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Isaac staggered forward. Dry blood coated his face, a long cut on his forehead being the source. He was malnourished. Thirsty. Tired. He'd didn't know how long he'd been walking for. It had started off as a run, and, as the hours passed, and the sun came up, he had weakened, and weakened, until he could barely sustain his own weight. He wasn't avoiding walkers any more. He was just moving forward. Hoping for something. Anything.

Finding his brother. That's what he had been focused on. That's what kept him moving. But it wasn't enough. Not anymore. He was dying. He knew he wouldn't make it to the army base that Luke had been stationed in. He didn't even know if Luke was still alive. He had always been sceptical. Now, he didn't have enough energy left to fight that scepticism. It was time to give up.

He fell. He was on his knees. He was ready. He was ready to die.

"There's one," a voice called out. The voice said something else, but Isaac couldn't make it out. His vision was fading. He was going faint.

Everything went black.

---

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---

"How you holding up?" Luke asked, sitting down across from Isaac. They were in the Mess Hall. It was used as a communal area now, where people gathered and socialised. Every other part of the military base was taken as a place for someone to sleep.

It'd been almost a week since Isaac had been found by a couple of the members of the community who were out hunting in the woods. It'd been the first time that the two brothers had talked in well over two years. They'd left eachother on bad terms, but, of course, they had still had a very emotional reunion. Luke had to let go of his disappointment with Isaac's choices, and Isaac had to let go of some of his bitterness. Luke had given Isaac one of the last spare rooms in the base. It was filling up fast. But Luke saw that as a good thing. They were strong in number.

"Better." Isaac nodded quietly. He was eating some rations and reading a book, half looking up at Luke to reply.

"That's good." Luke replied quickly, trying to stop the conversation from going stale. He struggled to talk to Isaac. They had talked here and there since Isaac had arrived, but they hadn't had a real conversation yet, as he had been bedridden for the most part due to his injuries on the road. Their relationship had been - strained, in the past. He wanted to make that better. "You..." Luke hesitated. "You wanna' talk about Mom and Dad? And Laura?"

Isaac shook his head firmly.

"They could still be out there." Luke continued. "They could still be alive."

"No," Isaac responded in a deadpan manner. "I've been to New York," he said, not looking up at his brother, continuing to half-read his book. "It's gone."

Luke furrowed his brow, looking a little disgruntled and letting out a little laugh - more of a bemused exhale than a laugh, really. "What do you mean gone?"

Isaac looked up calmly, focusing directly at his brother. "They're dead, Luke."

"You don't know that."

Shrugging, Isaac let out a sigh. "Believe what you want."

"You know, you're being a real asshole, Ike."

"Don't call me that," Isaac replied, sighing and resting his book down. "What do you want, man?"

Luke gritted his teeth and exhaled. "I want my brother. I haven't seen you in two years. Can't we leave the past in the past?" Luke looked away, thinking for a moment. "Come on, Isaac. We need to work together here. I've got a good thing going. A community. I could use your help to keep it running."

Isaac smirked. "Wouldn't've thought you'd come to me for that."

"You've been through a lot of shit." Luke replied bluntly. "You know how to look after yourself. Not everyone here does."

"Yeah, about that," Isaac took on a more serious expression and leant forward. "Your people have no fucking clue what they're doing. They're playing house here. They've got no clue about the outside. Half these people aren't even willing to pick up a gun. You know, you have to be prepared for the worst. What happens when a herd tears through here? Everything goes to shit, that's what."

"We've got good people on regular patrols," Luke stressed. "This place is tougher than you think."

"Listen. I was at a place a few months ago, just outside New York. Housing estate. Locked up real nice and tight. There were a few cops there, good with guns. I was out on the walls with them. We got fucked over. Few of the walkers slipped through the cracks. Killed the women and children." Isaac continued. "You need to teach everyone how to defend themselves. People don't want their kids to have weapons? They need to wake the fuck up. I don't want to see another massacre."

For a few moments, Luke mulled Isaac's words over, before slowly begging to nod. "All right. I'll take your word for it. I'll have a word with the families, see what I can do."

Isaac simply nodded.

"You know I missed you, right?" Luke frowned, leaning over and putting his hand on Isaac's sholder.

"I missed you too. Wouldn't have come looking for you if I didn't. I'm just... tired."

