Disclaimer: All recognizable Characters, places, and plots belong to those who own the copyright for Walking Dead and Criminal Minds respectfully such as AMC and Robert Kirkman, I do not know all their names.

All new characters such as Kat, The Takers, and Kat's original group belong to me. Please do not use them or my storyline without my permission.

Warnings:

This story will contain foul language, nudity, sexual content, graphic violence, mentions of sexual assault, death, abuse, mentions of domestic abuse, partial depictions of sexual assault, depictions of domestic abuse, torture, suicide, depictions of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, PTSD, flash backs and much more.

Each Chapter will have its own trigger warnings directly below this warning at the start please use these to protect yourself while you read. If there are any issues regarding this please PM me.

Standing Warnings for All Chapters: (These Warnings are used so frequently it is pointless to add them by specific chapter.

Gore, Graphic Violence, Death, Swearing

Chapter Warnings:

Mentions of Sexual Assault

AN:

As I said in the last chapter I will be posting two Chapters a week as I tend to write two chapters at a time if I have the option. Enjoy!

Survive We Shall

Season One

Episode 02: Survive Alone?

-Line Break-

"And in the end all I learned was how to be strong alone." – Unknown

Kat stopped in her tracks a deep frown on her face. For the millionth time she'd gone in a circle. She shakes her head her eyes locked on that god forsaken farm house. Maybe if they'd just kept going, if they'd never stopped there, maybe then she wouldn't be alone right now?

"Hey! It's her!" Kat spins on her heal her eyes widening as seven men race towards her across a field. Eddie a man in his late fifties with a shaved head and a swastika tattooed on his arm led the charge. Kat recognized Brian and Philip as well, the other four men she'd seen a hundred times before but didn't know the names of. Kat spins on her heel charging back into the forest, veering to the side as she see's walkers in front of her. She couldn't get caught… not again.

"Shoot that bitch!" A man's voice calls, a second later a bullet wizzes past Kat's ear. She ducks and dodges as she runs being sure to move back and forth as she does no sense in giving them a predictable target. Up ahead she could see a small herd of walkers, perfect she heads directly towards them knife up and ready stabbing the first one she comes too in the top of its head using her momentum to drive the knife in before dragging it out as she shoves the body into the next closest walker. She ducks down sprinting quickly through the slow moving bodies. Once on the other side she keeps up her pace, it isn't long before she hears the gunshots and screams behind her as the men run into the herd.

Kat had been running for over half an hour slowing only when the bullets stopped whizzing by her, speeding up if they started again. Kat glances behind her grimacing as she sees the five living men gaining on her, two clearly having been taken down by the herd. A small scream rips from her as her foot suddenly catches on something pitching her forward tumbling down a small hill.

"Hello again, Miss. Kat. You know we're all damn tired of these games. I think it's time we ended them, don't you agree?" Brian, a man with long blonde hair only a few years older than Kat with a missing front tooth and a long scar under his left eye Kat had given him a few months before bends over her with a wicked grin. Kat gasps for breath her eyes wide as she stares up at the men. Her hand tightens on her gun.

"Nu uh. That ain't happening." Eddie slams his boot down on her arm. Kat glares up at him biting the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming. She would not give these bastards the pleasure. Eddie bends down taking the gun from her belt before stepping back for a second. He stares down at her with a look of pure hatred. "Should've killed you with the other bitch." He swings is foot back bringing it back against her side. Kat gasps out as searing pain flashes through her side.

"We should have some fun before we kill her." Phillip grins licking his lips, his light brown mullet blowing in the breeze.

"I like that…" One of the other men begins to say before a crossbow bolt slams into his eye.

"What the fu…" Brian shouts stepping back, a gunshot ringing out as he goes down.

"Brian!" The last unknown man begins to speak before a different gunshot sounds blood splattering the trees around them. Kat scrambles to her feet she grabs her knife from her belt.

"You're not going anywhere, Bitch." Eddie growls stalking towards her. Kat brings her arm back aiming her hunting knife for his chest and throws it; the knife buries itself in Eddie's neck. Not what she was going for, but it would work. Eddie stumbles to the ground pulling the knife out and falling face first in the leaves blood pooling around him in seconds.

