Start of the outbreak

She watched as Josh went about, placing cans of food and water bottles in the cupboards in the walls of the basement. He was so organised, just like her dad was. It made her feel more at ease around him. Beside her, Eric twitched in his sleep. She smiled fondly at the boy curled up next to her and gave him a slight squeeze. He smiled and snuggled against her, sucking his thumb. She looked back at Josh as she stroked her younger brother's hair.

"Were you in the army?" She asked suddenly. Josh looked over his shoulder at her, mildly surprised.

"Yeah, I was. How'd you know?"

"Daddy was also in the army. He was always very strict about being organised." She explained. Josh smiled.

"Heh, yeah. Sounds about right. Not everyone is like that though. When I was younger I wanted to be a policeman, but I decided that there were more important things than just keeping the streets safe. There were more people who needed help."

"Mum and Dad met when he was taken to hospital after a car accident. Mum was just learning to be a doctor at the time."

"How long was she a doctor for?"

"I don't know. All I know is that she kept having to leave us to go to the hospital. We had a nanny who didn't watch us properly, didn't even notice when Eric got sick." She looked at her little brother.

"He's sick?"

"Not anymore. I phoned the hospital and they sent an ambulance to pick him up, but I couldn't go with him. They let Mum know and she met him at the hospital. They made him better."

"When was this?"

"I... I don't know. It feels like ages ago and yet it doesn't feel long ago at all." She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. Josh shook his head.

"Hey, it doesn't matter. He's alright now, yeah? Your mum wouldn't want you to think about these things. But it was very brave of you to call the ambulance when your nanny wouldn't. Use that bravery now, yeah? Do that and we'll get out of here." He smiled and she nodded.

"Yeah."

Now

We'd been driving for ages and my back was getting sore. Evidently I was growing again, growing always made my back get stiffer more easily. Maggie had somehow managed to fall asleep and I watched her enviously. What I wouldn't give to be able to catch up on some of my lost sleep. Eugene was looking around, evidently keeping watch, though a part of me doubted he'd spot anything, even if there was a gun pointed straight at his head. It was Daryl who spotted that kind of thing, by the sounds of it. Pitty he had been the one who got shot and so needed to rest. I couldn't tell if Carl was asleep or not; he'd covered his face with his hat. I smiled. It was so tempting to temporarily steal that hat, but I didn't. I had my beanie, that was all that mattered. I sighed and looked up the sky, bored. It was strange how the world could be going to hell and the sky wasn't in the least bit influenced as far as we knew. What had happened to planes? Had they fallen out of the sky, unable to be controlled because of rampaging walkers, or had they all landed and then everything went to hell because those on board were overwhelmed by walkers? What about ships? What had happened to them? Were there platforms of refugees out there? Could walkers swim? Could they drown? I didn't see how they could, they didn't need to breathe. They were already dead.

Just thinking about walkers, where there more ways to turn into one? I hoped not. But what about other animals? If, for example, an animal got bitten by a walker, let's just say a dog, for argument's sake, and managed to get away with only a single bite (Ha! That'd be a miracle), then would the dog become a walker itself, or would it just be a trap for a hungry traveller? I guessed there were some things that would remain a mystery. There were more important things to worry about than if a dog can or cannot become an undead, mindless monster straight from a horror movie. I absently whacked on the cab of the ute, getting Michonne's attention. She looked around at me.

"How much further are we going?" I asked. We weren't going too fast and they had the window down, so she could hear me well enough.

"It's a bit further." She said, turning back to watch the road. I sighed and leaned back against the side of the truck.

"Bored yet?" Carl asked. Evidently he wasn't asleep quite yet.

"Just a little. And stiff. Bit envious of Maggie. I never could go to sleep on a moving vehicle. Drove my parents half mad when I was a baby. I would cry because I was tired but I wouldn't sleep on a long car trip unless we pulled over. I'd go to sleep and they'd set off again. Half an hour later I'd wake up again, apparently," I shook my head, "I was a strange kid. Eric just spent his whole day sleeping. Most important thing in the world to him when he was a baby."

"You get bored much when he was a kid?"

"I was used to being an only kid. There is a roughly six year age difference between us. I was just happy that I had a little brother." I smiled at the memory, how excited I had been to meet him for the first time. Mum had smiled tiredly, probably proud of her new kid, at how happy I was to have a younger sibling. I had no clue at the time, and I didn't understand it as I sat in the back of the ute either, why she was so happy. Why'd want to have to push one of those things out? It'd be painful.

"How do you feel about Judith? She's a heck of a lot younger than you."

"She's my sister. She means a lot to me."

"You too proud to admit you love her?" I teased. He moved his hat back on top of his head and looked at me, shaking his head.

"Course I love her. She's my sister." He said.

"You didn't originally say that." I pointed out.

"Like you didn't originally say you loved Eric?"

"I would have thought that much was obvious," I said, rolling my eyes, "Shit!" I hissed, banging on the cabin of the ute again. Carl looked at the surrounding trees and spotted what had alarmed me so much, holding his gun at the ready. Despite having only one eye, he was a remarkably good shot. I held my hand up to stop him and shook my head. Michonne looked at me and I pointed at the people in the trees, tracking us with guns. One of them had a recurve bow.

