A/N: no responses on that last chapter? At all? I think I may have shocked you all too much, or driven you guys away. Anyways it's sunday not Monday but I thought I'd upload this little subplot of an idea I had. It gets a bit AU here for a couple of chapters but paths will collide don't worry.
Thanks to everyone who supports and reads my story!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters and storyline only OCs and plotlines.
-Angels and Douchebags
It had not been more than 5 minutes of me trekking through the woods when I was already missing the camp. And already missing a certain Rick Grimes. It was definitely a hot Georgia day and I took my jacket off swinging it around my waist covered in sheen of sweat.
I pulled out the map where I marked the road to DC. There was allegedly a survivor's colony but I had to survive through 3 states to get there.
I was in a swampy forest area now walking along the side of the highway. I just hope they listen to me. And do something about Shane. I wonder if that kid Randall's okay. What are they going to do about him?
I came out of my thoughts shaking my head. It's time to put my thoughts of the camp behind me. It's unlikely I would ever see them again, I had to look forward now. I need to find a car. It was getting midday and the sun was sweltering down on me. I came across to an open field with a seemingly empty barn. I pulled out the rifle and stayed low going across the field.
There were growling sounds coming from one end of the field as I hid down in the tall grass. I looked up seeing two Walkers stumbling in my direction.
"Shit," I muttered. I laid down on my stomach with the rifle pointed up aimed at the Walker. I aimed for the head and pulled the trigger as one Walker hit the floor. I pointed the gun at the next Walker and loaded the rifle pulling the trigger, it hit the Walker in the cheek as it stopped snarling and fell to the floor. I got up from my lying down position and stood up brushing off the dirt.
I walked forward stepping over the bodies and towards the barn. Putting the rifle across my back, I pulled out my gun and pushed one of the wooden barn doors open walking in aiming the gun into the dark building.
There were a few hay bales in one corner but no Walkers. I walked up the stairs which was littered with straw and checked around pointing my gun towards the corners of the room.
"Clear," I sighed holstering the gun. I pulled out the fruit I had packed and ate an apple for lunch. Its not much I know, but I needed to make the food last as long as possible. Staying in the barn for a while might be a possibility until I found good food sources and a car that can take me across a state or two.
I eat and drank sitting by myself and pulled out my leather bound journal. Inside it fell out a folded up piece of paper. I opened it, read the contents and smiled. It was such a childish thing to keep but I couldn't help it. It was from the CDC where I was passing notes under the door to Rick when they were trapped. I smoothed it out and put it in a double page of the journal.
Turning it over I began to write an entire account of what I had encountered with the group so far. Meeting Rick, going to camp, killing Amy, CDC, Carl getting shot, the Greene farm, leaving the group. Shane. Just in case I died I also added what happened when I was working in research. How this whole thing started.
I closed the journal and pressed it to my chest. Maybe I shouldn't have left them so soon. I miss them already and it's only been half a day. Maybe I should've convinced Hershel that I could make it up to him and to convince him into letting me stay. No. My feelings for Rick were getting too strong. I was starting to fall for a man I had only known for a few weeks. Except this man was married and expecting another child. Nothing could come out of it.
I have to forget Rick Grimes now, I've got to move on.
It was getting dark so I decided to go to the woods to collect some firewood otherwise I'd probably freeze out here in the cold and then I'd never make it to DC. I hid my pack well behind some of the hay bales and took only the essentials I needed: my colt, the rifle and my knife.
I slipped out of the barn eyeing the empty field which was silent. I walked across the field into the forest area I had come out of. Finding some branches I picked them up except I had no idea if they would even work as firewood.
I began walking back to the barn before I heard twigs snapping behind me. I shoved the wood into one arm and pulled my colt with the other, aiming it into the darkness. I walked slightly further and looked behind the tree it had come from.
Nothing. I sighed. I kept the gun out by my side and walked out of the forest back across the field to the barn. Arranging the branches on the floor I checked in my pack and found a bottle of vodka. Daryl. I shook my head. I poured some of the alcohol on the branches and with the lighter after a few times I managed to successfully start the fire.
