Author's note: New month, figured may a as well post a new chapter. Hope you enjoy.

She paced around the basement, annoyed, frustrated. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the door to open. She was too weak, and she was starting to get hungry. They had rationed what little food they had to begin with, but they were only children. Alex looked down at her sleeping brother, worry in her eyes. He wasn't doing too great, but she was only ten. How was she supposed to look after him? If only... no. If she started thinking about that then she wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else. She bit her lower lip in an attempt to hold back the tears and headed back to the door. There had to be a way to open it. She had unlocked it from the inside. After her mum had locked them in she had gone and locked them in from the inside too. Unfortunately, the dead weren't as dumb as they seemed. She gently pushed against the door, turning the handle as she did.

"Come on..." She whispered, willing the door to open. But it wouldn't. They were just as stuck as they had been the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. She turned her back on the door and slid to the ground, hopelessness overwhelming her. They were going to die in here. She supposed starvation wasn't the worst way to die, she'd rather die of starvation than being torn to shreds by one of those dead things. She closed her eyes, feeling moisture leak out her eyes onto her cheek. She didn't want to die. She had to look after Eric. It was the only thing keeping her going. There was the sound of movement outside the door, someone grunting and shifting things. Alex took in a sharp breath. Was there a person out there? A living person out there?! She jumped up and pressed her ear to the door, hearing someone cursing outside. She banged against the door loudly, waking Eric up.

"Hey! In here! Please, get us out!" She yelled. It hurt her throat, but she didn't care. Maybe it was her dad! He'd save them! He'd look after them, he'd make it all better. She kept banging on the door until her fists hurt, splinters breaking off and lodging themselves in her hands, her voice growing hoarse and tired. What hope she had gained slipped slowly away as time passed by and the tears started finding their way down her cheeks again.

"Please!" She sobbed. She could feel her brother's eyes boring into her back. She had to save him somehow. She didn't matter. It was all about Eric. She stepped back as the heard the latch being opened and light streamed into the basement. She looked away, the light hurting.

"You alright?" A young man asked. She nodded, shielding her eyes. She lowered her hand as her eyes grew accustomed to the alien sunlight and she looked at the man with his scruffy beard and his dark brown hair tied back in a shirt ponytail. It wasn't her dad. He dad had strawberry blond hair. He stepped in, shining a torch into the dark room and looking at Eric. He frowned.

"How long have you been down here?" He asked, concern in his voice, "We are your parents?" She couldn't stop herself. At the mention of her parents she started crying and wrapped her arms around the man's waist. He took a slight step backwards, then put one of his arms around her.

"It's OK. You're OK. I won't leave you here alone." He said.

"Thank you."

I leaned against the wall. Grimesy (as I had taken to calling Rick, much to his annoyance) and his crew of merry men were making plans for a trip. I had wanted to go, but since they were still unsure about me, my fighting capabilities under pressure, and presumably how bad my asthma was, I had been forbidden.

"Maybe next time." Grimesy had said, and behind him Daryl had smirked slightly. At times it felt like that guy hated me, at other times it seemed more like he was looking out for me. I had hated him in that moment. I just wanted a chance to prove myself, and there were those two buffoons, blocking me each way I turned, trying to find a way into their nice cosy little family. Carl was standing beside me. He was cool, one of the few people here who had reached out a hand when Eric and I had come here maybe a month or two ago. I never bothered keeping track of time. I had completely lost track of it when Eric and I had been locked in the basement as kids.

"They'll give you a chance eventually." Carl said. I shrugged.

"I think that quite frankly they see me as too much of a liability. You can never really tell when I'm going to have an asthma attack and physical work sets it off a lot of the time. So when under threat from walkers or other people, chances are I'd have an asthma attack and be a massive liability. I've already had to stop practices once or twice because of asthma attacks." I said, pointing my head more in Carl's direction, but not taking my eyes off the group. Michonne was frowning slightly in concentration. She looked bad ass with her sword. I liked her sword. It had good balance. She had let me have a go with it once or twice and I had honestly fallen in love with it. But I still preferred Daryl crossbow. Sure, it was heavy, but it felt more natural for me to use than a gun of any description. Pitty I couldn't just steal it from him. Eventually I would hopefully get my own bow of some description, even if it meant going back to the city on my own.

"They're just looking out for you."

"I looked out for Eric and me for several years, in the middle of the city. I can look after myself."

