It got dark when I finally reached the river. I was so thirsty that I didn't even care if the water was infected or whatever. I kneeled down by the stream and reached for the water with one hand. I kept my M14 rifle in the other hand, with one finger close to the trigger.
I saw the smoke from the fire someplace near the river, probably some camp. I already knew about the people who were there. I saw them not long ago in Atlanta. Now it was time that they knew about me, too.
My name is Anne Redway. When all this started, I was on leave from the military with my brother Joshua. Our parents died when we were young. We took care of each other and never left each other's side. That's the reason I join the army, so we could stay together. But life is never that easy. It wasn't long after we came back that all these walkers started running around the city, killing people and infecting them. We tried to help by joining the marines that came to the city, but we didn't last long. My brother was bitten while protecting some kid. And I had to pull the trigger to stop my brother from killing me in the end. My first thought was to kill myself. What was the point of staying alive? The world was going down to shit anyway. But then I remembered everything I've been through. People I loved like family died for a cause. And I was not a bloody coward, I'd carry on even if I had to kill every last motherfucker that came into my way.
That's pretty much it. Now I was trying to find survivors and carry on.
I was distracted by a sudden scream. It was coming from the camp. I ran as hell to get there with my weapon ready to fire. When I finally reached the scene, all I could see was chaos. There were walkers everywhere and before I knew it, I instinctively firing at first that came within my sight. I caught a glimpse of a little girl in her mother's arms screaming. A walker was closing in on them. I moved quickly to get a clear shot and dropped the walker right before them. I stood up in front, covering the girl and her mother with my own body. Another walker bit a woman, but when I dropped him, it was already too late for her.
The walkers just kept on coming, but all of the sudden, four men came out of the forest from the opposite side. Without hesitation they started killing the walkers. I dropped some more of them and looked around the camp. Bodies of dead people were lying all over the ground, but I didn't see any walkers anymore. After a while I decided to lower my weapon and I turned to face the girl. She was still crying, holding onto her mother. I placed a hand gently on her head, trying to calm her down a little.
"Are you two alright?" I asked the mother. She nodded, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Thank you." I could barely hear her faint shaken voice, but I nodded as well. I made sure that they weren't in any danger anymore and decided to walk around a bit. Adrenalin was still pumping in my blood but I was used to these kinds of situations.
While I was walking around, a man who I assumed was a cop by the way he was dressed, stopped me. A little boy had his arms wrapped around him and a woman with dark hair was standing near them, too.
"Thank you for your help." he said with exhausted voice. Once again I nodded, than looked at the little boy.
"I'm going to walk around a bit, make sure it's safe."
"Yeah, I'll go, too, just..." he started but I stopped him.
"You stay with the boy, besides I was trained for this."
He nodded after a while and when I started to walk away, he asked me about my name.
"Anne Redway." I replied, not looking back or stopping.
I walked a bit further into the forest, passing along the dead walkers' bodies, made a quick sweep of the area and when I was satisfied, I headed back for the camp. I was tired. I didn't have a proper sleep for two days and every time I tried to sleep, nightmares haunted me. Yawning and rubbing my eyes, I missed the sight of a walker quietly moving behind my back. I was quickly brought back from my thoughts when an arrow cut through the air next to me. I turned with my gun ready in my hands, but the walker was already dead. I sighed and faced the man who just saved my ass. I couldn't see him well in the dark, but I caught a glimpse of his brown colored short hair when he passed near me to get his arrow back.
"You missed one." he said and his confident voice sounded in my ears. It reminded me of one of my teammates, Gary. He was always positive about everything, sometimes he sounded pure arrogant, but he always did his job and cared for everybody, though he didn't show it.
"I owe you one." I replied watching his every move carefully. He moved with the same confidence as he spoke.
"You a marine?" he asked, measuring my looks. I wasn't surprised he figured it out, after all I had my uniform on and my dog tags were swinging around my neck. My Task Force tattoo on left arm was also a big sign, though he probably couldn't see that in the dark.
"I was, yeah. I'm freelance now." With no one to serve anymore, I could finally follow my own orders. He started to walk away and I followed him. "I'm Anne, by the way."
He looked at me once again, but didn't reply. Only after a while I could barely hear him say, that his name is Daryl. We walked the rest of the way in silence and once we were in camp, I parted with him with a nod.

I met the cop from earlier while I was looking for a place to sleep.

"I'd like to thank you again for your help earlier." he said politely.

"No big deal," I stopped when I realized that I still didn't know his name.

"Rick Grimes." he said quickly and reached out to me with his hand. I took it with a smile.

"Is your boy alright?" I asked since I didn't see the kids outside. They were probably sleeping by now, if they were able to fall asleep.

"Yeah, he's a tough boy. You should get some rest yourself, you look worn out."

"I will, but I'll stay outside, thank you." I said before he offered me a place in the van or in other of their cars.

He tried some more to persuade me, but I was better off sleeping outside. I was used to it and protecting others was in my blood.

After Rick left, I settled down by one of the trees. I was a bit happy knowing that I wasn't the only one staying outside.

"I'll take the first watch." said Daryl who was sitting near the van. I didn't have enough strength to protest so I just nodded and closed my eyes, holding a sidearm in one hand.