The sky above them turned into a deeper shade of blue. Bright stars lit up the way, each one of them trying to out shine the other.

The moon was nearing the middle of the sky by the time the forest cleared away, and they passed the train station. They were a good mile or three past it.

Tenn sluggishly walked into his hip, his hand curling into his jacket. Violet on the other hand was alert for the most part. She'd end up walking into his arm every few minutes.

Aj was faring much better. He was wake and alert. Kenny could tell he was getting tired from the way he brought his hand up to cover his mouth every time he yawned.

It wouldn't be long till all the kids were too tired to keep going. It was getting harder to sneak around walkers with half asleep kids. There were more walkers than usual even if an explosion had happened.

As much as Kenny hoped he was wrong he knew he was only denying the inevitable. A herd was coming. The same herd Aj and him had to out run before time and time again.

If they did end up coming across it would Violet and Tenn be able to handle it? He sure prayed they could.

By the time the moon did made it to the middle of the sky, they were lucky enough to find a run down car.

It wouldn't be running anytime soon, but it will make a decent place to rest. "Violet get into the passenger side, Tenn, Aj the backs all yours."

Kenny swore he heard Violet say thank god under her breath the moment she passed him to get to the car.

The two boys were too tried to even respond and settled for collapsing into the car for a much needed nap the moment they climbed in.

Kenny couldn't help but snort at how quick they passed out. Aj should know better than to fall asleep when they're actively being pursued by who knows who.

While the kiddies, as he decided to dub them slept he settled to sleep with one eyes open. Now for him that meant he dozed off to sleep with his sole eye staring off into space giving off the illusion of him being awake.

Will he regret this later? Certainly since this always gave him a bad dry eye the next morning. After the years of waking up earlier than the sun had the chance to fully wake, he found himself massaging his eye lid to try an encourage blood flow to his eye.

If was decent fix for now till he could find a place for all of them to nap safely. Kenny stretched his arms forward successfully popping the joints in his arms and upper back.

When he turned to his side he saw Violet still peacefully asleep. He nudged her shoulder a few times however she still slept like a rock. Turing to the back he nudged Tenn like he did with Violet only to get the same result.

He knew trying to wake Aj after a night stroll was a no go. He wondered how after all this time he still hadn't picked up the trait both Clem and he had which was being a light sleeper.

If you told Kenny years before the apocalypse happened that he'd become a light sleeper he would have pushed them off his fishing boat while laughing his ass off and saying something along the lines of light sleeper my ass.

Kenny let out sigh before looking outside the dirty car window to see how many walkers were around. From what he managed to spot there was only around five.

Time for a devious lesson for his adopted kids. He quickly grabbed all their bags, leaving each of them a melee weapon. For Violet it was her trusty dusty meat cleaver, Aj got a hunters knife, and Tenn received the Sickle Kenny found tossed behind his seat.

He left their weapons near them in order for them to spot them. Once that was set up he grabbed all their bags making him look like some sort of dirty marshmallow man.

Kenny then proceeded to get out of the car and closed the door with more force than necessary. The car may be old and broken down it was still alive enough to let out a broken screech of an alarm.

The walkers caught onto the sound fairly quickly, all of them turning to growl at his direction. The kids shot up, each one of them obviously startled.

He knocked on the glass catching their attention, he was glad they all thought to grab their weapons. Kenny let a Cheshire smile bloom across his face as he waved to them before breaking out into a sprint with their bags.

Just as the doors opened walkers managed to reach the car. Each one of the kids began to attack the walkers that tried to eat them.

Violet was slightly clumsy when it came to attacking, but that could very well be from just waking up. Aj took at it like water off a ducks back. Tenn on the other hand kinda disappointed him. He stood behind Aj trembling, Aj must have said something to him from the looks of it that made him start to try and kill the walkers with him.

"What the fuck!" Violet screamed, taking Tenn's hand in hers.

Aj only shook his head and matched her pace of jogging. "First lesson, become a light sleeper. Aj you grew up out here I expected better"

Said boy pouted. His hand curling around his knife. Violet on the other hand scrunched up her eyebrows, he eyes narrowed into an icy glare.

