Be honest are yall gonna hate me if I start wandering over? I’ve just been getting better ideas LMAO

A/N: Hey yallll sorry for not posting for like a month. i wish I had a super cool, funny excuse for why I was gone but I'm just so busy with work and was too tired to write in the evenings. BUT ANYWAYS at least this chapter is a longer one, I hope Yall enjoy!!!

*Radio Static* Is anyone there? If you can hear me please...anyone, say something...*Radio Cuts Out*

Chapter Four- Beware 

Late August/Early September, 2010- 

His eyes shot open. He was drenched in sweat laying alone in a hospital bed. Why the hell was he in a hospital bed? Oh, right. He’d been in a coma from a GSW in the line of duty. Rick looked over to his left to see a vase full of dead flowers with cards littered around it. He looked to his right and saw…blood? It was splattered on the window of the glass. He removed his IV and groaned as he tried, and failed to stand up off the bed. (Who knew you would have no muscle tone after being in a coma?) 

The hospital sounded..quiet, deserted even. 

Where on earth was everyone? Was he alone? Why was a gurney blocking his room door? He made note of his surroundings, blood splatters covered the walls. All he could do was stand frozen in fear.

Where was his family? Were his wife and children safe?

He darted back into his room to look at the cards that littered his bedside table.

 He gingerly picked one up and opened it:

“Hi daddy, It’s August 26th and the doctor says you should be waking up soon. Please wake up soon, it's not the same without you. Mom and I have been fighting more…I try to get along with her but it’s so hard without you here. Carl is doing good though and misses you everyday. Wake up soon please. Love, Victoria.”

Rick searched for more letters but that was the last one his daughter had written him. He had to find his family. Rick ventured back out into the hospital. He was horrified at how rundown King County General looked. He was used to seeing blood occasionally in his job, but not to this scale.

The blood ricocheted across the walls and splattered all along the ceiling. 

Rick walked through the halls, following the faintest sound, the only sound.

Groaning? And the sound of someone trying to break a door down? 

Maybe someone was here to help him. Rick stumbled as he tried to quicken his pace, praying someone was here to tell him what was going wrong. 

Instead he saw a woman in teal scrubs locked in a hallway. As Rick approached the door she lifted her head.

Her eyes were glazed over and blood dripped out of her mouth. The sight would’ve made Rick gag if he wasn’t frozen in fear. The woman was groaning, like she was trying to speak to him. 

“H….hun…gry” She gurgled. 

Wait. Rick had to be imagining things…she looked dead, she couldn’t possibly be speaking. Could she?

“Are you alright? Can you tell me what happened?” Rick’s voice shook. He tried to swallow down his fear. The woman rushed up to the glass and began to bang on the window. 

Her screams were animalistic. She was animalistic. 

He slowly backed away and started to head for an exit that he knew wasn’t far. He again followed the faint sound of banging that he prayed was more welcoming than the sight he’d just discovered. 

The lights flickered lazily. But it still caused shivers to erupt up and down his spine. 

Shivers turned into nervous shakes despite how hot he was. 

Do not open- dead inside

Dead. Inside.

The only thing holding back the apparent dead were the chains that were wrapped through the handles ten, twenty fold. Rick’s eyes were so wide they looked as if they may pop out of his head. This all had to be a horrible nightmare right?? Right??

Rick turned back the way he came and stumbled, trying to quicken his pace so he could get the hell out of dodge. When he found the side exit to the hospital, he had to use quite a bit to strength to shove the door open.

The sun gave Rick a strong awakened welcome, he recoiled at its presence: the heat nipped at his skin and his arm immediately raised to shade his face. When he adjusted to the hard rays coming down, he noticed the bodies. 

Rows upon rows of white body bags. Had the military come? This was certainly not something the local police department would have the resources to handle. 

He walked amongst the bodies that littered the hospital parking lot. Searching for any faces he knew. He let out a sigh of relief when he didn’t see his family.

That sigh of relief was caught in his throat at the sight of a crashed helicopter and a slew of more bodies littered before him. Rick decided to cut across the street, he needed to get home.

A bright red bike caught his attention. That's how he’d get home. 

The sound of hissing averted his attention from the bike down to the ground.

He fell backwards at the sight before him; a turned woman who had no lower extremities. Her ribs were exposed on either side, possibly from rubbing against the ground or maybe even from something trying to eat her. Her skin was almost a sickly yellowish green, her eyes glazed over with the same hue of color.

She stretched her arms out and groaned at Rick, her attempts to move were futile and her rotted body was decaying from starvation. 

Rick shook his head, he couldn’t do anything for the woman. He picked himself up and began to bike through the town. To home.

The streets were empty, littered with paper and trash. All Rick could think of was if his family was safe or not. Surely they were safe, Lori wasn’t dumb and Victoria would do whatever it took to protect them. 

Rick rode up to the front door of his house wide open. He tripped up the stairs and stopped right at the entrance. Terror shook his entire being.

“Lori?” He called out as he entered the house, an unsettling breeze made its way through the still house. In all the years he’d had his family, his house was never still. 

“Carl??” Rick ran into the house, looking through the bedrooms to see if his son could be found at all. “CARL?!” Rick ran into the living room and saw a broken picture frame of his family. Rick and Lori were sat at the top and a 12 year old Victoria could be seen holding her little brother, their smiles were both so full of life.

Everything he was feeling began to bubble over as Rick felt himself hit the ground. Sobs wracked through his entire body, but only for a moment. 

He could hear someone outside.

“Victoria?! Baby?!” Rick called out as he stumbled back outside, his grief filled mind must have been playing tricks on him. But there was a man dressed in black stumbling through the street.

Rick felt like he was trapped in a bad dream, waiting to wake up in the hospital and hold his family again. But something deep in the dark of his mind told him that he would never wake up, that this wasn’t a dream. His family wasn’t coming home.

For the first time in his life; Rick Grimes was alone. 

Rick watched as a man walked up to the carcass walking the street and shot him in the back of the head, he went limp and hit the ground. He was in shock and not paying attention to the danger approaching from behind. He was definitely going to have a headache later. 

*snap* Rick turned to see what was behind him. Praying it was someone he knew. Maybe it was Carl. He was wrong. The shovel came in contact with his face with quite a force, knocking him to the ground. His vision was blurred as he fought back the feeling of his brain being tossed around in his skull. He looked up to see the blurred silhouette of a small boy.

“DADDY! I GOT HIM! I GOT THE SUMBITCH AND ILL KILL HIM DEAD!”

“Carl?” 

A man came up behind the boy as Rick’s vision began to clear, his voice was muffled but he seemed to be assuring the boy that he did not need to kill Rick. What was going on? Why would this boy want to kill him. And why did the man standing before him also kill the man he saw in the street? Rick had a lot of questions and seemingly no answers.

“Whats that bandage for?!” The man pointed his revolver at Rick’s head. Rick gave the man a confused look, he was talking but Rick had no idea what he was saying. His head was swimming and his vision began to blur again. The ringing in his ears increased rapidly until everything went black.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morgan thought about shooting the man in that moment but he didn’t look sick, not like the things that roamed the street. He had his son to think about, why was he doubting his decision? 

