Author's Note:

Before you decide to read ahead at the stories I have posted, a warning: I am a very self-indulgent, self-insert author. In fact, 99.9% of my fics include my self-insert and I'm proud of it. So, if you feel like you can endure it, please proceed!

But please remember: this and every other story that I have written was produced out of pure boredom/fun/crack or just because I felt like it. Therefore, it is NOT perfect. I am not a professional. I cannot guarantee that the grammar is spot on or that you'll enjoy it. But if you decide to stick around for the ride? I appreciate it. But I am, (repeat I am) an amateur writer.

I do hope however; I can entertain you for a couple of hours and maybe get a laugh or two outta ya? I really appreciate all the support you all have given me over the years and I'll continue to try and update when I can.

So, thanks! Thanks a bundle!

ALSO

I own no part of TWD just the characters: Heather and Rye. Thank you!

Much Love.

"You're just like the moon that floats in the sky; No matter how far out I stretch my arms, I can't catch hold of you. I touch the future beyond the darkness, but even if I try to shout, my voice halts, broken. I wonder if they will be conveyed someday, those words I sent riding on the wind."- Star Story (translated), Miku Hatsune.

Relapsing Withdrawal

First Arc: Act One

The sensation of her fleece blanket leaving her side made her flinch. Nose twitching, she inhaled, only to smell scents way too unfamiliar to be her home. That's right; she wasn't home, was she? Damn, what would she give to just wake up and be in her own bed, in her own room? Things simple like that were taken for granted way to easily. Now? She'd kill just to have a bad day as long as it was at home.

Brows quivering and lip curling in the slightest manner, Rye opened her eyes. Forest green walls greeted her as well as a set of tacky wooden furniture. Yeah, this was far from being her apartment. At least at home the carpet wasn't as 'beat up' as it was in this farm home. Ah well, beggars couldn't be choosers right? And at this point everyone and anyone was pretty much a beggar.

A groan at her left caught her attention. Even without her glasses on the bridge of her nose, she glanced down to see her sister slumbering beside her. So Heather was the blanket thief that woke her up? A smile broke out across her cheeks as she studied her sibling's features. Through the blur of her damaged eyes, she could see that her sis was smirking in her sleep. Good, at least the young teacher's aide had some sort of happiness she could resort back to after all this shit had gone down. Things were far from easy, for anyone, but if she could heal just one person's wounds it would be Heather's.

Might as well let her sleep in.

Moving what little amount of fleece blanket that lingered on her legs over to the sleeping female, Rye pushed her tired torso off the floor until she was seated on her knees. Her left arm stretched out to the worn wooden table and extended her fingers out until they found her glasses. Secure in her hand, she pulled the frames to her face and placed them on her ears until her vision became clear to her liking. Once finished, she slowly and in the quietest manner possible, lifted the rest of her body off the carpet. It was about time to survey the area, say her 'good mornings' and greet the day.

'Cause she wasn't sure how many anyone had left anymore.

Thank God Hershel let them stay in the living room during the evening; it sure as hell beat staying outside in the barn with Kenny and his kin. The last thing she needed was to wake up covered in mosquito bites! She'd swell beyond control and without any Benadryl, she was pretty much fucked.

Why the older farmer let her and her sister stay in the house instead of forcing them into the barn was something she'd yet to figure out. Maybe because they were both females? Or was it something else? Ah well, she wasn't gonna argue with it, just roll with it and if anything became fishy, she had ways of getting herself out of trouble. Right?

At least that's what I want to believe.

But, nothing had happened. That was a good thing right? Either way it was in her family's best interest to keep things cordial. The old man seemed pretty open when she, Heather and Kenny's family came around. Best to show as much respect as possible and help out in anyway. If this situation just so happened to become permanent, she needed more friends and less enemies.

After all, Katjaa had told her about the crazies they'd run into on the way down to the farm. Damn, it was hard to believe anyone would actually act that way, then again corpses were up on two feet feeding on living people! What did she have to believe in now? The thought of zombies had always been a fun film plot but this was nuts. Hell, she was pretty sure that pigs could fly at this point.

