1 Episode 1: New Mexico

"It's been about 3 months since we left Gate City... We went home, there was nothing left of it, the rumors were true... After me and Will evacuated Austin, our parents were still in there helping people... I didn't want to believe it when I heard it was carpet bombed not long after we had left, but... We're heading north now, we've been south, east nothing left there, Dex has been west and nothing was there, north is all we have left... We could have returned to Gate City but there is too much there from the past like Willmington, the Compound, we have been on the road for about a few days now. We spent the past several months jumping around Texas, and nearby states and even remained in contact with Gate City every once in a while but it's time... It's time we leave to start fresh north, hopefully things are better there, Jack mentioned how we could go to Ohio for the Commonwealth, Lamar mentioned Michigan or Washington, hell I think Mel even mentioned Canada at one point. Honestly I could settle for Washington, or Michigan, or even Canada, the Commonwealth seems too good to be true. We found some really old boxes along the highways that said, 'take what you need, leave what you don't' it was weird, we passed up an old stadium, burnt down. Texas is a dark place now, something went down more than once since the world fell, I'm almost glad we left. Guess this is all I have room for today, this is Sarah signing out, I believe it's 4 and a half years now, it's getting colder out, but damn, a decade..."

On The Road:

Sarah looked at the trees as they rode down the main highway that leaves Texas on a wagon made out of the old truck they used to get there. She puts her journal in her bag as Dex puts a map down and says to them all, "We finally made it." Will leaned in between the front seats and said, "This doesn't seem north" Jack turned over to him and said, "Well we decided to avoid any contact with the Commonwealth which would have happened if we went directly north, and there was a high radiation zone near our old camp so this is the only way, plus we decided on Washington, maybe Mercer Island near Seattle, or the Olympic National Park, hell maybe on one of the islands next to Canada." Will jokingly said, "You seem pretty excited" Jack looked ahead of them and said, "I like the cold, I like rain, and snow, and I sure as hell want to be as far away from our past as possible." Lamar put his comic down to add, "I'd hate to be in Seattle, the military bombed it worse than most cities, maybe we should just stick to Port Angeles near Olympic National Park" Jack looked at him and said as he sat back in his seat, "As long as we're in Washington, I'm fine."

Mel was sitting in the bed of the makeshift wagon cleaning guns with Dex, Mel was wiping down her old pistol when she said, "We're running really low on ammo, you think we should find more bows for the others?" Dex was checking the sights on a rifle as he said in response, "Honestly some of them over there probably couldn't handle a bow very well, I know Sarah's good with one, the others may stick to swords, knives, and the other fun stuff like that." Mel loaded the only 5 bullets left into her pistol and said, "4 guns, only roughly 4 to 7 bullets per gun, we need to limit gun use for now, maybe emergencies only." Dex laughed a bit and said, "Only if we had someone around who could make bullets..." Mel put the gun in the bag and looked at a couple walkers shambling around on the road and said, "You'd think they would all decay by now, but it seems like they decay slower than they ever have." Dex takes a good look at a walker struggling to follow them and responded with, "Maybe the virus has something to do with it." Mel nodded a bit as they finished up what they were doing.

The sun is beginning to set as they eventually get to a point in the highway that says "Albuquerque" Jack looks at it and said, "Ya know there was this big rumor a long time ago of some meth that apparently was as pure and blue as the sky, was a big deal." Sarah laughed a small bit and said, "You're bullshitting" Jack laughs as they enter city limits and says, "We'll see." Will sees the city skyline and studies it, the overgrowth of nature, the remains of a long lost world. Will looks at things around them and says to Lamar, "It's crazy how things have changed over the past few years" Lamar puts his comic away to study their surroundings and says in response, "I miss some things from before, but not my job, I hated that." Will looked at the city skyline once more and leaned forward to say, "We should be close enough to communicate with Gate City outpost NM" Sarah grabbed the old voice recorder and thanked him for reminding her.