"I get it." Luke said, standing up. "I'll let you get settled in a bit more. Meet some of the people. If you need me, I'll be in the office down the hall." He waited a moment, as if he was expecting a response from Isaac. When he didn't get one, he just gave his brother a small nod before leaving the room.

---

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Sometimes I run never to experience fear,
Sometimes I fly from its frustrating power;
Sometimes I withdraw myself from evil
So never to be in its bondage;
So never to panic.

The earth thunders and my heart cries;
I am ever watchful, never to give in,
Never to fall;
Never to be trapped,
Never to be captured by its power.

“If this is to make me run faster, Jun Jie,” Li Shang quipped, from where he jogged without ever moving forward on the groaning treadmill. “It’s not working.”

“闭嘴 (bi zui),” Jun Jie muttered from where he had been reading aloud, perched on a chair and a book split in half in his hands. Shut up. “It’s by Jokpeme Joseph Omode, called Running From Fear.”

His little brother still held dear to his books on literature and poetry, prose that never-ended, and haikus that were as sweet and concise as the taste of sugar. “傻瓜 (sha gua),” Li Shang teased, hopping off the treadmill and switching it off. Fool. For believing any honeyed words could fend off death, or the putrid breath of the things they kept outside their walls. But the truth was harsh, and Li Shang couldn’t bear to weigh his brother down with it. “You will never get any girls if you keep your nose in the books.”

That pinked Jun Jie’s ears, and Li Shang smirked at him as he picked up his tablet. “You’re never away from that thing,” Jun Jie protested abruptly with a slight sputter, still frazzled, but unwillingly to linger on the subject of girls.

The cameras had been acting up lately. Blotches would whizz across the screen sporadically, and while that could be easily dismissed as faulty wiring, or bad weather and signals, it tended to terrify whichever poor soul Li Shang stuck with camera surveillance duty, nerves already on edge at the imagined prospect of a zombie leaping out at the camera. His attention was being called more and more to it. “Yes, well,” said Li Shang, scanning the feed from the cameras – all seemed good, “this tablet is my job.” Maybe he should check the cameras on the perimeter. Risky, but Li Shang did not enjoy margins of error in his work.

“You work too hard then,” Jun Jie said nonchalantly. “I’ll leave you to it. Mama says Chinese lessons after lunch. I don’t see why it matters, seeing as a zombie would eat me whether or not I scream Mandarin vulgarities at it.”

Li Shang glanced up from his screen, and shot his little brother a quizzical smile. “Mama isn’t teaching you Chinese vulgarities.”

Jun Jie returned the smile mischievously. He was already out the door. “She says them in Cantonese under her breath and to Baba. She thinks I can’t understand.”

Li Shang called his name in admonishment, but Jun Jie was already gone. “笨蛋,” he muttered with a splitting grin turning his gaze back to the tablet. Whipping a towel around his shoulders, Li Shang left the gymnasium and entered the flow of the corridor. There was a steady bidirectional stream of people. It was nearing noon, and soon the hallways would be packed with survivors searching for lunch. He had better grab his meal soon then from the mess hall.

Head bowed to the tablet, Li Shang checked the thermal cameras. At least these ones weren’t giving him splotchy performance. He had plans to put up proper fencing. The current generators wouldn’t be able to support electrical fences, but with a few tweaks and maybe a bit of a jump… Li Shang didn’t see why they shouldn’t experiment with how many zombies they could fry and deter.

Suddenly, there was an insistent tugging on his arm. He paused his pace, and turned to find a grizzled man with grey peppered in his hair and beard – both unkempt – at his side, staring up at him with wide eyes that looked feverish and exhausted at the same time. “Mr Finch,” Li Shang said, straightening and pivoting to face the man properly. He had an inkling what this would be about.

“Lincoln.” Mr Finch sounded tired, but vibrating with some kind of electrical charge. “Have you – have you found anything? On the cameras you have around the walls.”

“I am sorry, Mr Finch. The feeds have not shown us anything. Not even the thermal information is reporting abnormalities.” A cold analytical voice. The voice of a computer, of Lincoln, who refused to empathise with this man’s loss. Finch had had a wife and daughter in Philadelphia. He had been flying back from an overseas trip, forty thousand feet in the air while the world crumbled below him. Once he had touched down, he had been ferried off to the army facility. Finch held a job important enough to land him here, but perhaps the influence didn’t extend to his family in crises. Wife and child, both lost to him, yet Mr Finch persisted in clinging to his irrational wishful thinking like a dying man. With the recent discovery of the Martello brother outside of base, Finch was not alone in reviving his hopes of having his family returned to him.

