Chapter One: No Harm Done

No Harm Done

"Are we there yet?" My niece, Addy, asked from the back seat of my trusted Honda Civic.

I looked to my sister, who was driving the car that would never die, and for the first time in three weeks, we both roared with laughter. I turned to look at Addy, her big blue eyes fixated on the interstate pavement as we dodged stalled cars and the dead that were more animated than my college Calculus teacher.

She turned to look at me with a gaping mouth. "What?"

The past twenty-four days had been one hell of a time. A normal trip from Miami to Senoia (without killing the dead and hiding from the living) left a lot to be desired, but this was something else entirely. All things considered, we were beyond lucky to have made it and to have made it here together. With our trip nearing its end, I had become more tense than expected. What if what we were looking for wasn't there? We wouldn't have a plan or anywhere to go. I don't know how much longer my sister or niece could spend living on the road, literally running for our lives.

"Nothing, just glad to almost be there," I answered, still grinning.

Addy didn't say anything, but smiled. I could tell she was tired, any eight-year-old would be, but she hadn't complained once. She kept all comments to herself, despite her hunger, body aches and pains, and sheer exhaustion. Even the pain of the sunburn she was sporting on her face and arms wasn't vocalized, despite how badly it must have hurt considering her fair complexion.

"Think it's still there?" Willa asked from the driver's seat.

I bit my lower lip and shook my head, refusing to believe it wasn't. "It has to be." I paused. "They have to be."

She put her hand on my knee and gave it a reassuring pat. I should be doing that for her, she's the one who lost her husband a week ago. The dead came out of nowhere one night when we were hiding out in a storage shed. I was the one closest to Addy, so I grabbed her and ran. I didn't know Danny wasn't behind us until we heard him yell for us not to stop. The sound of his last scream still made bile rise up in the back of my throat when I closed my eyes. No one deserved to be torn apart by a frenzy of walkers, least of all someone as good and decent as Danny.

I put my hand on top of hers for the remaining few seconds she kept her second hand off the wheel. With all the dodging that needed to be done, even a professional race car driver would need to keep the ten and two hand position on the steering wheel.

"Damn it," Willa cursed under her breath as the car coaxed to a stop. We had run out of gas, which we knew was not just a possibility, but something that would happen. We were hoping to get just a little bit closer. "Now what?"

"I know the way from here. I can cut through the woods and see if the coast is clear. See if they're still there."

Willa shook her head, obviously hating the idea of her younger sister making the remaining three miles on foot alone. "We stay together." Her voice was stern and I could tell she wouldn't budge.

I couldn't blame her. There's no way I would let her do it. "Alright, so we all go?"

Willa turned to Addy, and her tone was immediately softer. "Think you can muster up the energy for a few more miles?"

Addy nodded, already realizing that there wasn't another choice. She had always been an active kid, ready to race or do another lap in the pool, but our trip to Georgia had easily turned into an extreme sport that no one wanted to participate in.

I was the first one out of the car, my bow and arrow case strapped tightly across my shoulder blades. Who knew Tulane's archery program would be saving my ass in a zombie apocalypse?

Scanning the cars along the highway, I was checking for the dead and for supplies. My stomach turned into a knot when I saw Willa rub her five month pregnant belly as she peeked into an SUV. We needed to get to our uncle's home and get both her and Addy out of the open. Being this exposed had proved to be hazardous in the past, and I didn't see that changing anytime soon.

"Think there's any water?"

Willa pulled Addy behind her as she continued checking the vehicles closest to her. "Not from what I can see."

"I'll come back later, after we get to the farm."

"If there's a farm to get to," Willa said softly, fearful of finding our extended family part of the dead that took a little more convincing to stay dead than previous generations.

I grabbed the bags we had in the car and handed one small pack to Addy. "Think you can manage?"

She nodded.

Willa took her own and handed me the second pistol. Danny had been military, so she was much more comfortable around firearms than I. I took the gun and made sure the safety was on before putting it in the back of my jeans.

"Stay close to us," she told Addy.