Making her way through the larger home, Rye ran her fingers through her knotted locks. Ugh, what she wouldn't do for a hair brush! Heather had it good with that pixie cut, even if she did have some wild 'morning hair'. The thought of a shower with some good shampoo and conditioner was sweeter than ever before. Ha, the times when she was five and proclaimed she could go a year without washing was far gone by now. Damn, things were good back then.

After a moment or two of manual maintenance, the four eyed female found herself at the Greene's front door. Only hesitating for a second, she reached forward and placed her fingers around the cold knob. Even opening doors was a risk nowadays and that went without mentioning the social anxiety that was flowing through her veins. She was supposed to be making her pills last but things weren't exactly getting easier, if they could just get to a pharmacy…

No, don't think about it, just keep swimming!

Pushing any lingering thoughts to be back of her mind, she proceeded to open the heavy door. The morning light hit her face, warming her skin and bringing a grin to her features. Ah, at least the sun was still rising, right? A gust of lukewarm wind hit her, the smell of hay and wood filling her senses made things almost seem normal. Maybe, if for a second, she closed her eyes and pretended, things could go back to the way things were.

How many nights has she stayed up, with her eyes shut, imagining that she was in her own bed? Facing the wall, which had been covered with posters of her favorite animated shows, listening to the fan that she turned on every night, and curled up with her most treasured blankets? And if she thought, pretended, imagined enough, she would open her eyes and things would be… normal.

Slowly, she allowed her eyelids to open. Instead of finding herself standing in her apartment doorway, she stood in front of an unfamiliar plot of land. Ugh, should she really be complaining? After all, compared to a lot of others, she had it good right now. A warm place to sleep, the company of a kind family and her sister. Things could be worse…a lot worse. She had to appreciate what she had right now because by tomorrow things could be completely different. She could do this, Heather could do this and more importantly, they could do this together.

"Ah Rye, there you are."

Said woman flinched at the sound of her name. She straightened out her back and looked to the left to see Kenny standing a few good feet from her. A smile instantly appeared on her face and she felt her stiff posture relax. The last person she needed to run into was Hershel; even though he was more than willing to allow her and her sister into his home, he sure did a lot of interrogating last night. It was hard enough to deal with strangers under normal circumstances when she had her meds but now that she was limited and forced to socialize? Ugh it was a recipe for disaster.

Sure, for the most part Kenny was a stranger but at least she'd had a few days and nights of getting to know him. Plus he never glared at her when she started to stutter or fidget about, while the older famer shot her a frown even when she was being completely honest.

"Hey, good morning." She spoke, her eyes darting away from his for the moment being.

"Afternoon actually," He responded with a chuckle.

"How'd you guys sleep last night?" Rye felt her chest tighten as her eyes found their way back to the fishermen's face. "I doubt it's too comfortable sleeping in a barn."

"You're telling me." He said with a sigh, "But it was good enough, better than risking it at the side of the road like we did the night before."

"Having you pull another all-nighter was kinda out of the question too," The younger female felt her brows furrow at the top of her forehead. "Falling asleep at the wheel was the last thing we needed."

Ah poor guy, after she and Heather had joined his family, he'd busted his ass trying to make it on the road with zero sleep. Eh, he was pretty persistent but then again he did have his wife and kid with him. His ego was probably hitting him pretty hard, not being able to defend his family against all the world had to throw at him now.

"Tell me again how you got Hershel to let you and Heather sleep in the living room?"

Before she could contain it, a few stray giggles escaped her lips. "Heather can be quite charming when she wants to be."

"That makes sense." Kenny shifted his weight to his left side. "So, she still sleeping then?"

"Yeah," Rye glanced over her shoulder, eyes landing on the inside of the Greene home. "Better let her rest up, who knows when she'll get sleep like this again."

"Not a bad idea." The older male cleared his throat, catching her attention and forcing her to look back in his direction. "Oh, I wanted to tell you. We have a new guy."

"Really?" Her right brow arched.

"Yeah, apparently he showed up pretty late last night." He then focused his attention squarely on her face, her eyes in particular. "He's got a kid."

Her features relaxed. A kid? Like Duck? That had to mean this guy wasn't a bad one, didn't it? Ugh, so many questions! And seeing as Kenny was here, warning her about this stranger that probably meant that he wanted her to meet this guy. Wonderful, another new face to have her shaking in her skin.

You have to do this.

