Disclaimer: The Walking Dead and all its original characters belong to their rightful owners. I only get to play with them. (applies to all chapters of this story)

Eden had seen enough movies to understand what the end of the world meant. She understood that if the government could gain control over this, the world would never go back to what it was. Not dwelling on the past helped her thrive in the present; the old laws and the old way didn't matter anymore. If anything they should go back to the Wild West days...just add zombies.

This thing had gone on for over a month and she had lost so much; she didn't know if she was going crazy or not when she thought about how thankful she was that her family was dead. They never had to see the evil that took over the earth, the didn't have to see everything crumble.

There were times though that she wished that someone was alive, anyone really.

A month of being all alone, at first her and Aaron had met a few groups but as time moved on and they moved south, groups became few and far between. She had wanted to stick to the back roads, determined that they were safer without the potential for a hoard. That was when she had someone to talk to, that was when Aaron was still alive. She didn't take into account the possibility that she would be alone.

There is only so much time a person can spend on their own before they start going crazy, and boy had she reached her limit. Which was why she was on her way to Atlanta...why she was risking everything, so she wouldn't have to be alone again.

She would give anything for nice glass of lemonade too.

Eden was, trying at least, to head to the outer city. It was the nearest safe zone, and if her aunt and uncle were still alive that is where they would be.

She had taken a nice bike from the rack of a wrecked truck, its driver clawing through the window. Quickly, she grabbed the woman's head and shoved her knife in through the back; one less dead one to infect what little of the human population that remained. She did feel slightly bad for the person she use to be, but didn't let her sympathy overpower her self preservation.

There were billions of people in the world, the dead will easily overpower the living. The quicker they put the dead down, the safer everyone will be. The safer Aaron would have been.

It was easy to get caught up in the pain and the utter grief she felt over the loss of her family, there were times when she didn't know if she wanted to go on but everytime she thought about giving up she remembered what her family went through the first time she gave up on life all those years ago and she pushed forward. Eden knew her family would have wanted her to not only survive but to live. So even when the sobs shake her body so hard her bones ache, she still forces her body to move.

The bicycle was a blessing in disguise she had been doubling her time to Atlanta since she found it. Her body was beyond thankful to not be walking constantly anymore, and the speed of going down hill was freeing.

Eden closed her eyes; trying to force herself back into the real world, back to when the dead remained dead and Aaron was smiling as he twirled around in their uncles front yard, his arms swinging around him as he looked up into the sky.

The force of his body pushing against her arms, the unrelenting determination to reach her and the growls of the hungry dead behind the door forced her eyes open. Aarons hazy gray eyes were the first thing she saw. They use to be so beautiful, a mix of greens and browns and now the little boy she had watched grow up was no longer there.

"I love you. I love you so much and I am so sorry." Deep down she wanted to believe he could understand her, he was still in there somewhere. Eden pulled her knee up between her and her little brother, holding him back as she reached for her shotgun. It took a second, a war going on inside of her. Did she want to see her brother breathing or forever at rest.

The gunshot shook her whole body, shattering her soul, it seemed like forever till Aaron fell to the floor, his blood drenching her. The whole left side of his face was gone. This was her failure, this was her fault. Eden felt the familiar twist of her gut, the black dots decorating her vision, the burning in her throat, then finally the taste of acid as she threw up. Arms clutching her stomach trying to keep herself together when all she wanted to do was fall apart.

The dead banged harder on the door, pulling her away from her misery. She promised him she would move on, that she would fight for him, that she would survive but everything inside of her wanted to die with him.

"I'm so sorry." She choked. "I tried to keep you safe. I tried so hard Aaron. You know I didn't want to hurt you right?" Eden's voice started to crack. "I have to go. I can't stay, I want to take you with me, but I can't carry you. You're such a big boy now." Smiling through her tears at the memory; Eden kissed her brother's forehead, her tears mixing with his blood.

Suddenly the panic started to return, the tight anxious feeling in her chest and throat. When she was younger she had panic attacks, but as she got older she grew out of them; just like the doctor said. With the end of the world her panic attacks came back, being alone all the time didn't help, there was no distraction to help her out.

"What is a sentence that has never been said?" She asked herself as she jumped off her bike and kneeled on the burning pavement. "Come on! Something no one has ever said before!" It was a process she went through; she never found a sentence that was never said but she found the end of her panic attacks.

Eden laid back on the pavement, the asphalt burning into her thin shirt, and just watched the clouds for a moment. There was no shuffle of the dead and no threat she needed to run from; just a single moment where she could collect herself and start again. She often marveled at the sky before the turn but since then she never paid close attention. She had never seen the sky so clear, almost as if she could see into forever. Without the constant exhaust millions of people put out the world had become beautiful and wild.

A soft breeze rolled passed and Eden took a moment to breathe in deep. A moments relief from the constant stench of herself and the dead. The trees were hypnotic in the way the danced in the breeze.