Addy responded by grabbing my hand. With our fingers interlaced, we started the three mile hike through the woods that would hopefully lead to healthy family members and a well stocked farm.

We heard the dead shuffling in our direction, but they were far enough behind that neither Willa nor myself thought of them as much of a threat. I pulled a knife out of its case that was attached to my belt loop as a single dead one came too close for comfort.

I passed Addy to Willa as I made my way to the freshly turned walker. She was young, no older than eighteen, and as I shoved the blade through her temple with more force than necessary, I couldn't help but to notice the school pendant she was wearing around her neck. The moment I pulled my arm back, she hit the ground.

Three weeks of this, and we had already been conditioned to not give the dead a second look once we had put them down. The first few we killed, Danny and I would burn their bodies. That only lasted the better part of an afternoon once the sickness had spread like wildfires. There just wasn't enough time or energy for being respectful of the dead these days.

I wiped the walker's blood off on the girl's pant leg as I surveyed the landscape, making sure we weren't being surrounded.

"Do you hear that?" Willa asked.

I stood up, my senses on full alert. Turning to the east, I saw another herd roaming towards us faster than we'd seen previously. From a quick head count, I saw at least a dozen. "Shit," I cursed as I scooped Addy up in my arms. "We can't take them on."

"We have to run."

"Can you?"

Willa holstered her gun. "Don't have much of a choice, do I?"

We were able to put distance from the herd easy enough at first. I held onto Addy while Willa was only a foot or two behind us, making sure to be the barrier between Addy and the walkers. It wasn't until Willa fell over an uprooted tree root that I realized we weren't going to be able to run any further without coming into contact with the herd. I turned to pull her to her feet before I pushed Addy into the nearest tree. Making sure Addy was secured in a branch, I turned to Willa to see that she was already in a defensive stance.

"You okay? I asked, panicked.

"No harm done."

"No harm done," I repeated the same phrase that we had said to one another since childhood.

The silver lining was that most of these dead had been baking out in the Georgia sun, so putting a blade or arrow through their skulls wouldn't be a difficult task. It was the volume of skulls we had to penetrate that was the issue.

I pulled the bow from my back and strung the first of three arrows. One, two, three walkers went down that were the closest to us. For whatever reason, this sent a frenzy through the other nine and they pushed their way towards their meals, us. I grabbed two arrows out of the walkers' skulls that were by our feet and instead of using the bow, I stabbed one of the dead through his eye socket with one arrow while Willa used her knife to kill the fifth walker that was too close for comfort.

We repeated this process with an ease that we had gathered through trial and error in the previous three weeks. Danny had made sure we knew how to protect ourselves and went into great depth teaching us defensive tactics that first week or so. We had several close calls that would have ended in one or all of us dead if Danny hadn't stepped in and then explained to us where we went wrong. He wasn't just ensuring our immediate survival, he was helping us build a future for ourselves.

With my arrow and bow secured, I pulled Addy out of the tree without saying a word. She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into my shoulder. Willa rubbed her back in soothing circular motions as we continued at a slower pace to the farm with Addy in my arms so that Willa could catch her breath. There wasn't anything left to say to try to comfort Addy. The world had turned to shit basically overnight and she had watched her father die. She hasn't spoken much since that night, but I guess the same could be said for all of us. While Willa and I couldn't bring ourselves to utter Danny's name, we knew this was something we would all have to deal with, especially Addy. Grieving was a leisure we didn't have in these moments. Would we ever feel safe enough to grieve for him? Or would we be in this constant state of survival until we made a fatal mistake?

I squeezed Addy closer to my chest thinking what would happen to her if Willa or myself made such a mistake. You couldn't survive alone in this world, but the company you kept could also prove to be lethal. We had experienced that first hand. Truth be told, I had a history almost as old as I was of distrusting people. During these times, my lack of trust was viewed as being cautious, instead of being seen as jaded. Is that how Addy would grow up, if she got the chance to get older? Would she always have a nagging feeling in the bottom of her stomach, telling her not to buy someone's bullshit? It's hard to say for sure what this kind of world would do to you, but I sure as hell hoped she would find out. She and that little boy growing inside of Willa's womb.

