A/N: Hey guys. New to this fandom. I love this show and can't wait for the new season. I was thinking of incorporating some of the zombies from the Podcast show "We're Alive". It's an AWESOME show if you haven't heard it. It's like an old radio drama and about zombies. But at this moment, I'll stay with the slow walkers. We'll see what happens. I kind of hate changing certain things about canon. I haven't read the comics so this is base off of the TV show. AU since season 2 started. Anyway, I love all types of zombies so we'll see. Any reviews are welcomed, constructive are always nice.
Summary: Rick's group rescues a helpless woman, but soon Rick begins to believe that she knows more about what was going on than she lets on. ShanexOC and little DarylxOC
"Father!" a little girl screamed as she ran to a man in a white lab coat. He picked up the ten year old girl and quickly put her into the waiting chopper. Two civilians quickly followed her as the three remaining soldiers tried to find a way to block the door. They were on the roof of one of the buildings in Atlanta.
"Dr. Moreson!" the pilot yelled over at the scientist.
Dr. Moreson looked at the soldiers who desperately tried to keep the roof door from opening. They were a lost cause.
"Let's go!" he shouted as he jumped into the chopper.
"What about the soldiers?" one of the civilians screamed in horror when she realized that they were taking off.
"Do you want to die?" Dr. Moreson shouted back at her.
One of the soldiers seemed to realize that he was going to be left behind. He shouted in anger as he ran for the chopper. Without him to help, the other two couldn't hold the door. It was immediately smashed open. Dr. Moreson gasped in surprise when he saw a rather huge zombie stomp his way onto the roof. This zombie looked as if he was a body builder at one time of his life. His muscles were huge. He grabbed one of the soldiers and tackled her to the ground while the rest of the horde rushed the two remaining.
The one soldier that ran after the chopper jumped to grab the bottom. He barely missed and screamed as he started to fall. Dr. Moreson quickly slammed the door shut and turned to face the pilot. The two civilians quietly sobbed and huddled next to each other.
"Katie!" Dr. Moreson said as he turned his attention to his daughter. She was already strapped into one of the seat. Her eyes fluttered as she gasped for breath. "Oh god, no!" he shouted as he grabbed her and pulled her shirt up. There was a bite on her stomach. "Katie!" he cried as he held her close.
"You have to shoot her in the head!" the vocal one of the civilians shouted at him.
He shook his head. "We have a cure!" he yelled back in his headset. "We're going to where there is a cure and she'll be fine." He held his daughter close as she shuttered then didn't move. He didn't tell the others that she had just died. There was still time. It took roughly 12 hours for someone who has died to come back to life. And it took roughly four hours to get there three hours in the chopper and one by car. There was plenty of time.
Lilith leisurely rode her crotch rocket. Although it was designed for speed that also meant it wasted a lot of gas. And besides, she was following her group of survivors. She had to keep in pace with them. Which sometimes irritated her. They were going slow to avoid the hazards of the road, but sometimes Lilith just wished they could speed down the highway like they were meant to do.
Their convoy consisted of one minivan, three sedans, a truck, and a tank truck. They had been lucky to find a driver who had to abandon his tank-semi in a small city. It didn't take the group too long to get the truck running. There was still plenty of gas in the truck to last them a while.
As for the group, they had found her in a hospital in a small town near Frankfort, Kentucky. She hadn't been bit but she had been shot in the shoulder. She was glad they found her. They were a perfect group, consisting of a doctor, nurse, three military personal, engineer, the self-proclaimed best car thief in history, along with other people who had various skills that were useful. Lilith felt a little out of place. Almost everyone had a special skill which they used to help their group. She on the other hand was average in almost everything, except fighting. But it didn't help that she could barely move her arm until the past three days. She wasn't a burden to the group, but at the same time she felt like she didn't contribute as much as the others did.
She spotted a sign in her side mirror and sighed.