“Duane, keep an eye out for Walkers, we’re going to bring him back with us.” 

His son opened his mouth ready to argue but Morgan’s decision was firm, something in him just knew they needed to save this stranger. 

Morgan carried the man over his shoulder, thankfully the house they took refuge in wasn't far so they had very little interaction with any walkers. Unfortunately the sound from Morgan’s gun had brought attention and more started to come out from hiding.

Morgan laid the man in the upstairs bed and pulled back his bandages. Instead of a bite, he saw a wound that needed to be cleaned. It was a miracle that the wound hadn’t caused the man to turn. Morgan cleaned his wound, and the blood off of his face. He must have passed out from a mix of the shovel to the face and pure shock. As the stranger slept, Morgan grew more curious about his situation.

After some time Rick finally woke up. (Girl it’s been like an hour. What do you mean finally? Like calm down.)

Rick woke up, laying in a soft bed unsure of his surroundings. He tried to move but it seemed both his arms were tied up high to either side of the bed.  He scanned the room and made eye contact with the boy, Duane, holding a baseball bat. Meaning Rick needed to tread lightly.

Morgan stood at the side of the bed as he put his first aid kit away.

“That wound…it was pretty rank. What was it?” 

Rick seemed puzzled by the question. That was the second time he’d been asked by this man about his wound. Was it a crime to be a wounded man now?

“It was a gunshot.” He answered plainly, it was the truth after all. But Morgan didn’t seem satisfied, he scoffed and made his way to the bed. He was looking for a different answer.

“I ask and you answer alright?”

Rick nodded.

“Did you get bit?” Morgan made sure to emphasize every word. Rick wanted to know why everyone was so concerned over bites. But he had noticed that the people he’d seen in and around the hospital had been bitten…

“Bit? I don’t understand?”

“Bit, chewed, scratched, anything?!”

Rick shook his head in a firm no. He’d been shot, he told this man many times he’d been shot. The only thing he wanted to do was get released from the bed he was tied to so that he could find his family. 

It was also very clear to Rick that this man was not one to be messed with. He was prepared to kill him at any moment. Morgan checked Rick and confirmed he didn’t have a fever. That seemed to give Morgan enough satisfaction to cut Rick from the bed. He then took his son and left the room.

Rick sat for a moment and contemplated his options. He needed to figure out what was going on, then he would go find his family. Rick took a blanket from the bed and headed downstairs. This house was familiar, he’d been here before. 

“This is the Drakes house; Fred and Cindy Drake.” He spoke aloud as he rounded the living room. Morgan and his son were setting places at the dining room table.

“Never knew em”

“I did.” Rick paused…where were Fred and Cindy now? “This is their house.” He finished.

“It was empty when we got here.” Morgan huffed.

“Why did you shoot that man?” Rick asked, sitting down at the table. Morgan gave him a puzzled look.

“That wasn’t a man” Duane piped up. 

And that’s how Rick Grimes found out that the world he knew had absolutely shattered as he slept. That’s why everyone was gone, and the people who were left weren’t actually people….Walkers, Morgan called them. Some kind of virus was spreading through any kind of break in the skin, but mostly through bites. The virus caused people to have aggressive, cannibalistic tendencies. They were like animals. Noise and bright lights drew them closer and they seemed to be more active at night.

“Stay the night and then you can head out in the morning. I would head to Atlanta, there’s refugee camps there.” 

“Thank you,” Rick nodded. “I’ll look for my family in Atlanta.”

Meanwhile in Atlanta:

“GLEN I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T PUMP THOSE SKINNY LEGS HARDER I'M NOT SAVING YOUR ASS!” 

“I’M TRYING!”

Victoria and Glen bolted through the back alleys of Atlanta. With a herd not far behind them. Glen got the bright idea to do a test run before taking a group, and somehow Victoria ended up going with him.

She knew exactly how she ended up here, she was trying to get away from Shane and her mother. But that's neither here nor there. 

The only reason the two knew where to go was because Glen was familiar with the area. Apparently being a pizza delivery boy was a hot commodity in the big city.

They ran through the streets hoping to find a breaking point. Victoria gripped her hunting knife tightly, pressing little crescents into her palm from her nails. They still needed a few supplies to get them through the night. 

“Glen, that convenience store looks good, no?” 

Glen just hooded furiously, all his energy was going into not dying. 

The two made it into the convenience store, barely escaping the herd. They took shelves from around them and boarded up the door. They finally had a moment to breathe. Victoria would’ve laughed at the whole situation if she wasn’t so concerned on not dying. 

The trip hadn’t been bad, they took a car and drove into Atlanta. Stopping at a pharmacy and a few small buildings which were dead ends. But now? Now they were stuck in a convenience store praying the shelves would hold up. They would find and exit later. 

In the last few weeks Glen and Carl had been her saving graces. Shane did hear Victoria's warnings and hadn’t made any advances with Lori…in the camp anyways. But she could tell they were…doing things. The idea alone made her skin crawl.

“Hey, we should probably look around before we let our guards down completely.” Victoria swallowed hard. Her ankle hadn’t fully healed and she could feel that pain shoot up her entire side. 

Glen nodded. Victoria kept that tight grip as she stalked through the store, in an attempt to keep quiet. Thankfully the store was clear. So she and Glen got to work. Mostly canned goods, waters, any packaged non-perishables.

“Oh fuck yes I found a Charleston chew!” Victoria held the candy bar up high like she’d just struck gold. 

“Ew those are nasty.” Glen shook his head. Victoria whipped around to face him, she was slack jawed.

“Bitch who raised you?!” She gawked.

“People with good taste. Those don’t even taste like anything.” He laughed. 

Victoria made a mental note to never let Glen pick road trip snacks, he had no idea what he was talking about. Charleston Chews were a childhood staple and she would not let her friend slander them.

“Well, do you want to talk about what’s been bothering you?” Glen piped up as they sat on the floor and counted their supplies.

“Hard no.” She shot back. He nodded, respecting the determined tone in her voice. She wasn’t sure if it was respect or fear but she’d hoped it was just her friend not wanting to die by her hand. 

Victoria looked down at the little pile she and Glen had collected. Canned veggies, sausages, beans AND beanie weenies. They had the goods for now. The run tomorrow would be a lot more stuff and Glen would have to take a bigger group. The pain in Victoria's leg lingered in the bag of her mind, demanding rest.

“Well we got out shit, let’s go.” Victoria hopped up and held out a hand to help Glen up. 

“Wait…we blocked the only exit. How do we get out now?”

Victoria pressed her ear near the back door, there was definitely still a herd waiting to get their meal. Victoria had no intention of being on the lunch menu. She had always been quick on her feet, Glen was too, so she had no worries they wouldn’t make it out.

“Well…” Victoria scanned the store looking for any other exit that wasn’t the boarded up front door. Bingo. “we’re going to crawl through that skylight above the deli. At least from the roof we can get a better look.”

Victoria hopped up onto the deli counter and tried to see if the skylight would open. But she wasn’t quite tall enough to reach. Why the hell are these ceilings so high?

