---

The early mornings in Versailles were always quiet. It helped that Gresham was walking around close to dawn, rising before the sun did and sleeping after it went away the following night. The man was patient and reserved, watching the clouds dance across the sky. It was almost as if peace and harmony would last forever in that moment. But reality was truly unkind as Gresham took a deep breath of the bitter, cold morning. Winter was melting away as Spring began to charm its way into nature's pockets sprouting new buds along the trees and greening the fresh grass within the town. Nothing could ever take away the peaceful town of Versailles as long as Gresham Kent was alive and kicking to keep it standing.

One of the fine leaders of Versailles, he was a well-known orator who had a silver tongue and danced his way into the hearts of many folks who were sticking around to their town. "Good morning," Gresham said, waving to one of the patrol squads that were taking their morning scout. He wasn't a violent man, but wasn't close to a pacifist either. He knew that sometimes force was the only language people listened to so him being a man of many languages and cultures knew just how much a fist or gun could say. "Be safe on your patrol out there, heard that in the south side there might have been a break-in of some kind."

The guards nodded at his intel, thanking the councilman before they strolled off tightening their grips on their guns, nearing the southern part of the wall.

"Gresham!" A voice called out to the man.

Turning he was greeted by one of the scouting party members that he had gotten to know with his time in Versailles, Danny. "Morning, how's Sam doing?"

"He'll live. Just a scratch and a bruise, he just wants to prove himself, but I know he's not ready yet." Danny said.

"I think we should give him a shot. He's pretty handy with a gun, quick on his feet, and I also heard he knows his way around with a bat. A weapon like that would be good to have on scouting missions." Gresham said, suggesting the man's little brother to him. "Could even get a party out tomorrow morning to see about the bridge to the north. Maybe there might be something in Minnesota, we haven't gotten that far into the state yet, but could use more information on the surrounding area."

Danny was hesitant as he trusted Gresham's words and he knew his brother would be estatic to go, but he wasn't just quite convinced yet on his Sam's abilities just yet. "I'll think it over and talk to him about it. I'll see what the others think too."

Gresham patted the man on the back and smiled. "Walk with me for a bit?"

"Sure thing," Danny replied.

---

Sidney crawled out of her bed, much earlier than usual, she then slowly got dressed still half asleep. She opened up her window to see the town of Versailles which is where she now resided and had resided since the beginning it always is beautiful in the mornings, which is always sort of ironic because of the tragedy the world has gone through. The sun hit her face and she blocked her eyes with the hand while she pulled the curtains back over the window in order to continue getting ready.

Sidney finished getting dressed, used some of the little bit of makeup she had left and grabbed her camera while she walked out her door. Sidney was lucky, once she arrived at the town most of the hard work for the walls had been completed and the necessary jobs were almost all filled. So when she was getting assigned a position and the only job she previously had was a grocery bagger it seemed like the council didn’t know what to do with her. But one of the council members decided to let Sidney choose a role, of course, she answered that she could take pictures, which lead to more grumbling from the council. But again the same council member told her she could me the modern historian, her role was to document everything that happened in Versailles for the future generations. Of course, Sidney loved it and was from then on taking pictures of nearly everything, mostly to try to make that council member proud of his decision.

She made her way to the Town Square and spotted the exact councilman that gifted her with this job, Gresham. Sidney saw he was talking with one of the Ahn brothers, so she just gave him a big smile and took a picture of both of them walking. Besides, there were more important duties to attend to right away such as the Girl that just arrived covered in blood, who should still be in the infirmary getting checked out.

As Sidney started to make her way over to the infirmary she noticed some guards rushing past, and nothing is more interesting than armed guards going to check something out. Quickly she grabbed a guard she recognized named Trent. ”Hey Trent, where’s everyone going?” She asked a little too intensely.

He stopped and gave her worried look, “Apparently, there was some kind of break on the south side.” After that, he pulled his arm away from Sidney and began to catch up to his unit.

Of course, Sidney chased after too.

Once she arrived, the break in was sort of disappointing, it was only a few that managed to dig through some soft spots on the wall. The intruders were already covered up by some sheets and were getting removed. Now the patrols were just defending the workers who were welding and fortifying the damaged portion of the fence. Sidney still felt uneasy about this situation, sure it showed quick response time and high awareness but it also showed that the defense we had is not impenetrable.

”Sid!” An angry voice yelled behind her.

Sidney turned around like a bullet to just come face to face with Angie, the police officer whose badge meant nothing any more but still scared the crap out of everyone if they were doing something wrong. Sidney didn’t verbally respond to Angie instead she just stared straight into her eyes with a guilty face.

”You know better than to show up at an active breach area. Anyway don’t you have to document the arrival of the new girl? You should go do that before someone else catches you around here beside me.” Angie said scolding to the quiet girl.