The man withered before Li Shang. The rekindled light in his eyes died every day with Li Shang’s words, and in front of Li Shang’s eyes he slumped away with a nod of defeat, as he always did. Li Shang watched his back retreat, knowing that come tomorrow it would all repeat. Die, live to hope, and die again. Li Shang wondered if it would simply be mercy to put Finch to the sword one last time. Spout the truth in his ear – that his wife and daughter were dead, that if Finch did find them it would not be to feel warm blood and flesh – and cease his suffering.

However, today, Li Shang let the man walk.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“There were so many people in that airport. So. Many. People. You could taste the desperation in the air. Fear gripped us hard and it wouldn’t let a single mortal go. Right beside me was a father who kept trying to reassure his son that everything was going to be alright but when I looked into his eyes. They were dark and filled with fear. His hands quivered relentlessly and his head drenched with sweat. I felt the same horror that he felt and so did everyone else; It was contagious. Then fear struck its loudest cord in all of us when all we could hear from the back was a scream that could have struck even the heart of Satan himself. That’s when the stampede began. Chaos and panic swept all of us as we all tried to push towards the gates. People were falling down left, right and center; it’s like they were being dragged down to hell. As I looked ahead, they were already closing the gates. People were trying to claw the doors like animals and some even tried to break the glass to the outside. When you looked behind you, all you saw were men, women and children being savaged and torn apart by the demons. I’ve read all manner of stories about creatures but never in my darkest nightmares did I ever think it would come true. I just started running to an exit sign nearby. Other people were having the same idea, but some were trying so hard to hold to their briefcases, luggage and many other superficial items that it ended up failing them in the end. As I got there, people were squeezing their way through the door, trying to make it to the runway outside. I managed to get myself to the door, but my arm was aggressively grabbed by someone. I felt like my greatest fears were about to be lived but as I quickly turned my head, it was the father from before. He was holding one hand on a bloodied bite wound on his neck and the hand on his son. He tried to offer is son’s hand to me and begged me to take him. His eyes wept with pain and despair; I had never seen such a look before. My whole life felt like it had just stopped then and there. The world felt like it was looking at me for an answer, for a choice! God’s judgement was pressuring down on me and I could feel the burden crushing me like a thousand rocks! You know what I did next? You know what I did next!? I ran! I left the boy and his father and ran! I never looked back but now all I think about is what he must have felt when he saw his own fellow human being abandoning a little boy for certain death. I sentenced a man and his son to death! I’m a monster! I’m no better than those creatures out there!”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The man in the bed lay there crying for someone to hear his sorrow. That person was Jakob. Jakob sat at the said the bed, trying to comfort him in his final moments. The sickbay of the facility is dark, gloomy and filled with other people like the man in the bed. It’s a depressing place, filled with the screams and cries of sick patients. The staff is so few in number that many of them are going crazy with stress and panic. Not everyone in this godforsaken part of the facility will live.

Jakob proceeds to give the man in the bed some water from the desk by his bed. He sits there and watches his trembling fingers try so hard to attempt to lift the cup up and drink but to no avail. He was diagnosed with severe cancer a couple of months after he arrived. The doctors didn’t know which cancer it was exactly, but the general medical opinion is lung cancer. Since there’s no chemotherapy or medical drugs that can help, all they could do was make him comfortable in his final few months. Jakob is the only person that’s been visiting him the past few months. Day by day, he saw the man’s condition deteriorate bit by bit; like watching the leaves of an old tree fall off day after day.

“Here, let me help,” offers Jakob.

In a failed attempt at independence, the man tries to do it himself but ends up spilling it all himself. Jakob quickly grabs a nearby towel to help wipe it off him, but the man waves him away.

“Please don’t bother. I deserve this”. Jakob then sinks back down in his chair. He could see the man’s guilt a mile away and he wishes he could help him carry it but alas, Jakob is carrying his own guilt and it weighs him down like an anchor.

“Jakob.” Whispers the man.

“Yes?” Asked Jakob, as he moves a little closer to be able to hear him.

“I want you to end my pain”. Jakob would have looked at him in shock, but he’s been so desensitized by all the pain and suffering in this place that he just takes it as an understandable comment.

