Characters are from TWD. I am just writing for fun :)

Chapter 1: Meeting the Dixons

"God dammit."

Alice swore under her breath as she looked through the bushes—she could see three armed men talking outside of a CVS store. She needed supplies, badly— Glenn's wrist and ankle needed proper support and the makeshift braces were not going to hold up much longer.

"What's wrong?!" Glenn hissed in her left ear, causing Alice to jump slightly.

"Jesus, Glenn. I thought I told you to stay put." Alice whispered back, glaring slightly at Glenn, who merely shrugged at her scolding.

She had met Glenn half a month after she had lost her parents, and she was in pretty bad shape. She didn't consider herself to be quite mentally unstable yet, but given a few more weeks, she would have been well on her way—she was sure of it. Alice had stumbled into a herd of walkers right after exiting a rundown bar in Atlanta. She had foolishly believed that there might be a refugee center there. Her backpack was now filled with more food, more water, and some extra clothes, but she unlike her bulging backpack, felt empty inside.

She had sprinted onto the main street, hoping to find shelter, but when she rounded the corner she ran into an Asian man, around her age, maybe a little younger, staring at her with surprise. She didn't have time to panic because right behind him was another batch of walkers, headed straight towards them. They would soon be cornered. They didn't really have time to discuss logistics—together they managed to fight off enough walkers, giving them an opportunity to make a break for it. She got into the man's car without a second thought. After Alice gulped enough air for her to breath normally, she offered to take a look at his injuries, explaining to him that she was a doctor.

"A doctor? You're, what, eighteen?" the man had asked, looking at Alice with a skeptic but also with a slightly panicked expression.

And just like that, Alice had laughed for the first time since her parents' death. After she had stitched up some of his wounds he had acquired a few days earlier, the two fell into a simple routine—surviving together, having each other's backs.

"You took too long. What's the deal with the men?" Glenn asked, eying the men in front of the pharmacy carefully.

"They arrived a few minutes after I got here. Hopefully they will leave soon."

"Alright, we can wait."

The two sat side-by-side, keeping the drugstore and the men insight. Alice had to admit that it was nice to have someone to depend on. She was on her way to the CDC, but now she had someone to go with—someone who she trusted.

"Alright, here's another question – if you could have any superpower, which would you choose?" Alice asked.

Traveling with Glenn had proven to be pretty fun. The conversations flowed easily, and at times Alice could forgot that the world was ending. Initially, Glenn had been quiet and pretty awkward around her, but Alice was used to slightly socially inept people (she had met plenty in graduate school). Eventually, Alice began to notice that he was funny and kind— they both found that talking kept the paranoia and fear at bay as the traveled together. It also turned out that Glenn was younger than her. She was twenty-eight and he was twenty-three.

"Dunno, Doc…Gotta think about this. This is serious stuff." Glenn said, grinning at her.

"Well, I would choose time travel. You know that movie Click with Adam Sandler? I want that superpower—pausing, rewinding time, that sorta thing."

Glenn shrugged. "I guess teleportation."

"Uh-huh. Kinda a boring superpower, Glenn."

Glenn shrugged again, "It would come in handy right about now. We could go see if your sister is over at the CDC and drop by Michigan to check up on my parents."

"Alright…" Alice conceded, "but my superpower could prevent—

Alice's response was cut short as Glenn elbowed her and pointed at the men, who were now exiting the CVS and walking back to their car.

"Brilliant! They probably even got rid of the walkers inside for us." Alice grinned up at Glenn who was now standing and offering her a hand up.

They waited until the car was no longer insight and then the two began to walk towards the drugstore.

Alice left Glenn standing guard at the entrance while she slowly entered the drugstore. The shelves were mostly empty, but she quickly found the braces that Glenn needed. She stuffed some other toiletries and other medication she found into her backpack and was about to head back out when she heard faint sounds outside. Alice tightened her hold on her bat and strained her ears. She wasn't sure she heard voices and Glenn hadn't yelled out a warning to her, but she figured that she couldn't be too careful.

Alice muttered a curse under her breath when she heard the voices more clearly and louder.

" – You sure you alone? Because Paulie here swears he saw you with a woman. Anyone else with you?" a male voice asked sharply.

Alice's heart sank, as she approached the door— she could now clearly see Glenn surrounded by the three men that they thought had left. Glenn was on his knees, his hands behind his head. A gun was pointed at him.

