Author's note: First Walking Dead fanfic, hope you enjoy. :)


She sat in a rocking chair, her young daughter on her lap, singing. She was singing in an attempt to stop her daughter from being too afraid, but how was that supposed to work? There were walkers all around the building, cities weren't the safest places to be, and she knew that at any moment they could break through the door. She looked down into the scared face of her daughter, about 10 years old, and smiled.

"It's ok, we're going to be fine." She said, kissing the girl on top of her head. She stood up, the girl sliding off her lap and walking beside her mother as they went down the steps into the basement where a younger boy was asleep in a pile of old bedsheets on the cold, cement floor.

"Mum, why are they here? What made them?" The girl asked, more curiosity than fear in her jade green eyes. There was still fear, but for this girl, knowledge was far more important than fear. Her mother shook her head.

"I wish I could say. Stay here, I just have to lock the door. I'll be right back."

"Promise?" Her daughter looked at her, a strand of her strawberry blonde hair falling in her face.

"Promise." She smiled, tucking the strand behind her daughter's ear, standing up and crossing over to the door, her own dark brown hair falling in waves down her back. Her daughter took a step forward as she reached the top of the steps. A scream pierced the air as her arm was grabbed, pulling her through the door, a bloody mouth clenching her arm.

"Mum!" Her daughter started running towards her, her son waking up in alarm.

"No! Alex, stay back!" Her voice was filled with fear, but still held a commanding note. She must protect her children. Alex stopped, fear in her eyes as the door shut behind her mum and she heard the outside lock slam shut. Behind her, her brother was crying. She just stood in stunned silence, staring at the door where her mum had been only seconds before.


"Eric, come on!" I hissed. What was it about this boy that made him insist on dilly dallying?

"Just one more minute!" He called back, not seeming to care how much noise he made. I mimed cutting my throat, telling him to be quiet. I didn't think he really understood that even though walkers were dead, they could still hear, they could still find you. It was like their super power. Despite being dead, they were still... alive. I ducked into the store where Eric was eyeing up a Legend of Zelda game, not that he could play it. He still loved it, despite the fact that we had been unable to play any kind of video game for years.

"We have to go now. We have enough food for a while, so come on." I hauled on his arm, pulling him away.

"But –"

"No buts! Walkers will be crawling all over us, feasting on our innards in a minute if you don't shut up and hurry up!" Eric glared up at me, his blue eyes fierce. He always did have the shorter temper of us. He muttered something about annoying older sisters always ruining people's fun and put the game back on the shelf, as though replacing some sort of ancient religious relic, and followed me through the gap in the wall. We climbed to the top of a roof and started slowly making their way back to their home over the roof tops. I had found this the most safe and reliable way of moving around, despite the fact that other living people could see us and follow our movements, possibly even track us back home, which wouldn't be too good. I always did prefer the idea of dealing with a living human to a dead human. You can try to reason with the living, not so much with the undead. We slipped down again and crept into the basement, locking it behind us. I took my time about this task, sliding the bolt across and then slowly putting in place boxes and other objects to assist in the barricading.

"Alex, we have a problem." Eric called out.

"What is it?" I asked, heading down the stairs and looking around at the mess. I swallowed. Evidently our luck had run out. Someone knew we were there, and that meant we were in trouble. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my breathing. I couldn't panic. Inducing an asthma attack would help no one, especially since my inhaler was running out. I looked at Eric and frowned, thinking. He folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Why is it that whenever you're thinking really hard you look at me as though you're disappointed?"

"Huh?" I looked surprised as Eric nodded his head solemnly.

"You do."

"I don't mean to... subconscious I guess," I shrugged and grabbed the two teddy bears from their place in the corner where I slept, "We have to go." I said, shoving them in my pack along with the food Eric and I had collected.

"But not without Lancelot and Percival, huh?" Eric teased. I rolled my eyes.

"There's is method to my madness." Was all I said as explanation.

"Naturally. Now do you get that from Mum or Dad?" I stopped. I knew that Eric hardly remembered their parents, he'd been only four when our mum had been killed and I didn't even know where Dad was, nor what had happened to him. For all I knew he was still alive, but hadn't managed to get back to his home. Either that or he might have not have been bothered returning home. Or he could have returned, found his wife's dead body, all torn and bloody, what few morsels of her flesh that were left hanging out her carcass. It made me feel sick just thinking about it. I shook my head, not answering Eric's question. I knew it wasn't right of me to keep knowledge of our parents from Eric, but I couldn't face telling him.

"We need to get moving."

"You didn't answer my question." Eric glowered and I shook her head.

"Didn't you hear me? I said we need to get moving. Each moment we waste standing here talking is another moment we're in danger. The city isn't a safe place to be, I knew this, but I stayed here because you were too young to move around. Now we need to get out. You're big enough to travel, and who knows when the person who raided us will be back."

"If they'll be back." Eric retorted. I sighed.

"If you found somewhere where it was obvious survivors had been recently, wouldn't you come back and look to see if they had come back, leaving food or something behind them? And even if they were in the place you were raiding, if you had a weapon, wouldn't you kill them? I'm not going to lose you too, Eric." I said, holding out my hand to him. He paused for a moment, then took it.