“Glen, get up here and let me stand on your shoulders.”

“What?!”

“You heard me. Up, now.”

Glen scrambled up onto the deli counter, and Victoria proceeded to climb onto his shoulders. Glen made sure his protest were known, but Victoria elected to not hear him. They had shit to do, like get home without dying. 

“Um, Victoria?” 

“What?!” She stood on his shoulders, annoyed at the sudden wobbling beneath her. “I almost got it, just hold still!!”

*crash* Well shit. Victoria craned her neck behind her and made eye contact with a walker that had broken a glass door she hadn’t seen. Her patience, with how sentient these walkers were, was growing thin. She turned back to the glass and tried to use the handle of her knife to break it. Glen urged Victoria to hurry up because the walkers were getting closer.

“H..hungry” The leader of the herd gurgled as blood fell out of his mouth. Glen and Victoria held back their gags. The problem came when they tried to crawl over the counter, grabbing at Glen's legs. But before the walker could take a chunk out of him, Victoria broke the window, hooked her legs around Glen's waist and pulled the two of them up through the skylight. 

“Shit that was way too close.” Victoria huffed, laying out along the roof. Glen stumbled across the roof and vomited over the side. Victoria pushed herself up off the hot concrete and walked over to meet him. They only had two problems; they had no car, and a herd of walkers was probably trying to make their way onto the roof with them. 

At least with the herd in the deli, it left the ground below them relatively clear of danger. And they were fast, they could make it to a vehicle and get the hell out of dodge. Piece of cake….right?

“Over there, that jeep might work?” Glen pointed across the road to a tan Jeep. Victoria pulled her hair back so it was out of her face. 

“Fuck it let’s go.” 

They jogged across the roof to the other side, where they were just ahead of the jeep. Victoria peered over the edge. There were a couple walkers wandering the street but Victoria was confident they could make it the short distance to the jeep. She just prayed it was unlocked and functional.

“Okay I’ll go in front, but stay close and cover me.”

Glen swallowed hard but nodded anyways. Victoria wouldn’t admit to him that she was also scared shitless but they just needed to get it over with. She threw a leg over the side and slid down the ladder, Glen came down behind her and they bolted to the Jeep. Great. Of course it has to be locked. 

Even better, here come Walkers. 

Victoria looked around to see if there was anything she could use to pick the lock. Glen broke the Antenna off and tossed it to her. 

“Come on Tori, hurry up please.” 

She fiddled with the lock and got it open. They both jumped in the car and slammed the doors right as the herd tried to swarm them. No Keys. Wonderful, she’d just have to improvise. Victoria popped open the compartment underneath the steering wheel and started to get to work.

“Do I even know how you know how to Hotwire a car?”

“My dad used to be a cop, I picked up a thing or two. Don’t worry about it.”

She fiddled with the wire and shoved the antenna into the ignition. The Jeep roared to life. Victoria threw it into reverse and backed over the walkers that tried to break the windows around the Jeep. 

They peeled out of Atlanta and Victoria sped all the way back to camp. They sat in silence for most of the drive. As far as Victoria was concerned they didn’t need to go back to the city they could find a town to raid. 

They pulled into the camp, Carl barreled into her. 

“Thank goodness you’re back.” 

She laughed and hugged him tight. He walked back to the jeep with her and grabbed one of the duffle bags full of supplies. Everyone came to greet them, glad that the two of them made it home. Victoria couldn’t help but notice that her mom and Shane were missing…

After getting the supplies unloaded and checking in with Dale, Victoria decided to head down to the lake to try and wash the sweat off. 

“What the FUCK?!” Victoria walked up on her mom and Shane in quite a compromising position. Lori yelped and pushed Shane off of her. “I can’t BELIEVE YOU!” Victoria screamed in horror. Shane tried to shush her but she only raised her voice higher.

“Baby….baby please, please be quiet.” Lori begged. She tried to get close to Victoria but she backed away.

“You have a husband, may I remind you.” Victoria scoffed. “I can’t believe the two of you I’m fucking DISGUSTED.” 

“You can’t tell anyone.” Shane demanded. Victoria laughed dryly at his demands. She paced back and forth. “Carl doesn’t know. You cannot say anything.” 

Victoria stopped in her tracks. And looked over to him, she wanted nothing more than to wrap her hand around his throat and squeeze until he stopped moving. 

“I’m only doing this for Carl. You’re going to hate yourself when dad gets home Lori, just as much as I hate you right now.” She spat. She stomped back up the hill, Daryl ran down to see if she was okay, and she’d assured him she just scared herself in the woods but everything was fine. She was just still jumpy from being in the city. 

She spent the rest of the day avoiding them unless absolutely necessary. She stuck close to Carl, knowing if she was with him Shane would leave him alone. Her whole body was hot and she was shaking with anger. She made a promise to Shane and she intended to act upon it, but for now she just needed to focus on Carl and finding her dad. 

Taglist - @ebodebo @starsofang

Chapter 4 Tonight!!! Yall waited a month for 4.5k words of side quests😭☝️

I will put chapter 4 out soon!! It’s a long one so it’s taking some time as I’m usually trying to write in the evening after work but I’m so ready to get it done and posted😭🙏🏻

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About Me! ⊹ ࣪ ˖

Hey Y'all! My name is Abby and I'm just a girl with insane brainrot honestly. I'm very new to Tumblr and very busy so patience is appreciated! Posting will be very inconsistent but I will try to build up a queue, I have big plans for this storyline so I hope yall will enjoy it as much as I will.

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I do not take/write requests at the moment since I'm just writing my lil story But my messages will be open for anyone who has comments or suggestions. (I will not take or tolerate any hate or critisism that its not constructive.)

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𓍊𓋼𓍊𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊𖡼.

✰Masterlist✰

Wandering- A Walking Dead Story

Chapter one ~ Chapter Two ~ Chapter Three

Wandering-Part Two

Tw: slight gore, violence, Merle Dixon being Merle Dixon, Andrea

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Chapter Three: Change

Victoria woke up pretty early the next morning, thankful to have somewhat of a peaceful night in the ‘camp’. She was amazed how quickly everyone had set up the small barrier they had. So far she’d met: Dale, Andrea and her sister Amy, Carol, Sophia, Ed (Carol's nasty husband), Daryl, Jerry and Jaqui. Everyone seemed to get along for the most part. Poor Sophia was still pretty shaken from the day before and kept to her tent. Carl either stayed with Victoria or their mom. 

Shane did want to talk about what happened but he was giving Victoria time to process on her own, which she was grateful for. But she wanted her dad. Rick wouldn’t have let them get separated, it wasn’t Shane’s fault but she knew that if he was there too they would’ve all stayed together. Her chest ached just thinking about him being gone. 

The screams of the Carter family were still rattling around in her head and it was almost unbearable. Victoria needed some time to herself and ended up hobbling down to the lake. She hated being injured, she was vulnerable if she was injured. 

One of those things (She’d heard different names thrown around at camp for what to call them: Lurkers, roamers, biters) could come out and she wouldn’t be on her defensive game. But she had to do something so she ended up finding Carol and Amy doing laundry.