Sarah turned it on and said, "Almost dead, I don't think we will find anymore batteries that aren't dead." She hit the record button and began to speak, "Hey James, Louis, Clara, Dr. Green, everyone there, this is Sarah. We are heading out now, once we leave New Mexico there won't be communication due to there being no outposts past this state so this is goodbye I guess... But not forever, we look forward to seeing you again, please try your hardest to make contact with the Commonwealth. We heard rumors of a military organization that use helicopters out here, probably false but it's a lead. This won't be forever, we hope to find what we are looking for up north, Texas hasn't worked so maybe Washington will. With your expansion rate I'm sure you will expand north in no time, tell Clara that she can make more outposts in the Texas region, there were some good spots we wrote down, its on it's way through the outpost to outpost system. I guess, this is goodbye, so uhm... Izzy, Mitch, David, everyone from the Willmington Militia, and the Wanderers take care, I know we vowed to never split up but we found peace where we are, just know we will meet again... This is Sarah signing off... Goodbye." Sarah turned it off and said to Jack, "We'll stop at the outpost a few miles out into the city to drop this off to have it jumped from outpost to outpost."

Jack calmly controlled the horses as they rode down the street, they got on the highway into the city. As they entered it was pretty quiet, there wasn't much going on, Mel and Dex sat in the very back watching the moon. "The last time we were able to just sit down, relax, and not worry while watching the moon and the stars was just a few days before that day at camp where we last saw eachother." Dex looked at the stars and said, "Things were so simple back then, I really wish we could just go back to those old days." Mel paused a bit and took a deep breath and said, "You ever think to search for your friends from before, Mia, Luis, Rachel, all of them?" Dex looked at her and said, "I've been searching these past few years, I haven't found them yet, I know that someday I will see them again, my goal since that night we met was to find them, I know they are out there somewhere, I just don't know where." Mel and Dex continued to watch the sky as they enjoyed that light breeze as they entered the small outpost.

Sarah looked at the guard there and said, "I got a message for home base, it's for James" the guard looked at them and said, "Moving on already?" Jack looked at him and said, "We are looking to start fresh up north and to look into some rumors." The man smiled and said, "Well good luck out there, I'll have this jumped to him." Sarah thanked him and she looked off into the distance and said to Jack, "Washington... We'll go there." Jack looked around and asked, "Which way is that?" the guard looked at a map and said, "just head west for now, here's this map of the country, this should help." Jack nodded as he took a deep breath and said, "Lets get this started." They began to move forward, Will was just sitting there thinking as Lamar read his comic some more, Mel and Dex were laying back while watching the stars, Dex looked at them as he dozed off to sleep thinking about the early days when he was with Mia's crew.

Past:

Young Dex watches the stars in the van as Mia directs Luis to the nearest rest stop. Rachel sits down by Dex and looks at him, she says, "Ya know you mentioned how Dex wasn't your real name, we have been together as a group for a year now and you haven't budged yet." Dex looked over as he grabbed the old can of food and opened it and said, "Aiden... I guess after refusing never to use that name due to sad memories after bringing it up, I kinda stuck with Dex as my new name. I don't like to use Aiden still." Rachel looked at the stars with him and said, "Sorry... Didn't mean to bring any sad memories up" Dex looked at her and responded saying, "It's fine, you didnt know..." Rachel looked at him and said, "Ya know we are lucky to have you with us, you make a fine addition to our little group." Dex smiled a tiny bit.

Josh and John sat just ahead of them sleeping, they were tired from a long day of fighting walkers and scavenging. The group was finally doing good on supplies after months of starvation and thirst. John had fallen slightly ill but they weren't too worried about that. In the front of the van Mia looks at the map of Arizona, she looks around it and says, "There's a highway a little east of here but I doubt it will be clear." Luis looked around and said, "Any backroads? Or anything not highway related that will get us out of this heat trap." Mia looked at the map some more, "Um, there are some smaller roads by Phoenix, maybe try there?" Luis looked ahead through the darkness and said, "That yacht we saw a short time after the bombings in LA... We shoulda signaled them, woulda been better than this."

Mia looked at the coast by them and said, "Yeah but I knew a man who owned it, con man, had a way with words." Luis laughed a little and said, "So how do you know this little con man?" Mia realized what he said and quickly said, "Oh no, he isn't or I think wasn't into me, it was some guy, also a con man from the looks of it." Luis looked at the nearing empty gas tank and said, "Well can your rich 'friend' give us some gas?" Mia looked at him and jokingly said, "You're such an asshole... That yacht was headed for Mexico by the looks of it, plus he only helped himself." Luis looked at her and asked, "What was the name of this 'friend'?" Mia paused a bit and said, "He went under many names, Victor was the one I heard the most, so that must be it." They continued talking as John and Josh slept, while Dex and Rachel watched the stars in the very back. The group was happy and cheerful, Dex was happy to have them as friends.

