Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or its characters. I only own Elise Young.

A/N: My God! It's been so long since I updated or wrote anything. I love The Walking Dead! I read the first three graphic novels and I've started watching the show. It's truly amazing. This fic has five chapters written already so I will be writing more of this as soon as possible. I hope I do the show justice and I hope you all enjoy this fic! The title of this fic might be changing. I don't know if I'm happy with it but it seems that this title is the only one that suits the fic at this point.

Happy reading!

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Can't Make It Alone

Chapter One: The Stranger In The Street

The sound of a gunshot startled Elise Young as she was sharpening one of her two long knives.

It startled her enough to cause her to almost cut herself, and since she was hiding behind a bush out in the open, the sound was incredibly loud. Jumping to her feet, Elise ran out of her current safe haven, seeing fellow survivors Morgan and Duane talking to a man who was lying on his back on the ground, blood seeping from his nose. Duane stood holding a spade in his hand, which Elise assumed he had hit the man with. The poor guy only wore a hospital gown, causing all of them concern.

She'd stayed with Morgan and Duane pretty much since the beginning. They were her neighbours, and Morgan had known her since she was a little girl. She'd been with them at the start but when things got out of control in their neighbourhood, she ended up with her other neighbour John. Her experiences with him were far from pleasant. Then, she'd found Morgan and Duane again after three long weeks, and had been with them ever since. She trusted Morgan's judgement on most occasions, but shooting a gun in broad daylight at one walker was just a waste of a bullet, and it was like a beacon for the rest of the creeps.

Noticing the dressing on the man's left side, Elise felt dread and fear fill her system. Had he been bitten? Her blue eyes widened at the thought of a repeat of what had happened at the start of all this. Watching two people come back was enough. Elise didn't know if she could handle a third person going through the same.

"He bit?" She asked, causing Duane to jump a mile high.

"I dunno..." Morgan said quietly, "He passed out before he could tell me what this wound is. He's burning up though."

"You fired a gun. Not a smart move." Elise said with a shake of her head, moving past Duane and patting him on the shoulder, "We better get him to the house before more of the crazies show up, huh? If he turns, I'll put him down."

"My son doesn't need to see someone else turn." Morgan snapped, unable to hide the pain in his eyes that betrayed his angered look.

"This ain't up for discussion." Elise replied sharply, "I'm not willing to leave him out here when we don't know what this wound is."

Morgan stared at Elise for a few moments before scrubbing a hand over his face with a deep sigh. Elise arched an eyebrow at him, clenching her jaw and putting a closed fist to her mouth just for a second. She couldn't think of a more logical solution at that moment.

"If it's a bite, I'll put him down. I'll take him out back." She said, swallowing loudly, "I'm past the point of feeling guilty about putting 'em down, Morgan."

Morgan looked at her again, then at his son, and then back at the twenty-four year old. With another deep sigh and a nod, he moved to lift the man from the ground, and Elise didn't hesitate to help him.

"Elise?"

Tying her auburn curls into a messy bun, Elise hurried towards the bedroom where Duane and Morgan were keeping watch over the injured man. Pulling her dusky blue tank top down over the waistband of her tatty jeans, she entered the room, stopping in her tracks as the man began to wake. For a moment, understandably, he looked disoriented. He looked over to where Duane stood with a baseball bat, and watched as Elise gently put a comforting hand on his back, just to make sure he knew not to be scared.

"Got that bandage changed out. It was pretty rank." Morgan said quietly, looking at the confused man as he took off the gloves he'd been wearing, "What was? The wound?"

"Gun shot." The man answered, watching Morgan wipe his brow with a towel.

"Gun shot? What else? Anything?"

"Gun shot ain't enough?" The man replied quietly.

Morgan approached the bed, wiping his hands on the towel before pointing at the injured man in a threatening manner. With good reason too. It was bad enough having walkers roaming around outside the place, but the risk of them having a walker-to-be in their home was a whole lot worse.

"Look, I ask and you answer." Morgan snarled, "It's common courtesy, right?"

He leaned down so he was right over the wounded man before speaking again, slowly. Elise kept her hands on Duane's shoulders. The child seemed to relax slightly at this, and so she carefully began to rub small circles on his back.

"Did you get bit?" Morgan asked, causing the man to look even more confused.

