— ZOE WAS NEVER A fan of parties before the dead started walking. When she was at school, she only had a few friends, she was never seriously popular, and she never went to any parties that were thrown, hating the mere idea of it. She went to the party because her father wanted her to try and blend in, mingle with the people of Alexandria and get to know some people. And all she found out was that they weren't like them at all, they didn't know how to survive, they didn't know the struggle of trying to stay alive, trying to find food so they didn't starve.

These people lived like there weren't flesh eating monsters outside the walls. They worried about what food they were going to cook as to not upset the newcomers, and they worried about their clothes staying clean — Zoe couldn't imagine having them worries, she wished that it was her worry. But she lived in the real world, something that nobody living her knew of. At least she could say that she survived. She was surviving, and it hadn't been easy, it still wasn't easy, and she was proud of herself and her family for making it this far.

Sasha had a bit of a break towards the end of the party, the people and their worries clearly getting to her; Zoe knew what it was like to loose a family member, and she knew what the woman was going through. Tyreese's death was still new, and Sasha was trying to get past it. He was a big part of the group, Zoe couldn't appreciate more how he had looked after Judith after the prison had fallen, how he had rushed her life for her. She hated how she couldn't ever pay him back, now.

As she was thinking about the previous night, she felt Nate nuzzle his nose into her neck, the girl relaxing into his hold as he had a grip around her waist. They had their own room, now, with an actual bed, and it felt like they were living in a world with no walkers.

If this was before the end of the world, they would have their own flat - she imagined Nate working at a garage, herself as a teacher, having stable jobs and planning for a family in the future, one boy and one girl. In an ideal scenario, Daryl, Merle and Carl would come to visit their nephew and niece, her mum and dad would come over and see their grandchildren. She didn't know if Nate had any of these fantasies, or if he even thought about what life might have been like if the dead didn't rise, but either way, it was her fantasy.

Since they first arrived in Alexandria, Nate was leaving Zoe's side to hunt with Daryl.

He felt useless in this place if he couldn't hunt - he wasn't even allowed to carry his weapon around, and he hated it. He needed to shoot something, to let off steam, and hunting with his brother was a good way to go about it so he didn't start going crazy. The man didn't like that he would be separated from Zoe for that amount of time, but they both knew that if he didn't get out of this place, he was going to loose his mind.

Zoe didn't exactly like being stuck here, either, but since her dad wanted her to stay where he could keep an eye on her and Carl, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter and had to stay inside of the walls.

As she watched the sun slowly seep through the curtains, she couldn't help but think about how well Carl seemed to be fitting in with the other kids his age, it was nice to see, since he hadn't exactly had a friend since the outbreak first occurred. He and Sophia used to be great friends back at their camp outside of Atlanta, but that didn't exactly end well for anyone. Either way, she loved seeing her brother finally settling into somewhere with some friends, but she didn't want to let her guard down just yet..

They still couldn't trust these people.
 
 
 
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Zoe knew that she had promised both Rick and Nate that she would stay in the walls of Alexandria, but when Glenn had told her that he was going on a run with some of the residents here, the girl just didn't want to pass up the opportunity to get out and stretch her legs. The fact that there also wasn't any women in their group for the run annoyed her - it seemed like this sanctuary only liked having woman do jobs like they were in the fifties. Cooking, hairdressing, teaching.. Not one woman was in a group to leave the walls and scavenge.

Tara had decided to tag along the second Zoe stepped up to help, neither of them wanted the fate of the town to be left with a bunch of men.

After listening to the terrible music in the van, the group had finally arrived at the warehouse, Zoe climbing out into the sunlight with a smile on her face, stretching her legs out as everyone else began to climb out after her. Adjusting her rifle to her side, she took off in one directed with Tara, whilst the others all took off in other directions, following Glenn's advice to find all of the exits before even thinking about heading in. Spencer was ready to head in without checking their surroundings first, and Zoe couldn't believe that he had managed to stay alive for this long with that kind of logic in his brain.

"I never really said congratulations." Tara spoke up as the two girls walked down the side of the building, eyes peeled and fingers on their triggers in case any walkers were to jump out. The girls had never interacted that much since they had met, Zoe knew that Glenn had taken a liking to the girl, since she risked her life to help him find Maggie after The Governor had taken down the prison. If she was a friend of Glenn's, she was a friend of hers.
"For the engagement.." The woman finished, when Zoe smiled softly, feeling the ring on her ring finger.

"Thanks. Means a lot." Zoe said, unable to keep the smile off of her face at the reminder of her fiancée. She didn't know when she was going to get used to calling him that.

"So.. Did you guys know each other before, or.." Tara trailed off, not actually knowing much about the young couple. Since she had joined this group, they had been in survival mode, only focusing on staying alive, rather than sitting round  camp fire and getting to know everyone. She knew about Glenn and Maggie, since she had listened to Glenn talk about her when they were searching for the woman, but Zoe and Nate.. She didn't know much about them at all.

"We met just after. Right when they bombed Atlanta." Zoe explained, remembering when she first saw Nate standing besides his two brothers. He looked daunting to her, first, like someone she wouldn't interact with just because he looked rough on the outside. The second she started to get to know him, she found out that he wasn't like that at all - he was caring, loyal and brave, and she couldn't imagine having a better fiancée.
"We all had a camp just outside of the city, everything was all new to us, feels like a completely different time, you know?" She carried on, realising that she didn't actually know what Tara was doing before she found them all at the prison. "What were you doing before, you know.." She asked, not wanting to bring up the whole Governor situation.

