━━━━𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏.

   𝐀 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 cold crept through Mason's bare feet, the falling snow soaking her filthy hair. The gray sweatshirt lying upon her shoulders stuck to her skin like glue, sweat dripping from her hairline. The field that once brought her peace now struck a paralyzing fear within the girl, the uneasy feeling drowning her as Maisie searched for any sign of life around the pure white covered grass.

"Mason!"

The call echoed through the trees, fading just as quickly as it came.

"Hello?" Her cry remains unanswered, the hair on her arms rising at the eerie feeling creeping under her clammy skin. The silence soon broke, whispers flooding Maisie's ears, the teen's shaking hands clasping over them, yet no attempt was successful in quieting the swarming calls.

"Your fault."

"Should have saved us."

"Too late."

The Miller girl fell to her knees, wanting nothing more than to silence the voices of her family. Tears fell freely, throat raw as she screamed out into the void.

"Stop!"

Mason coughed roughly, nails clawing desperately at her chest. Air all at once filled her lungs, the girl heavily panting as tears puddled around her blue eyes. With her heartbeat thumping loudly within her ears, the teen placed a hand over her stomach as she leaned forward in her seated position. A stifled sob broke the heavy atmosphere, nose scrunching as she used all her strength to stop yet another from breaking past her lips.

Maisie's chin trembled, palm reaching towards the chain dangling from her neck. Tommy's old firefly pendant seemed to have always brought an odd comfort upon the girl, almost as if the man was there with the girl. With the necklace remaining clutched in her hand, Mason slides out of her sheets, floorboards creaking under her weight. Glancing outside her window, she quickly turns her eyes away from the rising sun, the pads of her fingers rubbing her stinging eyes.

"Jesus," The teen grumbles. "I didn't plan on goin' fuckin' blind today."

Reaching towards the red flannel resting on her bedframe, she shrugs it over her cream-white top. Trudging down the stairs, Maisie finishes off the remaining of her tears, wiping the liquid with her sleeves.

"Scooch," Mason says as she approaches the couch, Joel taking the remote with him as he moves over, his daughter tucking herself under his arm. The man hadn't failed to take notice of the girl's red puffy eyes, his grip holding her tight in an attempt of giving his daughter comfort after the night terror he knew she lived through.

"Need ta talk 'bout it?" The father questioned gently, resting his chin atop her head.

"Nah, I just need this." Maisie sniffs, swallowing back the arising tears.

I need to know you're real.

Joel silences after that, soothingly running his hand up and down her back.

I'm here.

━━━━━━

Music fell upon deaf ears, the Miller girl's eyes off into the void. Mason pulled her father jacket tighter around her frame, tapping her boot against the flooring anxiously. A grip on her elbow brought her back to reality, anxiety plummeting at the comforting sight of a pair of familiar brown eyes.

"Hey, you." Andy smiled gently, maneuvering under her girlfriend's arm, grasping the girl's hand that rests on her shoulder in her palm.

"Now, what's a girl like you doin' in a place like this?" Maisie playfully raised a brow, a smirk growing on the corner of her mouth.

"Well, I just so happen to be looking for my girlfriend. Think you've seen her around, cowgirl?"

After a beat of silence between the two, the Miller girl teasingly responds.

"I'm afraid I haven't, ma'am. But, I have heard she's incredibly good looking." Mason grins as Andy laughs, shaking her head at the older girl's antics.

"She can also be one cocky son of a bitch, too."

"I'll have you know; it's one of my best traits."

The Fisher girl scoffs, eyes peering up towards her girlfriend.

"Said no one ever!" The girl begins tugging on Maisie's coat, pulling it from her shoulders. With confusion etched in her eyes, the girl allows Andy to remove Joel's jacket from her arms.

"What do you think you're doin'?"

Andy lays it upon one of the many bar stools beside them, taking the Miller girl's arm towards the dance floor.

"We're dancing, cowgirl."

"Andy, you know I don't dance."

The younger girl places her girlfriend's calloused hands upon her waist, wrapping her arms loosely around her neck, silencing her girlfriend as she reluctantly complies. The two begin to sway to the gentle flow of the music, the sweet familiar sound of a guitar drifting through the air as couples gathered in each other's embrace.

"Thought you said you didn't dance, Miller." Andy smiles gently, kind eyes flooding in adoration as she traces the edge of the brunette's jaw with her index finger. Mason closed her ocean eyes, a shaking exhale of breath slipping involuntarily from her lips as the Fisher girl lovingly cups her cheek in her palm. The dark-skinned girl was not oblivious to her girlfriend's drastic mood change compared to the joyful night before; the teen knew what her girl needed was nothing more than comfort.

