"Stop!" came the loudest voice I had ever heard. The whole room paused and looked back at a frail-looking woman walking slowly towards us with a tiny cane. I recognized this woman from one of the stores in town. She was always sitting on the bench talking to the pigeons she would feed, treating them like children themselves. The few times I had stopped and talked to her she had always been genuinely nice. The best time had been when I had asked her if she needed some food or something, she had chortled and pointed to the bread bag next to her. "If I need to eat, I'm sure the birds will share," she had informed me still chuckling. We had all considered this woman crazy, but it never stopped me from smiling and nodding a greeting to her whenever I had seen her. Now, I had never been so happy to see the crazy bird lady in my life. She continued to walk slowly until she stopped in front of me and started examining me closely."You sick, girl?" she finally asked in a gruff voice. "No, s

"What? What happened?" he spouted out breathless. I cursed a few more times before finally being able to breathe enough to answer. "Cleaning the wound," I explained through gritted teeth, half afraid that if I unclenched them, I would scream again. His face paled even more. In a panic, he stumbled back a few steps. "Are-Are you okay? Did-," I could see him visibly swallowing as he summoned the courage to finish his sentence, "did you need help?"I shook my head and wiped the moisture from my brow after I found myself sweating as if it was a hundred degrees in the room. I pressed a bandage against my leg, hoping it would soak up most of the alcohol before it could soak into my leg anymore. I grabbed a roll of tape and tried to wrap it as best I could. "I just need that pain med," I said looking at him as if he was hiding it."I found some, but when you screamed, I left it behind. I'll go grab it," he offered excitedly. I nodded and, through blurry pain dazed eyes watched him hurry

I glared at him and folded my arms over my chest. "I'll have you know that I went to all of my children's doctor appointments!""Oh, so you just turned away?" I growled at him, but my growl turned into a loud squeak when he stuck the needle into my leg before I realized what was going on. The minute he pressed down on the plunger the agony in my leg immediately lifted. He had given me a shot of pain medication. I wanted to jump up, dance the jig and sing hallelujah all at the same time. "Feel better?" he asked as he pulled the needle out.I nodded and took my first pain-free breath gratefully."Good, because now comes the hard part."He reached over and picked up the small half-moon shaped piece of wire with a thread hanging off it and came towards me again. My stomach immediately rebelled at the sight of the terrifyingly small thing that would be going into my leg. "I promise. You won't feel a thing. Just, don't throw up on me, k?" he begged with obvious disgust. My jaw dropped at

The hallways almost seemed to go on forever as we gradually made our way back to the front of the building intending on taking the elevator up to the second floor where the nursery was. Craig led the way and was followed by an over-exaggerating teenage boy as he kept his crossbow swinging around to every conceivable attack point. As Craig entered the final hallway, he stopped dead in his tracks almost causing Benjamin to run into him. But as soon as Benjamin saw what had stopped Craig his crossbow snapped up and was pointed straight ahead. I slowly made my way to them and stopped short as I found the object of their attention. A zombie was banging into the door repeatedly. If I had to give it an emotion, I would have said it was confusion. The door wasn't budging no matter how hard he slammed against it, and I could see how much that was frustrating it. I stepped closer trying to figure out what was going on. I wondered, curious what was stopping it from getting through such a door.

"Are you okay?" I asked him concerned since he still looked pale. "Yes. Just embarrassed over my actions," he said looking mortified."Over what? Saving our lives, or passing out?" I asked him slightly confused."Over passing out," he admitted, then his green eyes suddenly hardened once again. "I refuse to regret my actions otherwise."My mouth dropped at the transformation that occurred right before my eyes once again. "What happened, Benjamin?" the question spilled from my lips before I could halt it. I could tell by the look he gave me that the question took him by surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked with an obvious forced nonchalant tone. His eyes shutter as he looked away trying to busy himself with a tray sitting next to him that suddenly needed to be rearranged. "I think you know what I mean," I said gently, then reached over and grasped his arm forcing him to face me. There was an intense sadness in his face, his eyes filled with the horror and regret I would hav