I kept it low in case any of the Walkers got the wrong idea and heated a can of tomato soup over it. Once it was ready I ate dinner by myself. I didn't feel safe sleeping in a place when there was no one around to keep watch.
I had gotten used to sleeping safely in a group but now I had to be alert 24 hours a day, but I was feeling so tired after going into town the night before. The next day I was going to look for a car and start heading down next to the highway.
I could hear footsteps coming from outside the barn door. I took the gun out of my holster instinctively and held it up towards the barn door standing in front of the fire. It began creaking open as I took the safety off and kept a finger hovering over the trigger.
"Hey!" A guy called out entering the barn with his hands up. He was limping in and closed the door behind him. His clothes were torn and dirty. He had dried blood on his face but the most striking thing about him were his sea green eyes and shoulder length black hair.
"Don't move." I warned keeping the gun trained on him. He was tall, at least 6 ft tall and definitely stronger than me. I looked at his belt seeing a knife there.
"Hand the knife over." I said pointing to his belt.
"Okay, okay." He said calmly before taking the knife out and bending down on the floor slowly kicking it may way.
"You got any guns on you?" I asked and he shook his head. I walked up to him keep the gun trained on his head with one hand and patted him down. I patted his lower back and felt something sticking out.
I narrowed my eyes at him and yanked it out.
"I didn't know it was illegal to carry liquor." He chuckled as I took the bottle from him and kicked it away.
"What do you want?" I asked backing up slightly.
"I saw your fire and I just wanted to be somewhere warm for the night, away from the Walkers." He said looking at me.
"You got a group?" I asked my eyes darting behind him and up on the second floor of the barn in case I had been ambushed.
"No. I've been alone for a while now." He stated.
"Seems like you have too." He said walking forwards slowly.
"Stop." I said pointing the gun at him with his arms raised in the air.
"Hey, I'm stopping." He said softly. He walked forwards a little more.
"I said stop!" I shouted almost pulling the trigger. He sat down on the floor by the fire and stretched out his leg in front of him groaning slightly.
"What's wrong with your leg?" I asked eyeing it.
"Lift the trouser leg." I ordered.
"Listen it's not a bite mark'"
"Lift. It." I said. He sighed and lifted it up, his leg was bruised in some places but his foot appeared to be dislocated.
"I tripped over some tree roots in the forest. Stupid I know." He said seeing the look on my face.
"I don't believe you." I said sitting down opposite him by the fire with the gun still pointed out to him.
"You don't trust easy do you?" He asked pushing his hair back. Now that I had a good look at his face, underneath all the dirt and grime he was handsome. Its those ones you have to watch out for.
"You don't believe there are some good people left out in this shitty world?" He asked.
"I don't trust you." I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Look I just want to stay the night. You can keep that gun on me for the whole night if you want to. I won't try anything." He said seemingly genuine. I still don't trust him.
"Are you gonna finish that?" He asked pointing to my half eaten can of tomato soup. I looked at the can and moved it further away from him making him laugh.
"Do you mind helping?" He asked pointing to his foot which was twisted at a strange ankle.
"Why should I?"
"Please?" He asked. I got out the rope from my bag and came over to him tying his hands behind his back and taking his backpack onto my side.
"Come on is this necessary?" He asked and I nodded.
"This is going to hurt." I held his foot with my hands and he nodded closing his eyes. I pushed it back in it's socket making him groan in pain.
"Ahh," He shouted before wincing. I rolled over his bottle of liquor as he drank it putting it back down.
"I'll make you a trade," He said looking across the fire to me.
"In my backpack there's some bread, I'll trade it for the other half of your soup." He said. I opened his backpack seeing a bunch of clothes, a book, water and some food. Finding the bread I put the can in front of him and ate it relishing in it's taste.
"It's good right?" He asked, a smirk gracing his handsome features as I nodded.
