━ CHAPTER SEVEN,
not all hero's wear capes.

THE GROUP SAT AT a creek now. It was the next morning, Cassandra cupped the water into her hands and patted some of the water onto her neck and collarbone, trying to calm her sweat. The girl used the water to clean the dried blood off her skin and some of the dirt left.

Cassandra wrapped the damp bandana around her wrist along with a few of her other bracelets that she's had from before. She stood up, walking onto the bridge where the rest of them stood. "This is Turner Creek, so Barnesville must be a few miles downstream."

"Sounds like our best chance at finding a new ride," Bob said. Cassandra nodded, hands on her hip, agreeing with him.

"Yo, Ty!" Daryl shouted, looking over the bridge and to the creek where Cassandra just was and where Tyreese was washing his shirt, "Come on, let's go. Vámonos." Daryl said, making Theo snicker.

Theo looks at Cassandra and mouths 'vámonos' which causes her to smile throughout this whole trip. The boy took that as an accomplishment.

The five of them grabbed their backpacks, setting them up back on their shoulders. Theodore and Cassandra followed the two adults, hoping that Bob and Ty would follow behind.

It's been a full night after the incident, they all needed rest after so that's what they did. Now, Cassandra could only hope that they would get the supplies they needed for those who needed them back at the prison. Cassandra also just wanted to see her family again as she'd never been away from them this long before.

As time passed they walked through a dirt pathway. The sun was hot and gleaming on her pale skin but she tried to keep up her pace with everyone else. Even with the weight.

Cassandra could feel a certain pair of eyes on her from time to time. Theo kept glancing over at her as if he wanted to say something but didn't. He looked over once more ( which Cass sensed ), she got aggravated and she turned to him, "What?" she snarled. He looked ahead, surprised that she caught him staring. "Why do you keep staring at me, like some creep?"

She waited for an answer, staring up at him, slightly cursing that he was taller. Everyone was ahead of them besides Bob and Tyreese walking slowly behind. He opened his mouth to respond, trying to at least choke out a word, looking over at her but apron her expression, he chose to close his mouth.

He shrugged his shoulders, looking down at his shoes as they walked, "Uh, I don't know." She raised her eyebrows at him and let out a scoff under her breath.

They walked for about a few minutes and as she thought the conversation was over, Theo spoke up again, "Why'd you come? Like, truly." Cassandra looks up at him, and scans his face before responding, "Because you asked me."

"But, you could've said no."

"Yeah but," She starts but he interrupts and finally, looks down at her, "So why'd you come?"

The girl stared at him, their eyes locked for a few seconds before she looked away, back down at the ground. "I... I don't know, maybe, I just wanted to come. And help."

"There's more to it." Theodore said before he could realize he said that out loud. Cassandra shakes her head. She doesn't say anything and neither does he. They just kept walking, equally agreeing to be quiet for the rest of the walk now as they followed Daryl and Michonne.

The thing about Theodore Russell is that you can never know what he's thinking. Or, will say next. The boy kept his head straight ahead. The sun shined down on the unreadable expression on his face. The way he held his backpack straps in his hands, fidgeting with his thumbs making tiny beats.

She couldn't read him.

And god, did she hate that.

APPROACHING A GAS station, they started to slow down their pace as they approached the station and gathered around. Bob turns to look over behind him, seeing Daryl glance at a whole bunch of fallen leaves, vines, and branches. "You see something?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

Not even a few minutes later, Daryl had looked around and found a car which was under the same fallen leaves and branches. Cassandra and Michonne stood to the side as Daryl was inside the car, attempting to hot wire it as Bob, Tyreese and Theo helped get all the branches off.

Cassandra watched as Daryl slipped out of the car and he sighed, "We gotta find us a new battery."

The blonde put her hands on her hips and took a look around, taking in the situation they were in. "We got some friends inside." Daryl mentioned, she looked over at him and she could see the walker's figure on the window behind him. Cass stared at it before Daryl motioned for us to follow.

