Chapter Info

Title: New Family

Number: 2/?

Warnings: Language, violence, blood, gore, zombies, death, angst

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait on this... But here's chapter two, and I hope y'all enjoy! Comments are love!

She pulled herself away completely from the man's grip, her eyes wide and she was still panting from the stress of running. She ignored the sounds the biters were making behind her and focused instead on her savior. Short brown hair, crossbow sitting on his shoulder, about five ten which meant he was still towering over her, dirty clothes... She held a hand up to her heart as it raced out of fear and gulped down the nausea that always seemed to surface when those things were around. "Thanks," she murmured gently, leaning back against the brick and looking at the biters, frowning. "So much for going to the market."

"Whatcha doin' here, anyway?" the man demanded, his voice not caring or gentle like Colin's was. Over the last month or so, she found herself missing the man much more than she should probably. She knew him for less than a week, but he saved her life and he helped her through the shock of this new world. She needed him there, and she thought maybe she could keep him alive if she kept thinking of him. He deserved to be, he should've survive instead of trying to save her.

"I was trying to get supplies. I haven't eaten in a couple days," she answered, blushing slightly as her stomach growled. "Market usually isn't so crowded, but there were too many biters today."

The man looked to be contemplating something before saying, "You live here?"

Adrianne sort of shrugged and reached up to brush pieces of her red hair off her face. "Do any of us really?" she asked. "I used to live five miles outside of town, but the street was over run." She looked at her feet. "I never left."

He shook his head, frowning. "You're crazy, lady," he muttered. She looked up at him and matched his frown, about to answer when three other men came into view. Adrianne backed away some, finding herself wary of the group even though she had no reason to be. She just hadn't come across people yet and didn't know how things were outside of Atlanta. She figured survival of the fittest was very prevalent, and she just wanted to exist outside of that.

The other men looked at her shocked, and she thought she was doing a pretty good job of not looking shocked herself. A month without anybody else was hurting her senses and made her wonder if they were actually really biters and she was seeing things.

"Who are you?" the one dressed as a sheriff's deputy asked. Nope, not a biter. At least she was hoping so.

"Adrianne Hammond," she said, her eyes flickering between the man who saved her and the cop. "He saved me." She pointed a thumb at Crossbow and he just grunted, looking away. The cop looked at him, too, and then back to her.

"Where'd you come from?"

"About two blocks that way." She pointed, and then paused. "I think..." She sighed and ran a hand over her face. "I was going to the market, and it's not usually full of biters, but it was over run. I just wanted some food." The man tilted his head to the side, studying her until she squirmed some and gave him a frown. "Look, I'm sorry if I messed up...whatever it was you were doing, I'll go now." She looked up at Crossbow. "Thank you for saving me." She gave him a slight smile and turned to go back, but yelped when the biters hit the fence and it almost collapsed over.

"Run!" Cop yelled, making Adrianne realize how many times she's heard that in the past month or so, at least in her head. She quickly follow the four men. Crossbow took up the rear and Cop led, leading them through the alley just as the fence crashed down behind them. She squeaked and ran faster, her legs carrying her easily behind the other two men. She brought her knife from her pocket and held it tightly in her grip, too focused on survival to realize they were running too far away from her home.

Cop brought them into a building and slammed the door behind them. Only the light of the fading sun lit up the place and Adrianne sighed as she leaned against the wall. "Sorry," she wheezed. "Didn't meant to rile them up."

"'S okay," Cop said, breathing hard as well. "You didn't know." He stepped forward, replacing the hat on his head that had skewed itself in their haste. "I'm Rick Grimes." Adrianne's eyes flickered up, grateful she had a name and that Rick looked a little bit more friendly than Crossbow. "You live here?"

Adrianne nodded and released her hair so she could pull it up tighter. Her green eyes flickered back and forth between them again. "I guess you could say that. There's a small apartment complex down the street that the biters didn't get. That market is a block away and I usually use it to get in and out quick, but it was over run today."

"That might've been us, I'm sorry," Rick said. Adrianne shook her head.

"It's okay."

There was a short, awkward silence before Rick spoke again. "Ah...this is Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl." Adrianne looked between them as Rick introduced them.

"Sorry, guys," she said. "Didn't mean to break up the party."

