Hello there, you lovely people. I am here once again with another story. As for my other story, Scud's Pixie, I have not forgotten about it or gave it up. I am just at the moment a bit stuck as to how I want to continue it. But I will have another update for it up pretty soon, and hopefully can continue it. Possibly when my school and work schedule is not so crazy. As for this story, The Walking Dead is one of my all times favorite television show. And I have seen stories where the original character got with either Rick, Carl, Daryl, Glenn or even Shane. Sometimes I see where they paired them with Maggie, Michonne, Andrea or even Beth. And I love all of them, anything Walking Dead related I am 100% on board for it. Anyways, back to what I was saying, I've read all these love interest stories and I thought about doing something a tad bit different than that.

This story is based around the main character, which is my original character Alessa. My goal for this story is for it to be a tad bit different, and hopefully it can continue having your attention and interest. If it doesn't keep either one of them, that is all right with me. I am not going to force and of you to read through my stories if you do not want to. *creeps up behind you all with duct tape and a computer chair*

Well, enough of be rambling on about honestly nothing in particular, and on to the story. I hope you all like it. And also, feel free to leave comments. I love looking at you lovelies feedback. :3

Chapter One: Introduction

Alessa knew their supplies would run out sooner or later.

The young girl sat on the floor with her back pressed to the wall, her knees hugged tightly to her chest. Her chin rested between the space of her knees, looking over what her mother, who stood by the front window of the building they were hiding out in, looking carefully out it. With one hand she was using to push the curtains out of the way to look outside while the other held a grey handgun, which was dropped by a poor fool that tried to take on a swarm of the creatures outside.

Atlanta was supposed to be a safe place for the people that were left unaffected by the sudden virus outbreak that swept across the United Sates, causing a worldwide pandemic. This virus was not like anything anyone had experienced before. It spread quickly, infecting thousands, showing no remorse to the innocent lives it was destroying in its path. From watching firsthand what could happen once a person was infected, the symptoms were frightening but extremely odd in a way.

From the first hour of the infection, the person would have pain and discoloration around their wound. Within the fifth hour the person will develop of fever that could range from 99 degrees Fahrenheit to 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Along with the fever, the person will also experience the chills, slight dementia, acute pain in their joints, and have excessive vomiting. Hour eight is where the fever escalates from between 103 degrees to 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Also within hour eight of being infected the person will experience an increase of their dementia, having numbing of extremties, numbing of the infected area, and a loss of muscular coordination. During the eleventh hour paralyzation of the lower body will commence, causing overall numbness of the body, and the person's heartrate will slow. By the time the sixteenth hour occurs, the infected goes into a coma. Once hour twenty is reached, the heart stops completely and there is no longer any brain activity. The twenty-third hour is the one to fear. During this hour, reanimation happens.

Everything happened so fast; one minute she was a normal fifteen-year-old girl, coming home from school with plans of spending the weekend over at her best friend Rhion Sullivan's house, and the next she is thrown into a new dangerous world.

While back at her hometown, piling extra pairs of clothing into her backpack, knowing she was about to leave everything she ever knew behind, Alessa had a gut feeling that something was not right with the refugee camp stationed in the city of Atlanta. But she decided to keep her mouth closed tight, and keep her opinion of the camp to herself, for the sake of her mother, whom had all the faith for the both of them that this so called camp would keep them safe until whatever it was happening around them was over, and that the Military would not fail them.

Before all forms of radio signals were cut off, the radio inside her mother's car kept repeating the same message over and over. One part was to keep far away from the infected, that they should no let them touch or any shape of form, if you decided to not leave your homes keep everything locked up, and all outside request to get in were expected to be denied. Alessa did not like the fact the rule was the same with friends or family. The radio also announced the whereabouts of the refugee camp and what a person would expect on arriving.

It was stated that when survivors arrived at the camp they would be lead to a place where they would be given a vaccine to fight off against whatever the virus was. You would have your own tents to do as you please while waiting for the situation to be blown over. Protection, food and water would also be provided. Even though food and water was said to be provided, Alessa rolled her eyes when her mother packed extra food and water in their bags along with the few articles of clothing they already had stuff inside of them.

At first before seeing what this unknown virus could do with her own eyes, Alessa believed that people in the world had finally gone crazy. Possibly even crazier than what they were before, seeing as how they added cannibalism to their act. Watching a bit of the news before her mother would turn it, never being one to be interested in what was going on through it, the young girl would always see glimpses of a video inside this isolated room. It would always be a person growling like an animal, their body wrapped tightly in what appeared to be a straightjacket, while running back and forth into the walls of the small room. What would always shock in the small time see saw it was when the lunatic would break free from the straight jacket, throwing themselves harder against the walls of the small room, finally having security come into to stop them before they got hurt. It would always end with the person attacking the security, the said security would be screaming for help as the crazy person started scratching at them or taking bites at them, and then her mother changed the channel to something she thought was more suitable for her to watch.

