HE WASN'T ONE to keep pressing his luck. Sure...maybe risky plays like stealing bases when he shouldn't, but not with women. If one rejected him (which rarely happened) he'd move on...but something about Liliana drew him in.

Maybe it was how she handled herself, her demeanor, and the fact that she put Y/N in his place the day before. It seemed like a challenge to get her to open up and understand her more...and it was one he was willing to take.

But with taking that challenge, as he should've expected, came its failures...

The blonde was at the drying rack that hung from one RV to another. She picked up the clothes and started to hang them.

"Howdy."

She was startled by the sudden voice and turned around to see Y/N. He had a bundle of wet clothes with him as well.

"Hope I didn't startle ya." He added and went up to the rack.

She shook her head and didn't respond. Y/N began to hang his clothes too, albeit taking his time while Liliana started to rush.

"Look. I'm sorry about our sour interaction the day before. Didn't want to come out sounding like an asshole."

She finally replied. "Well, you did."

"And I didn't mean to."

There was a moment of silence as they kept hanging clothes. Y/N decided to speak again.

"So...Lili—"

"Don't call me that." She interjected.

"Okay, then...Liliana. Look, I don't want you to assume that I think of you as any other woman." He began. "That you're just someone I want to get in bed with. No. I actually want to get to know you and then maybe—"

She faced him with a scoff. "And then maybe what? Then I'll fall under your charm and sleep with you?"

"No—I—" He groaned and regretted saying that. "That's not—"

Liliana snickered. "You never had to try when talking to girls and it shows."

She put up the final article of clothing and left him. Y/N stood there and facepalmed.

Y/N walked with Allen's seventeen-year-old son, Ben. They were conversing about what he'd done that day until the young man spotted a trio of people talking by a fire.

It was Erica, her brother Ramon, and Liliana. He looked to Ben and bid farewell before walking up to them.

Erica was the first to notice him coming. Although she was warm about him, she wasn't liking his attempts at her best friend the last couple of days. Ramon on the other hand...

"Oh, wow." He looked up at him. "Hey!"

"Hey, y'all." Y/N greeted. "I hope I'm not intruding or anything..."

Liliana spoke. "You kind of are—"

"Nah. It's fine." Ramon stood up and shook his hand. "I've seen you around camp but haven't gotten the chance to properly meet you."

"You're Ramon, right?" Y/N asked.

"Yeah." He replied with a nod. "And you're Y/N L/N."

The former player chuckled. "You a fan?"

"New Yorker, so I know you."

Erica glanced at her friend, who just had her arms crossed and was looking away from their conversation.

"Yankees fan, I bet." Y/N said.

"Of course. Grateful for the World Series win."

"I was in the zone. The best player. It was all mine to lose."

He shrugged. "You were good...but Garcia was my guy."

Y/N chuckled, remembering his teammate and one of his mentors on the team.

"Sucks they got his ass with that betting scandal last year." Ramon added.

Y/N exhaled. "Yeah. That sucked a lot. He shoulda been betting on me and made it less obvious."

They shared a laugh after his remark. Afterward, Y/N turned around to try and speak to Liliana...but realized they weren't there anymore.

"Where did they...?"

Ramon took notice too. He crossed his arms and looked at the empty seats they were in.

"Damn. They ditched. Lili must really not like you." He remarked.

Y/N glanced at him, surprised that he knew about the blonde's feelings toward him. Ramon shrugged.

"I hang out with them every day. I hear things."

Tyreese, Y/N, and a couple of other survivors were at the west perimeter of the RV park. Several walkers had arrived and they were tasked to deal with them. One of the survivors there was Liliana.

They all spread out so they can take them out. Tyreese hit one over the head with his hammer and brought the undead to the floor. Another survivor held a shovel and hit one across the face before stabbing the tool into its head.

Although Liliana had a pistol with her, she decided to take one on with her knife. She stabbed it in the eye and killed it.

Y/N held his sharpened stick and was nearby. He was impressed by how easily she handled the walker.

"That was good."

