Chapter 1

New story, read, enjoy, and review.

Warning: Some scenes in this story have been inspired by the wonderful story. "My Salvation" by the amazing author Flowangelic. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly advise you to because it's the best Daryl/OC story, I've read so far.


The world has gone to shit. Dead people are walking around. People all around the city, the country, the world went crazy and started to bite others. The government deployed the army forces to contain what they are now calling an epidemic disease. Because it was, you know, epidemic. You got bit, and you break a fever. Just like when you get a cold but you don't heal. And the fever just don't get away with good antibiotics. No, you're burning from the fever like a furnace and then you just die from it. But you don't stay dead too long, you come back. And when you do, you are not you anymore. You are just one of them, you're just a walker.

In the news, they told to people that there's somewhere safe in Atlanta. A shelter for the living, that we will be safe there. And I really hoped it would be safe and I really hoped that my family and I would get out of it alive. But it didn't go as planned. It never goes as planned. When the outbreak happened, my dad, my siblings and I packed everything we could and we drove to Atlanta. It was supposed to be a simple drive. As simple as it can get when panick has taken over the country. Jam traffic, People running and screaming in the streets. Others robbing stuff they won't even need. And us five scared in our small car.

We were a family of five people, my father; Jason, my two brothers; Mathew and David and my sister; Mary Ann and I am Meredith. We are or we were the Williams. My family is originated from France. My father who worked in the finances got the opportunity to move in Boston and it took it. It was supposed to be fresh start for my family after my mother left. And it was, we were happy for three years before it all happened. Happier than we ever were before. Things were going great, my sister had a first boyfriend, I got real friends for a change and my brothers got their own groups of friends and my father started to date again. Everything was great but it all changed.

So, we drove to Atlanta and we tried to make as far as possible. It's a long way. Eventually we have to let the car and we continued on foot. My father was good at fishing, so we ate fried fish everyday. My sister who loves fried fish more than anyone, was sick of it by now. But she couldn't complain, we didn't really have a choice. After a few days spent in the woods, avoiding the walkers, we met a group of people. Just like us they were trying to reach Atlanta. They took us in. But there was something off with them. If my father noticed he didn't say anything. Maybe he was only thinking about our safety, I would never know the answer to this question.

Nonetheless there was a cool dude among them. We called him Brick. He was cool, he knew to track things, how to hunt and if I have to be honest, I developed a crush for the guy. He was in his mid-thirties maybe. Not much older than I was. Alright, I might be in my mid-twenties. Twenty five exactly but really who cares. Anyway, since I was sort of crushing on him, I took a habit to follow him around and he would show me, how to track or hunt, I even skin a squirrel under his supervision which was a failure.

I thought there and then that we were finally safe, that we would make it. All of us, my family and my group to Atlanta. But as I said before, things never go as plan. I was wrong about Brick, it was anything like the guy I thought he was. He was two faced, there was the smiling Brick who would do anything to make you feel at ease. And the other one, who only think about him and him only. If you become a burden to him, he will kill you without even blinking. And my family was a burden to him.

One day my sister and I went in the woods to collect some mushrooms. We were joking lightly, having some fun while the world has come to an end. It was a beautiful day, the sun was high in the sky. Brick had brought my father to a hunt and my two brothers went with them. I didn't think anything of it. I even forgot the doubts I had about them. I was wrong to do so. Brick led my father and my brothers to a creek and without a word and as fast as he could he shot them in the head. My sister and I witnessed it all from where we stood in the bushes. They didn't have time to react, they didn't have time to scream for help. My only consolation is that they won't turn into a walker.

Grief gripped me. Grief and Anger. Both sentiment making me blind to the world around me. My ears were ringing, I couldn't hear a thing. I couldn't see a thing. I just remember my sister saying something that I didn't hear or didn't comprehend. My answer to her was to stay where she was. I remembered that I took this little knife we used to collect the mushrooms. And I strode to camp with determination, steady and enraged. All I wanted at this point was revenge. When I arrived at camp, I pounced on Brick first. I knocked him down on the ground and plunged the knife between his eyes. His blood landed on my face. One guy grabbed me from behind and took me off of him. I thrust my head backwards. He released me and I kicked him in his stomach. He doubled over. A shot rang and I fell on the ground. The bullet pierced my thigh. I rolled on my back and tried to get back up as one of them walked to me. He was about to put a bullet in my head.

Until now I'm glad my sister never listened to me that day. She pounced on the man and dived her knife in his temple. The man dropped on the ground with a thud and my sister fell over him. I reached for the gun and aimed at the two guys that was left and without thinking about it. I shot them both in the head.