Holding a fifty-five pound child in my arms was really building up those upper body muscles that I had always wanted, but was starting to do a number on my back. But in her defense, I'm sure sleeping in the front seat of a civic and being thrown down a flight of stairs by walkers was more of the culprit than toting her.

Willa wasn't doing so hot, either, by the look of her. That was something she'd never admit to, though. I'd like to think Addy got her bad-assery from me, but I didn't hold a candle to her mother.

"Aunt Lottie?"

"What is it?" I asked, still holding her close.

"Are we there yet?"

I looked through the acre of trees that separated us from the farm. Putting her down, I smiled, fighting back tears of relief and happiness. "Yeah, Ads, we are."

...

A week after our heartwarming reunion with Uncle Hershel and our cousins Maggie and Beth, Willa, Addy, and I finally figured out how we fit in the Greene household again. We were devastated to hear about Shawn and Annette, but with Ottis and Patricia also at the farm, the home still felt whole. There were also new faces, like Beth's boyfriend, Jimmy. Hershel had a full house already, but was thrilled to welcome the three of us.

It seemed to be much easier for Willa to find her place at the Greene farm than it was for either Addy or myself. Addy, who before this was an outgoing kid, was now isolating herself and focusing on mundane tasks. She would only speak when spoken to, and even then her words were limited. Even though Willa and I lost our parents at a young age, I knew that I couldn't compare our experience to hers. The entire world was changing, not just her own bubble of safety that has altered.

Willa's old room (that we shared for a few months and that I took over for about two years after) was just as we left it. The bunk bed came in handy since there were three of us now, instead of two. The bottom bunk was a full size mattress and the top a twin, so it made sense for Willa and Addy to share the bottom. It even had the same blue comforter decorated with yellow daisies. It was hard to believe that Hershel kept this room untouched, aside from the occasional dusting. I found myself staring at the bedroom window, overlooking the massive barn, almost as much as I did when I was in my mid teenage years.

"How did you three survive out there?" Beth asked at the kitchen table.

I looked across the table to Willa, who had pushed her breakfast to the side and focused solely on her cup of coffee. No one even thought about suggesting she take it easy with caffeine.

Hershel shifted uncomfortably in his chair, obviously not liking the question, as well as expecting to dislike the answer even more.

"Danny made sure of it," I finally said, not wanting to get into details that would scar the Greene family for life.

Beth looked at me and then her eyes shifted to Willa. "He was a good man."

"One of the best," Maggie added.

"You have something special here, Uncle Hershel," Willa finally said. "Something that most people out there would kill for."

I cleared my throat and leaned towards Maggie, knowing that I needed to change the subject slightly. Willa was just now starting to mourn the loss of her husband, and it was clear that she was angry. No one could blame her, but hashing out one's feelings before the first cup of coffee was consumed couldn't end well. "Have you seen a lot of the dead around here?"

She shook her head. "Daddy, have you?"

Hershel pushed his chair out from under the table. He looked only slightly flustered, something I had grown accustomed to seeing over the years. He had raised four girls in his lifetime, so in my book, he earned the privilege of bossing us around. We were much more likely to listen now than when we were teenagers. "Enough talk. You four have chores to do." He paused. "Why don't you get Addy out of the room, Charlie? Ottis is going on a hunt, it wouldn't do any harm letting her get some fresh air."

I nodded. I didn't know much about hunting, but I didn't think that was really the point. He could see the vacancy in her eyes, and while he hadn't been around Addy much, he knew that she was a bright and happy child. Children weren't meant to house darkness, but since helping Willa and me in our times of need growing up, Hershel knew the signs to look for and how to help.

Willa got to her feet and let out a long breath. She was still recovering from the journey to Georgia. Growing a baby was hard work, and during the apocalypse, it was nothing short of a miracle. "I'll come with you two."

"I don't think so," Hershel said calmly. "No need causing more strain on your body. Patricia could use help with mending some bedding."

