorgeous, huh?" Jessie asked me with a small sigh, "It feels good to know there's still at least a little beauty left in the world."

I turned my eyes away from the flower bush and looked at Jessie. She had her left elbow propped on her knee; which was drapped over with the skirt of her faded yellow sundress; and her chin rested in her palm.

The smile from before was completely gone from her face, and her eyes were glassy.

"You okay, Jess?" I asked her in a soft voice.

"Hm..?" Jessie hummed and shot her eyes over to me, like I had just ripped her out of a deep thought.

By now, my legs were starting to fall asleep from crouching so long, so I shifted my weight and sat cross-legged in the grass. I leaned back onto my palms and stared into Jessie's blue eyes.

"I said, are you okay?" I repeated again, "You've been really quiet the past few days."

And for Jessie, that was unusual. Quiet was never in the list of words I used to describe her.

In high school and what little portion of our early college years we had, Jessie and I were crazy. We were double trouble, never at a party without the other. We had tons of friends, but she was always my closest and dearest. She could make anyone laugh and brighten their day.

Jessie was still spunky and upbeat, and she usually kept the morale of our group alive with her jokes and girly squimishness. But as far as Jessie as an entire person, she was different. We all were. This world had changed us, scrubbing away our shiny outer coating and leaving only the raw core of our souls.

Life wasn't about parties, hanging out with friends and impressing guys, or going to work to earn money to pay your bills anymore.

Life was about one thing and one thing only: staying alive.

I was still staring at Jessie, waiting for her answer.

"I'm fine." She lied, but I gave her a look. I saw right through her and she knew it.

Finally, Jessie sighed in defeat.

"Okay, okay.." She said, mimicing my cross-legged position, "I guess I've just been thinking a lot lately."

"About what?" I proded on. I knew she might feel better if she talked about what was bothering her.

"Well..." Jessie sighed again, picking at the grass, "Just everything. I mean, how long do you really think we're gonna last, living like this?"

Her blunt question caught me a little off guard, but I quickly covered up my surprise by turning my lips upward into a grin.

"Hey, we're badasses." I said, and I saw just the littlest hint of a smile form on Jessie's face, "We survived a year of this hell, we can survive fifty more. We'll be shootin' walkers with bazookas while we're knitting in our rocking chairs."

Jessie giggled slightly at the sight of me miming out the motion of shooting a bazooka, complete with my own explosion sound effects.

I thought that had cured her of her gloomy mood, but after a few seconds, Jessie's giggles faded off and her face darkened again.

"But... what if I run out of inhalers...?" she looked up at me, fear in her eyes.

My smile faded now, as well.

"I've only got 5 left," Jessie continued, "I don't wanna die like that, Kayla.." Her voice began to quiver and her eyes brimmed with tears.

I scooted closer to Jessie and embraced her. She layed her head on my shoulder, and I could feel her take deep, shaky breaths to avoid crying.

Ironically, she whipped out her inhaler, shook it up, and took a deep puff. She then checked the dial on the back of the of the canister that kept track of how many puffs she had left. Jessie sighed when she saw the big, red "0".

"Now I have four left..." She muttered into my shoulder as she chucked the empty inhaler into the trees.

"Jessie, listen to me." I said firmly as I held the blonde haired, blue eyed girl out in front of me by her shoulders, "You're my best friend, and I love you to death. I won't let you run out... I can't do this shit without you."

I stared seriously at Jessie's face. A few stray tears fell from her eyes and rolled down her rosie cheeks. She lifted her hand up to wipe them away, then nodded at me.

Then, I let go of her shoulders, and held up my outstretched pinky.

"Pinky promise." I said, feeling my smile find its way back again. We had been doing this ever since we met, at age 5.

Jessie hesitated for a second, but finally she broke down and smiled. She wrapped her pinky around mine, and repeated the phrase.

Suddenly, I caught a delicious whiff of something cooking, and that was when I remembered the fish that I had seen Zach scaling.

