Bless Carl Grimes' selfless heart.

The kid tried to get to the twins time and time again, though only Nanami seemed to budge.

"My mom and Shane will get us somewhere safe," Carl assures.

"Your.. Your mom?" Nanami repeats.

Carl nods, motioning to Lori, "My mom."

Sakiko perks up at this, looking to Shane through the rear view mirror.

"You're not with the system?" she asks.

"System? What system exactly?" Shane wonders.

"For tro-" Nanami cuts himself off, looking to Sakiko, "Run aways."

"Y'all are run aways?" Shane asks, looking to the kids.

"Yes." - 'No."

The twins answer differently.

"Yes, no? Yes, no?" Shane questions, flicking his finger between them.

"It's not important," Sakiko shakes her head, "We're not run aways, but even if we were, it doesn't matter if you're not here to take us to some adoption place."

Lori cuts from her thoughts, dropping the ring that she'd been nervously spinning around on a chain around her neck, "Kids.. Never mind.."

"My sister is just angry and afraid," Nanami tries to course, "Things haven't been.. Easy.. lately."

"Daryl said he was watching you for a friend until those bombs hit. That true?" Shane asks.

At the name, Sakiko visibly shrinks into herself.

"That's true," Nanami nods.

"Great, so you're lying to me," Shane inspects.

"I'm.. What?" Nanami asks.

"Daryl actually said that he picked you two up when you were running away from home. He was going to bring you back until last night hit. Then, he called his brother and he showed up as well."

Daryl and Nanami's original lie to tell Merle.. Of course he would have told others the same just to be safe.

"So, you lied to me, too," Nanami accuses.

"You did it first," Shane reminds.

"Forget all of that," Sakiko sighs, "If you're not with the system, are you with the people that dropped those bombs? Do you know what's going on?"

Shane doesn't say anything at first until he grips the steering wheel tighter and sighs.

"Something bigger than we can imagine is going on, kids. But, I'm gonna get all of y'all to safety until it all blows over, I promise."

--

Sakiko and Nanami soon found that behind them was T-Dog and Glenn in the church van. If they looked further, they could see another two cars, then Daryl's truck just barely. They weren't sure if they should feel relieved or annoyed that Daryl had been there all along. behind Daryl's truck was the large RV that they'd remembered had the 'Dale' man.

The group had been on the road for a day or so until Shane pulled them in a full circle back near the city. There, they'd nearly ran over a man and woman who had been running from the city. T-Dog was the one to rush them into his van and continue on.

When questioned of his motives, Shane told Lori that he figured somewhere near the city yet far enough away was necessary. They needed to be in close range for the military to find while far enough that the 'things' couldn't find them. That's when he pulled them into the gating of a environmental park.

"My dad used to take me camping out here," Shane recalls, leading the caravan up a steep hill.

"So, that's what we're going to do?" Lori asks, "Camping until this is all over?"

"Yeah," Shane answers, "We can have grill outs and try and pretend everything is smooth as ever outside this quarry."

Lori scoffs, shaking her head as she returns to playing with the ring around her neck. Shane frowns before peeking to the three kids in the backseat.

"Y'all ever been camping? Carl, I know you haven't," Shane asks.

"Dad was always too busy for us to go. And mom never wanted to sleep on the ground," Carl sighs with a pout.

"Well, mom's gonna have to get used to sleeping on the ground, huh?" Shane asks, glancing to Lori who stays quiet, "What about you two?"

"No, sir," Nanami shakes his head, "We've never been camping, but I'm sure we can handle it."

"There's the spirit!" Shane cheers, "Come on, now.. The three of us guys, hunting, fishing, taking names, and kicking ass!"

"And the girls?" Sakiko questions, quirking her eyebrow at him, "Am I supposed to sit by the camp fire while you do 'guy things'? Maybe sing you a song or two?"

"You know how to sing?" Shane asks.

Sakiko crosses her arms over her chest with a glare that makes Shane chuckle.

--

As the group that had found one another piled together, Shane explained his way of thinking to the other adults.

From there, Shane assigned roles for people to pitch tents that had them, placements of vehicles, gatherings for all the food to be placed together so it could be rationed out, and placed Dale on watch on top his RV to keep an eye out for military or the 'things'.

All the kids, a total of seven, were placed in the RV to keep safe while everyone else was set to work.

"My name is Eliza," one of the girls introduces, "My dad is Morales and my mom is Amanda. This is my brother Will."

Her younger brother, Will, smiles shyly as he bends inwards to himself in his seat.

"I'm Carl," Carl speaks up with a friendly tone, "My mom is Lori."

The four that hadn't said their names look around to each other silently. It's Carl that sighs, pointing to the twins.

"This is Nanami and Sakiko," he names, then moves to the other girl, "And that's Sophia. Her parents are Ed and Carol."

All eyes fall on the final boy who blinks wordlessly at them.

"You speak English?" Sakiko asks, receiving a look from Nanami.

"Yes, I speak English," the boy scoffs.

"So, you don't have a name, then," Sakiko nods.

"Kiko," Nanami whispers in a hiss.

"And you don't have parents," the boy fires back.

"Do you?" Sakiko asks with a raised eyebrow.

The boy sinks back into his seat, "My brother is Glenn."

Sakiko was stubborn. She knows it. Nanami knows it. Daryl knows it. Anyone that spent more than ten minutes with her knew that she had that trait.

And sometimes, her stubbornness outweighs her rational thinking. But, only sometimes.

This was one of those sometimes.

"Daryl is my dad," Sakiko shrugs.

Nanami looks at her, completely baffled. Carl as well.

"Really?" the boy asks.

Sakiko purses her lips, "Step dad.. Same thing!"

The boy goes a quiet, kicking at the rug under his feet.

"But, that doesn't matter. This is about your name, but apparently you don't have one," Sakiko huffs, leaning back in her seat.

"Ryan," he crosses his arms, "My name is Ryan."

Sakiko scoffs, shrugging once more as though brushing him off.

"Basic," she accuses.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

RYAN AND GLENN ARE MY BABIES NO ONE MOVE IM SO HAPPY TO FINALLY BE ABLE TO WRITE THEM AND SKMFEKKE

sakiko being chaotic again i love her