"How old?" She fought back her urges to turn tail and run and gripped her fists at her sides.

"Well, she seems to be around Duck's age. Seven or eight, I think."

She? This kid was a girl, a little girl? This was new for sure. "At least Duck will have someone to hang with; maybe it'll take some of his mind off this crap."

"Here's to hoping." He said with a shrug.

"Did you already talk to this guy?" Rye exhaled, even if all the adrenaline in her veins pulled beyond control. She had to keep it together, she had to act calm. No one had to know she had issues.

Not yet.

"We had a few words," Kenny turned his body to the right, obviously ready to take her to this new survivor. "He seems strong enough, if we play our cards right we can keep him around long enough to get rid of anything that gets in the way."

That was one way of thinking. "What about his daughter? Is she okay, I mean mentally?"

"Hm," He gave her his back, shoulders slumping ever so slightly. "The girl's not his kid. He said he ran into her while getting away from some Walkers."

"What about her-"

"Not sure," He moved his chin over his shoulder and locked eyes with her. "You'll have to ask him."

Really? He was going to leave it to her, the person with the worst social anxiety of the group to ask the new guy what his deal was? Fucking wonderful, then again how could the hick know any better, she was kinda keeping it a secret. Shit.

Here goes nothing.

Kenny turned forward once more, and stepped out on to the farmland. So, she was supposed to just follow? Whatever, fine. If she was going to keep her mental problems a secret, from anyone besides Heather, then why not try and act normal. How many times had she heard her father tell her that if she wanted to be normal then she was supposed to act like it? When she was in high school, her dad's advice sounded more like harsh criticism but it kinda made sense now, didn't it? He meant the best for her, even if it didn't sound like it back then.

Her mind running through a thousand different second thoughts, she proceeded to follow the older male regardless. It was pretty obvious he wanted to keep the 'new guy' around for the time being, so it was probably best to get used to him and the kid. Besides, if he was gonna stay around, it was best if she met him first, she had to do a bit of investigating before Heather woke up. She'd be damned if she was gonna leave Hea around some creepy pedophile. Not to mention the kid, that really wasn't his, also needed to get away from him too.

Rye fought her way back to reality when she found herself rounding the house. Only about two feet behind the Florida-bound man, she focused her attention on any new faces she saw first. The taller of the new strangers caught her eyes first. Glancing in his direction she felt her stomach knot when his eyes fell on her as well. Tall, well-built and with a stern frown she felt a twinge of surprise; this was not the guy she thought she'd see. He was relatively attractive, nowhere near the scary image of the creepy, old, balding, white guy she had envisioned. Hm.

At his side, and rather close to his left leg, stood a tiny girl. Cute as a button, her features were soft, large eyes and pink cheeks. And that hair, how adorable! It was close to what her father would call a 'rat's nest', although most of it was hidden under an adult-sized hat. Yeah, it was pretty plain to see that this kid was not related to the black male. She was far too fair and delicate.

"Good morning, Rye."

The former school secretary stiffened. Following the sound of the more gentle tone, she pulled her eyes away from the stranger and girl until she landed on Katjaa and Duck. The duo was seated on a few wooden crates, no doubt enjoying whatever peace they were having. A smirk broke out on her features, even if her heart was going about a hundred miles an hour.

"Hey, sleep well?"

"As well as expected, thank you." Katjaa shot her a small, tired smile.

"Morning, Duck," Rye's eyes bounced over to the lone boy.

"Hey Rye!" He beamed and spoke in a voice way too excited, given the situation. "Is Shawn or Heather awake yet?"

Seeing the kid's grin and tone slowed the beating muscle in her chest cavity. At least someone seemed lively, maybe it was a blessing in disguise even if the boy could be a little on the talkative side. "I'm not sure about Shawn but Hea's still sleepin'. She's trying to rest but I'm sure she'll be up in twenty minutes or so."

"Kay."

"Rye," Kenny's voice caught her off guard, she turned to the sound of his voice, only to find the two new comers approaching her fast. "This is Lee." The capped man nudged his chin in the taller male's direction.

Lee? Hm.

"H-hello Lee." She swallowed the lump of spit on her tongue.

"And your name is?" He spoke finally, his pitch never seeming sad, mad, happy or suspicious.