Present:

Dex slowly opens his eyes at he is blinded by the sunlight, he sits up a little bit and sees that Mel was still sleeping. He turned his head and saw Jack controlling the wagon as Lamar sat by him, Sarah and Will were still asleep in the second row. Dex sat back and watched as the road kept going behind them. He looked up at the clouds and turned a bit and climbed over the seat, he calmly moved Will over a bit and leaned into the front seat. Jack saw and said, "Morning" Dex yawned a bit and asked, "Still in New Mexico?" Lamar looked at him and said, "We parked last night a few hours after the outpost in an old parking garage, we headed back out like 4 hours ago, we shouldn't be too far from the state border." Dex sat back and climbed back to the back of the truck/wagon hybrid. He sat down and opened his bag, he grabbed an old can of Coke and cracked it open and drunk some. He didn't like it much and said, "God damn these don't age well" he threw it out the side as Mel slowly sat up.

Mel looked over before completely sitting up and asked, "any updates?" Dex pulled a water out and said, "Almost at the state border." Mel looked at the street behind them and said, "Can't believe that after all these years we would end up going across the whole country in search of a new start that may not be possible." Dex laughed a small bit and said, "Taking risks is what helps us survive, we need to keep moving, keep the inevitable two steps behind." Mel laughed quietly and said, "Did you just quote my father?" Dex smiled a bit and said, "He had some wise words to say, we didn't care then but we sure as shit remembered those words." Mel chuckled a bit and looked ahead, she took her water and said, "Well then... to taking risks" Dex repeated what she said as they sat back, still trying to wake up.

They rode down the road for a little while longer, passing by an old town, Jack decided to turn into it. They rode down the run down town, eventually stopping at an old mechanic shop, Jack put the reins down and looked ahead. He and Lamar hopped down, Sarah and Will who had recently woken up gathered their things and climbed down, so did Mel and Dex. Jack pulled his spear out and said, "Allright, lets search this place for supplies, Dex and Sarah you take the west, Lamar and Will take east, I'll go with Mel to the north, we all meet back here in a couple hours." They all got ready and broke off into their separate ways.

Sarah and Dex:

Sarah and Dex walk down their designated street with their weapons in hand. Dex looks around as they come across a flooded road, "One thing I hate about a decade of no repairs is that the sewage system flooding like this." Sarah picks up a big wooden plank and lays it over the stream, "Not as bad as every nuclear power plant in the country, possibly the world melting down." Dex looked at her and said, "Yeah, lets avoid those places" they walked across carefully over the stream and on the other side they encountered a few walkers, Dex took his machete out and cut into one as Sarah used her modified nail bat to kill another. The last walker was shambling to them, Sarah looked at Dex and said, "You can have it." Dex looked at her and then it and as he walked forward the walker hit a tripwire and two old cars were pulled in on it.

Sarah and Dex were horrified and scared at the same time, "Holy shit, we need to be careful through here, lets stop by in that old library." Sarah and Dex began to walk to the library, Sarah responded with, "I hope to god the others realize there are traps before someone gets hurt or worse." Dex peaked in to see if there were any walkers and said, "I'm sure they'll be okay, Jack is an expert with this stuff, Lamar was being trained for this stuff at Willmington, and I know Mel is a survivalist at this point." Sarah looked around in the library and split off to search it, she looked at some old books as Dex searched some desks nearby. Sarah scrolled through the selection and saw a book that caught her eye, she pulled it down and looked at it. She walked over to the window for some light and wiped the dust off and read the title, "The Door in the Wall... Mom loved to read this us as kids." Dex approached slowly and said, "I used to have my parents read those kinds of books to me every night, I loved them, it helped me imagine fun, and adventurous scenarios in my head." Sarah put the book in her bag and said, "Thank you for being there."

Dex paused a bit and said, "Like you said before, we gotta stick together no matter what, we both are targets now so we gotta put up with each other." Sarah looked at him and said quickly, "No, not no, I mean then after Willmington, when we beat the Raiders you had no reason to find us, we completed that mission, we hit the end of the road, but you still fought long and hard to find us and you did. You didn't have to and it would have been easier if you didn't but you did..." Dex looked at her and after a second he took a deep breath and said, "It wouldn't have been easy to just leave you, all that was on my mind was you guys and how you could be in trouble, I knew that Ryker couldn't have died in that fight, even if he did and we completely won, I would still come after you to find you. When I said that I will always be with you before the science building blew up... I meant it, no matter what I'll always be by your side..." Sarah wiped a tear and said, "We should probably get back to work." Dex nodded and they continued to search the place.