Atlanta 100
They weren't driving toward the city. They had just left it earlier that day. Instead, they were driving in the wrong side of the freeway toward Alabama. They were going to go to Fort Benning after that. They had taken the round about way to get to Atlanta a few days before. Instead of driving straight down to Atlanta, which would have been faster, they drove around. The main purpose was to establish a base of sorts and not bring the entire group, who were about thirty people in total.
There was only one reason why they had driven to Atlanta and not to Fort Benning first. Dr. Ketrick had a friend in the CDC in Atlanta. They had lost contact with that CDC long ago, but Ketrick insisted that his friend was the smartest person alive and that if anyone could find a cure for what was happening then she could. It took him some time to convince the soldier who was in charge of the group. But eventually, everyone agreed.
It was night by the time they had neared Atlanta and they chose to secure an inn to sleep. The city they found was small and slightly out of the way, but it made it easier to kill the walkers that came at them and secure a decent inn. It was the first night in at least a month that they had a decent rest. Sadly, when they arrived at the CDC the next day all they saw was the ruins.
Dr. Ketrick was of course, in a terrible mood. He was already drunk and it was barely noon.
"Lilli?" Matt, the man who had put himself in charge of the group, asked her. They had given her one of their neck-walkies so that she could be in communication with them while she rode her bike.
"Yes, Matt," she responded. She flexed her muscles trying to get the knots out of her healing shoulder. It was almost time for her to ask them to stop so she could ride in a car.
"I need you scout a little ahead. Can't see what's up in that corner," he said.
"Alright," she responded as she went to step on the gas. A rumbling behind her caused her to slow her bike and turn to look. A helicopter was behind her.
"Matt?" she screamed. "There is a chopper…" She stopped talking when a chill ran down her spine. It was flying far too low. It was going to crash into her convoy.
"Pilot of the helicopter, pull up. This is Lt. Gonzalez… oh shit! Drive!" he shouted as he yelled at the driver of the van.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Lilli slammed on her breaks as did the rest of the convoy. That was a mistake. The chopper hit the semi, ripping it apart and causing it to explode. The cars were caught in the explosion from the tanker. One of the chopper's blades hit the ground and split off, flying toward Lilli. She screamed as she jumped off her bike. The blade hit her bike, sending it flying into the ditch as the chopper finally exploded.
Lilith screamed in horror as she took a step back. She found herself flying in the air as a warm wave of air slammed into her. She slammed into the asphalt and lost consciousness.
Lilith's eyes snapped open as she took in a deep breath. Her body screamed for more air and she quickly took off her helmet. "Fuck," she shouted as she looked around. She lay in the middle of freeway and her bike as a good ten feet beside her. Slowly, she staggered to her feet. She had been knocked out for a while. The once powerful flames of the various car explosions had died down to almost embers.
"Matt?" Lilli tried to call out, but her voice was barely above a whisper.
The freeway itself was surrounded by trees and there were only two lanes. There was no way that any car could pass through the wreckage. It seemed like a death trap. The way the freeway turned made it impossible for other cars to see the wreck until they were too far in.
Carefully, she ran her hands over her body and took stock of herself. She had no injures that she could feel. Her body was sore, but nothing seemed to be broken. She closed her eyes, trying to remember what had happened. But only jumbled memories invaded her mind.
Lilli frowned as she limped toward the helicopter. Why did it crash? Why did it aim straight for the convoy? She saw that it had veered to crash in the woods, but then suddenly turned and crashed into the cars instead.
"Anyone?" she shouted as she neared the crash.
Something pounded on a car door, making her jump in surprise. She saw movement in one of the vehicles. "Don't worry!" she shouted as she limped toward it. Her body still protested her movements. Just as she neared it she slowed down. The person inside stared at her, before opening his mouth and slamming his head against the glass. Her eyes widened in horror. She knew exactly what had happened.
Lilli started walking backwards, refusing to take her eyes off the creature inside the car. "Oh no," she said to herself in fear. She clenched her hands in anger, shaking her head at her knowledge. "I'm sorry," she whispered to the thing in the car that continued to bang his head against the window. She turned then screamed in surprise.
