Samindi was happy that Callie was interested and surprised that she was taking it so seriously. Even though she would have been happy talking to anyone about her bow or archery it was good to have someone interested to talk to. Her bow was possibly the only thing from before that was still the same. She had lost so much but at least she still had her bow, the last gift she received from her family.

She gladly helped Leonard move the cars, whether it be just watching the surroundings or what small help she could provide physically Samindi has happy for the fresh air and chance to stretch her legs. While the thought to ask Cllie to come too crossed her mind she felt it best just to let things lie where they were. Mattie wasn't giving anyone grief and she didn't want to do anything which could possibly rise her ire.

As the sign flew by and the others grew excited Samindi looked to Callie, "Huh. This is it? Where your grandmother lives?"

Samindi

"Yes!" Callie says excitedly. Her eyes are glued out the window, waiting for Unity's sights to come into view. "I mean, here, or a little outside of it, maybe! I've only been here a few times and I don't remember exactly where she lives, but - we're here!"

She bites her lower lip, leaning forward slightly. Something creeps into her smile - a sort of indistinct anxiety. "I didn't know if we'd ever actually make it."

If Samindi chooses to continue the lesson, Callie turns her attention back to the bow, but now she is clearly distracted. Her initial elation, however, is gradually replaced by the indistinct anxiety that Samindi saw before. She frequently glances out the window, brimming with nervous energy. Her anticipation is palpable, and it's not clear whether the anticipation is positive or negative.

She finally gives a small gasp as the RV turns off of a major street onto a dirt road. She clearly recognizes the surroundings outside the window. The lesson, if it has continued to this point, is clearly over now. The RV trundles down the dirt road for several hundred feet, then turns onto a driveway. It rolls for another several feet before finally coming to a stop. From her current angle, Samindi cannot see the house itself out the side window, but she is clearly looking at a rural front lawn.

At the front of the RV, Mattie clicks the engine off, but does not rise from her seat. For a long moment, nobody speaks and nobody moves. Finally, Callie's eyes move to make contact with Samindi's.

"We're here," she says softly. Her mouth smiles, but the trepidation in her voice reduces it to nearly a whisper.

The lesson did cease as the RV rolled into Unity; Samindi's own curiosity matching Callie's, though lacking the excitement shown by the other girl. She watched the abandoned homes pass by and wondered at the stillness and silence of everything, she guessed that was a good sign as from her experience silent usually meant safe from other people. Not so much from the walkers though. She gave an involuntary shudder at remembering her most recent encounter which was entirely too close for comfort.

Having lived in a rural area of Georgia since her family arrived in America the dirt roads and remote location just outside of the town proper was not too surprising for Samindi. It could have been just another road in Greensboro and if it weren't for the present circumstances she wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Samindi gave a small smile as Callie announced their arrival. After what she overheard from Leonard and Mattie she wasn't so optimistic about how things would turn out. But her grandmother was a nurse, surely she would have medicine in the house? While she was feeling better she would definitely prefer to have some asprin or antiseptic cream in her bags.

She waited until the RV stopped and slinged the bow over her shoulder again. Eager as she was to get out of the vehicle she waited on the others.

Samindi

Leonard is the first one off the RV. He has his shotgun ready as he exits, and walks around the circumference of the vehicle before stopping in front of the windshield and giving Mattie a thumbs-up through the glass.

"Come on, Callie," Mattie says brusquely as she steps off the vehicle. Callie is still apprehensive, but rises and follows her mother.

However long Samindi takes the exit the RV, she finds the others still standing near the vehicle, not having entered the home of Callie's grandmother. It's an ordinary-looking house. It's perhaps a little larger than average, though it only stands one storey. The walls are red brick, and there is an attached garage, though a white car sits on the driveway outside of the garage's closed door. A satellite dish rises from the roof, and everything looks modern, though the grass and garden are both overgrown.

Callie stands closest to the RV, arms crossed anxiously, listening to Leonard and Mattie without trying to make it obvious. The two are speaking to each other in hushed tones, but have not accounted for the silence surrounding the property, making it easy to hear their private conversation.

"I should go in," Mattie says forcefully. "It's my mother."

"That's not. A good. Idea." Leonard sounds like he's trying to convince Mattie of something she has steadfastly refused to learn.

