— ZOE NEVER THOUGHT THAT THE WORLD would come to an end. She never imagined that there would be flesh eating monsters wandering around, making everyday a struggle to live and bringing fear to the remainder of the living. No one knew what this outbreak was, or how it started, but it was enough to make everyone fear the ones who had been unlucky enough to catch it. She never even thought that she would have to suffer through her father's death until she was at least in her 50's, but she thought wrong. She was completely wrong, and she hated it - she wished that she wasn't wrong, and she wished that life was still worth living, she wished that her father hadn't been shot on the line of duty, and she wished that he was still with her today..

It had been two months since everything went to complete shit, two months since her dad had died, two months of trying to survive with her mom, Lori, her dad's best friend, Shane, and her younger brother, Carl. Lori and Shane were obviously sleeping together, everyone in the camp knew, probably even Carl. But, Zoe didn't hate her mom for it; she just didn't exactly like the situation with her and Shane. Even though her dad was dead and he wasn't coming back, that wasn't an excuse to jump into bed with his best friend, she should know better than that. Zoe knew better than to confront the two about it, so she acted clueless just like everyone else in the camp. No matter how much it bugged her that her mom was currently with someone other than her dad. She guessed that's how a lot of people feel with divorced parents; but with her parents, she never thought the time would come.. It hurt.

"Zoe!" Carl shouted from the lake below, when he saw her, walking down the small hill and towards him and Shane, "Look what me and Shane caught!" He shouted out to her, holding up a dead frog, which he was incredibly proud of. She had to hide the disgust in her face when he waved the frog in her face, and smiled widely at him instead, knowing that he was really happy about his catch. In fact, it was the happiest that Zoe had seen him in a while..

"Nice one, buddy." Zoe chuckled at her brother, giving him a thumbs up, before turning to look over at Shane. "Mom wants you to go and see her, I'll watch over Carl." She told him.

"Thanks Zo." Shane thanked her, coming out from the lake and patting her back, before leaving back up the way that Zoe had come from, towards the camp. Zoe smiled after him, ignoring the urge to roll her eyes at what the two were about to do.. She knew better, so she hadn't said anything, but it ate her up inside at how she felt guilty about it. She knew that it wasn't anything to do with her, but she couldn't help it - she just missed her dad.

"Where's Shane going?" Carl asked, with a frown, as he watched Shane walk away from them. He was just getting started with catching the frogs, he didn't want to stop, now, and he knew for a fact that Zoe wouldn't help him..

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders at his words, hugging him, "He's just going on a hunting trip." Zoe told him, not wanting to go into more detail. "Why don't you show me what Shane taught you?" She suggested. This caused Carl to squeal out in excitement and drag Zoe towards the edge of the lake, to show her what he had learned. In response, she smiled down at her brother, missing his smile of excitement, in this day, he didn't do it often, but when he did.. She cherished it.

 
Later on in the day, Zoe was sitting next to Amy and having a conversation with her, as she was the closest to her age in the group, other than Glenn and Nate, only, Glenn was in Atlanta on a supply run with some of the others at the moment, and Nate was on a hunting trip with his brother, Daryl, meaning that the only person Zoe could truly socialise with, was her. Not that she hadn't been doing that already, her and Amy had become quite close since they had first met, and Zoe actually considered her as a close friend. Throughout the two months of being with the group, she had become closest to Amy and Glenn, although they were both a bit older than her, they all found comfort in each other, being around the same age. Glenn was her best guy friend, and Amy was her best girl friend.

Nate, on the other hand, was still a puzzle to her, she never knew if he truly likes her or not, or if it was just a show; the boy was just awfully confusing with his emotions. Zoe tended to stay away from his area of the camp, as Merle and Daryl seem to put her on edge whenever she was around the two of them. Especially Merle, who seemed to enjoy making the girl uncomfortable with his jokingly cat calls and calling her 'sweetheart', it was incredibly creepy.

Zoe sat crossed legged on the grass, with an old calendar in her lap, that Dale, an old man that owned the RV that she liked very much, had given her. She hummed as she marked off yet another day; she knew that it was stupid to be keeping track of the date, but if the world went back to normal, she just wanted to know how long they had been at the camp for, and how long the outbreak had been. "How many days has it been?" Amy asked from besides her, causing Zoe to look up at the small blonde girl.

Zoe sighed and looked towards the RV. "Too long." She told Amy. As she saw Shane talking with Lori, who had Carl sitting on her lap from across the lot, she furrowed her brows, "I miss my dad." She voiced out, knowing Amy would know how she felt, as she also lost her parents in this whole catastrophe. The only difference was - she had actually lost her dad before the outbreak, she just didn't know it at the time.

Amy sighed and looked down at the ground, "Me too. And my mom." She admitted to Zoe, with a frown on her face. "But at least I have Andrea." She reminded herself, with a small smile. Amy didn't know what she would do without her older sister - she was her world.

Zoe smiled slightly at her, "Yeah, I don't know what I would do without Carl, my mom or Shane." She admitted, knowing that Shane had done everything he could to keep her and her family safe - she couldn't thank him enough. She hesitated for a moment, before deciding to speak up again. "Do you think the world will ever go back to normal?" She asked, not exactly wanting the right answer. She missed her old life, her old friends, and her dad.

Amy shook her head and frowned, "I hope so, I miss our old life." She said.

"Yeah." Zoe sighed, slouching down in defeat. "Me too." She admitted.

