Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, if that wasn't already obvious. Only Alex is mine.

"All Units, this is central command."

Alex could only just hear the crackling voice of the general, or whoever was in command at this point. There were a lot of losses. In any case, her radio sat a few feet from where she had fallen.

"The safe zone around the CDC has been breached."

She had fallen into the basement of this building when the floor, already weakened by a fire that had only just been put out by firemen back when everyone thought these were just unusually bad riots, had given out on her as she tried to cover the remains of her squad as they ran for the back door and the Bradley IFV that was going to get them out of this forsaken city.

"There are not enough forces available to secure the city and most airfields are under attack."

On the bright side, none of the infected seemed to notice her in favor of pursuing her much louder comrades and the thunderous booms of the Bradley's autocannon beyond them.

"No support is available at this time."

Another plus was that nothing seemed to be broken in her back. There were advantages to having decided to go with the rigid ceramic trauma plates in addition to the normal kevlar inserts. They actually distributed force around her body.

"Any remaining units are to withdraw from urban areas to regroup with any friendlies in the area, and then proceed to the nearest surviving military installation or coastal fortification."

Now if she could just work feeling back into her back she might just be able to pick herself back up and...

"The Navy has reported that it can supply these locations, and evacuate any excess personnel to islands and other offshore facilities."

Nope, her whole backside had to be bruised and busted up. Maybe I'll just stay here for a bit.

Now that she thought of it, her head was ringing a bit and trying to get up had sent it spinning. Concussion, probably. Joy.

"Good luck, and God save us all."

See now if God were going to save us he would have done something by now. Only thing that is going to save humanity is humans now.

Shit.

She reached over to the damned radio and changed back to the squad channel. She went to say something, but found herself short of breath and just let her hand fall to the side again. Her exhaustion was absolute at this point, only willpower and the knowledge she probably wouldn't wake up again if she closed her eyes kept her from drifting off.

That and the sound of those that should really be dead, but hadn't seemed to have gotten the memo.

"Czartoryski, give me your status. Where are you Alex? We can't stay here!"

Ah, that would be the Sergeant. The man was a saint. The best kind of saint too. The badass medieval kind that went out and smote evil with fire and steel and unshaken resolve. He was the only reason the Squad was still in one piece where the rest of their overstretched and confused platoon had been torn apart.

Honestly. We never stood a chance once we lost containment in downtown. A city of millions that could only be put down with headshots versus a few thousand paratroopers and national guard with not nearly enough bullets to do the job.

"Damnit Alex! If you can hear me, I am sorry. We can't get back to you. There are too many and we don't have long before the airforce starts bombing the city. Stay alive if you can. Keep quiet and try to get out and meet up with us if you can. We'll be heading to Fort Benning first. If that doesn't work, we'll head for the coast. Stay alive kid."

With that, the radio silenced itself. Alex had only really heard parts of what Sarge had said, fighting to stay conscious and trying to muster up enough willpower to move.

All thoughts ground to a halt as she heard the door to the basement creep open, her heart kicking into overdrive feeling like an engine that really needs a tune up and probably some oil but goes anyways 'cause damn that's a lot of gas.

Adrenalin is a hell of a drug.

"Oh holy shit you're alive." The infected did not talk. She laid her head back down from where she had started forcing herself upright in anticipation of a fight. There was no way she was going to let herself get eaten alive. She'd sooner blow her own brains out.

Instead what she saw leaning over her sprawled out form was an Asian guy maybe two years older than her own twenty with a baseball cap on his head and a backpack on his back.

"Are you okay?" Alex fixed him with a glare that she'd been told could, in fact, melt steel beams. The effect would only be enhanced by the fact that she hadn't slept more than an hour or two in three days, and had been through Hell in the meantime.

"Right, stupid question." He admitted, an apologetic look on his face as he tried to assess her condition without touching her. Civilians…

"Uhm," he stammered for a moment before seemingly gathering his resolve and offering a hand. "I don't suppose you can walk? I'd been waiting for something to draw those monsters off for the last eight hours so we'd better get moving while we can." His resolve grew as he spoke. Maybe I judged too soon.