"How am I supposed to eat?" He asked his hands still tied behind his back.
"Not my problem." I shrugged mouth full of food.
"You got a name?" He asked.
".."
"Okay I get it." He chuckled. It was then I noticed he had a slight accent.
"What?" I asked glaring at him.
"You don't know me, I don't know you. You've been by yourself for so long you've forgotten what it's like to have actual people for company. And not those flesh eating monsters." He said.
"I'm Alejandro." He said.
"Good to know." I said drinking the water.
"Please girl who's name I don't know." He said with a twinkle in his eye.
"I am hungry." Okay maybe being with Rick and the group made me soft. I huffed and went behind him undoing the rope around his hands. I moved his arms around him until his hands were in his lip. I walked around and bent down in front of him until we were face to face. He stared at me as I tied the rope around his hands tightly but so he could still hold the can and drink the soup.
"Thanks. See that wasn't so bad." He said smiling. Before the apocalypse, I would fall in love with a smile like that. But you couldn't trust anyone out here. Not even charming, Spanish guys with dislocated ankles. And besides the fact, I had another guy on my mind.
"Polaris." I said after a while.
"My name."
"Ahh la estrella de norte. The north star." He said in realisation.
"You're a long way from home Polaris." He said curiously.
"You're not from here are you?"
"England." I replied still remaining wary.
"Ah Britannia, what are you doing here then?" He asked and I said nothing. I put the colt back in my holster but left it open just in case.
"I'm from Madrid, Spain originally, but I came here for college and then for work. I was actually going to become a teacher of medieval history but-" He started talking.
"What makes you think I care?" I turned around to him suddenly.
"I was just making conversation." Alejandro chuckled dryly.
"That's the only thing you can do nowadays with people." He said looking around the barn as I stayed silent.
"You're a boxer." He stated.
"Your knuckles, they're bruised and sticking out." He said pointing to my hands. I retracted my hands by my side so he couldn't see.
"Okay, I can see you're not willing to talk to me tonight. Maybe you'll think about it in the morning." He said lying down on the ground.
"What are you doing?" I asked getting ready to get my gun out.
"What does it look like? I'm going to sleep." He curled up on the ground and closed his eyes. The fire kept burning keeping us warm as I kept watch.
I can't fall asleep. I can't fall asleep. But I was so tired, I had been up for more than 24 hours and I needed rest desperately. At some point in the night I gave up trying to watch him. He wasn't going anywhere and I passed out on the ground.
My eyes opened to the sound of birds chirping the next day and I shot up from the ground realising I had fallen asleep trying to keep watch.
"You snore in your sleep." I turned around seeing Alejandro sitting there with his arms and legs still bound and the fire was no longer burning. I looked outside the barn and the sun was high in the sky indicating it was midday.
"Shit." I muttered. I needed to get on the highway now. I got my pack together and my weapons and took my gun out onto Alejandro. I cut the ropes on his arms and legs as he stood up and handed his pack back to him.
"You're going to go now." He stood up as I passed him his pack and kept the gun on him nudging him forward. We walked across the field with my colt training on him in one hand and the knife out in the other in case any Walkers decided to come out.
"Are you really gonna send me away?" He asked as we reached the edge of the forest. I bent down from my boot where his knife was and pulled it out placing it in his pack so he couldn't access it easily enough.
"We could work together. Where are you going?" He asked as I cut through the forest with my gun on his back.
"I can be useful. I can hunt, I can build fires, another set of eyes could be useful?" He glanced behind him looking at me.
"Keep moving." I said nudging him forward until we reached the edge of the road.
"This is where you go." I said pushing him forward. As he turned around to face me.
"Highway will take you to a bunch of towns, you can stay safe there and do whatever. I don't really care." I said shrugging.
"Start walking. And if you follow me. I'll shoot you." I said pointing the rifle to him.
"You don't need to do this alone." He said walking closer.
"Yes I do." I said putting the safety off.
