— ZOE HATED THIS. SHE HATED waking up no longer in the prison besides the love of her life, with the rest of het family in a safe place, where she could freely walk around and have some sense of the world before it had ultimately ended. Waking up to none of that, was one of the most heartbreaking things she had gone through, and if she didn't find anyone from prison anytime soon, she was going to go crazy; after waking up to the morning sunlight seeping through the broken windows, the girl knew that she needed to have an early start with searching for any survivors. With how the group acted and what they had been taught, Zoe knew that no one would stick to the woods, and they would definitely follow the road to stay out of trouble with walkers and to avoid being cornered, but then again, if she stuck to the road or the train tracks, the girl could be seen by other people, and they may be bad, so whatever she did, could me a massive risk.. Grabbing some knives from the kitchen, the girl gathered what she could fit in her jean and jacket pockets, which wasn't exactly a lot, and when she was ready, she set off on her travels.

Stepping out into the morning breeze, the girl sighed when she realised that she may not find anyone again after a whole day of searching, and that her search today may be unsuccessful yet again — the girl started to walk down the road, her bones still aching from the flu. But the girl pushed on, knowing that she just might just find someone from the prison walking along the road, having the same thought as her. She could only pray and wish that someone would show up, knowing that if she didn't find anyone, she wouldn't know what to do with herself, anymore. Her father was the natural born leader, and even her brother, at times; Zoe, on the other hand, had always been more of a follower — she wasn't used to this, or making her own decisions, and deciding to take the road instead of the woods.. Well, she wasn't one hundred percent sure that it was the right decision to make, but she carried on walking alone, none the less.

It was lonely, walking down the empty road with no one but herself as company and nothing to defend herself with besides a few blunt knives in her lockers; she hated how little she had to help herself against anything that tried to attack her, and it made her feel completely naked — the road seemed like it went on forever, never ending with a torturing feeling that it would carry on forever, never finding a single person from her group to reunite with. Even when the girl had merely been walking for a few hours, it felt like days, and due to her slowing speed, she had barely made it far at all; still exhausted and sore from sleeping on the hard floor in the small shop she had taken refugee in, his bones and muscles aching as she walked onwards. Zoe was so tired and delirious, that she hadn't even noticed when a group of people appeared to be making a ruckus from afar, behind her, causing the go to pause in her footsteps and snap her head around, turning to see a large group of men walking along the same road she was on, having not yet noticed her due to the bickering arguments going on between them all.

Zoe didn't waste any time in hurrying off to the side of the road and into the tree line, hoping that she would stay hidden from them all when she did so. But her heart dropped into her stomach when she heard the men stop talking and look over on her direction.. Just the sight of the men scared the hell out of Zoe, all a lot older than her, probably around her fathers age, but they all looked purely evil, and she knew that if they got their hands on her, nothing good will come if it. If she saw them even before the outbreak, she would keep her distance, just with the way they dressed, and the looks on their faces, Zoe knew that they were trouble. "Hey, sweetheart!" One of the men called out to her, Zoe looking back to see them all looking in her direction, "You all alone?" He called out again, noticing that she was all alone. Her heart stopped completely, looking back in their direction, only to see that every single man was looking over at her with different looks on their faces, some of hunger, some of pure boredom, and others looking murderous.

"Shit." Zoe cursed, instantly pushing further into the tree line hand rushing out of sight, her breathing picking up as she did so. As soon as she dipped into the tree line, the girl heard the mens shouting increasing in the background, yelling for her to come back, and she had never felt a fear like it before; she had no one to help her, being all alone, and hardly anything to defend herself with, and it was terrifying. Hearing some of the men begin to run, Zoe didn't waste any time in taking off in a sprint, hardly looking as to where she was going as she headed forwards, ducking under branches and jumping over trunks and any holes in the ground — the girl cried out in pain as she was smacked in the face by a branch she had failed to avoid, already feeling the blood drip down her face from the cut.
Looking back at where she had first begun to run away, she saw two of the men running after her in the distance, clearly wanting her and not giving up even when she was much faster than her; Zoe couldn't understand why they wanted her so much, considering they had a whole group, but the worst ideas came to mind, and she couldn't help but cry out when the dark thoughts came to mind.

