Changing
Chapter 1
It had been almost two months since the outbreak had started. Families and relationships had been torn apart; literally. Weeks ago, every television and radio station had been saying the same thing: "Find shelter, stock up on supplies, and stay indoors; help is on the way." But help never came. After a while people were getting frantic, running low on food and water. All over the world humans were or making a run for it, only to be met face-to-face with the walking dead.
Rick Grimes was feeling hopeless. He hadn't seen a living person since he had left Morgan and Duane, a father and son that had helped him when he was in need, nearly two weeks earlier. He was making his way through a small suburban town on the outskirts of Atlanta in search of food when he spotted two young women. He watched as they stealthily snuck up behind two lonesome walkers in front of the local bank along the main road. One with an axe, the other with a steel baseball bat. They took the walkers out with ease, letting the bodies fall to the pavement with a dull thud. Rick jogged toward the pair, relieved to find some of the living. The girls spun around and raised their weapons when they heard faint footsteps behind them. They shared confused glances and lowered their weapons slightly, seeing the police uniform that the stranger adorned, staying on guard as the man approached.
"Are you infected?" one asked, tightening her grip on her axe.
"No, no. I'm fine. I haven't been bit." Rick panted while keeping some distance. The two girls let out a sigh of relief and completely lowered their weapons—no longer feeling threatened. "The name's Rick Grimes." He introduced himself while reaching a hand out to shake.
"I'm Lacy, and this is Susan." The girl said, switching the bat to her opposite hand while nodding towards her best friend." Rick shook Lacy's hand and analyzed her features. She had long, wavy red hair that was tied back into a messy ponytail, with beautiful dark green eyes. She had many freckles and a round, sweet face which gave her a look of innocence, but he was met with a serious gaze that told him she was anything but.
"Nice to meet you Rick." Susan said shyly while reaching out to shake his hand as well. Once Rick got a closer look at her, his mouth unintentionally dropped open. He quickly caught himself and shut it closed.
"It's nice to meet you too, Susan." Rick said while meeting her hand with his own and giving it a firm shake. He stared into her brown eyes that perfectly matched her light brown hair, which flowed past her shoulders. She also had a gentle face, but he didn't see the same hard look in Susan's eyes as he did in Lacy's, and for that he was grateful.
"Are you alone?" Susan asked curiously, a hint of concern in her voice. The two girls had been by themselves for the better part of a month and they knew how hard it could be.
"Matter of fact I am. I heard Atlanta was safe so I've been making my way up there. I stopped here to get some supplies when I saw the pair of you." He explained, nodding his head towards a car parked on a side street nearby.
"Haven't you heard? Atlanta's gone. Everyone showed up when they heard it was safe but when they got there, all hell broke loose. It's a graveyard and there ain't nothing left for you there." Lacy pointed out. She didn't want to give the man false hope. She adjusted the straps of the bag that was slung on her back and looked towards the setting sun before glancing impatiently to her friend.
"Look, we can talk about this later. It's getting dark and we can't stay exposed like this. We need to head back. Are you coming with us, Rick? We wouldn't mind having you around." Offered Susan, an inviting expression on her face. She didn't know Rick but she felt a sense of security with him, a need to trust him. She could tell that Lacy didn't feel as comfortable with him as she did, but that's how Lacy was with everyone-even before the end of the world. Susan would find a great guy who would act like a real gentleman and Lacy would point out all his flaws. She didn't do it to be rude or to cause trouble; she was just always blunt with Susan. Lacy just wasn't interested in those types of people. She seemed to prefer the more rugged men; the men who didn't do very well in school but could tie a knot in ten different ways or hunt a deer with ease. She liked a man who lived by his own rules, one that didn't have all the drama that she didn't care for. And Rick didn't seem like that kind of man. But that didn't bother Susan one bit.
"That's a very gracious offer and I appreciate it. I'd love to join the both of you, if Lacy doesn't mind of course. I have guns and ammo from my station that I would be more than willing to share with the two of you."
"Do whatever you'd like, just stay out of my way. I'll take a shotgun if you've got one. Don't slow us down." Lacy replied quickly before walking off in the direction of his car. "You coming or what?" Susan gave Rick an apologetic look before they made their way to the vehicle. It was a long drive back to the small bungalow that the girls had taken over. The ride was quiet; they had the windows down and the wind blowing on their faces, forgetting all their worries, if only just for a minute.
