UNSTEADY .. n

01

The air was sticky.

The ground was chilly, the feeling of winter settling in the Virginian atmosphere. Amelia's sister, Maggie, suggested she start wearing her coat again, even though it was barely below fifty degrees outside. But the familiar stickiness remained, a constant characteristic of the eastern Midwest.

Amelia's clothing clung to her skin, an uncomfortable chaff forming on her wrists from where her coat hung loosely. She let out another sigh, mildly surprised to see her breath forming in a small puff before her. Enid had offered to tag along on a scavenge, but it seemed the two were only buying time to sit around in the woods.

"Town's three miles north." Enid said after a few minutes, the two sniffling slightly and scanning their surroundings.

"I know." Amelia said simply.

It had been about a month since Negan had claimed Alexandria as his own, about a month since Glenn and Abraham. Things were still hard, but the burden had gotten easier. Maggie was back now.

Negan had made a few visits, on occasion, to the slowly healing town. Each gathering had more tension than the last, a hatred brewing deep inside the group. Negan was a monster.

On the last visit, there had been a mix up with some of the fresh venison Michonne had stored in the salt locker. In an act of rebellion, she had his some for herself just outside the walls of Alexandria. When it didn't match up what Olivia had written down in the stats journal, there was a bit of a tousel.

Negan threw a temper-tantrum and demanded that he'd be brought four new bucks, well preserved and dehorned. Although Enid and Amelia didn't bring along the supplies needed to take down a buck, they still used it as an excuse to get away for a while. It wouldn't be a surprise if they came back empty handed anyway. The wild life in the area had grown extremely rare within the past three months.

Amelia pushed on, finding some satisfaction in the crunching of leaves under her feet. There wasn't a set trail, only inches of dirt and dead branches. Something inside her wondered how long they had all been there. A year? Two years? The leaves were always changing. On the trees or dying. They were one of the few things that stayed dead in this world.

"It'll be getting dark soon." Amelia commented. "Do you think we should go back?" She asked her friend. Enid looked up at the grey sky.

"I think we'll be fine for a while longer." The girl said before continuing onward. Amelia sighed before following her footsteps.

Enid was younger than Amelia by about three years. The age gap never mattered much though, the two mainly focused on the balance they had when fighting. Enid was more agile, while Amelia was a bruter force, usually going right for the throat.

Amelia had met Enid when Rick's group first came to Alexandria. There was a tension at first, Enid clicking more with Carl, but the bond formed over time. There was a mutual respect.

Amelia had lost most of the people in her life that had any connection with the way life used to be before the world ended. Her father, brother, and younger sister had all died. The only relative she had left was Maggie. Glenn had even been considered an older brother at times, but even he was gone too. Now it was just Maggie.

Although Amelia was around nineteen years old, she had always been considered one of the more fragile. It pissed her off when that mindset was brought up, but she couldn't change their opinion of her no matter how hard she tried. Maggie had grown extremely over protective of her, especially in the past few weeks.  Even though Amelia hated it, she couldn't bare to worry her sister, so she usually did what was asked of her. The only time she could really act like her true, strong self, is when she went out on scavenges with Enid.

"E, the sun's going down. Let's head back." Amelia wiped her nose with her sleeve, a growing annoyance forming because her friend still seemed to ignore the fact that the grey sky had since faded to a dull purple.

"Wait." Enid said for a moment. The two girls went quiet, listening for the soft groaning in the distance.

"It's just a walker." Amelia sighed, but Enid hushed again. More were heard.

"There's at least ten." Enid said. "C'mon, let's just head back."

"Great idea." Amelia huffed under her breath in a sarcastic voice.

As they backtracked through the trees, regaining their composure after taking their two-hour break, the girls went as quietly as they could. It wasn't that they were afraid, or concerned about their noise. It was simply that nothing needed to be said. No words were spoken as they walked side by side all the way to the walls in which they normally hopped without hesitation, but this time, something stopped them.

The sound of trucks was heard on the other side of the wall. A deep laughter echoed in the distance. Chills began to radiate from Amelia's spine as she began to register the familiarity of the laughter.

Negan.