A zombie rushed at her and grabbed her. She had been so focused on the one inside the car that she didn't notice the other one slowly making its way toward her. It wrapped its hands on her shoulders and extended its neck to get closer to biting her. Lilli screamed again as she lost her balance and fell onto the asphalt.
Pain rushed down her body as her head slammed against the road. She ignored the pain as she struggled to keep the zombie away. It was incredibly strong and determined to bite her. She recognized the zombie.
"Matt?" she whispered. "It's me! Don't do this." She quickly placed both of her hands on its neck, using her strength to push its head up and away. The dead eyes of the creature looked down and focused on her. It held her firmly and used its strength to pull it closer to her. Half of his body had been burned and chunks of his skin came out with the touch of her hands.
Lilli cried out in frustration and disgust. So this was her end. She's rescued from the hospital only to be either eaten by her rescuer or turned into a zombie. She hated life.
The sound of cars caught her attention and for a brief moment the zombie stopped attacking her. Was it sniffing her? She spotted a convoy of cars heading their way. The zombie grunted then opened its mouth again. She focused her attention on the cars and waited, using as little strength as possible to keep the zombie back.
An RV was the first car. They began to slow down when they spotted the crashed helicopter. "No," Lilli whispered. A truck pulled around the stopped RV and started to head toward her. She realized that he intended to run her and the zombie over.
It began to speed up and Lilli used all of her strength to push the zombie off her. She quickly rolled away as the truck slammed into the zombie, breaking its bones. She loved the sound of that, but at the same time hated herself. It wasn't Matt's fault that he got turned into a zombie. The truck skidded to a halt and the driver got out.
"You trying to fucking kill me?" Lilli shouted at the man who stepped out. He looked at her in surprise as if he didn't expect her to talk to him. He shot the zombie that was on the hood of his truck with a bolt from his crossbow before he pulled the body off the hood.
"Thought you was dead," he snapped back at her. Suddenly, he aimed his crossbow at her. "Were you bit?" he snapped.
"What?" she asked in surprise.
"Were you fuckin' bit?" he yelled. "What are you deaf?"
"I'm fine!" She snarled as she turned her back to him. Her eyes widened with surprise as she spotted a few more people in the freeway, looking at her; they had exited their respective rides. Most of them were men except for one woman and they all had weapons.
"Hi," the only man wearing a deputy suit said as he slowly made his way toward her. "Where you part of that?" he pointed to the crash. Lilli looked at the crash but didn't answer. "Maybe you should go in the RV," he said as he grabbed her arm.
Something moved on top of the copter. She pulled her arm away from him as she neared the wreck.
"Wait!" Rick yelled after her.
She ignored him and quickly grabbed the bottom of the copter. It rested on its side. It didn't take her long to reach the top. For being on fire, the bottom was only warm. Lilli looked behind at the remains of the convoy. There was no way anyone survived that mess.
The cars that were around the semi were all but burnt medal frames.
"Fuck," the man, who tried to run her over, shouted as he threw a rock at the crashed chopper. "There' ain't no fuckin' way we can go around this hunk of shit."
"Oh my god," a voice next to Lilli surprised her. She turned to see the officer standing beside her. "I'm sorry," he said as he focused on her.
Lilli nodded then shook her head. "They were my group," she said, softly. "The chopper came out of nowhere. It just, crashed into them…" She had to force each word out. She still couldn't believe what had happened.
He placed his hand on her shoulder as if trying to reassure her. She pulled away. She felt bad that she wasn't more upset that they were dead. She wasn't particularly close to her group, but they were still people.
"Be careful, Rick!" a woman shouted. The two turned and he nodded.
Lilli looked down into the chopper. She could make out what appeared to be at least four bodies. The pilot looked especially gruesome. So that's why the chopper crashed. Someone was infected, died and attacked him. The setting sun and woods didn't help to light the innards of the chopper. She squinted but couldn't make out if the others were alive.
"We should get going, Rick! It's getting dark," the same woman shouted.
"Just a minute, Lori!" he shouted back at her. Lilli turned and watched as the woman and her boy went into the RV.