"I'm alone. She left with the others. I was supposed to gather supplies and meet them at our base." Glenn lied quickly.

One of the men laughed. "Well now, we know that's not true. So, I'm gonna assume she's in the store, and I really hope she's a looker. It's been a while since I had a company of a woman. So why don't you tell me, is there anyone else in there with her?"

Alice quickly ducked behind a shelf as she saw the men turn towards the entrance. She could easily exit out back—leave Glenn. Run. He was injured anyways… he would only slow her down. But, her feet didn't move towards the back exit. She didn't even consider leaving him. Over the past couple of months, she had added him to the list of people she cared about—Nancy, and now Glenn. So, she gripped her bat tighter, took a deep breath, trying to think of how she and Glenn could get out of this alive.

"Wow! Ok! Please! Please don't think of hurting—

Glenn's plea was cut off as she heard him grunt and double over in pain as one of the men kicked him.

Alice never really acted on instinct, but something clicked and she began army crawling towards the back of the store. If she could just sneak behind them, she could help Glenn. She probably couldn't do much damage against three men with her bat, but maybe she could distract them… It wasn't much of a plan, but it was the only shot she had.

She kept low, her eyes on the exit sign. Right when she pulled on the backdoor, it swung open, hitting her. Seeing who was in front of her, Alice immediately swung her bat at the intruder. The man caught the bat in an instant, wrenching it from her arms. Losing her balance, Alice stumbled forward and collided with him—they fell down with a thump in a tangle of limbs.

She lay on her back and looked up into a pair of startled blue eyes. It wasn't a walker that was pinning her to the ground—he was alive. She could feel the heat of his body as his weight was pressed against her. She raised her hands and shoved against his chest, but he didn't budge. She was about to scream when she felt his dirty hand clamp down on her mouth. Alice immediately started struggling to break his grip, trying to claw at his eyes.

"Quit buckin'!" She heard him hiss in her ear.

She let her arms fall to her sides, but out of the corner of her eye she could see where her bat had fallen. She was about to reach for it and use it to smash in in head when she felt the man push himself up, his legs and hips momentarily pushing her further into the ground. She quickly stood up, scrambling to pick up her bat before swiveling to look at the men in front of her.

Two men stood before her, both older than her. The men stared at her in surprise, the same shocked expression gracing both their faces. A cruel Cheshire-cat grin began to slowly spread across the thin mouth of the older man. He was a big man. He had a square jaw and his shoulders were heavy and broad. The forearms clutching his riffle were huge. He was around fifty years old, probably even older. Even in this heat he was dressed in leather. Alice immediately noticed the scarring that lay across his knuckles.

The younger man, who was the one who had pinned her to the ground, was eying her carefully, his brows furrowed. The man's sleeveless wife beater was damp and as a result clung to his body. A stubble of beard covered his square jaw and his nose looked slightly crooked, as if it had been broken. But what stood out the most to Alice was the crossbow that he was now pointing at her. His blue eyes seemed to pick up on her anxiety because he looked behind her and seemed to realize that she was running from something. He lowered his weapon and took a step forward towards her. Alice scrambled away from him, her bat ready to strike.

"Sweetheart! Darylina here—

"Quiet!" Alice hissed, interrupting the older man's sentence.

They should have worried her, but at the moment she was more concerned about the men in the front of the store. She knew that these two men were not with the group—they looked too surprised to see her at their feet to know she was in the store beforehand and the younger man had released her once she had stopped struggling. But, that didn't make them any less dangerous.

"Please!" she gasped out looking at the blue-eyed man desperately. "There's three men out there and they have my friend." Alice wasn't really sure what she was trying to say. Was she begging them to let her go so that she could help Glenn? Or was she asking them to help her? She lowered her bat, hoping to show them that she was willing to make peace if they were.

A door opening sounded behind them. Faster than Alice could turn around, the blue-eyed man swung his crossbow back to eye level. He strode past her, angling his body away so that he didn't make any contact with her, and began walking forwards, scanning the aisles.

"Merle!" The man hissed, looking back at his companion, gesturing for him to follow. The leather clad man winked at her again as he walked past her towards the archer, his riffle raised.