Liliana glanced at him and didn't answer. He simply shrugged and gripped his weapon, engaging the two walkers in front of him.

He easily took one down with a hit across the face and then stabbed down at its head. Another quickly lunged at Y/N and he swung at it too...but the stick broke in half upon impact.

Y/N didn't expect his weapon to break and was stunned. He dropped the stick and quickly went for his M1911. He aimed it and pulled the trigger, but the safety was on.

He still had yet to know the ins and outs of firearms.

The walker lunged at him and pinned him to the fence. He tried pushing it off but the undead woman was pinning him down with all her weight.

"Argh!" Y/N grunted.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and the walker's brain matter splattered everywhere. Its body went limp and Y/N let it fall to the floor.

A few yards away was Liliana, who had both hands gripping her pistol and aiming in their direction. She had saved the young man.

Tyreese and the other survivor looked on, panting from their task and pretty stunned from the near death of their colleague. Liliana simply stood there as she lowered her weapon.

"Next time...make sure the safety is off." She said directly.

The blonde holstered her weapon and walked away, leaving Y/N against the gate and catching his breath.

Tyreese jogged over to him, looking at the dead walker by his feet. He held the young man's shoulder.

"You good?"

Y/N nodded. "Yeah...yeah. Thanks for asking."

"You know I'm with you, man."

The man nodded and soon left the area with his friend.

• • •

ALAN LOOKED OVER a map of their county and others nearby. A country club was marked about 20 miles away and he figured there would be some goods still there.

He had asked for Ramon to go since he had the only working vehicle in the camp. With that request, he asked for his sister, Erica, to join him on the run. Seeing that her two friends were going, Liliana volunteered.

Alan had always trusted his daughter and knew she was capable of taking care of herself, he had raised her that way, but he still believed three wasn't enough. So he asked for one more person to join them.

Y/N was called over and joined the camp's leader by the mobile home. He told him about the country club and the plan.

"Sure. I'm game." He told him.

Liliana looked at her father. "Are you serious?"

"He's been a more than capable runner these last few weeks. Adds more manpower."

"He doesn't even know how to use a gun."

"I would hope it doesn't come y'all pulling triggers."

Ramon spoke up. "Right. Should be a quick in-and-out job. Besides, we can teach him the basics during the drive there."

"It's settled then." Alan said and looked to his daughter, who simply sighed and walked off with Erica.

Ramon patted Y/N on the back before walking away as well. Alan called out to him.

"I'll see you guys off at the gate."

Y/N was ready to leave too, but the older man stopped him. He turned around and faced Alan.

"Look. I know my daughter and you aren't seeing eye to eye at the moment...and I understand why. She's told me about your constant advances."

"Oh—well, sir. I—"

"Save it." Alan interjected. "While on this trip, I want you to stop. This needs your full focus and none of that bullshit. Because if y'all are not focused and something goes wrong...you better hope you're not the only one alive because it'll be your ass."

Y/N nodded as he heard the man's words. He was going to focus on this run and wanted everyone to come back safely.

"Trust me, Alan. We'll get this done. Don't need to worry about me."

Alan was content with his response.

"Watch each other's backs." He said, then let out a sigh, speaking more quietly. "Make sure she's all right."

The young man knew who he was referring to. With a nod, Y/N turned around and walked away.

Y/N packed some things for the run. With his usual weapon, the sharpened stick, now broken...he had to settle for a spare knife that Sasha had given him. He also had his M1911 which still hadn't been fired.

He made his way toward the entrance and ran into Tyreese. The man was bidding his colleague farewell and good luck on his run.

"Be safe, all right." He told Y/N.

"Shouldn't take long. Maybe a couple of hours there and back." He replied. "We'll be all right."

Tyreese smiled and clasped the young man's hand. Y/N pat the side of his shoulder.

"When I come back we should continue that card game. I don't know how but Allen's been kicking my ass."

The older man laughed as Y/N walked away. Y/N joined the rest of his group at the entrance and neared Ramon's truck.

Alan was there too. He bid farewell to the two siblings and then went to embrace his daughter. She made her way toward the vehicle and caught eyes with Y/N, to which she simply gave a nod.