Climbing out onto the fire escape she had just enough time to slam the window closed before the dead broke down the small wood door and flooded into the room. Throwing her duffle bag on her shoulder before climbing down the fire escape and into the street, thankful for the distraction down the block. Someone had drawn loads of dead to one of the department stores, giving her the perfect moment to escape.

The car they had stolen was still parked behind the building, surrounded by the dead. Cursing, she quickly ran the other way forcing her body to run until it nearly gave out. It took most of the night to find a car large enough for her to sleep in. Her dreams were plagued by the sounds of Aaron's screams and his eyes as he gripped her hand in fear as the life drained out of him.

The sun was high when she finally gathered up the strength to get back on her bike and take off down the road. Not even five minutes into her ride she was already wore out, lack of food and water had made her weak and now that winter was turning into spring the added heat was something she wasn't use to. Eden walked beside the bike until she had to rest, spending a couple minutes to loot through the ocean of cars she had come across, making sure to keep an eye out for any dead lurking around.

In the end she found a couple bottles of painkillers, two hot bottles of water, a couple packs of melted chocolate chip granola bars and a wicked looking hunting knife. For all the good she found, there were a ton of bad. The amount of families trapped in their cars was heartbreaking and Eden made a point to stay clear, not wanting to see another small body dead but alive.

That night as she tied the rope around herself and the tree she was hiding in, she quietly sobbed into her hands.

"God, I dont want to be alone anymore." She didn't sleep that night.

After coming across a small group of walkers on the highway, Eden quickly went to the back roads, staying away from the more populated areas. Three days Eden rode, sleeping in small periods whenever she could and slowly munching on the granola bars. The lot nearly gone by the time she seen the truck idle on the side of the road. Seeming to have rolled to a stop against a fallen tree.

Eden, tiptoed around the back of the truck, its 'open door' warning ringing through the air; that fact alone made her giddy. It still had power. On the ground beside the truck laid a man, his face pale and sweaty, eyes distant. His breathing came out in ragged gasps. Making sure the man didn't have any friends ready to pop out at her, she finally crouched down beside him, her knife poised to end his second life.

"Little brother...that you?" The man rasped, scaring the hell out of her. Eden, dropped her knife at her side, and quickly checked the man over for bites but only found a festering wound where his hand use to be. "You come to end it?" The man seemed to be looking straight through her.

Eden wasn't sure what she should do, did she try helping the man, or would it be more humane to end it for him now. The thought alone sickened her, how she could so easily think about killing a man she had never met, another human being. She couldn't burden her soul with something like that. In a world of bad, there has to be some good.

So she pulled the hulking man, nearly passing out from the effort to the back of the truck and spent the next hour hauling him inside. His bulk forcing her already tired body to the limit. Once inside, she collapsed over the man, panting as she patted his chest with a smile. The heat outside had made the inside muggy and near faint worthy. He was older than her, graying at the edges of his beard, dirty and large but not unattractive….not in the least. Eden prayed the man was a good person and she wasn't about to try and save a monster.

She crushed up two of the painkillers from her bag and mixed a little water with it, making a bit of paste and put it on the inside of his mouth; hoping that the paste would help his body slowly take in the medicine the way a drip would. It was only a theory but it was the best she had. Trying to give him water on the other hand caused him to nearly drown, instead she opened the last package of clean shirts she looted from a dollar store. Ripping the shirt she fashioned a sort of hanging drip above his mouth. The soaked shirt giving him water and keeping her hands free, a bit hideous and unhygienic but Eden figured OSHA could kiss her ass. His hand or stump was a whole other story. The skin around the cut was puffy and hot. In her experience, which was watching Grey's Anatomy and ER Nightmares, told her an infection had taken place.

"This is going to hurt." Eden whispered to the man as she used the lighter from her pocket to disinfect her hunting knife. She waited until it was cool, and her hands had stopped shaking, before she set to work on cutting the infected flesh from the stump on his arm. The first cut had been horrible, the smell and look of the infection underneath had sent her stomach turning. After, what seemed like forever, she had cut and squeezed all the infection out. She didn't have a needle or thread and whispered another apology as she used super glue to keep the flaps of skin she was able to save back together.

The whole time she worked the man slept. He would mumble a few words here or there but never anything she could make out. She thanked God, if he was even listening, that the man was so out of it. After wrapping his arm in the rest of her shirt, she checked him over once more. By the time she was done with the man the sun was low in the sky; closing the back of the truck she went around to the front seat. The truck only had a fourth of gas left, she would push it as far as it would go and try and make a plan from there.

Thank you everyone who has followed and Favorited Edens story. Some of you have been with us since the very beginning and I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. You all make this feel worth it. Through the frustrations and the highs, I know there are people out there who are fans of my writing as I am a fan of some of my favorite authors.

The road has been hard and at times lackluster and I know that I've disappointed a few people but even then you have come back and kept with me and for that I love you all :D