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"I'm hungry."
"I know, Carl, we all are.", Lori Grimes sighed from where she sat on the hood of her car while Shane, her late husband's best friend sat in the driver's seat, fiddling with the radio. She was lost in her own thoughts, playing with her necklace when the woman in the next car over spoke up, offering to feed Carl one of the MRE's they had. Perking up at the offer, she nodded her head as she slid off the hood to approach her, "I'd appreciate it."
As the woman, Carol, went around to the other side of the car, Lori tried to ignore the way her husband Ed, grabbed her arm, muttering something about not having anything left if she kept telling everyone about their supplies. Any other time, Lori might have said something, but this wasn't the time or the place.
"He's an ass.", a voice behind her says, catching Lori by surprise as she turned her head to see a young woman, a little younger than she was sitting on the hood of the SUV that was parked behind Ed and Carol's Wagoner, eating an apple, "Hope he gets bit. It would totally serve him right for being an ass to his wife and daughter."
Lori coughed, trying to hide the laugh that threatened to bubble out, "That's a horrible thing to say."
"I know, but I done said it, so what can you do?", she smiled, offering her a bag, "It's not much, but there's some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, trail mix and apples you can have if you want. There might be a peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich hiding somewhere in there. If you could save it for me, that'd be great."
"Thank you.", Lori breathed, offering a hand as she took the bag from her, "I'm Lori, Lori Grimes."
"Nice to meet you, Lori.", she shook her hand, "I'm Dawn Summers, and if she was here, you'd meet my sister too, but she went to see if anyone's heard anything since the radio stopped working."
"It isn't working?", Lori frowned, turning around to watch as Shane got out of her car, locking it up before pocketing the keys as he joined her where she stood in front of Dawn's SUV, "Dawn just said their radio isn't working."
"Yeah, well, neither is yours.", he glanced from Lori to Dawn, and Lori has to bite her lip to stop the smile that threatens to appear as Shane eyes widened slightly when he sees the pretty girl who's sitting in front of him, wearing black shorts and a plain pink tank top, as she stares right back at him, her feet propped up on the SUV's front bumper. If they were anywhere else but stuck in traffic while trying to get the refugee center in Atlanta, she wouldn't have said or did anything, but since the wasn't the case, she cleared her throat, before jabbing him in the side with her elbow, making him wince as he blinked his eyes. Remembering where he was, and who he was with, he cleared his throat, "Sorry."
"It's okay, she's a pretty girl.", Lori says, patting him on the chest as Dawn grins, her face flushing slightly at the unexpected compliment, "Dawn, this is Shane Walsh. Shane, this is Dawn Summers. She has graciously offered to share some of her snacks with us."
"Really?", Lori nodded her head, as he glanced at Dawn again, "That's might nice of you, Dawn.", he held out a hand, "Thank you."
"You're welcome.", she says, shaking his offered hand, "So what's going on with the radio?"
Nodding his head, Shane glanced back in the direction of Atlanta, where everyone was trying to go, "Yeah, it just stopped all together. The emergency broadcast has stopped, there's no recording about the refugee center. Not a damn thing."
"That's what someone just said back there.", a young blonde woman, dressed much like Dawn was, approached them, carrying a bottle of water, "Busy making some new friends, Dawn?"
"Why not?", she shrugged her shoulders as she pitched the core of the apple she had been eating into the woods, "Anytime's a good time to have some friends, especially in a zombie apocalypse. You never know if you might need to trip one so they'll get ate while you make a run for it."
At the looks she was getting from Lori and Shane, Dawn snickered, "Lori Grimes, Shane Walsh, my sister, Buffy Summers.", she looked at her sister, "Buffy, this is Lori and Shane, and the one looking like he's about to starve is Lori's son, Carl.", she looked at Lori, "Am I right?"
"Right.", Lori looked down at the bag she was holding, having forgotten about it and handed it over to Carl, "Don't eat it all at once, save some for her to have later."
"Oh, I've got more than that. I'd like the bag back though. Who knows if I ever get another one, you know, because the world turned to crap.", Dawn says, as Carl digs into the bag, pulling out sandwiches and bags of trail mix, passing one over to Sophia, before handing a couple over to his mom and Shane, "Just remember the peanut butter and banana sandwich is mine."
Sophia poked at the sandwich Carl had gave her, before holding it out to Dawn, "I think this is it."
"Score!", Dawn shot off the hood of the Range Rover and took the sandwich from her. Unwrapping the sandwich, she peeked inside and smiled, before taking a large bite, "All that's missing is some walnuts."
"You're weird.", Buffy says, rolling her eyes, "Got any more pb and j?"
"No.", Dawn mumbles, her mouth full of sandwich, even as Carl fishes one out of the bag and holding it out to her, "Don't give her that, she called me weird."
"You are.", Buffy says with a grin, shaking her head at Carl, "I don't really want it, but thank you."
He nodded his head, dropping it into the bag as he continued to eat his sandwich while Buffy looked in the direction of Atlanta, "You know what? I think we should go see where those helicopters were going in such a hurry. I mean, they had to be going to Atlanta, right?", she glanced at her sister, "Well, what do you say? Want to go see what we can see?"
"Yeah, sure, you betcha.", Dawn shoved what was left of her sandwich in her mouth, before following Buffy. Behind her, she could hear Lori and Shane telling Carl to stay put before they caught up with her, the four of them skirting pass people who were lingering outside of their cars, talking to one another as they made their way into the woods.
"Bringing a flashlight would have been a good idea, you know, so we could see where it is exactly we're going.", Dawn mutters, as she stumbles over a bunch of tree branches, just before she bangs into Buffy's back, "Hey, why'd you stop…", her voice trails off as she looks over Buffy's shoulder, "What the hell?"
"Fire bad, tree pretty.", Buffy murmured, not seeing the looks she was getting from the three that were standing closest to her as she looked out over Atlanta.
"Buffy?", Dawn's voice trembled as the four of them watched as the helicopters dropped bombs down onto Atlanta, lighting the sky up like it was for the Fourth of July. Lori choked back a sob, clutching at Shane, who held her close as Dawn and Buffy held hands.
"They're dropping napalm down over the city.", Shane answers as Lori whimpers softly into his chest.
"I don't think we're going to Atlanta anymore, Dawnie.", Buffy murmured softly, unable to take her eyes off of what was happening in front of them, before she shook her head to clear it, wiping her eyes, "All right, we've got to get out of here, or else we might be in some serious trouble."
Shane, having heard her, nodded his head, "Just before you enter the city, there's a rock quarry. We can go there. It might offer us some kind of protection."
"I saw it.", Dawn says, as they start to make their way back to the highway, "We'll follow you?"
"Sounds good.", he says, offering her a hand as he helped her over a nearby fallen tree, "Are you okay?"
"Honestly, I've been better, but hey, at least it's not our first apocalypse.", Dawn smiles, the brightness of it in the night surprising him, "And this time, we brought snacks!"