*****Disclaimer! I do not own any part of the story or characters of the walking dead...sadly...Only my OC.*****
She next morning she woke and went to the kitchen for a small breakfast of grits. After she ate, she dressed in a fresh pair of pants, her boots, and a clean grey T-shirt. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she pulled a cap on and walked out the door. Fog still rolled over the ground as she stepped off her porch. Heading towards her truck, she began the long task of setting logs into the holes she had dug. For some they fit snugly between the trees which would be good for her fence line. For each log she positioned her truck to be able to slide them off. It took hours to set them all but by the time she was done, she was pleased with the security it would provide. Next she began to finish the wiring for her solar panels, simple things that didn't take long and hooking them to a large battery pack to store the energy. After that she grabbed the bucket from inside and walked out to her garden where her tomatoes were growing large, her corn was ready to be picked, beans ready for shelling, cucumbers ripe and squash fat and yellow. Not far from her garden was her small orchard as she liked to call it. There wasn't much to it. Only a few fruit trees that produced well. Apples, oranges, peaches, pears, plums. After pouring the water onto her tomato vines, she picked the rippest ones from each and took them inside. She set them on her counter and then braced herself before opening her fridge. She coughed in disgust at the wave of rotten stench that reached her. Thankfully it wasn't as much as it would have been if she hadn't cleaned out most of her fridge before she left. Dumping the contents of her fridge and freezer into the garbage went quickly. After wiping it down until she was satisfied, she set about making a pitcher of tea and making dough for bread with powdered milk. She knew this skill would come in handy one day.
Tea was made and the dough was rising as she split her garden haul into a basket and hefted it towards her living room. Placing on her bracers and grabbing a hunting knife from her gun cabinet that admittedly held more knives and swords than guns, she then went to her truck and started it, making her way down her own driveway and towards her neighbors home. Hopefully he and his daughters would still be alive and if not then she would put them down and give them a proper funeral. She stopped once to open the gate in his driveway and then closed it behind her. She drive wasn't long and then she was parking her truck infront of his house. Even from where she sat she could see him walking out on his porch and giving her a smile. "Hey Hershel." She called as she jumped from her truck, basket in hand. "If it isn't Miss Ellie Payne Anderson. We thought you didn't make it. It's good to see that we were wrong." She smiled toward the white haired older man that was her neighbor and stepped up on his porch. "Happy to prove you wrong. I only got home yesterday. Took me a long while to make it back. Trains quit runnin a few hundred miles back so I had to walk it. Wasn't too bad but the world has gone crazy. And look here, I brought goodies from my garden." She said, showing off her basket. "Much appreciated. Come in, have something to drink. If you haven't cooked yet, you are more than welcome at our table tonight." He offered. "I can never turn down a good meal." She said and followed after him into his house. Inside, his oldest daughter, Maggie, bounced over to her and slung her arm around her shoulders. "Good to see you again. Now I have someone to talk to besides Beth and Patricia. Have a good trip?" She laughed and nodded. "Good all the way till time to come home. I had to walk home from a podunk town trainstation outside . That was not fun." "Well I'm glad you're back." Maggie said and walked away. She deposited her basket in the kitchen and gave the lovely blonde older woman a hug. Patricia was a quiet woman but always so sweet.
For the next 2 weeks or so her day became routine. She would tend her garden, improve her fence, go hunting. Today though she would be making a run into town. Grabbing one of her machete style swords, 2 hunting knives, and a .9 mm with a silencer, she also strapped on her bracers and running shoes. She needed the swiftness they helped provide incase it came to more of the dead than she could successfully take down. Braiding her hair back, she then grabbed her bow and slung it across her shoulder with her quiver of arrows at her back. Today she was going for as many canned foods as she could, feminine items, and dog food, seeing as the Greenes had generously watched her wolf-dog Demon. After starting her truck, the drive went by quickly. Her first stop was a small grocery store that held more dead than she felt comfortable with but she had confidence that could handle it. If that confidence was misplaced then so be it. With the sun up it made looking through the store slightly easier but she had forgotten to bring her flashlight so she refused to go much further from the front. She shoved cans into a duffel bag and then moved over to the feminine isle. There, next to the products she needs were 2 dead. Slowly she placed down her bag and drew her sword. Without much noise, the dead had no idea she was even there. Quickly she sliced through their skulls with a single swing from her sword. The bodies hit the ground with a loud THUD. Hurriedly she gathered the small boxes and packages and quickly tossed it into the back of her truck before returning for a few bags of dog food. Just her luck, 5 more dead shambled up and down the isle. With little hope of being able to sneak past to get the bags, her only choice was to fight. Drawing out her sword again, she sliced quickly. Dodging reaching arms and snapping mouths while putting a blade between the eyes. As she hacked down another, a moan came from behind her. Looking back, she quickly raised her arm. Gnashing teeth bit down on her bracer as she slashed the dead infront of her down. Thank god for her bracer. Pulling her arm from its mouth, she flicked her wrist downward and punched its temple. Yanking her blade from its skull, she let out a relieved breath and grabbed 3 of the biggest bags she could get. Tossing them in the back of her truck, she had a thought. Turning her truck to face the store, she turned on her high beams and grinned as the light filled the store. Running back in, she grabbed bottles of tylenol, ace bandages, gauze, medical tape, rubbing alcohol, needles, thread, anti-diarhea, pepto, anti-nausea, midol, asprin, beef jerky, candy, more candy. She was well aware that she was a candy fiend. Happy with her loaded haul, she deposited a reuseable shopping back stuffed full into her passenger seat and then went to her home. On her porch sat her fluffy companion, alert and tail wagging at her arrival. She made quick work of putting away all that she had gathered and placed a heaping bowl of dog food down in the kitchen. His grey and black coat shinning as he quickly ate his food. "You stay here Bubby. I'm gunna go hunt." She ruffled his fur and headed outside, bringing her bow forward with an arrow loosely notched. Quietly she searched the ground for signs of deer. Plenty of footprints but no hoof prints. She walked further until her eyes caught sight of a fat wild turkey perched on a low tree branch. Pulling back her bowstring to the corner of her mouth, she quickly released and smirked as her arrow brought down the fat bird. Its wings still flapped uselessly as she stepped over to it. Pulling out her hunting knife, she slit its throat and waited for its movements to stop. Happily she picked it up and walked back to her home where she plucked and skinned and butchered the animal, giving the guts and organs to Demon as a treat which he was happy to accept. He was big as a dog but he was also part wolf. She herself came to 5'9" and on all fours his head came to her waist. He was a massive fluff ball that had his own stuffed teddy bear that he wouldn't go to sleep without. She laughed and put most of the meat away in her freezer before using one of the thighs to make the meat and stock for chicken and dumplings...well...turkey and dumplings.
It was the next day that something went wrong. Maggie came galloping up to her porch, scrambling to open the door. "What's wrong?" She asked quickly. "Someones been shot. Dad sent me to see if you have any gauze, pain killers, IV needles and to know what you're blood type is." She rushed about collecting things into a bag and then ushered Maggie out the door where they mounted the horse. "O negative. Universal. Lets go." Maggie spurred the horse and quickly it galloped, jumping over her fence and rushing through the woods to the Greene farm.