“I’m not going to kill you.” Said Jakob as he shook his head gently.

“Please. Please end my suffering. I need to die so that I can get my judgement. I need this pain and guilt to go away. Why won’t you help me!”

Jakob starts to shush the man as his volume started to rise.

“I can’t do that for you, my friend. I can ask one of the doctors to give you more morphine bu-”, Jakob is stopped mid-sentence by an unforeseen spit from the man in the bed.

He proceeds to wipe it off as if it has no effect on him. The man’s voice starts to transition from a whisper to a shout. “You know what you are a coward! You sit here and you try to tell yourself that by helping others with death and guilt that you’ll start to feel more comfortable with it but let me tell you this old man: It doesn’t get easier! It starts to eat you up and engulf you in a blackness the likes of which you’ve never seen! Ghosts start to pop up everywhere you go! All you hear in the back of your mind is their screams and cries for help! I can see it in your eyes that you too carry this burden I hope to hell that it corrupts you to the point of no return because that’s when you’ll feel what I and every person on this godforsaken planet feels!”

He starts to cough violently due to pushing his own voice to levels to which it doesn’t normally stand. Blood starts to come out with coughs. Jakob just stands and gives a sigh.

“See ya tomorrow, Jack.” He then proceeds to walk out the sickbay.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Outside the building, the people wander around going about their day to day lives. Many of them want to keep themselves in the illusion that their safe and that their lives are the same again, but it’s all a lie. If Jakob had a nickel every time the base leaders were close to running out of supplies; well, he wouldn’t be rich considering there is no currency anymore. Jakob just spends his time to talking to people who need it but half the time, a lot of them don’t want help. The fear of feeling vulnerable can make a person stubborn. Jakob knew that Jack was right. He only does this to help make himself feel better about his own demons. He’s been at the base for nearly a year now and he’s done fuck all to help his daughter. She could be alive or dead and he cries himself to sleep every night over this fact. He walked across towards the fence on the other side of the courtyard. He continues to stare out at the grass beyond. It was starting to get longer and more wild. Nature was starting to take back its land. The buildings and settlements of the past were starting to be claimed by the present. Jakob would come out every day to watch the grass grow. It was the only time of day where he didn’t think, he didn’t dwell. He just watched.

Another day in the new world.

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The choppy Atlantic waves had grown more fierce since the small boat had ventured into its depths, now rocking the hull mercilessly in an attempt to swallow the ship. The salt on the ocean breeze seeped through the crack under the only door of the S.S.Lewis bringing with it, perhaps, the spirit of the ocean. The ship gave a great heave against another wave, threatening to tip over, to allow the ocean its victory. Empty beakers lining the walls came crashing to the floor, a sound much like the crashing of waves in Philadelphia bay.

Olive shot up. "'m 'wake!!" she said halfheartedly before remembering she was also alone. Her tired eyes fell on the broken glass that littered the floor, then on her watch.

7:30

She had set out at 3:00 earlier that afternoon to collect data on the rapidly decreasing amounts of cyanobacteria in the waters, and she was to be back by 6:00.

"well i'm already late," she sighed to herself "Might as well take a break before i go back and get fired".

She had planned on quieting anyway, New Jersey was to far away from Philidelphia to be economical, and the pay was already awful. Working at the zoo would be better, but that was only an option after she got her degree.
She sat back down in her lab chair, leaving the glass for whoever was going to have the boat next, she was pretty much fired anyway. She slipped her phone from her pocket and began checking texts, she had several. The first was from her dad;

"Olly some things came up in Philly and I'll be down there stay put and don't open the door or go outside theres been an attack stay safe love you" (6:00 P.M.)

"well," she whispered out loud, typing as she did "I'm kinda in the middle of the Atlantic. I'm fine". Looking over it once, she hit send and moved on. The next was a little more surprising than the first;

"SMOOTHIE KING: Rainy day special. Buy 1 get 1 free, today only!"(9:55 P.M.)

She starred confused at the time for a second then shoving her phone back in her pocket she rushed to the door throwing it open into the morning ocean haze. "shit" she blurrted out, imagining how much trouble shed be in for accidentally stealing the company boat. Looking around she realized she couldn't see the shore either. "how far have i drifted...".

