I've wanted to write a story around the Berlin Wall for months and using it as an alternative universe for a Walking Dead fanfic just seems so appealing. The Greenes and the Dixons are no strangers to adversity and danger, and the Governor, well, he's just waiting to be corrupted by power (again!)

This is primarily a Bethyl slow burn, but I'll also explore whether The Governor can be redeemed and my take on the Lori/Rick/Shane love triangle. Plus there'll be lots of Maggie and Glenn, Merle, and also some Andrea and Amy.

You don't need to know ANYTHING about Berlin or East Germany in the 60s. We're here for a good story, not a history lesson. (Though there are some historical notes at the bottom if you're interested.)

Here goes, I hope you like it!

…

East Berlin, December 1961

The queues were especially long that day, and Beth had waited two hours in freezing temperatures to get into the butcher's shop. When she'd finally reached the counter she'd surveyed the gristly, fatty cuts with distaste, but had no choice but to purchase them.

Tucking the paper packet under her arm, Beth walked the mile and a half home to the apartment she shared with her siblings Maggie and Shawn, shivering inside her thin coat. It was nine pm and very dark, and a few flakes of snow were falling onto the frozen ground. Her journey took her close to the Wall, and she couldn't help but cast her eyes over the looming concrete edifice, the barbed wire and the guards, all lit by bright white floodlights. Several of the guards held German Shepherd dogs on leashes.

Beth saw a troupe of Stasi soldiers headed straight toward her along the street, and felt a lurch of panic.

You're doing nothing wrong, she reminded herself. You're on your way home from the factory with the food you've queued two hours for. It was strange how she felt the need to rehearse it as if it were a cover story and not the truth. Ever since her father Hershel had been taken away by the Stasi she dreaded seeing their dark green uniforms and grey helmets. Her mother, Annette, she and her siblings hadn't heard from since the border closed. She'd been in West Berlin at the time. For a few weeks they'd waited for her to rejoin them, as they were unable to go to her. But she hadn't come.

The soldiers marched passed her and she let herself breathe once more.

'Fraulein.'

Beth kept walking, her head down, pretending not to have heard.

'Fraulien!'

She stopped, turning slowly around, her heart racing. A Stasi soldier, an officer by the braid on his uniform, stood several feet from her. He was tall and broad through the shoulders, with a peaked cap pulled down to his eyes so that she couldn't see them in the darkness.

The she realised the officer wasn't looking at her, but at a girl standing to her right, gazing toward the Wall. Beth bit her lip. It was dangerous to pay too much attention to the Wall lest the soldiers thought you were intending to escape. She recognised the girl. Her name was Ana and she was Beth's age, eighteen, and lived in her apartment building. Her boyfriend had disappeared three months earlier without a trace.

The officer advanced toward the girl, his eyes intent. If he questioned her, Ana was in such a fragile state that she might break down, or swear at him, or say something that would get her into trouble. But it was nothing to do with Beth. She should just walk away.

'Ana!' Beth exclaimed in a bright voice, hurrying toward the girl. What am I doing? This is insanity. 'Sorry you had to wait for me so long. Shall we go home?'

Ana turned toward her, her unhappy eyes bewildered. Don't say anything, Beth begged silently as she took the girl's arm. Just play along.

To her relief Ana had her wits enough about her to see that Beth was trying to help her. She gripped Beth's hand with hers and they turned toward their apartment building.

And came face-to-face with the Stasi officer.

…

Commandant Phillip Blake looked down at the two girls, one mousy and dejected, the other blonde with bright blue eyes. The act that the blonde had put on hadn't fooled him. They might know each other but they hadn't been planning a rendezvous on a street in the middle of winter.

'You,' he said to the blonde, and pointed to a spot to his right. 'Stand there. You,' he said to the mousy one, 'show me your papers.'

He inspected the documents, recognising the girl's name. Ana Mueller. She was already being watched by an informant. This part of East Berlin was Blake's district and he wasn't going to let sedition and plots flourish under his nose. Her boyfriend was a known dissident who had disappeared.

He handed the papers back. He could arrest her for intention to defect across the Wall, but he was much more interested in the blonde at that moment. 'Get home. Now. If I see you again tonight you will be arrested.'

