I stand up, looking up at the sky as the sun slowly begun to set, Jocelyn smiles at me.

"Who was that tall one?" Jocelyn asks again, I stand back a little, this whole time she was talking....it's like she wasn't talking to me....it sounds like she has schizophrenia.....

"His name is Dakota." I said, trying to brush off the fact that she wasn't talking to me.

I walk back downstairs, people were walking down the halls, it must be time for dinner, I dash downstairs to see people hovering over tables full of food.

I'd never think I would see actual pudding, it must've been preserved, I spot Dakota and Aurei waiting in line, I catch up with them.

"You've been missing." Aurei said, raising her eyebrow.

"I think I made a new friend." I said, Dakota rolls his eyes.

"We still have the undead on our ass, so we have to be smart." Dakota said, I know exactly what he's talking about....the undead will eventually take over this whole place, I pinch the inside of my palm, Aurei looks over at the canned pineapples, Gordon takes the last can.

"I'm sorry miss but I'm really hungry today." Gordon explains to a old lady.

Aurei puts her hand over her stomach, she grins to shrug off the pain, she needed to eat-NOW.

"Greedy little bastard." Dakota snaps.

Gordon turns around, glaring at Dakota.

"Where are your manners?" Gordon asks, trying to flex his muscles.

"Where are your balls?" Dakota shot back.

"Here you go little girl." Gordon says, slowly passing it to Aurei, as if she was going to change her mind, not taking his eyes off Dakota.

"You know....I'm not liking you right now." Gordon said, Dakota shrugs.

"That's not my damn problem." Dakota said before walking past him, Aurei elbows Dakota in the rib.

"Be nice." Aurei growls.

"Fine. I'm sorry that you lack the balls to spare a can for a child and that you look like a damn rat." Dakota said emotionlessly, I purse my lips then smacked Dakota upside the head, he turns around, giving me a terrifying glare.

I grab Aurei by the wrist then lead her back upstairs, she eyes me.

"I already understand." Aurei cuts me short, she looks down at the can of pineapples in her hand, she frowns.

Aurei gets up then walks back downstairs.

"Where are you going?!" I ask as she just trods down the stairs.

"People were behind us in that line, I'm not special." Aurei said.

Aurei stops by a little girl walks with her head hung low, Aurei kneels down towards the girl, I follow her.

"I love pineapples!" The girl chirps, giving Aurei a big smile.

Aurei passed the can to the girl. A woman, with red hair braided to the side looks at the little girl.

"Izzie what do you say?" The woman asks quizzically.

"Thank you." The little girl beamed.

Aurei had always been loving, if we did have another little sister or brother, she would be so protective of them....she got the protective side from Mom....

Aurei turns around with a genuine grin on her face.

"We're not the only ones who need help." Aurei said before walking back upstairs.

I pat her shoulder then followed her. She sits on the bed, taking out a picture of Me and her when she was younger, everything was so simple back then....

"I miss school." Aurei said, looking at me.

"I miss breakfast." I said quietly, Aurei giggles.

"Mom would make breakfast super early, it was always a suprise how early she would wake up, she would cut her eyes at me whenever I would swear and you would always have straight A's on your report card." I said with a euphoric smile on my face.

"School was easy." Aurei said with a shrug.

"Easy for you, you're pretty damn smart." I said, Aurei shrugs again.

"Besides my academics, I never really liked anyone, they were so superficial and they thought they were tough." Aurei said, lying down on the bed.

"It's hard to realize something so little is good until it's gone." Aurei said, rolling over to face me.

"What happened when we split up?" I ask, Aurei's eyes saden, but within a blink of an eye her face hardens. She's hard to crack now....usually it would be so easy for Aurei to confide in me.

"There are some things that I don't want to talk about." Aurei growls

"Still, you spat on that dead man when I found you." I said, sitting on the bed where her legs rested.

"That man was evil." Aurei said firmly.

"Did anything else happen?" I ask.

"I lost good friends, I took care of them. A old man who knew guns better than a expert taught me how to use a rifle....things happened and I lost them, some to the undead and some to those terrible men who just didn't have any remorse for anyone." Aurei explains.

"You know what? Don't tell me.....I won't try to burn the wound." I said, Aurei shrugs.

"It wouldn't matter because I'm numb now." Aurei said.

The door pounds, Aurei sits up, immediately reaching for the gun, I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her then softly said.

"Come in."

Gordon steps inside, he looks at me.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I was so freakin' hungry." Gordon said, Aurei's face is now filled with utter scorn.

"Don't try to prove yourself right-you're not special." Aurei says.

"You seriously rushed to beat a old woman, and she was in front of you." I add.

"Jesus, what's up with you both getting on my case?" Gordon asks.

"Other people were hungry too Gordon." I said, Gordon facepalms.

"Eh, I know....I should've thought about other before myself." Gordon said.

"It's fine." I said, Aurei sits back.

"Well on a completely unrelated note....Avery how good are you with a rifle?" Gordon asks.

"Actually, I'm a great shot." Aurei pipes, I glare at her.

"Avery, I don't want to sit around and do nothing." Aurei said, I clench my teeth.

"But you're....." Gordon's voice trails off.

"A kid? So?" Aurei asks, knitting her eyebrows at him.

"It's up to you." Gordon said.

"We'll sleep on it." I said, Gordon walks towards the door.

"Good night, both of you..." Gordon said before closing the door.

Aurei turns to me. I don't want to risk my sister getting shot again, not after what happened last time.

"Avery, I want to do this, I'm tired of being useless." Aurei said, standing up, pacing around.

"You're not, you saved me." I said, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"I can be on the roof, I'm sure there are other people who will help me, I won't be too close." Aurei raves, I shake, my head.

