A/N: All characters bar my original characters are AMC copyrighted. All rights are reserved for them! (My OC: Maddison Turner, Luke Jackson, Lou-Anne Turner, Michael Davidson.)

"We're gonna be okay mum." I smiled, sitting by the edge of her bed, the faint sounds of people walking around and the soft beeps that came from her monitor surrounding us. "They're gonna get it out tonight,"

I hadn't been able to eat for a good few days since we arrived here, they tried and I tried, but I just felt so sick at the idea of my mother getting brain surgery to remove this mass living in her body, draining her of everything that made her Lou-anne Turner.

"I'm okay baby," She smiled, and the butterflies returned, and for a small moment it felt like everything would be okay. I felt like a child again. Lou-anne took my hand and I squeezed it back, tears filling my eyes.

"I love you mum, Mike should be here soon," My step-father should finish work soon, then he could take over so I could go get some fresh air, stop myself from crying my eyes out at any given moment.

"Love you too, sweetie."

My mother was everything, she had raised me from birth alone, at least until she met Mike. I was four at the time, but I was so happy to finally have a father. Mum used to tell the story whenever she could about how I was so excited I told anyone I met, including employees of shops, even the school knew all about it.

He was a great guy too, family-oriented, hard-working, he did whatever he could to put the food on the table for us, and despite me attempting to help pay rent and buying groceries, he just continued to tell me to put the money aside for a home.

I loved them both so much.

Lou-anne looked a bit scared, her skin paling as the heart monitor suddenly spiked and I realised she couldn't breathe, gasping for air and squeezing my hand hard. "I'll go get help!" I freaked out, pulling away from her hand as I ran to the door, calling for anyone who was close by.

"Help! She can't breathe!"

It almost happened so quickly, the monitor behind me just became one long continuous pitch, no longer showing her heart-rate in real time, and instead just one long line. I turned back, staring at the machine, eyes wide before I glanced over to my mum's body. It almost looked like she was still alive, the bed reclined so she sat up more, her head tilted to the side with her eyes wide open like she was looking at me.

"Move!"

A Nurse pushed me out the way, and came running in with this cart littered with packets of various things as well as a machine on top. In my head I knew what it was, and I knew that this would be guaranteed to give her life back.

My face became wet and hot, and almost immediately I began to wipe away at it, unsure what it was, watching them as they began to tear off the hospital gown in order for them to apply the pads. The Nurses voices were garbled, a jargon that no one outside the profession would understand without explanation, all I knew was that every time they yelled 'Clear!' my mother's body would jolt.

Wiping the tears off my face, I fumbled for my phone in my pocket, trying to stop my shaking long enough to be able to phone Mike. Looking down for a split second to bring up the contacts, swiping to phone him, when a Nurse called out.

"She's moving!"

My mother was back, the Nurses stepping back, but the monitor continued to flatline in the background, but there she was, moving, awake. It must have been faulty. I moved forwards, the phone ringing in my hand as I went to grab her hand, almost crying once again.

It was that instant that everything just went to shit. My mother, or whatever it was, lunged forwards, latching onto the Nurse directly beside me. It was utter chaos, everything slowed down and I screamed, blood spraying my face as the thing that was latched onto the Nurses neck tore it's head back, ripping out chunks of flesh, the hands scratching at the nurses body at the same time.

Dropping the phone I fell backwards, eyes wide, faintly hearing the sound of Mike on the other end of the line as the other Nurses bolted out the room, and I just screamed in horror, watching what was happening in front of me.

"Wake up!" I felt a pair of hands on my shoulder, shaking me vigorously, waking me up almost instantly, and realised that I must have been screaming, my throat hurting.

I saw Merle standing over me, dropping my shoulders when I appeared to be fully aware of what was going on around me, my breathing heavy. "Sugar?"

Ignoring him, I focused on myself, feeling my hair sticking to my face, my clothes sticking to my skin as well. I must have sweat, and sweat pretty badly too.

Placing a hand on the floor, I crawled away from Merle, a faint ache in my wrist, blood pounding in my ears to the beat of my heart. I felt sick, dizzy, I wanted nothing more than to just run away, to hide and not see anyone.

Getting to my feet, I looked around the room, seeing a startled Jackson and Martinez, both who were now awake, weapons in their hands, fear littering their faces as though walkers had just burst through the door.

"I'm sorry..." The words stuttered out my mouth before I rushed for the front door, using all my weight to push the couch out the way, just enough to slip through the gap and out into the fresh air, faintly aware that someone was calling after me.

I couldn't stop myself from shaking, a white hot feeling of heat flooding through my entire system, adrenaline hitting me like a freight train, forcing me to look around, hyper aware of everything that I could've potentially attracted, but I couldn't breathe, let alone focus.

"Maddie,"

The voice sounded so distant, muffled almost, hands resting on my shoulders as I stared out into the dimly lit roads. "Maddie," They shook me a little, everything just feeling off. "Maddie breathe,"

I could feel my lungs hurting, black spots littering my vision, before my jelly legs gave out, dropping me to the floor. A familiar face came into view, Merle forcing me to look at him, his eyes staring into mine, as he made me do what he wanted.

