2 Weeks. It's been 2 weeks already. Time flies by fast. And it's already nighttime by the time you reach your dorm. You all spent all day making sure everything was right and set up. AJ was also doing well, thought it would heal sooner but you couldn't complain, as long as it was healing.

"Whatcha thinking about?" You look over at Mitch, currently carving something. His open composition notebook was laid off to the side on the bedside table. "Times flies by way too fast. Yes I've talked to people about this, yes Clem and AJ are still here and have done us wonders to protect us, yes we're "ready" for the raiders.. but it's been a while. They'll be coming soon. What if they kill some of us and/or they get away with it. They take us. What then?" Mitch continues carving then suddenly stops, looking up at you. He pats the spot on his bed next to him, realizing he's asking for you to sit next to him, you walk over and sit down.

"We'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to any of us and we'll all remain okay. And trust me, if they want to get one of us I'm the first thing they'll have to go through. I'm not letting them take my friends." You lean your head down and onto his shoulder, something he's allowed you to do a few days ago. He puts his knife and the wood piece down to wrap an arms around your shoulder. "Even if they do take some of us, the ones who remain will get everyone back. And if I'm one of the ones who remain unarmed while the others are hurt because of them, there's going to be a LOT of bloodshed." He's been getting protective of everyone lately, so have you. Everyone was.

You checked in with everyone daily to make sure they were okay. Uninjured and ready. It was nerve racking for all of you. You wanted everyone to be okay. There would probably be some casualties or misfortunes, but you would take that over any of your friends dying any day.

"Let's just go to bed. I've got things to do in the morning." You nod, before standing up though you give him a hug, burying your head in the crease of his neck. He pats your back a few times before you let go of him and make your way back to your bed. "Thanks Mitch." He gives you a thumbs up and blows out the candle once you're settled. "Let me know if you need anything." You nod, forgetting he can't see it since it's dark. You feel sleep taking over you and you let it.

———

"It'll be fine-"
"IT WONT BE FINE." Your parents were arguing once again, they had a lot of baggage on them. Suitcases filled to the brim with stuff. They said they were going on a long trip away from here. But you knew it was to get away from you. There was no babysitter, no nothing. They didn't bother, figuring you could handle yourself at such a young age.

"Let's just go dammit!" They quickly walk out the door, leaving you standing on the stairs with a red crayon in hand. You hear the car start and walk down the last two steps to see them pull out of the driveway and drive as fast as the car could go. You lock the door, something they told you to do whenever they left. Which was mainly everyday.

The house was quiet for once. No bickering parents, no loud cartoons front your iPad, no barking from the neighbors dog, just silence. You figured you'd turn on the tv instead. You climb onto the couch and sit down, grabbing the remote and turning the tv on.

"The suspect, Lee Everett, has been arrested for murdering _______. He says the reason behind it, was for sleeping with his wife, who is now asking for divorce papers and a lawyer. His family from Macon, will now deliver a short message about the inciden-" You change the channel. You felt bad for him although you weren't sure what the news lady meant. Sleeping with his wife? It's bad to sleep in the same bed as someone?

You turn the channel to a cartoon called Disco Broccoli and smile. One of your favorite shows. Your parents never got you toys from it, just crayons and paper.

The paper your parents gave you along with your crayon was only so you didn't color on the walls. The tv suddenly shuts off after maybe an hour of watching your cartoon, as do the rest of the lights. Power outage. You hop off the couch and go to one of the drawers in the kitchen, grabbing a flashlight you knew your parents put in case of emergency's. You looked outside, it was still daytime luckily, but it seemed every house on the block was out of power. Maybe even the whole neighborhood.

Your fist grips the crayon you still had a bit tighter and look at the walls. Might as well draw while you wait. You were out of paper anyway.

It had been maybe a few minutes, but the whole wall, or at least what you could reach, was covered in little drawings. You thought they looked pretty cool. You then hear a loud crash outside. You jump and look out the window. A car was totaled with someone under it. They looked bloody, but they got up anyway. Your face twists with worry, debating wether or not to open the door before someone hops out of the car, being tackled by the bloody person and.. eaten alive? There was a ton of blood, you quickly run towards the sink and hop onto the stool so you could reach it, puking instantly. You turn the handle to make it wash down, but no water came out. Right, power outage means no water either.

You walk back over to the window to see more people walking around. They looked badly injured but they also looked scary. Like that movie your parents watched. 'Zombies' is what they were called. Beings that are human flesh but had no mind. You walk to the kitchen, grabbing your school backpack and dumping the contents out that you thought meant nothing to you and take it to the kitchen, putting snacks in your bag, a few batteries for your flashlight, and a few packs of crayons. You were going to stay in your room for a while to wait for whatever was happening to pass.

You make it to you room, locking the door and laying down on your bed after tossing your backpack somewhere random once you finish stuffing the flashlight in it. You had nothing to comfort you except your sheets, so that's what you held. You couldn't fall asleep after witnessing what happened outside. It's probably been a few more hours before you suddenly heard a door downstairs open. You perk up, instantly grabbing your backpack and diving into your closet. You grab a long sock and wrap it on your closet door handles to keep it from opening from the outside. One of your teachers taught you that since they wanted everyone to know how to protect themselves from intruders. That's where you mainly learned everything about safety.

