1 | 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐈𝐄 ➪ 𝔇.𝔇𝔦𝔵𝔬𝔫

F O R T Y - E I G H T

"We've been increasing our perimeter day by day," Aiden said as they walked through the uneven terrain. Samantha, Glenn, Noah and Tara -who decided to tag along instead of Sasha- followed not far behind Aiden and Nicholas. Samantha was becoming even more sure of what she said to Deanna. 'No one will be brave enough to grab your sweaty hand.' Alexandria didn't have many fighters. "Creating a semi circle around the town."

"We've made it 53 miles out," Nicholas added. They continued walking until they were soon surrounded by trees and the ground became more even. They still hadn't run into a single walker while they had been out, it made both Glenn and Samantha feel uneasy.

"We always separate into two, if shit hits the fan we fire a flare. One group gets the other." Noah nodded agreeing with it. "Who died?" Samantha asked causing both Aiden and Nicholas. They shared a look at the tone in her voice that said she knew what happened the last time they split into two groups.

"No one," Aiden lied looking back at her. "Lie to yourself all you want but be warned if one of us dies or gets hurt, the exact same thing happens to you. Tara gets a scratch you get a scratch." Samantha warned. Aiden was a little misogynistic and didn't believe Samantha could inflict that kind of pain.

Nicholas wasn't that stupid he heard the determination in her voice.

They continued on, but Nicholas could feel Samantha's eyes boar into him. Each second her gaze stayed on him the more he wanted to tell them the truth.

"We lost four people, last month." Nicholas blurted gaining a look of disapproval from Aiden. "We were on a run. Roamers came out, they didn't follow the system." Aiden was quick on his feet and new that lying was the best at for everyone to be happy. Nicholas was a good fighter and being mad at him wouldn't do too much good. "They were good people," Nicholas said playing along.

"In a moment of danger they forgot and..." a moment of silence fell over them. "Nothing we can do about it now except improve." He said with a mournful sigh.

'Bullshit,' Samantha thought harshly. She thought he was a great liar. But he would never be better than her.

"Look I can be a hardass." When it came to Aiden and Nicholas they both had defining features.

Nicholas has short hair that curled. Adding his cowardice he looked weak. He looked like he thought he was better than everyone.

Whereas Aiden was more ordinary. He was also white. Yet he looked more douchy than Nicholas.

"And I know I'm a douchebag." Samantha held in a laugh that turned into a snort, causing his head to turn towards her.

After sending his death glare he ignored her going back to his monologue. "Someone got to call the ball around here and that's me." Samantha had to force herself to care about what came out of his mouth.

"If you're on this crew you do exactly as I say." Samantha was quick to disagree. "Sorry, no." Aiden stared at her with a confused and angry look. "What?" He asked confused.

"You didn't hear that's fine, I said no. You are what 19-20. You lived behind the walls all your life. And last time you did a run people died. If our lives are in danger we fend for ourselves." Aiden went to argue. "She's right," Tara said causing Samantha to be shocked.

Tara and Samantha have exchanged two words since they met, 'Hi' and 'Bye' so Tara agreeing with her was a good cause for shock. "If one of us dies it's gonna be on us," Glenn said. He also didn't trust strangers with their lives. "We are sorry you lost your people." Tara said emphasizing 'We are sorry' showing her sympathy for them. Aiden took a deep breath and continued through the woods. "We found one of the deadheads that took 'em down," Aiden confessed with a smug look.