The Walking Dead is own by AMC and not me (I wish) although I do own my OFC.

Chapter One

"No! Daddy!" a young woman screamed as biters surrounded her and her father, forcing them apart.

She raised her baseball bat and struck one of the biters in the head and knocked it on its arse only for another to takes it place; she repeats the process by knocking another to the ground—this time she has the chance to smash the skull in and kill it before the first one is able to get back on its feet.

Sweat drips into her eyes from the heat, and the force it takes to swing the bat hard enough drains her of energy. She takes a deep breath and strikes a killing blow to the first biter, blood and brain matter spraying all over her chest and neck. The vile smell hits her hard, causing her to swallow vomit just in time to catch a sneaky bastard approaching her from behind.

She rams her bat into the female biter`s stomach, which forces it to its knees as she whacks it over the head twice more, killing it again.

She pauses as she gathers her bearings only to hear her name being shouted, causing her body to tenses at the shrill voice.

"Freya! Help me!"

The blood drains from her face when she sees four biters surrounding her father. Running as fast as she could, she tackles one to the ground, catching the attention of another one, leaving her father with the last two biters to handle. Having dropped her bat in the tackle, Freya instead grabs a broken brick and begins bashing the rotten corpse's brains in until there was nothing solid left of its head.

Getting up from straddling the corpse with a faint sigh, she turns around to see a male corpse inches from her face and she screams.

"Freya!" she can hear her dad screaming in fear, but all she can see is the pale hands grabbing her shoulders as it pulls her towards a waiting mouth, the rancid smell of decay churning her stomach once more, but her fear left her to paralyzed to do more than quiver. All she can think is 'This is how I die'.

In a natural instinct, she closes her eyes and waits for death — if she is going to die, she does not want to see what is eating her. However, the pain that would strike her with the piercing of her flesh never came, because suddenly a dead weight falls on top of her forces her to the ground. Freya opens her eyes in shock as she lands roughly on the ground, crying out at the sharp pain before seeing that an arrow had pierced the forehead of the, now, fully dead biter.

'What the hell' she thought, in complete shock that she was still alive, and safe.

"Freya, answer me. Freya!" her father's voice is full of fear at the thought of his daughter possibly dead mere metres away from him. The though alone left him with a sick feeling that stole the colour from his cheeks.

Freya calls out in a shaking voice, "I`m okay."

Another biter stumbles towards Freya, lacking the mental processes of caring about the present situation but a second arrow strikes through its head and leaves it to drop to the ground. Only then does she see the man who just saved her life.

A rugged, dirty—rather sexy—redneck steps forward and slams his knife into a head of a biter as a Sheriff suddenly blocks her view. It doesn't prevent her from taking in the leather vest and grown out hair, unkempt state of being. This man, he clearly didn't care for appearances after the end of the world, and Freya found it to be a reprieve.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" he asks as he pulls the dead walker off of her. The Sheriff, however, was freshly shaved and had a friendlier aura that most definitely would have made his job as a cop easier.

She looks up with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what had just happened to her. "Yeah, I am, thank you," she said gratefully as she accepts his hand to help her up. He could feel the way her hand trembled slightly in his, but he could understand her reaction.

Looking around to see only half a dozen biters still moving, and her bat too far away, she pulls out her small revolver from the back of her dress' belt and fires off two shots, both finding their target and splattering brains all over the street. The redneck takes care of two others and Daddy kills another. This leaves one more for the cowboy Sheriff, who kills it with a sleek Colt Python.

A pregnant silence rains as they all catch their breath.

"Freya, honey, are you okay?" Daddy cried out as he ran over to his blood covered daughter.

"I`m fine Dad, I promise. Not a scratch…although I`ve gained a few more bruises" she tries to joke as she rubs her backside comically. "Legolas over there saved my neck, literally," she explained as she gestured to the redneck.

He frowned as he growled, "What the hell you just call me?"

The Korean boy laughed at the redneck's expense before he explained, "It's not an insult, Daryl, Legolas is an Elven Archer from the Lord of the Rings books and movies. It`s a complement." Even with the explanation, Daryl didn't seem to be pleased about the name that Freya had chosen for him and grumbled unintelligibly as he began to wipe the gore from his arrows.

The Sheriff discretely rolls his eyes at the young Korean before he stepped forward to introduce himself. "I`m Rick Grimes, that there is Glenn," he introduces as he motions to the Korean boy, before he turns to where a large black man was standing, "Over there is T-dog and that`s Daryl. Where are you folks heading?" he inquired.