"Rye," Her chin ducked down, eyes moving away from him. "Rye Matthews."

"Nice to meet you Rye," His tone took a change for the lighter, bringing her vision back to his face. His deep set frown had flipped in the slightest manner, leading to a half-assed smile. "This is Clementine," He turned down to the small female attached to his side.

"Hello," The girl gazed up at her through her thick set of lashes.

Why did this guy seem familiar? Had she met him somewhere before or something? Then again she and Heather always had a habit of bumping into the same set of people when going to Target. Maybe he was someone they often saw but never talked to, either way there was something about his face. Now the real question was whether to ask him up front if they'd met before or not. Then again, if she had met him somewhere along the lines, when things were normal, wouldn't he be the first of them to say something? Guys usually didn't hesitate about those types of things, right?

"So I heard you got to sleep in the house last night," Lee's smile grew as he shifted his weight to his right leg and crossed his arms over his chest. "Lucky break."

"Yeah," Her arm lifted to her face, fingers pushing back a stray hair that had drifted its way across her cheek. "Sure beats sleeping in a cramped truck or barn."

The low rumbles of both older men laughing made her face burn hot. Oh geez, did she actually crack a joke and not look like an idiot? Add to the fact that they thought it was funny! Shit! Then again they could be laughing just to humor her. Ugh.

"Kenny told me that he and his family are up here from Florida," Lee broke from his chuckles only to turn the subject on her. "Are you from here or just visiting?"

"Well, Heather and I are originally from California," She spoke, even if her voice sounded a bit hoarse and strained from all her adrenaline ups and downs. "But we moved to Georgia about a year ago. My mom, dad and youngest sister still live in Cali."

"Where about in Cali?" He tilted his head, smirk never fading.

"Bay area," She inhaled via her nose, her best home remedy for keeping it together. "Nowhere special in particular, not like the city or anything."

"Lee here says he's from Macon," Kenny locked his knee in her direction.

"Cool," Rye nodded. "So did you two get to the farm without any problems?" She looked down at the small girl and smiled. "You aren't hurt or anything?"

"No," Clementine eyes fluttered back and forth between her and Lee.

"I…uh, ran into some trouble but I'm okay." Said man released his arms from across his chest and moved his leg, which had been wrapped in bandages, about.

"Eh," She flinched, damn it was kinda swollen. Should he be walking or even standing for that matter? "Are you going to be okay? Did you get it cleaned out?"

"Yeah, Hershel fixed it up with some peroxide, it should be fine."

"Good." Kenny gave a small bob of his head.

Damn, was now the moment she mention that they had some Motrin stored away in Heather's backpack? They wouldn't be mad would they? Fuck. What was worse, letting someone suffer from pain and swelling or taking a risk and being social? What if they yelled at her or something?

While grinding her teeth together in her mouth, her eyes wandered from Lee's wounded leg and over to the girl he had beside him. She appeared to be pretty attached to him already, how long had they been traveling together? Either way, if she wasn't afraid of him then it was a good thing, right? She appeared clean, given their situation, and well fed, maybe he was a good guy. And if he was someone she could trust then not giving him help when he needed it could only spell trouble for her and Heather. Best get on his good side until he gave her a reason not to.

"You know," Rye cleared her throat, catching the group's attention. "Heather has some Motrin, do you need some? It'll help with the pain and swelling."

The moment her final words fell from her lips, she felt all eyes on her. Not just Kenny, Lee or Clementine's but Katjaa and Duck's as well. Staring at her, almost like she'd spoken a different language or said something super offensive. Aw man, why did she have to say anything, she could have always waited until Hea was awake then asked her sister to offer the meds! Ugh! Why couldn't she wait a few minutes?!

Just as her cheeks began to flow a rather bright shade of pink, Lee broke his silence and awkward gawk with another smirk. "That would be nice."

She felt her body grow limp and her head sink between her shoulders. "No problem."

"Where the hell did you get Motrin?" Kenny turned to her, his voice a bit louder than she would have appreciated.

Swallowing all the excess saliva in her mouth she turned to the man that had saved her life and bit down on her bottom lip. "From trips Heather and I made to a pharmacy near our apartment complex."