Turning back around, Zoe screeched when she saw a walker just in front of her, walking in her direction, before she smacked right into it, the girl falling to the ground with a grunt, the walker flying in a different direction from the hard push. However, once she had stood up and began to run from the walker and avoid getting bit, a harsh force pushed into her from the side, pushing Zoe to the ground and the man falling on top of her with an evil smirk on his face, whilst the other man took out the walker. "Where are you running to, blondie?" He asked, giving Zoe a look that made her want to throw up. She didn't know who this man was or what he wanted from her, but she had a pretty good idea on it, and the thought of it made her wish she had never even been born to suffer from his wrath; Zoe had no idea on what she should do, since he was holding her down so harshly that she could barely move any muscle and get him off of her. "Don't you want to stay and play?" He purred, getting disgustingly close to her ear, his hot breath fanning against her neck and causing the girl to cringe as a tear began to slide down her cheek at the contact.

When she was stuck in a room with the Governor before the man completely destroyed the prison, she had felt this fear, had felt her heart speed up this much, and had felt the fear of dying, physically and mentally. Zoe knew that there was no point in begging this man on top of her to stop, since that is just what he wanted, and the girl didn't want to give him the satisfaction. "Yo, man. Be quick, the others don't want to be kept waiting." The other man shouted, knowing what his friend wanted to do with Zoe, making the girl release a small sob. His friend had helped clear the area around them from walkers purely so this could happen, and it made her want to throw up at how disgusting these men were and the fact that she had ran into them.

Hearing the man's footsteps fade into the distance, Zoe cried out in pain when the man on top of her squeezed her wrists harder, definitely forming a bruise on her skin by doing so; he pushed both of her hands together as he took them both in his one hand, his strength being too much for her. No words came out of her mouth except for grunts and cries, when she heard the man's flyers came undone, the man clearly getting ready to do unspeakable things to her — Zoe didn't know what else to do, besides use the one thing that wasn't held down, her head. The girl didn't think before lifting her head up with speed, screaming out as she did so, and head butting the older man in the face, the man yelling out as he wasn't expecting it, he expected the small blonde girl to shut up and take it. When blood began to drip down his nose from the sudden force, Zoe took it as her chance to get out of his hold, rolling out of the way the second his hold loosened, picking herself up off of the ground as she instantly began to sprint off again, not even thinking about where she was going; she just wanted to get away. "Hey, you bitch!" The man yelled, watching as she ran off, and instantly taking off through the woods.

With the shouts of the man echoing behind her, Zoe pushed them away from her mind, hearing heavy breaths and her heart beating erratically as she moved on, she couldn't think of anything other than escaping, needing to get away from the man, before she fell victim to him. In this situation, all she wanted, was Nate, her dad or Daryl to get her out of this mess, since she couldn't do it alone, especially since she was so weak at the moment due to the flu, the man overpowered her by over one hundred percent. "Shit, shit, shit." Zoe muttered, running and dodging even more branches as she heard two footsteps now quickly following behind her, meaning that she was screwed, no matter what happens, because there is no way the girl could outrun them both.

"Come back here, blondie!" The man who tackled her, shouted, his voice booming around the empty woods and sending chills throughout Zoe's body, the feeling of death now flooding her whole system. Looking back quickly, she saw the one man running, but couldn't see the other, and that's when she knew that she had no chance — the girl knew that she had to stop and fight, with it being the only option she truly had. Remembering that she had picked up a knife from the place she had spent the night at, and it began to burn a hole into her side, reminding her that she was going to have to use it somehow in order to protect herself against them. She had never had to protect herself like this before, she always had the group by her side, having never had to even wonder what it would be like to be alone in this situation, especially not like this.

Gripping her fingers around the knife handle, Zoe took in a deep breath, pulling it out of her pocket and squeezing the handle, beginning to shake as she knew that she was going to have to swing at him, not wanting to do it.. But she had no choice.