Once arriving at the place Lacy and Susan had come to call "home", Susan gave Rick a short tour of the house while Lacy began cooking a meal that consisted of canned peas, carrots, corn, and some left-over raccoon meat from the night before. It was satisfying and surprisingly good. After dinner, the three of them sat together in the living room, surrounded by blankets and candles that were found laying around. Rick gazed around the house and noticed that the girls had a real good set-up. The windows and back door were very well boarded up, and they seemed to have plenty of food, water and other useful supplies to last them a while. During the night, they would always push a tall dresser in front of the front door to make the house even more secure. Rick was impressed and definitely felt fortunate for finding these two young ladies. He leaned back against the couch and put his arms behind his head. Rick was blessed to be reunited with real humans again and sent a large smile toward Susan when he realized she'd been watching him.
Three weeks had passed since Rick had officially joined the duo. During that time, Lacy and Susan had found out that Rick was married and had a young son named Carl. He had explained to them that he was in a coma after him and his partner/best friend, Shane Walsh, had been called into a car chase. He'd been shot by a hidden passenger within the vehicle and hadn't woken up until after the undead had taken over the world. He was taken in by a man and his son, Morgan and Duane, who saved him from an attack. He learned what had happened and how to defend himself against the walkers. After spending only a couple of days with them, Rick departed and began heading toward Atlanta in search of his wife and son—sending his best wishes to the kind, generous man and his hopeful son. Rick had traveled by himself for quite a while before he finally came in contact with Susan and Lacy.
He was very much enjoying the time spent with his new friends and continued to grow feelings for Susan day by day. Susan helped him think less and less of his wife and had him feeling happy and whole once again. The feelings were mutual with Susan—for as cliché as she knew it sounded, she had never felt the same way with a man before. She was picky when it came to choosing boyfriends, but Rick was filling a large, empty space that had been building up inside of her ever since hell found its way to earth—which she was glad of.
Over time, Rick seldom thought of his wife. He accepted the fact that his family was in a better place now and decided he would move on. His relationship with Susan had developed substantially. While the three of them had been staying in the little bungalow on the outskirts of Atlanta, Rick and Susan had made love to each other on countless occasions. Lacy was aware of their relationship, but showed no sign of jealousy and kept her distance when the two were having a moment. Lacy would often busy herself by going on long walks and hunting nearby for meat to share with the other two. She loved getting out of the house to clear her mind and to spend some time alone.
Two more weeks had passed and the three of them knew that they're supplies were almost coming to an end. The walkers had been few and far between when they had first come to the bungalow, easily taken care of. But the more time they spent there, the more walkers started showing up. Atlanta must have been a lost cause if the walkers had run out of food and were leaving the city, which meant it would soon be too risky to stay where they came to love the home that they'd adopted, but knew it was time for them to pack up and begin searching for a new place to live, to find more supplies and more game to hunt somewhere else. They packed their bags into the car and headed out, leaving the house behind. They began their journey to find someplace new while trying to stay under the walkers' radar, squatting in abandoned houses along the way.
"I'm starving and I'm extremely tired. Can we please take a rest for the night?" complained Susan while huffing and puffing behind Lacy and Rick.
"Yeah, sure. Let's find a place to make camp for the night in the forest over there." Lacy said while pointed toward a dark collection of trees just south of where they stood. Susan and Rick nodded, and began following Lacy through the forest, weapons at the ready.
That night, after finding a comfortable looking place to rest, they built a small fire that was small enough that it couldn't be easily spotted by any stray walkers. They had a solid meal; Lacy had caught a coyote in a trap she had made earlier in the day along with some canned beans they had found while looting. They talked casually about themselves as they ate, learning even more about each other.
Rick learned that Lacy was nineteen years old and had recently graduated high school with Susan. Lacy was one of those girls that didn't like asking for help; when she needed something done she did it herself, and if she didn't know how, she'd learn. She was stubborn, anti-social and preferred to be alone. She had lived in a small town a few hours away from where they were. Lacy had lost her parents in a car accident three years before, so she lived with her three older brothers. They taught her everything she knew, from hunting to fixing cars. She had been separated from her brothers shortly after the world went to shit and had been on her own for a while before finding Susan. Susan and Lacy had grown up as next door neighbours and had gone to school together, they were inseparable. It was a shock to find each other and they had stuck together ever since.
