[center]Violet Smith glanced over her shoulder, brushing a stray lock of hair away from her face. She could only wonder how their group had gotten so impossibly large in what felt like so little time; all the new faces sort of blended together after a while. Violet could feel the sheath on her belt move with each step she took, almost as if it was a subtle reminder of their predicament. Thankfully, they hadn't had any particularly troublesome encounters with those...[i]things,[/i] yet.

Emphasis on [i]yet.[/i]

She wasn't stupid. She was acutely-almost [i]painfully-[/i] aware that today could be the end. No matter how safe she felt at any given time, she could die. At the very least, though, she'd made it this long. She did her best to be helpful-finding berries to eat was easy this time of year-but it never felt like she did enough. Freddie always seemed tense, even when the group had "good days." That is, if "good days" even existed anymore. Violet closed her eyes for a moment, letting her mind trail off before a quiet whine interrupted her thoughts. A sort of sad smile crossed her face as she looked down to see Argos walking next to her.

[color=#DDA0DD]"Me too, buddy,"[/color] she sighed, caressing his head. [color=#DDA0DD]"Me too."[/color]

Just behind her, Lily Rodriguez watched with narrowed eyes. [color=#ff4c4c][i]You talk to your dog too much,[/i][/color] she thought, though she remained silent. She figured it helped whatshername cope with all this shit going on. In fact, she almost felt a little envious; as a more recent addition to the ever-growing group of survivors, she didn't really know anyone. People didn't talk to each other much, except for Freddie's little gang up at the front. There was that family of farmers or whatever, the psycho redneck dude, and that skinhead guy that kind of creeped her out...not to mention that crazy chick with the sword. Lily scoffed, realizing it took the actual apocalypse to bring together such a weird group of people.

Her student planner was meant more for the actual school year, but it still had a tiny section dedicated to the summer months. It was almost six months exactly from the day her life had basically ended. Lily could still recall a time when her biggest problems were fighting with her girlfriend or accidentally staining her uniform; now, she didn't even know if Cassie was alive and her uniform was basically unrecognizable. Her only real comfort was knowing that if she needed to, she could probably outrun a lot of the people in this trainwreck of a group. At that thought, though, she felt a pang of guilt in her chest; what was she, a fucking psychopath? She was pretty reliant on these people right now. Thinking about outliving them wasn't too kind of her.

Fuck, she missed Cassie.

Further behind Lily-actually, [i]much[/i] further behind Lily-Wyatt McCarthy felt like his lungs were about to burst. They'd been walking for what felt like way too long. His feet hurt, there was a rock in his shoe, and it was [i]hot.[/i] Like, [i]really hot.[/i] So hot, in fact, he could feel sweat steadily dripping from his chin. Which was actually pretty bad, he realized, knowing it was just making him even more dehydrated than he already was. He stared down at the ground in front of him, practically panting from his exhaustion. Wyatt knew he needed rest, and soon, but he'd feel pretty lame asking for a break considering how far behind he was compared to the others. He remembered the thermos he used to have that kept his water cold all day, and cursed himself for not bringing it with him when he left home. Of course, there were reanimated corpses trying to eat him, so a fucking [i]thermos[/i] wasn't exactly his highest priority; and yet, here he was, kicking himself for not grabbing it.

What a load of shit.

He felt significantly better when he noticed the front runners of the group stopping. [color=#2B60DE]"Thank Christ,"[/color] he mumbled, actually picking up his pace a bit. By the time he caught up, he nearly felt like collapsing. Instead of humiliating himself, though, he just lied down on his back and tried to get his breathing under control. He didn't notice how vulnerable they were, or how dangerous it was to be on his back in the open. All he really cared about was resting for a few minutes. Or days. Preferably a week. But he knew that staying anywhere for very long was a luxury this group did not have, considering their numbers. Three horses and a dog-whose owner seemed painfully aware of the possibility of said dog being eaten-made them stand out a bit. He hadn't run into any particularly [i]bad[/i] people, but Wyatt knew that as each day passed it was more and more likely that he would. But all of that was purely speculative, and they had much more pressing concerns to deal with right now.

Meanwhile, Violet gently poured a tiny amount of water into Argos's mouth. She could feel hear heart breaking as she took the bottle away, taking just a small sip for herself. The water was warm and not all that pleasant to drink, but it was necessary. And besides, Argos needed it more than she did right now. The German Shepherd sat back on his haunches, panting rapidly as he did so. Violet grasped one of his paws in her hand, gently removing the splinters that Argos had picked up along the way. She knew that having him around wasn't the most practical idea in the wake of the apocalypse, but the thought of leaving him behind-or worse-brought out a visceral anger in her that she didn't know she had. He'd saved her life on more than one occasion, mostly due to his sharp hearing and sense of smell; he developed a habit of quietly warning Violet anytime he could sense one of those [i]things[/i] nearby. She was fairly certain it was the only reason he was allowed to stick around.

[color=#ff4c4c]"Hey."[/color]

Violet turned her head to the right, locking eyes with Lily. [color=#DDA0DD]"Yeah?"[/color]

[color=#ff4c4c]"I just...your dog. He reminds me of my old Rottweiler,"[/color] Lily said, twisting the cap of her water bottle shut.

[color=#DDA0DD]"Oh,"[/color] Violet mumbled, unsure of how to respond. [color=#DDA0DD]"What was his name?"[/color]

[color=#ff4c4c]"Capitán,"[/color] Lily answered, a fond smile on her face. [color=#ff4c4c]"He was dumb as a pile of rocks. But he was sweet."[/color]

Violet nodded, returning Lily's smile. Honestly, she was just grateful for the conversation. [color=#DDA0DD]"It's the sweet that matters, right?"[/color]

[color=#ff4c4c]"Yeah."[/color] Lily sighed, feeling that same horrible thought cross her mind again. Capitán was probably dead, along with everyone else, right? She shook her head, knowing that thinking that way was pointless. Regardless of whether he's dead or alive, the good memories of Capitán-of everyone-were all she had left.[/center]