Ana Mueller stuffed her papers in her pocket and scurried away.

Blake turned to the blonde. She had her papers ready for him and passed them into his hand. Beth Greene. The name wasn't familiar to him. Then he spied her father's name. Hershel Greene. He was in prison.

'Quite a display, there, Fraulein Greene,' he murmured, passing the papers back.

She didn't say anything, just stared up at him with those round blue eyes. She had to be panicking, talking to a Stasi officer who was openly suspicious of her, but her face gave nothing away. It was quite remarkable.

'You didn't have plans to meet Fraulein Mueller this evening, did you?' he asked.

Still, she said nothing. It was clever of her. So many people he questioned thought that words would cover their guilt, but they merely found that they were digging themselves a deeper hole. Silence was so much more effective.

He leaned forward, whispering in her ear. 'It's all right. You can tell me.' Then he stood back and winked at her.

She blinked, showing her surprise. Then she blushed. He felt himself smile as he watched her. She was such a sweet girl, slender and pretty.

'Where do you work?' he found himself asking. He was wasting time. He'd been en route to arrest two sisters suspected of collaborating with traitors to the government, but he found he wanted to spare a few minutes for this pretty blonde.

'The wireless factory,' she said, pointing over her shoulder.

A factory girl. That explained her old but carefully darned clothing and lack of ornamentation. Not even a pair of earrings. She was too good for the factory, he thought. She should be somewhere warm and comfortable during the day, not one of those dirty iceboxes. She should be someone's secretary, and wear a nice dress made from good fabric, and silk stockings.

She should be his secretary.

Frau Adler was a grim, whey-faced woman. He was sick of looking at her. Fraulein Greene would suit him much better.

'Do you like the job?' he asked.

'I am glad to work. Work sets us free.'

She knew line. All the workers did.

He smiled at her. 'Would you like a better job, fraulein?'

…

Beth walked the rest of the way home in a daze, not knowing what had happened. She'd been sure she was about to be arrested, but instead the officer had smiled at her and offered her a job. She'd stammered out an acceptance, because you didn't say no to the Stasi, ever, and he'd told her when and where to report the next morning.

He hadn't actually told her what the job would be. What if it was spying for the Stasi? She recoiled from the prospect. Informing on her fellow citizens seemed abhorrent, though she knew many were willing to take up the work for the privileges. Better food. Better housing. Better medicines. Her brother Shawn was a border guard and that meant that he, Beth and Maggie at least had heating oil in the winter, and they didn't go hungry too often.

She and Maggie were happy enough in the factory, though it was tiring work. But the Stasi terrified her. She racked her brain for a way to refuse the officer for his offer.

Lost in thought, she was close to her building when a man ran out of the shadows and collided with her. He grabbed her waist, steadying her. Her hands landed on his chest and she looked up into his face. Dark hair spilled into his eyes and grew down to his collar. His eyes were slanted like a cat's, and he felt hard and powerful beneath his black coat.

'Fraulein,' he murmured in a husky voice, tipping his head. Then he peered over her shoulder as if checking he wasn't being followed, squeezed her waist, and disappeared into the shadows on the other side of the street as fast as he had appeared.

Beth stayed where she was for a moment, looking around her, wondering what had happened. The street was silent once more.

…

Daryl Dixon was running in the shadows, not knowing if he was going to make it in time. The troupe of Stasi soldiers were right behind him. He dashed across a street – and ran straight into someone. His arms instinctively went out to them, steadying them. They were slight beneath his large hands, and he looked down into the person's face. It was a girl.

Goddamn, she was pretty. Big blue eyes and fair skin. Pink lips parted in surprise. She wore the rough clothing of a factory worker but it couldn't detract from her loveliness. He forgot what he was supposed to be doing for a few seconds as he gazed into those eyes. Then he remembered – Andrea and Amy. The Stasi were coming for them.

He squeezed the girl's waist and then he was off and running again. The sisters' apartment building was just two blocks away. As he approached the well-lit front door he flipped the collar of his coat up and shook his dark hair in front of his face. Every apartment building housed an informer, and you never knew for sure who it was. Better that no one saw his face.

He took the stairs three at a time and banged on the sisters' door. Andrea opened it, and looked shocked to see Daryl standing there. They had a careful system for meetings and it didn't involve turning up on each other's doorsteps unannounced.

