Prologue

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A groan echoed through the room as sirens blared outside disturbing the sleep of its sole inhabitant, a woman barely into her thirties who went by the name of Tessa Harm.

"Momma."

Tessa, who had cocooned herself in blankets, peered out from her shelter of colorful fabric, looking at the young child who stood at the foot of her bed in his little blue feetie pajamas. It took her a moment to break out of her sleep induced stupor to realize that it was indeed her child standing there.

"Baby, what're you doin' up?" With a bit of struggle due to the massive amount of sheets restricting her, she sat up, rubbing at her bleary eyes before looking over at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

"Door." The little boy uttered and when he received a confused look from his mother, he repeated himself and then pointed in the direction of the front door of their tiny apartment which was settled above the bakery that she owned. "Knock, knock." Almost as if that was the cue word, there was a loud bang on the door which caused the woman to jump up in shock.

"Dakota, stay here." She told her son who watched as she threw on her robe and made her way across the hall and down a flight of stairs to the front door but not before grabbing the baseball bat that was leaning against the wall beside her bedroom door.

Just as she was going to lean in to look through the peephole, her door jolted as something on the other side bashed against it making her take a step back in fright. She waited a moment before gathering her courage once more and took a peek through, letting out a gasp when she saw a pale face staring back.

The person looked dead.

That was the best description she could possibly think of. Just dead; no color to his eyes, a pallid complexion as if there was no blood running underneath the surface of his skin, and there was the cringe worthy way that he let out an inhuman sounding grunt before knocking himself into the door.

More sirens sounded in the distance and she stepped back from the door, double checking that the locks were secure as she walked backwards slowly, not taking her eyes off the door, only stopping to flinch when the thing outside assaulted her door once more.

When she felt the back of her ankle hit the first step, she turned to dash up the stairs and ran into her kitchen, grabbing the phone off the hook immediately dialing 911.

"911, what's your emergency?" A woman's voice answered after a few rings.

Trying to gather her breath as well as her wits, Tessa calmly said. "There's someone outside my door. They've repeatedly run into it and I don't know if they're trying to break in or not…"

She must've sounded more frantic than she thought because the woman on the other line attempted to ease her worries. "Don't worry, ma'am. Have you locked your door and any other entrance to your home?"

She scurried around her house, checking to make sure that every window was shut and locked before answering. "Yes, nothing is open."

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I can't send a unit out right away, we've had quite the number of calls tonight, but just tell me your address so I can double check it and I'll send one as soon as they're available." Her home address slipped out of her mouth automatically and she hung by the window of her kitchen as she heard the operator tapping away at a keyboard. "If you would like, ma'am, I can stay on the line with you until an officer has arrived."

When another bang resounded from her front door, she nearly dropped the phone, but then a scream erupted from the streets below and she just about jumped out of her skin as the phone clattered to the ground and her son came rushing into the kitchen shouting frantically for his mother.

Tessa scooped him up in her arms and held her to him as she peered out the blinds of her window, the air in her lungs seemed to disappear as she watched a woman being attacked by another person, one who had the same dead look as the thing that was at her door. The sound of her screams seemed to attract a few more of the creatures and there was a whole group of them around her in a matter of seconds, ripping her apart.

Dakota whimpered in her arms and he tightened his arms around her neck. She paced back and forth, the phone forgotten on the floor, and she made her way into the living room, switching on the TV which was already set to the local news channel.

"We urge everyone to stay indoors at this time and avoid any contact with those who seem to be experiencing any of the following symptoms: headaches, fever, stomachaches, hallucinations…"

She stood there and watched as the screen displayed several incidences within the last couple of hours where a person, who was supposedly dead, came back to life and started to attack those around them.

"How did it get this bad…" She mumbled as she flicked off the television, her stomach in knots.

