Author's Note: Hey guys, I have a couple things to tell you:

1) If you're writing a review, It'd be a great favor for me if you could rate the episode on a scale of 1-10. It helps me determine which chapters were the most favored by readers. If you don't have time for a full review, then you can always simply rate the chapter. I reccommend using this format for all chapter reviews.

2) Big news, I plan on making another walking dead fanfiction series. It will focus on two siblings who join Rick's group after escaping from Teminus with him. Both of my Walking Dead series will exist in the same universe, and will have crossovers.

3) After 2 relatively slow-burning chapters, the next few chapters(starting with #3) will be buttox-clenchingly awesome. Buttox-Clenching: An adjective that describes something so intense or favorable that it is capable of making one's buttox clench.

AND SO, LET THE BUTTOX-CLENCHING BEGIN.


The next day, Alice awoke to messy hair, and rather unpleasant breath. She looked around to see Dick sitting on his bed, reading a book.

"Hey." Said Dick, without looking up. "You sure slept in."

"What time is it?" Asked Alice sleepily.

"How the hell would I know? One thing I do know, it's late. Really late."

"Well then let's get going."

Alice and Dick ate their breakfast speedily, then gathered their things, and started their hike down the mountain to find supplies.

"We have several cars, so why are we walking?" Asked Alice, just now noticing the cars in the parking lot.

"It isn't all that easy to get gas nowadays, and we don't have the keys to any of those except two." Responded Dick "Plus, I enjoy the hike."

Alice shrugged, and they kept walking.

About three hours later, they reached a city at the base of the mountain. The hike down took significantly less time than the hike up a few days ago, when she first met Dick.

"There's some lemon and orange trees over this way, let's pack as much as we can." Said Dick, leading her down a road, towards a large house in the distance. She hadn't noticed it before, but the houses nearby were gorgeous and large, most of them mansions.

Once they reached the trees, they began plucking the fruit, and stuffing them into their backpacks. After she finished packing somewhere around ten oranges and lemons, Alice peeled an orange, and bit into it. It tasted sweet, unlike the ones she had eaten days ago when she was alone.

"Where to now?" Asked Alice, after they both finished packing the fruits.

"There's a supermarket a while down the road, only one that I haven't looted yet."

"Sounds good to me."

Alice could see a mutant following her and Dick in the distance.

"Here, take this." Dick handed her a handgun, which Alice gingerly held in her hands. "Take care of it, our group only has two guns"

"Um, actually, I don't know how to use one of these." Said Alice, making Dick stop in his tracks.

"You serious?"

"Yeah."

"Well then I guess I'll have to teach you." Said Dick, with a smile. "How the hell'd you survive without one of these for so long?"

"I knew how to use a baseball bat pretty well, and no one ever taught me to shoot."

"In that case, today's the day you learn." Said Dick, as he and Alice resumed walking., leaving the lone mutant in the distance.

About thirty minutes later, Dick and Alice finally arrived at Giovanni's farmer's market. A tall, rusting semi-truck used for delivery sat in the parking lot. Alice and Dick both entered at once, Dick wielding his gun, and Alice her baseball bat. The door to the market was unhinged on the floor, allowing them to enter without breaking it or making any noise. Alice still had the gun he gave her, but it was safely tucked in her pants.

The place was ransacked, but a few boxes here and there remained.

"Take anything that's edible." Instructed Dick.

"Kay." Responded Alice, who was already cautiously searching the aisles.

A few protein bars, a box of cereal, a few bottles of hairspray(which Alice had a use for), a couple lighters, and five boxes of Macaroni and Cheese. That was all Alice found, all the water bottles were gone.

"You find anything good?" Called out Alice from across the store.

"Nothin' yet," Said Dick, as he looked at his reflection in a glass pane in the door leading into the store office while trying on a hat. "But I found this awesome hat on the counter."

Alice smiled, as her back was turned to the store entrance. She was bending over, looking at an empty box of cereal on the ground. She used to eat that exact brand of cereal almost every day she could as a kid, and the taste of it sounded good to her even now. She heard footsteps behind her.

"So Dick, you finished searching your side of the store?" Asked Alice casually, as the footsteps drew closer.

"WHAT?" Called out Dick from across the store. The person behind her wasn't Dick.