As we walked to the other side of the gas station, Cassandra put her weapon back into the waistband of her jeans as she followed, walking beside Bob.

"Let's clear a path, see how many we got." They walked up to the side of the gas station that was full of vines and branches. She, Theo, and Daryl used their hands to pull them off.

Meanwhile, Tyreese was whacking the vines with his machete as if it were a walker itself. Or, taking out all his anger on it.

Cassandra peeked over and felt uneasy before going back to trying to get these vines off without cutting her hand by the thorns. Tyreese kept going, the sounds of his grunts and his machete being thrown into the vines being hard to ignore.

"Hey, man, go easy." Daryl spoke out to him first, "We don't know what we're dealing with."

The man didn't listen and after a few more of his hits, his machete got caught on something. He tried to pull it out but it didn't budge, the noise sounding like a rattle of a lock. Cassandra stopped her actions, looking over and observing.

As he struggled to pull it out, Cass walked over slowly, "Hey, just let it go." She said calmly. She could tell that he was emotional this whole trip and she knew it had to do something about Karen. Cassandra knew the woman but not as well as he did. She knew Tyreese cared about her. So with Karen gone, it wasn't easy.

He didn't listen to the words coming out of the girl's mouth and kept tugging to retrieve the machete. Cassandra watched as he pulled it out and let out a sigh. There were some wires around his weapon, he frantically tried to pull it off and threw it to the ground.

Then, as Tyreese calmed down, Bob and Theo started getting back to work. Cassandra gave Tyreese one last look before going to try to retrieve her back to her original spot.

    Instead, life had other plans.

Out of nowhere, a walker hurls itself out of the vines and reaches forward, latching its hands on Cassandra's backpack straps. The girl lets out a gasp of shock and then a scream of fear.

Cassandra tries to use her hands to push it away, push on its shoulders, chest. Nothing worked as it held her backpack straps and pulled her closer. As she tried to push back, she used her spare hand to try and reach for her blade.

Before she could take ahold of it, blood splattered on her face and she fell down onto her bottom. Cassandra gasps and opens her eyes, seeing the walker with its head now slightly detached from its body and it was dead ( again ).

Gently lifting her fingertips to her cheek, she feels the cold liquid on her face before detaching her hand and taking a look. Blood was on her fingertips and she took a deep breath at the fact walkers blood was splattered on her face. Before any more reactions, she felt someone lift her up from under her arms and back onto her feet.

She stumbled a little as her legs felt weak. She stood up straight, looking over and seeing that Theo was the one who had helped her up, his arm still settled on her waist. They didn't say anything as they looked into each other eyes. Maybe, trying to figure each other out, or maybe, she was thanking him, and he watched as she did.

Snapping them out of the moment, another two walkers popped out of the vines— going after Daryl and Bob. Daryl tried to push it away as it latched onto his vest, Michonne coming to his recuse and cutting off its hand, freeing the man.

Then, one of the walkers flung out of the vines, latching onto Bob's jacket, pulling him closer trying to bring him to one's mouth. His breathing raced, trying to push it away from him.

Cassandra was the first to move away from Theo, pulling out the knife from her waistband. All she sees is more of them coming out of the cluster of vines.

It makes her breathing shudder but she tries to be brave.

Cassandra moves around Bob and stabs her knife into the skull of the walker that held onto him, using the best of her strength to pull it out which caused the walker to go limp. Sending Bob to the ground. Michonne comes over and helps him up as Cassandra wipes the blood from her knife on her jeans.

She looks up and sees Tyreese holding onto one of the walkers that tried to come out of the vines. It was as if he was trying to get away from it but was locking onto it; "Tyreese!" Bob exclaimed.

"Ty, let him go!" He didn't and used his strength to pull the damn dead one out of the vines. Cassandra gasped quietly and stepped back as he successfully did, the walker landing on top of Tyreese which sent them both to the concrete.