"Stop the car." She said to Rick. I turned to Carl as he looked at me, mildly confused.

"We open fire on them and then we'll have no chance I'm guessing." I shrugged. Carl nodded. Evidently my explanation had made some sort of sense. The people came out from the shelter of the trees, though I doubted all of them came out. That would make no sense at all.

Never let your opponent see everything you have until completely necessary.

"Put the weapons down and get out of the vehicle." One man called out, pointing a rifle of some sort at my head. Other people were pointing their guns at my friends' heads. I looked at Carl, standing up with my hands up, showing them I meant no harm. They followed my example. Maggie had woken up in the commotion and she didn't look too impressed.

"Where is the point in removing our weapons? We wouldn't be able to kill many of you before you shot us all down." I called out. The man frowned, though I doubted he was thinking about what I said. I had purposefully spoken up, drawing attention to myself. I had to make sure everyone here survived. That's why I was here, wasn't it? Draw attention to myself so we would be taken to JJ.

"Should we get down?" I asked Carl. I trusted his judgement more than my own. He nodded and slowly we got down, Carl giving me a hand. Obviously he had seen how stiff I was acting.

"Thanks." I said, stepping forward and removing my beanie. The people surrounding us looked to their acting leader for orders, obviously recognising me. I never thought I would be so glad that I looked like my dad.

"What do we do, Maven?" One of them asked the guy acting as the boss.

"She looks like JJ." Another piped up. I nodded.

"Yep, that's what I heard. Mind if my friends and I met him? I have a couple of things that I would like to ask him." I said. Rick moved over to me.

"You think you can handle this?" He asked me, frowning. I shrugged.

"I think I'm handling it so far, should be able to keep it under control. But feel free to step in whenever you want." I muttered. He nodded.

"You'll have to ditch the weapons first." Maven said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, yeah... right. Because Jedidiah would be soooo impressed if his daughter was taken to meet him as a prisoner." I called back. They froze, shocked looks on their faces. Rick's merry men and I held our breaths, not sure if I had mucked up or not.

"She knows his name..."

"Could she really be...?"

"She looks right to be related to him." The mutterings continued and I relaxed again. I hadn't mucked up, and evidently it was my dad. I doubted there were many Jedidiah's that I looked like out there, doubted that many would still be alive if there had been in the first place. Maven slowly lowered his rifle and handed it to a man behind him, stepping forward, stopping halfway between us and them. He nodded.

"I would like to talk to you on good terms." He said to me. I frowned and handed Daryl's crossbow to Carl. He looked at me like I was insane.

"You're actually going to talk to him?"

"I have back up." I murmured back to him. I hadn't removed my knife, hiding it under Mum's coat as I slipped my hand gun out of its holster and handed it over to Carl as well. I stepped forward and Michonne grabbed my arm. I looked at her.

"Be careful." She said. I nodded.

"You don't need to tell me twice." I said as I continued over to Maven. I stopped before him, arms folded. He looked me up and down, making me feel uncomfortable. Sometimes being a teenage girl in this world was a very awkward experience, but I took this opportunity to see if I could work out this guy's weaknesses if everything fell apart. Obvious weakness is obvious. He looked quite strong, so I had better watch out for that. Speed would quite possibly be my best weapon against him.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Alexandra Jameson. Yours?"

"Kurt Maven. You say you're JJ's daughter?"

"You're the ones who told me I look like him. It isn't too hard to out two and two together, is it?"

"For some people it would be."

"Well, I'm not 'some people'." I held his cold blue eyes, unflinching. He smirked.

"I like you, Alexandra." He said. I knew what he meant. He did seem like that kind of person, a man who wouldn't stop at anything to get what he wanted. Before everything went to hell he was probably in prison for sexually abusing young children. My face was a blank canvass. I didn't want him to know what I was thinking. He took a step closer and I took a quick step backwards. He laughed and I felt my jaw clench, my hands bunching into fists. I wanted nothing more than to bash this guy's head in, but I didn't. If he made a move on me then Rick would probably point a gun at his head. It made me feel safer, though not by much.

"Will you take us to meet JJ?" I asked. Maven thought for a moment, smiling slightly.

"Perhaps. If there was something in it for me."

"What's in it for you is you won't lose your balls. How does that sound?" I asked. He grinned.

"Firey girl, aren't you? Wonder how things are beneath..." he reached out , brushing his hand against my collar bone. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand, bending his fingers uncomfortably far back. He yelped in pain and I managed to force him to his knees, giving me the upper hand.

"Never... try that again. I doubt that Jedidiah would appreciate you making a move on his daughter. Now, as far as I can see things, you don't actually have a choice in taking us to see him. Because if he were to find out that you had found me and didn't tell him, then you'd be in trouble. If you made a move on me, he would be equally unimpressed. So, from my perspective, the best thing you could do for yourself would be taking us to see him." I looked up and scowled, drawing my knife and throwing it past recurve bow dude's head. He looked around at the walker that was just falling to the ground, fear in his eyes.

"We'd better get moving before more of them arrive." Michonne said. The rest of my friends nodded as I crossed over to the guy with the recurve and collected my knife from the walker's head. It amazed me that I had managed to throw my knife that accurately. Rick wouldn't let it slide any time soon. Seemed like I would have another weapon to practice with.