Her mouth opened several times, yet no words left. In the end she threw her meat cleaver on the floor startling Tenn enough to drop her hand. Her breath came out in short puffs.

Kenny rolled his eyes then continued to walk away from her while handing Aj his bag followed by Tenn. "life out here isn't like what your used to. Go ahead and throw a hissy fit for all I care, but don't come crying to me when you end up close to dead."

He paused for moment to turn to look at her. She still hadn't moved from where she was last standing. "If you what to survive out here you have to learn how to adapt fast. The lessons you need to learn can't be taught with gentle and caring ways, they need to be drilled into you till your mind and body learns to react fast and hard. You still have time to turn around and go back to your school with your tail tucked between you legs, or you can put your big girl pants and let me drill these lessons into you like I've been doing with Aj."

Violet continued to glare at him. Once she saw he wouldn't be budging anytime soon she dropped her gaze to her discarded meat cleaver.

She shook her head before picking it up. "Is he always this rude" she nudged Aj's shoulder when she caught up to them

Aj snorted "when isn't he"

"Brats" Kenny rolled his eyes again that he seriously thought Violet may have rubbed off on him.

"Should we expect more lesson like this?" Tenn finally spoke up, his voice trembling a bit.

"Yup" Aj deadpanned

Violet groaned. By the look on her face she may be questioning her life choices. "That's just great." Tenn brushed up against her arm with a knowing look "don't even" she hissed, looking quite agitated.

"Are we missing something?" Kenny raised an eyebrow

Tenn grinned "Violet here put quite a show trying to figure what Marlon and Brody were hiding, they tried to switch the topic to you and she completely ripped them a new one and then said some pretty interesting things before she grabbed me and left to grab our things."

"Oh? Like what?" Tenn went to respond  only for Violet to slap her hand over his mouth

"Nothing, don't worry about it" she smiled for a split second before she shrieked and pulled her hand away "did YOU just LICK me! Gross"

Tenn smirked at the disgusted look on the blond face before his smirk dropped, as she wiped her hand on his clothes.

Kenny only chuckled at (His) the children's banter. Aj softy giggled into his hand when he caught the soft smile etched on his face.

When he spotted him he turned to look ahead of him, pretending it never happened.

"So, Kenny." She paused, her fingers twiddling with the fabric of her shirt. "How is life out here?"

Tenn tuned back into their conversation, putting a halt to  whatever Aj was trying to tell him.

"It's brutal." His gaze dropped to his blood stain shoes. "People are worse than walkers. They won't think twice about killing another person if there's a chance it may prolong their or someone they care about life. Even if it means betraying a friend or a companion. It doesn't matter to them." He grit his teeth as he remembered Carver then Ben.

"Some May do things behind you back for the good of the group which in the end can screw you over. You can't trust people out here. Not easily anyways."

Violet nodded, he could feel her eyes on him. He wouldn't meet them though. "Can you tell more about Clem" Aj cut through the tension that was made.

Kenny let a smile appear on his face, even if it was a small one. "What do you want to know?"

Aj bit his lip. "How did we get separated"

Kenny had to bite back a strangled noise that threatened to leave his mouth. He knew it was only a matter of time before he asked.

"You were around three when I decided to teach Clem to drive. She drove before and was pretty good. She wouldn't stop bugging me about putting a damn seatbelt on for a the longest time after we got in." He sucked in a breath and held it for a few seconds.

"Everything was fine until it wasn't. I don't know what went wrong but the car got out of control, Clem didn't do anything wrong. The car just starting swerving. The brakes... they didn't work. We crashed. It attracted walkers." He blinked to get rid of the tears in his eyes.

"There were too many. I told Clem to grab you and run, told her not to look back, keep running. I'm glad She made me put in that damn seatbelt, I was still disoriented from the crash couldn't see well. The next thing I knew a walker was about to take a chunk out of me, but Clem she killed it. She forced you into my hands, pushed me in the direction where she had cleared a path. She was yelling at me to run, and I did. I ran and didn't look back." Kenny clenched his fists

"I ran and didn't look back. I thought she was right behind me. After a good bit of running I looked back and didn't see her. I put you inside a broken down car before running back to the crash. When I got there most of the walkers were dead. A few were still walking around, Clem was no where to be seen. We camped out near the crash for days before we had to leave due to the herd." Kenny didn't know how tight he was pressing down on his palm until Aj tried to pry his hand open.