"Bit?" He asked almost incredulously.

"Bit? Chewed?" Morgan asked, "Maybe scratched? Anything like that?"

Elise's left hand tightened almost painfully on Duane's shoulder, and the soothing circles she'd been rubbing between his shoulder blades stopped. She could barely breathe. If he'd been bitten, she would actually have to take him out back and kill him. She'd put walkers down before but killing a walker-to-be wasn't something she'd done often.

"No, I got shot." The man replied, "Just shot as far as I know."

Raising his hand to test the injured man's fever, Morgan saw him flinch away from him which made him feel a little uneasy.

"Hey...Just let me..." Morgan told him calmly, proceeding to touching his forehead.

He looked across at Duane and Elise, giving them a look that meant he was satisfied with what he was feeling. That caused both of them to relax.

"Feels cooler now." He told them, noticing Elise's shoulders sag with relief, "Fever would've killed you by now."

"I don't think I have one." The man answered.

"Be hard to miss." Morgan said, nodding his head slowly before looking to Elise and Duane again and pulling out his knife.

He held it up to the man's face menacingly, causing him to pull back a little in fear. Elise didn't like that. It made her feel angry. It was necessary, she knew. But that didn't mean she had to agree with it.

"Take a moment..." Morgan began, waving the blade in front of their guest's eyes, "Look how sharp it is. You try anything...I will kill you with it, and don't you think I won't."

With that he cut the man free from his bonds, and moved over to Elise and Duane, speaking softly to their injured guest as he approached them.

"Come on out when you're able."

With that he led the pair out of the room, leaving the man in peace. As they got into the living room, Elise turned to Morgan and ran her hand over her mouth, taking a deep breath.

"What do you think?" She asked, "He gonna be okay?"

"He'll be just fine." Morgan answered, looking at his son who was standing quietly, respectfully waiting for his dad's next order, "Why don't you go finish that comic book you started drawing. It's looking pretty good, huh?"

Duane nodded silently and walked away to get his drawings while Morgan headed to the kitchen with Elise. The young woman leaned against one of the kitchen counters, rubbing her hands over her eyes slowly.

"Were you really gonna take him out back and shoot him?" Morgan asked her, watching her nod her head silently.

"I've done it before. Killed a living person." She said quietly, "You know it doesn't bother me anymore, Morgan."

"Would you have used Anna?" He asked her, indicating the pink bow that sat in the corner.

Elise was the champion archer at her college and had been at school. Her bow, which was a very modern design, was named Anna. Elise named the bow after she'd won her first competition. Anna was the name of her archery teacher, so it seemed fitting to name the bow after her. Her arrows, which were all sorts of colours, sat next to the bow that was propped up carefully against the wall. Sighing again and nodding quietly, she answered Morgan's question.

"Probably. Even though it would've been the last thing I wanted to use her for." She whispered, "She would've been the quietest thing to use. At least I don't have to now, huh?"

Morgan nodded at her and smiled softly, his grin widening as her first instinct was to go and sit by his son. He stood and observed the pair for a few moments as Elise asked Duane questions about the story in his comic book before beginning his daily supply check.

When the man joined the trio later that evening, Morgan was just serving up dinner. As the man went into the living room, Elise sat with Duane and poured him a drink. It was night time and the street had become a hot spot for walkers. Elise knew it was that gun that brought them there, and she was still a little pissed at Morgan for not letting her deal with that one walker. She could've shot it from the bushes and hit it square between the eyes. There wouldn't be half of the walkers out there now if she'd done that.

"This place..." Their guest began, startling Elise out of her thoughts, "It's Fred and Cindy Drake's."

"We never met them." Elise said quietly, noticing how the man looked at her when she spoke.

A smoky voice was clearly the last thing he expected to come out of her mouth. Most people had that reaction to hearing her speak for the first time. Her voice was deep and soft, and her accent gave it a husky tone.

"I've been here." The man said quietly, moving towards the windows, "This is there place."

"It was empty when we got here." Elise replied, standing slowly to approach the man as he went to pull back the curtains, "Don't do that...They'll see the light."

The man looked at her quizzically.

"There's more of 'em out there than usual." Morgan said as he continued to prepare dinner, "I never should've fired that gun out there today. Sound draws 'em, now they're all over the street."