“Can I help Y’all do laundry?” She asked sheepishly, “I was getting stir crazy sitting around Dale’s RV.” 

“Oh of course you can, how are you holding up honey? I never got to thank you for taking care of my Sophia. I can never repay you for that.” Carol helped Victoria sit down, softly rubbing her back. Victoria just looked at Carol and smiled softly, there was really nothing she could say. She wanted to forget it all, process it alone and just pretend it never happened. 

“Well when I’m struggling with something, singing always helps!” Amy piped up, honestly just trying to help. She seemed like a very sweet girl and she wasn’t much older than Victoria, and she hoped they would become friends. And they spent the afternoon laughing, Amy would take the clean clothes back to camp to dry.

Amy kept pestering Victoria to sing but she kept making the excuse that she wasn’t a very good singer. The truth was just that there was only one song that immediately came to mind and she did not want to sing it in front of Carol. 

She was a sweet older woman and Victoria didn’t want Carol to think that she would be a bad influence on Sophia. She did always sing Nirvana to Carl but he fully believed she made up Come as You Are and she didn’t have the heart to tell him or the interest to show his small mind to the band. 

Carol decided to take the clean clothes up to camp and Victoria saw this as her moment. “Okay Amy..I have a song but you cannot repeat this shit to anyone.”

“Okay?” Amy’s eyebrow twitched as she gave Victoria a curious look.

“Promise me Amy I fucking mean it.”

“Okay! Jeez yes I promise!”

Victoria scrambled up from her place on the lakefront, using her core to balance on one leg. She took a deep breath in and began singing the lyrics to No Hands.  “Girl the way you moovin, got me in a trance,” Amy fell back onto the ground, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. Victoria rolled her eyes, it was a popular song and she and her friends liked to party. It just always made her think of fun, easy times. 

“Yeah, yeah get your laughs up Amy. It's time to get back to camp, help me up the hill. I don't need another tree root to jump out at me and take my other ankle out.” 

The girls giggled about various things as they came up on the camp. Victoria’s mood immediately changed when she could feel tension among the group. Lori and Carol were holding the kids, she assumed everyone had seen this little entanglement. Shane was on the ground and standing over him was a tall man with a grey buzzcut, he wore a dirty wife beater and jeans, and it looked like he’d just fought Shane. Daryl was standing behind the man with a look of confliction. 

“Merle, cut it out now.” Dale got in the middle of the two men. Victoria held onto Amy, trying to shield her without realizing it. This Merle guy and Shane butting heads two days into establishing camp was not a good thing. Victoria had people to protect, and she wasn’t going to let some dumbass risk their safety. Merle mouthed off to Dale about how there was no leader and it certainly wasn’t going to be some big city cop, and something about that set her off. 

“Hey! Take your shit somewhere else there’s kids here!” 

Merle directed his attention to Victoria who was standing just at the edge of the camp, still holding on to Amy as a crutch. He was in Victoria’s face before anyone could move to stop him.

But she didn’t fear him. Victoria had always been strong willed- or dangerously stubborn depending on who you asked. She was always the girl going toe to toe with bullies or jocks or anyone she thought needed to be taken down a peg.

And she wasn't weak either. She was quite tall and had more than just a track star build, she would spend a lot of time building adequate muscle to back up her loud mouth. And an added perk of your dad and godfather being cops is they do teach you to fight properly. “Never start a fight…but be ready to damn well finish it.” Shane would always say. 

“Can I help you?” Victoria asked, quirking up a brow. Shane laughed in the background knowing that this was a common move for her to make. 

“What did you say to me, girl?” Merle snarled, his breath hot in her face. Victoria held her to gag in the back of her throat. Merle seemed like one of those backwoods who’d let his hunt marinate on his clothes in order to bait more of his prey in. Victoria knew many hunters like that working at the local Stop and Shop, they had the same rancid smell.

“I said that you’re a grown adult, act like it,.”Victoria stepped further into his space. “We’re all trying to survive together, so we can make nice or you can keep to yourself at the edge of camp.” They stood there for quite awhile. Victoria could tell by his body language and the hatred in his eyes, that Shane was the only reason he hadn’t laid hands on her. 

Merle indeed stormed off to the edge of camp, Daryl following behind him like a lost puppy. Victoria understood that they were brothers so he had to follow him, but part of her wished Daryl would stay. He had the potential to be so much more than Merle Dixon’s little brother. “Are you okay?” Victoria looked back at Amy, just now remembering she’d been using the girl as a crutch.

“That was so awesome,” Amy breathed out with a wide smile. Shane and Carl seemed to be the only other people amused with the antics that had just unfolded. Victoria and Amy limped over to Lori. 

“What were you thinking with that stunt you just pulled?!” Was her mom’s response. Victoria rolled her eyes. She and her mom had always butted heads when it came to the way Victoria “handled herself”. Before she could snap back, there was a rustle in the trees.

Everyone turned to the noise ready to fight whatever was coming at them. But instead of a threat jumping out at the group, it was a white tail buck. An 8 point, beauty of a buck. Carl peaked around from behind his mother, his eyes as wide as saucers. 

“Look at the deer!” He whispered excitedly. “Can I pet it?” He looked up at Victoria, she nodded and took his hand. They walked slowly hoping to approach the deer. Everyone stood still hoping to see some sort of sweet moment between the child and nature. The buck even cocked his head to the side, like he was trying to study Carl, he held his hand out straight hoping to even just graze the buck's nose. 

And as the buck straightened his neck, approaching Carl’s hand, an arrow pierced clean through his head and he dropped to the ground. Carl yelped and jumped back, gripping onto Victoria. She held him tightly as she searched for the owner of the arrow and laid eyes on Daryl and his crossbow. 

“Could that not have waited?” She frowned.

“Well we need dinner tonight don’t we? There’s dinner.” Daryl came up and picked the buck up, dragging it away from camp so he could dress it and get meat for dinner.

Victoria bit her tongue because she couldn’t argue with the man, but it still pissed her off. She rubbed Carl’s back and took him to sit by the spot where they’d light the camp’s fire as it got darker.

“Did he have to do it?”

“Well we do have to eat baby…but yeah he probably could’ve waited.” Victoria frowned again, fiddling with the wrappings on her ankle. How could she be so stupid, an uproot was the reason she was almost killed. A root. She could still feel the sensation of that roamers bite near her jaw, it made her shudder.

 She always knew death was not one to stray away from children, but that feeling: her chest and throat closing up, her muscles somehow tensing while being fully relaxed at the same time, she was absolutely terrified. But she would keep as much of that terror to herself that her body allowed. 

“Honey?” Victoria flinched, grabbing her mothers hand before she could place it on Victoria's shoulder. 

“Mom..you scared me.” She let out a shaky breath, which her mother also frowned at. Lori cat next to her daughter and pulled her in close without saying anything. Instead of talking she just rubbed Victoria's shoulders like she would do when her children had night terrors. 

Victoria tried to sink into her mothers hold so that no one would see the tears welling in her eyes. This was a new world and she had made the decision last night that she would not be seen as prey. But as predator. It was a lot to put on her own shoulders but she felt comfortable carrying the weight. 

