RULE THE WORLD | D.DIXON

113

TRAINING DAY AND SATELLITE -113

A YEAR AND THREE MONTHS LATER

A long year passed since Max and Cassie had seen their mom and grandfather and brought their now five-year-old brother back to Alexandria.

Surprisingly, their father had accepted Carl better than they had expected, he had decided to stay in their home instead of going back to his hermit hole. Max and Alice had gotten closer, with the boy having a small crush on the redhead.

Max was devastated when he found out that his best friend was murdered by Alpha, which resulted in aunt Carol's and the King's separation and Carol becoming a seadog. Cassie had comforted her aunt Violet who wasn't really the same after her sisters were also killed by Alpha.

Carl had gotten close with Rosita, who he seemed to admire a lot. He spent a lot of time with her, which she didn't mind at all, both of them sharing a close-kitted bond with each other. The little boy loved her daughter Socorro, or Coco for short, always wanting to play with her even though the baby was only three months old.

Today was training day, Aaron was leading them through their training the Hilltop, Alexandria, and Oceanside have been running for a few months now. Cassidy was in the back with the archers, her father, Dianne, and Yumiko had taught her how to use a bow, and her bow and arrows were smaller than everyone else's.

Max and Alice were near the front with spares, with Judith and Michonne who had their katanas'. The first wave of walkers came out at them, The King and Jerry had let out of the rusted, washed-up boat on the Oceanside's beach.

"And halt! Drop!" Aaron yelled, causing them to drop to their knees. "Archers!"

Cassie and the other archers raised their bows, firing arrows over the front line and into the first wave of walkers. Cyndie and Rachel went to retrieve the arrows, while the others stood up and marched further towards the old boat. The King and Jerry let out another wave of walkers as the women came back into formation.

"Formation! And halt! Spares!" Aaron commanded.

Max, Alice, and the people with spares thrust their weapons upwards into the incoming walkers' heads' before Alden throws his spare at the last creature straggling behind.

Next are the people with axes, katanas, and swords, Judith, Michonne, Luke, Magna, and Violet took out the next wave before Jerry and the King couldn't hold the door of the boat closed anymore.

"It's about to get real, y'all. Everyone, steady," Michonne said as the door and half the wall fell and walkers flooded out.

"Fan out!" Aaron shouted.

"Hey! Stay in your formations! Remember your training!" Michonne added.

Max and Alice stayed in their formation, as Cassie stayed in hers. The people who were holding the metal spikes' shields opened so that the nineteen-year-old boy could take out a Walker. Max stabbed his spare through the head of the Walker before pulling back and the shields closed.

Cassie stood next to Connie and shot an arrow at one of the walkers before her people took out the rest. Placing her bow over her shoulder, the now eight-year-old followed after her group back to Oceanside's camp with her father's arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Judith, Cassie, and Jerry's kids went to the beach with Carl and RJ, looking for anything they could find. Cassidy crouched with her brother, examining the seashells he had found.

"Look at this one, C." She said, holding a shell in her palm.

"It's pretty," Carl giggled as he took the shell and put it in the bucket.

The siblings spent a long time on the beach, collecting things like seashells, and starfishes, Carl insisted on keeping a clump of seaweed and playing in the water. Cassie had rolled up her and her brother's pants legs and walked along the shore as they kicked and slashed each other with water.

As Cassie and Carl were playing in the water when loud boom from in the sky made the pair jump. The young girl look up at something that looked like a meteor shower shooting across the sky.

She grabbed her brother's hand, placed the bucket in his other hand, and hurried back to Oceanside. The pair met with Max and Alice who were also looking at the thing in the sky as the blonde teen told his sister and brother to go back to the house with Judith and RJ.

When it was dark, the people of the four communities were worried because they had to cross the border of the Whisperers in order to put out the fire that was from the satellite. Max put on a backpack that holds water and helped Alice put on hers before following his father and the rest of the people into the woods.

The teenagers stopped once they got to the area where the fire was and looked around with wide eyes. The fire had spread around the satellite, burning the trees, grass, and everything around it. They need to control it before it spreads to Oceanside and through their hunting grounds.

"We start on the outside, push in," Cyndie ordered as everyone got to work.

Max and Alice worked near his father and Carol, who had come back from the OS's fisherman boat. The redhead placed a bandana on her nose and mouth before swinging the handle with the cloth on the end and hitting the fire, trying to put it out, while Max sprayed the fire with his water hose.

By morning, most of the fire was out but there was still more burning. Max and Alice sprayed the last of their water before they were empty. The teenagers took off their backpacks as multiple people's water cans became empty.

"I'm out of the water," Cyndie said as Carol, Daryl, and the teens agreed.

"Hey! Walkers coming in!" A man yelled as Cyndie called them over.

She gave each other their weapons as more walkers came out of the woods. Max and some of the group took out the walkers, as the rest of Alexandria and the control line joined. A loud creaking sound made everyone look up to see a tree starting to fall from being on fire.

Everyone stood back, Max placed an arm around the redhead's stomach as his father throw his ax at the tree. The tree fall on top of a few walkers that were on fire. After all, the walkers were dead and the fire was out, Alice went to help the people that were injured as Max helped with the satellite.

"Max, where's your dad and Carol?" Michonne asked, looking at the teen.

Max looked around for the two but didn't see them. "I don't know. They usually wonder off together somewhere,"

"Can you go look for them?"

"Sure," The teenager nodded and headed off into the woods in search of his father and aunt.