I flopped on my back as my sister rushed to me. She pressed her hands on my right side and I didn't understand why since I was shot in my thigh.

"We need to move." I told her, my words slurring due to the blood loss.

"Let me stop the blood first." She said frantic.

She did exactly as she said. She ripped a piece of her shirt that she put around my thigh and she waited until the blood stopped coming out of my side. She assured that the bullet has pierced through the skin on both wounds. She slapped me a few times in order to keep me awake.

My sister grabbed the gun, threw my arm over her shoulders and we made our way out of the woods. It was risky but she wanted to find something for the pain and the fever. She wanted to find something to patch me up.

That's how we ended up in this farm. It was empty well except for the walker upstairs. My sister took care of him while I was passed out on the couch. The stuff she gave me for the pain, knocked me out for a few days. When I came back to the world of the living, my sister explained to me how it exactly happened. I stabbed Brick several times in the head before one of his men came back at camp and tried to pry me off his dead body before I attacked him, I got shot twice during the fight and that's it.

She cried that night for our losses. She cried of relief that I was still alive. I just held her. I didn't feel a damn thing or rather I didn't let myself feel. One of us had to be strong for the other. And that would be me since I'm the eldest. We stayed there for a few more days. Taking clothes from the cupboard. We scavenge the food, the weapons, everything that might be useful. In one of the room, I found a bow and a quiver full of arrows nearby. The bow was chromed and blue. Something that is only used in competition. I did a bit of archery at school and I thought that would be more practical to take down a walker quietly.

I couldn't walk properly yet. We took the pick-up that was there. There was fuel left in the tank. I don't know how far we will make it with this car but I hope we will be able to reach Atlanta. My sister drove mostly. And I was recovering. My thigh and my side was sore but I was alright. My sister has put stitches, even if she has never done it before. She figured it wasn't as difficult as stitching clothes. She joked saying that it was probably more gruesome than stitches clothes.


I don't know how long it has been since my father's death, how long since it all began but I know I didn't cry once about their death. I knew they were gone and I loved them. Man, how much I loved them but it's just I couldn't bring myself to cry or to mourn. I had nightmare though. Gruesome and terrible nightmare. I never talk about them, mostly because I don't remember them when I woke up.


We reached Atlanta in two days, apparently the fuel was enough but Atlanta wasn't what we expected. There were no shelter, no safety, no protection from the walkers. Actually they were the one who has taken over the city. We avoided the city and continued our journey through the woods. My sister suggested we head to the CDC. She hoped that maybe we'll find someone with answers. So, we headed there. I was getting pretty good with my bow. I used it mainly for hunting. My sister found a pretty cool knife. It was sharp, a military one. We also find two guns on the way. Each of us has one. My sister found a bat too. And I found sais. Now, I don't know who walks around with sais on them but I'm glad I found them. They're pretty cool.


Just like Atlanta, the CDC was a dead end. Where the building was supposed to be, there was nothing. Just ashes, it looks almost as if it had been burnt to the ground. Now we don't know where to go but we keep going. Laying low, avoiding the highway, mostly trekking through. Going out of them, only to grab what we need. Like more clothes, ammo for the guns and food. So, we don't have to eat squirrels or rabbit everyday. We survived.


"So are you hunting for more squirrels?" My sister huffed out.

"Nope." I replied

"We're heading back to camp?" She asked again.

"Yep."

"Do you have more than one word answer to offer?" She questioned irritated.

"Nope." I smirked. She shoved me lightly to the side and that earned a chuckle from me.

We walked for a few or minutes until we saw her. She was running at high speed through the woods. Two walkers on her trail. She didn't stand a chance. My sister and I knew what we had to do. We ran parallel to them, keeping them in sight and waiting for the right time to take them down. We stopped briefly only to make sure that they were still in sight.

We stopped one more time when we heard her scream. We thought the walker got to her before us but in fact it was a man in a white shirt. He ran with her in his arms while the walkers kept on following them. I turned to look at my sister. She gave me a pointed look as if telling me "don't you dare turn your back on them." With a groan I went back at following the man and the little girl just to make sure they were okay.

He stopped at the creek and there he left the girl. He drew the attention of the two walkers to him and drew them off the girl. My arm reached out to her as she stared back at me from her hiding place. She shook her head no.

"Take my hand!" I ordered her sharply. She didn't move. "Look, you stay here and you'll be dead meat in no time. You come with us and we'll keep you safe."