"Copy me."

I knew deep in my heart that I needed to try and focus on him, but my lungs hurt, and I was tired, and all I wanted to do was sleep. The tiredness got worse, but then Merle was there, taking in deep breaths directly in front of me, speaking to me, getting me to repeat after him. Before I knew it, I was starting to feel better, my body automatically responding to whatever he was saying.

"That's it..."

His voice was no longer muffled and so much easier to understand. "Just breathe..." I was feeling more at ease, my chest still hurting, but now it wasn't a constant pain, slowly alleviating with every new breath that I took in.

"Good girl..."

Closing my eyes, I felt myself fall into him, wincing as my hands hit his chest before I readjusted, hiding my head in his shoulder as the rest of me just shook. I burst into tears, remembering every detail of the nightmare that I had had.

"Shh, sugar," I couldn't stop myself crying, Merle seemed tense under me, like he was unsure of what he was doing, not used to showing this kind of affection. I felt a little numb, hearing footsteps running up behind mixed in with a faint sound of voices.

"This is the worst one yet..." I heard Jackson sigh, feeling him come over and taking my arms, pulling me away from Merle and allowing me to gather myself up. "You're okay though," Jackson smiled, wiping my eyes and when the shaking finally subsided to a point I felt able to move, I pulled back.

"I'm fine."

The words came out of my mouth almost immediately, trying to hold onto my firm belief that these were just stupid nightmares, that were coming back to me at the worst times.

"We should head on out," I told them, running my tongue over my teeth, standing tall as I wiped away the rest of my tears, wanting to be strong now. "I'm going to grab my stuff, we should scavenge," I glanced around, "Whilst it's still light out."

It wasn't long now until we were all ready to go, outside in the fresh air as we took in the sunshine, needing all the vitamin D we could get. "We should split off, explore the houses surrounding us then head back and meet at the dealership where the horde started." I suggested, wanting a plan of action as quick as possible so I could get away from the eyes of the people around me, and focus on the world around us.

"Sounds good," Jackson grinned, but cut himself off, looking around at us. "Seeing as we're all going back to your community afterwards," He chuckled, his eyes landing on me and I suddenly knew where he was going with this. "We should split up differently, get to know one another. Martinez, do you want to come with me? We can go off for the houses on this side?"

I scowled at him, feeling a little betrayed by Jackson, knowing full well he did this for me to get to know the racist better. "Sounds good to me, sweetheart." I rolled my eyes, disgusted by the way Merle spoke, knowing he was talking to me and I just pulled my knife out, heading off in the opposite direction to Jacki and Martinez, wanting to put distance between me and Merle.

"You gonna be like that all the time?" Merle joked, jogging to walk beside me, this stupid grin on his face as I caught his eye. "You can't ignore me forever, is it because I called you a mongrel?" He was an irritating man, but I figured by his constant need to talk, that it was how he got people to open up to him, to tell him things.

I would not be one of them.

"Look," I scowled at him, gesturing my injured wrist at him, suddenly remembering the reason why it was injured in the first place, just happy that it was well strapped up and in the form of a splint.

"If you're after a thank you, for whatever you did this morning, forget it, I ain't gonna thank you." I tried to warn him, hoping that he would take the hint to shut up, but as luck would have it, he really didn't care.

"I get it," He smirked, "You wanna be tough, you want people to see you as tough and not the timid princess that you really are." My anger was bubbling away and I was debating what would happen if I was to leave him for dead. It was only after he said that though, that there was silence between the two of us and I risked a glance over to the old man, watching as he walked, his eyes looking to his right, taking in his surroundings.

"Let's check this house."

Following his lead, we headed up the gravelly path on his side, making our way for the door, where I readjusted my grip on my knife, hating having one working hand and hoping that this would make it easier to take out the undead. Silence was golden at this point, the fact that you can hear whatever is going on around you is a complete bonus, especially so you don't get surprised by a walker, or biter as Merle seemed to call them.

Approaching the door, Merle prepared himself on the side, pulling his knife out too so he could get ready to make his way inside. "Why are you a racist?" I asked him, realising the moment the words left my mouth that I should've stayed quiet.

"Way I was raised," Merle's words were direct, straight to the point, his mind focused on what was to come instead of elsewhere, before he turned the handle and swung the door open, the only noise coming from the creaking of the wood and our breathing.

"That sucks," I muttered, following him closely as he stepped his way in, both of us being careful where our feet were going, so we wouldn't step onto anything that would potentially give away our position.

The home was quaint, but the smell that hit us was tremendous, a foul stench of rotting and disease, flies buzzing around. "Oh god," I almost heaved, the smell hitting me in the back of the throat, encompassing me. It was unbearable.

"Breathe through your nose, it will be easier the longer you do it." Merle suggested and I nodded, trying to breathe through the nose, tears in my eyes. We continued further in, eyes scouring the living room, Merle heading over to the kitchen, whilst I made my way down the hallway and headed to the bedroom.