"Hey, Kayla! Jessie!" Tina's small voice hollered out, and we each looked in her direction, "Dinner's ready!"

"Oh my god, I'm starving!" I exclaimed, shooting up to my feet.

"Me, too," Jessie agreed as I helped her up off the ground, "Smells good, Tina!"

The youngest member of our group grinned and took a bow. It had taken her a few months to come out of her shell and warm up to us, but it happened eventually. I'm sure she got tired of us teasing and nagging her about how quiet she was.

It had taken an outburst from Danny one night near the beginning of our journey for her to stick up for herself. I remember it like it was just yesterday;

We had been on the run for two weeks straight, sleeping in the Cherokee and sometimes having to flee our camping spot in the middle of the night, after only two or three hours of sleep.

All of our bodies had been running on empty; we hadn't had much for food or water in four or five days. After just barely outrunning an enormous herd of the undead, we were holed up in an old ice cream shop at 3:00 in the morning, with a few of the huge freezers baricading the door.

I can still remember gagging at the smell of sour milk; The "ice cream" was still in the vats sitting in the tanks where you would have picked your flavor before. It was weeks and weeks old, way past the point of souring and now just a blanket of green and black mold festering inside the glass.

"Man, FUCK THIS!!"  Danny had suddenly screamed, kicking an already overturned chair and sending it clattering across the room.

Tina, Jessie and I had jumped at the abrupt sound, but Zach had just leaned up on the counter, crossing his arms over his chest like he had been expecting Danny to flip. He was always the calmest and most collected of all of us.

"Are you trying to lure more walkers to us or something, Danny?"  My brother had asked as we all watched him move onto punching the wall and bloodying his knuckles.

"I don't give a SHIT, man!! I'm done runnin' like a bitch!!" Danny had snarled back, turning his infuriated eyes to the rest of us, "If those things want us, then they're gonna get us. IT DON'T MATTER WHAT WE FUCKIN' DO, DOES IT?!"

At that point, Danny was slamming his fists against the freezers, provoking the monsters outside. I could hear their growls and snarls growing louder on the other side of the freezers, obviously attracted to the noise Danny was making.

"Stop it..!!" Jessie had begged and tried to step up and calm Danny down, but he had shoved her away, making her stumble back into me.

"You stay the hell away from me, bitch." He had growled at her, which of course sparked my anger, combined with the fact that he had put his hands on her.

"HEY-" I had yelled back as I started reaching for my knife, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me; It was Zach, shaking his head at me, as if to say that wasn't a good idea.

"All'a ya'll, stay the hell away from me,"  I remember Danny pointing his finger at every one of us, lingering on Tina, who as usual hadn't said one word. "'Specially you... You don't ever say nothin', too scared to ever do nothin'... I'm surprised you ain't dead yet."

This time, it was Zach who was starting to step forward. Danny had crossed the line.

But before Zach could open his mouth to say anything, Tina snapped. She snatched a glass container full of old, stale rainbow sprinkles from the counter to her right, and chucked it with all her strength, right at Danny's head. He dodged it at the last possible second, sending it sailing across the room and smashing into the tile floor. Rainbow sprinkles scattered across almost the entire shop.

"FUCK YOU, YOU STUPID HICK PIECE OF SHIT!!" Tina had exploded.

Instantly, Danny had stopped his hissy fit. I'll never forget the bright red, angry look on Tina's face as she stared Danny down, or the looks of shock that everyone else had.

But, to this day, we all respected Tina. We never picked at her again, and in turn she opened up to us. She was a sweet, bright girl; Only 18 years old, and just shy and quiet by nature. Before the apocolypse, she had been a straight A student in her High School with a full scholarship to UCLA.. But she never got a chance to make it there.

Back in reality, Jessie and I had made our way back over to camp, and were huddled around the fire with Zach, Tina and Danny, ready to enjoy a meal.