"That's okay. Just glad you're alright," Glenn said. She smiled slightly. It was then Rick and Glenn filled her in on why they were there. She glanced slightly at Daryl, but he didn't look at her, just picked at his crossbow. She gave him a sad look, knowing the feeling of letting a family member slip out of her fingers. First she let her father slip away, and now her mother. She even felt responsible for Colin's death. Slowly she looked down at her feet and wondered what she should tell them. But she knew they were pretty honest with her, and in this world, lies could get people killed.

"I've been alone for over a month. I think. I-I was with a guy, Colin, but he—" She stopped and shrugged, looking up at Rick. "I haven't seen anybody else in Atlanta from the time I've been here, just the biters. I tend to hide from them and sneak through them to get supplies. But I know how to fight." She didn't know why she was telling him this. She wasn't expecting to go back to their camp and stay with them; that was out of the question. But she was still saying it, and she held out her knife to him. "I'll help you guys get out of here if you want. I need to try and clear the market so I cam keep using it." She chuckled softly and looked back at her feet.

She was still staring at her feet so she didn't notice the look of exchange between Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog. Daryl scoffed and turned to walk away, which is why Adrianne looked up. She looked at him confused, wondering if she had said something wrong, before Rick spoke again. "You could come back with us." She looked at him quickly, her frown furrowing more. By the way Daryl acted and the looks on both Glenn and T-Dog's face, she was pretty sure her joining their group wouldn't be well received. She could tell there were others, and she had a feeling they weren't all as friendly as these men, if Daryl was any sort of indication. He saved her, yes, but he didn't look like he had any choice in the matter. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't know about it either. Even before the world ended, she had trouble trusting people. She trusted Colin because he saved her— But then she realized for that reason, she should at least trust Daryl even if he seemed less than thrilled to accept her.

"But Shane..." Glenn muttered, his eyes flickering from Adrianne to Rick.

"He'll just have to deal with it," Rick said, his voice firm and neither Glenn nor T-Dog argued further. He turned his attention back to Adrianne.

"I don't want to create trouble," she said, backing up for the door Daryl had exited. She really didn't want to put a burden on these people; she was fine by herself. However, Rick started walking towards her again, shaking his head.

"You won't," he said, his voice a promise and she paused her retreat, willing to listen to his words. "You shouldn't be alone, and not in Atlanta. It's worse than you think."

Slowly she started chewing on her lip, staring over Rick's face as she tried to figure out what her next move should be. Clear some out so they could get through and then go back to her hold-up alone, or run with them back to their group and be near other people and be safe, at least slightly. The idea of not spending the rest of her life alone, with a group of good people, made her want to actually smile. She was very unsure if she could trust these people, but they were saving her as well now, right?

Finally she nodded, her lips quirking slightly. "Okay," she murmured. "I'll go back with you." She paused. "Thank you." Rick nodded and Glenn put a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "We should go now, though. It's gonna start getting dark soon."

.x.x.x.x.

The screams startled more than just her. Frankly having spent more time in Atlanta, she was used to it, but she still jumped. The men stopped their job, all pausing as they looked around the darkening woods. Adrianne couldn't tell which direction they were coming from, but from the look of horror spreading over Rick's face, it was clear he knew. "Ah, Christ," he said and took off at a dead run. The others followed quickly behind him, Adrianne bringing up the rear. Quickly she brought out her knife—had never used the gun and it had been left behind in the apartment—and held it tight to her body as they headed into the woods. Faintly she could see the flickering of a fire, but the screams drowned out any of her other senses. She didn't know these people, but she didn't want them to die, nobody deserved to die like that.

Immediately she jumped into action once the violence was right before them. Her hand swinging and slashing, knowing she had become pretty good with her knife. She was careful not to get it stuck or let it drop, there were too many that it could be the difference between life and death. She fought harder than she ever had before, biter-blood splattering over her and she merely kept going until all she heard were sobs of the other people around her and the pounding of her heart in her chest. Her lungs sawed in air, aching with force as she stood still, head turning in every direction to make sure the biters were all dead. Her knife was glistening in the pale moonlight with the dark blood that flowed from the biters. Her shirt and jeans were covered in it, and yet she didn't stop. She had to help save those that she could, even driving her knife into the skull of one that nearly took off Glenn's ear. He shot her a grateful look and she nodded back, stepping up to another one to take that one down, too.