These people weren't people. They were these hollow shells of who they once were, replaced with something that brought them back as beast who craved nothing but warm flesh. It was hard to believe, and Alessa still did not want to believe it, but these people were the living undead. Zombies if you must say, even though the young girl did not like that term for them. She had much rather use the term she made up, which was simply "Freaks."

Her mother preferred to use a nicer term for the undead creatures walking among them. Whereas Alessa called them Freaks, Isabella referred to the creatures as "The Unluckies."

The two of them had been trapped inside the city of Atlanta for weeks now, hiding out in what was originally a post office. Alessa's gut feeling was something she wished she never had on her and her mother finally arriving to the city.

Everything was in ruins; bodies of the dead and undead littered the streets, the tall sky scrapper like buildings were left in destruction (it look as if someone had dropped bombs on the whole city), cars were left abandoned, and there were no signs of any type of camp ever being there. It was just them and the dead.

Somehow by the Grace and the protection of God, or whomever it was looking out for people nowadays, both Alessa and her mother made it towards the post office without the creatures getting to them. After making it inside the run down building, the duo made sure every part of it was secure and the dead outside could not find a way inside.

Now after weeks of being able to not see them, but hear them groaning and shuffling outside, they would have to venture out of the safety of their hideout to face the dangers of the outside world once more to look for more supplies. Alessa regretted taking the last bit of their food supply, a single cup of pineapples that could have been shared between both her and her mother. Yet Isabella told her daughter to go on and eat it, and that she would be fine. She mentioned that Alessa's needs came before her very own, even during the outbreak happening around them.

Isabella kept watching through the window as the creatures shuffled along until she could see no more surrounding the street in front of the post office. She assumed it was safe for both her and Alessa to venture out and begin their search for more needed supplies. Letting the window curtain fall from her hand the thirty-eight-year-old turned back to look over at her daughter, seeing the blue-eyed girl already staring at her.

The older brunette knew this was frightening for her young daughter, it was even frightening her own self. Even if fear was great inside her, Isabella knew they needed more supplies to survive. Because they would try to leave the city one day, and when that day happened, they would need as much supplies as they could get. Looking down at the grey handgun she held in her hand, Isabella checked the chamber to see if she had enough bullets if they were needed to be used. After checking and being pleased with the ammo she had, the older brunette closed the chamber back before clicking the safety off.

Isabella looked towards her daughter once more, offering a soft mom smile in hopes of getting a smile in return, but was only met with the blank stare that Alessa had developed over the course of the weeks they had been holed up in the post office building. Sighing a little bit, the mother walked across the floor to reach her daughter, and crouching down to be at eye level with her daughter while placing her gun on the floor beside her.

"Are you ready to go, baby girl?" Isabella asked her daughter softly, reaching an arm out to push some Alessa's long, brown hair behind her ears.

She could lie and tell her mother that she was, and a few thousands of Freaks were a piece of cake to handle, but her nerves were far greater than her trying to be tough for her mother. Shaking her slightly while looking down at the floor, Alessa only replied with, "No."

"Hey, come on, I'm not going to let them anywhere near you." Alessa believed her mother, but every bad possible outcome was running through her head at 90 miles an hour with no intentions of stopping. "It'll be an in-and-out thing. We go through a few stores to find some food and water, then we come straight back here."

"How can you be so sure they won't be there waiting for us?" Alessa questioned while looking up from the floor, staring into her mother's brown eyes. That was the one thing that the young brunette found amusing on both her and her mother's appearance. Both shared the long, brown hair that came from the McGarner side alone with the very fair colored skin, the slight plump lips with an elegant facial structure. The only thing they did not share was eye color. Alessa had blue eyes while her mother had brown eyes. The young girl could only assume the color of her eyes came from the father she had never known side of the gene pool. Even though she might have not liked where she had gotten her blue eyes, she would never complain too much about them. Alessa found blue eyes to be beautiful, perfect even.

Isabella knew her daughter had a point, but she could not let her daughter see the fear she felt. "Because they'll have to face me, baby girl," the older brunette picked her gun up from the floor, raising to her feet again while clicking the safety of the gun back on, getting into a stance where one of her hips were sticking out, a hand placed on it while her arm was stretched out, seeming like she was aiming the gun at someone. "Isabella McGarner, known throughout the whole state of Georgia as Isabella the Gun. I can shoot an empty bucket from miles away without even batting an eye, and my sharpshooting skills is something to be acknowledge with."

Alessa raised an eyebrow towards her mother's statement. "Isabella the Gun? Mom, you've never even held a gun before now."

Isabella lowered her gun and returned to a normal standing stance, looking down at her daughter with a smirk. "You don't know what your mother did in her youth. I could have been the most notorious outlaw around."

"And yet you were never caught?"

"When you're good, you're good. Who is to say that Isabella McGarner is not my real name, and it is a name I made up as an alias so the Five-O wouldn't be on my tail."

"Well, for starters, if your name was not Isabella McGarner, mother dearest, you would not be known throughtout the state of Georgia for your so called sharpshooting skills as Isabella the Gun. And also, if any of what you are saying is true, you would not be taking half credit for Quigley Down Under."

"Oh."

