Alex POV

"Look, I swear she was here." I say

"Well, she needs to be at least 10 miles from here if she left in late morning" said Nicole
"Guys, shouldn't we get back to the group? And if we're gonna look for her, we need to do it quickly. I don't want to get stuck out here at night." Said Edward

"I found her trail" said Nicole, she pointed out the way the girl was going, "Looks like she left in a hurry. Maybe she got the wrong idea about you" said Nicole while smiling. I rolled my eyes and followed the tracks.

After a little while we came acrossed a bear trap with fresh blood on it,"That ain't Freak blood" said Nicole.
"You think she was in the trap?" I asked her.
She nodded.
"Why do you think that?" I asked.
She shrugged.
"If a Freak was in this trap, it'd still be stuck or missing a limb" she stated.

"Hey, you guys smell that?" Asked Edward.
I sniffed the air.
"Is that a fire?" I thought out loud.

Nicole unholstered her pistol, Edward readied his sledge hammer, and I took my rifle off my shoulder.

We followed the smell into the woods and it led us to a large oak tree. Now that we were this close to the source, there was overwhelming smell of burnt meat.
We circled around the tree and I saw the girl leaning against it she was unconscious, her pant leg was ripped and her skin was badly burnt.

"Well I'll be damned. She colorized the wound." said Nicole.
"Umm guys, we've got Walkers" whispered Edward.

I quickly slung my rifle over my shoulder.
"Clear a path. We need to get her to the van" I said.
Edward ran forward and used his sledge hammer to bash in a Walkers head.
Nicole was about to run after him when she stepped on something, looked down and saw two swords.
She holstered her pistol and grabbed both swords.
She used them hack and slash at the Walkers.
"Come on!" I yelled as I ran to the girl, picked her up, then ran with the others away from the walkers.

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Alex's POV

Edward, Nicole and I ran for a while, losing the Freaks that were on our tail. We finally found the edge of the forest and were trying to find the road we were on.
We finally agree to go south.

"Ah- Ed, I need you to carry the girl now. I can barely feel my arms" I say, trying not to drop her.
"Yeah sure. But only for a bit." He says coming towards me to take the limp girl in my arms.

"Weak." Nicole whispers, trying to conceal her giggles.
"Fuck you, I don't do this for a living." I reply.

She laughs at my response.
"What would we do if this never happened?" Nicole questions

"I think I would probably be in college by now, seeing as I'm 18- am I 18? I didn't keep track. I might be 19 now, I don't know..." Ed says
I chuckle at his answer.

"What about you Alex?" Nicole says

Probably jail. I thought. It's not like I murdered anyone, just some petty theft...well, not that petty.

"I never put much thought into it... Maybe college. Maybe not." I reply, looking away from them.

"What about you, Nicole?" Grunted Edward as he shifted the girl in his arms.

"I would have been in the Marine corps" she said.

After that, we walked in silence.

"There's the van!" Exclaimed Edward.

I ran ahead to start it, I unlocked the doors, then back up the rest of the way.

Nicole opened the back doors and Edward put the girl in.
Nicole then climbed into the passenger seat and Edward took the back.
The freaks must have been near, because the slamming of doors drew them out of the woods.
"What are you waiting for? Drive!" Yelled Nicole.
I put the vehicle in gear and headed for our base.