Their conversation was cut short when they heard a loud car alarm blaring from the distance, moving towards their camp quickly, causing everyone to look around in confusion at what it could be, and why it was headed towards camp.. "Hey Dale, can you see what that is?" Shane called, wondering about the approaching car, asking Dale as he could see from the top of the RV. "Talk to me, Dale!" He shouted again, looking towards the sound.

"I can't tell yet." Dale told them, looking through his binoculars into the distance.

"Is it them? Are they back yet?" Amy asked him, hoping that her sister was back.

"I'll be damned." Dale muttered, looking through his binoculars.

"What is it?" Zoe asked him, standing up from her spot on the grass just in front of the RV. She looked up at him from below the RV, and couldn't read his facial expression - he was good at holding a poker face, which kind of sucked when you needed to know what was going on and he stayed silent.

Dale shrugged, "A stolen car is my guess." He told the young girl, who furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and turned around to get a better look at the car. Why would someone with a stolen car be coming up to camp? How did they even know about this place?

Glenn suddenly pulled up to the camp in a red sports car and got out in an instant, causing Zoe to squeal in excitement and rush at him for a hug, happy that he survived with no injuries, that she could see. Glenn happily returned the hug, glad to finally see the girl that he considered a close friend. After being stuck in Atlanta and helping helicopter boy out - he was glad to see some normality. It was good to be back.
Dale and Shane, however, were more upset about the car alarm that was still blaring, causing anyone in the area to be able to hear where they are, anyone meaning geeks or any people who wanted to raid them, "Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" Dale shouted at Glenn.

"I don't know how!" Glenn shouted back over the car alarm.

Shane and Amy start talking at the same time, causing Zoe to look around in confusion and cringe at the loud noises around her, she had to walk away to Carl and Lori, where it was less noisy as her head began to pound. She wasn't used to loud noises and she didn't like them at all.  As they were shouting, all Zoe could hear was the loud car alarm, so all she saw was their mouths moving quickly as they argued, just as Glenn got in the car and reached for the hood release.

Amy was still talking as the car alarm finally got shut off, "Is she okay? Is she all right?" She asked Glenn again, after being ignored the first time.

Glenn nodded, "Yeah! Yeah!" He said as he got back out of the car. "She's okay! She's okay!" He reassured her.

"Is she coming back?" Amy asked again.

Glenn nodded, "Yes." He told her.

"Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?" Shane shouted at Glenn, as Lori, Carl and Zoe watched from a distance, staying away from the arguments by the car. Zoe knew that Carl didn't exactly like loud noises, either, so she pulled him closer into her hold, making sure to comfort him as everyone argued.

"I think we're okay." Dale tried to reason with him, to calm him down, knowing that Shane could get angry very easily. He had noticed that from when he had first set eyes on Shane, and he tended to stay away from the man at his best ability. If anything came to Lori, Zoe and Carl, he was sure that Shane would kill, in cold blood. He knew that Shane would probably do more than that if he had the chance, and he didn't trust him one bit.

"You call being stupid okay?" Shane retorted, glaring at the older man, annoyed that he didn't see the danger here.

"Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Dale said again, before raising his hands up in surrender at Shane's glare, not wanting the situation to escalate any more than it already had. "I'm not arguing. I'm just saying." He said, before turning to Glenn, "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" He asked the Korean boy.

Glenn shrugged, feeling guilty at the older mans words, "Sorry. Got a cool car." He told Dale, causing Zoe to smirk at his innocence. She wouldn't mind driving that car, either, it looked like a beauty. Just as he said this, a larger truck came driving up the dirt road, slowly due to the weight and lack of gas.

As everyone else was reuniting with their families after their long trip away, Zoe couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness at the fact that her dad wasn't amongst the group, and by the looks of it, Carl had the same idea as her, broken at the fact that their dad was still gone, and he wasn't coming back. Lori pulled both of her children in for a tight hug, upon seeing their saddened faces, then crouched down to Carl's level to reassure him, as Zoe wrapped her arms around him from behind and kissed the top of his head in hopes to bring him some comfort. She then looked up to Shane, who was watching the family with saddened eyes, hating that they were all upset, until he looked back at the truck and complete shock took over his facial features. Even some regret, and sadness.

She furrowed her brows in confusion and followed her eyesight to where he was looking, only to see someone she thought she would never see again. Her facial expression was a mix of grief, shock and happiness at seeing her father, alive, standing in front of her, in the flesh. Rick looked back at his family in disbelief, not believing what he was looking at, he had actually found them.

Carl was the first one to run up to their dad, causing them to both go down to the ground as Carl launched himself into his father's arms. Tears streaming from both of their eyes at the fact they had each other again. Rick had missed them all greatly, and was so glad that he had managed to find them all after his travels from his home town into Atlanta, where he was sure they would be.

Lori was next to slowly approach her husband and pull him in for a large hug, gasping in shock as she did so, all whilst Zoe was stood on the other end of the field, speechless, thinking that what she was seeing at the moment was a dream, as her dad had been in a lot of her dreams lately. Lori pulled away from Rick and glanced at Zoe, ushering her to come forward, so that's what she did, and quickly..

The next thing Zoe knew, was that she was being held in her father's embrace, being met with a familiar feeling of comfort and safety that she hadn't felt in so long. She held on tight, afraid that this was all a dream, as tears spilled down her face.
Maybe it will go up from here.