"Move Princess." I narrowed my eyes at him as he walked off in the other direction. I kept my rifle trained on him until I couldn't see him anymore. I waited for a good 10 minutes before deeming it was safe enough and walked along the side of the road with my fingers looping in my belt.
I attached the CD player to my belt and put one earphone in, Led Zeppelin blaring through the speakers. I had walked for an hour before I came to a pair of train tracks. Looking around I went into the forest on my side hidden so I could eat. I took some of the bread we had exchanged and the book I stole from his bag.
"The Art of Peace." I muttered stuffing the bread in my mouth. Interesting. Why would you carry a book like this around with you? I started reading it getting lost in the book.
Suddenly I heard groaning coming behind me and before I had a chance to pull my gun out a Walker fell on top of me it's teeth snapping and snarling trying to bite into my neck. I struggled with it for a minute trying to push it off but it was too strong. This is it. I was going to die right here. I'm sorry Rick.
The Walker stopped moving above me and blood poured out onto my neck. I pushed the Walker off me and sat up seeing Alejandro standing there with the knife. I was breathing deeply and looked at him standing there with blood dripping from his knife.
"Are you alright?" He asked coming towards me to help me get up. I stopped him and got up my breath shakily. I had let myself get too comfortable reading that book. I had to stay wary.
"Thanks." I said. He saved my life. One more minute and I would've been a Walker.
"You followed me. Why did you follow me?" I glared at him pulling my gun out and pointing it at him.
"Most people would be grateful that someone saved their life." He shook his head sheathing his knife at his belt. I holstered the gun but kept some distance between us.
"Fine, I saw a few Walkers heading the way you were walking and decided I would track them to make sure they didn't get you. It's lucky I got here in time." He sighed running a hand through his hair.
"Luck has nothing to do with it." I stated firmly.
"Look I don't have anywhere else to go. Let me prove myself to you, that I can be helpful. Then you can get rid of me if you want. I'm just asking for a chance." He said pleading. If I was in need and I was in trouble I would also want someone to help me and trust. I hated being alone, maybe another person would make it easier.
"I also came to get my book." He pointed to the floor where it was open on the page I left it.
I walked up to him until we were almost touching trying to be intimidating. But being as short as I was he probably just found it amusing.
"You walk on the other side of the road. You so much as slow me down even by a bit. I shoot you. You come over to my side of the road, I shoot you. You take any of my food or any of my stuff-"
"Let me guess, you shoot me?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Glad you understand." I smirked and bent down to pick up the book.
"This book is mine." I said brushing past him back onto the road. He walked over to the other side of the road so we were walking parallel to each other.
"Where are we heading?" He asked.
"North." I said shortly.
"What's your story Polaris?" He asked kicking twigs as he walked along.
"No." I shook my head.
"No?" he asked.
"This is not story time, we are not friends. I'm tolerating you. For now." I said putting one earphone in trying to block out his talking. I changed the CD to Bon Jovi as Wanted dead or alive started playing.
"Rock music fan huh," Alejandro was looking at me from the other side of the road.
"Respect. I'm more of a Metallica man myself." He said.
"I like Metallica too." I stated not looking at him.
"Maybe we have more in common than I thought." He said smiling.
"How old are you?" He asked.
"Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?" I turned to him eyebrows raised.
"Okay I'm going to guess. 20." He said as I almost rolled my eyes.
"23?" He asked and I said nothing as he observed my face.
"You're definitely not 30. Too young." He said wondering to himself.
"28? 27?."
"25?" He asked and I couldn't stop my face from flinching.
"Ahh so I was right." He said wearing a self satisfied smirk on his face.
"Do me." He said.
"I'm not playing this game with you." I said ignoring him.
"But you're at least 30. Maybe 32." I said.
"Tienes razón. You're right." He said clapping his hands. It seemed as though he had finally run out of things to say and a couple hours of walking it was completely peaceful.
There was rustling coming from my side of the woods causing me to hold up my rifle. Alejandro was by my side in a flash with his knife out next to me. He looked at me and nodded slowly getting closer to what it was.