Giving a small nod in spite of really not being sure, Alex took the offered hand up and the two of them got her on her feet again with only a little difficulty. The soldier noted with some annoyance that he was taller than her by a good head, not that she had been taller than anyone since middle school. It was a curse.

The pain brought her back into focus and she nearly collapsed right there but the civilian managed to catch her and slung her left arm over his shoulder to help her along. She was nodded her thanks, looking around for where she had dropped her rifle before the telltale moans of the dead made themselves known at the hole in the floor above that she had just fallen through. The rifle was nowhere to be seen.

Her human crutch tensed right along with her. "Time to go." He stated simply as he turned the two of them around and made for the door to the hallway he had come from. Behind them, they could hear the wet smacks as the dead fell through the hole in order to get at them.

They made it with no trouble, closing the door behind them after limping into the unlit hallway beyond. Whatever light was coming from outside cut out completely as the door closed, leaving them in total darkness with only the faint shuffling of the dead beyond trying to get to their feet even as their fellows fell on top of them like some demented cartoon.

The soldier managed to get her flashlight turned on first, it being easily accessible on the front of her vest, with her human crutch digging his out only a couple of seconds later. The two leaned against the cold tiled wall for a moment as they got their bearings. The two flashlights, while better than being blind, did not help the gloominess of the basement hallway in the slightest.

"Glenn Rhee." The now named Glenn held his hand out for her to shake. He glanced at her nametag on her chest before making a helpless expression at the Czartoryski written there. "I don't suppose I could get your first name? I don't think I can pronounce that."

The soldier just gave a small grin at that before taking his hand. "Alexia, but just use Alex." This again was nothing new. Her father had apparently been Polish. Though she had never known the guy herself, he had obviously come over fairly recently in the whole scheme of things. Go any further back and the immigration authorities would have probably made him change it to something they could actually say.

"Thanks," She said simply, trying to make her gratitude show on her face, but she really wasn't good at the whole 'social' thing. Rather than run the risk of shoving her entire boot into her mouth she nodded towards the end of the hallway where the stairs should have been, hoping Glenn would catch her meaning.

"Right, time to go." He caught on quickly, taking Alex's arm to help her limp along. Thankfully the two of them were fairly quiet. Otherwise, they would likely have more issues than the soft rattling of the door they had just closed.

Eventually, they made it out of the building itself and into the parking lot behind the building. The nearest infected were on the other side of the building, drawn to where the armored vehicle had been only minutes before, so they had time. Not much, but hey, it's nice not to be on the brink of being overrun anymore!

Then again, we'd been overrun for the last three days straight if we're being totally honest.

"My car is over here, come on. We can drive a few blocks and figure out where to go from there." Glenn got the two of them moving at a decent pace, somewhere between a shamble and a jog as they knew they would not be alone for long.

It was borderline torture for Alex herself. The pain only grew the more she moved and while she could take it for the moment, she did not want to have to keep this up.

Thankfully she did not have to. Glenn guided towards a car parked just inside the lot and facing the exit, having not even bothered with parking in an actual spot.

Then again, the traffic police have bigger issues right now. Probably the smart thing to do honestly.

"Here" Glenn let her lean against the passenger side door to the incredibly generic little corolla that was probably a decade old and, barring major accidents, or maybe even in spite of them, would likely keep on driving until the end of civilization. Though I suppose it might already have… I need to stop trying to think with a concussion.

At some point, Glenn managed to get her into the car's passenger seat before scrambling around to the driver's side, his anxiety at being out in the open growing by the minute. He was justified as a few of the not-so-dead came lurching around the corner of the building, having apparently lost interest in trying to pursue the fleeing armored vehicle and perked up at the sound of the little car's engine starting up.

Their drive was predictably short. Within five blocks they had been backed up against a building and pinned between two growing hordes of walkers closing in from both directions of the street and to top it all off. Even in Alex could see straight enough to shoot between the combined nausea and dizziness from the concussion, she hadn't had the presence of mind in the building to get Glenn to grab her rifle. All they had to fight with now was Glenn's baseball bat, Alex's sidearm and a handful of knives.

