For a long time, Eden Perkins believed she wouldn't find another human being she would willingly die for - she didn't want to. The past few months of her life, ever since the day the dead had started coming back to life - and maybe even before that...
IT WAS A MILD SUMMER DAY – not too hot, but not too cool either. The wind whistled through the high trees of the forest and, sitting in the treetops, the ravens crowed. Holding the machete in her right hand, Eden Perkins led the others, her dark eyes focusing on her target – a public restroom behind which a diner hid. Gil's Pitstop read the sign.
"What do you think?" she heard Omid ask behind her as she knelt behind a fallen tree trunk and got an overview of the surroundings.
An abandoned car wreck parked in the parking lot in front of the restrooms. There was no sight of the owners – they had probably abandoned it a long time ago. The long country road seemed deserted, no walker in sight. Everything made a so far safe impression to Eden.
Omid knelt next to her, holding his rifle in his hands, while Christa replied to his previous question, "Omid, you can't be serious." Eden, too, had to grin at Christa's amused tone and rose from her knelt position to approach the building after making sure everything seemed safe.
"I am," Omid assured, but couldn't keep up his façade and grinned mischievously.
The pregnant woman could only shake her head at the father of her child. "We are not doing that," she stated with a determination in her voice that tolerated no contradiction.
Nevertheless, Omid could not let the subject rest and wanted to know, "Why not?"
"Because," Christa replied as they walked across the street.
Concentrated, Eden looked around, her eyebrows furrowed and her hand tightly grasping the grip of her machete. She didn't want to risk overlooking any possible danger. Her eyes scanned the treeline, but there was nothing to see.
"Come on, Christa," Omid tried to persuade his girlfriend, but Eden guessed he was just trying to mock her and didn't really mean anything by his words. "What's wrong with 'Omid'?"
"A lot," Eden muttered under her breath and grinned as Omid playfully narrowed his dark eyes at her.
Christa sighed amusedly. "We're not calling our baby Omid. One of you is enough," she noted, while Eden took a look inside the wreckage of the car to check if there was anything useful left. It was empty. Only when Christa's voice resounded did she turn her gaze from the torn seats of the car to her, "Girls? A little help here?"
With her eyebrows raised, Eden looked from the pregnant woman to Clementine, who looked up from the floor in response to the older woman's question. As her big amber eyes met Eden's, she gave her a reassuring smile.
