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THE RAIN POURED DOWN FROM THE GRAY VIRGINIA SKY.

The brunette's lungs felt like they were on fire and her legs felt like they would betray her at any second. Her dirt stained clothes stuck close to her body like a second skin as she ran through over grown fields, mud splashing up against her boots and splattering across her face the faster she ran.

"Don't look back, baby." Odette whispered softly to the small girl as she clutched tighter onto her hand. "Never look back." The brunette said breathlessly as she continued to run away from the moans and groans of the dead following after them.

It had felt like days since Odette had gotten separated from her brother, niece, and their little group, but in reality it could have only been a couple of hours.

The walkers had come upon their small group unexpectedly ——— bringing chaos and death along with them. Odette knew the group had been acting naive for far too long and the destruction that the walkers brought had proved just that.

The guttural groans from the dead behind her were growing closer, their noises making Odette's ears hurt. She knew she needed to find somewhere to hide or at least somewhere to put Rigby while she took care of the three or so walkers that followed them. Odette knew if she didn't find somewhere soon the walkers were going to win.

She knew her body was on the verge of giving up.

Her tired blue eyes scanned her surroundings —— looking for a beacon of hope in the middle of this gray, wet, and muddy wasteland that she was currently in. It was as though God or whoever was still up there —— if anyone at all ever was —— had heard her silent prayer.

Further away stood a small house with a broken white picket fence around it's overgrown front yard. A smile broke out on Odette's face as she forced herself to run faster towards the small home —— she needed to get Rigby inside quickly and find a safe spot for her.

"Almost there Rigby." Odette promised the small brunette as she smiled reassuringly down at the girl for a moment before snapping her big blue eyes back up to the house growing closer to her.

The small girl simply nodded, choosing to stay quiet as she focused on keeping her hand tightly embraced in her mom's —— even if it hurt with how tightly they were holding onto each other's hand.

The exhausted mother-daughter duo finally reached the (hopefully) vacant house. Odette flung open the rickety old fence —— ignoring the sickening crunch sound that made it's way to her ears as the gate swung back and hit one of the walkers. She hadn't realize just how close they had gotten to her and Rigby. Any further and Odette was certain they would of been able to sink their teeth into them.

"You okay baby?" Odette immediately questioned as she slammed the door behind her. The young brunette woman quickly leaned down, checking her daughter for any blood, cuts, or god forbid —— bites.

It had been pure chaos when the walkers attacked their group and Odette had lost sight of Rigby for a split second before the two were forced to run through the woods without her brother Ozzy and niece Gia.

"I'm fine, Mommy." Rigby assured her mom with a toothy smile. "No bites." She added.

Odette nodded, her big blue eyes doing another once over to make certain there were no bites anywhere on Rigby's body. A sigh of relief left her chapped lips once she saw none —— relief that didn't last long as she heard the walkers outside banging on the front door.

"You're bleeding, mommy." Rigby spoke in a whisper, pointing at Odette's cheek.

"I'm fine." Odette assured the small brunette with a smile while wiping away the blood and mud away from her face with the back of her hand. "Let's check the house and then I'll take care of the walkers outside, okay?"

It seemed quiet in the house and Odette could only pray that it stayed quiet. If there were any walkers roaming the house she figured they would of made their presence known already.

"Okay." Rigby nodded, grabbing the small knife that her uncle Ozzy had gifted her with not too long ago.

Odette watched as Rigby held tightly onto the knife in her small hands. It was a sobering picture for Odette to see. It made it all the more real that the world was not the same as it had once been —— this new world was cruel and full of death.

It had been Ozzy's idea to teach Rigby how to use the knife, an idea Odette had been against at first, but she knew there would come a day when she and Ozzy wouldn't always be around to protect Rigby and Gia, and the two girls needed to learn how to protect themselves in this new world.

After doing a sweep of the small house —— not a walker inside —— Odette had left Rigby in what she suspected was the master bedroom, promising the small brunette she'd be right back.

Odette slipped off the soaking wet canvas backpack from her shoulders, grabbing her trusty knife from the pack —— the knife had served her well since the start of this cruel new world and truthfully, she'd probably had been long dead without it.

Finally able to catch her breath since entering the long abandoned home —— Odette let out a deep and shaky breath as she placed her hand on the doorknob of the paint chipped front door. The walkers outside the door had to be dealt with —— and quickly.

Swinging the door open, Odette forcefully shouldered away a walker away as she exited the house. Deep painful groans met her ears as her large blue eyes watched carefully as the walker slowly made it's way closer towards her —— a shell of it's former self. It's skin was ripped away from it's jaw, it's teeth clinking together just waiting to take a bite out of Odette's flesh.

Odette stalked towards the walker, ignoring the smell of it's rotted flesh and it's rotted fingers reaching for her. The brunette kicked the walker sending it backwards off the porch, she quickly ran down the steps before the walker could get back up, then and without hesitation stuck her knife into the walkers skull.

That sickening wet sound that came along whenever Odette pulled her knife out of a walker no longer bothered her —— it hadn't for a while.

A sigh escaped the brunette woman's lips as she re-entered the home after she had swiftly killed three more walkers outside. The back of Odette's hand wiped away at the sweat that had formed on her forehead, she made her way back upstairs towards the bedroom she had left Rigby in —— the old wooden floors creaking underneath her feet.

"Rigby?" Odette called out.

Fear made it's way into her voice as she walked into the now empty room. It was unusual for Rigby to wander off —— the small brunette always stayed put when Odette told her too. She knew the dangers of wandering off by herself. Odette and Ozzy made sure the girls knew the dangers of this new world where the dead ruled.

"Rigby, baby, where are you?" Fear was taking over Odette's body as her wide blue eyes searched the room. No walkers had gotten in when she left the home —— she made sure of that, so where in the fuck was her daughter.

A small bang from her left caused Odette to quickly turn towards the large closet. The wide eyed brunette made her way towards the closet —— holding her breath along the way. If something terrible had happened to Rigby while she was taking care of those walkers she would never forgive herself. Rigby was the reason why she was continuing on in this horrid world.

"Rigby, what are you doing in here?" Relief flooded Odette's body as she slid open the closet door, her blue eyes landing on Rigby curled up in the far corner with a blanket wrapped around her small body.

"I'm tired mommy." The small brunette spoke as a yawn left her mouth.

A small smile found it's way onto Odette's dirt stained face —— a once familiar sense of normalcy in this new world. She stepped into the large closet, stretching her exhausted body next to Rigby's.

They couldn't stay at this house forever. Odette knew that, but their bodies needed rest before they went back out there to search for Ozzy and Gia. And for right now this place was safe —— and that's all Odette wanted for her daughter. A safe place from the harsh world outside and that's what this little home was.

At least that's what she thought.