Spinning around, Zoe pushed out the knife towards the old man, but he had dodged it as easily as it was for the girl to hold the knife, the man bringing his arm out and punching her arm, Zoe dropping the knife as it scatters to the ground — instantly, the girl crouched down to try and pick it back up, but the man kicked her, his foot hitting her straight in the face and sending her flying backwards. "Get. Off. Me!" Zoe shouted, practically throwing her arms around as she tried to get him off of her, shuffling back to the tree behind her as she tried to get away, but the second her back hit the wood, there was no more room.

When the man tried to yank her top off, Zoe kicked him back with a grunt, the man actually landing back as the girl got on her knees and began to crawl for her knife that had landed on the ground, only to feel her feet being grabbed onto, the girl being dragged back as she yelled out, the man now pushing his knees down onto her back as she kicked her legs out over and over again to get him off, but every time, it did absolutely nothing. "Come here." The man grunted, "Stop fidgeting." He snarled in annoyance.

Zoe didn't stop reaching out to get her knife, seeing it just a fingertip away as the man tried yanking her back again, but with one last push, her fingers found the handle, pulling it down slightly when she had been pushed on her back again. With hands wrapped around her neck, the man began to squeeze the life out of her, figuring that she was too much effort to deal with; yet she was glad she had put up a fight, she hadn't made it easy on the man — pushing her hands up to his face and trying to push her thumbs into his eyes, a tactic that her father had taught her, the old man brought back his fist and punched her, the girl instantly dropping her hands as he wrapped his own around her neck yet again. But Zoe didn't want to give up, instead of taking it, she pushed her left arm as far as it would go, her hand patting the ground in search for the knife, when she finally found the handle yet again. She had never taken a life before, or had even come close to injuring someone seriously, and she didn't exactly want to, either, but she truly had no choice in the matter, especially if she wanted to live.

With a loud grunt, the girl yelled out as she plunged the knife into his side, the hood on her neck loosening, and she quickly pulled the knife out, before pushing it into the side of his neck, blood instantly beginning to gush out all over her as the man choked on his own blood, slowly dying and eventually falling on top of Zoe as she cried out, tears instantly beginning to fall down her cheeks as she realised that she had just killed someone. She knew that she couldn't dwell on the subject, though, not since she needed to get away from the other men and find somewhere safe where she could hide and wait for them to pass — she knew that it was a long shot, but she also knew that she had no choice in the matter, and hiding out was the best thing to do at the moment.

Pushing the man's body to the side, Zoe gagged, feeling her stomach turn as the last thing she ate came rushing up her throat, before coming out of her mouth, the contents splashing all over the ground as the girl wiped her mouth with her sleeve, trying to keep the rest of her contents in her stomach. Pushing her knife back into her pocket after wiping it down, the girl hardly took another look at the dead body before taking off in another sprint; aiming to get as far away from the group of men as possible, not yet hearing any of the dead man's friends as she took off, giving her some hood that maybe she had had enough time to get away before they even noticed that their friend was dead.. Pausing again a few minutes after having started to run in the first place, Zoe took in a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down again as she once again, realised that she had killed someone, before starting to sprint off again, crying harshly as she did so, holding her stomach in agony as she never stopped, praying to god that she would get away free without any problems.

Yet again, the girl felt like she had been running for hours as she never took a break, pushing and pushing until she was sure that she had lost their trail; even without caring about where she was headed, Zoe kept running, wanting nothing but to get away from them all. The last thing she expected to see, was a small row of houses, up ahead, so far away that the girl could barely see them, but they were there, and it looked to be a small neighbourhood. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." She cursed over and over again, now slowly walking towards the small street as quietly as she could, not wanting to alert anyone that may be here — she was one hundred percent sure that she had reached this place before the group of men, so all she needed, was to look in a few houses for some equipment, before rushing off again so she wouldn't come across the possibility of running into them again..

However, as the girl tiptoed onwards, she came across a house that looked like it had someone in recently, peeking into the window to see what was up, when she saw something she didn't think she would see, at all..

"Dad?"