Chapter 1 - Trouble

Two Months Ago

I walked into King County Police Department and straight to the front desk. "Yo, what's up, Derek?" The cop behind the desk and I do our quick handshake.

"Not much, Alex," Derek responds. "What can I do for you?"

"Is my dad here?" I inquire.

"Sorry kiddo," He shakes his head. "He's out right now, but Ricks in the break room." Derek offers at my disappointment.

"Thanks man," We do our handshake one more time before I head down the hall. I say hello to a few other officers as I make my way to the break room.

I sigh as I enter, dropping my bag on the floor. Rick has his back to me as he gets a cup of coffee. "Rick, I need you're help."

He turns around, surprised to see me. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

I roll my eyes. "I like to think I could be at school. Not that I should be."

Rick shakes his head. "What do you need help with, Alex?"

"Well, my principal wants me to give this note to my Dad," I get the piece of printer paper from my bag and hand it to Rick. "It's just awful. Read it."

Rick eyes me suspiciously as he unfolds the paper and reads it allowed. "Dear Mr. Shane Walsh, I regret to inform you that Alexandria has struck another student on their head with a stick this morning. She's also falling behind in most of her classes, and skipping all of her detentions. If you could call to meet with me within the next week or so, I think we should consider putting Alexandria in Mrs. O'Neils class. Sincerely, Principal Clark Monahan."

Rick looks up at me from the note, an eyebrow quirked. "You hit a kid with a stick?"

"It was a drum stick!" I defended. "And he deserved it!" Before Rick could reply, I started ranting. "Oh, my god I literally hate Monahan! He's so sexist! And he calls me Alexandria even when I've told him a million times to call me Alex! And I'm still technically passing all of my classes, except for English. And math. And, uh, Spanish. And a couple others, but that's not the point!"

"Who's this Mrs. O'Neil?" Rick inquires. "Maybe she could help you."

I groan so dramatically Rick rolls his eyes again."The freaking Special Ed teacher! There is no way in hell I'm going to her!"

Maybe she could help me with the dyslexia and the ADHD, but I didn't want to be in that class. I was perfectly normal.

Rick sighs, rubbing his forehead. "This isn't middle school anymore, Alex, you're a freshmen now."

"That's exactly what Monahan said!" I whined. "Please Rick, I didn't come to you for a lecture. I need your help."

"How can I help you?" Rick asked, exasperated.

"Call Monahan," I answered immediately, and Rick began to protest. But I stopped him. "Just listen! You can call him and pretend to be my dad, and tell him I'm fine and to get off my back."

"Alex!" Rick rubbed his eyes as he sat down on the couch beside me.

"Please, Rick? I don't want my Dad to think I'm having trouble with my dyslexia." I admitted.

He looked up at me then, sympathetic. "So that's what this is about? Alex you are having trouble. Didn't Shane get you those books?"

"Rick, I'm sorry, but that's a whole load of BS," I felt tears brim my eyes. I hated talking about my reading issues. "Please, just call Monahan."

He gnawed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. "Okay," I squealed and jumped to my feet.

"Yes! Thank you, Rick!" He gets to his feet as well, and I hug him tight.

"Now, go back to school, Alex," He shakes his head, then to himself, he mutters, "What kid ditches school to go to the police station?"

I laugh and grab my bag, but I stop in the doorway. "I love you, Rick."

He smiles as he gets out his phone. "I love you, too, Alex."

I sit up, wondering how long I've been asleep. I rub my eyes and groan; my back aches. I was draped over two arm chairs, my hair had to be a disaster and I was in sweats. It was bright in the waiting room, but as I looked outside I realized it was completely dark.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," I turn to Carl beside me and hit his shoulder.

"What time is it?" I yawn as the memories from when I was last awake came flooding back. Rick was shot. We're in the hospital. "Where's Lori? And my Dad?"

"It's two in the morning," Carl answerer's, and I can tell he's just as tired as I am. "My Mom's getting permission for us to go into the ICU, and Shane got called back to work."

I nodded leaning my head on his shoulder, and he draped an arm around me. "How's he doing?"

"He got out of surgery a few hours ago," Carl informed in a whisper. "They're cleaning a room for him in the ICU. He's in a -" His voice breaks and I lift my head up to face him.

"Hey, hey," I try to sound reassuring but I don't know what to say as Carl stuffs his face info my shoulder, crying now. "It's going to be okay, he's going to be just fine."

For a few more minutes we just sat there, holding each other, and when we pulled apart, it was a little awkward.

"I saw a vending machine down the hall," Carl said, wiping his eyes. "Are you hungry?"

"I sure am," I nodded.

As Carl and I stood at the vending machine, waiting for our bottled water and mini bags of chips, a man suddenly burst into the hospital. He carried a young woman in his arms, and the scary part was, a chunk was missing from her neck. My breath caught in my throat as the man started to yell. Carl spun around, guarding me from the chaos.

"My girlfriend!" He screamed as nurses came around the corner and set her on a bed. "My girlfriend!" His words made me flinch because he was so loud.

"Sir, you need to calm down!" A nurse bit back, and I remember my Dad telling me that that was probably the worst thing you could say to a panicking patient. "What happened?"

"A-a-a man! He just came out of the alley and bit her!" He screamed and cried and I felt tears well in my own eyes. I was scared.

"Carl . . ." I whispered his name.

He wrapped his arms around me to shield me from the chaos, and I sniffed. "It's okay, Alex, it's okay."

He claimed a man had bit his girlfriend, and that scared the hell out of me. Why would someone do that? He had to be drunk. But, now that I think about it, the wound on her neck did sort of look like a bite mark. Is that what happened?

It felt as if the world was ending right in front me. Rick was shot, and now people were biting each other. This couldn't be happening.

But it was.

And it did.

A/N - Okay, so this was my very first chapter. I wanted to get a feel of Alex's relationship with the Grimes men right now, and next chapter I think will be a little bit more about her heritage.

Thank you so so much for reading! Be sure to comment your thoughts, favorite and follow this story for more content!