"Avery, I'm not asking for you to give Gordon permission, I'm asking for you to trust me." Aurei said looking me in the eye.

It's not you I don't trust, it's the others.

I form my lips into a straight line. If I let her do this, she would learn get a better aim so the undead wouldn't be able to get too close to her. If I don't, she's out of harm's way for now.

"I'll talk to Gordon and Fernando. But I'm going to get ahold of one of the guards that are keeping watch so they can have a close eye on you, in case someone tries something funny." I said in defeat, Aurei's lips lift into a small smile.

"Thanks sis, this means a lot." Aurei said, walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I ask, raising a eyebrow.

"It's still sunny, I'm going to talk to one of the kids." Aurei said, I shake my head as she leaves the door open.

"Well I thought you'd never stop talking." I hear Dakota say.

I wince as Dakota walks inside, he casually looks around then back at me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

Dakota opens his bag, pulling out his glock, reloading the magazine, he puts it down.

"You and pipsqueak are the only people I trust right now." Dakota said.

"I'm honored." I exclaim, rolling my eyes.

"Don't be, I'm just going to sleep." Dakota said, laying in the other bed and rolling over so he was facing the ceiling.

I pull out my notebook then turned to a blank page, I miss Fern....she always tried to brighten everyone's mood by giving us stuff.

Keep in mind that the past is important. It determines who you are, whether you're a hero or considered a demon. Keep in mind that you're whoever you want to be. Use this as a advantage.

Aurei, you're tough as nails. So don't carry weight on your shoulders if I'm dead. Keep in mind that you can give life and take life. Don't be like me, stay alert but keep in mind that there are some good people out here. Spare people, be loving, protect those who were just like you, once you protect someone, you become stronger than you are before.

Because if you're a hostile person, you will know violence and fear.

Like always, no matter what happens to me, I love you.

"Don't kill me yet...I can't breathe...." Dakota mutters, his dreams scare me.

"I'm out of breath again...." Dakota adds.

"Nobody can make it go away." Dakota said. Soon as he said this I realized he's more vulnerable when he's alseep. I can't leave him like this.

I move a strand of hair off his face.

"Wake up Dakota." I said softly, crouching beside the bed and shaking his arm, he opens his eyes.

"What's going on?" Dakota asks, narrowing his eyes at me causing a chill to run down my spine.

"You were talking in your sleep." I said, Dakota looks at me.

"I'll live." Dakota said, rolling over, I grab his face, forcing him to look at me.

"I'll be damned if I let you sleep knowing that you're suffering." I said firmly, Dakota glares at me.

"Stop it, I don't need to be looked at like a small child who cut their knee." Dakota snaps.

"But you're not okay." I said.

"I don't need your damn pity, forget what I said." Dakota snaps.

"Stop being a asswhole dammit." I snap back, Dakota standa up, towering over me.

"What was that?" Dakota asks.

I'm not going to lie, I'm afraid of Dakota when he towers over me.

"I said you're being a asswhole." I said, crossing my arms.

"Stop kissing my ass and mind your business." Dakota said, balling up his fists.

"Dakota, if you wanted to kill me it would've been done." I said.

"No, every time you speak to me I regret not throwing you off a roof." Dakota said with a grimace.

"Every time we speak to each other, we're ready to rip each other's throats out!" I said, Dakota steps closer.

"And that's because you're saying that you're a plague or whatever." I add.

"It's not that, I'm out of control with myself whenever you speak to me, I go from broken to actually wanting to take you down." Dakota.

I grab his face, kissing him on the forehead and standing on my . Dakota grabs my hand.

"Are you sure? You have to accept the fact that I'm fucked up." Dakota said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"On second thought, nevermind." I said, turning around, I feel myself getting turned around.

"Bring your ass back here." Dakota said wryly, pulling me towards him.

"I can't promise I'll be perfect, I know I'm not those prissy ass boys who are flawless, but I love the fact that you're the only thing I want to see...." Dakota said, I look at him. I never felt like this in a long time.

"Buried six feet buried underground." Dakota adds.

I glare at him. It's hard to take him seriously.

"Rude bastard." I mutter, Dakota rolls his eyes. I cup his face bringing his face closer to mine, I kiss him roughly. Then I pull away. Dakota stares at me, then he pulls me closer to him.

"You won't win at this." Dakota said, he kisses me way harder, then he picks me up, I glare at him.

"Goddammit rose, I'm hard to beat." Dakota said, he kisses me again, I grab fistfuls of Dakota's black hair.

"I hate you." I mutter before he kisses me again. I could feel myself getting carried across the.

"Too bad, I despise your over cheerful ass." Dakota said with a grimace.

"But I love despising you." Dakota said, I wrap my legs around his waist as he kisses me again.

I break away, leaving him with a scowl.

"Keep in mind I don't sugarcoat shit." Dakota said, I roll my eyes, kissing him again.

Dakota puts me down.

"Well guess what? I don't do sappiness." I said, Dakota grabs my back.

Normally people would say that I'm always dating white guys, but now I don't give a damn what anyone says about my race. Girls would be against my ex dating me because I was part black but I didn't care, I'm happy with the people who already care about me.

"What are we?" I ask hesitantly, Dakota turns to me. "Apparently we hate each other but we love the fact that we want to strangle each other, I would say we're enemies with benefits." Dakota said wryly.

"And Dakota?" I call out.

"Don't change yourself." I said, Dakota cocks his head back laughing.

"Don't worry Avery, I'll be here to scare the living piss out of people and longer than that."

As confusing as this is, I couldn't stop myself from smiling.