The man grunts trying to fight it off of him and Theo walked forward, grabbing the walker's shirt and pushing it off Bob. As it was off of him, he stepped back and Cassandra grabbed his arm to move him behind her. Bob then stepped forward and shot the walker, sending it dead.

The girl stands there staring at the scene. She didn't know what to do or say.

She watched as Tyreese stood up with no expression on his face or any words leaving his mouth, he started to walk past Michonne but she spoke up, "Why the hell didn't you let go?" The man glanced at her, no response, his chest rising up and down.

Cassandra looked down at the ground before flickering over to the bandana wrapped around her wrist and instantly felt a sense of comfort rise up inside of her.

Theo tapped her shoulder and she looked up at him before down at his hands. He held a small cloth rag and he held it out for her. Cass softly took it into her hand and half-smiled. "Thanks."

He smiled in response with a nod. "You can keep it." Cass laughs at his words. He watched as she started to step away with the others, lifting up the rag to her face and starting to wipe off the (almost) dried blood that was left.

EVENTUALLY, THEY ENTER the station. Daryl lifts up one of the flashlights as they step inside, Theo holding the other flashlight.

Daryl, Bob, and Theo all head to one of the back rooms while Cassandra calls out, "I'm gonna look around a bit." Daryl looked over at her, "Be careful. Might be more around." Cassandra hummed in agreement and started to walk away and head into one of the isles.

Bob and Daryl started to walk in the opposite direction, expecting the teenager to follow with them.

However, Theo stayed still; glancing back and forth at the two groups and then speaking up. "I'm gonna go with her... make sure she doesn't die." He didn't wait for a response before he started to follow Cassandra. Daryl looked at where Theo had gone, glancing at Bob with a look that said, Did you see that? Bob snickered and they headed to one of the back rooms.

Theodore Russell has been around in the group for a while. He was a boy who lost his parents at a young age before being sent into the supervision of his grandparents. They lived a calm life until the world went to shit. They fled out of Atlanta and sought shelter at a family friend's; the Greene's. Years later, Theo held his heart close to his chest, and was hard to let his guard down to people but, with Cassandra, it was like, he wanted to try.

    Even with the secrets he held.

Cassandra walked through the aisle, seeing if there was anything useful when she heard footsteps coming from behind her. A hand connected with her shoulder making her gasp in surprise before she saw that it was just Theodore. "You scared me."

He smiled nervously, "Sorry. Just thought we should stay in pairs.." Cassandra put her mouth in a 'o' and nodded.

He then flickered the flashlight over the items in the isle they were currently in, "Find anything?" Cass shook her head, setting a piece of hair behind her ear, "Nope. Trying to see if I could find anything to help but it seems everything is kinda gone." She let out, motioning over to the useless items in front of her.

He nodded. After their moment earlier when he saved her from the walker, it stunned her a little. Cassandra didn't understand what it was. She tried to ignore it, which made everything a little awkward between them ( as if it weren't already before ).

The duo walks further down the aisle and the girl sees candy, she unintentionally scans it. "Oh my god, Sour Patch Kids!" She exclaims, reaching forward and taking it into her hands.

"Sour Patch?"

"Yes! These were my favorites," She trails off as she looks up at Theo who has a puzzled look written on his face. "Wait. Have you never had these before?"

To her surprise, he shook his head. "No.."

Cassandra's mouth opened in a playful shocked manner. "You're serious? These are practically the best candies made to man." She ranted. She remembered the times that she, her brother, and Apollo would run to the gas stations near their school. Getting drinks and candy, both of them knowing Cass would always get the famous Sour Patch Kids. They would sit on the curb in front of the station and when Drew would try to steal some, she would ruffle his hair which he hated the most during those times.

Theo chuckles, "Yeah, okay."

"You don't believe me?" She looks at him, a curious look on her face. He stared at her for an instant before shaking his head.

Cassandra looked down at the candy, flipping it over to scan it. "Well, these are probably way expired. But!" She pointed at him, "I promise you, these were, like, the best candy." She laughed, holding the candy bag in front of them.