"Sewing?" Willa asked, to clarify. Her tone was agitated, clearly she wasn't accustomed to sitting on the side lines.

Hershel put his hands on hers. "Busy hands, my dear."

Willa looked at me, her eyes pleading for backup. I shook my head, refusing to get involved. Hershel was running a tight ship, and truth be told, I was worried he'd make me sew long johns if I butted in.

"Well, we need to set up a perimeter."

"It's being taken care of, dear," Hershel told her.

Beth began retrieving the dishes from the table and gave her father a loving look when he walked by, patting her on the shoulder.

Before I could do it myself, Willa started to make Addy a plate- a slice of toast and a scoop of grits. "Think she's hungry?" She paused, answering her own question. "She needs to eat."

"I'll take her a plate," I said. "So you can put those hands to work."

Willa put her lips together and rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to forget this."

I grinned, knowing well that her pregnancy brain was already in full swing. "Whatever you say," I smiled as I took the plate of food.

As I walked to our room, I couldn't help but to feel nostalgic. How many times did Willa bring me a plate after I had just arrived and felt too shy and embarrassed to sit with them? Or fast forward to a couple years later when I was too busy studying to come down for dinner?

"You missed breakfast," I told Addy as I peaked in on her. She was stretched out on the bedroom floor, thumbing around pieces of a puzzle. She nodded slowly and stared at the plate of food. I knelt down beside her, putting the plate down and picking up a puzzle piece. "It's okay to be alone, sometimes," I said.

She sat up and grabbed a slice of toast, but remained quiet.

"I know what it's like, and so does your mom."

With a piece of toast in her mouth, she mumbled, "I know."

I smiled down at her and gently placed my hand on her back. "Your dad would be proud of you, you know?"

Addy looked away from me, tears starting to pool in the corners of her eyes. "I'm just… sad."

"I know you are, Ads. I am too." It was heartbreaking to watch her experience a trauma that shapes one's life so dramatically. "It's okay to cry, to be sad. And it's okay to be angry about it. What happened wasn't fair or just. It just…"

She looked at me, her eyes big. "Happened?"

I nodded.

"Mom said that same thing."

Of course she had. Willa and I had both gotten the same speech from Hershel after losing our parents. "But…" I said, slowly. "It's okay to also be happy and laugh, too. Okay?"

She nodded.

I leaned back onto my elbows and stretched my legs. "I'm going to go out for a while, get some fresh air. Want to come?"

"Um…" she said as she looked at the puzzle before her. Doing puzzles was her way of processing, a coping mechanism I did when I was young too. "Sure."

I smiled and pushed myself off the floor. "Eat your breakfast and we'll head out."

She shoved the last piece of toast in her mouth. "Ready."

Twenty minutes later, the two of us set off to "hunt" in the opposite direction as Ottis. With my bow strapped securely to my back and a side bag of essentials that we'd need for the next few hours, I was more than ready to get out of the house. Hershel had been very much over protective since the three of us showed up on his doorstep.

"Don't get too far ahead," I told Addy as she ran a few feet ahead once we were fully into the woods. Aside from annual camping trips and coming to visit Hershel, she hadn't had much opportunity to experience nature the way it is here. Miami had good beaches and nature trails here and there, but nothing like this.

Miami. I wondered how the people Willa and I worked with had fared. The amount of the dead that rose those last two days we tried to stick out wasn't anything short of devastating. We both had made lasting friendships, and I was casually seeing another doctor. It was far from serious, but I hoped he was well. I didn't even have time to call him before we ran. Danny had the car packed and loaded us all up in the middle of the night. It was one hell of a get-a-way.

"Aunt Dottie!" Addy yelled as she knelt down a few feet away.

"Keep your voice low," I reminded her as I peeked over her shoulder at the bird's nest that had fallen from the tree. Two little birds had survived the impact, but no sign of the mother bird. "We shouldn't touch the nest or the baby birds," I said.

She looked up at me, as if she was going to cry. "Why can't we help?"