Her father shook Rick`s hand gratefully. "I can`t thank you enough for saving us. The name`s Thomas Holden and this is my daughter Freya. Nowhere in general, we're just trying to scrape together some supplies before we leave the city," he informed the newcomers.

T-dog spoke up first. "You got a camp or a group somewhere, man?" he asked as he looked around, standing almost casually now that the immediate threat was taken care of.

Thomas frowned, so Freya jumped in, "We had a couple with us but they got caught up in a herd yesterday when they were scouting, so it's just us now." Her voice saddened at the loss of Keira and Nigel, but refused to let her grief weigh her down.

"I`m sorry for your loss. We have a group of 15 people up at the old, abandoned quarry just outside of Atlanta. You should join us; there`s women, two children and plenty of water" Rick offered them.

After what they had been through, it sounded like heaven.

"That sounds wonderful, Rick, but could I talk to you for a second?" Thomas asked indicating for some privacy, which made Freya frown in confusion but she quickly dismissed it with a shake of her head.

"Hey are you alright? We heard you screaming; that`s what brought us over here," Glenn asked her as he stepped closer to the blood splattered woman.

Taking off her heavy back-pack as she opened it and taking out the box of ammo to refill her gun, she answered, "Oh, I`m fine. Really. Just in shock; one minute the street was empty and the next it's full of biters, ever since yesterday there`s been more around."

Glen blushed as he stuttered, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish manner, "Um…that was us yesterday. We sorta roused them all up when we were escaping."

She cocked her head to the side only to catch Legolas—oops, Daryl—staring so she raises an eyebrow silently asking 'What`s up?'.

"That sounds like a story, what happened?" she asked while still staring at Daryl as he frowns.

Glen informed her of their latest adventure, "Well it's a long story but I`ll shorten it. I brought in a group yesterday to resupply when Rick came in riding in on a horse, shooting off rounds and attracting all types of attention. We bring him in…only for us to get surrounded by walkers; we manage to escape by stealing a sports car and using the alarm to drive them off. Except, Daryl`s brother Merle got left-behind. That`s why we came back. Anyway, he wasn`t there and I got temporarily kidnapped by some gangsters at a retirement home, only for my boys here to save the day and here we are talking to you," he summarised quickly.

T-dog started laughing "No, no man you left out the best part you have to tell her about the part! Where we were told that you were being fed to a pair of blood thirsty dogs, only to find you helping an old man having an asthma attack next to a pair of Chihuahua`s in a pink bed," he finished saying as a blush took over Glenn's face as Freya giggled—even Daryl smirked.

"I wish I could have seen that" Freya laughed.

For a split second Freya and Daryl locked eyes until her father's voice reached her ears, "Freya, sweet, could you come here please?"

Looking over with a smile still on her face from T-Dog's story, she saw her father`s face and dread immediately filled her stomach as she made her way over to him with quick strides.

"Daddy, what`s wrong?"

She watched as tears filled her father's eyes and that`s when she knew something was very wrong. Especially when Rick walked past her, touching her shoulder in what could only be sympathy.

"Daddy?" her voice broke as tears started falling down her ivory cheeks.

He grabbed her hands to bring her close until they were mere inches apart. "Honey, I need to tell you something important; I`ve arranged for you to go with Rick and to stay with him and his family at their camp. He has promised to protect to you like family and I have to believe him."

Tears fell constantly now as the realisation began to form in her mind that her Daddy wasn't going to be coming with her. It made her heart ache in her chest and she had troubled speaking.

"Just tell me, please," she whimpered as she pressed her forehead against his chest, clutching to his bloodied shirt.

"I`ve been bitten."

A sob escapes her as pain fully envelops her heart at the thought of her father dying—or worse, turning into one of those mindless creatures. She wrapped her arms around her father, only for him to wince in pain. She quickly released him with a flinch and moves behind him to see the bite that marked her father for dead.

"Oh daddy, I`m so sorry," she breathed out brokenly.

"Sweetheart, I`ve made peace with this. The only worry I`ve had since this started is what would happen to you if I were to die. Now, meeting Rick, my worry has eased." He took her face in his hands and offered a small, supportive smile. "I can tell he is a good, honourable man; someone I would trust with your life and the life of my grandchild. He will keep you safe. This is the only option we have. Sweetheart."