”Sorry Angie.” And with that Sidney grabbed her bag and started to make her way to the infirmary.

---

Sam was up earlier than usual as he was assigned to help out with the infirmary that day. He was given the task by Gresham or at least that was what his brother, Danny, had said. But Sam knew better than that, he knew the real reason he was in the infirmary was because it was easier to deal with him being stuck inside instead of out in the town attempting to join in on the patrols. Danny was too over-protective of Sam and that made it hard for him to grow and give more to the community of Versailles.

"Sam," Rose said, patting the boy on the shoulder. "I just want to say thanks again, having an extra hand here helps us a lot."

"It's no problem, Dr. Saleh," Sam said, taking a step away from the woman and bowing out of respect. "If you guys ever need an extra pair of hands please just let me know and I can totally come back and help out."

"Thank you." Rose said, blushing from the young man's respect. "And you can just call me Rose, you don't need to add the doctor either."

"Alright Dr. Sal- I mean Rose," Sam stuttered. His face blushed as he almost did what she told him not to do. "How is that girl who came in by the way, the one covered in all that blood."

The doctor turned to the boy with a bright smile. "She's doing good, she just needed a bit of clean up. Would you bring her some food for me?" She was tidying up a few things off the counter, placing them all back into different cabinets and drawers as if she was expecting someone important to show up and examine if things were spotless.

Sam nodded and listened to what the doctor had ordered. He scrounged up a sandwich that Rose had left out and a few snacks from the cabinets before placing everything onto a tray. Versailles was usually rationing a lot of their food, but there was always a good supply of things within the infirmary to help cure the towns folk lack of nutrition and exhaustion when they came in. Sam was working yesterday when the girl came in bloodied from head to toe. It was crazy how much blood she had all over her body and she was still able to walk around, at least Sam only assumed that the blood that covered her body was that of her own.

He wandered up to the room she was staying in, holding a tray in his hands before knocking on the door twice before speaking, "Excuse me? Rose had asked me to bring you some food. Was wondering if you were hungry..." Sam stood at the door, fidgeting around to balance the tray with one hand as the other was now knocking again. He knew better than to open the door and rush inside, especially on someone of the opposite gender. "Are you okay?"

---

Bianca woke up suddenly in a jolt, she sat up quickly breathing heavily. She quickly looked around and began to calm down remembering where she was. The sun pierced through the window and lit up her room with natural light. Bianca looked down and lifted the covers from the bed, she wasn’t wearing her own clothes which were probably for the best considering their condition when she arrived. She sighed and put her head back down on the pillow, wishing that she never would wake up, even the worst nightmare is not as bad as her reality.

She was extremely grateful for the help this town had given her and she was extremely relieved to see that her Grandpa Richard was here. He was the only person that approached her when she entered the walls, everyone else just stared. Her Grandfather somehow recognized her and helped her getting to the infirmary where Dr. Saleh had assisted her in cleaning up and checking for any wounds. Bianca was so grateful for everyone, without them she was dead, there is no way she would consider herself lucky but finding her way to town sure made her feel that way.

Then there was a knock at the door, Bianca jumped and shifted her body to the sitting position staring straight at it. "Excuse me? Rose had asked me to bring you some food. Was wondering if you were hungry..." Bianca stared at the door she did not recognize the voice, fear took over as she was frozen in a trance not moving or making a sound.

"Are you okay?"The voice asked.

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry you can come in if you want.” Bianca meekly told the voice.

She held the blanket with clenched fists tightly and watched intently as the door opened and a boy around her age walked in carrying a tray of food. Relief filled her lungs as she took a deep breath and began to relax. She watched as he put the tray down and she tried to make eye contact and give a small smile, “Thank you, my names Bianca. It’s nice to see someone around my age here.”

Bianca stared at his eyes, she was worried that he would ask her about what happened or how she got here. Those questions terrified Bianca, she couldn’t even think about what happened yet. But the boy seemed kind and nice, there was something about him that made Bianca comfortable. She had a hundred questions about the town just like the town had a hundred questions about her. But she right now just wanted to know more about the boy in front of her. “So are you a nurse? Or another doctor like Dr. Saleh?”

As Bianca started to feel more comfortable another knock on the door, instantly Bianca tensed up again. It was a tall girl with blonde hair, she was holding a camera and just entered the door without asking, unlike the boy. The girl with the camera seemed excited to see the boy. “Hey, Sam! Check this out.” She walked over to the boy showing him something on her camera “Some of those things got through on the South side, I got there as they were cleaning it up. I'm gonna see if I can catch up with some of the guys after I am done here and see if I can find out what happened.”
Then the girl looks at Bianca and gave her a warm smile, “Hey my names Sidney, I’m just going to take your picture quick and get your name down. Everyone has to do it so don’t worry about it too much, it will just take a second.” And then there was a quick flash which discombobulated Bianca for a bit. “Alright and what’s your full name?”