"I'm here; you're alright."

Andy tucked Maisie's head into the crook of her neck, hand gently caressing the girl's neck. The brunette let herself melt into her girlfriend's welcoming arms, drawing in the heavenly scent of her perfume.

"You'll be okay."

━━━━━━

Thunder rolled in the gray-tinted clouds, the air thick and heavy as the day's storm began to approach. A rapid pounding from the front door brought Mason to groan, grudgingly pulling herself from the comfort of her bed.

"I'm comin'! I'm comin'!" The girl huffed, pulling her denim button-up from the previous night over her tank top, grumbling under her breath as she unlocks the door.

"Good mornin' to you too, sunshine." Tommy leaned against the doorframe; backpack slung over his shoulders. Taking notice of the rifle slung over his shoulder, his niece brought a hand to rub the sleep from her eyes, the brunette bending down to swipe her boots from their spot beside the door.

"You told me we were goin' on patrol tomorrow, not today at the ass crack of dawn."

Her uncle sent her an apologetic glance, watching as she quickly jogged up the stairs. The girl pulled open her dresser drawer, clutching the handle of her knife in her palm, strapping the holster to her thigh.

"So what, aunt Maria change up our schedules, or are you just an idiot?" Maisie calls to the man, tucking her gun into the waist of her black jeans.

"When did you become such a smartass?"

"I'm guessin' it's the ladder, then?" The teen smirks as she makes her way down the staircase, clutching her bag in her fingers.

"Shut up." Tommy points a finger towards her, the girl snatching her father's tan-colored jacket from the coat rack. Mason quickly pulls it on, shrugging the straps of her pack to rest upon her shoulders.

"Yer dad headed out an hour ago with Andy, gonna meet up with us at that old watchtower we found last week after our first two routes." The man stated as the brunette closed the door behind them.

As the two walked, Mason peered up towards the darkened sky, flinching as a bead of rain fell atop her nose.

"The calm before the storm, huh?"

Her uncle chuckled, nodding his head in agreement.

"Gonna be a wild one, it'll last for another day at most."

The calm before the storm indeed.

━━━━━━

The raging wind blew rapidly, the brunette woman slightly losing balance as it pushed into her. Her hair flew around rapidly, her ponytail not much at use anymore as loose hairs flicked into her blue eyes. The screeching infected behind her overpowered the sound of the wind; the woman cursed under her breath, picking up her running pace.

"Goddamnit!" She huffed in frustration, pulling the trigger to her gun as a runner stumbled in front of her, it's undead body falling limp against the mud. Turning a sharp corner, the woman panicked at the sight of a dead-end, all except a collapsing fence leading to the other side of the decaying cabin stopping her from escaping.

"Screw it."

Dropping to her hands and knees, she lays low as she army craws through the chainlink fence; pistol clutched tightly in her palm. Infected begin to clamber on top of the metal, some fighting their way through the hole she had crawled through, the woman cursing loudly when a hand gains hold of her ankle.

The heel of the strange woman's boot harshly connects with the clicker's skull, blood splattering over her pant leg. Hurriedly, she escapes the claws of the undead creatures, but before she could catch her breath, a body collides with her own. The runner snaps its jaw, hungrily leaning towards the woman's neck, nails clawing at her coat desperately.

Suddenly, the body falls limp, a ringing radiating through the brunette's ears as the bullet pierced the infected's brain. A hand grasps the woman's arm, pulling her from the ground.

"Hey, hey!" The teen girl calls to her, holding her shoulders.

"Can you run?!" The blue-eyed girl questions, the man behind her killing off the runners and clickers rapidly piling over the fence. Receiving a nod, the teen pulls the woman's forearm, pulling the stranger with her as she begins to run.

"Through here!" The blonde man shouts, ushering the girls through the doors of an old lodge. The brunettes saviors barricade the doors, the infected slamming their bodies against the wood.

"Hey, you got a name?"

The man calls to her, gun aimed at the creaking doors.

"Natalia." The former stranger informs, her weapon aimed at the splintering wood.

"Uncle Tommy, we can't stay here!" Mason shouts over the groans of the infected beyond the walls. Tommy curses as the doors begin to give, searching for another exit.

"My friends, we're up at cabin not too far from here, maybe a mile or so," Natalia tells the two, the Miller girl eyeing their new companion.

"It's the Baldwin place; we could make it." The girl looks to her uncle, the blonde man nodding, taking off towards the back door.