Lamar and Will:

Will and Lamar walk around but don't see any building that isn't run down to the point to where there is no way to get in. Lamar looked around a bit more as they stopped at the end of the street they were on. They were at an old intersection, Lamar looked over and pointed at a cafe and said, "That looks like it could have something, lets go." Will followed as they cautiously walked around, Lamar noticed how empty the road was and stopped. Will looked around and said, "What is it?" Lamar looked down and said, "Tripwire here, and but the door, maybe more in between. I think those cars and that street sign are connected, be cautious." Will looked down as he slowly stepped over a wire, Lamar was by his side. Will looked up and shouted, "LAMAR LOOK OUT!" a walker fell out of the window with a knife through it's head, it landed and broke some wire, and they ran for their lives as the trap closed in on them. Lamar used all his force to bust the door open and they jumped in as a couple cars hit the doorway and broke the wall. "Shit" Will looked at the door upstairs and said, "Walkers don't just willingly jump out of windows or open doors, we aren't alone." Lamar dusted himself off and they got their things together and began to cautiously walk up the stairs.

Will pushed the door open slowly as Lamar entered and was ready to strike when he saw a bleeding man by the wall. Lamar and Will ran up to him and the man said, "Are you really there?" Lamar nodded and said, "What happened?" the man coughed a bit and looked at his rum, Will grabbed it and gave it to him, he drunk a bit and said, "My traps failed, one got in and caught me off guard." Lamar looked at the broken window and said, "I... I'm sorry this happened to you" the man laughed a bit and said, "Don't be sorry, shit happens... I noticed that you were with a group when you came into my town... I won't need the supplies but there aren't much... It's all in the basement, maybe a few days worth for a group of that size... " Lamar looked at him and said, "D... do you..." the man cut him off and said, "Just leave me, I wanna spend my last moments with some rum and a blue sky one last time. I'm ready, I was ready a while... She waits for me, and I wait for her..." he struggles to breath a bit, the man looked at the window at the sky and smiled a bit as he released his last breath.

Will said, "No walker bite kills that fast" he opened his coat to see some old blade tips going through his body. "Must have fallen on them when killing that walker on the floor there" Lamar got up and looked at the man and said, "Pains me to see people suffer like this." Will agreed as they left the room slowly to head to the basement. Lamar walked down the stairs and then through the kitchen and over to the basement door. Will opened it and they walked down the stairs and when they got to the bottom Lamar said, "Shit he wasn't lying" along with the food was some gear and other supplies, Lamar looked at Will and said, "Help me get these crates outside."

Back on the road:

Jack pulls his blade out of a walkers skull as Mel rips her arrow out of another, Mel looked ahead and said, "These buildings are mostly burnt down, or empty, wanna investigate that big crashing sound we heard?" Jack looked in it's direction and said, "Lets get going before something else comes out to greet us." They jog down the road, through an alley and exit the alley by an old gas station. They stop by it to see if they can find clues as to where the noise came from, Mel looks over and sees Lamar off in the distance putting a big crate down, "Jack over there." They ran up to Lamar, as they did Sarah and Dex had already just arrived with the wagon. Will walks out and says to Jack and Mel, "Got a bunch of supplies, few days worth." Jack smiled a bit and they all began to put the crates in the back, when they eventually finished Sarah locked the tailgate attachment up as Mel tied the crates down.

They all loaded up, Dex, Sarah, Will, and Mel now in the backseat due to the bed being full. Jack takes the reins and takes a deep breath and continues down the road as they near the state border. Lamar looks back at the building and remembers the man in there, he felt really bad and somehow guilty. Lamar looked ahead and he focused on the journey ahead as he didn't want to be held back by bad memories again. They eventually got off the road and went on the highway where they would go full force down trying to leave the state. They rode for what seemed like ages as the sun beat down on them. They had already put their makeshift cover up to shade them all. Jack eventually came to a slow stop and he looked at the ground and smiled, the 4 in the back got startled from their daydreaming and Lamar asked, "Why did we stop?" Jack said with a smile, "We made it, we're in Utah" Jack looked at the old sign on the ground and Sarah said, "Next stop Nevada, we're another step closer." Jack looked ahead and said to himself in confidence, "We're comin' home"

END