"Don't talk down to me. What the hell do you know anyway? You're not some expert. You got shown up by a little girl!"

Samindi watched the others as they prepared and left the RV. She got herself ready as well, buckling her belt quiver around her waist and pulling her backpack over her shoulders. Now that she had food and water packed in her bag she wasn't about to leave it behind in the RV. She hoped they wouldn't need to return and that everything was well at grandma's house but she didn't allow herself to get too excited.

She stepped out of the RV and nocked an arrow, she was used to the quiet but not so much with the anticipation. She cast her eyes over the house ahead of them. Just another house. She thought, though she didn't really know what she was expecting.

Deciding it wasn't really her position to determine if they should be moving she waited besides Callie. Looking to the other girl Samindi shrugged and looked around as Mattie and Leonard whisper-argued between themselves. Her eyes went back to the house, trying to see if she could determine any movement inside.

Samindi

Samindi sees no movement inside, but it's dark in the house. This is normal in a world that no longer has electricity, but it does make it difficult to see if anything is moving around inside without putting her face right up to the window. At the very least, she can tell that no one has walked right up to the window to investigate the RV's arrival.

"She..." Callie starts, then trails off. She shoots a nervous glance at Mattie and Leonard before side-stepping closer to Samindi, leaning in to speak quietly and privately. "My grandma's probably dead, you know? But I don't think my mom knows that. She came all this way, and..."

Callie's crossed arms tighten across her body, and her eyes are wide with anxiety. "I don't know what she's going to do when she finds out. I don't think she can handle it!"

Samindi frowned as she struggled to make out anything inside the house. She wasn't too surprised but had a small expectation that Callie's grandmother might be there to greet them. As much as she tried to keep her expectations low, talking with Callie's family of the past few days had given her some hope that things were about to get better.

As Callie spoke Samindi nodded, that was also pretty much what Leonard had told her the day before. She was surprised Callie seemed so calm about it, although she guessed the girl had a long enough time to sort out her feelings on the drive over here. Her comment about Mattie did worry Samindi slightly, she didn't exactly want to be around if her mother was going to be acting more crazy.

She smiled sadly, "I dunno." She didn't really know what to say but she hoped that if grandma wasn't alive then at least her body wasn't in the house. "Maybe she's like you. Maybe she already understands. Leonard does."

Samindi

"I..." Callie glances towards Mattie and Leonard, biting her lower lip. "No, I don't think so. You don't know her like I do. She wants everything to be her way. She thinks she can control everything just by wanting it enough and demanding until things go the way she wants. If she can't do that..."

She looks at Samindi and shrugs helplessly.

At that moment, Leonard speaks up. "Sami? Can you come over here, please?"

He beckons Samindi with a wave of his hand, while Mattie looks at the two girls and waits impatiently.

Samindi looked to Mattie as Callie spoke, she had not known anyone so stubborn; the end of the world was right here glaring in her face and she was trying to stare it down. She sighed and nodded as Callie finished, "You know her I guess."

She paused briefly, considering whether she should say something that was on her mind. As much a Samindi had tried to not get too close she found herself actually liking Callie. She knew it was probably a bad idea but it was nice to be around someone her own age. She sighed again, "Just... don't let her get you ki.. uh.. get you in trouble."

Fortunately Leonard chose that moment to call her over, so rather than having to explain herself any further to Callie Samindi nodded and with a shrug to Callie walked over to where Leonard and Mattie were standing, "Yeah?"

Samindi

"I wasn't planning on it," Callie says with a very small, mirthless chuckle. After a moment, she looks away and mutters, "Even if I've gotten her in trouble a lot."

As Samindi walks over, Leonard begins to speak. "Hey Sa-"

"If my mother's inside, she's dead," Mattie interrupts. Her voice is quiet, but all business. "There's no way she wouldn't hear us drive up, and if she looked out and saw us, she'd come outside. I don't want Callie to know. We're going to go in, and if she's in there, we'll get rid of her without Callie seeing."

Leonard looks annoyed but waits for Mattie to finish, waiting an extra couple seconds afterward to be sure. "Mattie wants to come in with us - "

"She's my mother."

" - even though it's dangerous - "

"I know that house! I've been in it, unlike either of you two. How is that not dangerous?"

Leonard sighs and gives Samindi a resigned shrug. "Well, you heard her."