'Now,' he said, breathing hard. 'Or it's over.'

Andrea nodded, pale with alarm but keeping her head. Ten seconds later the two sisters were yanking on boots and coats and following him down the hall to the back stairs.

This was messy, this was visible and Daryl didn't like it but he didn't have any choice. His informant had only just found out that an arrest warrant had been issued for the sisters and it was either get them out now or risk them being interrogated by the Stasi. The sisters knew too much. Andrea might hold out for a while, even under torture, but Amy wouldn't.

Downstairs he opened the door to the street and listened. He thought he could hear marching boots just a few streets away. He turned to the sisters. 'There's an abandoned bakery two blocks north and three blocks east. Go inside and wait for me. Run. Don't look back.'

Andrea and Amy nodded, slipped outside and were gone, running down the street. Daryl closed the door and headed to the right. He stopped in a dark alcove and waited. He had to be sure the sisters weren't being followed. If he thought they were, he would still get them out of East Berlin that night but the bakery and the tunnel hidden in its cellar would have to be abandoned.

A few minutes later he left the alcove and followed the sisters, a hand in his pocket clasped around his revolver.

The bakery was near the Wall and had closed its doors when the border was sealed as half its customers had been cut off from it. Daryl had lived there for three months with two other men and together they'd tunnelled straight down and then across to West Berlin, under the Wall and the death strip. It had been filthy, cold, dangerous work, but it had meant that he'd already got forty people out and reunited with their families in the West.

The sisters were waiting inside the shop, crouched behind the dusty counter.

'Downstairs,' he said.

In the cellar he pushed a shelving unit to one side, uncovering the tunnel entrance. He handed the sisters each torches that were hanging just inside.

Amy suddenly gave a hysterical little giggle. 'You know what? I think I left the stove on.'

Daryl gave her a wry look. 'Our mutual friends will turn it off.'

Andrea's eyes grew wide. 'The Stasi were on their way?'

'Not your problem any more.' He pushed them toward the tunnel. 'Go.'

Andrea took a hold of the rope ladder that would take them down to the tunnel floor. Then she turned back to Daryl. 'Come with us. Please, you'll be safe.'

He shook his head. 'What would I do over there? Get soft, bored? Nah. I'll skip it.'

'You can have a life,' Amy said. 'If the Stasi catch you they'll shoot you.'

Daryl considered leaving every now and then, wondering whether it was worth it, looking over his shoulder constantly. Running, hiding and lying, trying to keep one step ahead of the Stasi. But if he did leave, what was there for him on the other side of the Wall? Nothing. Merle had made that clear when he'd left him behind.

Merle could have the soft life. Daryl would have the hunt.

He smiled. 'Catch me? They fuckin' wish. Now git.'

…

So, what do you think of the premise? Does the historical and foreign setting work, or is it just too crazy-different from TWD universe? I'd love to hear from you!

...

Some historical background if you're interested, though not necessary to follow the story:

This summer I was lucky enough to visit Berlin and the Berlin Wall Memorial. It was an experience that moved me to tears as I read about families who were separated from each other and the attempts by East Berliners to escape across the Wall to the West; attempts that were dangerous, desperate and could be deadly.

The Berlin Wall is a symbol of the Cold War, of oppression, and of suffering. After the end of World War II, the Allied Forces (UK, France, USA and the Soviets) who'd fought against Hitler decided the world would be safer if they split Berlin along arbitrary lines. The uneasy alliance between these countries soon fell apart, and the Cold War began in 1947, the West on one side of the conflict and the Soviets on the other. Germany became two countries: West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), a Soviet satellite state. The border between East and West ran straight through the capital, Berlin, splitting it in half. (There was also the main East/West German border further to the west, confusing and strange I know.)

Throughout the 1950s, more and more East Germans emigrated to the West to seek a better life, many via Berlin. East Germany lost a large percentage of its young, educated workforce. The East Germans decided to close their borders to prevent further drain on their population, and the Soviets gave their approval. Construction of a physical barrier began in August 1961.

Thousands of East Germans attempted to escape across the Wall between 1961 and 1989. Many were successful, but others were not, and there was a grave risk: defectors could be, and were, shot on sight.