After quite some time of sitting in silence, Daryl approached the women with a knapsack. He held the bag out for Victoria to take.

“What’s this?”

“Half a deer, you better cook it fast before it goes bad.” Daryl was trying to seem stone cold. Like he didn’t like them but they had to stick together. And maybe that's how it was but Victoria couldn’t help but smile. She nodded and took the bag.

“Thanks Dixon.” 

“Whatever Grimes.” 

Victoria and her mom started a fire and started to cook the deer meat they’d been given. Andrea joined them with a bucket of descaled fish, ready to be cooked. Andrea quirked a brow at the deer meat, she must’ve seen Daryl with the deer earlier and made a face as she started to connect the dots.

“If you got that meat from those Dixon brothers you might as well toss it.”

“Oh stop Andrea.” Victoria huffed “I didn’t get it from the Dixon brothers I got it from Daryl. He may act like a piece of shit but it's just his walls.” Andrea rolled her eyes and started to cook the meat. Jacui came up to join them and they sat and cooked and laughed. It was a wonderful distraction honestly.

The sun set and the group gathered around the fire to eat roasted fish, deer meat, and corn. They all shared a moment of pure peace and uninterrupted joy. 

For the first time in the last few days things felt…normal. Victoria watched her brother and Sophia laugh over some stupid dad joke that Dale had made, and just seeing her brother laugh confirmed that everything would be okay. They were going to make it.

After supper everyone cleaned up and the group split up for the night, going to their separate camps. Victoria couldn’t help but notice that her mom and Shane were sharing a tent. It made her stomach churn. As far as she could tell they weren’t doing anything.

Even if her dad was dead, Victoria felt that her mother should still hold some kind of hope that he would come back. That hope is what kept Victoria going everyday.

 Victoria stayed with Carl until he fell asleep and then she snuck out of the tent. She needed some cool, fresh air for herself. She sat back at the campfire and tried to just let herself relax. She was safe. Even if it didn’t last forever, she was safe for now. There was a light breeze in the air, bringing a soft rustling to the trees. 

Victoria couldn’t help but flinch everytime the rustling sounded like anything more than that light breeze. She couldn’t tell if the goosebumps that pricked her skin were from the cool air or the result of her own taunting mind. Breathe. You’re safe, just breathe.

“Everything okay?” She jumped to her feet in an instant forgetting that she had a sprained ankle. Her hand flew to her mouth, as to muffle the string of curses that demanded to flee from her mouth in a protest of pain. Shane caught her and gently helped her sit back down. “I didn’t mean to scare you but you should be getting some rest.”

“I was resting Shane,” She signed through grit teeth, pinching the bridge of her nose in hopes to regulate her pain. 

“You should talk about what happened yesterday…bottling that shit up ain’t good for you.” 

Victoria let out another exasperated sigh, she didn’t want to talk about it with Shane. Actually he was the very last person on the list of people that she would talk to about almost dying. They sat together in silence.

“I already talked to my mother about it.” Shane silently nodded. Victoria hopped up and started to limp back to her tent, leaving Shane alone to think. So she decided to leave him with a parting gift to mull over.

“Leave me alone shane. As a matter of fact leave my family alone. We aren’t yours. And If you touch my mother and she wants it…well she's a grown woman. But if you ever lay your hands on my mother and harm her, I’ll kill you.” 

Taglist: @ebodebo @starsofang

Will be posting chapter 3 of Wandering soon but in the meantime I’m going to post the story cover made by the lovely: @ebodebo who’s essentially my co-creator of this whole project which is why I tag her in basically all of my posts🫶🫶

Wandering Part One

*Song title inspired by In The Woods Somewhere by Hozier- I do not own the writes to this song I am using it solely for creative purposes*

Tw: nasty gore, violence, death, strong language

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Chapter two- In The Woods Somewhere

Victoria didn’t sleep much. It wasn’t the fact that she didn’t trust Dale. Which, she didn’t trust him at all but it was a roof over the kids heads for the night. Something about that Andrea girl didn’t feel right to her. Carl and Sophia were curled up on each side of her on the RV floor. Sophia softly cried most of the night but Victoria assured her that the girl would see her family again.

“Carl, wake up, it's time to go.”

Carl groaned and rolled over. Victoria nudged his face again and he jolted up. His body relaxed when he remembered he was with her.

“Here’s your gun back, thanks for letting us stay the night but the sun's up so we’d better get going.” Victoria shook Dale's hand, she truly was thankful for his kindness as they were facing unknown territory with seemingly rabid humans running around.

Dale called out to the group that they should find him again when their families were found because a group would be safer. Victoria nodded her head and gave him a thumbs up as they kept walking through the woods. Victoria and Carl were used to hiking in rougher territory but Sophia was not so Victoria kept her on her back most of the walk.

“Maybe they went to water?” Carl asked.

“Mmm, that’s not a bad idea…plus we’ve been walking for a few hours. Let’s see if we can’t find a creek with running water so we’re not drinking anything stagnant.”

“What’s wrong with stagnant water?” Sophia asked.

“Well…if it’s standing or stagnant water it can hold a bunch of nasty things in it that aren’t good for you. But if the water is running, those nasty things can’t get a hold and live as well.”

They cut through and found a running creek, Carl and Sophia ran down as fast as their legs could carry them to the water. Carl fell to his knees and began to soak up as much water as he could. Sophia gingerly cupped her hands to the river, and then to her mouth.

“Jeez Carl, you act like you haven’t had water in weeks” Victoria couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of her brother's head fully drenched in the river. She fell next to Carl and began to drink from the river as well, when the group was satisfied they decided to follow the rivers trail hoping to find their families.

After a few hours Sophia got tired so Victoria pulled the girl onto her back. It was starting to get dark and Victoria worried about not having shelter. She was relatively strong but wasn’t sure if she could take on more than one of those things at a time.

They made her think of the old zombie horror movies she would watch with her friends but these weren’t zombies they were…different. Victoria could’ve sworn the one she’d killed the night before tried to talk to her. It wasn’t just like the cartoons she’d seen where they just moaned and groaned. They still carried some remnants of life.

“I’m hungry.” Carl's pleas broke Victoria from her thoughts.

“Hmm. We’re coming back up to the road, maybe we can find a gas station or raid an empty car on the highway.”

“Isn’t that stealing?” Sophia piped up from behind Victoria

“Probably. But I don’t think there are any cops on the road and we have to worry about surviving kiddo.”

The group slowly made their way back onto the highway, scoping any source of food in the area. Victoria made sure to keep the kids close since there were crazed people running around. They found a few abandoned cars and were able to get some snacks from them: beef jerky, chips, and some canned goods. Most things people carried preparing for the unknown. This is something no one could prepare for.

“So now what?” Carl's mouth was full of chips, but somehow Victoria understood his question.

“It’s getting dark. We need to find a place to hole up for the night.” Victoria pulled Sophia onto her back as the group weaved through the cars, she tried to shake away the unnerving feeling that kept tugging at her.