I knelt down beside her. "Because the mama bird will come back for her babies, but if we touch them, they'll smell like us and she'll get scared."

"And leave them?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. Probably."

"Can we come back on the way home to see?"

"I think we can manage that." I looked around to see where we were to make a mental note to use this route on the way back and realized we were about two miles from the farm. I looked at my watch, clocking we had been walking for about twenty-five minutes, casually stopping to appreciate the small moments of nature that had gone unharmed.

Before I could stand, a single gunshot echoed through the trees. Addy wrapped her arms around me and her weight suddenly against me as I knelt nearly knocked me to my ass. "It's okay," I whispered. "Ottis probably got a deer," I said, reminding her that that was the intent of the day's trip.

She unwrapped herself from my body and we both got to our feet. "You sure?"

No, and there was no way to know, but I didn't want to scare her. "It must be, but it did sound a bit away, that I do know."

She bit her index finger as she scanned the woods. "Okay."

"Why don't we stay here for a little bit? Have some water and rest? Then we'll head back."

She nodded, feeling relieved that we weren't going to press forward.

I handed her a water bottle from my bag and pulled her away from the clearing and more so into a row of trees about ten feet from where we were. We both sat down against a tree trunk to wait it out. She barely sipped her water, but held onto the bottle tightly.

I knew that she didn't want to converse, being anxious from the gunshot. She felt better if she could hear what was going on around us, so instead of pushing conversion, I decided it would be okay for us to sit in silence. If she needed something, I knew she would ask. Nearly twenty minutes passed before I asked her if she was ready to go. She replied by jumping to her feet. I took the bottle of water from her and started to pack up the bag while she investigated the bird nest for a second time.

"Can we check on them tomorrow?"

There was the caring little kid I knew. "Sure." I turned around to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything when I heard a twig snap. I looked towards Addy, who was still kneeling in front of the bird nest.

"Sophia?" A deep southern male voice said from behind her, maybe four feet.

My heart dropped to my stomach as I ran out with my bow and arrow in hand. I barely had time to square up to aim at the man standing behind her, pointing my bow down and attaching the arrow to the nock of the bow.

"Don't get any closer," I said, trying to sound more intimidating.

He had a crossbow and the sleeves of his grey shirt had been torn off. He was covered in dirt and grime, obviously he had been out here or on the road for days, or judging by how tired he looked, maybe weeks.

Addy turned around and saw the stranger, her eyes wide with fear.

I swallowed hard as I walked towards her, my aim still on the man in front of us. I looked around as best as I could to see if there were others with him while still keeping track of his movements. "Put down your crossbow," I said.

He obliged without any hesitation and stepped back. "Don't mean ya no harm."

Ignoring his comment, I put myself in front of Addy. "Are you alone?"

He clenched and unclenched his jaw, this time not willings to be so accommodating.

"Are you alone?" I repeated.

"Ain't no one gonna hurt ya or ya little girl."

I bit my inner cheek, trying to think of what to do next. Should we make a run for it and hope he didn't follow us back to the farm? Should I put an arrow through his head and call it a day? I don't think I could actually kill someone, a non walking dead someone anyway, who hadn't posed a real threat.

"How many?"

"We're lookin' for a lost girl. 'Round her age, I think."

"Eight?" Addy asked as she peaked out from behind me.

"Twelve, actually," a voice of a woman was heard from my left side, about eight feet away. "Her name is Sophia, we lost her yesterday." The woman was thin and tall with long brown hair. She looked similar to crossbow guy in the sense that she was dead tired.

"Is she your daughter?" Addy asked.

"No, she's my friend's daughter, Carol. I'm Lori and that there is Daryl."

Addy took a step towards Lori, and when I grabbed her shoulder to stop her, Addy introduced us. "I'm Addy and this is my Aunt Lottie."

"Addy!" I said, my voice stern.

"It's okay," Lori promised. "We mean you no harm."

"That's wut I done told her," Daryl said with a scoff.

"Lottie-," Lori started.