"You!" Phillip lunges at her before Kat can move; seconds before he can grab her, a crossbow bolt slams into his head. Kat scrambles forward grabbing her knife from where Eddie dropped it and turning on her heel to stand up, looking around for whoever had been shooting.

"You alright?" Kat turns her eyes locking on three men as they approach her cautiously. The man who spoke had a short brown beard, with brown wavy hair; he held a gun in one hand pointed at the ground. Next to him was an Asian man, younger than her, maybe in his early twenties, a gun also clutched in his hands. About a foot behind the first guy was a man with a crossbow, chin length brown hair hanging limply, he wore a leather vest. "Ma'am?" The first man says again coming to a stop when he notices her knife.

"Who are you?" Kat asks her voice tense her knife clutched tightly in her right hand.

"My names Rick Grimes, this is Glenn," He motions to the Asian man, "and Daryl." He motions to the other man. "What's your name?" Kat narrows her eyes, why had these men helped her? She'd never seen them with the Takers, but then again there were at least sixty of them when they first got her and around forty last she saw… well thirty-three now. But would they really kill their own people? She'd seen them do it before. Kat's eyes scan over Rick; he is watching her with a sad look in his eyes.

"Why'd you help me?" Kat asks her brown eyes locking with Ricks, confusion clear in her tone. Rick shares a look with Glenn and Daryl frowning.

"It looked like you needed it." Rick says simply. Kat narrows her eyes.

"What's your angle here? You trying to earn points with Carlton or some shit? Bring me back yourselves?" The men share a confused look before turning back to her.

"We don't know who this Carlton is, but we can assure you we're not with him." Rick says holstering his gun and holding up his hands as if talking to a spooked animal. Glenn lowers his gun with shaky hands slipping it into its holster, his eyes locked on Brian's dead body looking like he's going to be sick. Daryl lowers the crossbow but doesn't put it away.

"He your first kill or something?" Kat asks looking at Glenn and nodding to Brian. Glenn looks surprised by her question but nods shakily. There was no way these three where Takers, not with how he's acting. "That's never easy, thank you though." Kat says slowly holstering her knife keeping her hand on the hilt. It wouldn't do much good against Daryl's crossbow anyways.

"Uh, your welcome." Glenn says hesitantly, he looks to Rick who nods motioning for him to take over. "We have a group, men, women, children, fences if you're interested?" Kat raises an eyebrow eyes flickering between the hesitant young man and the two older men.

"You'd just offer me a place with your group?"

"Well you have to answer three questions first, but yeah." Glenn nods.

"Ask away." Kat crosses her arms.

"How many walkers have you killed?" Kat snorts shaking her head.

"I don't know just let me check my kill count. A lot." She shrugs she thinks she can see Daryl smirk at her snide answer.

"How many people have you killed?" Kat frowns looking down at the ground as she thinks, this was where they'd either shoot her or tell her to fuck off.

"I don't know around twenty to thirty." Kat answers honestly her eyes flickering back to theirs. A look of shock ripples through the men as they process her answer. Daryl raises his crossbow eyes now narrowed. Rick's hand moves to his gun but he doesn't pull it. Glenn is just staring at her with wide eyes.

"Why?" He asks his voice tense. Huh, well they hadn't shot her yet, so that must be a good sign.

"Most of them where Takers." She motions to the men on the ground. "I've killed a lot of them escaping each time they catch back up with me. I have no clue how many but considering the last time I was in their camp I counted around forty of them, while they had sixty the first time, I've taken out at least twenty. I have no idea how many I killed last time." Kat shrugs her voice bitter.

"And anyone else?" Rick asks. "You said most."

"I shot a woman in my old group after she was bit." Kat scowls thinking back to Tiffany. "And a lady who was on the plane I was on when this all went down."

"You were on a plane when this started?" Glenn asks eyes wide. "And you shot someone… on the plane?"

"She had a gun pressed to the window it was shoot her or everyone on the plane would have died." Kat defends herself.

"Why did you even have a gun on the plane?" Rick asks.

"I was going to check it, but they boarded us without checking our luggage. I told them I had it they didn't care. It was just before Seattle was bombed. I think they were just trying to evacuate who they could."

