Chapter 1 – Lauren

"I have an idea," I blurted out before my brain woke up could tell me to shut the hell up. Ten pairs of tired, hungry and desperate eyes all turned towards me. Could this slightly crazy idea I have actually save my rag tag family? These are people that I may not have ever considered to be friends, were as important to me now as my own blood family and in this point in time, they were also my lifeline. My parents and brother s are hopefully still alive in New England where I am from, but when the world fell apart I was driving home to Connecticut after visiting friends in Florida. I had made it only as far as Georgia, when alone and scared I got in stuck in a huge traffic jam of people trying to escape the madness. The highway was a sea of cars going absolutely nowhere. There I got to know some of the people in the cars around me. We bonded out of desperation and the need to survive. We learned quickly that you could not stay alive on your own, but always needed someone to have your back. The undead were unpredictable and deadly. That was at least eighteen months ago and a few of us have been together ever since.

"What is it?" Rick asked warily running his hand through his hair. He's our leader. He'd do anything in his power to keep us together and alive. He was a non-nonsense ex-cop who was a natural born leader.

"My family has two vacation cabins in western Virginia. They've been in the family for generations. They should be still there… I think."

"I thought you were from Connecticut?" Maggie asked. Maggie was the sister I never had. She's the only one that I could have been friends with back before this crazy virus started turning people into monsters. I loved her easy going, level headed style of dealing with everything.

"I was... I mean I am, but my great-grandfather was from West Virginia. He was a coal mine owner who made his money and then got out of the business. He moved to Virginia, bought about a couple hundred acres in on the outskirts of the Appalachian Mountains and built a house to raise his family. My grandfather added a separate bunkhouse to accommodate the growing numbers and eventually my father upgraded them both to really nice vacation cabins. We would spend summers and holidays there." Everyone seemed interested so I continued. "No one really lives within four or five miles of us and town is about fifteen miles away, so it's pretty isolated. There's plenty of hunting in the area and the lake was always chock full of fish." I realized I was rattling on as my nerves took over. I looked at everyone and saw hope flash into their tired eyes.

"I haven't been to the cabins in a couple of years, but my family's been there, plus Dad always had a guy keeping an eye on them. If we can get there, we may have a place to live." There I had laid all of my cards on the table.

Rick immediately started plying me with questions, so I knew he was interested. How far away is this? How isolated? Can it sustain all of us?

"Abraham, where's your maps?" I asked. He rummaged through his pack and found the one for Virginia. After Alexandria fell, we had stayed in Virginia but kept on the move trying to find a safe place to stay. So far we hadn't found anything that was good for us that lasted longer than a couple days. It was exhausting going from house to house all the time. The most we had was a week in one place, but that had been over run and we hightailed it out of there.

"Where is it?" he asked. Abraham's military background made him our perfect navigator.

"Let me see" I said. We spread the worn map over the hood of one of cars that we used. I had to get my bearings on where everything was since I normally traveled from the north down to Virginia. "Here" I pointed a town on the western side if the state. "This is it…Danville."

Abraham estimated that it was about three to four hours away…normally, but normal didn't exist anymore. It would take longer depending on what we encountered on the road.

I explained to everyone in a little more detail that the cabins were actually quite large, yet isolated, which is good for us. Less people, less walkers, means less trouble. It was three quarters of a mile drive off a dirt road to get there. The forest surrounded the area. "The best part is my father installed solar panels on the roofs so it produces its own electricity. As long as nothing has gone wrong there, we have electricity and hot water. There are seven bedrooms total between the two buildings. We'd all fit."

"Oh my God" sighed Michonne, "A hot shower. I almost forgot what that feels like."

"When do we leave?" asked Tara. She had only been with our group for about six months, but had become just as important as the rest of my special family.

"I'm not sure I want everyone going that far for something we aren't certain about," Rick drawled. He always had the best interest in the group in mind. Protecting the group had to be done as all costs and for Rick protecting the group meant protecting his son and young daughter too.

"I agree," I echoed. "What if I just go check it out? I think it could be done in a day or two at the most. If they still standing and not overrun, we can all go. Otherwise it's a lot of wasted gas." I was the logical person to go even though I wasn't looking forward to it.

"I don't want you going alone." Rick looked at me with his 'Don't question me, this is how it will be' look. "That's not going to happen."

I looked around at everyone and saw their tired faces, before turning back to Rick. "Who do you want to go with me?"

"I'll take her," said Daryl. "It will be faster and easier on my bike anyway."

