Laina Valentine & Shawn Whright

[Joy]

Laina and Shawn met only a few months before the message would be made regarding the enormous horde heading their way.

After they met in Ekron and endured a never ending search for cars, they decide to make their way to the Rosewood prison. They made duffel bags of everything they could as they made their way down the road. But without the car, they couldn’t make it far - especially trying to bring multiple duffel bags along. Their back up plan was to find a house with a car to stay at — which they did, but neither of them could hotwire. They searched the entire house for a key to no avail. They then made an attempt to find someone who could help them out, which never actually happened. They attempted to learn the skill themselves, which never worked out either. They were stuck in the house. The house was safe, though, right? It was barricaded and stocked up for them when they came. In fact, the house was so secluded they could probably stay at home unnoticed. Wrong. At the time, that was really just positive thinking. Even they knew there wasn’t a chance. Shawn proposed the idea that they could build a fence around the house. They never got around doing that. They almost just pretended there wasn’t a huge horde about to demolish their home. But, in the meantime, their friendship and bond grew. They both grew as people, trying to overcome things together. In the short time they knew each other, they’d made a lot of memories. The amount of panic within them when the horde first stepped on their driveway was almost scarier than the horde themselves. They didn’t know what to do at all. They hastily armed themselves and tried to fight off the horde. Any attempts they made to do so were futile, it wouldn’t stop.

Laina ran outside, trying to use a bookshelf to push down the staircase onto the zombies. This, too, was completely ineffective, which she quickly learned when they climbed over it and ran at her. She quickly screamed as the shamble quickly toward her, forcing her out of the second story window. Shawn whips his head to the door, opening it. All he could see was infected piling up against the window, taking up the entire hallway. Laina is dead, he thought. Struggling to think, Shawn jumps out of his bedroom window. No sign of Laina. He pushed out the dark thoughts as he runs though the field. Laina continues running, finding herself at a warehouse. She quickly recognized the area as the place she almost lost Shawn a few days before. She vaguely knew the way to the neighborhood nearby, so she enters a crouched state to catch her breath. Shawn tirelessly runs, firing off at all infected in his path. They both watch as the helicopter leaves Knox County. Shawn manages to find a car to hide in, as does Laina with a house. They both fall asleep..

Laina wakes up, miraculously finding a key to a nearby car on the ground. Laina enters the car, preparing everything she can into the car as she begins driving out of the county.

Shawn remains in Knox County for what is almost another two days before he manages to find a car with a key in the ignition. He siphons as much gas as he can, before he exits Knox forever.

Through radio and word of mouth, the pair of them both learn about the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, where the other Knox survivors went. Both of them make their way there in hopes of finding a place that could be safe forever - as well as reuniting.

After a long journey and an even longer search, they find each other at last. Despite all that they lost, they take this as a new opportunity to live a normal life again. Laina could try to go to university and Shawn could try to build himself a life again.

Another chance.