Author's note: The following story is for mature readers please be advised that it contains strong language, graphic scenes and sexual content. With that said, the story was inspired by a picture that was recently posted on AMC for Season Two of The Walking Dead. Although it is a product of my own imagination it may include spoilers to the show from Season One. If you have not watched it all keep this in mind. The story is centered on the idea that everyone is connected in one way or another. In hard times where you seek that connection and with whom is out of desperation and fear.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to AMC, The Walking Dead, the characters, or any of their affiliates. This story is fan based and purely fictional. Any resemblance to people, place or thing is purely coincidental. All original characters are a product of my own imagination, and do not represent real people.

Chapter One: Alone and Desperate

Her breathing seemed louder than it should. Panic settled in as she strained to hear above the sound of her pounding heart. Stevie was alone, hiding in the tall grass at the edge of the woods. The loud buzzing of flies swarming everywhere made her skin crawl. She kept imagining spiders crawling on her, making her jumpy and paranoid. Her arachnophobia was an irrational fear she had since as far back as she could remember. She thought of the first time she saw a spider in her tent after the outbreak. She almost screamed making her tent mate scold her about real fear.

Amanda scolded her. "You should be so lucky that the only thing to fear is a little spider."

Amanda had scooped it up, setting it outside of the tent. Later that night while they were trying to sleep, Stevie had asked her why she didn't kill it.

"I've had enough killing."

Amanda rolled over ending the conversation. They both spent long hours that night lost in the same thought. All those people at the hospital, the ones they put down. Stevie couldn't shake the guilt of it. No matter how many times Amanda told her it was kill or be killed, the guilt still didn't go away. Yeah some of them had the fever, those she felt she was helping. What bothered her was the ones she knew weren't infected. Like that cop Rick, his biggest crime was being in a coma in that particular hospital on that particular day. She didn't give him the injection. Instead she had gone into his room and stopped his IV. She doubted he made it, but at least she knew she hadn't killed him.

.

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Tears rolled down Stevie's face at the memories. She knew things could have been worse. She could have been on the children's ward instead of the long care floor. She didn't care what those soldiers ordered she wouldn't have taken the life of a child, not now not ever! What did it matter anyway? The injections just sped up the process. The ones that had the fever turned in spite of the efforts to prevent it. They really didn't know much about the disease then or now. Killing everyone there was a choice someone made out of panic. The Army didn't have any answers, neither did the doctors.

Mentally she warned herself. "That was a long time ago, stop thinking about it!" In reality it was only a couple of months ago, maybe. She didn't know for sure if it was one month or two. Time stopped for her that day. Now she based time on events rather than sun rise to sun set. A lot had happened since, making her old life seem like two lifetimes ago.

.

She and Amanda escaped the hospital before the military killed them all. Right after she left Rick's room Amanda had run into her in the hallway. She insisted that they leave and leave now. Stevie didn't argue. Something she saw in Amanda's eyes made Stevie realize she had to go with the woman. Stevie could still hear the sound of the machine guns echoing from somewhere down the hallway. She managed to convince Amanda that it would be in their best interests to stop at their homes for clothing and any food they could take that wasn't perishable. They drove right by Amanda's place because the area was teaming with dead. At Stevie's apartment they cleaned out her cabinets and Stevie grabbed her most treasured possession, her journal. In all, they had a case of bottled water, a bag of pretzels, a couple cans of tuna, string beans, carrots and pork and beans. It wasn't much but it would help them survive until they got to safety. Stevie had grabbed her flashlight and matches but forgotten about the one thing that could have helped them the most, a can opener. After hiding for days they made a choice to go to Atlanta. Amanda had heard there was shelter and possibly people with answers about the outbreak. They made it all the way to the edge of city when they ran into a group that had fled the mayhem that was now downtown Atlanta. Thank God for Gerry and his group, without them and their resourcefulness she and Amanda wouldn't have survived as long as they did. She wiped her eyes once again. They were all dead now, Amanda included.

.

Her feet and ankles were swollen and she had blisters on her feet from being on the run. Stevie had been running for hours, maybe an entire day. She didn't have food, shelter, water, clothing…she looked at her shirt. Amanda's blood covered it, dried and rust colored, but in her mind it was still fresh. The image of Amanda falling into her arms, blood gushing from an open wound on her neck, sent a shiver through Stevie's body. Amanda was bitten outside of their tent. She held onto Stevie as the walker ripped her apart. The life drained from Amanda giving Stevie a chance to break free. She ran hoping someone else would get free and perhaps she would find them. But as she got further into the woods the screams coming from her camp died down. Stevie realized she was alone.

"What am I going to do?" Her words echoed inside of her head. "I just want it to be over. Please, just let me die!" She rocked back and forth hugging her knees as she squatted in the grass. A noise snapped her out of her hysteria. She listened. It was footsteps, slow footsteps, crunching down the debris on the ground. She saw it up ahead hunched over and moving slowly, a large man in filthy clothing. Well not a man anymore, a creature, a walker. She considered it to be an answer to her prayers. Making a rash decision to accept her fate she sprung to her feet.

"Come on you son of a bitch! It's feeding time!"