The Dead Studios: Season 9

Chapter 2: From Dusk to Dawn

     Caroline walked along down the dusty road, her boots brushing up the dirt onto her crummy jeans, which were now ripped in most parts. She was holding the straps of her back pack, her arms rubbing against her muggy jacket and her dirty blonde hair was tied in a pony tail as it has been for months just like her jacket. She continued to walk until she finally reached another town. It was smaller than the one she was previously in so she walked in seeing if she could scavenge anything. She walked behind a small garage that was next to a larger house. There were some trash cans and recycling bins, and she scavenged through them. Of course, she found nothing. She turned around the other side of the garage and saw a small door leading inside of the garage. She walked towards it when she suddenly heard a stick snap behind her.

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Jax walked down the empty road. His pants were stained with blood from a few weeks ago, and his jacket had little bits and pieces of blood on it too. He of course wasn't able to ever wash it, so he left it like that. His hair had grown a decent amount, since the last time he was able to cut it was when he was still with Spencer and Mimi. It was fairly greasy so he just pushed it up and over to the side. He continued to walk until he finally reached a small town. In the distance, he was able to see a figure. It didn't look like a walker so he pulled out his pistol from the holster on his leg. He quickly ran up to the house where he saw the figure and he followed the footprints through the mud. He held the gun up high as he turned the corner. A small twig snapped underneath his foot, as he saw who is was.

"Caroline?" He said softly as he lowered the gun. 

She turned around quickly as she was startled by the sound of his voice. She stared at him for a while, not knowing for sure if he was real or not. He stood there looking back at her as he put his gun away. 

"Jax?" She said as she took a step backwards.

He cracked a small smile as she knew he was real. She ran towards him, putting her arms around him fast and squeezing him. He didn't know why she was hugging him, but he didn't question her. He put his arms around her and hugged her back. She pulled away and looked at him in the eyes. She tried to speak but she wasn't able to. She was in complete shock still. 

"How are you- how are you here?" She asked, not being able to take her eyes off of him.

"When you all left- I walked in the same direction. I couldn't... just leave. Not after everything." Jax said, hugging her again.

They walked into the house near them together, as they cleared the house and secured it. They sat down in the living room of the house, just looking at eachother.

"I saw the note." Jax said. "The one Greyson left." 

Caroline sighed as she wiped her face.

"What happened?" Jax asked.

"They left me." She said. "They said I disagree with them about you. About how you're... dangerous." 

Jax leaned as he was sitting on the couch. "Do you think I'm dangerous?" He said, looking across the room at her.

Caroline looked at him as she sat on the chair across the room. "I don't know what I think about you anymore. After Casper and Zekera- I couldn't look at you the same. But now.." She stopped for a few seconds, thinking about him, looking at him. "Now I can't stop looking at you. You're all I have now. I never thought Malcolm would leave me, out of everyone. Malcolm?" She said scuffing and sighed. 

"I'm here." Jax said. "I'm here now." He said as he laid down on the couch.

She smiled at him as she watched him fall asleep.

Jax opened his eyes as the sun glared through the windows. The candles had stopped burning but they made the room smell like smoke as they all had been blown out. He attempt to get up but stopped- as he saw Caroline had fallen asleep next to him on the couch. He didn't remember her moving to the couch last night, he must've slept through it. She picked her head up and looked at him. 

"Mornin'" He said to her, looking back at her. 

She smiled. "Morning." She said getting up. Her hair glowed from the sun in the room as she put it back up in a ponytail. She turned and smiled at him as she got up putting her boots on. 

Jax sighed and stretched. "I haven't slept that well in weeks." He said, putting his boots on too.

Caroline put on the jacket she wore for months. "Yeah." She said with a bland tone.

"You okay?" He asked.

She cracked a smile. "Yeah." She said. "Come on, I've been running low on food so, we should go scavenge the rest of the town.

She walked over to the front door as Jax followed behind her. She opened it- but stopped as she saw it. The street had been filled with a huge horde of walkers which must've came in over night. Jax quickly grabbed the door and closed it as he took her upstairs. They looked out the window seeing the huge horde stretched across the whole town. There was smoke in the distance, which made the sky almost look black. 

"Shit." Caroline said.