It seemed like the chaos lasted forever before it was all still. All she saw was a sea of bodies, unsure in the dark which were biters and which were newly dead. T-Dog and Daryl stood in an offensive position while the others huddled together, the sobs growing louder as they took in their dead. Adrianne's head bowed in respect and even though she didn't know any of them, she felt a tear slip down her face from the loss that she could feel all around her, the sorrow and grief permeating the air like a disease.

It made her think of her mother, where Victoria might be. There was a chance the woman was alive, but Adrianne figured she would feel it. Something in her told her that her mother was gone, lost to no treatment of her illness or to the biters, she wasn't sure. The woman had been getting frailer and that's why Adrianne had been so set on getting to her. But now that was over, and Adrianne was just faced with more loss and heartache.

.x.x.x.x.

Nobody really questioned Rick and the others bringing her back until the next morning. They had all noticed one extra person helping to sort out who was to be buried and who was to be burned, but it was a man called Shane that first brought her to everyone else's attention. Adrianne stood strong in front of him as he stared her down with narrowed eyes even as she heard Rick sigh and move up to the pair.

"She don't look like Merle ta me," Shane said.

"She was living alone in Atlanta." Everyone's faces snapped to look at her then and she shrunk back a little. She didn't like to be the center of attention. "We couldn't leave her there. She could be an asset just like everyone else here. She can fight, she helped us last night. She's helping us now and she didn't even know anybody. Back off her, Shane."

Shane sighed and took another look at her, staying silent until he asked, "What's your name, girl?"

"Adrianne Hammond," she answered instantly, quietly. He nodded slowly.

"Welcome to the group. Don't make me regret it." And with that he turned away, going to the RV where the bag of guns Rick brought back was stashed to take inventory. Adrianne let out a soft sigh and Rick gave her a smile, patting her on the shoulder before introducing her around. She met his wife and son, Lori and Carl. Next she met Carol and Sophia, who lost a husband and father the night before. Dale was the older man taking watch on the RV. Jacqui was a nice older woman who just smiled at her kindly. Morales and his family stayed mostly to themselves, but the kids ran around with Carl and Sophia a lot. Jim had gotten bit and Adrianne was sad to see him being ostracized for that, especially by Daryl who almost took his head off with a pick-axe. The last person she met was Andrea and that was only after her sister, Amy, had been buried with the others of the group. Adrianne stood behind everyone solemnly as they paid their respects and tagged along with Rick at the back of the group.

He sent her ahead to talk to Lori and she decided to go talk to Carol, who seemed nice enough even though she just lost her husband. "What can I help with?" she wondered, looking around at different piles of clothes along with some cans of food.

Carol paused for a minute before she gestured to a particular pile. "Those are Daryl's washed clothes," she said. "Mind taking them to him? He's over there." She pointed to the tent farthest away from the rest of the group and Adrianne smiled lightly, not surprised that he was over there.

"Not at all." She made sure her knife was clipped in right before lugging up a pile of cargo pants, jeans, and sleeveless shirts. Rolling her eyes slightly, she made her way over to the rednecks tent and paused, not knowing if knocking was the right thing, but she did it anyway and called out his name at the same time. "Daryl?" she said, wondering if he were even in there. She hadn't seen where he went after the burial, he wasn't on the hill during it. She heard nothing and was about to walk away when the flap opened and the archer stared at her with narrowed eyes.

Gulping slightly, she handed out the pile of clothes that Carol gave her. "Carol told me these were yours," she said. He didn't say anything and she raised an eyebrow and waited. Finally after a full minute of just staring at each other, she pushed the clothes into his arms with a sigh. She wasn't sure what his problem was, but if he didn't want her there, he could just say something. She didn't ask to come along, Rick said she could come with them and she merely accepted. Daryl didn't have to save her, he could've let her die. With a shake of her head, she turned and walked away, her boots stepping over fallen leaves and twigs.

"Thanks." It was quiet behind her and she paused, looking over her shoulder to the man still standing in the tent. It shocked her to hear those words out of him and a small smile spread over her lips.

"You're welcome, Daryl," she said before heading back over to Carol to figure out what else she could do to help.

.x.x.x.x.

