I'm seated with Jake and Alex. Elizabeth walks into the cabin.

"Three new people are outside the gates. Melissa isn't here. What do I do?" she says.

I stand up.

"I'll talk to them," I say.

We all walk outside. I look outside. A man, woman, and teenage girl are standing just outside the wall. The woman waves to me, trying to get my attention. I check all their eyes. They are not zombies.

"We're looking for a place to stay tonight. We have been traveling on foot for days," the woman says.

I don't like this. I feel...off about them.

"What are we going to do? Can we even trust them?" Elizabeth asks.

Sam opens the gates. The people walk in. I wish Sam asked us before doing that.

"Thank you so much. We thought we were going to have to spend another night in those woods," the woman says.

"You three aren't going to spend another night out in the woods again. I'll show you where you'll be staying," Sam says. While she shows them the cabin, I pull Elizabeth aside.

"What do you think of them?" I ask. "Well, I think they're nice...so far," she says.

"So, I'm not the only one who thinks they're a tad bit off, right?" I ask.

"Yes, but they might really be nice, normal people. We've been out on the road so long it's destroyed our ability to trust. Let's just give them a few days before we jump to conclusions," she reassures.

Melissa arrives back at the camp shortly after. I tell her about our new guests. She is displeased with the fact of having new people here until she meets them. Then she quickly takes a liking to this new family. Jake stands by me. He isn't keen on them being here either.

"Who are they? Why are they here?" Jake asks.

"Sam let them in. All they told us was that their car broke down a couple hundred miles ago." I respond. I learn the mother is Lauren, the father is Chris, and the daughter is Emily.

"We're so glad we found this place. We're so thankful to all of you," Lauren says.

"We owe you guys one. We don't even know how to repay you," Chris says. Repay us by leaving and going far, far away.

"Keep eye on them for me. Tell me if they do anything weird," I whisper to Jake. He nods. I go back to my cabin. Melissa steps inside.

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"Would you mind going on a run for me? Elizabeth and Sam will go with you," Melissa says.

"Okay, what am I getting?" I ask.

She hands me a list. I grab my pistol, knife, and backpack. I'm out the door and on my way to the wall.

Sam, Elizabeth, and I head towards a shopping center. Sam tries the door handle to a pharmacy. Its locked as usual. She pulls on the door handle again, this time with much more force. It doesn't move. She picks up a rock and throws it at the glass door. Jagged glass shards fall in front of our feet.

"Sam! Any zombie around here probably heard that. What were you thinking?" I say.

"I was thinking I want to get this done as fast as possible," she says unlocking the door.

She opens the door and we step inside. I take a glance at the list. Pharmacy: bandages, gauze, ibuprofen is written on the list. Sam jumps over the counter. She tosses a box of gauze to me. I put it in my bag. We get the rest of the list items and head over to a grocery store. I try the door. To absolutely no one's surprise, it's locked.

"We need to get in there. There has got to be another way in," I say. Sam looks over at a flag.

"Easy, we climb up that pole and jump to the roof," Sam says.

"I don't know...maybe there is a back door," I say.

"You two can go find a different way in, but I'm climbing up," she says. She climbs up and jumps across with ease. Maybe I underestimated her idea.

"Will you two just get up here!" Sam yells looking down at us. I climb up and jump across. Finally Elizabeth makes it up here.

"So now where do we go?" I ask. Sam steps towards a skylight.

"No. I know exactly what you are thinking. Sam, even if you get the skylight open it's a fifteen foot drop to a shelf and a even bigger drop to the ground. It's very risky. Let's think about this first," I say.

Sam opens it. She jumps down onto a shelf. As soon as she lands on the shelf it tips over. I can't see where she landed in the fall.

"Sam! Are you okay?" I ask. She doesn't respond.

"We need to help her. She could be seriously hurt," I say. Elizabeth pulls out a rope.

"Tie this around your waist. I'll lower you down slowly." She says. I tie it in a tight knot. She lowers me down. Once I reach the floor, I untie myself. Sam is trapped under a shelf. I try lifting it myself. It's way too heavy.

"Elizabeth! I need your help." I yell to her.

"I'm coming down," she says.

"Sam, are you alright?" I ask.

"I'm fine," she says.

Elizabeth reaches the floor. We start lifting the shelf. Even with Elizabeth helping, this weighs a ton! Sam crawls out from under the shelf. She pulls herself up. She starts limping away. Elizabeth helps Sam to a chair. I look at the list. Might as well get what we need. I collect all the list items.

We get back to camp. I go to Melissa's cabin. I empty out my backpack on her desk.

"Thank you. I need to talk to you...alone," she says. I sit down.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Jade, I think you are my daughter," she says.

What? This is crazy!

"Why do you think that?" I ask.

"You look just like the daughter I gave up. She pulls a birth certificate from her desk. I pull out my birth certificate. Both are exactly the same.

"You abandoned me! You left me. Why would you leave me?" I yell.

"I didn't want to leave you."

"Does Sam know? Does she even know that we are related?" I ask.

"I knew from the day I met you that you were my daughter. I told Sam later that day. She knows."

I walk outside. Elizabeth walks over to me.

"One of our people went missing," she says.

"Who was it?" I ask.

"Someone from the cabin next to us. Her name is Mia," She tells me.

"So, what do we do?" I ask.

"Melissa wants us to search the woods where she was last seen. She wants us to see if we can figure out where she is."

We walk through the woods. I see a tree with a bloody handprint. Whoever was here must have been injured.

"Jade, over here," Elizabeth calls.

I walk over. There is a tree branch on the ground. It's covered in blood. There is a knife on the ground, too.

"A zombie wouldn't hit someone with a tree branch, at least I don't think so. What if another group kidnapped Mia?" I say.

"A zombie once shot me. I don't think a tree branch is too far fetched. Why would a group only take one person? If they really wanted leverage they'd kidnap multiple important people. Like Melissa and Sam," she says.

We search the area thoroughly. After that we go back to camp. I go into Melissa's cabin.

"I went looking for Mia...it doesn't look hopeful," I say.

"Did a zombie get her?" she asks.

"I think a human kidnapped her. I think we might be facing another group," I say.

"Look, would you mind connecting with a group up north? We used to do trades with them. I'll give you a bag of supplies to get there. Your going to ask them if they can help us. In return, they are probably going to want you to scavenge some areas they can't get to. They are our only chance at having a real opportunity to defend ourselves," she says.

"Okay, sounds like a plan. When do you want me to leave?" I say.

"The end of the month. I should have everything ready for you by then," she responds. I nod. A month will give me enough time to finish up some of the things I have been putting off.