They were being watched. “Here, stay here and let me check this RV and make sure it’s empty. If anything happens, scream.” The kids nodded.

Victoria tightened her grip on her hunting knife and crept into the RV, the drivers area and cabin were empty. Despite seemingly finding shelter, Victoria still felt uneasy. As she made it towards the back bedroom, a scream made her whip around and dart back to the street.

“VICTORIA!! HELP!”

Victoria jumped from the RV onto a woman who was trying to attack Sophia, stabbing her several times in the back of the head. “GET. OFF. OF. HER!” The woman crumpled to the ground. Sophia sobbed on the ground and Carl held her. Victoria inspected the woman and she looked the same as the man from the night before, except there was a nasty bite mark on her neck.

“Soph, let me look at you okay? I have to make sure she didn’t hurt you.” Victoria knelt down and let out a sigh of relief when she saw Sophia was clean.

“Hey are yall okay?” A voice came from behind, Victoria spun around and pinned the voice to the car next to them.

“Tori?”

“It’s Victoria, Nathan, you know I hate that nickname…but I sure am glad to see you! What the hell is going on?”

Victoria released her death grip on her friend Nathan. They took Government together and she was the only reason he was passing.

“I don’t know…Hey Tori you’re covered in blood, none of that is yours right?”

Victoria looked down and sure enough, she was covered in the blood of the woman she’d killed. “No no, it’s all that crazy bitches blood I promise.” Nathan’s younger brother Evan ran up and met the group, they were all staying on the road in an RV, somehow missing the herds of crazy people running around.

“Hey big ask but, can we stay with y’all for the night? I’ll be lucky if I get Sophia to leave in the morning but we’re not far from Shane’s truck and I need to find my mom.”

“Yeah sure…wait just your mom?” Nathan shot Victoria a concerned look, her features darkened and her smile became a pursed line. “Oh..yeah of course, my parents love you so we’ll make room. We’re only a couple miles down the road.”

Nathan threw Carl on his back and Victoria kept Sophia close as they walked through the dark, crowded road. They walked in silence, the only noise being Sophia’s muffled cries.

Then the rain started.

“Well at least you’re getting a bath” Carl half heartedly joked “mom wouldn’t want to see you all nasty.” Victoria couldn’t help but smile. Carl was always one to make everyone laugh when things were hard.

“So where were y'all headed?” Nathan shouted over the thunder. That thunder would haunt Victoria forever. If only she could’ve heard them coming.

“Atlanta! Although Shane kept spouting some nonsense about Fort Benning!” She shouted back. Nathan laughed, his dad had the same plan apparently. Although his dad was smart and not an asshole like Shane. She went to ask Evan about school when her steps faltered.

Evan was back behind them, he couldn’t scream because one of those things had bitten through his throat. The sight made her want to vomit. Except there wasn’t just one, there was a whole pack. Tearing his flesh off like paper, tearing through him like his muscles were made of jelly. Victoria could feel the bile raising in her throat.

“EVAN!” Nathan put Carl down and began to make his way to his brother. Victoria stopped him.

“Nate. Nathan! He’s gone.” She choked down a sob, he was only 14. Not much younger than her and not much older than Carl. But he was gone now, just a shell of who he used to be. Victoria made the decision to grab Nathan and drag him away from the growing pack, instructing Carl and Sophia to run ahead.

She didn’t have anything else on her mind but survive. Even though Nathan screamed at her to let him go, he was in a weak state which meant he was easy to drag off.

There was yelling all around her. Sophia screams were mixed with her own terrified screams and Carl was telling Sophia they needed to run and there was no time for crying.

“Nathan, give me your gun.” In their running Victoria noticed a glock on Nathan’s hip.

“What?!”

“Give me your gun Nathan please.”

Nathan stopped running, and fiddled with the holster to give it to her. When one of them came up from behind. Before she could react, a man came up behind Nathan, its jaw snapping his collar bone like a twig, he cried out in pain. Victoria stabbed it in the head and threw Nathan’s arm over her shoulder as they kept running.

“I’m…slowing you down.”

“Shut up.”

Truth be told he was slowing them down. But maybe that lady that attacked Sophia had been bitten after? She’d picked up the tip about aiming for the head from Andrea and that small tip was saving their lives. Everyone was drenched and shivering as the rain continued to pour and the pack kept following them.

“Oh my god Nathan!” An older couple ran up to the group, it was Nathan’s parents.

“What the hell happened?” His father questioned at the sight of his dying son.

“We cannot stop to talk we have to keep moving.” Thunder cracked over their heads, Sophia yelped and grabbed Carl.

“Where is Evan, Nathan, where's your brother?!” Nathan's mothers eyes were wide. Her face was a mix of confusion, pain, and sadness.

“Mrs Carter I’m sorry, we have to keep moving to shelter.” Victoria pleaded, her voice was hoarse from yelling over the storm. But the Carters didn’t keep moving…instead Mrs. Carter began to sob, her voice getting louder and louder. Mr. Carter grabbed her and told her they had to keep moving but it was like she was molded to the ground.

“Mom…mom she’s right we have to go.” Nathan was practically breathless, he was dying. This only made Mrs. Carter cry more and before they knew it the group was surrounded. Nathan threw Victoria away from him as another one of those things took him. He yelled something before he went.

And in an instant Nathan’s body dropped to the ground with the crazy man that grabbed him. Mrs. Carter fell to the ground, holding her hands over her mouth.

“Carl, grab Sophia and run into the woods!”

“Not without you!” Carl cried, holding Sophia’s hand which had a death grip on his arm. “Go, I’m right behind you!” Carl and Sophia darted off into the woods.

Victoria turned back and stabbed another one of those things trying to get away to her brother. The Carter’s held each other as they were surrounded. Victoria did them a favor and shot them both before the dead could get to them. She was just a teenage girl, where had this murderous side of her come from? Sure when she killed those things they were dead but the Carters….

She didn’t take much time to dwell on it; she needed to find Carl and Sophia. Victoria darted into the woods, killing two more of those things because they were in her way.

“Carl! Sophia!” She could hear those things all around her, a lump started to build in her throat. Carl was smart, he’d hide somewhere safe…right? Victoria kept running, hoping the kids ran into their families.

They’d essentially walked in a big circle so maybe they could’ve run into Dale, Victoria was certain he would take the kids in until she found them again. She had to keep her thoughts hopeful or the fear would consume her.

Her thoughts certainly kept her from paying attention. As she ran through the dark woods she tripped on a raised root, spraining her ankle in the process. She rolled into a clearing cursing everything around her. This is just wonderful. Stuck in the woods, separated from Carl and now she had her fucking ankle to worry about.

She attempted to get up and fell back on her ass, cursing at the hot white pain that shot up her leg. Victoria pulled herself back up and clenched her jaw, trying to keep any weight off of her foot.

“Carl! Sophia! Where are you?” She cried out. Crying out from frustration, from pain, from desperation. The storm continued to rage all around her. Then she was knocked to the ground. No. No, no, no, no.

Victoria struggled against the weight above her until she was face to face with a rotting corpse. She screamed out, pulling her arms up to keep its face as far away from her as possible. It tried to snap at her hand, attempting to pull her arms off of its body.

