3.

Two months later

Ana woke about an hour after she fell asleep; she woke along with the sun, grabbing a pillow from her dirty bed and heading out to the porch to watch the sun rise. Ana figured that she needed to wash the sheets eventually, but for now using a different bedroom every two weeks worked. She was wearing her clothes from the previous day, a brown t-shirt and pair of jean shorts. The air was chilly, and cooled her face as she placed her pillow on a stair and sat on it. The community was quiet, although after the death of more than thirty members she hadn't expected any less. A few Alexandrians were already outside, making reparations as soon as possible. They were worried another attack was inevitable.

Ana looked at her hands, twirling her knife between her fingers. She tried to be of more help during the initial invasion of walkers. She had lost count of how many she killed, although it seemed like a million.

Ana blinked and memories of Deanna's death flooded to the surface. She shook her head in pain and opened her eyes. A small tear ran down her cheek as she looked towards the sky. She placed the knife down on the porch and wrapped her arms around herself as a way to give herself a hug. Everyone she enjoyed talking to was dying…Jeff, Sandra, Colin.

The sun was offering its first hint of itself as the clock struck six. A laugh brought her attention away from her sadness. A few doors down from Ana's house, Carl was sitting in the grass with Judith. His eye was still bandaged from Ron's assault, although the kid seemed to be getting over it. Judith was crawling around in the grass, pulling at the pieces of green and shoving them towards her mouth. Carl was laughing as he pulled the grass away from her lips. Soon, Rick exited the house alongside Michonne. They usually left the house together in the morning. Ana figured there was something going on between them, but kept the information to herself.

Rick's eyes drifted over Carl, Judith and then looked to the side at Ana. She kept his attention for a moment, observing how his posture changed upon the connection.

Ana didn't like Rick. His eyes haunted her. Sometimes it seemed as if he was too impulsive in his decisions, thought too much about the good of his original group than the good of Alexandria. They barely talked to each other, and the rare occurrences where they were forced to talk winded up with an awkward silence that had Ana wishing she hadn't spoken.

Ana broke eye contact after she became uneasy. She instead looked up at the sky again. Clouds were drifting over Alexandria, and she had fun picking patterns and animals out of them. Time passed and the sun rose. Instead of moving back inside, Ana continued observing the community while it came back to life. She watched as Sasha left her house to resume watching the walls, watched as Daryl patrolled around the community with his crossbow strapped across his back, watched as Carl handed Judith to Carol and bounded off to find Enid. After that, the road was quiet for a long time. Ana heard conversations off in the distance, but she couldn't decipher what the people were saying, or who was saying what. Finally bored of her venture outside, she stood up, grabbed her pillow and turned towards her door.

"Ana."

Ana reluctantly turned around. Rick stood at her steps, hand on his gun. She placed the pillow down on the porch and walked down the steps, stopping on the second to last one in order to gain a height advantage over the intimidating man. She glanced up and down the street, curious as to where he came from. She noticed that Carol had stepped into the house, and that Aaron seemed to be exiting his house alongside Eric. There seemed to be no clear path that Rick took, so she dropped that question. Instead, she focused on the reason he came to talk to her. He rarely did.

Rick allowed his stubble and hair to grow out a bit. Ana knew that Jesse cut his hair but she figured that he hadn't been able to find another stylist since she died.

"You came upon this place while exploring out there," Rick said. Ana nodded. "D'you ever see any homes, or stores? Any place that might have supplies or food?"

Ana frowned in thought. Before she stumbled upon Alexandria, she was living in a small cabin that had a minimal food supply. Most days she hunted for a squirrel or rabbit to eat. However, she remembered there were a couple of medical supplies, books, and cans of food stashed in a bag under the floorboards.

"I stayed in a cabin-"

"Where?" Rick interrupted. Ana glared down at the man, taking a breath before continuing.

"In the middle of woods or something, I can't describe how to get there."

"Could you show us?"

"Who's us?"

"Me, Daryl," Rick began.

"When?" Ana asked.

"About now would be a good time. Starting to get low on food…people are worrying."