Samindi frowned slightly as Mattie spoke, it was almost as if nobody in this family talked to one another. She looked back to Callie before turning back to Mattie and Leonard, "Yeah, Callie just said the same thing. She thinks her grandma is, uh, dead too."

She didn't really have a problem with going into the house, if Leonard and Mattie were going in as well that was. Maybe it was remembering how she saved Leonards life from the walker the day before or perhaps just the adrenelin of the fight but Samindi thought she might have actually insisted on going in. Still, she noted that Leonard just assumed she would be going in with him. There was no point in being upset about it, after all it was what she would have wanted, but it was curious how quickly he had come to rely on her. Although given Mattie and Callie were not exactly contributing much she could kind of understand why he was.

She ignored the bickering and instead checked herself once again to ensure she had everything. Once they had stopped arguing she looked up to Leonard, "Okay sure. Ready when you are."

Samindi

"She...does?" Mattie looks taken aback, then turns her attention past Samindi to look at Callie. She doesn't even notice Leonard shooting her a clear I told you so look.

"Well...I still don't want her to see it," Mattie says, looking back at Samindi.

The three ascend the steps up onto the house's front landing. The house is still and quiet. Around her, Samindi hears the sound of wind blowing through trees and a single bird, but nothing else. Mattie gives one more glance back at Callie, then knocks on the door.

"I thought you said she'd - " Leonard starts, but Mattie shushes him. After several seconds with no response, she kneels down and reaches into the underside of a chair on the front porch, retrieving a key. She slides the key into the door lock, only to find it is already unlocked. She pushes the door open, revealing the front hall of a dark house.

"Mom?" Mattie calls into the house. "It's Matilda."

Only silence answers. Mattie waits for a few minutes, then takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. She steps into the house, stopping to remove her shoes just inside the door with movement so quick and easy that she doesn't even look down at them until she is finished, her expression slightly confused as if she doesn't know why she did it.

Shaking her head, she steps deeper into the house, moving without the caution that Samindi and Leonard employ.

Samindi didn't reply to Mattie, there wasn't really much more to say. She was sure she wouldn't want to see any person she knew as a walker, let alone a family member now dead. She did hold back a smile as Mattie showed her surprise, she thought Callie much more capable than what Mattie believed and maybe, hopefully, this went a small way towards changing her opinion of her daughter. Samindi looked back to Callie and gave a small thumbs up as the three walked towards the house.

The key was a surprise to Samindi, and she almost breathed a sigh of relief that she woudln't be asked to climb through windows or have Leonard smash down another door. Samindi frowned as Mattie called into the house and opened her mouth to warn the woman but at the last minute decided against saying anything. She wasn't unaware of how delicate the situation was, Mattie was about to find her own mother zombiefied.

Instead she waited patiently for Mattie to remove her shoes and then stepped into the hall behind her. Once inside she immediately felt the confines of the house restrict her and Samindi gave an inward sigh as she put her arrow away, slung her bow over her shoulder and once again pulled the makeshift knife from her belt.

Unless told otherwise she would remain between Mattie and Leonard. Knife in hand she listened for any response from the house after Mattie had made her noise entering.

Samindi

Callie catches Samindi's thumbs-up, and she returns it with one of her own as Samindi disappears into the house.

Inside the front door is a living room, decorated with two chairs, two footrests, a couch, and a coffee table, along with floor lamps for each. It looks undisturbed, like a time capsule from before the dead rose. One one side table is a hardcover book, a laminated bookmark sticking out from between the pages, but otherwise the room is utterly neat and clean.

"Mom?" asks Mattie again, and steps through a doorway into a kitchen full of equipment that appears to date from the 70s or 80s. Another doorway leads to a dining room that loops back to the living room, equipped with a table with four chairs. Both the kitchen and the dining room are as clean and neat as the living room.

Leonard begins opening cupboards, revealing cereal boxes and canned food. Mattie immediately turns and gives him a look that could lesser men. "What the hell are you doing?" she whispers furiously. "You can't wait to start taking my mother's food?"

"I thought maybe we can tell if she's alive," he answers, also in a whisper. "If there's perishables, it means she hasn't eaten them yet, and that means - "

"I know what that means," Mattie whispers back. "I'm not stupid. That's really your first priority right now? Check my mother's food for evidence when we're already looking through the house for her?"