Alice stood frozen for a second before deciding to follow the men. If they could distract the three men outside, she and Glenn could make a run for it. She stayed behind the two men, her bat was raised, ready to strike. Footsteps echoed somewhere in front of them.

"They have guns," she warned, gently tugging on the back of the older man's leather vest.

He scoffed, but his response was cut short as they both heard a man speaking. She didn't let go of the man's vest as they turned the corner.

"Ohhhh weee! Lookie here, we have company! Hello again, rednecks." She heard a voice sing out.

"Shut up, Paulie!" a man barked.

She didn't let go of the man's vest as they turned the corner. Cautiously, Alice peeked out from behind the man, but he roughly pushed her back a display stand. The archer was standing in front of three men, crossbow aimed at the man gripping Glenn in front of him. Glenn was being held at gunpoint. These men were smiling, yet there was nothing nice about them. They looked like they had not bathed in months, their skin blackened by dirt. Their teeth were yellow and rotted. The stench that came from them engulfed the whole room, causing Alice to hold her breath as long as she could. They smelled like walkers.

"Look, we don't want any trouble here, Merle." the man continued, nodding to the two men. His eyes darting between the two companions Alice just met. "We didn't know the boy was with you. We thought we saw a girl,"

"S' just us. We ain't seen no piece of ass lately," the younger man said, but he didn't lower his crossbow.

"Well, now. That's funny because this oriental fellow here," Paulie said slowly, gesturing at Glenn, "mentioned that you did have a lady friend, but he said she left to meet with the rest of your group. Didn't know you trailer trash even had a group. Now, which one is it?"

The younger man growled and took a menacing step towards Paulie.

"Paulie! Shut up!" the man in the middle snapped. Even though he had a gun pointed at the younger man, he must have sensed he was outnumbered with a crossbow and a riffle pointed at his chest.

The man holding Glenn ignored his gun wielding companion. He grabbed Glenn's hair and yanked him backwards. "We'll make a trade—oriental man here for the lady," the man said. Paulie nodded his agreement, grinning, "well come on Dixon! Make the trade."

"Even if we did have a piece of tail with us… and we ain't…it seems it would be a poor ass decision to trade 'er for Chinaman 'ere," the older man said, nonchalantly shrugging at Glenn. "I thought the friend o' yours I would be rescuing would be a damsel in distress, not Chinaman here," he muttered under his breath so that only Alice could here.

Alice was beginning to think that everything would work out as she saw the three men exchange worried glances. Then she heard a low moan echoing behind her. Bugger it all, Alice thought as she whipped around to see two walkers grunting, rushing towards her. They were inches away from her. She sidestepped one of the walkers quickly, swinging her bat. It connected with the back of the walker's skull. It was a ferocious blow that broke several bones in the walker's head. The second zombie fared no better.

She turned ready to strike the walker again, just to be sure that he was truly dead, but then she froze as she heard a wolf whistle.

"Well, beautiful, you have exceeded my wildest expectations," she heard one of the men say. She slowly turned around to see the three men leering at her, "and here I was thinking you would be another one of 'em Orientals. I am not disappointed. Why don't we come to an agreement, Dixon? We could share. What do you say—

The man holding Glenn didn't finish his sentence because the younger man fired his crossbow. The arrow went straight through his left eye. Glenn scrambled away from the crumpled body. And then all hell broke loose.

Before she could react, something hard hit her across her temple and she fell at once to the ground. She heard two guns go off simultaneously. She could hear Glenn yelling in panic, but the ringing in her ears was drowning out any other noise. It took her a minute to realize that there was a fourth man in the group. He was now standing over her, gun pointed at someone. She heard his gun go off and then she heard an angry roar from what sounded like the younger man.

The man standing over her stepped forward and tried to grab her by the arms. Instinctively, she rolled to the side and kicked him hard in the groin. He immediately let go of her and the gun to take care of his injured member. Alice scrambled up, reaching for her bat. She kicked him again, this time in the knee. There was a loud pop and he fell over in agony. She whipped around to see the younger man scrambling for a dropped gun, kicking at one of the attackers who was also scrambling for it. Glenn was fighting off two walkers who must have heard the gunshots. There were several more walkers banging on the windows of the store. But what caught her eye was the three walkers who were stumbling towards the older man who was busy wrestling his riffle from the last man. She acted immediately.

"DUCK, Merlin!"