"You're damn right you shouldn't have fired that gun." Elise huffed out a soft laugh, "You've just made us their midnight snack."

"It all happened so fast, I just didn't think." Morgan said quietly, watching Elise rub his son's back affectionately as the man approached the table.

"You shot that man today." Their guest accused.

"Man." Morgan repeated with a smirk and a nod.

"Weren't no man." Duane said, hearing Elise clear her throat and looking to her as she pulled on her earlobe three times.

He rolled his eyes, knowing what was coming next. Typical Elise. She made him think of the Warden from the movie Holes when she spoke the way she was going to at that moment. But Duane knew that when she talked like she was about to, it meant she wasn't happy, and that was rather scary.

"Excuse me?" She said with narrowed eyes, everyone hearing her accent get thicker for a moment, "What the hell was that out of your mouth just now?"

"It wasn't a man." Duane corrected, earning a nod from the woman next to him, who patted his left shoulder and gave him a small smile.

Yep. Just like the Warden.

"You shot him. In this street, out there, a man." The injured man said to Morgan.

"Friend, you need glasses." Morgan answered, "It was a walker. Come on..."

He indicated the chair between his and Elise's and started serving the man some of their meal. Beans. It wasn't much but it meant they wouldn't starve. That was a bonus at least.

"Sit down, before you fall down." Elise said softly, smiling kindly at the man and patting the seat next to her.

"Daddy? Blessing." Duane said, looking at his father as if he were nuts.

"Yeah." Morgan smiled at his boy and the man watched the group hold hands.

Elise smiled kindly again and held her hand out for him, which he took carefully in his own. She squeezed his hand reassuringly in her dainty fingers and bowed her head, closing her eyes.

"Father, we thank thee for this food...thy blessings." Morgan began, staring at their guest the whole time with wary eyes, "We ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. Amen."

"Amen." Elise whispered, only to hear Duane echo it.

As the group started eating, Elise looked across at Morgan, and then at the man at their table, who looked as if he hadn't eaten for weeks. It occurred to him that their guest had no idea what had happened. And if he woke up that day, he must've been in a coma since before the outbreak. He couldn't imagine the confusion the man was experiencing right now.

"Hey, mister...You even know what's going on?" Morgan asked, looking at the man with concern.

"I woke up today...in the hospital." The man answered, "Came home...That's all I know."

Morgan, Duane and Elise all shared looks of concern and worry at this response. He really had been out since before the 'Apocalypse'. Imagine, waking up to find that the world you'd known for so long was almost utterly destroyed. Damn... Elise felt more sympathy for this guy. Morgan did too. He'd mentioned the name 'Carl' when they first found him. Maybe he was looking for his family.

"But, you know about the dead people, right?" Elise asked, setting her spoon in her bowl and brushing a hand through her hair.

"Yeah, I saw a lot of that." The man replied, "Out on the loading dock, piled in trucks."

"No, not the ones they put down..." Elise said gently, "The ones they didn't. The walkers. Like the one Morgan shot today..."

"He'd have ripped into you. Tried to eat you." Morgan explained, "Take him some flesh at least. But I guess if this is the first you're hearing, I know how it must sound."

"They're out there now? In the street?" The man asked, watching Elise nod softly in response while Morgan's nodding was more enthusiastic.

"Yeah...They're more active after dark sometimes..." He explained, noticing that Elise had stopped eating, "Maybe its the cool air, or hell, maybe it's just me firing that gun today. But we'll be fine as long as we stay quiet."

"Yeah, they'll probably wander off by morning." Elise added, taking a deep breath and picking up her spoon again.

"Well, listen... One thing I do know... Don't you get bit!" Morgan warned, "We saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of. Bites kill you."

"Yep. The fever... burns you out." Elise said darkly, swallowing a mouthful of food, "But then after a while... You come back."

As the man looked around the table, Elise heard Duane speak up and her eyes closed slowly at his words. This poor boy had already gone through enough, but he was so brave. Elise was proud of who he was becoming, and so was Morgan, even if he still did need the occasional telling off. Everyone noticed the way the man's expression changed at Duane's words, and they caused a chill to run down Elise's spine at the memory.

"Seen it happen."

-TBC-

Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading so far!

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