The man looked at Alan and he bid a farewell with that same gesture. Y/N reciprocated it and walked toward the truck.

He noticed that Erica joined Liliana in the backseat, taking away the opportunity to sit with her.

"Yo." Ramon called him over as he went to the driver's side. "You got shotgun."

Y/N nodded and walked to his designated seat. It wasn't long until the quartet bid farewell to Alan and the others and then drove off.

• • •

BASED ON ALOTTED time alone, the four figured they were close to the country club. There were conversations between them along the way, but mostly between Ramon and Y/N, Erica to Y/N, and Liliana with her two friends. The blonde never directly spoke to Y/N aside from chiming in on his talks with the others.

"So how did it feel?" Ramon suddenly asked him.

"What?"

"That two-run homer that practically won the series last year. It's crazy looking back."

Y/N nodded. "It was a surreal feeling. All those fans at Yankee Stadium screaming. Nothing like it."

Erica rolled her eyes seeing her younger brother talking sports with his new acquaintance. Liliana kept looking out of the window.

"Your family in New York? Were they there too?" Ramon asked.

There was a momentary pause after his question. Ramon took his silence as an indicator that he pried too much in his business.

"Oh...I—I'm sorry if that's a sore—"

Y/N shrugged it off.

"No, it's fine. Uh...no, nobody was there. My father died before I turned 18. My mom a little while after. There's my older brother...but barely kept in touch with him for a few years now."

Ramon nodded. Lillian looked away from the window and glanced at the young man after hearing his words, noticing his feigned smile as he spoke.

He continued. "I hope he's out there doing all right. Sometimes I find myself regretting not talking to him before all this shit happened. Now I never will."

"Never say never, hermano." Ramon reassured him. "Life can throw surprises your way."

Erica looked at Y/N. "What was his name?"

Before the man can answer, the blonde called out as she pointed ahead at the road.

"Watch out!"

Ramon saw the walker on the street and quickly maneuvered to avoid it. They gathered their bearings at the near hit.

"Damn...nice moves." Y/N told his friend.

He nodded. "I wanted to be a racer, ya know? Some Dom Torreto shit."

Y/N laughed at his reply. Moments later, they saw the country club's main building ahead.

"We're here."

They parked the car and surveyed the area. There were broken-down vehicles scattered around along with isolated walkers. They hoped their car could blend in with the mess while they were searching the building.

"All right...we got his building here." Y/N spoke as he pointed ahead, then saw another one a short distance east. "But there's also the one over there."

Ramon looked at a sign ahead. "That's where they have their garage. Erica, you and Sylvia were working on that car back at camp. What did you say it needed?"

"A battery."

"Cool, we just got to see if they haven't picked them all out. Y/N can go with me. What make was it?"

Erica looked at the others and eventually shrugged. "I don't know."

Ramon scoffed. "We're gonna have to know. Not all batteries fit every kind of car."

"I got the sigil in my head. Uh..." She tried to think. "Fuck. I don't know how to explain it."

"Chingada." Ramon cursed. "If you come with me would you be able to know?"

"If I see that logo again, I'll know." She replied.

"Fine." Ramon looked at Y/N and Liliana. "You two cool with checking the main building then?"

Y/N glanced at the blonde who simply had her arms crossed. He shrugged and accepted the plan.

"Fine by me, if Lili is all right with it." He said.

"I said don't call me that."

Ramon nodded. "All right. We all meet back here. Good luck."

They agreed to the plan and went their separate ways. Y/N and Liliana walked together in silence. They entered the abandoned building and stood in the rummaged lobby.

"I got this back room behind the reception desk." She spoke and walked over there.

Y/N looked around, seeing that it was the only room aside from the corridor that lead to the rest of the building.

"I...don't feel comfortable separating. I'll go with you and cover the area before moving on."

Liliana turned around and gave him an really look before going into the back room. Y/N followed her inside the rather spacious area.

"A lot to cover. See? With some extra hands, we'll be done with this room in no time."

"Sure." She simply replied.