"Alejandro!" I whisper shouted.
"Get back." I hissed at me. He reached his hand out into the bushes and tightly grabbed something putting his knife into it. He pulled it back out and it was covered in blood. He turned around and help up 2 squirrels to me.
"Dinner." He smiled attaching them to his backpack. Okay. He was being helpful. And I was starting to like his company.
—
"Okay past relationships?" He asked.
"None." I said as he walked beside me on my side of the road.
"At all? Not even one-night stands?" He asked shocked.
"Is it so shocking?" I asked shaking my head.
"No it's just a surprise. A good surprise." He said.
"A good surprise?" I asked incredulously tucking my hair behind my ears.
"So me being a virgin is a good surprise so you can slut shame other girls? That's great." I looked up and gave a dry chuckle.
"That's not what I meant." He said putting his hands up.
"It's just refreshing." He said.
"You're not making sense." I raised my eyebrows.
"I know." He chuckled.
"What about you? Past relationships?" I asked.
"None that lasted beyond 3 months." He said and I rolled my eyes.
"There's must've been someone you liked?" He asked looking down at me. I thought about Rick and wiped my eyes how I missed him.
"Ah so there was."
"Is?" He asked surprised.
"It's in the past now. And he's married." I said trying to brush those piercing blue eyes out of my mind. He nodded not pressing any further.
"So you had a group before we met?" He asked.
"Yeah," I said trailing off thinking about what they were doing now. They must be eating dinner together. Dale's probably hiding the rifles. Lori and Carl are probably studying. Daryl must be cleaning his crossbow I chuckled. And Rick…
"Uhm What about you Alejandro did you have a group?" I asked looking up at him.
"No, I've been lone wolfing it. By myself. One man band." He said.
"It's nice having company." He said smiling down at me which I returned.
"I'm starved though. Show me your skills and cook those rabbits." I said as he laughed. We went on into the forest and started a fire. He skinned the rabbit and skewered them roasting them rotisserie style over the fire.
"Do you know what you're doing?" I asked sitting with with my knees up to my chest.
"Shh," He said.
"You can't rush art." He said concentrated on the roasted rabbits.
"I was a chef before all this." He stated.
"You said you were becoming a professor of medieval history?" I asked gently reaching my hand onto the holster so he wouldn't notice.
"I said I was trying to. Meanwhile I was actually a chef." He said and I nodded impressed.
"Okay," He said coming over to sit next to me.
"Try this." He handed me the stick with the rabbit and I bit into it. Wow it tasted good. I closed my eyes and savoured each bite of it.
"This is good." I mumbled.
"Really?" He asked taking a bite and throwing his head back.
"Esto es magnífico!" He said making me laugh.
"I'll make sure to put this on the menu back at my restaurant." He added with a wink.
"I can keep watching tonight." He said leaning close. I stood up and sat opposite him leaving the fire between us.
"I don't think so." I said narrowing my eyes playfully.
"You're still being tested." I added saving the other half of the rabbit in my pack.
"Okay so you won't mind if I sleep?" He asked and I gestured for him to lie down. He made himself comfortable on the ground and looked at me through the flickering flames.
"Buenas noches," He said before closing his eyes.
I took the rope and set out a perimeter around our little camp, hanging empty cans along it in case any Walkers decided to come past it. The fire was nearly out when I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders feeling cold. My eyes were droopy but I managed to keep them open for as long as possible.
I stayed awake most of the night reading through the Art of Peace. It was to do with the marital art creed Aikido and how by being attuned to nature you can stop your enemy from attacking you without even hurting them.
I found myself wanting to learn it but I needed a teacher. Before the apocalypse I had started learning Wing Chun so I knew the forms but never got a chance to advance. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't notice a rag being put in my mouth and something hard hitting the back of my head.
A/N: what did y'all think of Alejandro? If you want a visual representation, search up Alexander DiPersia for a lovely visual aid.. :3