McKenzi Hunter was not the ideal friend that Charlotte would pick for her daughter. She was different, to say the least. Her hair was bleach blonde, straightened, and had hot pink highlights. She wore knee high lace up boots with a pair of short, black, jean shorts, and a black concert T-shirt. But, Charlotte had to remind herself that times had changed. During her four year sentence at King County High, those people would've been considered weird. But now, it was acceptable. And if Grace wasn't going to be judgmental to the girl, than neither would Charlotte.

The two girls walked up the driveway, smiling and laughing like they'd been friends for years. Which, in truth they'd only met two weeks ago when school started. Grace didn't have any of her friends from middle or elementary school in her classes, and she knew Kenzi from volleyball over the summer, and they kind of became friends, given that they had the same lunch.

"Hello Mrs. Walsh," McKenzi said with a smile.

"Actually it's O'Donnell. But you can just call me Charlotte…or Grace's mom. It doesn't really matter." Charlotte said, shrugging.

"Aidan and Sam are taking the bus together," Grace said.

"Oh okay…"

"It's nice to meet you," Kenzi said with a smile. She seemed nice enough. Charlotte still wasn't sure what to think. One of the King County police cruisers pulled up to the curb. Charlotte's stomach dropped, she was so afraid that something would happen to Shane, just like it had Rick. But, to her surprise, Shane himself stepped out of the car.

"Hi Daddy!" Grace waved. "This is my friend, Kenzi."

"Shane Walsh," he offered, halfheartedly. "Charlotte can I have a minute?" She knew something was wrong. Shane didn't randomly drop by her house in the middle of the day, and he wasn't worried. He was the family rock, even if he and Charlotte were divorced.

"Girls," she paused to clear her throat, for it had gone dry. "Girls go order two pizzas, please…" Grace nodded, noticing the discomfort in the air. "So…what is it? Is Rick okay?" Shane nodded numbly and went to run his finger through his charcoal hair. "Is that…blood?" In each of their jobs they had to be prepared to deal with blood. Charlotte dealt with it on a daily basis, but Shane typically didn't have to. So, it was more of a shock when he had it on his hands than her.

"Yeah…Uh, that's what I wanted to talk to you 'bout. So we got this call-domestic violence is what dispatch said, but we get there…and the wife…She's…She's literally eatin' her husbands arm…I don't…" he was clearly frazzled. But, Charlotte was in utter shock.

"What should we do?"

"I don't…Nothin'…For now. Try not to go anywhere. I'll come back by if you need anything…"

"Do you work tomorrow?" She found herself asking.

"Not 'til 'bout six. Why?"

"The kids are having sleepovers. Can you stay with them while I go to work?"

"'Course. I'm goin' to pick up the jeep an' then I'm headin' home. Call if you need anythin', all right?"

"You know you'd be the first number I dialed…" Charlotte's parents were long gone, they had died when she was ten due to a house fire. That was actually how she ended up in King County. She went to live with her Aunt Jamie, who ended up dying three years back. They stood there for another few moments. "Have you heard anything from Lori?"

"Saw 'er when I went to look in on Rick. She's a mess. I ain't ever seen 'er like this. Hell, they'd had a fight that morning…"

"Oh, that's gotta be so hard on her…" Charlotte trailed off. She wasn't sure what else to say. She remembered how she would never leave a fight as that before Shane left while they were married, because she knew that he could die at any moment.

"Mm, I'll see ya," he said and walked back to his vehicle. Charlotte returned to the house and found the Grace and Kenzi sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"You girls get the pizza ordered?" she asked.

"Yeah, one ½ cheese, ½ pineapple and ham, the other ½ pepperoni, ½ meat lovers" Grace replied.

"That's my girl," Charlotte's favorite was pineapple and ham. "So what are you watching?"

"Pitch Perfect," Kenzi replied. Charlotte only smiled. She remembered taking Grace to the theater to see that one. The next weekend she had to take Aidan to some action movie.

"Good choice," Charlotte said with a grin as she plugged her phone into the charger in the kitchen. She couldn't help but think about Shane, and how he'd reacted to the whole ordeal. He'd been scared. But, she'd seen him scared before…It was just so much more than that this time. He hadn't even cleaned the blood off of his hands, which wasn't like him.

The sleepover was in full swing a few hours later. Charlotte had decided upon her bedroom, to hide in. The kids, surprisingly, were all getting along. She was more worried about the older girls interacting with the boys and vice versa than the people they invited over. Her phone suddenly went off and she checked the message.

Got called into work. Make sure all doors and windows are locked, tell kids to be safe.

It was from Shane. So, right away she got up from the bed and checked her window, it was securely locked. She moved on to each window, then to the front door and the back. She sighed, satisfied with her work. "Don't stay up too late, okay?" She told the kids. They all agreed and continued to play Mario Kart.

"Everybody Up!" A voice shouted throughout the house. Charlotte was up right away. She rose from her bed, not before slipping her hand gun from her drawer into the back of her PJ pants, to find the source. "Char, get clothes, the essentials. We gotta go."

"Go where?" She asked, still quite sleepy.

"Atlanta…Things have only gotten worse…Get the kids ready. Phone lines and towers are down. I gotta go get Lori and Carl…"

"You're talking too-"

"Goddamnit, Charlotte do what I said! We ain't got much time! I'll explain on the way!" he snapped.

She sprang into action. He'd never yelled like that, not at her anyway. She went to the kids rooms, Grace's first and opened the door. She and Kenzi were crashed on the twin bed. "Get up!" she shouted.

"Mom!" Grace protested before falling back down on the bed.

"Gracie Isabelle Walsh! Get your ass up, we've gotta go!"

"Go where? What?" It was surely important, She didn't need any more confirmation than the fact that her mother had used her whole name.

"Atlanta. Get the essentials. Clothes…camping stuff…get the tents from the garage…" She wasn't sure what they'd need, but that was something, right? Shane hadn't been specific. Though she was confused, Grace nodded anyway. Charlotte moved down the hall and opened Aidan's door.

"Aidan Connor Walsh, get up!" She exclaimed. He opened his brown eyes right away.

"Get clothes and important things together. Make sure Sam does too."

AN: 18 January 2016, I've decided to go through and do some editing on this story. I certainly did not realise how much time I spent with the before apocalypse events of this story.