Alice whirled around with her baseball bat, but it was too late. The mutant had already grabbed hold of her from behind, and it's weight forced her onto her stomach, with her left hand being the only thing keeping it from biting her. Her right hand was pinned under her chest.

"DICK! HELP!" Screamed Alice frantically.

"ALICE, I'M COMING!" Yelled Dick nearby.

Over the moaning of the mutant on top of her, she could hear more footsteps. There were more mutants directly behind her. She heard gunshots. Suddenly the mutant was torn off her by Dick, who proceeded to stab it in the head. He quickly helped her up, and they turned around to face a large group of mutants, gradually pouring in through the unblocked entrance.

"RUN!" Yelled Dick, leading Alice deeper into the store, away from the mutants.

"How the hell are we gonna get out?!" Alice held Dick's hand tightly, trying to keep up with him.

"Maybe there's a back exit!"

They looked as best as they could, but there was no entrance or exit but the front. They were trapped, with mutants closing in from all sides.

"GET ON TOP OF THE AISLE, WE'LL BE OUT OF THEIR REACH!" Yelled Alice over the loud moaning of the nearby mutants.

Dick and Alice scrambled up the aisle, and sat on top of it, their feet only inches above the mutants below. The mutants began to surround the aisle, and it began to wobble from all the weight.

"IF THE AISLE TIPS OVER WITH US ON IT, WE'RE DEAD!" Yelled Dick. "WE NEED TO MOVE ALONG THE AISLES, AND GET TO THE ENTRANCE!"

Dick and Alice hopped from aisle to aisle, taking their weight off the aisle they were on previously, making it tip over and fall. The aisle caused a domino effect, knocking over the aisles one-by-one. Alice and Dick desperately scrambled from aisle to aisle, as the aisles collapsed behind them, falling into the crowd of mutants below. As they neared the entrance, Dick lost his footing, caught by the landslide of falling aisles.

"DICK!" Screamed Alice. Dick fell down, with only a split second to recover and run. Alice paused too long, causing her to fall with the aisle as well. Alice prepared to run, as the mutants closed in, but noticed Dick wasn't following.

Dick was frantically trying to free his foot, which was pinned under a fallen aisle.

"HELP ME!" He yelled desperately.

Alice had a decision to make, and no time to think. She could either leave Dick behind, and save her own life(after all, no one would ever know what really happened, except her), or help him free his foot, and quite possibly, die in the process. The mutants were almost within touching distance, and their only path of escape was getting more and more narrow.

Alice turned around to run for the door and leave Dick behind, then stopped. She suddenly turned around, and began pulling on Dick's foot with all her might, trying to free him. She was done being alone.

[At that point, I would've rather died in that market with Dick on that day than survive years, only to die alone. Something about the cabin survivors changed me, and I knew it.]

Alice finally managed to free Dick's foot, but their escape was blocked on all sides. He hobbled with her to the farthest corner of the store, as the mutants closed in, now only around ten feet away. Alice noticed a weak spot in the group of mutants, a path only blocked by around three mutants.

"THERE!" Screamed Alice, as she pointed towards the weak spot. "WE NEED TO CLEAR A PATH THROUGH THOSE MUTANTS!"

Dick pulled his handgun, and shot at the mutants, killing two of them before he ran out of ammunition. This was Alice and Dick's only chance, their last stand.

Alice pulled out the gun that was tucked in her pants, but instead of handing it to Dick, she aimed at the mutant herself. She pulled the pin on the gun back, and cocked it, as she had seen people do in movies.

"God, please let this work." Whispered Alice to herself, as she pulled the trigger. By some miracle, the gun fired. Dick must've accidentally left the safety off earlier, the sound was deafening, stinging her ears. She missed.

Alice fired five more shots before the gun was out of bullets. Two shots to the torso, two missed, and one last bullet to the head. The mutant fell down dead, allowing Dick and Alice to run to the entrance, just as the horde of mutants reached them. While Alice and Dick were running, and almost at the entrance, Dick tripped, having a hard time running with his injured ankle, twisted by the fallen aisle earlier.

"SHIT!" He yelled, as a mutant grabbed him by the leg, pulling him back towards the horde. It's fingers were caught in his shoelaces, and he couldn't get it off.