-----------

My eyelids creaked open, revealing the interior of a vehicle around me. I felt disoriented for a second, my mind was foggy and all I could think was: "Where am I?"

Slowly, I remembered going to sleep shortly after dinner the night before.

I had fallen asleep alone in the backseat of the Cherokee, propped up against the door behind the passenger seat. But now, when I rubbed my groggy eyes and peered around me, I noticed Danny and Zach passed out in the front seats, and Jessie curled up next to me in the backseat.

I glanced over the backrest of the seat into the storage area and found Tina snoozing with her head rested on a case of water bottles.

I shifted in the uncomfortable amount of space, then peeked out the window. The sky was still mostly dark with the slightest hue of pink beginning to peek through the trees. It was early, probably about 6:00 or 6:30 AM.

I sighed, closed my eyes, and tried to force myself back to sleep.

But it was so hot... I tried to ignore it and shifted again.

My eyes snapped open to the sound of Zach suddenly choking out a loud snore... and then that started an on-going, rhythmic pattern of snoring. That was probably harder to ignore than the heat.

After waiting five minutes, Zach's snores only got louder. I sat up, staring around the cab at the other three members of my group, still fast asleep. How the hell were they not disturbed by this?

"Well, I'm up now..." I grumbled, rubbing my heavy eyelids.

Trying to be as silent as possible, I placed my hand on the doorhandle next to me and popped the door open. No one stirred.

Very slowly, I made my way out of the vehicle, and shut the door behind me. I exhaled a long breath. I was so focused on escaping from the hot, cramped up Cherokee that I hadn't realized I was holding my breath the whole time.

The fresh morning air was refreshingly cool, tingling against the exposed skin of my face, arms and legs. I stretched my arms upward, standing on my tip-toes and letting out a yawn. Then it hit me.

An intense nicotine craving.

I kicked myself mentally as I remembered I left my pack that held my cigarette stash on the floorboard of the backseat.

"Damnit.." I cursed under my breath, not wanting to open the car door again. But if I wanted a smoke, I'd have to... And I reeeeeally wanted one.

So, I bit the bullet, and slowly pulled the car door open again. Luckily, my scuffed up backpack was the one nearest me. All I had to do was unzip it, grab the cigarettes and lighter, close the door, and I was golden.

I managed to get the front pocket zipper undone almost silently. Before I could reach my hand into the pocket, Danny started to move around in the seat in front of me and to my right. The back of the seat lightly bumped against the side of my head with the shifting of his weight, and I froze. But after just a few seconds, he fell still again, and I heard his heavy breathing regulate.

I sighed in relief, then peered at my choice of smokes; Menthols, regulars, lights, bolds, kings, shorts... You name it, I had it. I didn't feel like choosing sl I snatched the first pack my hand touched, along with a lighter. Then, I shut the door one more time, as quiet as possible. Mission accomplished.

While walking away from the Cherokee, I revealed my cigarette choice to myself. Newports... Blegh. Not really my favorite, but they would do. Newports were nasty, but they did have Nicotine in them, and that's all I needed.

So, I flipped open the red and white box, grabbed a cigarette, and gently clamped it between my lips. I ignited the plain red lighter I had grabbed, and held the flickering flame up to.the end of the cigarette. When it was burning, I slid the lighter and the cigarettes into my back pocket, and took a slow drag.

I closed my eyes as the smoke burned the back of my throat and filled my lungs. I imagined I was back home, standing on my back porch and smoking my cigarette with my mom as we exchanged chit chat. But when I exhaled the smoke and opened my eyes, I was right back in the quiet, muggy Georgia forrest, miles from what once was "home".

My cigarette burned about half way through before I decided to take a walk up to my new "spying spot".

It was a little ways away, around a corner of bushes or two, but I could get a much better view of the prison from there.

By the time I reached my new lookout point, my cigarette had burned down to the filter, and my nicotine craving had been satisfied. I flicked the butt down onto the ground, then twisted the ball of my boot against it to distinguish any remaining embers.

