Cas was a surprisingly good driver, even though he had to swerve to avoid walkers on the road every now and then. Hattie was sat humming a tune slightly off key and making sure all the guns were full of ammo.

"what would be the best thing we could find?" Hattie asked suddenly.

"What?" Cas asked, taking his eyes off the road for a second and running over a Walker. "Oh shit."

"Please keep your eyes on the road." Bryce asked gently.

"If we could find anything in the world, what would it be?" She asked.

"A copy of good omens by Neil gaiman." Bryce told them. "Its the only one I haven't read."

"Maybe a tattoo gun, I've always wanted a tattoo." Cas mused, slamming on the breaks. "What the fuck?"

"What?" Bryce asked.

"Theres a tree in the road." Cas replied, shutting off the engine and getting out, he grabbed an axe from the trunk and began swinging it at the tree.

"Cas that's going to take ages, we can find another way." Bryce called from the car.

"I've got it!" Cas replied, he was half way through the trunk of the tree now. He was stronger than he looked and certainly didn't eat enough to be expending all the energy he used every day. Bryce got out of the car and went to help him push the trunk out of the road.

"Who do you think did this?" Bryce asked him, Cas shrugged and looked at him.

"I don't know, but this ain't a good sign." He replied. "Someone wants us to know who they are."

"Why is that bad?"

"Thry coulda just put up a sign." Cas sighed and headed back to the car.

"Do you wanna head back?" Bryce questioned as he followed him.

"No, just keep your eyes open, and if we get split up and meet a stranger, we're out on our own okay, there isn't three of us, just one." Cas warned them, as they set off again. "We gotta protect each other."

"Okay, but what if we get attacked?" Bryce asked.

"Shout something stupid like Strawberry." Cas replied.

"How is 'strawberry' stupid? It's a fruit?" Hattie pointed out.

"It is?" Cas asked.

"You've never had a strawberry?" Bryce asked in surprise.

"No." Cas shrugged. "Just shout and we'll find you."

"Good plan." Bryce rolled his eyes.

"They take time, they don't grow on trees." Cas replied, swearing under his breath as they avoided four more walkers. "We'll need to clear this at some point."

"That can wait."

^^^
They arrived at the mall and parked near the vents, where a mass of walkers were wandering around behind tall gates. One of the vents was already open.

"Looks like we ain't the only ones thinking theres some good shit in there." Cas mused, he pulled his machete from his belt. "Could still be in there."

"Dead or alive?" Hattie asked pulling two backpacks from the trunk of the car.

"Does it matter? Might die either way." Cas said, he was definitely not an optimist.

"Got an idea of what you're looking for?" Bryce asked them, both nodded.

"Food, random shit, weapons, that sorta thing." Cas shrugged.

"Useful random shit though." Hattie added with a nod.

"Alright then, Bryce can you distract the walkers?" Cas asked, Bryce didn't have time to nod before Cas was climbing the fence. Hattie patted him on the back and skipped around the corner. Sighing Bryce picked up the crowbar and began to distract the walkers. Once Cas was inside, he threw a rock over by the opposite end of the little pen for the walkers and drew them away from him.

They all had walkie talkies, but he didn't want to be bombarding the two with him asking if they were okay all the time so he was holding off on using them for the time being.

As he leaned against the hood of the car, another vehicle, a sturdy Jeep pulled up. A tall young man got out of the drivers side. He was maybe nearing thirty and walked over to Bryce purposefully. "How many of your people are inside?"

Bryce froze, thinking back to what Cas said, he didn't want to tell the man, but at the same time he already knew there were people inside. "Just- just two."

"Where did you three come from?" He asked, he seemed so scary and Bryce was more than a little bit intimidated.

"Nowhere, we're... I guess we're nomads." Bryce answered cleverly.

"You look a little young to be on your own." The man was pressing for answers now.

"It was just my sister and I and our dad, but after we lost him it was just us until we met her boyfriend. He's a survivalist so we seem to be okay on our own so far." Bryce told them. "They thought I'd be safer out there than in here." He had pressed his hand onto the button of his walkie talkie so Cas and Hattie could hear the conversation.

