46 46 - Ripples Across The World

Eve entered the room where Samantha was. She noticed a baby in her hands, 'Is that my sister or my brother...'

Smiling at the thought of how to teach her new sibling the way of living in this world, Eve went to talk to her mother. She was a little pale, but that was normal after giving birth, ''How are you?''

Samantha took her focus off the baby and looked at Eve, ''I'm fine, given the circumstances...What was all the commotion we heard earlier? We could hear it even between my screams.''

Eve hesitated but told her mother about Jonathan's reaction and his fainting immediately afterward. After hearing this, Samantha was worried, "Jonathan never reacted like that, not even when he was shot... what's going on?''

Just then, Maggie entered the room, "I need to take the baby now. ''

Thanks to Jonathan, the group had all the necessary equipment to make the chances of the babies surviving much greater. Even incubators, which Lori and Samantha's baby were going in.

Samantha and Eve took one more look at the baby, then watched as Maggie took him elsewhere.

And although she was worried about what was happening to Jonathan, Samantha was very tired. ''Eve, I know the situation isn't good, but trust Rick and Gabriel. They know what they're doing.''

Eve nodded, ''Get some rest, and let us take care of this.''

Not long after that, Samantha fell asleep, leaving a worried Eve behind. ' We raised the alert to the max, but I don't know why I still have this feeling something is wrong...'

Ignoring her worries for now, Eve went out of the infirmary to get ready to do anything and fill the role her mother left temporarily as one of the leaders of the prison.

---

WITH THE WHISPERERS

What would you do to survive an apocalypse? Kill? Let your daughter suffer unimaginable terrors just to keep everyone in your group happy? Wear zombie skins and live among them as if it were normal?

Well, even if your answer was no, Alpha, or so she was called that now, did just that. All to keep her and her group alive. It had been less than a year since the apocalypse began, but what her group had already done would leave many people disgusted and shocked. But what was the price of staying alive? Can she still consider herself human, spending practically all day, every day, inside a zombie skin?

Morals don't matter in the apocalypse, and Alpha's plan to stay alive and camouflaged was working well in these 9 months since the beginning of the apocalypse. Beta, one of the earliest members of the group and one of the strongest, also helped tremendously with their survival. But today Alpha was feeling something strange, something she hadn't felt since she put on the zombie skin. It was fear.

The problem was that Alpha didn't know where this feeling was coming from, but the instincts that kept her alive during the apocalypse were telling her to believe in this fear. But since she didn't know why she was feeling this way, Alpha was becoming more and more paranoid as time went on.

Within a few hours, Alpha had called everyone in the group to talk, just to make sure nothing was wrong. Still, even with the protection of the zombie skin and the large number of people in her group, the feeling of fear continued.

Looking at her group, Alpha didn't know what else to do, 'Should we move places? But what would I say to the group? My position as leader is based on the fact that I am strong and maintain the status quo, if I say that I am afraid without explanation, my position would be compromised...'

"Mom, is everything okay?'' Another person wearing zombie skin approached Alpha and asked.

Alpha looked at her daughter, Lidia, and sighed. She immediately slapped her across the face, "Don't call me that, call me Alpha.''

Still, Lidia had snapped Alpha out of her trance and she made a decision to tell everyone in the group to prepare to defend themselves. She said that her institutes, which had saved them earlier, were telling them that something was wrong.

Although many were confused, Alpha's orders were absolute. Beta, who knew Alpha better than anyone, approached her and asked, "What's wrong?''

He clearly believed Alpha and was curious about what might be going on.

Making sure no one was listening, Alpha told Beta what was on her mind. Her fear and all that. Beta said nothing but reassured her that everything was going to be okay.

What he didn't know was that he was wrong. The zombies are evolving at a rapid pace, and their camouflage may not work that great in the future. But both Alpha and Beta didn't know that, and could only rely on Alpha's instinct to avoid danger.

For how long, no one will know.

---

WITH NEGAN

'' God, fuck damnit!!!!'' Negan screamed at the of his lungs. He was getting desperate.