"This way!" Tommy shouts over his shoulder, the two women taking off after him. Their horses sit hitched a few feet away, Mason quickly taking Iris's reins, pulling herself up on the saddle.

"C'mon!" She shouts out to Natalia, offering her hand. The brunette woman takes the teen's hand, seating herself behind her. Infected sprint through the mud-covered grass, screeching over the howling wind as rain poured from the clouds.

Hooves pound against the ground as the horses galloped away, lighting striking through the sky. The lodge lights come into view, a group of people gathering outside as the three hurry up the hill.

"Lower your weapons; it's me!" The brunette woman slides down from Iris's saddle. Mason and Tommy followed suit, grasping their horse's reins.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Nat, going out in a storm like that?" A dark-skinned man leads the three inside, the two family members hitching their meres to a pipe.

"Would yall like to get those saddles off?" One of the group asks, yet Tommy declined.

"Nah, as soon as this storm settles down a bit, we'll be gettin' out of your hair."

Their voices drift off as Mason walks off into the lounge area, the Miller girl tense. She eyes the group warily, feeling eyes watching her every move, her hand subconsciously resting itself above her knife. Her eyes glance at Tommy as he joins her, watching as one of the group's members moves in front of the door, closing it gently.

"I'm Tommy, and this is my niece."

"Mason." Maisie introduces herself, Natalia's movement not going unnoticed by the girl.

"Yall act as if you've heard of us or somethin'."

The teenager's eyes widen as the woman raises her pistol in her direction, body tensing as her finger hovers over the trigger.

"It's cause we have."

And then, silence.

A white-hot pain radiates through Mason's abdomen, the girl's wide eyes watching as Tommy attempts to rush to her aid, only for a fist to collide with his cheek harshly, the man falling unconscious to the ground. The only sound in the Miller girl's ears is her rapid heartbeat, and she barely registers as she's pushed to the ground, two men holding down her shoulders.

"Uncle Tommy!" She cries, attempting at pulling away from her captors, but to no avail as Natalia crouches before her.

"Who are you?" The injured girl growls, her hearing slowly flooding back. Blood soaked through her jacket; jaw clenched as she bit back the pain.

"Oh, Maise, you don't remember your own family? Your dear aunt Nat?"

Mason glares at the woman, taking in her features for any chance of familiarity.

"Just as much of a bitch as I remember." She states through her teeth.

The burning sensation in her stomach causes the brunette to clench her fist, yet her face stays void of any sign of pain. Her mother's sister scowls, glaring intensely at the teenager.

"I've been looking for you for a long time, Mason Miller. Since the day that my men found your mother with a bullet between her eyes." Natalia states, face inching closer to the youngest Miller's.

"And I've been waiting for a long, long time to kill you for what you did."

Maisie couldn't help but let out a bitter form of a chuckle.

"That woman was a sociopath, and I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." The girl leans forward, the least intimidated by the woman in front of her.

"So, why don't you finish up that speech you got rehearsed, get this over with."

Natalia stands as one of her men place the handle of a golf club in her palm, the woman gripping it tightly.

"You stupid little girl, you don't get to rush this." As she raises the metal above her head, the sound of the door behind them slamming against the brick wall causes her to cease her movements. Mason lets her gaze travel to the form barreling into the room, gun raised.

"No!" The Miller girl screams out as a body collides with Andy Fishers, tackling her to the ground. The crimson flow streaming from her bullet wound caused her vision to haze, but she rapidly blinked it away, eyes never leaving her thrashing girlfriend.

"Let her go!" The Fisher girl demands as a knee press itself into her back, keeping her against the ground.

"There's someone else here; he's upstairs!" The dark-skinned man from before shouts as he runs up the staircase leading to the basement.

"How the hell did they get in? You were supposed to be on watch!" Natalia shouts angrily, pointing at the ginger woman next to her.

"Please," Mason croaks, the girl forced to her stomach, wincing at the pressure on her fresh wound. "She's not apart of this!" She shouts desperately as the brunette woman reached for her holstered pistol.

Andy meets her girlfriend's tearful gaze, eyes softening. All she wished to do was comfort the Miller girl, hold her, but she couldn't.

The oldest Wright sister doesn't spare a glance towards the injured girl.

"You made her apart of this."

The Fisher girl keeps her loving gaze on her girl's panicked form, lips in a gentle smile.

A spark from the barrel of the gun ignites as the woman's finger pulls the trigger, and Mason feels her heart shatter as she cries, the sound of the bullet firing imprinted into her mind for eternity.

"NO!"