It was decided that they would head to the CDC. Jim needed medical care if he were to possibly survive and nobody would argue with that. Shane wanted Fort Benning, but he was over-ruled much to his annoyance. Adrianne made sure not to say a word as she helped the gather their supplies. She had none of her own other than the clothes on her back and her knife, so she didn't have to grab anything herself. She offered to ride in the RV with Dale, Glenn, Jacqui, and Jim and help out with Jim's condition. She knew it would be a painful ride for him, the fever already hit him hard.

"We need to get you some more clothes," Jacqui said as she held a damp towel to Jim's head to wipe down the sweat. Adrianne got up to grab another one and wet it down with some cool water and switch it out for the one Jacqui had. Adrianne laughed softly at Jacqui's words as she moved aside the bandage on Jim's stomach and started to change out the gauze underneath it for clean stuff.

"I'm okay for now, but thank you," she said, though not unpleasantly. She knew Jacqui was just trying to be nice, but it was painfully obvious that Adrianne had nothing other than what was with her. She hadn't even had time to go grab the gun that she never used for a backup weapon and was seriously regretting it. Once the bandage was changed, Adrianne sat back down and let Jacqui do her work in dabbing Jim's forehead, wincing as they went over another rough bounce and Jim moaned.

"What I wouldn't give to go shopping again," Jacqui said making Adrianne nod quickly.

"Tell me about it," she agreed with a sigh. It had been one of her favorite activities, even if she didn't have the money, she always went shopping. Looking around made her feel free, watching people and finding new and exciting things. If she really liked something and couldn't afford it at the time, she simply saved up for it. Only now she didn't need money, and yet she had no possessions other than the clothes on her back. It was truly humbling when one thought about it, how much the need to survive changed a person and their way of living.

Before Adrianne could say anything else, a loud crack along with the sputtering of an engine drew the attention of the two women in the back of the RV. Jim groaned as it swerved a little and finally came to a halt, causing Dale to lay on the horn to stop the caravan. Jacqui gestured that Adrianne could go help and the redhead looked at the other with an eyebrow raised. "Are you sure?" she wondered. Jacqui nodded and kept dabbing Jim's forehead allowing Adrianne to go speak with the rest of the group. Everyone else was already gathering in front of the Winnebago and looked to Adrianne when she appeared for an update.

"How is he?" Lori wondered and Adrianne frowned, shaking her head.

"In pain," she said gently. "Fever's getting worse. He's slipping more into delusions than he is into the real world. The bed back there isn't exactly comfortable, but we made it the best we could for him." She crossed her arms over her chest, the dirt and dried biter blood that caked her clothes cracking as she did so. "I don't think he'll make it much farther." Eyes turning to Rick, she used her head to gesture in. "I think you should go talk to him. He's mostly lucid the last time I spoke to him, but he slipped off into sleep about ten minutes ago. He'll probably be awake now that we've stopped."

Rick silently nodded and slid past her to go into the RV. Shane sighed and began pacing as Glenn and Dale went to start looking at the radiator hose. Adrianne leaned against the side of the vehicle, eyes scanning each face and seeing the tole this was taking on every single one of them. Even Adrianne herself was starting to lose hope, to feel the effects of the attack the night before, even though she didn't know any of the people lost to the biters.

"I think I see a gas station up ahead," Shane said. "With any luck, they'll have the supplies to fix the RV."

"We can't just rig up the hose in there?" Carol wondered, peaking over Dale's shoulder.

"That's all it's been up 'til now. It's more duct tape than hose right now, and I'm out of duct tape."

Adrianne sighed and glanced at Shane and T-Dog as they started heading out. She didn't know a whole lot about cars, with her dad not in the picture she didn't have a lot of men in her life, but after he died, she and Victoria moved to the outskirts of the city they had lived in in upstate New York. The man next door was a mechanic and she was always watching him fix the line of cars that seemed to always fill his mile-long driveway. Rolling up her sleeves, she stepped over to stand next to Dale, and gestured to a piece inside. "Shane," she called, making the men stop and look at her. "If they have any coolant, it's needed. There looks like there's a crack in the top of the radiator as well. We can't seal it off here, but the more of that we have the better. Once we get into the city, maybe we can find another truck like the one you said Rick had to exchange it."

Everyone silently stared at her before Shane shrugged and climbed in his Jeep with T-Dog to go up to the gas station. Dale looked more than surprised and she just smiled at him, reaching up to tie her hair back so it didn't get in the way, and she started helping him pull out the old hose so the new one could go in. She was helping him check the oil and the brake fuel when Rick stepped out of the RV looking grim. Shane and T-Dog were back as well, thankfully with a hose and five bottles of coolant that Adrianne said they could store under the table.