"You don't sound too sure about that." I looked at Carl and frowned. I knew I hadn't sounded too sure. I wasn't very sure. But I wanted to be.

"I'm not used to having other people looking out for me, for Eric. The last person who did that ended up being chomped by a walker and ended up asking me to kill him. The person before that ended up..." I stopped. I didn't want to talk about it anymore. I looked back to the gang and pushed myself away from the wall as they started moving. Rick stopped in front of Carl and me, hands on hips. He really did act like a sheriff. Carl had told me about his old job and as soon as it had been pointed out to me I could see it.

"You two look after yourselves. We should be back soon."

"How soon?" I asked. Carl had just nodded, accepting it, but I wanted details. I felt like something was going to happen. Like I had before the break out, like I had before Mum had died. Back when I was innocent. Back when I thought a promise would ensure survival. Back when I was stupid. Rick looked at me and shrugged.

"Don't know exactly how far we have to go to find food." I frowned and looked at my feet. I didn't like this. I didn't like it at all. I looked up when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Rick was looking at me with sincerity in his eyes.

"We will come back. All of us." He said.

"You can't promise that," I said, my eyes cold and unforgiving, "Just be careful." I wanted to give him a hug, but I didn't. He was one of the few people I actually trusted, along with the rest of the group who had saved Eric and me in the forest. And he was the only thing keeping Carl from becoming like me. An orphan. Sure, there were no guarantees that my dad was dead, but I counted him as dead. He hadn't been there for me. I had never had his help looking after Eric. Rick nodded and walked out the door, everyone following him out. From the porch I could see Eric and Glenn playing some sort of game. I smiled. It was good to see Eric actually acting his age, instead of mine. I could also seen the Reeves twins, a couple of kids a bit older than Eric. Troublemakers, the both of them. Their older brother and sister weren't a hell of a lot better and their parents seemed to be the worst. None of them seemed to like me or Eric, seemed to think it was alright to boss us around, just because they were in Alexandria before us. I found this funny. They had only arrived a couple of weeks before us according to others around this little corner of paradise. There was only one thing keeping them in check, and he was about to leave. Well, maybe two, but half the time one of them couldn't care less. Either way, both old Grimesy and Daryl were leaving, which meant that Eric and I were probably in deep trouble, though somehow I doubted Eric realised it.

Know those around you. Know who is your friend, and who is your enemy.

I knew all too well that the Reeves were my enemy, and I was theirs.

It was later that day when Macy and Trent, the older two children of the Reeves, made their way over to me. I was working a small area of land, turning over soil, readying it as much as I could for planting. It was a hot day, the sun bearing down on us, as though we were ants under a magnifying glass. I wondered what people would do if a fire started. It wasn't like we weren't short on supplies or anything. I wiped my forehead on my arm and watched Macy and Trent out the corner of my eye. They leaned against the wall of a nearby building and shared nasty looks and I knew they were planning something. I stood up straight and looked at them, hands tightening slightly on the shovel in my hand. I tried hard not to glare at them, shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand. Macy was smiling slightly.

"You want something?" I asked, trying to keep my tone pleasant. Macy thought for a moment, then shook her head. I got the impression that if the dead had never risen she'd have been Miss Popular, head cheerleader, everyone's favourite, quite possibly teacher's pet. Unfortunately, she wasn't as stupid as I would have liked. She was quite cunning, and very pretty. She had golden curls that framed her face perfectly, dark blue eyes, dimples, and a few freckles that dotted her nose. She was honestly a picture book princess. I loathed her for it. I wouldn't even have succeeded in being the story book witch. I doubted I would hardly have made it to being one of the farm hands' daughters.

"No, we were just watching you, thinking about how you could improve your technique."

"My technique?"

"It's obvious that you haven't used a shovel very often. You seem to struggle more and your breathing is far more laboured than what you would expect." Trent smirked at me. He was as bad as Macy. He would have been the boy in school that every girl was falling over, the head of the football team, the lazy guy who never did anything in class and yet always seemed to get good grades. He and Macy had the same dark blue eyes and golden hair, but Trent's hair was cut short and was only vaguely wavy. He was strong, very strong, not someone you would like to come up against in a fight. I scowled. Both of them knew I had asthma. It annoyed me that they were bringing it up now, considering that for once I wasn't actually having more difficulty breathing. My body was getting used to this work, I was growing stronger.