Lucky for her not that far. After setting the boat back towards the west, Olive returned to the comfort of the small lab to check the remainder of her texts. All of them were from her girlfriend who was terrified by the attacks her dad had mentioned, rightfully so as she was in the midst of Philadelphia. Olive assured her that she'd be there soon, basically repeating what her dad had told her.

9:26

Olive checked the time as soon as she docked. Then headed deeper into the coastal town to find a taxi.
The buildings loomed tall and dark, shut tight as though the cold air was suddenly contagious, no one walked the streets. Olive edged on, looking for anyone in cars or signs of life from inside smaller shops, but the town was vacant. Nobody in cars, nobody in houses. It was as though everyone got up and left. Turning the corner she noticed a old man, lying face down in the road, likely dead. Blood seeped from underneath of him, mixing with the wet gravel below. Mortified but curious she went to get a closer look. As she edged closer it became more apparent that despite gruesome injuries the man was still, somehow, alive and conscious.

"Sir...Sir are you alright" she cooed, holding back several feet. "sir?"

he shuddered, moving his arm slowly underneath himself.

"Sir what happened, where is everyone?" She continued, not daring to come any closer for fear of hurting him more.

He raised himself onto his knees and slowly turned his head towards her. His pale beaten face showed no sighs of comprehension. His eyes were glazed over with death. He made a gurgling sound from behind his broken jaw, sputtering blood.
Olive didn't stay after that, she ran. Checking cars for one that was unlocked quickly as she could, for the old man was following slowly behind her. After three or four cars she came across an unlocked sedan, the keys sitting in the drivers side cup holder. Glad for the lucky break she turned the keys in the ignition and set off for Philidelphia leaving the creepy old man behind.

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Olive sat at one of the quieter tables, the one with people who'd lost someone who'd meant the world, the empty people. She knew death as well, everyone did these days, but she didn't know it like the ghosts of people who she sat with. Compared to them she must have seemed like a cheerful ray of sunshine and happiness. She wasn't there to brighten up old peoples day though, she was there for the heavy silence so she could concentrate. A spiral bound notebook lay open in front of her, it's visible page decorated with notes of behavior and sketches of the newest victim she'd seen; a small women with half of her face gone. "no, not a women," Olive thought to herself as she finished the sunken eyes of the dead women, "just a dead thing, just a sick dead body, not a person". She looked up from her beautiful, horrible drawing.

The ghosts were looking back, expectantly or perhaps in fear, it was the same face either way. Their empty stares sad and then fleeting before she could say anything. She'd probably whispered what she had been thinking, which would've been saying to much to them as it was. She returned to her notebook, starting to jot down the attributes of the newest entry. Mostly mundane things, "Reacts to sound" and "seems to have poor vision" and "her fucking face was torn off everywhere below her nose Why was She still Moving?? Why Wasnt She DEAD????". Olive stopped at that, starring at the last sentence before scribbling it out and shutting her notebook and leaving.

Estelle giggled, trying to wiggle away from Orion's tickling fingers, her older brother laughing with her. The child twisted this way and that to no avail until finally her mother came to her rescue. "Alright Orion, that's enough. We're in a restaurant." The words sounded stern but the effect was ruined by the smile on her face and laughter in her eyes. Orion consented and drew his hands away though not without ruffling Estelle's hair first. Estelle let out a squeak of protest, hands flying up to her curls. Another small hand joined hers and the girl turned to see her twin smiling at her as Willow smoothed any damage Orion may have caused. "He didn't mess it up that bad and I managed to fix it." Willow said. Estelle gave her a smile of thanks as the waiter appeared and set their food down in front of them. Estelle looked down at her chicken nuggets with delight and reached for one. However, a piercing scream shattered the calm of the room. People jumped in surprise and everyone turned to look at the door, murmurs sweeping the room.

Orion stood up slightly and saw people running down the street. He frowned, looking at his father as he wondered what was going on. Suddenly, the doors to the restaurant burst open and man covered in blood collapsed inside. The murmurs took on a fearful tinge as the man reached out with a shaky hand, pleading for help. Before anyone could rise to his aid, a woman shuffled inside and fell on top of him. His whispered pleas turning into panicked screams as the woman leaned down and tore a chunk out of his neck, his screams turning to gurgles. More screams filled the air as people knocked over tables in their haste to escape. Before Estelle knew what was happening, Orion had scooped her up as their mother grabbed Willow and the family took off for the exit. They barely managed to squeeze through and gasped as they saw people being grabbed and dragged to the ground by these...monster. The family ran for the car and Luna quickly buckled Willow in, her hands shaking.