"Anyone else?"

"No." Kat shakes her head. The Takers had forced her to become very good at killing the living, something she hated with a passion.

"Alright then, we should head back." Rick nods giving her a soft smile. Kat moves forward stabbing Eddie in the head so he wouldn't turn and grabbing her gun slipping it into its holster she walks over to them staying a few feet back.

"What' yer name?" Daryl asks.

"Katrina Reid, most people call me Kat."

"It's good to meet you, Kat." Rick smiles at her leading them through the trees. Glenn walks beside Rick, Daryl standing a few feet away from Kat behind them; he keeps glancing at her bow and bags curiously. After around ten minutes they exit the trees coming onto a simple road leading to a prison. Kat stops for a second taking it in, walkers where lined up around the fenced in yard pressing at the metal. It was perfect, built to keep people in, it was perfect for keeping walkers out.

"You comin'?" Daryl turns to look at her. She nods following behind him. The three men break into a sprint as they approach the front gate, metal doors had been rigged attached to the outer layer of fences, wooden spikes flanked the gate to help keep walkers away. A boy rushes over pulling a rope to open the gate as the four of them sprint inside. The gate clinging closed behind them. He opens the inner fence running up to Rick hugging him.

"Dad! Who's the new lady?" He asks peering around Rick to look at her, his long brown hair falling in his eyes. He couldn't be older then thirteen.

"Carl, this is Kat. Kat this is my son, Carl." Rick introduces them with a large grin.

"Uh, hi." Kat waves at the kid awkwardly.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to Carol, she'll know where you'll be staying." Glenn offers motioning her to follow him. Kat nods slipping past Rick and Carl as Carl starts bombarding him with questions about her. Daryl follows silently behind her. Kat can hear people talking and laughing as they make their way up the road to another set of gates that stand open. Breathing in the smell of cooking meat reaches her. People are lined up getting food from a few women who stand by some kind of makeshift grill. "Dinner time." Glenn grins leading her to one of the women passing out food.

"Hi, Glenn, Daryl." The woman nods to them. She was older maybe late forties early fifties. She had short gray hair, and a very slim frame.

"Hey, Carol. This is Kat, we found her in the forest, she's joining us." Glenn introduces her, giving Carol the simplified version, although based on the look shared between the two Kat was sure the whole story would be told later.

"Welcome to the prison, Kat. Why don't you have some food and when your done I can show you around. Glenn would you ask Maggie to get Karen to set up a cell for Kat?"

"Sure thing." Glenn takes his plate and walks off towards a table where a woman with shoulder length brown hair, a teen girl with long blonde hair, and an old man with a white beard sat. She watches as he kisses the brunette before sitting down.

"Here you go." Carol gives her a kind smile holding out a plate. Kat stares at it for a second before slowly taking it, she was sure she made a sight staring at the food the way she was. But it'd been months since she'd had a hot meal.

"Kat you can sit with us." Kat turns as Carl runs up Rick walking behind him. Carl grabs a plate for himself and his Dad heading to the same table Glenn was at. Rick motions her to follow, Daryl taking a plate and following as well. "Guys this is Kat." Carl says looking excited.

"Welcome, I'm Hershel, these are my daughters Maggie," The old man motions to the brunette, "and Beth." He nods to the blonde girl.

"Hi." Kat says, slowly sitting down next to Maggie. Rick, Carl and Daryl sit across from her beside Hershel.

"Where are you from?" Carl asks her curiously. "Dad says you were on a plane when everything started." Kat looks between the group of people her mouth dry. It'd been months since she'd been around so many people… or so many people who weren't trying to kill her at least.

"Leave her alone, Carl." Beth says shooting him a look. "Let her eat." Beth shoots her a small smile. Kat smiles hesitantly back. She picks up her fork taking a bite of the meat, it was deer, she'd only had it once before when Tom had shot one and brought it back to the house their group had been hauled up in at the time. Carol had seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic. Kat smiles eating the rest slowly, knowing if she eat as quickly as she wanted she'd probably be sick. She'd learned that the hard way a few weeks before.