"She's right, and a crash like this, I'm sure that plenty of geeks are making their way here," a man with black hair shouted up to them.
"Give her a second, Shane," Rick hissed back.
Lilli ignored him as she put one leg over the side of the chopper. Something was familiar about one of the dead people. He wore a white lab coat, but there was a symbol that she wanted to get a closer look at.
"Careful," Rick said as he grabbed her hand. "They might be walkers now."
She sighed and nodded in agreement. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her foot. Lilli screamed in surprise as she kicked her foot away and immediately lost her balance. Her fall was short, but someone tried to stop it. She landed on a body instead of the hard ground. Quickly, she got off of the person. "I'm so sorry," she stammered as she looked at Shane.
He laughed and winced as he shrugged.
"Let's go," Rick said as he quickly made his way down.
"Where 'n the fuck are we going to go? It's almost dark and…"
"My group secured an inn in a town about two hours or so that way," Lilli said as she pointed in the direction passed the crash. "If we go on the other side of the freeway we can make it. It's tough, there are a lot of stopped cars which is why we took this way back, but if we can fit a semi through those cars then you should have little problem."
Rick nodded. "The RV is leading; you'll probably want to ride in that to show us where."
Lilli shook her head. "I saw a jeep. I think that will work better."
Shane looked at her in surprise. "Why?" he asked.
"I just…" she paused then sighed. "I just don't want to be inside of a car."
Rick frowned then sighed as he nodded and waved his hand.
"This way," Shane said.
"You're the driver?" she asked him in surprise.
He nodded.
"Do you mind?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "Naw," he said with a mischievous smile. "This way," he motioned for her to follow which she did. "Just know that it'll probably get cold."
She looked at her leather jacket then shrugged.
It wasn't long until they took off. The cars turned around easily in the small space. It was the old RV that took a little bit longer to turn around. Once they were able to spot the other side of the freeway they drove over the ditch and started their way toward the inn.
Chills ran down her body as soon as they took off. Shane was right. His jeep had no top so the wind circulated through the vehicle quite nicely. Lilli didn't care much about the cold. Because of the wind, it was difficult to say anything, but it wasn't like she wanted to speak in the first place. Her thoughts kept on going back to the crash. If only she had warned them earlier. If only they had left earlier. It was her fault that they left late. She wanted to ride the motorcycle and didn't let up until they let her. She felt like such a brat, but she couldn't handle hearing Maria complain about how she missed taking a shower, again.
Lilli curled herself up into the seat and just stared out into the woods. She hugged her arms around her body and sighed. It was getting night time, which meant it was only going to get colder. She almost wished she had asked to go into the truck with Daryl or the RV with the others. She was tired, but she couldn't go to sleep. She had to direct them to the inn.
"Shit," Lilli said as she sat up and shook her head. They had left a few people at the inn. Not everyone wanted to go to Atlanta and Matt didn't want to bring everyone with him since most weren't needed.
Lilli let out another sigh as her eyes closed. What was she going to tell them? There was going to be tension. One of the members, Jerry, was going to be the hardest to talk too. He was the one overly zealous preacher that they had found in a church only a few weeks prior. He didn't like Lilli after she shot him down. He spent a good portion of his time trying to convince everyone that this was God's punishment for their transgressions. Matt almost kicked him out of the group, but he knew that if he did he would lose the group's faith in him. Nobody liked Jerry, but it wasn't right to just leave him to die.
A hand reached out and took hold of her cold hands. She looked at Shane with surprise and he smiled at her. "It'll be alright," he told her. "We've gone through our fair share of hell. We haven't exactly lost a lot of people like you have, but you're still here and we're here for you."
His hand was warm and she almost wanted to curl her fingers around his. Slowly, she pulled away from him. "Thank you, Shane," she said. He thought she was upset about her group. And in the back of her mind, she was. But she had never gotten close to anyone of them. But three of the ten who were left behind in the inn, she cared about those three deeply. They were the only ones, except for Matt, who didn't make her feel like an outsider.