This is my first ever Walking Dead story. The plot came to my head after watching last nights episode. This story starts out in Season 9, Episode 3. Hope you guys enjoy the first chapter :) R&R
Alex folded her arms over her chest as she watched the group of Saviours push forward towards the group of people from the Kingdom and Alexandria who had welcomed them after the downfall of the Sanctuary. It was utter chaos after the death of one of the saviours the previous night and slowly they have been slaughtered one by one since then. Her people were getting antsy and mad, having no weapons and protection against whoever was out to get them.
She sighed, dropping her arms to her sides then brought her hand up to run her slender fingers through her dark hair. Alex didn't want to be apart of this. THIS being the commotion and the hate throughout the camp. It had been going on for days since the archer named Daryl and one of her people had got into it back on the bridge they had been assigned to work on. That was their task to survive. Now, they were out in the woods, surrounded by a city of tents and courtyards where they could sit by the fire.
Alex ignored the interaction between the groups, turning and walking off before Rick Grimes arrived mounted on his horse, gun drawn and split the two groups apart. She wandered out into the trees not too far away and sat down on a log, pulling her pocket knife from her pocket and started to engrave the tip into the wood. The shouting and screaming slowly disappearing from the distance as the groups became settled and spread out amongst the camp and Alex found herself diving deep into her mind, searching for her own inner peace.
She had been apart of the Sanctuary before the war with Negan and Rick Grimes started. Her place was among the workers in the factory gathering points each day to make it with the rest of them. She couldn't actually recall seeing Negan (maybe once or twice but who can really get over a personality like his), but since he's been gone, locked away in Rick's cell, some people still want him. Some people don't.
Rick Grimes, however, was always a constant conversation starter back at the factory. People wanted to kill him and now they're working for him. Some of the saviours still do for him taking what was there's.
Alex didn't know how to feel about their new leader. Well, first it was the archer Daryl now it was passed down to a woman with salt and pepper short hair, an older woman that went by the name of Carol. But Rick was the one in charge of everything.
Alex had to be adaptable to anything since the fallout and even before when she was in her late teens and early adult years. She learned not to spend to much time in one place for too long especially in the apocalypse. She hadn't been at the Sanctuary that long before the war had happened. It must of been a few months before she stumbled into Simon and his troops out in the woods after being out there for months when her other camp got invaded by walkers and people wearing walker skin. Simon had found her in rough shape, brought her back to the Sanctuary and had her put on light duty before she could start working for points. She didn't hate it, but she didn't love it either but it was a place to call home for a while and she met some of the Saviours. Some good and some bad. Some of them made it through the war, some didn't.
Alex stopped dragging the tip of the knife along the wood log beneath her and relished in her work with a small smile. The engraved 'A' stood out amongst the pine as her dirty nails ran over it softly and she was faintly reminded of what it was like before everything went to shit. The peace and quietness of nature without the dead crawling and snarling around the woods. People could actually walk, talk and sit and just breathe in the fresh smell of the trees around them and meditate in their surroundings.
"Aye," Came a voice from a couple of feet in front of her through the trees. Alex's head whipped upwards in the direction of the voice, her face dropping in shock that she had been caught in her own thoughts and away from the group. "You gonna lower that?"
She turned her head to see that she had raised her arm up in the air yielding the pocket knife in her hand towards the patch of trees where the voice came from. The branches snapped under his feet as Daryl stepped out from the gathering of trees and looked over at Alex under the lock of hair that was in his face.
She only knew him as the archer and hadn't ever talked to him.
"You plannin' on doin' some damage?" He asked, nodding to the knife that was still in her hand. Alex blinked and slowly lowered her hand, a bit embarrassed by the act and chewed on her lower lip. Daryl's eyes squinted and studied her closely before taking a step forward. The bow slung on his shoulders slipped down to the ground next to his feet where he lowered himself down to sit on another log across from Alex.
"I just came out here-to get away from all the commotion," Alex muttered as she put the pocket knife back safely into her pocket where it had been before. Daryl didn't respond in a usual Daryl fashion which caused Alex to fumble with her fingers until she folded them calmly into her lap, "What are you doing out here?"
Daryl pulled his gaze from her and looked down to the ground for a moment. He patted is leather vest until he found what he was looking for and pulled out the carton of smokes he had found on a run and a light, "To get away from all the bullshit."
He plucked a smoke from the package and put it between his lips. Alex's eyes lit up for a brief moment as she watched him light up the cigarette and take in the small amounts of nicotine in a couple of long puffs.
"Can I-bum one off ya?" She asked hesitantly, lifting her hand up to push some of the hair from her face to behind her ear. "Maybe it'd ease my nerves a bit."
"Why ya nervous?" Daryl asked suddenly, holding back the pack to his chest and looked at her. Alex made eye contact with him and gave him a slight smile. He eyed her wearily before reaching over and handing her the pack which she took and place a cigarette between her lips. Daryl leaned over and gracefully lit up her cigarette with ease.
Alex leaned her head back after taking a drag, eyes closed and slowly let the smoke from her lips as a sense of relaxation and calmness swept throughout her body. The tip of her tongue brushed along her lips briefly and she lowered her gaze back to meet Daryl's who was still fixated on her.
"I haven't been able to relax since we got here. Since I got to the Sanctuary," She confessed and looked down briefly, "I don't know how I feel now with this new order going on. I just don't like commotion very much, my nerves get rattled easily."
Daryl grunted lowly and took another long drag from his cigarette, turning his attention to the trees around them. He was so use to spot for walkers while out away from the others and his attention always went back to that.
"What do you think about this place?" Alex asked Daryl when he didn't respond. She flicked the ashes of her cigarette to the ground and brought it back up to her lips. He was quiet and Alex couldn't help but wonder what he was really thinking about. That gave her time to quickly swoop her dark eyes over him slowly, from his shoes up to his vest and the long curls that hung on his shoulders and hair that covered half of his face. She remembered him when he had been a prisoner of Negan's for quite some time at the Sanctuary.
"I don't even know why we're even helpin' y'all," Daryl muttered under his breath, keeping his attention turned away as he quietly puffed on his cigarette. Alex froze in her spot and slowly tilted her head to the side a bit, her brows furrowing slightly.
"What do you mean by that?" Alex asked, crossing her arms over her lap and leaning slightly towards Daryl, "We're all not Negan, you know? Some of us do want to survive out here. Some of us did what we had to do to survive, that's why I'm here." She glared slightly, "I'm sure you had to do some shit in order to do the same. I'm not Negan and this is my home now, same with the other people who want to start anew with whatever is going on here…."
Daryl pulled his gaze from the trees and looked at her, eyebrow cocked with a slight annoyed expression on his face.
"Give us a chance," Alex said.
Daryl took the last drag of his smoke and flicked it to the ground before grabbing his bow as he got up from the log. He slung the bow over his shoulder as Alex lifted her gaze to meet his, "I'll give you a chance-I ain't givin' some of those son of a bitches a chance."
Alex nodded slightly as she watched him turn his back to her and walk from the clearing back into the patch of trees from where he came from in the direction of the camp. "My names Alex by the way," She yelled out, hoping he could hear her but didn't hear a response. She sighed and flicked the cigarette away to the ground after noticing that it had burned the rest of the way to the filter between her fingers.