Alice grabbed his hand, trying to pull him towards the entrance.

"LET ME GO! LEAVE ME!" Yelled Dick, as a second mutant neared him, while the rest of the horde followed close behind, only slowed by the fallen aisles blocking their way, making them have to walk around the rubble.

"I'M NOT LEAVING." Said Alice, firmly. Suddenly, Alice had an idea.

"TAKE YOUR SHOE OFF!" Yelled Alice, as her grip began to loosen.

"WHAT? WHY?!" Exclaimed Dick.

"JUST DO IT!"

Dick used his other hand to loosen his shoe, which fell off, along with the mutant holding on to his foot. Dick was free, but the mutant horde was directly behind him, advancing rapidly towards him and Alice. Dick clutched Alice's hand tightly, and hobbled quickly with her out of the store, as the horde followed close behind.

Alice and Dick didn't stop running until they were about a half a mile away from the store. They both collapsed, and lay panting on the floor, completely exhausted, but safe(for the time being). They could see the horde following them slowly from a distance.

"Well...on the bright side...at least I found this awesome hat." Said Dick jokingly, triumphantly presenting a gray ball cap to Alice.

"You have got...to be shitting me." Said Alice weakly, as she and Dick lay on their backpacks breathing heavily, looking up at the cloudless blue sky.

"We better get moving again, if we don't get a headstart on those mutants, we might end up in the same situation again." Said Dick, after resting for about three minutes.

"Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here."

"You sure curse a lot for a fifteen year old."

"I'm pretty certain that I'm sixteen by now."

"Whatever."

Dick and Alice stood up, and Dick pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"Hey Dick, are you guys on your way back yet?" Asked Riley through the walkie-talkie.

"Ran into a little trouble, we might be a bit late, my ankle's pretty fucked up." Said Dick. "I'll explain later."

"Well, I'll see you later." Said Riley. "Bye."

"Bye." Said Dick, turning off the walkie-talkie.

"Well I did find some food, so at least our supply run was at least a little bit productive." Said Alice, wearily.

"Yeah." Said Dick, as he and Alice walked up the mountain road, as the sun set behind them.


Seven hours later, Alice and Dick were still a while away from the cabins, and it was already way past midnight.

They wearily walked through an abandoned mountain village, that Dick and his group had looted when they first found the cabins.v

"So, what do you think about using cars for supply runs now?" Asked Alice jokingly.

Alice and Dick were moving slowly, and the mutant horde was still following them up the mountain. Dick's ankle was obviously injured, but neither of them were sure to what extent.

"Once we get back to the cabins, we have to warn the others." Said Dick, in a worried voice. "That mutant horde is big, and it's headed straight for the cabins. We need to be ready when it gets there."

"This is gonna be a long night."


It took them about two more hours to finally reach the front door of the brown cabin. Alice knocked loudly, and Zella opened the door after about a minute, having obviously been asleep.

"Holy shit." She said in awe, looking at your dirtied shirts, and Dick's ankle.

"What the hell happened?" Asked Riley, after gathering the others inside the brown cabin.

"We ran into some trouble with mutants." Said Dick. "But hey, at least I found this cool hat." Dick pointed at the hat on his head and smiled weakly.

Riley sighed, and brought Dick in to rest on the couch.

"A big group of mutants followed us up the mountain, they're going to reach the cabins soon." Explained Alice. "We need to get ready, there's a shitload of them out there."

"What if we stay inside the cabins, and stay real quiet?" Asked Chandler. "Won't they leave us alone?"

"Maybe, but if we do that they'll just wander around, and we'll have mutants everywhere on the trail." Replied Dick.

"I'm not going to die because you dumbasses led a group of mutants back to the cabins!" Yelled Chandler in panic.

"This wasn't our fault!" Argued Alice.

"Everyone calm down." Said Riley, calmly. "We need to get all the weapons we have, and stop this horde together, as a team."

"Riley's right." Agreed Alice.

"Well then let's get everyone a weapon." Said Dick. "Oh yeah, and one small other problem: both of the only guns we have are out of bullets."

"Well then I guess we're going to have to fight them hand-to-hand." Said Zella.