Ana mulled over the idea for a few moments. Perhaps Rick was actually starting to trust her. If she said no, the trust would curl up and die. If she said yes, she might lead them in the wrong direction. Thus coming to the same conclusion. She placed her hand on her chin, debating over the options. If she lead them in the wrong direction, she could always explain her bad memory. If Rick didn't believe her, maybe she would be shoved out of the car. Forgotten.

Maybe it was best to not put herself in that situation at all.

"I need an answer," Rick said, cocking his head to the side.

"I-I'm not positive on it's l-loc-location," she starting stuttering, which she had a habit of doing when placed in tense situations. Rick audibly exhaled, obviously in frustration. He pondered over his choice of words as Ana stared nervously at him. Eventually he nodded his head, parting his lips to speak.

"That's…that's fine. Look, Daryl will drop us off as the closest point. He'll continue on for a few miles or so, see if he finds anything. You'll show me to the cabin."

It seemed like a sound plan, although Ana worried about letting the group down. "And if we find it?" she asked. "How will you tell Daryl to come get us?"

Rick pointed to the walkie-talkie attached to his belt. He reached for it, pressed a button and mumbled a string of words into it.

"Oh," Ana said quietly. For a moment, she stared down at her bare feet.

"We should get going," Rick ultimately said. Ana acknowledged his words by continuing down the steps of the porch. Her head went below Rick's nose as her feet hit the pavement.

Wait...shoes.

Without saying anything, Ana quickly ran inside the house and grabbed a pair of sneakers, slipping them on without any socks. As a kid, her mother scolded her for not wearing socks. The shoes began to stink twice as fast, which wore a hole in her mother's wallet. Her mother was dead now, and Ana was used to smelling bad.

Rick was still waiting outside, his eyes landing on the pair of mud ridden sneakers on Ana's feet. Ana hurried down the steps and Rick started walking forward. They walked in silence, mostly because Ana had nothing to say in fear of offending Rick or embarrassing herself. It seemed as if Rick had no problem with it. He respected the lack of conversation, actually enjoyed being able to walk quietly next to someone.

Waiting at the front gate of Alexandria was Daryl Dixon, wearing his normal biker's jacket. His hair was hanging in his face, dirt caked into every wrinkle. He was altogether dirty, although he still bore a strikingly handsome complexion. Ana had only had one or two conversations with him, most of the time because she was curious about what situation the group was in. He was nice enough, but was never able to hold a meaningful conversation with the girl.

"Y'guys ready?" he asked, slinging his crossbow across his back and placing his walkie-talkie onto his pants. Rick nodded and placed a hand on the small of Ana's back, pushing her in the direction of a black Chrysler. She instantly picked up her pace, feeling uncomfortable with the gesture. As soon as she was going in the right direction, and Rick removed her hand, her body eased itself. She opened the back door of the car and slid in, her legs instantly burning as they touched the hot leather seats. Daryl sat in the passenger seat and Rick took the driver's seat. It felt a bit odd sitting in the back seat of a car for the first time in a year or so. Her legs were scrunched towards her torso due to Daryl's seat being pushed back to its limit. Ana didn't feel like complaining, and adjusted her body until she was in a comfortable position.

Eugene had been waiting patiently next to the gate. As soon as Rick put the car into drive, he slid the gate open and allowed them to exit. Ana heard the gate crash shut as soon as they were outside the walls. She also heard the growls of a walker that collided with a wooden spear jammed into a run-down car's window. Her eyes followed it as the car advanced down the road. It disappeared a minute later along with the rest of Alexandria. Ana turned her head forward and tried to pay attention to surroundings. It was important that she pointed out a familiar place.

They came upon the familiar place precisely 20 minutes later.

"Here!" Ana said. Rick instantly stepped on the brakes, sending Ana's face into Daryl's seat. "Sorry," she apologized, rubbing her injured forehead.

"No 'm sorry," Daryl replied, reaching to the side of his seat. It started to inch forward. "Forgot my manners."

Ana smiled, despite her head. Rick looked back at her.

"Is this the place?" he asked.

Ana nodded, reaching for the car door.

"Stay in the car," Rick said, pausing her action as he exited the car with his gun in his hands. Daryl followed suit as they observed the area. It was then that Ana realized how unprepared she was. She had no gun, no weapon besides her handy-dandy knife although she was starting to doubt the knife's integrity if multiple walkers attacked her at once. Though, having Rick around made her feel safer. He had been able to take down more walkers than she had ever seen someone do. And he did it alone.