I think we passed shit creek somewhere a few blocks back...

Glancing around them, Alex noticed that the little Camry could probably fit through the building's double doors with a little encouragement. She tapped Glenn on the shoulder, snapping him out of his growing panic, and pointed to the doors in question.

"The doors? No, they're probably locked and we might not even make it in time!" He shook his head, still looking for a place they could try and drive through the infected.

"Drive through them."

"What?" He did nothing to hide his disbelief.

"We'll fit and the car will keep them from following too close, we can try the back of the building."Alex's determination grew as the adrenaline started flowing back into her system and her vision began to clear as the pain faded for the time being. Not really gone, just put on the backburner until they were out of immediate danger. The soldier knew she would pay for it later.

"And try walking out of the city? You said yourself we can't stay here!"

"It's our best chance to get out of this bind. We can try to steal another car or something once we get away from the swarm!" Her voice began to betray her agitation. The dead were closing in all around them. "Now move before we lose it!"

The faithful little machine gave its best impression of a muscle car as Glenn flattened the accelerator and whipped the car around and lined up with the glass doors. "We are so dead…"

"Glenn!"

They smashed through the doors in a shower of glass. Glenn had the presence of mind to stop them only just far enough in that their front doors could open, leaving the back half of the car to buy them precious seconds as he scrambled out and around to help Alex to her feet and towards the doors leading deeper in the building at the other side of the reception entry room.

Inside it was a typical office building's entry. Granite floors and walls, now useless elevators dominating the center of the space, with a coffee shop to the side and a small convenience store to the other.

For their part, the two survivors took off towards the stairwell in the back left corner. There were dead in the shops, only held back by the glass partitions and with the horde beginning to work its way over the top of the car behind them they decided that this would not, in fact, be the location of their glorious last stand.

Glenn left her to lean her shoulder against the wall inside the stairwell as he turned around and slammed the door in the faces of the dead that were doing their level best to nip at their heels. Arms, thighs, chests. They'd probably take what they could get.

When it was apparent the dead, for all that they were surprisingly spritely given their state of undeath, could not, in fact, work the doorknob Glenn allowed himself to collapse against the door with his face in his hands and releasing a heavy sigh.

"Alex?" The soldier just turned her helmeted head his way, still trying to control her own breathing, "You are not allowed to make any more plans."

She just smiled a moment before a banging against the door reminded them of where they were. The stairwell door wasn't even deadbolted.

The soldier drew her sidearm in her right hand as Glenn raised a flashlight and lent her his shoulder as support while they tried to decide whether to go up or down.

"Basement probably won't have an exit," the young man mused for a moment, "We'll have to go up and look for a fire escape or another set of stairs."

Nodding her assent, the pair made their way carefully up the stairs to the second floor. They were let out into an unfortunately dark internal hallway with doors that led to differing office suites. To their relief, however, all the doors were closed and the hall in front of them seemed clear. Can't imagine the psychologist was filling any appointments after the city was locked down.

They had to turn down a new hallway before they found 'Emergency Exit' signs that led anywhere other than where they had just come from. Going down yet another pitch-black stairwell brought them to a door that led out the opposite side of the building they had just come from. Glenn cracked the door with a creek that made them both cringe, holding it for a moment to allow their eyes to adjust the almost blinding light of the late afternoon sun shining directly into the door.

Alex did her best to lead the way out of the door, pistol leveled in front of them but there were blessedly few walkers in the parking lot behind the building so Alex felt no particular need to waste the rounds and draw more to them. Instead, they started towards the street where a handful of undamaged cars sat.

"I don't suppose you know how to hotwire a car?" Alex asked as they drew closer to yet another incredibly generic four-door sedan. This one was that really unfortunate shade of brown that some manufacturers thought was a good idea for a while before coming to their senses, but they really were not in a position to complain.

"No, sorry, never saw that elective in school," Glenn replied, head constantly swiveling to watch the handful of dead in the area shuffle closer.