The moment his hands went slack Aj looked up, a small smile curved at the edges of his lips "we'll find her, she's still out there waiting for us"

"We'll find her, gotta introduce her to her new sibling" he pointed to the two former Ericson kids.

He didn't know how those simple worlds made Violets heart swell with happiness. "Do you think she'll like me" she asked almost timidly.

Tenn squeezed her hand reassuringly "I know she will" he whispered softly.

"I'm sure you guys will get along great, your a lot like her" Violet smiled at that.

The light Mood came crashing down at the sound of walker growls, normally that wouldn't be too alarming, however the sound of a hundred growls was enough to make their blood freeze.

"Get down" Kenny ordered not missing a beat.

All three of them followed him towards a large tree. When they peaked over it's side Tenn whimpered. Hundreds if not thousands of walkers were slowly walking towards them.

"Stay calm. If you panic you'll die." Aj hugged Tenn at Kenny's words. "Herds are common out here. Luckily for you my best friend discovered a useful tactic to get around them which he taught Clem who taught me. Stay" he said sternly.

He then left them behind the three and crept closer to the herd. When he got pretty close he watched a few stragglers. When he did he picked out the fattest one he cold find.

It didn't take long before he made his move. The unsuspecting walker walked towards him. When he was close enough Kenny moved behind him and cut off its lower jaw off.

The walker was now at his mercy. He walked it back to the kids where he then stabbed it in its head. The kids all jumped when it fell to the floor next to them.

"Tenn let me see your sickle" said boy hesitantly handed it to him.

Violet gagged when she saw him cut its stomach open. "Please don't tell me we're going to—" Tenn was it off as Aj dug onto its stomach, grabbing a large handful of the guts then smearing them on his clothes.

This time Violet turned around clutching her mouth. "You okay?" Kenny went over to her, his hand lightly patting her back while the other held her hair. "Y-yeah... sorry I'm good"

She turned back around where she eyes the walker with a disgusted look "you two should get to smearing of you don't want to end up on a walkers dinner table." He added, his own hands already scooping its guts onto him.

"Here I'll help you" Aj smiled at Tenn, guts in each of his hands. The smell alone was enough to make anyone feel sick, the sight was even worse.

Tenn eyed them wearily before nodding "should I turn around?" Aj nodded.

"Make sure you get as much of it on you as you can. The more covered the better. I'll be back." With that Kenny stood up and left to get another walker.

When he returned he repeated the process. He motion of Violet to turn around so he could get her back then she did his. When they were finished the walkers were dangerous close.

"Listen to me closely, whatever happens you stay calm, don't make a sound. Do that and you belong. Stay close, but don't clump together. The people are still trailing us so if they get caught in this you will for no reason stop. If I have to go check it out Violet you grab the lightest walker you find and cut off its jaw, and push through the crowd with it, Aj, Tenn you make sure to hold onto her and get to the other side. Aj your in charge after that find a safe place where I will be able to meet you"

All three of them nodded. Once he was sure they were clear on instructions he stood back up with the rest of them following.

Kenny prayed that they would make it to the other side alive, without bites. Slowly entered the herd. The walkers didn't even spare them a glance.

He glanced to the side to see Violet walking four walkers away from him with Tenn holding onto her jacket. Aj managed to get ahead of him by two.

This herd was one of the biggest ones he saw. Luckily for them they were spread out. That wouldn't be the case when they reached the eye.

As the walkers got more and more closer he feared that one of them would panic, yet they stayed calm. Violet and Tenn hanging on his every word.

They weren't far off now.