How was it doing that? She wished she could plead with the shell of a man who was trying to kill her. She didn’t see him as a person but truly as “it”. Victoria screamed out again for help. At this point she was begging for any help she could get. Another snap of its jaw, she could feel the hot breath against her neck.

“No, no, no, please.” She begged. In this moment she remembered she had a gun…oh fuck. She’d lost the gun she’d gotten off Nathan when she fell on that stupid fucking tree branch. Her arms were getting tired, she was tired. No. She had to keep fighting. She tried to kick her legs up in hopes of pushing it off.

Victoria pushed the side of its face as hard as she could, it’s cheek sliding off it’s face like hot butter leaving its teeth fully exposed. Blood from his bloodied tongue dripped onto her face, and she lost her grip trying to wipe the blood away from her mouth and eyes.

“Hey!” Its head was picked up and cut off, spraying blood everywhere. Victoria looked up at her savior with wide eyes. He held a machete in one hand and the things head in the other. He dropped the head and extended a hand to Victoria. “You Victoria?” He asked gruffly. She shakily nodded.

“Y-yeah I’m V-ictoria.”

“Good, they’ve been looking for you all night. Carl and Sophia are safe, they told us to look for you by the highway.” Carl and Sophia were safe, thank god. “I’m Daryl by the way.”

Victoria was silent and shaking violently. She was covered in blood, and none of it was hers. Before she knew what was happening Daryl was holding her up as she got sick. She explained to Daryl that she couldn’t walk with her ankle and so he pulled her onto his back and they made their way back to camp.

As the rain started to fizzle out Victoria started to recognize the terrain, and a certain small clearing in the hills.

And just as she’d hoped, there stood Dale at the top of his RV with a pair of Binoculars. He waved someone down when he spotted Veronica and Daryl, Daryl set her down when they got to the RV but she still kept a firm grip on him. He wasn’t much taller than she was. He seemed to have a closed off personality but she felt safe with him.

“Dale!” She hugged him tightly. “Where are the kids?”

“Over there” he pointed to Carol and her mom holding their children. “they’re pretty shaken up, what happened out there? I just saw y’all this morning.” Dale’s face held a strong look of concern.

Victoria’s shoulders slumped, where would she even start? She started to shake again and could feel Daryl grab both her elbows to hold her up. She felt sick again, and shut her eyes tightly hoping it would ease her swimming head.

“Victoria!” Before she could process what was happening, Shane was pulling her into a tight hug. And while the only person she wanted at that moment was her dad, she couldn’t help but break down knowing she was safe the arms of someone familiar.

She held both hands over her mouth as her sobs wracked her body. Everything that had happened in a matter of a couple hours- if that, was finally starting to set in.

Sophia being attacked, the Carters, the man in the woods, the blood. She cringed at the way her thoughts raged through her head. It was almost too much for one person to bare. She accepted at that moment that she would never be the same again, and it absolutely terrified her.

“Shane I- It almost,” Shane shushed her and just petted her hair until she was finished crying. Lori took her and got her cleaned up. Washed all the blood off and got her into clean clothes without question of the horrors she’d just faced. Victoria never knew her mother to be the silent type but maybe after seeing Carl she knew better than to ask.

After she was clean, Lori took her into Dale’s RV and held her while Shane stabilized her ankle. When he was done he left, Lori said that Victoria could stay on the RV couch because she’d be safe until she could put weight on her ankle.

Carl came into the rv and silently crawled into her lap, forcing himself to fit so that she could hold him. She rubbed his back in small circles with one hand and with the other played with his hair. It was something Lori always did for them. And despite how absolutely terrified she was, Victoria could feel her eyelids getting heavy.

Andera came in from her watch and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Victoria and Carl passed out on the RV couch. And while it would be the last time Victoria slept peacefully for a very long time, her adrenaline crash kept the nightmares away this night.

AN: after 50 million years and watching my tutorial just as many times I finally figured out how to copy the link for chapter one! I am actually so sorry for the gore guys but it’s only going to get worse from here I’m afraid😔🙏🏻

Hope yall enjoy regardless of how nasty this story is going to be😁

Taglist: @ebodebo

A/N: Hey yall! First and foremost: If you’ve read this before this no you haven’t. This is my first time posting this Anyways! This is my first long-form story so of course I chose the longest show known to man!

Thank you to my lovely beta reader: @ebodebo (go follow her) for putting up w my constant talk of rewriting (turns out you do need 5 chapters of filler lol) and being my all around soundboard. I’m so excited for the things we have planned! Enough yapping let’s get on with it!

TW: gore, violence, strong language, mature content

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Chapter one- The World Is Ending

August 26th, 2010-

The beeping of hospital monitors haunted my sleep. I’d been spending every night in uncomfortable, plastic, hospital chairs for as many nights as my mom allowed. My father Rick Grimes had been shot in the line of duty 2 weeks ago and had fallen into a coma from the blood loss.

I stayed with him when my mom worked so he wasn’t alone. I’d tell him about school, keep him updated on Carl and read to him, praying he could hear me. A fresh vase of flowers at least made the room bright for when he’d wake up.

But right now I was sleeping, or trying anyway. I could feel a thin hospital blanket on me. Theo, one of the hospital's CNAs, harassed me about taking care of myself and usually I fell asleep fully clothed in their shitty chairs without a blanket.

“Peaches?” The voice behind her made Victoria practically jump out of her seat.

“Jesus Shane….you scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here?” Victoria asked harshly. She never liked Shane, even as a little girl they butted heads. She couldn’t for the life of her imagine why Rick would hang out with him after work.

“Victoria we need to go. Now.” He spoke quickly, making his way to her dads bed and kneeling down beside him. “Rick, if you’re gonna wake up now’s the time man, shits going down and we need to leave.”

“Shane,” Victoria laughed half heartedly “what are you talking about?” Just when she thought he was finally losing it, gunfire started to ring out from outside the door. Shane pulled Nadia down under him as she screamed. Shane covered her mouth and she would’ve bit him in different circumstances.

I mean who the hell would open fire in a hospital?!

Victoria could feel the tears start to well as Shane begged her father to wake up so they could leave, telling him that if we stayed they’d all die. After a few minutes of bargaining Shane picked her up and dragged her out of the room.

“No!” She tried to push against his grip but he was incredibly strong. Victoria kicked and pulled until Shane pushed her into a hallway, begging her to be quiet or else they’d be found. She peaked around the corner, Shane pulled a gurney in front of Rick’s room. There was blood everywhere, screams and gunfire echoed down the hall. Shane grabbed her arm and they ran from the hospital, Victoria broke down when they got to his pickup.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” Victoria hit Shane’s arm as hard as she could over and over and over until she didn’t have it in her anymore. She knew he was hurting too but didn’t care. He left her dad there to die.

“Peaches I had to.”

“Don’t call me peaches Shane. My dad is fucking dead.”

Shane sighed again, the truck roared to life as we peeled out of the parking lot. She stared out the window, thinking of her dad. Would he die? Would they leave a comatose man’s body to sort himself out? What if he woke up and everyone was gone?

