(Unedited) Stage One: Hope in Darkness

Road Trip with a Psychopath (Annabelle)

"Ooooooh look, Annabelle's delicates!" He pulled out my one spare bra and held it aloft like it was some kind of trophy. My eyes widened in shock and I lunged for it. That dirty little perv! He started laughing hysterically and kept moving it out of my reach.

"I'll give it back to you only if you say please," I gritted my teeth. Please, I signed. He smiled and cupped his hand around his ear,

"Huh? What? Sorry I can't hear you." He put emphasis on the word hear and laughed at his own joke. I wanted to growl in frustration.

"Please" My voice was surprisingly coherent. Still soft as a whisper but I guess I couldn't have everything. Shadow froze in shock. He dropped the bra back into my bag.

"So you can speak." His words were calm, sincere. It threw me off balance. 'A little but not always and it hurts' I signed back. His blue eyes were on me. I gave up trying to decipher the look in them.

"It's beautiful." His words had been like mine, a whisper. But I felt them to my core. I breathed a little faster. I kept my eyes on the road, avoiding his gaze. What would those blue eyes tell me right now? I was afraid to look.

It was long moments before I heard rustling from the passenger seat. I glanced at him out of my peripheral vision. He pulled out my notebook. I focused back on the road as the soft sounds of crinkling paper reached my ears.

"Did you draw these?" he asked. I smiled before signing, no Hannibal did. He is quite the artist. This made him laugh, just a little one though. Not his usual crazy man laughter.

'Can I ask you something? You can tell me to mind my own business' I knew he had caught my motion, he always did.

"Only if I can ask you something." He replied. I nodded

'How do you know asl?'

"My little sister was deaf," I didn't ask him anything else. It was something you learned out here in the wilds. The apocalypse rarely made for a good back story. Especially for those who had family.

"My turn," Some of the lightness was back in his tone, "What is your middle name?" I laughed.

'Why do you want to know my middle name?'

"You initialed all these drawings, it got me curious." I cringed, I had initialed those hadn't I. I really hated my middle name, it had been passed down from a great something or other. So it was an old name and it sounded awful.

'G E R T R U D E' I had to sign each letter individually.

"Gertrude? Your middle name is Gertrude." He busted up laughing. It's not funny! I reached across the console and hit him in the gut. His laughter stopped with an abrupt wheeze. He started to wipe tears from his eyes.

"Oh god that's a good one," He was still trying to catch his breath so the words came out funny.

I went back to watching the road with a huff. I felt like a pouting teenager but I couldn't help it. I had always been sensitive about my middle name. There was one good thing about it though, it was how Lara and I had become friends. Back in kindergarten our teacher made us put our full names on our papers. Some of the other students saw mine and had started laughing.

Gertrude....Gertrude. It sounds like an old lady's name. That's what you are now, old lady Gertrude.

Lara in all her petite mightiness had stood up for me.

Billy Joe is a boy's name. Maybe we should call you a boy!

She silenced the bullies and saved me from their teasing. We had been best friends ever since.

I smiled at the memory. The trees were thinning out, the city came into view.

"So how are we gonna get through all those rippers?" Shadow asked. I just smiled and pushed the gas pedal into the floorboards.

"I think I'm in love" Shadow mooned beside me. I shook my head.

The Rippers had taken over the city. Walkers flooded the streets. I paid them no mind. Thuds, crashes, blood and guts spewed. Shadow whooped beside me. Even if I thought he was crazy I couldn't help but be happy. It was completely psycho to enjoy running people down like this but these were not normal people. These were rippers, cannibals, they enjoyed the screams of others. There were some others too, but they were his men. They knew what he did and still followed him without question. I took extra pleasure in running them over.

The city went by in a blur. As did the next few days. Shadow and I switched turns driving. We didn't talk much. Or rather I didn't, Shadow rambled on about random things. Never really saying anything. Sometimes we even managed to find a radio station. Those were the best times, Shadow would sing along and I would move to the beat. For a crazy psychopathic killer he had an incredibly good voice. Maybe before the world went to shit he could have wanted to be a singer. He certainly had the voice.

The closer we got to Lara the more my stomach twisted into knots. Every inch was closer to her, and to Him. I was going to have to face Him again. It was days later when we saw it. The great metal walls that surrounded the city. His city.

Now all we had to do was find a way inside.

I'm coming Lara.