Orion then suddenly felt a hand grab his ankle and try to jerk him to the ground. Estelle screamed and his arms tightened around her as he twisted free of the man and kicked him hard in the head. He then shoved Estelle inside and leaped in after her, slamming the door shut. Tires screeched as his father peeled out of the parking lot. They arrived home to the same madness and packed the car as full as it could get before driving away. As they left the city, they passed by so many people waving for help and as much as Luna wanted to stop and help them, Mark kept driving. They eventually reached Oklahoma but it was in the same state of chaos. Estelle tucked herself against Orion's side and as he ran a hand soothing through her hair, he whispered that everything was going to be okay.


Orion held onto Estelle's hand tightly as they ran through the tress. He could see his father ahead of him carrying Willow as his mother ran beside him. The crackling sound and screams of the dying faded as they distanced themselves from the burning ranch. They eventually stopped after Mark felt they had gotten a safe distance away. Orion leaned against a tree, panting as he tried to catch his breath. Estelle leaned against him as Willow was swept into their mothers arms. Orion watched his father pace before hitting a tree in anger. Orion could understand why he was upset. He had warned his parents against spending any extended time at the ranch, that it was a safe place. No where was. And now look what happened: invaded by a horde and mostly everyone either bitten or burned in the fire that broke out in the panic.

Orion sighed, looking down at Estelle. The child's eyes were wide with fear and she clenched his hand tightly. Mark then came over and drew Orion a little ways away. Orion gazed at his father in puzzlement as the man sighed and slowly drew back the collar of his shirt. Orion sucked in a shocked breath as he stared at the bite mark, eyes shooting up to meet his fathers. Orion wanted to deny it, wanted to say this was all a bad dream but the evidence was staring him right in the face. His knees felt like they were going to give out. This...This couldn't be happening! His father couldn't be bitten! "Your mother was bitten to, on her calf." Mark said in a deceptively calm voice. Orion clenched his hands at his side, already knowing what his father was going to say but not wanting to accept it. "I'll give you everything your mother and I have in out backpacks though I am going to keep a pistol and two bullets. You are to take your sister's hands and you are to walk. Do you understand me? Never stop walking. And don't look back. Don't look back."

Orion was already shaking his head by the time his father had finished, tears spilling down his cheeks. Mark grabbed Orion by the shoulders and shook him sharply, Orion meeting his father's steely gaze. "This is the end for me and your mother but you still have Estelle and Willow. They need you to look after them. You need to protect them. Do you understand me? Don't you dare give up on them." He pulled Orion into and embrace, Orion wrapping his arms tightly around his father. "Mac(Son), even if you won't see us, we will always be with you." They pulled away and went to join Luna and the girls. By the tears streaming down the twins' faces, Luna had apparently explained to them what was happening. Orion hugged his mother tight as Willow and Estelle ran into their fathers arms. After the tearful good-byes and Orion distributed their parents gear among himself and the twins, he took their hand and started walking. Not too long after, two gunshots rang through the air. Orion flinched and tightened his hands around the twins. It was quiet, broken only by the girl's sobbing.

Orion felt a numbness spread through him and all he wanted to do was curl into a ball and forget the world, forget this entire nightmare. But, as he gazed down at Estelle's tear-stained face, he knew he couldn't do that. There were still people who needed him. So, he took a deep centering breath and kept walking.


Willow coughed again, a deep rattling sound that cause a chill to run down Orion's spine. When the girl had first started coughing a few weeks ago, he thought nothing of it since Willow always had problems with her allergies. But as the days progressed, the coughing got worse and she developed a fever and soon she started coughing up blood. Broken from his thoughts, Orion barely caught the girl as she collapsed and lowered her gently to the ground. Her skin was burning up and she could barely open her eyes. Orion had never felt so helpless. He had tried every medicine they had but nothing seemed to be working. What did he do?! He didn't know where they were or were help might be. He felt anger well up inside him and he punched the ground in anger. He pushed the tears back as he meet Estelle's eyes. She plopped next to him and leaned against him, the two listening to each painful breath that Willow took.