I looked at Daryl and my heart damn near skipped a beat. We all were a hodge podge of people from different backgrounds and lifestyles, but we had become a family. It was a closer bond than any type of friendship I had ever had. It was just the way we survived. My problem was I didn't have the slightest brotherly feelings when I came down to Daryl. It was the complete opposite. It hadn't started out that way cause when he and his brother joined our camp by the quarry, they definitely made me feel uncomfortable… especially Merle. Daryl wasn't the type of guy I usual went for, not in the least. I never went for the dark brooding tattooed bad boy before, it was usually the complete opposite, so my heart had my head very confused.

Daryl had certainly changed over time. He used to be angry, argumentative and just not very nice. His brother Merle had been a really bad influence on him. Now that he is gone, Daryl has become his own man. He's no longer in his older meaner brother's shadow. He's a loner at heart, but is there for any of us whenever we need him. I trust him completely, but because my stomach does these little flips when he's around, it's myself that I don't trust around him. The tattoos and continuous pissed off look should have turned me off, but damn it did just the opposite. I had fallen for a guy who probably though t of me only as an annoying little sister. How sad is that?

"It's settled then. You both can go to check it out. Daryl's bike is the best vehicle option anyway." Rick looked at Daryl and asked, "When do you want to leave?"

Hey wasn't this my idea?

"Tomorrow morning… early," Daryl said looking at me. " 'kay?"

Trying not to let my emotions show I simply said, "Okay."

We all set about barricading the house we had found for the night. We put cardboard up over the windows where we could, drew the drapes and made sure everything was locked up tight. Once darkness fell, most of us would go to bed on the early side since there wasn't much to do and we ended up being early risers. I found a few throw pillows that I used with my old sleeping bag that I had off to the side on the living floor It was time to recharge my internal batteries. Little food and sleep kept us all tired and on edge. We needed to find a safe haven and I hoped the cabins would be the answer.

Unfortunately, sleep didn't come easy for me, there was just too much happening in my head. I never talked to anyone about my crazy feelings for Daryl, but I think Maggie suspected something was up. For the first time since we met up all those months ago, it was going to be just me and him. We were going to be relying and counting on each other. He's have my back and I'd have his. I trusted him and his survival skills completely. I'm just not sure I could trust my own heart around him.

After tossing on the hard floor for a while, I finally dozed off and the next I knew the sun was starting to come up. It felt like I had slept for 10 minutes, but it had probably been a couple of hours. I sat up stretching out my stiff muscles and caught Daryl looking at me from across the room. I gave him a hesitant smile.

"Ten minutes?" he softly asked.

"Twenty?" I countered. He nodded his okay.

It took me a few minutes to get my pack together and my sleeping bag rolled up, and by then most of the others had started to stir. I turned to grab some basic food and water supplies, but Carol beat me to it and dropped a few things into my backpack with a smile. I had never met a more deadly den mother than Carol. She would smile sweetly one minute and immediately turn and kill any type of threat to her cubs the next without a second thought.

I walked out of the house to meet Daryl out at his motorcycle. My heart started to beat faster and faster and I felt my palms start to sweat. "Ready?" he asked as he stood next to bike he built from spare parts when we lived in Alexandria. He had holes in both knees of his pants, his right elbow was through shirt that he wore under his leather vest. All of us only had left well-worn clothes that hadn't been washed in a long time. Daryl looked a mess, but it was a gorgeous mess…at least to me.

His pack and crossbow were already secured on the motorcycle as he climbed on and turned the key. I adjusted my pack on my back before I attempted to get on. Rick walked over to us. "Do you guys need any ammo for your guns?"

Daryl said that he was good. "I have a full clip and a backup," I told him. That would have to do. We all knew that ammunition was hard to come by and with Daryl's crossbow and the knives we carried, that would have to be enough.

"Okay then. Come back as soon as you can" Rick said giving me a hug. "Stay safe."

"We will," I replied.

"Let's get going. We ain't got all day," Daryl growled.

"I'm coming, grouchy." I slid behind him on his bike for the first time since I met him. My body automatically brushed up against his back and unless I sat straight up there was no way we were not going to be touching. I hoped he wouldn't be able to feel my wildly beating heart.

Daryl had us starting down the deserted road almost instantly, so I quickly grabbed him around the waist as the bike shot forward. My life and my heart were now in his strong hands. I hoped both would survive this dangerous trip I had us going out on. I honestly wasn't quite sure how this was going to end, but I'd have a damned great time handing onto him in the meantime.