The stairs creaked loudly. You nervously mess with the end of your oversized hoodie. You hear someone try the door to your room and hear talking. Someone broke in. You feel a few tears fall down your face and silently sniffle, trying to not alert the people you were inside. A loud crash made you jolt and hide deeper in your pile of clothes. They busted your door open.

The talking got louder and sounded like two women's voices. "This is a kids room." One of them said, they sounded sad. "I know love, let's not worry. Hopefully their parents got them out in time." You hear them rummaging through your stuff. "But it looked like someone is still here, there's stuff dumped out, there was fresh throw up in the sink, dear what if there is a kid here? What if they don't know what's happening?" The rummaging stopped, "I don't know.. but I think the place is abandoned just like every other place we've been too." You watch as a shadow grew closer to the closet, trying to open it. "Closet is locked." They say to the other figure. "That shouldn't be. There's no locks on it. Hello?" You stay silent and unmoving. "There's probably just clothes in there anyway. Why don't we search somewhere else?" The figure tries the door again, "We need everything we can get Gracie. Remember what happened to Oliver? We could use the clothes for materials." The girl you assumed that was named Gracie sighed in defeat. The girl at the closet suddenly pulled the door, now exposing the long sock you used and a little bit of light showed through the crack. They didn't say anything as they cut through it, using what seemed to be an axe.

You lean against the wall, desperate to stay out of sight. "There's no way someone tied that from out here Tamara." Gracie push past the other woman, Tamara, and took the flashlight, looking around every inch of the closet. She then notices your bag slightly poking out of the clothes. She goes to grab it but you tug it back and start screaming. "Holy shit!" Tamara grips her axe a puts it over her head, ready to swing it down. "Tamara no!" Gracie stops her and pushes aside a few clothes, now getting a clear view at you. "It's okay! It's okay! We won't hurt you." You stop screaming, studying her for a few seconds. "Gracie, he probably just alerted a few of those things. We need to grab what we can and get the fuck out of here." She nods as Tamara grabs a few things and stuffs them into a duffle bag, the one from the downstairs closet. Gracie stays with you, unmoving. "What's your name sweetheart?" She stays kneeling in front of you, looking genuine. "My mommy said not to tell strangers anything." She frowns and looks at Tamara. "Where is your mommy? Where's your daddy?" You shrug, "They left me here. They went on another trip like usual." Her face seemed to turn angry for a minute before whispering to Tamara, "How could someone just leave their fucking kid here?!" Tamara threw the duffle bag over her shoulder and gripped her axe in the other hand. "I'm not sure." She mutters.

You hear something along the lines of a window shattering downstairs. "Shit we gotta go!" Tamara says, looking towards your door. "Kid, come on." You shook your head, your parents would be back soon right? "I have to wait for mommy and daddy!" Gracie seemed to be almost close to tears, "Please kid, I don't want to leave you here." You hear groaning and slow footsteps. Tamara cusses as she throws the duffle bag down. Holding her axe over her head and from what you saw, she brung it down onto a zombies head, old brown blood going everywhere. Gracie at this point starts begging you, she looked just as scared as you were. "I'll tell you everything that's happening later, we've got to leave now! I don't want you to die here!" You were going to die if you stayed? You didn't want that, but your parents-. You take a few seconds, hearing Tamara slaughter another zombie in the background. Your parents weren't coming back. They never were going to were they? You made up your mind quickly as the thought enters. "Okay." You make a grabby hand motion to Gracie who smiles in relief and instantly picks you up after you grab your backpack. "I got him! Let's go!" Tamara nods and grabs the duffle bag again, you avert your eyes as about three more zombies are killed before you all escape the house. There were a lot coming towards you three. They run to a car and hop in, throwing the duffle bag in the back and not bothering to put you in the backseat, just deciding to just keep you in Gracie's lap. They also didn't put seatbelts on either as they sped off quickly. The neighborhood looked like terrible, overrun by zombies. Gracie sighs, looking at you and then Tamara, making sure you were both okay. "I'm Gracie, and this is my girlfriend, Tamara." She introduced their names even though you pretty much got the hang of it already. "I'm y/n.." You speak after a few minutes of silence. Tamara smiles, "Well then.. Welcome to our family, y/n. We're glad we found you."

——

You jolt up, breathing heavily. The sun was up and Mitch was standing next to you with his hands on your shoulders. "You alright?" You regulate your breathing and nod, "Just.. reminiscing." You missed Gracie and Tamara. They were amazing people. You're hella thankful your young self decided to go with them. You probably would've died from the walkers invading your house if you didn't.

"We've got a few things to do today." You nod, standing up, "Then let's hurry up and get outside." Mitch chuckles, "I like your enthusiasm." You both exit your rooms once your ready to go and walk outside. Not many people were outside at the moment. Clementine and AJ must be still asleep. You take the time to notice the changes that weren't there two weeks ago. The walls were accompanied by barbed wire, the courtyard was a wreck with walker heads on sticks and picnic tables flipped over, everything looked pretty much ready. Welp. Time to do a few last things before those people arrive without notice.