"So that's what you've been hiding in that knapsack of yours," Kenny placed his hands to his hips. "I hope you were gonna offer us some if we needed it," He said almost in a joking manner as he gestured back to his wife and child.

"Of course," Rye released her lip from her teeth. "I did share what food we had left, right?"

"We wouldn't forget that," Katjaa spoke from the left, her voice as soft as ever.

"You had a store right next to your house?" Clem's high pitched voice entered the air. "That's really lucky!"

"Yeah," She looked away from the group, sweat now beginning to fall down the side of her face. "If we ever get a second chance at life, I wouldn't mind getting another place across the street from a drug store."

"How did you manage that?" Lee cocked a brow. "It couldn't have been easy."

"No, of course it wasn't but we did have a lot of things going for us." She turned back to the group. "Before we were living in a large apartment complex that was divided into two separate halves. When the outbreak happened our entire lot was evacuated to a local elementary school but Heather and I stayed behind."

The male with the wounded leg narrowed his eyes at her, "Why?"

"It just seemed like a good idea at the time," She explained, her heart beginning to ache; whether it was from her anxiety or painful memories she wasn't sure. "We thought because we were on the second floor, it would be harder for the Walkers to find us. Plus, we figured that after everyone else had gone we could go into different apartments and take anything we needed. Food, meds or supplies."

"How'd that work?"

"Fine, for a while." The young woman extended her right arm across her torso, her hand grabbing and holding tight to her left elbow. "But we never expected that breaking into other apartments would make so much noise. Even with our gated parking lot, it was really hard to keep them out. Eventually the first section of the complex was infested."

"Even with the gate, huh?" Lee's brows furrowed while his frown returned.

"It was an electronic gate, meant to open with a button from a resident. But within the first hours of infection, the power was cut and the gates were shut closed. So Heather and I used the manual walk-though gate to get in and out." Rye felt sweat gather in her palms. "The problem with that was, someone always had to stay on to inside of the complex so the door would open because it was locked from the outside. Heather made the majority of the trips to the store and I stayed to open the gate for her."

"But it didn't work for long, did it?"

"Does it ever?" Kenny replied to Lee with a sigh.

"One day when she was out and I had to open the gate for her, we got mixed up, panicked and we both got locked out. After that we didn't have much of a choice but to leave. The gate was way too hard to climb and if we tried to bust our way through…we couldn't risk the noise."

"I see." Lee nodded. "Did you happen to get anything good from that last pharmacy trip? Anything we could use?"

"Hea happened to snag a few bottles of Motrin," She glanced away from the adults as the lie slipped through her lips, pretending her anti-anxiety pills were pain killers for now, she couldn't tell them the truth just yet. "She also grabbed some snacks, bandages, water; you know little things like that. If we had more time, I would have asked her to take more meds. I never thought we'd have to leave the complex."

"Things have a habit of working out differently from how you planned." Katjaa exhaled through her nose, her right hand busy stroking Duck's head.

"We were traveling down the road when Kenny saw us." Rye turned to said man and shot him a smile. "I have no idea where we'd be if he hadn't picked us up."

"I am sorry about how things turned out," Lee's voice caught her attention once again. "What you had at your apartment seemed pretty nice."

"Eh," The four-eyed female shrugged her shoulders. "The food in everyone's fridges was going bad anyway, without power and everything. Hea and I got out, that was what was important. But for a while when we were there, the three of us had it good."

"Three?" Clementine tilted her head to the right.

Shit, did she really just say three? "Yeah," Rye smiled down at the smaller girl. "There were three of us, but it's just Heather and I now."

"Oh."

"Don't worry about it," She made sure to wink in Clem's direction.

It hadn't been that long, had it? Hell, she'd lost track of how many days or even weeks it had been since everything went to hell. Minutes felt like hours and hours like days; it was almost torture to remember exactly how long it'd been. Especially without their third party. Damn, things were so…different now. Things were going to turn around! They had to! The military would swoop in and vaccinate everyone with a cure, no doubt! Real zombie apocalypses were stuff right out of books and cheaply made horror flicks, this wouldn't last forever, surely.

But at least for the time being, she and Heather had some company; social anxiety or not, it was kinda nice to talk to someone other than her sister. It was just a matter of summoning the courage to break the ice.

Act End.