PART ONE.
two, tell it to the frogs.

A CAR ALARM RIPPED through the silence of the camp along the wooded quarry. It was soft at first, and grew louder. At first, Faith thought it was another group of survivors or walkers had broken the glass of a vehicle some ways away. As the noise the increased, the closer the vehicle got. It was just dangerous, and Faith stood up from the lawn chair to see if she could catch a glimpse of the terrible noise.

Dale stood next to her, his binoculars in hand and up near his eyes. Everyone in the camp gathered around, sprouting questions at the older man when he barely had caught a sight himself. He let out a slight scoff just a moment, and Faith knew he had seen the cause of the alarm.

"A stolen car is my guess," Dale answered Amy's questioned as he lowered his binoculars.

Faith cracked a small smile when she finally saw the red vehicle, a man in the driver's seat. Maybe their group had made it back, all in one piece too. This is why Faith tried to stay positive- sometimes it worked.

They all stood and watched as the red car sped up the road, and flung rocks. Once the car was pulling into the camp, a few of them realized it was Glenn. He threw the vehicle into park, and got out. Everyone moved to greet him and shouted at him to turn the car off before he got them all killed. Amy shouted questions at Glenn as Shane yelled for him to pop the hood. Either way, the camp went silent when Shane finally pulled a wire out of the car and the alarm finally shut up.

Faith let out a sigh of relief- especially when Glenn reassured that the rest of the group was okay, safe. Well, all except Merle. Faith didn't mind Merle much, he was a racist and sexist pig that always made inappropriate comments, but still, the thought that Merle wasn't okay made her heart drop. Not only because losing someone was hard, but because she knew that Daryl wouldn't take it well either. From what she understood, the Dixon brothers were all the other had left in the world.

There was a bit of slight tension as Shane reprimanded Glenn for driving the car with the alarm, and Dale, bless his heart, tried to justify the young man's actions. When Shane bit back at Dale, he simply said that he wasn't arguing, just pointing out another side before he pointed at Glenn. Frankly, Faith couldn't care- she was just happy that 95% of their group was alive and breathing.

Glenn looked back at the group with a slight smile, and the tension melted away as a cargo truck slowly drove up the road. It was the rest of the survivors.

As soon as they began to pile out, Amy ran out to her sister. Morales was greeted happily by his two children and wife. The group welcomed back their members, and were thankful for their safety. Faith frowned slightly when she noticed that Lori and Carl had turned away- she recently learned that Shane was not Carl's father, which certainly threw her for a loop. Faith may have been quiet, but she saw the looks and the behavior of Lori and Shane around camp.

Morales shouted for the new man to come out, the man that had helped them out of the city. A man, in a police uniform that was identical to Shane's, had stepped out of the way of the vehicles and walked towards the camp. He was hesitant, for sure. Shane's expressions softened and twisted into shock, everything paused for a moment, but then the man ran towards camp and Carl had started off to meet him, with Lori following behind.

This was Carl's father.

He had collasped to the ground once his son was in arms, and Faith laughed at the reunion. She didn't laugh in ridicule or humor, but in happiness. It wasn't everyday that they saw a family get reunited after they thought their loved ones were gone. It gave Faith a bit of hope for her own family up north, maybe they were still alive too.

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FAITH ENJOYED THE NIGHTS around the campfire, despite the fact that the Georgia heat was enough to keep them warm. She picked at the last few bites of food on her plate, she hadn't been that particularly hungry. As she listened to Rick tell his story, Faith glanced at the little girl beside her and silently offered the child the rest of her food. Sophia tried to politely decline, they all knew the struggle, but Faith nodded on until the girl took the plate.

"Thank you," Sophia muttered quietly and Carol sent sent the woman a smile in return.

"It's not a problem," Faith reassured softly, "Besides, it looked like you liked dinner tonight."

Faith knew their story, she could see the signs. She knew the signs well enough from her intern and residency days in the ER. She'd help them in whatever way she could, because she knew she could not take on a man like Ed, not that she ever wanted too.

Things fell silent, except for the quiet sound of thunder and the crackling of wood as Ed threw in another log. Faith glared at him, and wanted to say something, but the words never left her tongue. If she said something, it'd be very possible he'd give her the same treatment he gave to Carol and Sophia.

"Hey, Ed, you wanta rethink that log?" Shane called over.

Ed sighed heavily with his head leaned back, "It's cold, man."

Faith wanted to say that she was hot, practically dying from a heatstroke, but she refrained from it. As much as she was used to the humidity, she didn't like it much. Georgia always had a terrible wet heat, but the Midwest wasn't any better during the summer months, where she grew up. Faith scoffed lightly, "Walkers ain't blind, Ed."

"Cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane reminded him, "Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold," Ed repeated, "You should mind your business for once."

Shane got up from his seat, and Faith cursed lowly underneath her breath. Nobody dared to stop Shane either- the man was right, they couldn't risk being seen. If Ed had to go cold for a couple hours, then so be it. Being cold trumped being dead. Shane a said a few words to Ed, before Ed rolled his eyes muttered something. He told Shane to go ahead and dig it out, but when he repeated his words, it was clear that he wasn't speaking to Shane. Ed was demanding that Carol dug out the log from the fire. He repeated it one more time.

Faith glanced at the woman with soft eyes as Carol went to stand up. Faith shook her head and stood up.

"I got it, Ed." She told the man.

She crouched down by the fire, and carefully stuck her hand inside. Her skin felt the heat, but had been untouched by the flames as she pulled the log from the pile and tossed it to the side carefully. Faith stood back up and went to her seat.

With the log to the side, Shane stepped on the flame with his boot- to put it out, dim the embers. He crouched down, his arm resting on the plastic piece of Faith's lawn chair. He glanced at the young woman, then looked towards Carol and Sophia.

"Hey," Shane spoke softly, "Carol, Sophia, how are y'all this evening?"

They were typically secluded from the camp members, unless it was for chores. Faith had really been the only person Ed allowed around them at random times- maybe because Faith was too small and weak to try anything.

"Fine," Carol answered with a slight smile. "We're just fine. I'm sorry about the fire."

"No apology needed," Shane reassured, and then he glanced up at Faith. "How are you, Faith?"

Faith smiled softly at the officer, "Just dandy, Walsh. Thanks for checking in."

He nodded, "Alright, y'all have a good night."

She admired that of Shane, that he seemed to be this big man, but he was always soft with Carol and Sophia. Besides, no one liked Ed in the camp, and despite that, everyone was kind to his wife and daughter. They treated Ed with a basic passive aggressiveness- just barely above human, but civilized.

Faith rested her elbow on the plastic arm rest of her chair, and her chin sat comfortably in her palm. Reflections of the small flames danced in her brown eyes, and it reminded her of all the bonfires she had as a child- if only her life wasn't in constant danger. As long as she didn't think about the walkers, she could allow herself to remember the memory fondly. Faith closed her eyes briefly and sucked in a deep breath- slightly enjoying the smell of a burning wood.

"Better days are coming," Faith whispered to herself, to the universe, into existence. Because she knew, betters days were on its way.

a/n → oh, you mean I actually split this up into two parts? yeah, I did. but we get to find out a bit about Faith's past in the next chapter! that'll probably come in the afternoon or evening!