"Charlie," I corrected. "I go by Charlie."

"Cherry? Daryl repeated.

I rolled my eyes as I looked in his direction. "Yeah, my name is Cherry," I said sarcastically. Red necks, sheesh.

"Charlie," Lori continued. "Have you seen a little girl? A little taller than Addy, same blonde hair and build."

I shook my head. "No, but this is the first time since…" I paused. "We've been keeping to ourselves for the past week."

Lori nodded. "If you come across her, will you-"

"We'll keep her safe," I promised. I turned my head towards Daryl when I heard a branch being broken. He turned when he heard it, too, but with my bow and arrow halfway ready, I pointed my bow towards the walker, used my top three fingers to pull the bow's drawstring back towards my face, made sure to have a solid target (the walker's head), and released the arrow by relaxing the fingers on my string hand. "Duck," I told Daryl.

He dropped down just as the arrow flew by, hitting the walker in its left eye socket. The walker hit the ground and I was surprised when Daryl retrieved the arrow for me. "Cuttin' that warnin' a lil close, don't ya think?" He handed over the arrow, his hand brushing against my fingers lightly.

I was even more surprised he called me out on it. I couldn't help but to grin slightly. "Oh, was it?"

The sound of a woman's scream directed us to the east side of the forest. Lori and Daryl shared a worried expression and took off to the sound of the yelling once Daryl had his crossbow in his hands. And just like that, they weren't concerned with Addy or I any longer.

"Let's get back to the farm," I told Addy as I grabbed her hand.

She planted her feet onto the ground. "They need help."

I titled my head to the side and let out a deep breath. "I think they can handle it."

"But what if they can't? We can help."

I fidgeted with my bow before agreeing with her. "Don't tell your mom."

"I won't."

With that, we ran off behind Daryl and Lori, catching up to them quickly to see a blonde woman struggle under the grip of a dead one. Her hands were pressed against the walker's shoulders, but the level of decomposition made it difficult for her to keep a firm grip on him.

I pulled Addy backwards when I saw Maggie riding up on her horse, a second horse right behind her. Maggie pushed through the grass and took out the walker with a bat she was carrying, ultimately saving the blonde woman.

"Lori! Lori Grimes!" Maggie's eyes scanned the group, which I realized was larger than just Lori, Daryl, and the screaming blonde. It also consisted of a woman with short brown hair, a young Korean man, and an African American man.

"That's me, I'm Lori!" Lori yelled stepping forward.

Maggie's was flustered and breathless as she looked over the woman. Her eyes met mine and she tilted her head with a confused look on her face. "Charlie! We've been looking for you too."

"Why? What's happened?" I asked, stepping forward, already helping Addy on the horse Maggie was riding.

Maggie looked between Lori and myself as she spoke. "Rick sent me. You got to come now. There has been an accident, Carl," she said and

looked at me,"her son," she said, "has been shot."

"What?" Lori asked, covering her mouth.

I strapped my bow to my back and climbed onto the second horse, taking the reins from Maggie. That single gunshot we heard earlier, that must have been it.

"He's still alive, but you have to come now."

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"Dad and Willa got it started, but need you."

I extended my arm to Lori, offering her assistance to get behind me. She looked at me questionably.

"Rick needs you," Maggie said hurriedly. "Just come."

Lori dropped her pack and took my hand, feeling her despair in her touch.

"Wow, wow, wow. We don't know this girl, these girls," Daryl said as he pointed to us. "You can't get on that horse."

Maggie gave the group directions as to how to find us as the horse Lori and I were on took off to the farm. "He's in good hands," I told Lori. "We'll do what we can," I promised. I couldn't offer her anything more in lines of reassurance, especially without having seen Carl's condition. I let out a deep breath, hoping that her son's survival odds weren't as bleak as Sophia's was.

...

First chapters always seem a little rocky, so please bare with me! I wanted to focus this chapter primarily on my original characters, just so we could all get a little insight on their personalities and their dynamics within the Greene family. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, I am ALWAYS all ears. Hope you stay with me on this journey!