Theodore watched as she laughed, his face lighting up at the sound. It was a captivating sound to him. He grinned, staring down at her before she looked back up at him. "I believe you." Theo commented, letting out a laugh.

Then, they were pulled away from each other by the sound of their names being called.

"Cassandra, Theo over here!" Bob called out. The teenager's heads perked up, giving each other a glance then walked away from the aisle and to Bob and Daryl.

They stood beside each of the adults as Daryl shined the flashlight on the floor that showed some blood, dried puke, and a poisonous bottle near it. "Those douchebags in the vines took themselves out," Daryl looks over at the three of them, "Holding hands— kumbaya style." Theo was left with amusement from Daryl's last words. "Gross." She muttered, adverting her eyes away from the mess as it made her feel queasy and stood behind Theo.

"They wanted to go out together same as they lived. That make them douchebags?" Bob says. Daryl sighs quickly, "It does if they could have gotten out."

"Everybody makes it, till they don't."

Cassandra looks at Bob at his words, feeling an odd sense of urgency to get home to her family soon. She couldn't imagine losing any of them as she knew that it would change her.

She's lost a lot of people over the years in this world of exile which she's still trying to understand. This is why she knew she couldn't handle her family, the home that she always could go to, disappear in a second.

"People nowadays are dominoes." Bob says, making Cassandra move her eyes away from him and decide to stay behind the small group they've formed. "What they did, maybe it's about not having to watch them fall." Daryl looks at Bob, giving a single nod, "Right."

They continued to walk through the aisle and as they turned the corner, they saw a walker stuck under some wood and trash. Daryl shined the light on it and looked back, "Come on." He started to walk away but firstly, he waited for the two teenagers to come in front of him and walk out of the station before him.

DARYL WORKS ON the car, trying to get it working as Cassandra sits against the brick wall, drinking some water as the heat starts to get to her. Theo sat next to her silently, his eyes closing a few times. Bob stood farther from them as the two adults smoked.

As Bob started to explain what he was before he was found by the others and brought to the prison, Cassandra dimmed out the conversation as she leaned her head against the wall and tried to get comfortable waiting.

That was until she heard a certain of words leave Bob's mouth. "The run to the big spot, I did it for me." "You gotta keep busy."

Cassandra opened her eyes and flickered them back and forth between the pair, "No. I did it so I could get me a bottle. Of anything. I picked it up, I held it in my hand, but I put it down. I put it down so hard it took the whole damn shelf with it. That's what brought on the walkers, and that's what got Zack killed."

Cassandra scans Bob's face from her seat and shakes her head slightly, converting some of her hair to the side. She puts her head in her hands, her trying not to go back to that day. Theo glances at the girl beside him, he has the urge to ask if she is okay but holds back as he believes it is a stupid question.

Even before this, who was okay?

"That's bullshit." Daryl told him.

"Why don't you get in there and try the engine? It's a red and a green wire." He tells Bob who stands there, looking at him, "Go on. It ain't rocket science." Bob's lip turns up before heading inside the driver's seat.

The three of them watch as Bob hits the gas and the engine turns on. Theodore claps his hands together in celebration and smiles big.

Theo then stands up from his previous sitting position and looks down at the blonde who still sitting there. An idea popped into his head that made his hands sweaty. He reached out his hand for her to take causing her to look at his hand before at him to see a big cheesy grin on his face.

Cassandra looked back at his hand and slipped her hand into his.

They held smiles on their faces as he helped her stand up. After the small look that caused eye contact between them as she stood, Cassandra took her hand out of his and dusted the dirt off her jeans.

She didn't catch the face drop from the boy.

Cassandra then looks over as Bob exits the vehicle, "Thank god, huh?" She exclaims, referring to how they finally found a car that they could make work. Bob lightly grinned and they shared a mutual high-five.