"You will tell me about Mum and Dad someday, won't you?" He asked. I nodded.

"If nothing happens to us, of course I will." I said.

Never make a promise you cannot keep.

There were some things my dad taught me, despite vanishing so long ago.


"How far do we have to walk?" Eric muttered as we slogged our way through seemingly endless mud in a forest. I looked up at the leaves above them, thinking.

'At least something is still living. Or at least seems to be.'

"I don't know. We walk for as long as we have to. Until we find water. Water is our first problem. Then food and shelter."

"And how long will that take?" Eric muttered, "Do you even know where we're going?"

"No, I don't. And if you're so smart, why don't you lead the way?" I snapped, whirling round to glare down at him. He looked shocked for a second, but he regained composure like a stress ball regained its shape. It was one of the qualities that I admired most about him. He didn't say anything and didn't move, so I turned around and started walking again, ever vigilant for the tell tale groans of a walker. I heard Eric following me, his feet dragging slightly, and my thoughts began to wander again. What would the world be like if the walkers had never arrived? What exactly caused the virus or whatever in the first place? It was almost like a game was being played and someone was purposefully trying to wipe all humans from the face of the earth, only a few surviving, clinging on to what little life was left in the world. Maybe someday they would manage to wipe out all the dead from the world, maybe someday humanity would learn to get along again. Surely there were still some livestock or whatever out there somewhere, in the places where humanity never reached before the end of the world began. Maybe I should try to take Eric to those places, I was sure I had learned about some before the dead started to rise, before Mum died. Some religions actually believed that God would raise the dead. Perhaps this is what was meant? Not the dead rising and going to heaven, but the dead rising and once again walking on the earth, not lying beneath its soil. I looked down at Eric as he tugged on my jacket (well, Mum's jacket before she had died). He pointed into the trees at a group of walkers. I swallowed. I had never done too well when it came to seeing the dead. I had a bad memory of being dropped in my grandfather's coffin by Dad when I was about six. The dead didn't feel all that nice. I hesitantly stepped in front of Eric.

"In my bag. Grab Lancelot and Percival."

"I don't need a teddy bear to hug." Eric said, trying to put on a brave voice, but I could still hear his fear. I took a deep, shaky breath.

"Please, Eric." I dropped the bag on the ground next to him and grabbed a branch off the ground. I had no idea what I was doing and I could feel the panic start to rise and my lungs beginning to struggle, air sticking in my throat. The walkers were starting to move towards us and I adjusted my grip on the branch. I had never actually killed a walker, if kill was the right word. They were already dead. How can you kill something dead?

"Now what to I do?" Eric asked.

"Take the head off." I strained to make my voice sound normal, as though I wasn't having a hard time breathing. Eric stopped.

"Where's your inhaler?" He asked. I wanted to look around, but I didn't. If I took my eyes off the walkers then we would be in trouble. Memories of Mum's death flashed before my eyes and I swallowed.

"Just take the heads off the bears, Eric." A pause, the quiet sound of thin stitches ripping.

"You keep a gun in Lancelot and a knife in Percival?"

"Needed some kind of protection, didn't we? I thought it would be a good place to hide them."

"Where did you even get a gun?!"

"Dad was in the army," I blinked, quietly calculating how far away the walkers were, then spun around, dropping the branch, "Pass them here, quick."

"Do you know how to shoot that thing?" Eric asked, doubt and fear on his face as he handed the weapons over. I shrugged, trying to force the air into my lungs. It wasn't working too well.

"This is a great time to learn, isn't it?" I asked, looking back at the walkers and fumbling to put bullets in the gun. I held it up at, pointing it at the walkers, and shot, missing the first few, getting them in the body, but failing to hit the head. By the time I did get one in the head, I was having problems holding my arms still enough to aim properly, my chest heaving with each strangled breath.

"You need to use your inhaler!" Eric urged from behind me. I shook my head, not even bothering to try and force words out anymore. He tugged my coat again and I could tell he was upset, but I kept firing.

I'm not going to lose you too, Eric.

I collapsed, suddenly finding it hard to see straight and Eric looked into my face, worry in his eyes.

"Where's you inhaler?" He asked, but I couldn't reply. He looked around in panic at the advancing walkers and reached down, taking the gun from my hand, aiming it and firing. He was only ten, but he was already acting far older than I did at that age, was already a better marksman, and he had never fired a gun either. At times it felt like it was him looking after me, and not the other way around. The gun started to make useless clicking noises, showing that it was out of bullets, and the walkers kept coming. Eric looked down at me as I forced myself into a sitting position to try and improve my breathing. I had lost track of how many days it had been since we left the city, but now it was all seeming like a waste of time. We were going to die out here, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I could hardly breathe, all I could think about was trying to stand up so I could deal with the walkers, I had to save my brother. But I couldn't. I was powerless, and it drove me insane. Damn my asthma to oblivion. I looked around in fear as the sound of gun shots rang through the air and the walkers began to fall one by one.