Samindi hears a soft thump from upstairs. The other two adults, consumed by their conversation, don't seem to have heard it, nor are they paying much attention to her.

Stepping into the house Samindi looked around as the other two bickered in the kitchen. She didn't touch anything, she didn't even consider it given the state of the house. It was strange to her, not just the age of the furniture, the type of which she had never seen before; but also the house had not been looted. It wasn't exactly in the town so she guessed it could have just been forgotten and left alone.

It was during this musing that she heard the noise upstairs, she gave a small frown as she looked to the kitchen. It didn't appear as though Mattie or Leonard heard it, they appeared to be absorbed in the dispute about cereal or something.

"Hey..." She looked towards the kitchen after a few moments of no reply. "HEY!" After making sure she had their attention. "Uh, someone is upstairs. Heard something moving."

She made no move towards the stairs and waited instead for one of the others to move in that direction.

Samindi

Leonard and Mattie immediately go silent. Leonard's eyes scan the ceiling, but Mattie's gaze immediately focuses on one particular portion of it. Without saying anything, she steps past Samindi and returns to the living room, heading towards the stairs.

The stairs lead to a short hallway on the second floor with four doors. Mattie moves to one in particular, neither the leftmost nor the rightmost, with a certainty that implies she knows where to go. "Mom?" she asks again, knocking on the door, then grabs the knob and opens it.

For a moment, Samindi sees nothing but cream-coloured wallpaper and the edge of a closet. Before the door is even fully open, Mattie peeks her head inside, then screams as a hand reaches out and grabs her back the hair. She screams and tries to pull back, but the hand's grip is too strong. She loses her footing in the tug-of-war and falls to the ground, knocking the door open enough to reveal a walker. It looks like a portly elderly woman, clumsily trying to push past the semi-ajar door to bring its jaws to bear on Mattie's head.

Samindi did start to say something as Mattie strode past her. "Wai.." but it was lost as the woman headed up the stairs. Looking to Leonard with a shrug Samindi followed Mattie up the stairs and waited on the landing as the woman knocked on the door. It was clearly her mother’s bedroom, and Samindi knew without opening the door what awaited Mattie inside. She considered speaking again as Mattie opened the door but decided against it. She could kind of understand; if there was a possibility of her parents being alive in that room she would have rushed forward as determined as Mattie.

But as much as she thought she knew what to expect Samindi still gave a small jump back in surprise as Mattie screamed and the hand reached out from behind the door to grab at her hair. Samindi's knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on her makeshift knife. She should help, she knew that, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to attack the walker. This wasn't some random corpse that was in her way, and even if she never knew the woman it was still Callie's grandmother. Mattie's mom.

She was torn with indecision and in the brief moments that passed a single thought stood out among the many flooding her mind. If she killed the walker, even if she saved Mattie, Mattie would probably still blame her for killing her mom. Then Callie would know, and the only possible friendship she had in months would be ruined. It was selfish, she knew; but she stood and looked to Leonard, hoping he was willing to take the responsibility in the moment.

Samindi

Leonard does not seem to share Samindi's calculated restraint. He shoulders past Samindi, levels the shotgun at the walker, and fires. The sound is even more powerful within the confines of the hallway.

Some of the buckshot tears into the doorjamb and is wasted. Wood splinters and flies through the air as the rest of the buckshot hits the walker in the head, but misses the brain. Most of its jaw and one cheek explode out in a gruesome confetti of dark blood, teeth, and scraps of leathery flesh.

Mattie screams, but the walker itself is unperturbed. Its grip on Mattie's hair remains as strong as ever as it lowers its injured head down towards her. Before it reaches her, however, Leonard steps closer to the door, almost putting the end of the barrel up to the walker's forehead. When he fires this time, its skull is obliterated, and the corpse falls backward into the room.

Leonard kicks the door open, pointing his shotgun down at the body before looking down at Mattie. "Are you okay?" he asks, but she only sobs, drawing herself up into a sitting position.

Samindi quite readily stood aside as Leonard took charge of the situation. She didn't exactly know what to expect, she knew he had the shotgun; but after killing walkers so carefully and quietly for so long she didn't really expect the sound or the mess that followed.