"We're looking for someone." The man said."Our little brother, he's sixteen, a child really. Quite violent, dark hair, brown eyes, have you seen him? His name is Caspian." Bryce's stomach lurched, what on earth was he supposed to say to that.

Luckily Hattie had an idea. "Oy bitch boy!" She said loudly. "I'm going to throw something outta the window and I expect you to catch it." Bryce rolled his eyes and turned to the building to see her waving from a window. She threw a box of pasta down and by some miracle caught it.

The man had gone back to his car, announced that he was going inside and ran off. A slightly younger girl got out of the car. "Nice catch." She said approvingly.

"Thanks." Bryce smiled before turning back to hattie. "Dont do that again. Oh and just so you and bear Grylls are aware, theres someone else in the mall."

"Hey Bryce what's a pear? Is it good?" Cas asked.

"Is it tinned?" Bryce replied.

"Yeah."

"Bring it with you."

"Will do"

"Has your friend never eaten a pear before?" The girl asked.

"Probably, he just didn't know the name." Bryce shrugged. "I hope they're done soon I want to find somewhere before dark."

"You could come with us?" She suggested.

"No, thanks... we like it on our own." Bryce tried to shrug as though he didn't really mind. She nodded her understanding and waved the others out of the car. Another girl, younger again, probably Bryce's age and a boy, taller and broader than Cas but strikingly similar in looks. Bryce knew who it was at once. Eddie, Cas had been looking for him, but not the others. Why? Bryce didn't know, but if Cas didn't want to see them then Bryce would make sure they didn't find him.

A gun shot sounded, and then a second, making Bryce's stomach drop.

"I'm sorry, if he's just hurt your friends." The first girl said. "He gets... I just hope he hasn't."

^^^
Cas was fairly sure that he had taken as much as he could carry and find, but there was one thing weighing on his mind.

He was fairly sure it was a book, Bryce liked reading, he read a lot, whilst the others played card games. Cas owed Bryce a lot, he was really his best friend, so he wanted to get him something.

There was a barnes and noble not too far away from where he was stood, on the top floor of the mall, where there was no walkers. He walked into the shop, it was untouched, of course, and walked around, trying to find the book Bryce had told him about. It was then he realised he was not alone.

"Caspian?" Cas froze, he knew that voice and he didn't like the fact that he had finally been found. He had seen the book he was looking for and quickly stuffed it in his bag, before grabbing his gun and turning to face his older brother. "Put down the gun."

"What do you want?" Cas asked slowly.

"Come back with me, please." He replied. "We've been looking for you for years."

"Go."

"Caspian please." He repeated.

Cas darted around the aisles and out of his brothers line of sight. "Go away."

"You're coming back with us, I'm not losing you again. Dont make me force you, because I will."

"Pete, I left for a reason. Please leave me alone." Cas replied. His brother came around the corner.

"Put down the gun." He said, he still had his own gun pointing at Cas, who shot above his brothers head and made a run for it to another section of the store, but not before his brothers returning shot hit him in the back. He went down at once, mainly from shock. "Shit, shit Cas I'm sorry."

"Get away." Cas murmured weakly as Peter ran over to him.

"Where did I hit you?" He asked, but he needn't have bothered because blood was already staining Cas' clothes. "I'm sorry, I thought you were going to shoot me."

"I don't hurt family." Cas murmured, he tried to sit up, but Peter stopped him. A Walker banged on the door of the store, the gunshots had drawn them upstairs.

"Hey you alright?" Bryce's voice came through Cas' walkie. Peter passed it to him at once.

"I'm fine, the bastard just shot me." Cas told him, Peter gave him a disapproving look about his language.

"You need to get out of there."

"Bryce I need you to draw them out, they're coming upstairs." Cas replied.

"Will do."

The door opened making both of them look up, it was Hattie. "Cas?"

"Here." Cas sat up, not allowing Peter to stop him.

"This one the eldest?" She asked looking him up and down.

"Yeah."

"Alrighty, let's get you up." She hauled Cas up off the floor. "You're going to cover us and get us out. Then you're going to go and leave us the heck alone."

"We have a doctor, please come with us." Peter begged.

"We have a surgeon." Hattie answered. "Now get moving."