That

Was

When

Things

Went

Wrong.
W̵̶̸̻̼͉̱̄͗ͭ͟͢͢͠r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝n̸͐̈́͟͟͝g̷̵̸̡̼̱͎͎̞ͤͬ̅͢͟͞
W̵̪̄̕ŕ̶̛̼̲̤̬͕̐̈̒̅o̵̬̕ǹ̸̡̡͔̳̃̅̀̔͠g̸̛̻͎̱̩͋̏̊̾̎͌͝
W̵̪̄̕ ǹ̸̡̡͔̳̃̅̀̔͠g̸̛̻͎̱̩͋̏̊̾̎͌͝
ŕ̶̛̼̲̤̬͕̐̈̒̅g̸̛̻͎̱̩͋̏̊̾̎͌͝g̸̛̻͎̱̩͋̏̊̾̎͌͝
o̵̬̕.   g̸̛̻͎̱̩͋̏̊̾̎͌͝
ǹ̸̡̡͔̳̃̅̀̔͠
g̸̛̻͎̱̩͋̏̊̾̎͌͝

An ear splitting scream made his blood run cold. He turned to his side to see Violet looking back at him with fear written all over face. Tenn dug his face into her jacket.

They all turned to see Willy clutching his neck, as he fell to floor. Who he assumed was Mitch rushed to save him.

He looked back to Violet and motioned for her to continue to walk. She looked like she wanted to protest, however the glare he sent her way was enough to stop her.

When Kenny spun in his heel he saw Violet attacking a walker, Aj grabbed onto Tenn in order to stay together.

When he finally reached Willy, Mitch was surrounded by walker. Each one of them trying to grab him. Poor kid couldn't keep them off of him. In a matter of moments he was grabbed and bitten by walkers.

Kenny had to pry his eyes off Mitch the more the walker dug into him. Shifting his gaze he saw Brody with a walker biting done on her fingers.

And for a moment he froze. She looked so much like Sarita. Pushing the thought aside he slid the knife out of his pocket. He raised it, then swung down. The walker let her hand go, as it fell.

When the rest of the kids managed to get to him he continued to get déjà vu. Before anyone had the chance to speak he pulled out two rubber bands and tied them around her first joint on her fingers tightly, enough to stop circulation.

"Stay the fuck calm" he hissed quietly "follow me, don't fall behind because I will leave you." With that he turned back around. He assessed the walkers till he found a small one that looked light enough to carry.

He walked up to it, his knife coming up to cut away its jaw. He didn't even wait for the kids to process before he started to push though the crowd.

He wasn't sure if they were following, he didn't really care though. They chose to follow them, even though they didn't know what they were doing. 

This entire situation was fucked. They almost got His kids killed.

Kenny's blood still felt frozen when they reached the other side of the herd. He couldn't stop worrying about if they had made it to the other side.

He kept an eye out for any sign of them being killed, however he didn't find any.

When the walker numbers decreased he killed the walker he had grabbed. He didn't even spare the kids a second glance before he rushed off to look around for any clues on where his kids had run off to.

The longer he searched and found no signs he began to panic. His heart beat violently in his chest. His ears felt like Cotten. It probably wasn't long till he would begin to hyperventilate.

His eye looked around desperately for what felt like centuries before he spotted a carved tree. The flesh of the tree seemed to yell 'over here'

He jogged up to the tree, his fingers brushing against the rough bark of the the tree. Looking further down the clearing he spotted another marked tree.

His heart calmed down slightly the longer he followed the path led by carvings. The walk was shorter than it seemed to Kenny, it may have been the adrenaline however time seemed to drag on.

The only thought on his mind were his kids. It seemed funny to him that just a while earlier he was trying to deny he had more kids only to accept it when they were no longer with him.

The longer he walked the clearer the babble of water became to him. He quickened his pace. The leaves crunching beneath his feet.

Kenny almost cried when he saw a semi clean Violet holding the kids close to her. "Oh thank god" he muttered catching their attention.

"Grandpa Ken!" Aj barley managed to say as he barreled into them, almost knocking them down.

Tears were brimming in Violet eyes, but she blinked them away and clutched onto his jacket. Not caring the guts getting onto her freshly washed clothes.  "I was starting to think you didn't make it" she admitted, pulling away.

Kenny chuckled wetly "I thought something happen to you."

"What's Marlon and the other doing here?" Tenn spoke up, Turing the attention to the teens.

"That's a good question" he stated calmly.

Each one of the teens looked down, with tears in their eyes. Marlon being the leader stepped forward. "W-we couldn't stay at the school any longer. There's barely any food left. We won't survive staying here, so I decided to follow you guys."

Kenny scoffed "how's that working out for you" none of them responded.