To explain his situation right now, we have to go back in time, to the beginning of the apocalypse. Negan, alongside his wife Lucille, who had cancer, cleared a whole hospital to live in. Both were lucky, as they were the only ones there and had food and medicine for months. They thought that by the end the resources, the military would take care of the situation.

They were wrong.

Anyway, time passed and even though the couple rationed food and medicine, it would eventually end. And today was that day. They still had 2 weeks of food, but the medicine, crucial to making sure Lucille stayed alive, ended today. While it couldn't cure her cancer, it did slow it down enough so that she could stay alive. Weak, but alive. 

'' Love, it's alright, we will figure something out.' Lucille said to Negan, who began to curse as soon as she took the last medication.

'' It's not alright, Lucille! With the medicine you managed to stay alive until now, without it, you will die!'' Negan always said what was on his mind, and today wasn't different.

Lucille knew he wasn't wrong, but there was literally nothing they could do. Unless they found a place with medicine for her in the next few days, she would die soon. But, thanks to the 9 months in the apocalypse, she was at peace with that. Her only worry was how Negan would react.

'' What should we do?'' Lucille asked Negan, even though she knew he didn't have an answer to that.

Negan, uncharacteristic of him, stayed quiet for a few seconds. He said with some hesitation, '' It's time to leave this place.''

Lucille was surrpresied. She knew how much Negan loved this place, as it was somewhere she was safe. While Negan did go out sometimes, he never proposed to leave it.

'' Why now?''

'' Honey, we don't a have fucking thing holding us here now. The medicine is over, so we have to go out looking for more?''

'' Where is that?''

'' ... I don't know. But we can't stay here.''

Lucille didn't think too much of it, '' Okay. Let's leave this place.''

Negan looked at his wife. She was a shell of her former self, with almost no strength left, but he still loved her with all his being. He was going to do everything in his power to make her stay alive for as long as possible. He wasn't ready yet to lose her.

So, with no time to hesitate, the couple gathered the little things they had, all food, and put it in the car. The area around this particular hospital was cleared by Negan months ago, so they had a shit ton of gasoline.

They didn't know where they were headed and also didn't know the world just got much more dangerous than before. But, they still went ahead, to search for a better place.

The question now is if they will find it.

---

WITH THE COMMONWEALTH

Commonwealth, a place built by a former US president right before the apocalypse started. It had a population of around 30 thousand people, including some families of the prison group, like Jonathan's parents and one of Micchone's daughters. 

It had an impeccable defense, with almost 0 deaths since the apocalypse started. The only deaths were of natural causes.

But today, something changed that.

'' Report it again, please.'' Pamela Milton, the daughter of the previous leader who took up the role after he died, asked the person to report what he had said again.

No one could blame her, as the report was ridiculous. 'There's no way the zombies could wipe out an entire unit of soldiers. Granted, not all of them were armed, but still, this should and could not happen.'

'' We lost contact with unit 1 thirty minutes ago. When we went to check their last location, we found their zombified corpse scattered across the area. We retrieved their guns, killed them, and brought the corpse back to be buried.''

Pamela was stunned. This never happened before. '' How could this happen? Weren't your troops supposed to be the best of the best?''

''... I also don't know what happened. My only guess is that a horde or something like that caught them by surprise.'' What the soldier didn't mention is that if a horde really did make its way through that path, the soldiers would still have time to report it before dying. 

With some hesitation, and because she didn't know what could happen, Pamela decided to call back all troops, '' Tell all troops to stop the patrols and come back home, to defend it properly. And bring back my son right now!''

'' Roger.''

After the soldier ended the conversation, Pamela could only sigh, ' We just lost at least 6 good men, and for nothing. I hope this is the last time bad things happen this month.'

It wasn't. Things would get more complicated for this group, but that is a story for the future.

----

Just like the SHOP SYSTEM said before, the apocalypse was changing at a fast pace, becoming more and more dangerous. The zombies already started to evolve, and the remaining survivors weren't ready for that. One thing is certain, things would not be the same after that day.

And, the person who 'caused' this change in the apocalypse, Jonathan, was having a strange dream...