Surviving The New World (Book Six in the Surviving The Walking Dead Series)

New Beginnings

"Michaela!" Ezekiel smiled and embraced me in a hug. "It is so good to see you."

"You too, Ezekiel," I smiled back before turning and giving Carol a hug.

"We thought you would've came in with the others," Carol noted.

"I would've, but I woke up late," I admitted. "Eugene came knockin' and I told 'em to go without me and that I'd see 'em here. Speakin' of which, where is he?"

"Servicing our radio," Ezekiel answered. "It decided to go on the fritz today. He said, if I recall, the microphone was 'more busted than a nut amongst squirrels.'"

"That's pretty busted," I chuckled. "He's a dweeb, but we love 'em, right?" Ezekiel nodded and smiled with amusement.

"Road's clear, ma'am." A voice spoke up as a man in a cowboy hat walked up to us.

"Thank you," Carol gave the man a smile. "Michaela, this is—"

"Ozzy?" I smiled.

"Well I'll be damned," Ozzy smiled. "It's Michaela fucking Dixon." Ozzie quickly embraced me in a hug, lifting me off the ground for a moment before finally setting me back down. "Holy shit, it's been forever! You're not huge anymore either!"

"Uh...thanks?" I chuckled. "How've you been?"

"Good, good."

"And you know each other," Carol smiled, hiding her confusion.

"Sure do. She helped us at New Haven." Ozzy turned back to me.

"I knew I recognized you," Ezekiel smiled even bigger. "I thought I recognized you when we first met, but I couldn't place it."

"Well, a year changes people, let alone five."

"I'll say," I chuckled. "The hat's new. And...is that a civil war outfit?"

"Haha, very funny."

"Ozzy runs a group called the Highwaymen, we hired them to keep our road safe in exchange for access to the Kingdom and the fair."

"No shit?" I asked.

"No shit," Ozzy nodded. "Though, I will admit, the prospects of watching a movie is what sold us over."

"A movie?"

"Ozzy," Carol quietly whined.

"Wait, that was supposed to be a secret," Ozzy nervously laughed. "Just, uh...pretend you didn't hear anything." A movie...I couldn't believe it. If only Harper could've been here. I always wanted to have her experience the stuff I got to as a kid...well, the good stuff at least. Then again, I've never seen a movie at a theater before either.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," I playfully winked. "So, the Highwaymen, huh? What happened to New Haven?"

"Well," Ozzy rubbed the back of his neck. "Some people stayed, others left...after a while things went to shit."

"What happened?"

"Turns out, we needed someone like Harlow. She kept a structure, kept everything organized. Without her, our rations were gone within a year."

"Oh, Ozzy, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. We just started over. Well, some of us. You're looking at the Highwaymen's new leader." Ozzy held his arms out victoriously.

"So, what do ya do now?"

"Well, we used to make people pay a road tax in means of supplies, but now we work for the Kingdom and escort pretty lil' ladies like you safely to the fair."