They looked around the room for supplies. Although there was a lot of space, there weren't that many things to gather. Liliana was in front of a shelf that she tried to climb, but the top was out of the 5-foot-4 woman's reach. Y/N took notice.

"I got it." He said as he walked over.

Y/N reached for the top and pulled down a medium-sized plastic container. Through the transparent case, they can see it was just office supplies.

"Unless Alan plans on stapling some papers, this isn't shit." He remarked as he put it down.

Liliana didn't respond and opened the container, rummaging through its contents. Y/N didn't like the silence and their awkward environment.

"Lili—" He said but corrected himself after she shot him a look. "Liliana."

She kept looking at him as the man spoke.

"Look, what we have here, it's not healthy. We can't have this adversity on the job like this. I'm sorry if I was too forward the last few days—"

"More like too annoying." She interjected.

"I'm like that. Again, I'm sorry."

Liliana shrugged and let out a sigh. "Fine."

After a moment, Y/N spoke again.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Are you sorry?"

"For what?" She shot back with a scoff.

"For not giving me a chance. That animosity was there from the get-go."

"You want me to apologize for not dropping to my knees for you immediately after meeting you? Like every other woman in your life?"

"Come on, that's not what I meant."

She was getting mad again, he can tell. Liliana inhaled and turned to him.

"Tell me, why have you been trying to get at me this entire week?" She asked.

Y/N rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you seem like a great person. I—"

"What's your endgame?" She stepped closer to him, the action startling Y/N and causing him to step back. "What do you want with me?"

"I...uh—"

"You want to fuck me?"

He was taken aback by her question, not having words to respond with. Liliana kept walking and forced Y/N back into a shelf.

"That's—"

She closed the space between them, looking up at the young man's face and practically breathing on him.

"Fine. Let's do it now. Get it off your chest so you can leave me the hell alone and move on."

The blonde moved her hands to his belt in an attempt to undo it, but to her surprise, Y/N grabbed her hand and stopped her. She looked up at him with a confused look.

"That's...that's not what I want." He spoke. "That's not what I want from you."

There was a beat. "Then what is it?"

He swallowed and kept staring at her. "Like I've said many times before. I want to get to know you. I want...a friend."

She was taken aback by the young man's response. The few relationships she's been in, her significant others seemed to have only wanted quick fun and nothing else. They barely understood her...just like her last ex-boyfriend. She assumed the once-famous ball player in front of her was the same thing since it was how the media often painted him to be like.

Liliana stepped back and didn't say a word afterward. Y/N just looked at her, confused at her initial reaction. Finally, he broke the silence.

"This office doesn't seem to have much. We should—"

Suddenly, they heard a commotion in the lobby. Expecting walkers to have entered the premises, the two readied their knives and ran out of the room. Unfortunately, it wasn't the dead they ended up encountering.

Four men in dirty hoodies were in the lobby. One with a gun and the others with varying melee weapons. They immediately spotted the two and the gunman raised his pistol once the blonde reached for hers.

"Nuh-uh, little miss." He warned. "Why don't you and pretty boy step out here and I won't shoot."

They stood still for a moment. Once the man gestured to the middle of the lobby with his gun, they listened and did as told.

"Is it just y'all?" He asked.

The duo didn't reply. The man continued to speak.

"My boys and I stumbled upon this fine country club. Didn't think we'd run into some new friends." He stepped closer and eyed Liliana. "And a beautiful one at that."

The blonde's hand moved a bit toward her holstered pistol, but the man got closer and pressed the gun at her head. She stood completely still.

"Think about your next move carefully." He warned. "You two seem pretty well-kept. Some healthy bodies. You gotta have a camp somewhere nearby."

Y/N kept staring daggers at the man. Liliana still didn't say a word as the man was invading her personal space. The man looked at Y/N and then back at Liliana.

"If none of you are gonna talk...well..."

He grabbed the blonde and shoved her to the floor behind him. Y/N's reacted with a jolt but the man aimed the gun at him.