“Uh, it’s uh Bianca Varna.” She mumbled out.

Then the girl smiled and started writing some stuff down as she left the room, Bianca was dazed and confused, she looked at Sam for some sort of explanation for what just happened.

---

Sam entered the room as the voice behind the door gave him permission to enter. Sam was surprised to see a girl around his age sitting there in the bed, and a cute one at that. She wasn't how he expected a blood covered survivor to look like, but with blood all over a person they could look like anything or anyone after some TLC. He set the tray down and returned a smile back to the girl. "I'm Sam, and no I'm not a nurse or doctor. Just got the lucky straw to help out around the infirmary for a few days."

Moving across the room Sam was about to ask a question of his own before a knock came from the door. Of course the source of the knock was Sidney, Versailles's Historian. She rushed over to him and showed him a few pictures she had snapped of one of the walls that had been damaged and broken into, causing Sam to feel a pinch in his gut. He should be out there helping them out, not stuck in the infirmary restocking meds and feeding patients. "Let me know if you need any help with that, Sid." Sam said nodding to the town photographer. Sam knew that at least Sidney trusted him, she didn't treat him like a child like most other adults within the town. It obviously didn't help that Danny was forcing everyone to see him as one though.

In an instant though as she usually came like thunder and lightning, Sidney flashed her camera at Bianca and was on her way out. The thunder came from her booming personality and at times voice, whereas the lightning often came from the cameras flash and abruptness of Sidney herself. She was a good person though, so Sam knew that it was all with good intentions.

"Sidney is our historian." Sam said, reassuring the girl that she could trust her. "She means well, she just gets a bit focused sometimes and forgets to slow it down." Pushing one of the rolling chairs over to the bed he sat, making himself more comfortable. He figured the girl probably wanted some company as she had been alone for what seemed like awhile before that. Conversations were always the same with those within the walls of Versailles, but Bianca was more interesting now than other folks as she was new to the town so everything about her was just that, new and interesting. "So, I heard you know Richard?"

---

Bianca reached for the tray of food and grabbed the sandwich from the top. A smile appeared on her face as she brought it closer to her mouth and took a large bite, it might not have been the best sandwich but she was so hungry almost anything would taste like a five-star meal.

She swallowed her bite of food and rolled in her bed to face Sam, she seemed more relaxed and filled with a bit more energy. “Oh yeah, Richard is my Grandpa! We used to be really close before the outbreak. Honestly, when I saw him I thought I was in Heaven because we all thought he was long gone by now. But here he is in this amazing town, with all of you people.” She looked at him and rested her head back on the pillow with a small smile.

Bianca stared at Sam’s young face, it showed innocence and excitement. The boy almost the same age as her yet seemed so innocent. She couldn’t explain the feeling she had, jealousy, resentment, or just joy of seeing that the world still offered people like Sam. Her eyes drifted away from Sam and back to her food, as she started to eat again. Between bites, she rolled back over towards Sam, “So, if you’re not a nurse what do you do here?”

---

Sidney was rushing through the town looking for the soldier she talked to earlier and followed Trent. She was moving fairly quickly, in this town events like the break in getting swept under the rug within a few hours so it was imperative for Sidney to get there quickly. But as she was rushing through the Town Square a door opened and a small man stepped out. Before Sidney could react she ran directly into the short man, knocking Sidney down to the ground.

“Gah! Watch where you are going you stupid slut!” the short man yelled clutching his nose.

Sidney instantly looked up with anger ready to yell profanity back but her anger quickly turned into fear as she recognized the man as Martin Gale. This man was as dangerous as the things outside the walls, Sidney still doesn’t understand how he is allowed in here. Standing next to him was the councilman Richard Varna, and next to both of them was a giant bald man wearing a wife beater, that guy always followed around Martin.

Sidney stared at the trio with fear in her eyes not knowing what to do next. Then Richard spoke up, “Martin we do not have time for this, my granddaughter should be awake right now and I really have to see her.”

Richard started to walk away while Martin and the behemoth of a man stared at Sidney “I never forget a face and I will definitely remember yours.” Then he continued to follow along towards the infirmary.

Sidney took a huge breath of relief and got back up dusting herself off. Then she started to check her camera and had to make sure that it was all ok. Finding a bench in the Town square she sat down and took a closer look at her camera.

---

Sam was stunned for a moment at the pure luck that Bianca had. She was wandering all bloodied and bruised and somehow ended up in the town her grandfather was help leading. Whatever the case the stars were in her favor and Sam figured it was best to be on her side if anything ever went south. Sam returned a smile to her as they continued on with their conversation. "I'm just helping out here today. Everyone here in Versailles helps out whenever and wherever they can. I'm not really assigned to anything yet. I'm hoping to get onto the patrol team soon though, their numbers are getting a bit thin, we've had a rough winter." Sam's bright smile turned into a deep frown as a sigh escaped his lips, thinking back on how the winter went that year.