Victoria and her father had always been close. She was the stereotypical ‘daddy’s girl’, hell as soon as she was old enough to hold a rifle without falling over she and her dad had gone hunting every season.

He taught her how to cook, she knew all his favorite bands and all the words to every corny song that he absolutely loved. Sometimes when Carl was a baby she and Rick would sneak out and go to the 7/11 down the block just to get candy and rent cheesy movies to watch together….and now they’d never share those moments again.

“We’re here.”

Shane’s voice broke Victoria from her daze, she looked out the window to see her mom and brother already packed up ready to hit the road. “Go’n and pack a bag, I’ll talk to your mama and Carl.”

Carl.

He was only 10…and now he’s going to find out he’ll never see his dad again and the world might be ending?? He’ll never get those moments hunting alone with his dad as the sun breaks the day. Or watch cheesy movies with her and their dad when Victoria would be home from college. She could feel the bile rising once again as she made her way past her family and into her room.

Victoria had a typical 17 year olds room. Honestly, the floor was littered with laundry she needed to do as well as some CDs she’d rummaged through that morning. Her walls were a neon teal, they’d mostly been covered with posters of movies and bands, and paintings she’d created out of boredom. She tried to soak in every inch of her room in case she’d never see it again. As she started to pack she took a Polaroid off her wall.

“Jeez Anthony….you should be at practice right around now. Please be safe.”

She tucked the Polaroid of her and her best friend into the pocket of her backpack and kept packing. Just the essentials: a couple pairs of jeans, some tee shirts, boots, hat, dads hunting jacket, socks…toothbrush? Definitely a toothbrush. A hairbrush and a few notebooks and pens (and some comic books for Carl). She also made the decision to pack her hunting rifle in case they got stuck foraging for food, as well as a heavy knife.

She threw her bag into the back of the truck so that no one would suspect how heavy it was. Her mom and brother were crying into Shane as he had just broken the news. Or however he’d spun the story…but Victoria knew the truth that Shane had abandoned his “best friend”. Shane loaded everyone up into the truck and said they’d be headed to Atlanta and that the military would help them.

“Are we going to die?”

While it was spoken barely above a whisper, the question jolted Victoria out of her daydreamed haze. She looked down at her brother Carl who was laying in her lap.

“No baby. Because I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe, and so will mom and Shane.” Victoria tried her best to reassure him, rubbing his back softly. She’d instructed him to lay in her lap so he couldn’t see the panic that the rest of the world was in.

Before they knew it, they’d left King County and were headed to Atlanta. Victoria fiddled with her cross necklace, Carl had fallen asleep leaving the truck uncomfortably quiet.

The Grimes weren’t really a religious family but Victoria did usually attend Wednesday night Youth Group with her best friend Anthony. The necklace was a gift from him.

Anthony. There he was on her mind again, she’d thought about calling him but Lori demanded she save her battery incase of emergency. Anthony Smith had been her best friend since middle school. They did everything together and were practically attached at the hip when they saw each other. He was a year older than her but that never mattered in how close they were.

Anthony was actually quite soft spoken, and smart as a whip. He was a tall kid, probably standing at about 6’3. He was built like an athlete, but he had to be with Track and field. They actually became friends at a track meet in sixth grade and kept up with eachother daily through AOL and Skype. And obviously only hung around each other at said meets. Anthony’s dad was a PE teacher and Coach so he definitely fueled the athletic fire in both kids. Anthony has always been a sweet kid and even when he was an asshole Victoria could never be mad at-

“Victoria! Get your head out of the clouds I’m talking!”

Victoria jolted in her seat, there she was daydreaming again. Lori was giving her daughter quite the concerned look.

“Where are we mom?” Victoria looked out the window to see full bumper to bumper traffic.

“Outside of Atlanta but as you can see we’re stuck in traffic” Shane answered from outside, with quite an annoyed tone Victoria noticed. She ignored Shane and hopped out of the truck so she could stretch her legs.

“Where’s Carl? I think I threw some comic books in my bag, I’m sure he’s bored out of his mind sitting here.” Victoria looked around and spotted Carl a few cars down playing checkers with a girl who looked to be about his age. She had a short blonde bob and a smile as bright as the sun.

Victoria smiled in amusement and made her way to the car with her mom. “Someone has a cru-ush!” She teased in a sing-song voice. She yelped when Carl turned around and smacked her arm as hard as he could.

“Mo-om!!! Carl hit me!”

“Don’t tease your brother then!” She laughed. Victoria rolled her eyes and fluffed her brother's hair before sitting behind him to watch the kids play. Right as she sat down a woman came from the front of the car with waters. She was a smaller woman with buzzed gray hair.

“Oh! You must be Victoria, I’m Carol!” She had a smile just as bright as Sofias, Victoria made a mental note that they must be related. She smiled and thanked her for the water, and as she took a sip Carl enacted his revenge.

“You say I have a crush on a girl I just met when you’ve been after Anthony since forever.” Victoria showered the back of Carls with the water she had just taken a sip of and was prepared to cuss him out when the commotion started. Bombs were dropping into Atlanta.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Victoria screamed as she pulled the kids down to the ground underneath Carol’s car. She moved her body over the both of them so they would be shielded if anything came down.

The rest of the night was a blur. Shane grabbed everyone’s bags from the truck, grunting as he lifted Victoria's particularly heavy bag. They ran into the woods with Carol, her husband Ed, and Sophia. There were screams in the distance and somehow Victoria and the kids got separated. She held onto both of them tightly. They ran until they came up on a high spot with a small clearing.

“Stop right there.” The shotgun barrel was aimed right between Victoria's eyes. They widened with fear as she put both her hands in front of her slowly.

“Sir, we’re just trying to get off the road…I have two small kids with me, please.”

The man’s aim faltered at the sight of the kids. Victoria rushed him, taking the gun and pointing it back at him. It probably wasn’t her smartest move but she had Sophia and Carl to look out for. There was a shriek behind her and Victoria whipped around just in time to shoot a man who was trying to get Sophia. Wait…what the hell?

Victoria slowly crept up to the man. He looked pale, his eyes were white and glossy and there was fresh blood around his mouth.

“Good aim kid. I’m sorry I pointed that thing at you. I just had to make sure you weren’t like him. The names Dale, you kids can stay with me and the girls tonight and we’ll look for your crew in the morning.” Dale smiled at her warmly, he was an older man judging by his white hair. But he had kind eyes and it was late so Victoria decided he could he trusted for the night.

She nodded, grabbing the kids as they headed into Dale's RV. There were two blonde girls sitting on the couch. One older one younger, Victoria figured they were probably sisters.

“Dale, who are they?” The older blonde asked, glaring at the three kids.

“Easy Andrea, the older one can take out those things like you wouldn’t believe!” Dale smiled back at Victoria. “They’re just staying for the night and…I didn’t get your name sweetheart?”

“Victoria. Victoria Grimes.”

… - - - … … - - - … … - - - … … - - -… … - - - …

When you think youre reading about Cain and Abel but it’s actually about Shane and Rick from The Walking Dead