He wiped her tears away with his thumbs before speaking again.

"Promise me, Freya, promise me that you`ll make the most of this new world, that`ll never give up no matter how hard life gets, promise me!" he begged.

She paused, taking several deep breaths before nodding. "I promise, Daddy."

Thomas felt relieved as he gave her a small smile, with a kiss to her forehead, before he released her and took her bag. He began sorting through both of their things, tossing out what she wouldn`t need such as his clothing and transferring the few bits of food and ammo to Freya`s bag before he zipped it up, standing and going over to Rick with a small box in his hand.

"Here Rick, these are for a 9mm Glock, I hope you have a gun for them as I`ll be keeping the gun and one bullet. Freya has a six-chamber revolver and half a box left but she's gotten to be an excellent shot lately," he drifted off as the pain from the bite grew in intensity, leaving him to wince and hunch in pain for a moment.

Rick reached forward, touching his arm. "Are you alright Thomas?"

Taking a deep breath and waiting a moment to compose himself once more, he nodded. "The infection is spreading quicker than I thought. You need to go now, before the fever gets worse and I lose my mind," he grimaced in pain.

"Freya, honey, you need to go with Rick now," her daddy insisted calmly.

"Daddy no, I don`t won`t you to be alone," she pleaded. "I want to stay with you," Freya continued as tears fell down her cheeks.

"No. That is out of the question, Freya. Now listen to me, it`ll be dark soon and you know how dangerous it is to be out after dark these days. Please, go with Rick, honey," he forced out as he kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly. The hug made her want to sob again, because she knew that this was going to be their final goodbye to one another. So, she clutched her father as tightly as she could, trying to take him in.

"I love you, Daddy" she whimpered with sadness, her words muffled against his shirt.

"Love you, too, sweetheart."

Seconds passed before he finally released her.

"Please, Rick, take her and go," Thomas pleaded as he pushed his daughter towards Rick. She stumbled, reluctant to leave her father, but made her way clumsily to Rick's side.

"Daddy," Freya pleaded meekly as Rick grabbed her arm while Daryl grabbed and shouldered her bag. Rick's hold on her arm was gently, but sturdy. He didn't want to chance her trying to run back to her father.

"Stay safe, Freya, all of you stay safe," Thomas prayed before he stepped back, "Go, darling."

Freya cried as she walked away from the last member of her family, but all she could think about was keeping her promise to her father. She will survive and raise her baby and live life to the fullest.

She never looked back as Rick held her hand, pulling her forward because she knew if she did she would crumble, and the last thing these men needed was an over emotional, pregnant woman. So, she swallowed her tears and buried the overwhelming pain until they reached the safety of their camp.

It wasn`t until walking for nearly twenty minutes while dodging walkers—as Glenn called them—did the faint sound of a gunshot echo through the abandoned city. They all paused and the men looked to Freya, whose head was low as she smothered her cries with her hand.

"We should keep going," she said faintly and she saw Rick nod proudly at her strength.

"We have a van just outside the city, we shouldn`t be far, right, Daryl?" Rick asked

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, another block or so," he answered as he raised his cross-bow and fired, taking out another stray walker. Freya, despite her grief, couldn't help but admire his skill.

After having to wait as twenty or so walkers drifted pass, the group finally got to the spot where the guys had said they left the van. However, something very important was missing upon their arrival.

"Where in hell is our van?" T-dog asked the obvious question, sounding thoroughly outraged to find it gone.

"We left it right here," Glenn stated the obvious, clearly grasping at desperate straws for the van to have been there.

"Gotta have been Merle," Daryl offered, wearing an expression that Freya found to be concerning. He was worried about something.

Glenn asked, "You think he`ll go back to camp?" Looking around at the others, they all wore grim expressions.

"God damn it," Rick swore as he walked off, swearing under his breath.

"Yeah and he`ll be taking vengeance back, too" Daryl informed them.

Rick sighed, running his fingers through his hair roughly, "Looks like we`re walking. Will you manage, Freya?" he gestured to her four-month bump sticking out of her worn and faded black and white summer`s dress.

She nodded as she rested a hand over her precious bundle as she caught Daryl`s graze, "We`ll be fine" she insisted with a hard stare.

"Let`s go."

Well that`s chapter one done and dusted I hope you enjoy this. Next chapter up in a few days.

Please check out my Beta`s stories stAnd out - SHOUT OUT they are fantastic.