"Come on, honey, we won't hurt you." My sister pleaded her in a soothing voice. Hesitantly the girl took my hand and I hoisted her up.

"Alright, let's go." I said holding her hand tightly in mine. As I started to walk she stopped me.

"No, I must go to the road." She protested.

"The road is a dangerous place to be. Especially for a little girl." I replied to her.

"But my mother is waiting for me." She said her voice wavering. I looked down at her and I saw she was about to burst into tears. I lost the habits to comfort people. Actually, I don't ever remember I had this ability.

I sighed and crouched down in front of her. "We will get you back to your mother but we won't go to the road for now." I explained to her as calmly as I could.

"Why not?"

"There might still some walkers lurking around those woods. And I would like to avoid them as much as possible." I continued. "Let's go."

Mary Ann slapped me on my shoulder. "Excuse my sister, she forgot her manners. I am Mary Ann and this is Meredith. And you already know she's my sister. Now tell me, what's your name?"

"Sophia…Sophia Peletier." She stammered.

"Let me know when you're done with your civility crap, so we can move." I snarked.

My sister glared at me and Sophia grabbed my hand and the three of us walked to our camp.


Sophia was sound asleep in my sleeping bag. Mary and I were sitting at the bottom of the couch with a blanket around our shoulders. We had established our camp in a farm house a few miles away from the creek where we found her. We arrived there at night time. We ate dinner and we put Sophia to bed.

"Did you check her for any bite marks or scratches?" I questioned her.

"Nothing." Mary shook her head. "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan is to get her to her mother as soon as we can and then we'll be on our way." I replied

"How do we do that?" My sister asked skeptically.

"Simple, she'll just show us where she was supposed to go. And if we're lucky enough they're still there." I shrugged.

"Alright." My sister nodded.

"Go get some shut eye. I'll keep watch." I ordered her softly.

She kissed the crown of my head. "Night, night!"

"Sleep tight!"


In the morning, we trekked through the woods. Sophia and Mary behind me, chattering about things I didn't really pay attention to. I was scanning the woods with my eyes, for walkers mostly. My bow was in my left hand. I raised my right hand up. Mary and Sophia stopped, then I signaled them to get down and they crouched down. I took an arrow from my quiver which was hanging on my back. I readied my arrow and fired. The arrow landed in the back of the head of a walker that was roaming the woods. I walked to him took the arrow back.

"We need to go around." I said to my sister and Sophia. "We can't go this way."

"Why not?" Sophia asked me.

"Walkers are coming from there. And you said it last night, there was a herd on the road." I pointed out. "They're probably in the woods by now."

"What do we do?" My sister sighed.

"Like I said, we go back to the road. But it's gonna be the long way round." I told them both. "Come on."


On our way back to the road, we passed a church. The bell rang loud and clear. Sophia wanted to go there but I stopped her. There could be walkers in or out, and more could be attracted to the sound. It wasn't the best place to go.

As we walked through the woods, I hunted for our lunch. We paused here and there for the little girl couldn't walk for long amount of time. Not too far away from the church there was an abandoned tent. My sister and I passed it a few days before, there was nothing there for us.


"So, tell me, Sophia, is it just you and your mother?" I asked her while we ate the squirrels for lunch with some vegetables from a can.

"No, there's more people." Sophia answered, her mouth full.

"Who else?" Mary asked her.

"There's Carl and his parents, Lori and Rick. Dale and Andrea. T-Dog, Glenn and Shane." She paused and took a sip from the water. "And Daryl, he shoots arrow like you." She said nodding to my quiver laying at my side.

"All of those people, that's a lot." Mary commented.

Sophia said more about her group and we set off after lunch to the highway. Sophia seemed to have taken a liking to my sister and the same went for her. The problem was that she couldn't get attached to the girl. We weren't going to stay with her group. We were going to drop her off and then leave. I made myself the promise that I would never join a group of people for as long as I live. After what went down last time we were in a group, I just don't want that to happen again.

However, I could see that my sister was thinking it over. You know, she was thinking hard about joining their group and I'm pretty sure she was trying to find a way to convince me. But I already knew the answer and she did too. It was going to be no. Simple, I will never join a group ever again. But you know how the saying goes "Never say never."

Sophia didn't talk that much, probably because she didn't know us. Or maybe it was because I didn't make her feel welcome. I made her feel like she was a burden. It was wrong of me. I mean why did I even bother to help her in the first place? I don't know the answer to that one. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time. And I'm just a douchebag sometimes. Short-tempered, moody, a bitch, you name it.