Kat sat silently while she eat and the rest of the people around her talked. The conversation flowed freely until the soft cry of a baby cut Rick off. Kat's eyes widen as she turns to see Beth pick a small baby, only about a month or two old out a small bin she hadn't noticed next to the table.

"You have a baby?" She asks mouth open in shock.

"Rick's daughter, Judith." Beth says as she rocks the baby softly. "I'm gonna go change her." Beth says with a nod to Rick.

"I'll come she needs to eat still right?" Beth nods. Kat watches them go shaking her head. This day couldn't get much stranger if it tried.

"Beth takes care of Judith so Rick can go on runs and work around the prison." Maggie explains seeing the look on her face. "Most people react the same way to seeing her."

"Well considering making a lot of noise means death most of the time now days, it's not exactly common to see a living baby."

"The fences help with that, and Judith is pretty quiet." Glenn says with a smile.

"Can I ask where your from now?" Carl pipes up.

"Uh Las Vegas originally." Kat answers not sure why he cares so much.

"But you flew out of Seattle?" Glenn asks.

"I grew up in Vegas till I was six, then moved to DC with my brother it's where I was headed when the world went to shit. I moved to Seattle a few years ago." Kat explains.

"How'd you end up in Georgia?" Maggie asks.

"Plane ran out of fuel we had to land. We were supposed to refuel during a layover in Texas but the airport wouldn't respond."

"Damn. You still headed to DC?" Glenn asks.

"I was trying to, but I kept going in circles without a map." Kat shrugs. "I'm pretty positive I won't make it there alone, so I guess I'm here for the time being at least."

"Well I hope you choose to stay, it's too dangerous out there to go it alone." Maggie smiles sadly at her. Kat smiles back before standing up with her empty plate. "Where do I take this?"

"To Carol." Carl points to where Carol is standing by a bin finishing up her own food. Kat nods and walks over to her.

"Thank you for the food, it was delicious." Kat places her plate and fork in the bin that is full of other dirty dishes. She hoped she didn't get assigned dish duty, she'd do it of course, but dishes had always been her most hated chore.

"No problem, Dear. I'll show you your cell and give you a tour." Carol places her now empty plate in the bin and leads Kat into a Cell Block marked D. "This is where all the new arrivals live. Those of us who founded the prison live in Cell Block C." Kat nods following her up some stairs to a cell against the back wall. The cell beside it is clearly vacant as well. "I thought you might want a cell by yourself. You can of course take one of the other empty ones."

"No this is fine, thank you." Kat smiles weakly at her. The cell has a sink, a bunk bed, and a few small shelves. A curtain is hung inside the door for privacy and some sheets, pillows, and what looks like toiletries sit on the bottom bunk.

"You can decorate or do whatever you want with the place." Kat steps in peeling her bags off her shoulders for the first time in a few days and sets them on the floor by the bed. She rolls her shoulders wincing at the tightness in them. "Hershel is our doctor, we also have Doctor S, so if you need anything looked at just come to me or one of them and we'll get you squared away. I'll show you the showers." Kat follows Carol out of the cellblock down a few halls into a large bathroom. There are showers lined up, separated by curtains, they had set up a few water barrels that pumped water into the shower pipes.

"Toilets are over there." Carol motions to a room. "You have to pump the water yourself, but it works pretty well. The waters clean we get it from the creek."

"This is amazing." Kat says looking it over. "I never thought I'd see running water again."

"We make do." Carol laughs. "If you have anything that needs washing just put it in the laundry basket in your cell, we'll wash it and put it back. We have some clothing stocked up if you need any as well."

"I'd love some clean clothes. All my stuff is beyond dirty at this point." Kat says following Carol to a supply room. She quickly picks out a few tank tops and t-shirts, a few pairs of jeans, a few flannels, a package of socks, a few bras, and a package of underwear. "You guys raided a clothing store didn't you?"

"A few weeks ago." Carol laughs. "Welcome to the prison, Kat. I hope you like it here." Carol pats her arm keeping a straight face when Kat flinches away. Kat's cheeks burn as she looks down.

"Thanks." Carol gives her a sad smile and leaves her to her own devices. Kat quickly makes her way back to her cell. She dumps most of her new clothes on the bed before grabbing the shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, and a towel and heading to the showers.

