Okay, so in this story, I'm hoping to get Carol to break out of her shell a little bit, starting with this chapter :) Hope you guys enjoy!

"Oh. My. God." I said as I sank down into the boiling hot water. Since there wasn't any hot water, a woman named Carol had boiled a couple of pot-fulls and made a bath for me. Carol was such a nice woman, but something about her told me that she had a traumatizing past. Don't we all.

You see, I wasn't a werewolf by choice. I was only six when I was bitten. Over ten years of monthly turnings my have driven me crazy if it weren't for my father. When he found me in the woods at five in the morning eating leftover deer carcass, he vowed to protect my secret. He and I were the only ones that knew until he died. I remember that I cried for almost a week straight. I never went back to school after that. I didn't know how to protect the people around me, so I stayed inside and never went anywhere except to eat. I lost all my friends after that, too.

Then, shit hit the fan a month or so later. I was coming from being locked in the basement, which is how I kept myself from attacking humans, and my next door neighbor, Tori, was standing at my door, which had somehow come open. She was covered in blood, snarling and she smelled like something horrible. When she came at me, my instant reaction was to grow my claws and fangs, making my eyes change from blue to yellowish-amber. I swiped at her with my hand and slit her throat, spilling black, foul-smelling liquid all over the floor. Then, to my surprise, she ran away.

I had never heard of a zombie running away before, so I tested my theory. After a few experiments, I figured out that zombies were afraid of werewolves. And that's how I ended up here, at 'Hershal's farm', as Shane had called it. I never needed weapons, because I never needed to kill anything. The only thing that worried me these days was that if I was in my were-form, and I attacked one of those things, would I get infected? Or would my enhanced immune system fight off the infection. I was afraid to find out, more or less.

A soft knock on the bathroom door interrupted my thoughts. "Anna? Are you okay?" It was Carol.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"I have some clothes for you if you don't mind me coming in."

Carol was a woman, so I had no problem. "No, Carol." I said as I sat up in the water. "Come on in."

Carol stepped in and closed the door. Her soft features were defined and her blue eyes were brought out by her graying hair. "I don't know what size you are, but judging by your size, you must wear a medium."

I smiled at her. "You're exactly right. How'd you know?"

"Mother's instinct." I listened closely to her heartbeat. It was slow at first, then the mention of being a mother seemed to quicken it. I was afraid to ask, but I could tell that she lost a child in the shit storm we now had to call life. Since I was already clean, I stood up and grabbed a towel after letting the water run out. I wrapped the towel around myself and gave Carol a hug.

"I bet that you made mother of the year."

She chuckled lightly. "You don't even know me."

"You've taken care of me since I got here, and you don't know me." I let her go and unwrapped myself from the towel to dry my hair.

"Good God. What happened there?" she gasped, eyeing the scar from this morning's gash. I'd already healed, and I was thankful that she couldn't see my other side.

"I fell on a tree branch a couple years ago." The lie came smoothly, easily, like meringue. I slipped on the underwear, jeans, bra and tank top that fit my body perfectly. Then I looked at my hands. "God, I need a mani."

"You know, I have some nail polish in my bag." Carol said. "If you want to use it."

I grinned at her. "I love you, Carol. You plus me equals makeshift manicure."

She followed me out of the bathroom, then went downstairs to where her bag was. "Candy apple red?" she asked. "I'm afraid that's all I have."

"That's perfect." I said, then she led me outside. Everybody else was crowded around a picnic table, and they turned to Carol and I with expecting faces. "Uh, Carol? Did I do something wrong? Why are they looking at me like that?"

"They just had a group meeting." she said, shaking the polish bottle. "And by the looks on their faces, I think they want you to stay. So do I." She smiled at me and squeezed my hand. Smiling looked really good on Carol, and I found myself wondering if she didn't do it often.

I looked back up at the group and saw a familiar face. One I never wanted to see again. "Officer Grimes?"

Rick Grimes turned to me. "Hello, Anna. Long time, no see."

"How long has it been?" I asked with my hand on my hip. "Seven months?"

"Well, last I heard of you, you were in a cell."

"Last I heard of you, Grimes, you were in a coma from being shot, yet here we are."

"Yes." he sighed. "Here we are."

"Rick." the woman named Lori whispered. "How do you know her?"

I went ahead and answered for him. "He's been my arresting officer for the past two years."

"I knew that I knew you from somewhere." Shane smiled in accomplishment.

There's alot of things that these people didn't know about me. Like how I was a werewolf, or how I had a short temper fuse, or that I was a sex addict, or how Rick cheated on his wife with a certain someone so that I could get out of going to juvie before the full moon hit. Believe me, that was only the semi-interesting stuff.