Daryl turned and whistled over to Michonne and Tyreese who sat not so far away, alerting them they fixed the car. Cass and Theo headed to sit in the backseat, right beside each other.

Daryl shut the hood and walked up to Bob who sat in the drivers seat, "Sasha and me picked that spot. He took you with us. Ain't no way anybody could've known." Daryl told Bob, mentioning back to what Bob talked about, "You ain't gonna be standing alone, not no more." He turned away and saw the two coming back over to the car, "Let's go." He motioned.

They grabbed some of the bags and headed into the van, making room for the six of them to fit inside. Cassandra watched the station fade away as they started to drive away.

THE GROUP WALKED on foot now. The wind had picked up more, blowing in the blonde's face that she put her hair in a ponytail as they walked towards the college. Where they would get the supplies to help back at the prison. You could hear the cans rattle from afar and see the way nature started to take over the building.

They walked more ahead before reaching the building that had what they needed. Daryl went first with Ty and Michonne while the rest of them stood in the back. Safely making it through the first doors, it was a huge weight off of Cassandra's chest but also gave her hope.

Maybe, this place isn't as overrun as they thought?

They made it to the room, "Let's make it quick." "Yes sir." Cassandra scanned the room and moved to a few of the drawers, looking for the certain supplies we needed.

Theo stood across from her, putting a few things into his own backpack.

Cassandra found a science book and opened it to the first page, seeing that it was about the planets. She put it in her backpack along with some of the other things that were needed before following Daryl and Tyreese, everyone else following behind to other rooms.

Michonne and Bob looked through the medicine cabinets, "Anything ending with -cillin or -cin, C-I-N, grab it." Bob said. "We'll dissolve the pills in the IVs, put 'em right into the bloodstream. Dosage will be tricky but considering the time we lost. . ." He moved and put more of those pills into their backpacks.

Cassandra and Theo come out, Daryl and Ty behind them. Cassandra put her backpack on one of the tables to zip it up as it was full now. "How'd you do?" Bob asked.

"Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors, everything on the list."

"How about y'all?"

Michonne scanned the pill names with her flashlight, going down the shelves. "We got it." "Yeah, we're good." Michonne added.

Daryl nodded, grabbing the bag that was full and put it over his shoulder, "All right, let's roll."

Cassandra put her backpack on with a grunt and followed after them, staying close to Daryl who turned on the flashlight to see down the dark hallway. The group of six wandered down and as they were about to pass a room, they saw it was full of walkers roaming around. Cassandra took an inhale and tried her best not to panic.

Daryl flashed a light on it, the walker turning to look at the door and seeing the group. The girl couldn't help but reach for her knife in her waistband as they started to jog past the room.

"Up ahead." Michonne pointed to a room across the hallway.

They entered a dark room Cassandra almost couldn't make out what was inside and decided she didn't even want to know.

Bob tried to close the door behind them, "Hey, the doors busted." Daryl rushed over, trying to help since you could hear the dead's snarls coming closer. Cassandra grasped onto her knife as Michonne walked, seeing a sign that said stairway, "There."

Cassandra followed, Theodore in front of her now since he had a flashlight. Daryl saw her nervousness and laid a hand on her shoulder which turned her attention to him. A nod of reassurance, she tried her best to smile at him.

Then, out of nowhere, a walker stunned them and tried to attack Tyreese but Ty pushed him against the wall, killing the dead one once again.

As if that wasn't enough, they reached the door to the stairwell and Michonne shined the light on the chains wrapped around the handle. That caused the walkers to hit the doors, their hands reaching through the crack and trying to grab onto them.

"How many?" Daryl asked, moving to the front and Cassandra stayed in the back, making sure they're would be no more surprises from the trail behind. "I can't tell."

"Uh, guys! Incoming." Cassandra said frantically, tapping Theodore's shoulder and the boy turned around, shining the flashlight on the door that had the walkers coming through into the dark room. "Shit." Theo cursed.