She pumps the water spending almost an hour under the cool stream. The water was far from warm, but it was good enough to get clean. She scrubbed her skin raw, wincing as she washed over the many bruises, cuts, and scrapes. She was relieved there wasn't a mirror for her to see her new scars with. After her shower she dresses quickly in her new clothes, opting for a t-shirt with a flannel over top, some jeans, and new undergarments. She laces back up her boots braiding her wet hair back before brushing her teeth and heading back to her cell. Kat dumps her dirty clothing in the basket a long with her hunting jacket.

"Wow, you look awesome!" Kat turns as Beth steps into her cell.

"Uh, thanks."

"I brought you some bins and a few things so you could organize your cell." Beth holds up a few storage bins that seem to have some more bedding and what looks to be a few knickknacks, some tape, and a packet of a disposable hooks like Kat used to use to hang Christmas decorations. Kat takes the bins setting them on the bed.

"Thank you."

"I'm in cell block C if you need anything." Beth smiles brightly at her before walking out. Kat turns to the bins moving them to the floor she starts emptying her very dirty bags, tossing any clothing into the laundry bin. She piles books, pictures, and other personal items on the bed setting her weapons on the lower shelf. She puts the bags in the bin as well to washed, although she'd probably wash them herself the next day.

Kat stands up making the bed. She stores her weapons in one of the bins sliding it under the head of bed. She hangs a hook beside the foot of the bed to hang her bow and quiver from. Her knife and gun staying on her belt for now. She slides the black box she keeps her electronics in under the bed and folds her remaining clothing into a bin. She puts her books on the shelves and tapes up a few of the pictures storing the rest in a bin with her jewelry, her many pairs of glasses, and a few other trinkets. She places her stuffed cat next to her pillow and looks around.

It was surreal she had a bedroom, an actual bed, pictures on a wall. Maybe she was settling in too quickly, trusting too easily. But did she really have a choice? They seemed nice enough, maybe a bit naïve just letting her in so easily, but maybe she could make a life here? At least until she was strong enough and prepared enough to head to DC? Or maybe even forever?

Kat steps out of the cell and closes the cell door seeing if it auto locked or not. The door opened easily at her pull. Okay she wouldn't get locked in, good. Kat steps back in the cell closing it and taking off her belt; she removes her gun holster and gun setting them on her bed and her knife holster and knife. She wraps the belt around the doorframe and a few bars into the door, buckling it so a walker wouldn't be able to push it open. Better safe than sorry. She closes the curtain moving her gun under her pillow, tossing the holster into the weapons bin and pinning the knife holster to her belt loop, she lies down. Kat hesitates before kicking off her boots, pulling a blanket over herself she takes off her glasses setting them on the closest shelf; she needed to remember to get a small table brought in for those.

It isn't long before Kat hears other people entering the cell block clearly heading to bed based on what they're saying. Kat closes her eyes letting her body relax into the mattress. She is out in minutes her exhaustion pushing her too deep to dream.

"The best wat to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." – Ernest Hemingway

-Line Break-

AN:

And with the post of Chapter Two I can now explain my chapter layout. In 'Season One' as I'm calling it all odd chapters are set at the start of Kat's story. All Evan chapters will be set starting between seasons 3 and 4 of walking dead and continuing from there. I don't know yet how many chapters will be in season one as that keeps changing. I will say when that changes and the chapter set up changes. A version of this explanation will be added to the start of each chapter from chapter 3 on. This chapter set up is largely why there will likely be two chapters a week.

I hope everyone enjoyed!

Review Policy:

I hope you all enjoyed, please leave a review with what you thought and any ideas you may have. But please no flames. I am fine with constructive criticism; but please leave it in a polite manner. Simply calling out ways in which my writing style is either not like yours, or that something is not what most would consider grammatically correct because you dislike it is not helpful. Pointing out ways in which you believe I may be able to improve, either grammatically, spelling wise, or even in style can be helpful. Also if a tense is wrong please point it out. There is no need to be rude and if you simply don't like the story it is your choice whether you read it or not, so simply choose not to, I don't need to hear that you hate it.

Any kind of review that is nice even a Good Chapter or a smiley face is appreciated!

– Kat