"Yeah, thanks for letting me know. I'll keep that in mind." I rolled my eyes and went back to work, hoping they'd get the hint and go away. But since when did these two leave without doing something really nasty?

"Think we should tell her?" Macy asked her younger brother (only younger by about a year).

"Nah, I think she'll realise it eventually."

"She hasn't yet. What kind of older sister doesn't realise it?"

"One that doesn't have any parents, perhaps? But who can blame her parents? Who wants a defective, useless child?" I whirled around, whacking Trent in the face with my shovel. Macy looked at me with loathing, one arm around her brother's now hunched form, venom in her gaze. I stuck my chin out defiantly. When I had still been in the city I would never have done something like this. I liked the change.

"How dare you?! I hope some walkers do find your brother. I hope he gets eaten alive." Macy spat. I froze, my blood running cold.

"What did you just say?" Macy just laughed at me and I stepped forward, dropping the shovel and grabbing her by her putrid pink shirt, almost barbie pink with sequins on it. Something I would probably have worn when I was about five. I shoved her up against the wall, hard, and put my arm across her throat.

"Where is Eric?" I forced out through clenched teeth. Macy was breathing more heavily, fear in her eyes. I hated these people. They could talk big, but they were always the first people to run at the first sign of danger. I applied more pressure over her throat and she squeaked with fear. I felt someone pulling me back away from her and spun around to face Trent, his face bloody and previously handsome nose crooked. I smirked, trying to hide my disgust and self loathing. I'd broken someone's nose? That wasn't good. And now it was a case of two against one. I stepped back slightly so I could see both Macy and Trent and stood so I was better balanced. I still couldn't beat Rick in hand to hand combat, how was I supposed to take on two people at once? I stepped back as Trent took a swing at me. It seemed like my pattern. Let the opponent make the first move. I needed to get out of that habit. I managed to sidestep a lower blow from Macy, ducking under Trent's arm at the same time and stepping forward to ram him in the gut, sending him sprawling backwards in a coughing fit. Evidently I had winded him. I felt Macy jump on my back and put her arm around my throat, felt her pull back her arm, felt the air getting caught in my throat. I couldn't breathe. I walked backwards and rammed her hard against the wall of the building, making her let go. I spun around and kicked her, then felt my hair being yanked and felt myself falling backwards. I put my arms up to protect my face as I felt blow after blow land on me.

"Hey! That's enough!" Someone said and I felt Trent being pulled off me. I dared to have a look, seeing Carl and a couple of other people around. Morgan was holding Trent back and Maggie was preventing Macy from having a go at me. Carl held out a hand to help me up and I took it.

"You alright?"

"Peachy." I put a hand up to my face. Evidently Trent had gotten a few blows in that I had failed to block. He still came off worse than me though. So did Macy. She had sat down, her back giving her hell. I hoped that next time they'd remember who they were dealing with.

"Where's Eric?" I asked again. Trent scowled at me.

"Like we'd tell you, bitch!" He snapped. I moved to step forward and give him a piece of my mind, but Carl stopped me.

"Alex, don't."

"Those bastards hinted towards something happening to Eric. They hinted that he was outside the walls. That bitch said things about how she hoped that walkers found him." I glared at Carl, my fists clenched and teeth ground shut. He had to understand how I felt. He had to! Eric was all I had.

"Go get yourself looked after. We'll get a search party out."

"No. I'm going too. He's my brother." Carl looked back at Maggie and Morgan.

Look after those you care about.

They shrugged. Good, they understood that they weren't going to change my mind. Finally, someone was learning. Carl turned back to me.

"At least get yourself cleaned up a little. He beat you pretty bad."

"Not as bad as I beat them," I looked at Trent and smiled smugly, "Hope you enjoy the new look."

"You fucking bitch!" He lurched forwards, trying to get another blow in, but Morgan held him back. I swallowed. For the first time, I was actually slightly frightened of these two. I knew that they'd want revenge on me. I broke Trent's nose and who knew what I did to Macy's back. If nothing had happened to Eric, they'd want to have another go at me. Even if something happened to Eric, they'd want another go at me. I walked off with Carl and headed to the house that served as a health centre. Sure, we didn't have a doctor or a nurse or anything like that, but we did have people who could understand the very basics. Like how to clean someone's face up and stitch them up if such measures were required. I was getting training from one of these people, and apparently I had promise. As it turned out I did need stitches in my forehead. Curse Trent. May he live in even more interesting times than he already does.