I fished my binoculars out of their hiding spot in the brush and held them up to my eyes, peering out through the gap in the treeline.

The sky was changing colors now. The deep magenta of morning had chased all of night time's deep blues and purples away, mixing with the molten orange glow of the sun.

It reminded me of a pool of melted pop sicles.

I scanned the lot outside the prison fencd, which was flooded with dreary undead creatures. Some of them bumped into one another without notice, others gripped and shook the fence, and a few lingered around the outskirts, standing still and staring into space.

Then, I noticed the walkers start to migrate to thw right... They were going after something living.

And that's when I spotted her; An African American woman with long dreads, hacking walkers to bloody bits with a huge samurai sword. She was making distance, headed for the prison gate.. But she didn't look so good, clutching her side like she was in pain.

I couldn't take my eyes away, watching intently as the injured woman continued to slash her way through the zombies, getting closer and closer to her goal.

She managed to hobble her way across the yard to the gate, and that's when I noticed the man in the sheriff's uniform waiting there with his son. They were both armed.

I thought they were just going to kill the woman, but to my surprise, they wasted no time in opening the gate and yanking her inside to safety, just as she blacked out and her body went limp. The young boy slammed the gate shut, locking the walkers out.

It was like watching a silent movie, and I couldn't take my eyes away. The sheriff looked the woman over and hesitantly pat her down, tossing her sword away from her. Then, he noticed a folded up piece of paper peeking out of the front pocket of her gray jeans. He carefully pulled it out and unfolded it. The sheriff's face was confused, and he seemed to read whatever was on that paper a few times over. He suddenly looked upward, waving the paper at something I couldn't see from that angle.

When I turned my gaze up to see what the sheriff was looking at, I could see the lookout platform of a tall watchtower next to the gate. Standing on the platform was the man with the grizzly redneck style. His crossbow was strapped to his back.. and he was staring at me through his own binoculars. When he suddenly pointed right at me, my breath caught in my throat as I realized I had forgot to crouch down and hide behind the brush.

I quickly ducked down and squeezed my eyes shut, cursing myself for being so stupid. When I worked up the courage to look out again, I swear my heart stopped and plumeted to my boots.

Mr. Redneck wasn't up on his perch anymore... Instead, he had climbed down and was sprinting across the yard, already halfway to the treeline.

"Oh, fuck..." I whimpered before dropping the binoculars and struggling to my feet.

I took off running, getting a little ahead of myself and tripping over my own footing.

My hiking boots thudded against the ground as I darted around the first corner of bushes, my feet nearly flying out from under me.

Just one more corner to go, and I'd be in the home stretch. I was so close, just a little farther...

Suddenly, something exploded from the trees to my right, causing me to gasp and stumble backwards.

My heart pounded in my ears and my lungs burned as I found myself face to face with a crossbow, loaded and ready to fire.

My eyes jumped from the sharp tip of the arrow to the weapon's holder... Mr..Redneck. It took me a split second to take in his entire appearence; Shaggy brown hair, cold, ice blue eyes, and a scruffy goatee. He had a little age in his masculine face, but he wasn't too old.. I guessed mid to late thirties. He was dressed in a copper colored button up that clearly had sleaves at one point in time, but not anymore, a black leather vest, a pair of jeans with a hole in the left knee, and old, faded tan work boots. He towered over my 5'3", probably at about 5'11"... and he was in shape.

I couldn't help but notice the tensed muscles in his arms as he gribbed his bow tightly.

I stood frozen in my tracks, staring the man down with an intense gaze.

His eyes were equally as cold and threatening. He stood his ground, the crossbow never wavering, not even a centimeter. After a few seconds of heavy silence, my attacker spoke up. His voice was raspy and just dripped with an intense southern drawl, much stronger than Danny's.

"Where d'ya think yer goin', little girl..?"

-TO BE CONTINUED-