signal | the walking dead

10 • stranger

| you'll be waking up tomorrow needing a friend |

Alone again.

Finding the others on the farm had been a godsend, motivation to keep her going when she had been so close to giving up. But with these new people she met, getting to know them and their personalities, they began to feel like family. Yes, it had barely been a week Bea had stayed at the farm, but it's different in times like these. And so when brand new people fill the gaps of those you miss, you can't help but to seek out the relationships you so desperately need.

And Bea missed her family so dearly.

It was what was keeping her going, as she trekked through the woods, emerging at the treeline where a main road veered off, lifeless. Setting her sights on the cracked concrete hardened by the Atlanta sun, she continued her journey, soon coming across an abandoned gas station. Weirdly, there was music still eerily playing from one of the small speakers. Despite the empty streets, 'tutti frutti' was filling the air with its tunes. And suddenly Bea felt this lurch of euphoria, this was the first time she had heard music in a while. Of course she remembers Beth singing but... that felt like months ago now. Since then she had had to cook on her own, fight on her own, survive. Here she was finding herself grinning at actual music.

It's the little things.

Warily stepping into the store, Bea grasped her crowbar tightly, so sure there would be walkers around with the sound drawing them in. However, as she traipsed the aisles of the shop she saw nothing. Well, no walkers. She thankfully saw some food left too. Dropping the last tins of beans into her bag, she couldn't help but take the lonely pack of Jolly Ranchers too. She hoped she'd be able to see Carol again so she could tell her.

Thanks Sophia.

Quietly making her way around the store, alarm bells suddenly went off in her head. There were footsteps, and voices nearing her, not to mention the sounds of a vehicle revving up outside. She ducked behind the counter, praying they'd leave. Whoever was there, seemed to be approaching her hiding spot.

"Grab any food you see! We've got mouths to feed! The people back at the sanctuary will be expecting something."

Sanctuary? That sounded like a safe place, and there were even more survivors?! The idea seemed attractive to Bea, yet her body did not move from her huddled spot crouched down on the floor.

"Nothing down here boss."

Please don't come this way, please don't come this way, Bea thought to herself.

"Come on, Simon, there's no one here, no supplies here, what's the point ma-"

A gunshot went off.

What the fuck.

"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do. Well, you can't now," a man chuckled at what Bea assumed was the dead body that defied him.
"Onto the next stop. Can't bring Negan back nothing."

And so they left, Bea letting out a sigh of relief when the vehicle had gone too. Still, she didn't move for a good amount of time, not til it felt right to move round.

She must have grabbed the last goods this place had. Leaving the store, she saw a walker grabbing towards the speaker, still playing music.

"Poor guy," she shook her head. Must have been the one that got shot, his face looked too fresh, not quite deteriorated enough to be an older walker. Slamming her crowbar into the head of it, she hit it a couple more times til it died, again, and lay still.

What a good song to go out to.

It hadn't been until a couple of weeks after that, she had another interaction, well, experience, with another survivor. Walking amongst some fields, she came across a small house, jabbing the door open and tiptoeing in. Seemed to be nothing around, and so she entered the kitchen, opening the cupboards and seeing what she could get her hands on. However the cobwebs that entangled her fingers made her cringe so deeply that she felt the most thankful she had been in a while that there was still running water from the taps. Scrubbing her hands violently to get rid of the itchy feeling, Bea wasn't satisfied until her hands appeared red from the friction. She let out a big sigh as her body relaxed again.