"One of you is going to talk." He said. "I ain't gonna lie...the chick seems rather hardheaded compared to pretty boy. Maybe capable of squealing with the right threat."

Y/N looked at the man and then at Liliana. The man stepped back toward the girl and his group with eyes still locked on Y/N.

"How about we have some fun, boys?"

Y/N's heart immediately sank after realizing what they planned on doing. He wasn't going to let them hurt the blonde in any way.

"Wait! Wait, stop!"

They all looked at him. Y/N still had his hands up.

"I'll tell you. I—I have a place. It isn't a camp. It's a house. My house..."

Liliana stared at him, wondering what his plan was with the lie. The man continued.

"We've been living well thanks to the stash I had before shit went down. Perks of being rich, ya know?"

"Rich?" The man asked.

"I played for the Yankees."

Suddenly, one of the others men spoke. "I fucking knew he looked familiar! You're uh...L/N?"

Y/N nodded. The lead man was still confused.

"Who?"

"Dude's an athlete. He had money. Not surprised he has a crib and a stash out there."

"So you think it's legit?"

"It's true." Y/N spoke.

The man eyed him for a moment. Fortunately, he relented and wanted to see for himself.

"All right. You take us there. Don't try any funny shit or else I'll shoot your ass."

"Just leave her here. I'll go with you. Just leave her, please."

She was surprised by the young man's selfless act. Unfortunately, the gunman wasn't going to do that.

"Just shut the fuck up and start walking."

A man grabbed Liliana and forcefully picked her up. They all exited the building and made it outside.

"You two walked? My ass. You probably have a car—"

The lead man was suddenly shot in the head and fell to the floor. The three others looked around in fear before another was gunned down. Y/N grabbed Liliana and took cover behind a pillar near the entrance.

"What the fuck—"

Another man was gunned down. The last man tried running away but a few shots to his back dropped him. There was silence for a moment as Y/N and Liliana gathered their bearings.

"We know you're still there!" A voice called out. "Step out or we'll just come over."

Y/N looked into the widened eyes of Liliana, still shocked at the entire ordeal they were going through.

"Don't make us count."

Y/N tried moving out but Liliana held him back, shaking her head and not wanting him to step out of cover. In Y/N's mind, it was either to reveal themselves to them and have a chance or risk them rushing over and gunning them down.

"I have to—"

"No, you don't. No. Don't please." She pleaded.

He took a breath in. "Trust me."

She eased her grip after his reassurance and let him step out. He had his hands up like before and looked out at the few men with guns.

"We're friendly! Don't shoot, please. These—these guys were going to kill us."

One of the men, dressed rather nicely and looked like their leader, called out to him from the road.

"Tell your friend to step out too. No funny business."

Y/N glanced at Liliana who was still hiding. The man called out again as he didn't want to wait any longer.

"Tell them to step out. Come on. I don't have all day."

The man contemplated whether he should put her at risk like that. But as he was thinking, the blonde stepped out herself with her hands up and stood beside Y/N.

The man seemed to stare at Liliana for a moment. Afterward, he looked at his men and told them to lower their guns, then gestured for the duo to come closer.

They did as told until they made it to the men and their truck. He seemed to have an interest in Liliana, as he looked at her more than the young man.

"You say they were trying to kill you?" He asked Y/N, finally turning to him.

He nodded. "Yeah, I lied to them about supplies nearby to buy us time and they fell for it."

The man took in his explanation, resting his hands on his waist.

"Seen those types of folk before. Bandits. Scum of the earth." He looked at Liliana again and smiled. "They won't hurt you anymore."

The blonde slowly nodded. "Th—Thank you."

He continued smiling. "Got a name?"

She didn't answer. Y/N chose to do so, wanting to seem respectful after they had just saved their lives.

"She's Liliana. I'm Y/N."

An African American with the man reacted. "Y/N L/N? Yankee shortstop? Damn, you looked familiar."

The leader chuckled as he looked back at his colleague. "Shumpert here must be a fan."

Y/N simply nodded. The older man looked at the two of them and introduced himself.

"I'm Philip. And I got a community a ways away. How about we go for a ride?"