Thinking back to the past couple of days, there had been several news reports about an unknown virus running rampant in a few foreign countries and even a few cases had been reported here but they were all called 'isolated incidents', 'nothing to worry about', 'it'll be contained'…

What was going on just outside of her home was anything but 'contained' and despite the news anchor's warnings to stay inside, she wanted to do anything but that. With a firm nod of her head she decided on her course of action and set her son down, instructing him not to go anywhere before she ran around her apartment packing whatever she thought they might need.

Within twenty minutes she had a large suitcase packed with clothes for her and Dakota as well as an extra pair of shoes each and bathroom essentials. Anything that she couldn't fit in the suitcase went into an old canvas backpack and all of the things that Dakota might need went into a little backpack of his own.

She raced to get herself and Dakota dressed, reassuring Dakota that everything was fine as she put on his tiny sneakers.

"Dakota, sweetheart, listen to mommy…" She cupped his chubby cheeks in her hands and stared into his watery green eyes that reflect her own. "Mommy will be right back, all right? I need to go put the suitcase in the car and then I'll be right back for you. I don't want you to go anywhere."

He looked confused, but otherwise didn't make a peep as his mother lugged the suitcase to the living room window of their apartment which led to a fire escape that dropped her directly down into the alleyway where her car was.

She double checked everything and sent one last look to her son who stood there clenching at the straps of his backpack. "I'll be right back." She repeated before heaving the window open and making her way down the fire escape, trying to make as little noise as possible.

There were none of the creatures in the alleyway and with a bit of struggle, she managed to get both herself and the suitcase to her car without attracting any attention. She hoisted the suitcase into the trunk of her car and closed the trunk as gently as possible.

As she was making her way back up the fire escape, her heart leapt into her throat when she heard the distraught cry of her son. She couldn't get up the fire escape fast enough and when she made it back into her apartment she saw that the thing that had been at her front door had managed to make it into her home and now cornered her son who was crying out for her.

"Dakota!"

A strength came from within her that she didn't even realize she had and she couldn't even remember hitting the creature in the head. She seemed to have simply blinked and she was standing in the middle of her living room with the wooden bat in her hand, bloodied and splintering. The creature remained as a crumpled mess on her floor, its head caved in and no signs of it getting up again.

Dakota was clinging to her leg and crying, his small body convulsing as he struggled to breathe. She dropped the bat and picked him up, muttering soothing words into his ear to calm him down, knowing that she didn't have much time.

Those things would make their way here with all the noise and she may have managed to take out one, but she was sure that she wouldn't be as lucky if there were more. "We gotta go, baby." She told him.

His sobs were muffled by the fabric of her sweatshirt and he clenched at her arms, not knowing if she was going to put him down or not, but refusing to let her if she were.

With her bag secured to her back and her son in her arms, she made her way down the fire escape again already hearing the inhuman groans as they converged towards her.

Dakota didn't struggle when she put him in his car seat as he normally would and her hands shook making it difficult for her to buckle him in regardless. When it finally clicked into place, she leaned in and kissed his forehead before rounding the car to the driver's side.

She nearly froze in place when she saw a few staggering towards her at the entrance of the alley, but was quick to shake herself from the trance. She locked the doors as soon as she got in and buckled up. She peered in her rearview at her son who was desperately trying to calm himself down and then focused behind him where a few more were coming from the back of the alley.

Her car sputtered to a start as she turned the key in the ignition and with a small prayer she floored it, not caring that her car acquired a few more dents when she clipped two of the creatures.

"M-momma." Dakota hiccuped in the back and she was hasty to pacify him with gentle words.

"It's all right." She told him as she sped down the street. "We're okay, Dakota."

She didn't know where she was heading, but once Dakota had fallen asleep she turned on the radio which was nothing but safety advisories.

"A safe-zone is being set up in Atlanta…"

She twisted the tuner as the audio fell to static and grew frustrated when she couldn't regain the signal. "All right…" She muttered to herself. "Atlanta it is."

Hello everyone!

here and I'm collaborating with bestroreedus88 on this story!

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Also, shameless self-promotion: I've written two other TWD fanfics on here by the name of Protector and Dearest, if you guys wanna go check those out ;)

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