"This is gonna suck." Commented Toby.

[It only took about an hour for the mutants to reach the parking lot.]


Alice and the others(except for Dick, who lay injured in the brown cabin) stealthily watched from the trailhead, weapons ready, as the horde drew closer.

"...There has to be at least thirty of them..." Noted a terrified Chandler. "I- I can't do this."

Chandler turned around, and ran off into the forest.

"Chandler, we need your help! Get the fuck back here!" Whispered Alice loudly.

"You sure curse a lot for a fifteen year old." Commented Toby. Alice rolled her eyes.

Chandler's footsteps faded into the distance, as he ran further away.

"Then I guess we're gonna have to do this without Dick or Chandler." Said Zella, grimly. "We're fucked."

"No. We're not." Corrected Riley. "If we stick together and do this the smart way, we'll be fine."

"Follow my lead." Whispered Alice, as she advanced towards the horde, using large rocks to keep out of sight. "We need to catch them by surprise."

"Can't we just lead them away from the cabins?" Asked Zella quietly, as she and Kelly hid behind a rock next to Alice.

"Even if there was a way to get around them to lead them away, there'd be no way to lead them away permanently." Explained Alice. "They'd just wander back, or stay down there and block our way down the mountain. Trust me, I know how mutants act."

The mutant horde was almost on top of them.

"Now!" Commanded Alice, jumping out from behind the rock, wielding her baseball bat in her right hand, and a hatchet in the other.

Alice charged directly in the mutants, driving the hatchet directly into the closest mutant's face, and using her baseball bat to hit the mutant next to it. The others quickly joined her, charging headstrong into the mutant horde.

Alice was impressed with Kelly's skill with a machete, as Kelly tore through several mutants in mere seconds. Another mutant stumbled towards Alice, as her group began to get surrounded. Alice brought both her machete and baseball bat swinging towards it, crushing it's head in between the two.

Another mutant grabbed a hold of her. She shook it off, and charged directly into it, knocking it backwards, knocking over several other mutants like dominoes. It became hard to move, with all the mutant bodies lying on the ground. The other members of her group had been cut off from her, and the mutants were slowly surrounding her.

"We've almost got them! Keep fighting!" Yelled Alice, ferociously striking the nearby mutants with her weapons. It seemed as if no matter how many she killed, another would take it's place.

"Alice, we need to stick together, get over here!" Yelled Riley, as he and the others retreated backwards.

While she was distracted by a mutant in front of her, another grabbed her from behind. Before she could react, the mutant suddenly fell backwards, having somehow been killed. After dispatching the mutant in front of her, Alice whirled around, to find Dick standing behind her, pulling his knife out of the mutant's carcass.

"You shouldn't be here! You have an injured ankle!" Exclaimed Alice, as she and Dick went back-to-back, vigorously fighting for their lives(for the second time in a day).

"I'm not leaving." Said Dick, as Alice had said to him hours earlier.

A few moments later, Alice flung her arm as fast as she could, slashing a nearby mutant's face in half with her hatchet. She looked around for more, but there were none. Piles of mutant bodies lay on the ground throughout the parking lot. Blood covered Alice's clothes and face, as she looked back at Dick. They were standing in a massive pile of mutant bodies.

"We- we did it." Said Dick triumphantly.

Riley and the others reunited with Alice and Dick, berating them for their reckless behavior.

"That was reckless, but I must admit, also pretty badass." Said Zella. "You could've gotten yourselves killed."

"Well we didn't." Said Dick defensively. "Now let's get some goddamn sleep."

Alice helped Dick back to their cabin, both being exhausted beyond measure.


"When it comes to supply runs, on a scale of one to ten, that was a solid zero." Remarked Dick jokingly, as he struggled to find a comfortable position in bed.

"To be honest, it was actually pretty fun."

"Agreed."

"'Night."

"'Night."

The both fell asleep quickly, without much effort.

-=|To be continued|=-


Author's Note:

Chapter 4: No Going Back - Preview/Synopsis: In a short yet thrilling chapter, After Chandler's cowardly actions during the mutant attack in Chapter 3, he returns to the group, only to be treated as an outsider, with disasterous(and deadly) consequences. Riley and Alice bond, as tragedy lurks just around the corner.