"Well shit," She handed her pistol to Glenn handle first, "Keep them off me."

"I've never…"

"That's fine, good time to learn." She said shortly, trying to get her eyes to focus on her task as she finds something to break the glass with. "Just line of the front sight with the two rear ones, point and shoot for the head if they get within ten yards or so." She eventually just picked up a half a brick that had probably been thrown during one of the riots.

Those had not made the Army's job any easier.

"This is going to make a lot of noise." She warned as she threw all the strength she could muster into breaking the driver's side window. It took a few tries, shatterproof glass resisting her first few attempts. Nevertheless, she got in as the car alarm started blaring for all the city to hear, but there was nothing for it. They had to get out of the city. They could worry about the alarm when they had room to breath.

She heard Glenn take a couple of shots as she worked her way under the steering wheel and started trying to work the steering column open to get at the starter wires. Again, however, her inability to focus her eyes worked against her and she was only making progress at all due to grim determination.

This isn't going to work in time.

The realization was sobering. Soon there would be too many walkers for Glenn to keep at bay and they would have to try and run for it. There really was not a way they would be making it out of the city on foot. Regardless she soldiered on, determined to at least try.

Suddenly a van pulled up to them, a black man leaning out the window trying to get their attention over the still blaring car alarm.

"T-Dog?" She heard Glenn call out in disbelief as she got out from the floor of the car. "You made it out of the Refugee center?"

"Yeah man!" She heard him call back, "Get in! We gotta move!"

Neither Alex nor Glenn had any arguments with that. Hoisting herself out of the glorified dinner bell, struggling initially to keep her balance before Glenn grabbed her by the shoulder and helped her into one of the rows of seats in the back of what she could now see was a church van before following himself. T-Dog wasted no time, jamming the accelerator before the door was even closed. It was not particularly fast, but it was enough to get them out of reach. It took everything Alex had to keep from passing out right then and there even in spite of the bone-deep bruising.

"Where do we go from here?"

"Out of the city, man."

"Not one of the refugee centers? I heard the Army was trying to dig into everyone they could."

"No way, when I found Alex I heard her radio say the Army was pulling out of the city in a hurry, they're going to bomb Atlanta."

"...What?" Alex wished she could say she had never heard someone sound so broken before, but that would be one of the most blatant lies she ever told. "Why would they…?"

"I don't know for sure…" Glenn didn't sound much better, "but if I had to guess they're overrun and trying to thin out the herd while they're still all in one place."

"God. I hope there's no one else stuck there." Silence was the only response to that.

Alex's consciousness finally began to fade as they seemed to get to an open stretch of road and the ride smooth out.

A/N: Hey! Thanks for giving my little story a shot! I've got a few more chapters pre-written that I'll post over the next couple of days as I get a chance to reread them and fill any plot holes.

This story, or really the character came after read GenCurtis' Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable and Miimaas' Sneaky. If you've read them you'll probably see some of the inspiration for Alex's character there. Essentially after a certain amount of impatience for their next updates and frustration that they are some of the only active OC stories, or really stories in this fandom altogether that aren't primarily romances, I decided to take a stab at writing my own. This is done on a whim and while I can't guarantee anything, I hope to get at least one chapter out a week once I run out of my little buffer that I've built up.

Another major motivation for writing this is to try and improve my narrative writing ability, so I'd appreciate any constructive feedback you folks feel like giving me, and feel free to ask questions as well. I'll try to answer as long as I don't think it will spoil things.

One thing I will say right now is that I don't really have any romance planned for this story. It's more just to see how the plot would change with a character like Alex thrown into the mix, and as such don't be surprised when things start changing from canon. I've purposely set Alex up as a character so that things wouldn't go so far off the rails that the story is unrecognizable, more for my sanity than anything else, so we will be hitting a lot of the same stations as canon.

All that said, if someone does have suggestions for pairings and can justify them to me, I'm not pathologically against such a thing, it just won't be a central part of the story and I reserve the right to say no.

Anyways, thanks again for reading, and let me know how I did.