A few hours later, Orion felt the girl in his arms let out a final rattling breath before she stilled. Panic shot through him and he laid her on the ground. "No, no, no! Come on Willow, don't give up on me!" He tried performing CPR but nothing he did re-started her heart. Sobbing, Orion collapsed to the ground, wanting to scream, hit something. Estelle collapsed next to him, sobbing as she leaned over Willow's still form. Her wail of agony echoed through the forest.


"Keep running Estelle! Don't stop!" Orion shouted as the two darted through the forest with a horde of Walkers on their tail. They had been taken by surprise when they had stopped to rest and now they were running for their lives. Suddenly, Estelle heard her brother cry out followed by a sickening cracking sound. She whirled to see him laying on the ground clenching his left leg. She raced back to him and tugged on his arm. "Get up Deartháir(Brother)! You gotta get up!" No matter how much she tugged on his arm he didn't rise. He looked up at her with pain in his eyes. "My left ankle is broken Estelle." He said slowly. Estelle stared at him for a few moments before what he said sunk in. She frantically shook her head. "No! I'm not going to leave you!" She tried to tug him to his feet once more, nervously looking at the approaching horde. She collapsed to her knees next to him, tears spilling down her cheeks. She kept uttering weak denials until Orion grabbed her shoulders. "Estelle! Listen to me, you are going to get up and you are going to run. Keep running, never stop. Stay away from big places. Remember, you might find a place that seems safe but it isn't. Keep walking. Never stop. I love you, Deirfiúr(Sister)." He pulled her into a hug as she sobbed onto his shoulder.

After a few minutes he pushed her away and she climbed to her feet. She took one last look at her brother before turning and racing away. Tears were streaming down her face, making it hard for her to see. She stumbled through the forest, blinking in surprise when she suddenly stepped into a field. It took her eyes a few moments to adjust but when they did she gasped at the building she saw in front of her. She could make out movement through the fences. People! She raced forward, waving her arms frantically above her head as her tiny legs pumped as fast as they could.

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Olive cast her gaze over the harsh green of the pine forest. They had no need to flee from the decaying teeth of the enemy. In fact for them and other plants, the apocalypse was probably some sort of holiday retreat, complete with the end of pollution and deforestation. She hated them for continued as they were before, turning out oxygen, and keeping poor humans like herself trapped in skin that would not give way to the harsh natures of reality.

Birds were much better, she thought as they erupted from the trees, at least they helpful. They signaled the approach of the damned, and a fight that would put them to rest.

Almost happy for something to do Olive raced back down to her small room to fetch her binoculars, or rather celesta's, but Olive used them more. The room was cramped with several bunks, each telling of someones life. Olives was the one with the heavy faded quilt and stacks of notebooks piled underneath. The one next to an always well made, tidy bed with nothing underneath. Without another thought of Celesta Olive hurried back to the second floor window where she could watch the whole ordeal in relative safety and resumed watching the approach. One day it would be her Mom and Dad to have frightened the birds. They'd come out of that same woods and into the field. Maybe not Margret, Olive figured but her dad for sure. Tom would make it. He'd be alive, tired and hungry, but alive. He would hurry see the base and tears would spring to his eyes. He'd run to the door and come in and ask for her, and only her. He beg the first human he came across, "were's Olly, were's my baby she must be here i'v checked every where". Then they'd be a family again. He'd ruffle her hair and ask her how college is, and she'd tell him she just needed a little more time to finish her studies. Even with death outside the door he'd still ask about school. When he got there, everything would be alright again.

But for now the small group of armored and armed had set off on foot, for painfully obvious reasons. There was a small girl running towards them as fast as her small legs could carry her, fleeing from the monsters no doubt Olive added to herself. She was waving her hands as she went, yelling probably. One of the larger guy had enough brains even to alert the fellow troops of the on coming danger, not the girl the monsters that would be coming from behind. Another of the troops, a twig who didn't want to be out there in the first place, seemed to be trying to escort her back while the others set out into the woods to finish off the trailing creatures. They disappeared into the woods.

Olive strained her eyes trying to see through the traitorous branches and foliage. To see the patrol, that she just as easily could have been in. Surely they were fighting, bludgeoning the skulls of the demons outside the safe house. Beating them into submission for the gods or God or for their own personal safety. Olive paid no mind to the little girl, she was old news, just another accessory to the camps interior. Outside was were the real world rest, not in the palm of people any more, but in the deepest pits of hell.