Susan's background was a little different. Though she and Lacy were best friends, they were almost complete opposites. Susan was extremely social and hated the thought of being alone and often relied heavily on the help of others. She tried hard and was successful in school; she had been accepted to Harvard University the summer after her high school graduation. If the apocalypse never occurred, that's exactly where she'd be right now.
As Rick and Susan settled down, preparing for a couple of hours of shut-eye, all that could be heard was the rustling of leaves being tossed around by a light breeze and the faint howl of a coyote. The fire they had made had burned down to coals and Lacy perched close by, taking the first watch. She didn't like to put her guard down, taking the first watch every night, and waking first in the morning to hunt. Her brothers had taught her to stay alert and only sleep when it was necessary, so that's exactly what she did. They had taken her camping all the time when she was a child and she had spent more time outdoors than in. It's where she preferred to be, outside and on her own.
Susan slowly began to doze off, all she could picture was the night her worst nightmare had become reality. Susan and her family had gone out for dinner for her father's 52nd birthday at an expensive restaurant where they had their first encounter with the undead. The dinner was going well until an elder man walked into the restaurant, his eyes sunken and his walk careless. A waiter approached the man, trying to help him to a seat. That's when the man grabbed hold of the waiter and took a huge chunk out of his neck. The old man left the restaurant with the waiter's flesh still clenched between his teeth. Everyone screamed in horror as the paramedics arrived and witnessed the assumed dead waiter rise up off the floor, his eyes a different colour and his breathing ragged. As they fled to the safety of their home, the radio in the car announced a worldwide alert: the dead were walking. Once arriving at their house, they boarded up the windows and collected all the food, water, and other necessities available. Her father took Susan aside; she being the oldest, leaving her with the most responsibility. He gave her a .22 calibre handgun, which she still carries around with her today. Her father told her to keep herself safe and to trust her instinct, knowing very well that he and his wife wouldn't always be there to protect her and her younger brother and sister.
Susan was awoken a couple of hours later by Lacy shaking her shoulders. "Susan, wake up!" Lacy hissed.
"Huh, what? What's wrong?" Susan mumbled slowly.
"There's someone over there. Look! You see it?" Lacy said as Rick was waking up having heard all of the commotion. Susan sat up and adjusted her eyes, searching deep into the darkness of the woods.
"Lace, it's probably just a stray. Wait until it gets closer and go put it out of its misery quietly so we don't attract any others." Susan replied patiently.
"It ain't a walker. I'm gonna go check it out. Stay here." She whispered. She knew it wasn't a walker and she wasn't going to let whoever it was go without investigating. She grabbed her shotgun, which had become a part of her arm, and put a finger to her lips before she disappeared into the darkness. Lacy had trained herself to move silently; her feet hitting the ground without a sound. She followed the figure for a few minutes and when she was close enough she slowed her pace, staying behind the trees for protection. But she stepped on a twig. The man spun around, his weapon at the ready.
"Put your weapon down." Lacy demanded calmly. They watched each other carefully but didn't move. In the pale moonlight Lacy could faintly make out the stranger in front of her. The man was tall and had dark hair, he wore a sleeveless shirt and a leather vest. She tried to see his expression but it was too dark.
"You bit?" He asked, ignoring her instruction. He could see her red hair and the shotgun pointed at his face and not much else; she was partly hidden behind a tree. He shifted awkwardly as he waited for her response.
"No, of course not. Where'd you come from? I haven't seen other survivors in weeks, are you alone?" Lacy questioned. They had covered a lot of distance and hadn't seen a single survivor in over three weeks. She was nervous and excited, making sure she kept her gun steady and her voice firm. Maybe there was hope.
"I ain't alone. I got a group not too far from here. I was huntin'. You scared my rabbit away! What's your name anyway?"
"The name's Lacy. There are three of us set up just over there; I can give you some coyote to make up for the rabbit. You won't find much else this time of night." She lowered her gun so that it faced the ground and waited for his response. He slung his crossbow over his shoulder and looked at her wearily.
"Yeah, alright. Name's Daryl. Daryl Dixon."
