Goodbye and Good Riddance

She woke up in the early morning; like always, she got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom. She looked at herself completely naked in the mirror, noticing all the new and old bruises that covered her body. Immediately she stepped into the shower and let the hot water spray her face and run down her battered form. She scrubbed her body raw, wanting every bit of him off of her, out from inside her. The hatred she held for the man she shared a bed with was overwhelming, and she just wished there was a way out. It took all her strength not to fight back night after night, knowing that if she did, he would retaliate by punishing her brother. She left the shower and wrapped a large towel around herself then headed to the closet and picked out her attire for the day.

Colonel Roxanna Athena Bogone (Bah-go-nee) née Valencia went into the kitchen of her military-based home to get the morning coffee ready. That was when the front door opened to reveal the object of all her love. "Morning Sis," greeted her younger brother, Master Sergeant Armando Ares Valencia, with a solemn look on his face.

She gave him a concerned look before slightly flinching at the voice that suddenly came from behind her, "Ah, good morning Armando! Off to sniper training today after a quick visit with your beautiful sister?" She turned around to look at her husband of ten years, Brigadier General Mitchell Bogone, the object of all her hatred. She quickly handed him his coffee with aspirin to fight off his hangover and went over to her younger brother's side.

"Actually no, sir, this isn't a quick visit at all, I think there's something you need to see." He quickly went over to their living room and turned on the television to the national news.

'There are reports here in the DC area that the dead are reanimating and attacking the living, believed to be caused by some unknown virus. Though these reports were once disregarded by government officials, we have now discovered that this outbreak is not only in this city, but spreading not just through our nation, but in fact the entire world. Please tune in to your local news stations for more info-' the voice was cut off with screams coming from all directions, and the newswoman trying to get out of the grasp of what looked to be a corpse.

"Oh my God…" were the first words that came out of Roxanna's mouth that morning.

One week later

"Run, Roxy, run!" shouted Armando, trying to encourage his older sister to get into their vehicle before Mitchell could catch up to her. She was doing her best to run while carrying the necessities to her brother's truck.

'Finally, I can get away. No more of his drunken night terror, no more burns, no more pretending, and no more him. It may not be under the best conditions, it being the end of the world and all, but I just can't believe my luck.'

"Drive! Drive! Drive!" She yelled as she closed the door and Armando sped off and away from a very angry Mitchell.

"We did it Sis! We can go anywhere now," not that there was anyplace they had in mind. "Do you think we should head towards a refugee camp or somewhere else?"

"Probably to a refugee camp, but I don't know where to start looking, we just moved to Georgia two months ago," she stated as they drove along the highway, "Turn on the radio, see if there is anything useful to listen to."

"You got it," Armando tuned into the first station that didn't give static.

'The emergency alert system has been activated. The Office of Civil Defense has issued the following message: Normal broadcasting will cease immediately. This is a civil emergency. Please do not venture anywhere outside. Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way. If evacuation is necessary, the nearest military protected refugee camp to this radio signal is in Atlanta, Georgia. If left with nowhere to go, report here, but travel with extreme caution. The emergency alert system has been acti-'

Armando quickly turned off the radio and looked over to his older sister. "Well it looks like we're headed to Atlanta."

"That will be one hell of a road trip south, especially with all these things roaming about, but what choice do we have? Alright little bro, let's get this car going to Atlanta." Her smoky grey eyes looked at him with new resolve. Even with Walkers everywhere, they could both agree that their newfound freedom was a breath of fresh air. The past ten years had been a nightmare, especially for Roxanna.

"Whatever you say Sis, your wish is my command."

Earlier that same day

"What in the hell! Dixon!" shouted Jess Collins to his half brother, Will, right before a Walker came from behind and bit him in the arm. He immediately shot it before shouting again, "Ah Dix, naw, no man!"

"Help me!" Will responded in a raspy voice, in agony from the violent attack. He looked up at his brother with pleading eyes, begging for relief.

"Daryl! You ok?" Jess called to his nephew, making sure he was safe. As soon as Daryl arrived at the scene, he became distraught at the sight of his father on the ground.

"Dad- oh, Dad, no. We can, we could-" he struggled to find a ray of hope for his dying father as he kneeled down beside him.

"Daryl, he's too busted up. Nothin' can be done now except ease his suffering." Jess interrupted, trying to reason with him. Daryl got up cocking his pistol, trying to aim at his father's head, but the sight of him was too much, so he lowered his weapon and turned away. He tried once again to aim, but was unable to. Jess took the gun out of Daryl's hand with a look of disappointment before pointing it at his brother's head.

"Sorry brother," he said before shooting a blast that rang loud in his ears.

Half an hour later…

Back in Jess' hunting cabin Daryl Dixon washed his face in the bathroom, and then looked at himself in the mirror. He glanced over to the side where he saw a photo of him and his older brother Merle seeming happy on a hunting trip. As he stared at it, something inside him broke and in his anger, he smashed his hand through the mirror. 'Why couldn' I just pull the damn trigger? Dad was hurtin' bad and I couln' do a damn thing about it! I fuckin' hate those flesh-eaten pieces of shit out there!' Before he could get even more lost in his foul mood he picked up his hunting knife and went into the main room of the cabin to talk to his uncle.

"Daryl, come here. We gotta work up a plan," called Jess, prompting Daryl to walk towards him.

"Have you ever seen anythin' like that?" Daryl asked, still unsure about the whole situation.