"We can take 'em," Tyreese said, Cassandra silently agreeing.

"No! They're infected. Same as the prison. We fire at 'em, get their blood on us, breath it in. We didn't come all this way to get sick."

"Welcome to the world, asshole." Cassandra snapped back, holding up the knife in her hand.

"How do we know the ones in there aren't any different?" Tyreese asked. "We don't."

"Well, it's gotta change sometime." Daryl exclaimed. He grabbed one of the chairs and broke one of the arms, "Ready?" Everyone nodded. Daryl busted the chain and five walkers walked through, shooting them dead.

Cassandra looked behind her and saw that they were coming closer so when the doors were open and safe, they all rushed out of the room and up the stairs.

Going a flight upstairs, they finally made it to a hallway but as Cassandra walked out, she saw a crowd of walkers on this level too. They rush through the hallway carefully and as they reach the end of it, Cass starts to worry.

The door was locked as Michonne tried to open it. "No exit." Cassandra sighed. "Then we make one." She watched as Daryl jumped up in front of the window and Tyreese grabbed the fire extinguisher, throwing it against the window, smashing it open.

That was a way to make an exit.

"Come on!" Michonne walks forward and they help her up and out the window, "Jump down to the walkway below. Cass, come on." Daryl reaches for her hand, and Daryl and Tyreese help her. She stands at the window sill, examining down and seeing the space between where she had to jump.

Cassandra heard Bob yell behind her, "They're here!" causing her to take the chance and jump. Michonne was there to catch her if needed. Tyreese jumped after, Theo, Daryl then Bob.

Instead of Bob making it, he fell stomach flat on the platform and the bag almost slipped from his hand, the walkers flooding over, trying to reach for the bag itself. The group looked over and rushed over to him, trying to help him from not falling. "Bob, let it go." "Let it go." They repeated.

Bob didn't give up and yanked the bag, hitting the platform and causing it to open.

Cassandra sighed, looking up at the sky but once Daryl walked over and kneeled down, she looked down and was alarmed at what she saw. Alcohol bottles. No meds. Daryl looked at Bob, "You got no meds in your bag? Just this?" He didn't say anything.

"You should have kept walking that day." Daryl snapped. He was about to throw the bottle when Bob spoke up, "Don't."

Theodore looked down and saw Bob put his hand on his gun. Theo walked ahead and pushed his shoulder, creating for his hand fall off the gun. The boy moved back over to Cass causing Daryl to stare Bob down.

Daryl grabbed the gun from his holder and stared him down, grabbing his vest. Cassandra moved her sight away from the commotion. "Just let it go, Daryl." Tyreese spoke up first, "The mans made his choice. Nothing you can do about it." Daryl let go of Bob's jacket.

"I didn't want to hurt nobody. It was just for when it gets quiet." Bob explained.

Cassandra called bullshit. Life was a bitch but you deal with it. Even when the sky turns black, everyone leaves and you're left with only the reflections. People were dying at the prison and Bob could've died only for something to take the edge off.

"Take one sip. When those meds get in our people, I will beat your ass into the ground. You hear me?" Daryl spoke in hoarse. Cassandra and Theodore stood side by side as they started to walk away with the others, Bob behind the group.

CASSANDRA HASTINGS SAT in the backseat of the car as they were at a stop and she had fallen asleep. Michonne and Tyreese were trying to decide which route to take on the map while Daryl, Theo, and Cass stayed in the car.

Theo couldn't help but glance at the sleeping blonde beside him. She leaned her head against the car window, her hand beside her head. He noticed the blue bandana wrapped around her wrist and wondered why she always wore it.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, the boy sighed and leaned his head back.

"Taking Highway 100." Tyreese said as he rolled up the map. "I heard." Bob joined the group once again, and they settled into the car, taking caution of the blonde still sleeping before driving off.

Driving home.

( word count, 5039 )

literally the longest chapter YET.
this took me forever to write
so i apologize for that 😭.
hope you enjoyed <3 ly