The silence stretched on before Ruby who was holding Brody's hand spoke up, her bottom lip quivering. "She's bit"

The silence went on for five seconds before Aasim stepped forward, his hand grabbing his bow.

The small movement was enough for Marlon to stand in front of the already frightened girl. "Put it down Aasim" he order

"She's been bit, she'll turn" he argued earning a nod from Omar.

"There has to be something we can do" he turned to look at Kenny, Ruby following suit then Violet, Louis, and Tenn.

Kenny felt his eyes twitched. Whatever happened from here would divide the group unless theses teens could find a way to bounce back. "Cut her fingers off"

The suggest alone made an uproar. Each other of the spewing who knows what. "It works sometimes!" he shouted over them.

"Sometimes" Omar latched onto that word.  Louis was idling between both said groups.

"My friend lee got bit, we cut his arm off It didn't work. I met another guy a few years later who got bit and some people cut off his entire arm and he lived. It depends how long you were bit before you cut it off. It's a fifty, fifty chance now."

They all shared uneasy looks. Brody swallowed the lump in her throat then tuned to Violet "give me your cleaver"

Violet looked shocked, her jaw dropped. "For the love of god someone cut them off!" She exclaimed.

Kenny signed and held his hand out to Violet. She looked between the two, but in the end she shook her head and handed to him.

She placed her hand on the floor for him, her other hand bringing the collar of her vest up to her mouth. Kenny didn't wait for her to prepare before he slammed the cleaver down.

Brody's screams were muffled by her vest. Large tears spilled from her eyes. Blood seeped out from her two now missing fingers. Ruby was by her side the moment Kenny backed away with bandages.

"Get cleaned up, we have to move" he turned to the stream.

Once everyone was cleaned off he noticed how Aasim and Omar were practically shunned by the rest. Violet, Tenn, and Aj were shunning both groups deciding to stay close to Kenny.

Kenny couldn't help but let out a tired sigh at the sight. The silence was suffocating. Not even the calming sound of birds chirping was enough to break the heavy blanket of tension that formed.

No one really tired to start conversation after they left the small river. They only spoke when they reached a small neighborhood. Aj and Kenny had already searched it, so they led the group to one of the bigger homes there.

"Help me move this sofa to the door. The arm chair goes to the back door"they all said a meek okay, then mindlessly followed instructions.

Aasim and Omar moving the arm chai, and the rest moving the sofa. "Me and Aj passed though here, so theres no use searching" he told Ruby when she began going through the cabinets.

"Brody take the bedroom downstairs next to the back door. Marlon, Louis, Ruby, take the one across from her. I'm trusting you guys not to do any funny Business, Ruby if something happens come or our bedroom. Aj, Tenn, and Violet we're upstairs closet to the stairs.  Aasim and Omar furthest from the stairs. I'm sure you guys have food, I'm off to bed. No fighting"

Everyone nodded silently. The two boys headed upstairs in order to avoid the others glares. Brody sat down on the Couch while the others surround her.

Kenny wished there was more he could do for her. He also wished there were more rooms to the house. He would have liked to put all the boys in one room and girls in another. Putting the youngest alone, and then him alone.

That certainly wasn't happening. One there was enough rooms, but Brody was bitten so they had to isolate her. Violet, Tenn, and Aj were sorta avoiding the rest like the plague seeing as after they shared a few words with them they followed him up.

Marlon, Louis, and Ruby were staring Aasim and Omar down. In the end this was the best solution he could gage in such conditions. Hopefully in the morning they were alive and didn't kill each other.

❤︎ E N D  O F ❤︎
❤︎ C H A P T E R ❤︎
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❤︎ W O R D  C O U N T ❤︎

4420

❤︎ N O T E ❤︎
I've been procrastinating, y'all should thank my sister since she managed to get me write by making me come up with story ideas for me write a Mafia romance story for her since she loves those types of books

which got my creative juices flowing again. I put a pin in writing her story to finish this chapter for you you guys. That being said I Hope you have a wonderful day or night. Also if you read mafia romance stories could you drop the name and author in the comments for her, thanks my dolls.

❤︎ ꪶꪮꪜꫀ ꪖsꫝ ❤︎
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