Other than the sounds of Merle rumbling around in the kitchen, it was completely silent. Keeping my knife up, I tried to push into the bedroom, the door stopping almost immediately, barely able to fit my fingers through the door to grab it from there.

I sighed, trying again, hearing something solid sat by the door as it hit against it. Wracking my brain, I attempted to figure out what it was, listing off a few possible options in my head. Dresser? Bed?

I braced myself against the door, resting my shoulder onto it and attempted to shove it again, shoulder barging it before it suddenly gave way and I yelped, landing on the floor, hard before I saw what had rolled onto the floor, face to face with it.

It was a head, facing straight at me, it's eyes wide before it suddenly moved, snapping its teeth and causing me to scream. "Holy fuck!" I moved back as quickly as I fell, afraid that if it got too close, it could bite me.

Merle scrambled over, stood beside me as I got up. "I'm okay!" I called to him, jumping a little as I saw him beside me, "It startled me, that's all."

"You gotta be careful, doll," He grabbed my arm, and I attempted to pull back, but he held a firm grip, turning my arm around. "You're cut."

I couldn't do anything now, he had my arm, checking it. "It isn't deep, so nothing to worry about, mind if I tear your shirt?" I froze for a moment, staring at him, trying to understand why he wanted to do so. Seeing my confusion and slight worry, he just chuckled.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head," Merle laughed now, this stupid grin on his face, "I ain't gonna take ya top off, not unless you want me to, sugar-tits." I looked disgusted when he winked at me, and just agreed to let him tear my shirt, bandaging up my hand to avoid any further injury.

"Can we continue please?" I asked him, wanting to continue to scavenge, my stomach rumbling as I was starting to get hungry again.

"Fine, I'm done here anyway."

It wasn't long until we had both finished, the whole place had been silent in the meantime, aside from the occasional rummaging of things and one or two lots of cursing coming from Merle's side of the house.

I finished up in the bathroom, I went back to the bedroom, finalising up my search and opening the chest of drawers, searching for anything that could be of use, hidden inside of it. Smiling, I felt happy, finding myself a t-shirt, one that wasn't broken, and was slightly too big. Perfect.

With a stupid smile on my face, I headed over to the living room, waiting for Merle by the door. "Are you all good?!" I called, seeing him coming out almost immediately as I spoke, the grin back on his face as he slung a bag over his shoulder.

"Ready."

With a nod between us, Merle went to head to the door, and I stopped him. "This is the only time this will ever happen," I warned him, trying my hardest to do whatever I could to reduce how bad this is.

"What the hell you on about?" Merle looked confused, his browns almost joining together in confusion. Except when I held up my new shirt, smiling at him.

"I need you to help me remove my top, and to change it," Merle just paused for a moment, slapping this stupid grin on his face, "And don't get any ideas!" I was firm, hoping that he would be civil at least, and keep his thoughts to himself.

"Don't worry, I'll just help." He came over, putting the bag down and helping me remove my backpack, setting it on the floor beside him. "Just tell me if it hurts."

Nodding, we were both silent, where I let him grab the hem of my shirt, pulling it over my head, careful with my wrist and the splint it's attached to. "Thanks for this..."

He pulled the shirt over my head, making me laugh when he almost put my head into the sleeve. "Merle, no!" I laughed, hearing him chuckling too.

"Sorry, sorry," He corrected his mistake before pulling it on properly, and we caught eyes, both of us just smiling because it was harmless fun. Now I could see why Jackson shoved us here together, it was the perfect way to get to know each other.

"We should move onto the next lot of houses, make our way back to the truck," I hoped that this would be easier for us to keep going. I was nervous, with no idea what to do with myself. The idea of going into the community was terrifying, to meet a lot of new people, to live there, where there's a chance that everyone could die at any moment.

It was nerve-wracking, but I would do it for Jackson, for the chance to see him happy.

"Let's go,"

We walked in silence, working together to clear out the houses up the street, heading closer and closer to the dealership so we could get out of the City. "You looking forward to this?" Merle pondered, the greenery and the path coming back into view, Jackson and Martinez were waiting by the truck, watching them talking to each other,

"No, but let's do it," I smiled softly, running towards Jackson and hugging him, feeling him hold me back. It felt good, but I knew I might struggle with the journey to Woodbury, my stomach rumbling worse. It was my choice, not to have a proper meal, instead choosing to eat stupid dog food.

"Let's go, I want to see Woodbury," I smiled, pulling back and throwing my bag into the back of the truck, climbing in after it. "You all coming or what?" With smiles and chatter, everyone else climbed in, Merle sitting in the front and starting the engine.

It spluttered at first, refusing to start up, before it roared into life, the vibrations flooding the seats as we all settled down, the chatter still going as I glanced out the window.

Woodbury would be a new chance for us to start. A new beginning, a way for us to live life without fear. I wanted that for Jackson, and I wanted it for myself, but I knew it would take some getting used to. I lost all my family because of this apocalypse, if I lost anyone else. I think I'd freak out.

The buildings began to skim by as Merle picked up speed, and I found myself resting my head against the window, watching everything around me.

Maybe this would be a good thing…