"If you told me about it, I'd call you a liar," Jess replied while rubbing the bite on his arm.''

"Listen! There's more of 'em comin'," Daryl said in a hushed tone.

"We gotta go!" Jess urged.

"The only thing we gotta do is kill every last one of 'em!" he said as he started to lose his temper.

Jess gave him a look of exasperation before saying, "Daryl, I know you're upset, but just listen, that sounds like a whole lotta them. We need to go, now! Gather up as much as you can and meet me at the truck."

"Let's go then!" he shot back without hesitation.

"Daryl, remember what we learned about 'em! Head trauma. Attack the brain! Remember. Only thing we know that kills 'em," Jess advised. "And be QUIET sneaking out the back door! Don't let them see you," he cautioned before heading off to the truck.

Daryl left out the back, searching for and gathering up any supplies that would be of use. He grabbed random tools, knowing their use as potential weapons. If a Walker was near him, he'd sneak behind it, unleashing pent up anger on it by using his hunting knife to stab them brutally in the head. When he was finished he made his way to the truck. Having to sneak by Walkers, Daryl had to be careful and slow, "Get a move on, Daryl!" he heard Jess call out. "Hurry it up and get your ass in here!" He got on and they both headed off to their first destination in Garwater. On their way, Jess tried to turn on the radio but, "Not a damn thing and my phone ain't workin' neither." That's the moment he decided to get a bit personal with his nephew, "Hey, about your dad? I don't know what to say about it…"

"Then don't! Leave it be," Daryl replied, not feeling like dealing his emotions, "We gotta tell Merle what happened."

"Yeah, I suppose we do," Jess replied before adding, "But we oughta warn people first."

"What? Go to the cops? Please! We gotta go get Merle," he retorted.

"Merle… He's… Well he's just not right," Jess tentatively stated.

That immediately pissed off the Dixon, "What the fuck you say to me old man!? Merle's ten times the man you are!"

"Alright, alright!" he conceded, "Just seems you boys turn hay into shit when you're together!" After a few hours of driving, Jess started looking tired, "Argh, damn this fuckin' bite on my arm."

"Sumthin' wrong?" Daryl questioned, still unaware of the dangers that a bite presented.

"It's my damn arm, hurts like a bitch, might be infected or somthin' like that. No matter right now we gotta keep drivin.'"

That evening

"Our ride ain't gunna last much longer, looks like we're gunna have to find us a new one," Daryl stated as they pulled up to a town that looked to be like a fallen refugee camp.

"We should be careful here, it's gettin' to be dark out here and we can't be too careful," Jess stated as they stopped the truck and pulled out the little supplies they had.

"Well I think it best we look for a new truck and supplies, or we won't last long anyway," Daryl replied.

"Alright, go get a ride and I'll get us some food and water, maybe even some weapons to use."

"You got it Jess, we'll meet back here alright?" he stated before going off to find a vehicle.

One hour later

Daryl had found a new truck for himself and his uncle and had driven it back to the meeting spot. He got out wanting to wait for Jess when he noticed him on his way. He looked to be dragging his feet, "What's takin' ya Jess? What? Didn't find anythin'?" He almost chuckled before he got a good look at his uncle.

He had turned into one of those. "Aw, no Jess! Not you! Dammit all man!" Daryl's heart sunk as he saw the hungry Walker come towards him, wanting to make a meal out of him. Once he was close enough, however, Daryl took his hunting knife and stuck it into its head from under the chin, taking it down.

Daryl took a minute afterwards to remember his uncle and father before getting into his new truck and driving off. He was on his way to finding Merle in Fontana, him having been arrested again. 'Merle better still be there, he's all I got left right now that big asshole.'

The next day

"Walking with all this stuff in the hot Georgia sun sucks ass Roxy," Armando complained to his sister as they walked along the road.

"Well it's your fault for crashing into that damn tree!" Roxanna bit back at her brother while readjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "Now we have to either hope to God that a car passes by that's willing to take us with them, or find car keys to a functioning vehicle 'cause Lord knows we don't know how to hotwire a car."

"You'd think growing up in D.C. we would."

"Yeah, well, now I'm really regretting it! I didn't exactly see the fucking Apocalypse in our future now, did I?" She was enraged at the prospect of possibly having to walk all the way to Atlanta.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok? I thought that Walker was a person, so I swerved on instinct! Just try to calm down will ya?" He hated seeing his sister mad at him, it was such a rare occurrence, one that he appreciated would stay rare. "Hey check it out! I think I see a truck coming up behind us!"

At that same moment

Daryl drove his truck, trying to figure out where to stop to gather up more fuel for his truck and to get food and water. As he did so, he looked over maybe half a mile up ahead of him, where he spotted two figures. One was a woman that seemed to be about his age, the other a younger man, both wearing 'U.S.M.C.' tank tops with cargo pants and combat boots and carrying bags of what seemed to be their supplies. The man seemed to try to flag him down, hoping to probably get a ride. 'Let's just see what they want first…'

There you have it! The first chapter of this story! If you have not played/seen the Survival Instinct game, that is what the first four, maybe five chapters, are going to be loosely based off of. I promise that we will get to the actual show soon enough, but we need to gather background on Roxanna before you get to see all the stuff from the show! Special thanks to my two editors (they don't have usernames so I'll use their nicknames): Nana the Chosen One (creative writing friend and fellow lover of Daryl) and Supreme Empress of the Universe (future roommate/BFF)! Please Review readers! Thanks so much!