"He wants us to leave him here," Rick said finally, his voice softer than usual. Adrianne hung back next to Daryl, the man trying hard not to look at her. She didn't understand what his problem was, but she decided once they reached the CDC, she would ask him about it. She was never one to beat around the bush.

"And he's lucid like Adrianne said?" Carol asked. Rick nodded and moved aside so Jacqui could step out beside him, hiding the tears in her eyes.

"He seems to be. He doesn't want to keep going, he's in too much pain. At this rate, he won't make it no matter how comfortable we make him."

"I don't know if I can live with that, Rick," Shane said, running a hand through his hair as his elbow leaned against the RV. "Condemning a man like that? I can't do it."

"He's already condemned," Lori said softly. "And it's not your decision. Neither one of you."

Rick and Shane didn't look happy about it, but they nodded and got to work. They went to go get Jim as Adrianne offered to fix the RV. It was the least she could do and let the group pay respects to their fallen member. She didn't know him very well, but she would miss him. Eyes on her work, she worked with the flat-head screwdriver to put the hose back where it should be, tightening it down with force, but not enough to damage the radiator itself. She filled it up with coolant and was glad the crack was at least on the top so it wouldn't just instantly gush out of there. The last thing they needed was the RV to overheat.

Once that was done, she looked up to see that everyone was heading off the hill. Using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, she looked at the man sitting against the tree. She smiled gently at him and nodded, him nodding back with a wave, before she climbed aboard the RV and the caravan moved again. Nobody said much on their way there, Adrianne wiping her hands off on a towel that Dale told her she could use, before giving up and just using her jeans. The roads were more or less clear, just a biter or two on the way. No people, no cars until they reached the city.

Adrianne didn't care much to be in Atlanta again, especially so close to dark, but she agreed that they needed to be here. Even though Jim was no longer with them, they could still figure out what the hell was going on in the world now, if there was anybody else out there that was safe, or if the whole world was gone. Everybody armed themselves, Rick and Shane at the front, Glenn and T-Dog at the back, with Adrianne and Daryl taking both sides. Daryl didn't look too happy that she would be the one covering them, but she pushed aside her annoyance at that and followed them to the front of the building.

The bodies around them didn't smell much better than her clothing considering she was covered in the blood, but she couldn't help gagging a couple times before finally lifting her hand to her nose to stop the putrid smell. It was quite a walk up the sidewalk, or so it seemed, past dozens, hundreds of rotting corpses. Luckily none of them moved, at least at first, as they neared the gates and the guys tried to open it.

"There's nobody here, it's a dead end," Shane said gravely with resolve, eyeing Rick who didn't look like he wanted to give up.

"Ya led us ta a graveyard!" Daryl snapped.

"Enough!" Lori said loudly. "There was no way to know that it would be like this. But we have to go, Rick, we can't be out here so close to the city after dark."

"Well where the hell are we supposed to go?" Rick wondered.

"Let's fine a secluded spot on the highway and camp there for tonight," Adrianne suggested. "And then try Shane's Fort Benning tomorrow."

"See? Smart girl," Shane said, making Adrianne roll her eyes. "Rick, let's go."

Everyone started quickly back for the caravan when Jacqui yelled out, "Walkers!" Everyone snapped around and started shooting, taking out those farther away while Adrianne when in with her knife to start getting the ones up close. More blood was added to her clothes and she knew she needed to find some new ones soon or some place to clean these.

"The camera just moved," Rick said, staring at the security camera. He started speaking to it, Adrianne not hearing what he was saying as the growls of the walkers got closer and she grunted as she started fighting once more, nearly having her arm taken off as her attention had been interrupted by the ex-cop and she kicked it away with her boot, her heart leaping for a moment, before driving her knife through its eye. Arrows and bullets whizzed passed her as Rick started yelling. "You're killing us! You're killing us!"

Shane was dragging him away, Adrianne helping Lori and Carol keep Carl and Sophia between them so Adrianne could make sure that the walkers didn't get to the unarmed members, T-Dog having Jacqui. It was almost like a movie at first, the door opening up and light sweeping across them. Everyone paused, the bullets and arrows stopping as they all stared in wonder, the door lifted to the top, allowing them to enter.