They lost a few good guards to not only zombie attacks, but bandits too. And it wasn't just fighting that caused a lot of deaths that winter though, it was the shortage of meds and the widespread colds and flus that turned the town into a crazy petri dish of bacteria. Rose had solved a lot of those problems though with natural home remedies and helped save a lot of lives throughout the process. Sam nodded his head and returned to his signature bright and happy face, "You know, whenever you feel better I can totally show you around town."

---

Gresham's morning walk was, as usual, safe and sound. The only thing that was bad news was the break-in that the guards were already taking care of. It was good that the young blood were taking care of things as Gresham wanted to see who would be able to help lead Versailles to greatness as time went on. The man had an eye for finding diamonds in the rough and helping polish their leadership abilities. Sometimes they used what he taught them for good and sometimes all the things he tried to instill in his mentees were used for bad, but whatever happened was up to the individual to decide and not him.

As he entered the board room meeting within Versailles Town Hall, he was always the first one there, he took his seat at the far right side of the table, sitting and reflecting upon what was going to be needed to be done about the break-in incident. Were their walls becoming that thin that the outsiders could break in or were there bandits who were trying to throw their town into chaos? Whatever it was Gresham knew the council needed to figure it out and move on it quickly. Gresham began jotting down notes as he waited quietly in his seat, flipping through the pages of his papers that were set aside for him.

The man was always early, but he followed the motto of the early bird gets the worm, and in this case he wanted to make sure he was going to help lead Versailles and protect them however he could. Being ready at all times was something he was good at doing. As Gresham went on writing down his thoughts, a cough slipped out from the direction of the door, breaking his train of thought.

"Excuse me," the voice said. "Hopefully I didn't ruin your concentration."

"Ah, no worries." Gresham said flipping his papers back, leaving out a blank sheet on top. "I'm surprised you're one of the early ones today."

"Wasn't too exciting of a night," the voice said, settling themselves on the opposite end of the table. "Obviously it wasn't as exciting as yours, from what I heard."

The council man slyly smirked at the comment as he set his pen down, brushing his chin with his hand. "Hopefully we can change that for you soon."

---

Bianca watched as Sam’s smile disappeared from his face, it seemed that he was thinking deeply about something. She stared at him, she wanted to ask what happened but she wouldn’t want anyone to pry her on negative thoughts so she would return the favor.

“How about now?” Bianca sat up on her bed and rolled her legs over the side, her eyes seemed to challenge Sam. “I am sure by now my grandpa is on his way, and I don’t quite want to deal with that conversation yet. He isn’t the most sensitive person as far as I can remember.” She looked around a little bit thinking, “You could put me in a wheelchair and tell the nurse that I was getting light headed and needed some fresh air. Honestly, I would do anything to get out of this place.” Bianca still held onto a smile but her eyes seemed worried. “What do you say? Want to bust me outta here?”

---

“Thank god.” Sidney’s camera was not damaged and she was extremely relieved, she could not handle another lecture about the importance of taking care of her camera. She looked around to see if anything interesting was happening but it seemed like the basics, everyone was doing their normal job, the town hall meeting was starting soon so Sidney reluctantly headed towards the town hall.

It was not that she disliked the meetings, she actually enjoyed them, and it was the best way to find out what’s going on in the town. Though some of the people on the council made Sidney feel extremely uncomfortable. It was their harsh decision making and the way they all seemed to have motives that just creeped her out, she preferred when everyone was straightforward with their intentions.

By the time Sidney made it to the town hall others began to also fill up the building, she saw Angie standing at the side. Sidney was grateful she was here this meeting and since she was the one in charge of managing the break in it could be assumed that they would be discussing it. When Angie saw Sidney she did not have her normal welcoming smile but instead a very stern and intense stare. Sid decided to hang back by the doors in order to stay out of the way.

As everyone seemed to be situated a disturbance came through the door. A man carrying what looked like a turkey came walking in, he seemed distraught and extremely angry. The man, of course, was Robert, he was in charge of hunting. He could venture outside the walls not only together food but also give everyone updates about what’s going on outside the walls.

Sidney got excited when he walked in, she straightened her posture and stepped away from the wall. She had a crush on Robert ever since she met him, they have only spoken a few words to each other, but she still had fallen for him even with the age difference. It seemed he did not share the same feelings… yet.

Robert walked up to the table interrupting whatever conversation was going on, he through the turkey on the table. It was clear that the turkey was torn apart but some sort of automatic weapon, almost none of the meat was salvageable. ”We got a problem. The bandits are getting closer and beginning to take over our hunting grounds. We need to take action or soon we won’t have any fresh meat for the town.” He placed both hands on the table demanding immediate response and resolution from the board members that were present.