She flinched back as the noise of the blast rang out and as she looked back at the damaged door frame and shattered head of what was once Mattie's mother she blanched. She thought she had grown used to the gore and voilence of this new world, but being a few feet away from a shotgun blasted head was almost too much for her. The second blast did cause her to turn away, averting her eyes from the scene lest she lose her stomach.

As Leonard spoke and Mattie sobbed, Samindi turned back to the two, shuffling along the landing to try and avoid having to see the most gruesome of the remains of the old woman. Breathing heavily, she looked between the two others as she waited for her nerves to settle. Any courage or adrenelin she had was lost to her through the two blasts of the shotgun.

Samindi

Leonard looks helplessly back and forth between Mattie at has feet and Samindi making her best effort not to see him in return. Clearly not sure what to do, he loiters around, pretending to be on guard until Mattie recovers.

"C-Callie," she finally says, voice cracked, looking up at Leonard and Samindi. "Callie must have heard those shots. We have to get...get the body out. God...what a mess."

She stands up, looks down at the corpse, then up at them both. "Help me."

Samindi looked at Leonard in disbelief, she was not going to be hauling a body out of the house or to wherever they wanted to put it. She didn't know how much help she would be anyway, but better let Leonard handle it; Mattie too, it was her own mother after all. Mouth agape she looked from Leonard to Mattie and took the opportunity to remove herself from the situation and any possible clean up.

"Uh, Callie. Yeah." She turned and darted down the stairs. Without looking she called back, "I'll check she's OK, we'll stay outside." She was definitely not getting caught up in corpse disposal.

As Samindi reached the front door she gave one look back towards the stairs before settling her nerves as she opened the door.

Samindi

Leonard looks from the body to Samindi, looking almost as reticent to move it as her, but doesn't stop her from leaving. Mattie does not seem to notice her exit at all. Neither try to stop her from leaving; as Samindi descends the stairs, he hears a resigned sigh from Leonard, but no words.

When she opens the door, she sees Callie sitting in a hanging bench next to the garden. She looks over her shoulder at Samindi, looking pale and regretful. She looks desperate to speak, but takes a moment to do so.

"I heard shooting," she finally says. "Was that her?"

Samindi was relieved that nobody tried to stop her as she darted downstairs and opened the front door. That was not a situation she really wanted to get involved in.

She walked over to where Callie was seated and sat down beside her on the bench. Samindi gave her sad smile and nodded her head. "Yeah." She waited a few moments and continued, "Leonard and your mom are okay, it was too late for your grandma."

Samindi didn't know what more she could say though she did keep a subtle eye on Callie after she broke the news. She didn't know if this was Callie's first time losing someone; it was hard. After she lost her own parents she just wanted to crawl into a ball and die and perhaps she would have if hunger had not roused her to move. She reached over and put a comforting hand on Callie's thigh, she may not have had anyone when things went bad for her but maybe she could be there for Callie. She really pitied the girl and her mothers sheltering, it couldn't last forever, you can't hide from this world.

Samindi

Callie's face twists in pain. She covers her eyes with her hands, then - without asking - reaches out, wraps her arms around Samindi's shoulders, and begins to sob quietly.

"I haven't seen her in years," she whispers, her fingers clutching desperately at Samindi like claws. "We had a fight...she told me never to come back...I wanted to show her I'm better now, but..."

She buries her face in Samindi's shoulder, squeezing her harder.

Samindi's eyes widened in surprise as Callie grabbed her. As with Leonard, Samindi was initially stiff as a board and her arms didn't leave her sides. Callie had seemed so calm and accepting of it all, but it was very different when reality slapped you across the face.

She did wonder what Callie could have done to cause her own Grandmother to effectively disown her. She had appeared such a placid and obedient girl, Samindi couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it was not the zombie apocalypse that caused Mattie to be so protective of her daughter but perhaps something about the girls past.

Slowly, as she thought on the curiosity, Samindi found her own arms wrapping around Callie's waist. She didn't go so far as to offer comforting words, not knowing exactly what to say, but perhaps there was comfort in the closeness. Samindi could admit herself that it was a nice change to the previous few months and found her mind fighting with itself about staying with the family, with Callie, or leaving as soon as she was well as she had planned.

After a minute Samindi spoke, "I'm sure she knew." She didn't know how her grandmother would have known, but it seemed the most comforting thing to say.