Alessa could not help herself as a laugh escape past her lips at the look of embarrassed and disappointment that spread across her mother's face. She could have let her mother had her moment, but in some way Alessa was pretty sure her mother set this whole conversation up in her head to ease the nervousness she felt about going on the supply run. And she swore she saw her mother's facial expression change quickly into a smile spreading across her lips as she turned around to face the door, hiding her face away from her own daughter.

"If you're done laughing at my misfortunes, I believe we should start looking for some supplies while we still can. Storm clouds are moving in slowly but surely. Looks like Georgia is about to grace us with more rain."

During the hot summers it was not unlikely for Georgia to have random rainstorms here and there, try to cool things off, but only ended up making the humidity even worse than it already was.

Nodding her head slightly, Alessa rose to her full height while picking her backpack off from the floor where it laid beside her. Taking a deep breath before letting it out, she walked across the floor to meet her mother by the door. They each worked together to push the heavy vending machine from in front of it. Isabella had the idea to use it as a way to block the door so the creatures outside could not get to them on the inside.

Once the vending machine was finally, and noiseingly, pushed out of the way towards the door the mother and daughter duo stood side by side. Alessa grabbed hold of her mother's free hand and squeezed it tightly, feeling a sense of relief when her mother squeezed back. Isabella nodded her head towards the door to silently tell her daughter to open the door, to which Alessa nodded back fully understanding what her mother wanted her to do. The young brunette reached towards the doorknob, a slight shiver ran down her spine feeling the coolness of the metal against her warm palm before turning it slightly, and finally pulling it towards her.

Alessa and Isabella both had to squint their eyes slightly when the harsh sunlight shined into them, but after a few seconds they could unsquint them and see with no problems at all. Isabella was the first to step out through the now opened door, stopping for a bit to double check to see if the coast was clear. After debating that it was, she began walking forward, having Alessa follow closely behind her.

Nothing had changed in the weeks they had been inside the post office, everything was still the same. The only difference was possibly the amount of the Freaks that had wondered into the city, trying to find their next meals.

It was fairly easy, a little bit too easy as Alessa and her mother ventured in the giant city of Atlanta. They had made it into two stores, finding nothing in one but finding a few water bottles in the other. Isabella had said once they found a bit more water, along with finding food that they actually needed, they would make their way back towards the post office. The plan seemed like it was fool proof, but then again, the refugee camp was supposed to be something of fool proof as, too.

After searching around for a while, thinking there was no dangers close by, the duo rounded a single corner leading towards another street, they stopped in their tracks seeing a swarm of the creatures they feared bundled up together on one street. It only took one of the Freaks turning around and spotting them before the rest of them spotted them, having the mother and daughter duo break out into quick run, having the creatures chase after them. The more they ran, the more of the creatures came out from hidden places in the city.

The minute they reached the street their hideout was on, Alessa was in front of her mother as they ran towards the post office. Only when her mother's sudden scream of fear caused the young girl to stop and turn around, only to scream out for her mother seeing one of those things holding on to her, biting deeply into her shoulder.

"Mom!" Alessa exclaimed while running towards her mother as the Freak began pulling the piece of Isabella's shoulder, causing the older brunette to scream out in agony and pain.

The younger brunette took hold of her mother's hand, gripping on to it tightly, pulling with all her might in hopes to snatch her mother away from the beast that was attempting to make her its next meal. While trying with all her might to pull her mother away from the Freak, she was unaware of the approaching danger that was making its way towards her.

With all the fight she still had inside of her, Isabella managed to snatch her hand away from her daughter to place it in the center of her chest, pushing hard to shove her daughter to the ground as another undead creature charged its way towards her instead, latching on to the other side of the poor older brunette. It too sunk its teeth deeply into her flesh, this time closer to her neck. She screamed once more in agony and pain, her screams louder than the ones of her terror filled daughter calling out for her. Isabella's own blood poured from her wounds as the creatures continued to feast on her.

Alessa got to her feet and attempting to make her way back towards her mother, but stop as Isabella instructed her to run. With a quivering bottom lip, the young girl on the edge of tears, shook her head. "No, mom-"

"Now, Alessa!" Isabella exclaimed loudly through another pain filled scream. "Run!"

With tears finally falling from her eyes and down her cheeks, Alessa started making her way back towards the post office, only stopping to snatch her mother's drop handgun off of the ground before following her mother's orders and was running for her life.

Never looking back, no matter how much she wanted to turn back around to try and help her mother, she didn't. She continued running the rest of the way towards the post office, weaving her way around the Freaks that tried to grab at her, finally making it to the post office and running back inside, slamming the front door shut. She turned the locks that were already on the door before quickly running towards the vending machine, pushing on it with all her might to push it back in front of the door. After a few attempts, she finally had it back in its original place.

Alessa back away from the door to where she stood in the center of the floor, stumbling a bit as she allowed the heavy weight of the grey handgun drop to the tiled floor before falling down to it her own self, curling herself into a tight ball as uncontrollable sobs shook her whole body. And the feeling of hopelessness washed over her.

The young girl soon started wondering about only one question: how was she going to make it in a world like this on her own?