Tara smiled slightly, "I was with my sister and niece." She said, shrugging, "We were kinda shielded from the whole thing, we were lucky. Until.." She trailed off, remembering how that man had come in and ruined their life.

Zoe understood what she was saying. Until that man had intruded, destroyed them. As much as she wanted to forget what The Governor did to her, he was in her nightmares some nights; she would be stuck in that room again, in the dark, with him prowling in the corner, waiting to attack her. She knew he was dead. But the fear that he may come back one day still lingered in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to push the thought away.

Neither of the girls had much time to dwell on the subject of The Governor, since they had rounded the corner and met back up with Glenn and Noah, who had seemed to be talking about Noah's aim.

"You good?" Glenn asked, giving the girls a knowing look.

They were pro's at this, unlike the other guys, they knew how to do this without making noise and being seen, and they did it quick and efficiently, Zoe just hoped that the others wouldn't ruin their flow.
The girl stood with her back to Aiden from across the room, holding her flashlight up and keeping her eyes peeled, waiting for Tara and Eugene to come back, she had a feeling in her gut that something bad was going to happen, and as much as she tried to push it down, she just couldn't..

Aiden was watching her from behind, Zoe could feel his eyes on her as she didn't pay any attention to him, knowing that if she got distracted, anything could happen. But after a while of feeling his eyes on her, she sucked her teeth and spun around, watching as he quickly pretended to be looking anywhere else, getting caught in the act. The way he held his gun up the an amateur made Zoe roll her eyes, choosing to ignore him and focus on herself and her family.

The girl was realising that maybe offering to tag along on this run wasn't the right choice to make. Where she thought it would be a simple run where she could get back into the swing of things, may not be what she thought. She knew that the people in Alexandria weren't as experienced as her family with walkers and the real world, but seeing them in action today was an eye opener, and she needed to talk some sense into her dad.

A groaning noise was heard behind the girl as she spun back round to see a walker in a soldiers uniform, a mask on his face and padding all over his body. Now, Zoe had experience with guys like these from the prison and trying to kill the walkers that had resided there, but Aiden, being the idiot he was, gently grabbed Zoe's shoulder before she could do anything and pulled her behind him. "I got this. Stay behind me." He said, aiming his gun right at the soldier.

Zoe's eyes widened, hearing his gun shot and instantly knowing that he had screwed them all over. "Stop, what are you doing!" She quietly shouted, walking back over to him to push his gun down.

But he didn't take that action too well.

With his elbow, he shoved the girl back, Zoe grunting from the impact and falling to the ground with a small thud, gaining the attention from Glenn, who looked like he wanted to kill the guy for merely touching her. "Aidan stop! It's got armour. Let it come closer." He said, knowing that you had to knife them from their chin upwards to their brain to kill them.

Zoe was about to pull herself up when she heard Glenn yelling at the man to stop what he was doing, and her eyes widened when she saw his flashlight stop on the soldiers waist. A grenade.
She didn't waste any time dragging herself away behind a shdkf tahg was close to her, knowing that Aidan wasn't going to stop, and she was glad she did, because in the next second, there was an explosion, and everyone was plunged into smoke and debris.

Even though her head was spinning, Zoe opened her eyes slowly and winced at the ringing in her ears, only thinking of one word. Idiot. Why didn't he listen to Glenn? Why did he carry on shooting? She was right about these people, they didn't know anything.

Pushing herself up, Zoe pushed her hair out of her face as she looked across the room, Aidan's body empaled by a pole and his eyes wide open, no life left in them. She wanted to feel bad, she really did, but now he had put them all in this situation, and she couldn't help but hate him in this moment, even if he was dead.
Stumbling, she made her way towards Glenn, her best friend grabbing her arm and keeping her upright. "You alright?" He asked, worry clear in his tone as he looked her over.

Zoe ignored the throbbing in her head as she felt the blood trickle down the side of her face, nodding as she looked around to see if she could see Tara, Noah or Eugene. "Where are the others?" She asked, as Glenn's eyes widened, frantically looking around.

Noah was quick to turn up when Glenn had yelled their names, and the four of them had set off to find Tara and Eugene. The fact that Tara hadn't answered their calls, worried Zoe to no end, and when she finally found them, her heart dropped into her stomach.
Tara was passed out on the floor with a small puddle of blood under her head, clearly having hit her head during the explosion, and Eugene wasn't going a damn thing.

"Is she breathing?" Zoe asked the older man, as he shook like a leaf and held up his gun with his eyes widened, scared about a walker coming out to him. "Eugene, is she breathing!" She shouted louder, frustrated that he wasn't answering her question. With the little light they had, she couldn't tell if Tara's chest was rising, she prayed that it was, and she wished Eugene would get his head in the game and help.

Zoe grunted a few curse words before pulling her knife out and crouching down, destroying a few boxes on the shelf and trying to move them out of the way so she could get through to check on Tara. She could hear Glenn and Noah saving Eugene from a walker besides her, but she couldn't focus on that, solely focused on Tara and getting to the woman to get her to safety. She would he damned if she let any more of her family die..

She made the wrong choice today.