"You weren't kidding when you said we'll take the long way round." Mary commented after she tucked Sophia in my sleeping bag.

"Yeah, I have to. We don't know how many walkers are out there." I replied.

"Sophia suggested that we could stay with her group, earlier." Mary said. "And I thought that maybe we could…I don't know join them?"

"You already know my answer to that." I replied shortly.

"I know but we can't keep on going like that. Just you and me."

"What do you suggest, then?" I asked coldly. "That we join them? You know what happened the last time we joined a group. I almost died, you killed a man. Our dad and our brothers did die. So, forget it. We won't join their group and you don't get attached to her."

"She likes you better than me anyway." Was Mary's only answer.


In the morning we finally reached the highway. We walked among the abandoned cars. Sophia peeked into the different cars, curiously. My sister walked in front and I closed the rear. Sophia was between her and me. Sophia told us that they have an RV but there was no RV in sight. My sister stopped by a yellow car and waved at me. I put my hand on Sophia's back and pushed her forward.

"Come on, Honey." I told her softly. She looked up at me and smiled kindly. She took my hand for the second time since I met her. I didn't mind it but I was surprised that she just did it. I smiled back at her and we walked to Mary. "What is it?" I asked her.

"They left but they didn't forget about her." She said pointed to the windshield of the yellow car.

SOPHIA STAY HERE

WE WILL COME EVERY DAY.

There was food, drinks, a flashlight and blanket on the hood. Sophia put a hand on the windshield. Her lips trembled.

"They left." She stated. "When will they come back?"

I looked down at her. I sighed and crouched down at her level. "They said every day." I said softly. "Now, we cannot stay here. It's not safe."

"But we have to wait." She protested.

"Hey, hey! I said I will get you back to your mother and I will. But until then we have…, you have to stay safe, alright?" She nodded with tears in her eyes. I nodded to her and then to my sister.

Mary took the food, the drinks, the blanket and the flashlight in her bag. I took a piece of paper and a pen from my bag and gave it to Sophia.

"Write a message for your mother and tell her that you're safe. Tell her that you love her." I suggested. Sophia took the pen and write down focused on what she was about to write on her message. I moved closer to my sister.

"We go back to the house." I hummed. "And we stay there for the night." She suggested.

"Yeah, I think they're probably nearby. A few miles away from the highway." I felt a tug on my shirt. I looked down and Sophia was looking back at me.

"I'm done, Meredith." I took the paper from her.

"Alright, I trust you." I placed it under the wipers. "Let's go back to camp." I said taking Sophia's hand this time.


When we made it back to the house, something felt off. The doors were wide opened. My best bet was a walker but it could be an actual person and if we were lucky, it could be someone from her group.

"You two stay here. I'm gonna check the house." I took an arrow from my quiver and my sister grabbed her gun. I shook my head. "We best stay quiet."

I walked inside and checked every corner of the house. It seemed that nothing has moved. I went to the back of the house. There used to have two Cherokee rose that has bloomed there. One was missing.

"Someone has been there." I said to Mary and Sophia once I joined them.

"How can you tell?" Mary asked.

"I don't think walkers pick up flowers." I said showing her the only Cherokee rose that was left.

"What is it?" Sophia asked.

I crouched down in front of her. "A Cherokee Rose. Legend has it that it bloomed where a mother's tears fell. It was sign of hope that they'll find their little ones again." Sophia touched the flower delicately with her fingers. "Maybe you can give it to your mother when we'll find her." She beamed at me and nodded.

"Is it safe to stay here tonight?" Mary asked.

"Not sure but there's no other place to go. I just hope that it was of one hers that came through here." I replied to her.

"And if it wasn't? And they come back?" She questioned.

"I'll deal with them. And it's not like we have a choice anyway." I retorted. "It's too dangerous for us to sleep in the open."

"Come on, Soph. Let's find water for your rose." Mary dragged Sophia with her inside the house. I followed behind checking our surrounding one last time.


The candle were lit on the table. Sophia sleeping, tired from all the walk we've done earlier. Her rose was sitting in a bottle filled with water in the middle of the table.

"You told me not to get attached to her but you're getting attached to that little girl." Mary smiled from across the table. I glared at her because she was right. Sophia has grown on me. "It's not bad. I think it's good for you."

"You know what I'm tired. You, you keep watch." I said annoyed at her. "I'm taking your sleeping bag, ya don't mind, do ya?" She shook her head no.

"Sleep tight!" I could hear the smile in her voice.

It bothered me that she thinks that she was right. Yes, Sophia was growing on me but that doesn't mean, I'll stay with her group.