The man barely had any time to react before Alice swung her metal bat at his attacker. She had never hit a person before with her bat. Walkers, sure, but never people. She only threatened people with the bat. But, the mechanics were the same. The bat made immediate contact with his head. He fell backwards instantly, but he wasn't quite dead. He was crying and rolling on the ground in agony, clutching his head. Alice squeezed the bat, feeling sick, but she raised it again, smashing it down on his head for a second time, ending his screaming once and for all. The older man recovered quickly—he fired several quick shots at the remaining walkers.

She turned back and was just in time to see the archer lift a gun to Paulie's head and pull the trigger. She flinched as the blood spurted in every direction.

Glenn was standing near the walkers he killed, panting and looking at her with panicked eyes. Paulie's blood was splattered on his face.

"Oh my god…" Glenn whispered, pulling his baseball cap over his eyes, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Alice bent over, falling to her knees, thinking she was going to vomit. Rough hands grabbed her, bringing her to her feet, but Alice had no strength to stand. Her head began pounding, her vision all but blurred beyond recognition. Suddenly, she felt the nausea rise in her throat, but she kept it down. Alice took deep, shaky breaths to slow her heart rate before she had some sort of panic attack.

"Who the fuck is Merlin?" the younger man asked, who was still at her side, holding her upright. He was looking down at the man Alice had wacked over the head with the bat in shock.

"Holy fuck! Did you see that baby-brother?!" Merlin, or whatever the hell the guy's name was, suddenly shouted grinning at Alice.

"Dammit, Merle…" the archer hissed, "Keep yer voice down."

"Well hello, doll. Where have ya been all my life?" Merle, asked her loudly, still grinning at her, clearly ignoring his companion's warning, "ya look like you're 'round eighteen. Your legal, right? You ever been with a real man? Not the oriental kind?"

"Merle, shut up." The younger man growled.

She heard Merle continue to cackle and shout, but she chose to ignore his comments. "I was probably in medical school," Alice muttered under her breath as she straightened her back. She pushed the archer away from her. She noticed that her hands were still shaking.

"There's probably more walkers on the way," she said, breathing heavily, looking between the three men and the walkers pounding on the glass doors.

She felt Glenn grab her arm, "Let's go, Alice!" She turned to him, nodding in agreement, gripping his arm tightly back, needing reassurance from him that he was alright.

"Hold up there, Chinaman. We ain't rushin' nowhere! I think sweet-cheeks over here outta give 'ole Merle a favor for savin' her ass."

"We ain't got time for this, bro. We gotta go!" the younger man muttered gruffly, placing a hand onto Merle's shoulder.

"I'm Korean! And that's racist!" Glenn exclaimed, but the younger man was already walking towards the back exit, ushering his brother out, who was still talking loudly. "Hot damn, little-brother, did'ja see her? Those tits and that ass…!"

Alice didn't take Merle's comments to heart. She had met a lot of men similar to him over her years as a medical student and as a resident. They were all talk. When it came down to it, Merle had saved her from getting raped.

"HEY! Merle… and uh, um…Darylina! Thanks!" She called after them, wincing as she uttered his name, realizing that was probably not his real name. The younger man stopped suddenly, turning back to scowl at her, "S' Daryl," he grumbled. Of course, Alice thought. She then noticed that Daryl was limping. There was a hole in his blood-soaked jeans… he must have been shot. A wave of guilt washed over her. Merle and Daryl didn't have to help her and Glenn, but they had. And as a result, Daryl got shot.

"Wait, Daryl" she said, walking towards them, Glenn at her side. "I can help you with the bullet wound. I'm a doctor and I have supplies—Glenn and I have a campsite a mile from here, near the Ferry—

"Don't need yer help," Daryl snorted interrupting her just as Merle exclaimed in surprise, "Oh-ho! You're a fuckin' doctor?"

"Alice! We have to go! Um, thanks guys!" Glenn called to her, urgently pulling her towards the exit. She could hear the glass breaking behind them so she quickly waved at the two men before following Glenn out of the pharmacy. Her and Glenn began to walk quickly back to the direction of their campsite, but Alice stopped to look at the two brothers. Merle was already in the truck but she noticed that Daryl was standing near the hood of the truck, looking at her through squinted eyes. When he saw her staring he turned away abruptly and walked to the side of the truck, yanking open the driver's door with a loud screech. The door slammed with a thud.