Rick opened the car door since he deemed the immediate surrounding environment as safe. "Come on," he told Ana, stepping away from the car door as Daryl entered the driver's seat.

"See ya soon, short stack," he said to Ana. Ana's heart lightened at the small nickname. With ease, she pushed open the car door and stepped onto smooth asphalt. Rick was squinting at the sun, his hand over his eyes. When he looked down again, his eyes landed on Ana.

"Alright come on," he said, "Where to?"

Ana's eyes were fixed on a large trunk with a deep chunk coming out of the bottom. She remembered walking past it to the road. So, she started walking forwards. Rick followed closely behind, his gun raised the entire time.

It took half an hour until Ana realized she was lost. Her body was shaking as she tried to figure out her way through the damn woods without letting Rick know she was confused. She turned left, and then right, and then left. Maybe she should go straight for a bit.

The couple stayed silent for a long period of time. Ana was quite since she was scared that she would start stuttering, and Rick wanted to let Ana concentrate.

"We lost?" Rick said after some time. Ana paused, looking around at the same trees in confusion, about to admit defeat. Her eyes landed upon a large stone, a few walkers treading around it aimlessly. Her hopes lifted, the stone was a sign of the cabin. Find the stone, find the cabin.

"Nope!" she said in a joyous voice, pointing towards the walkers. Rick cursed quietly and started walking towards the roamers, his gun now holstered and his knife raised. Though he tried to watch where he was going, his foot falling upon a dry twig attracted the dead's attention. He sighed in annoyance, and counted four of them, all heading towards him. Ana was quickly at his side, her knife at her chin as well. Rick walked towards the closest one, easily bringing his knife to its temple and squishing it through. It fell with a thump as he faced three more. He pivoted around them, until he was closest to the stone. Ana approached the one trailing behind the rest, sinking her knife into its head. The skull cracked underneath her knife. When she raised her eyes, she saw Rick taking down yet another one. Silently competing against him, she jogged to the last walker. It was a female; her hair had fallen out almost completely. It continued strolling towards Rick, its arms open wide as if asking for a hug. He was busy pulling his knife out of the walker he just killed, his eyes focused down instead of up.

Ana took the opportunity and ambushed the dead female, pushing it onto the ground before crawling on top of it and stabbing its head a total of three times. After it ceased to move, Ana stood up and placed her knife into her waistband and looked at Rick. His face had a few speckles of blood in it, his hands coated. Ana assumed she was just the same, although her hands were a little less messy.

Ana looked past Rick, seeing the cabin a little less than 100 yards away, nuzzled near a creek and a few large trees. Rick stepped over the bodies of the dead and stood next to Ana.

"How many walkers have you killed?" he asked out of nowhere. Ana raised her eyebrows, turning her head to look up at Rick. His eyes were facing straight, surveying the cabin for any threats.

"Huh?" Ana said.

"How many?" Rick repeated.

"I don't know."

"How many people?"

Ana quieted, thinking. It took a second for her to respond. "A few."

"Why?"

Ana crossed her arms. "Self defense," was the answer she resorted to. When Rick didn't reply, she continued the conversation. "And you? How many walkers?"

"Too many to count," Rick chuckled, running his bloody hand through his hair quickly, finally lowering his gaze to meet Ana's.

"And people?"

"Again, too many to count," he said, dragging out the oo in too.

"Why?"

"To protect my group and the people I love." His face grew grim. Ana could tell he was recalling certain death situations and wished she hadn't asked him anything. She met his gaze with wavering eyes. He held it for a moment, his dreadful eyes looking into her brown ones. She clenched her jaw together, blinking and then looking away.

"Come on," she whispered, starting towards the cabin. Without saying anything, Rick followed.

i apologize if it seems like the story is slow, i really want to develop Ana's character and relationship with Rick before introducing Negan. that said, this chapter takes place around s6 ep10. from now on, ill be following the plot of the show, with added scenes involving Ana. i know rereading the entire show with an added character can be boring, which is why a lot of my story will focus on Ana's activities instead of just the group's. hopefully you understand what i mean, and you'll enjoy the ride.

reviews and critiques/criticisms are always welcomed, and thanks to all the readers who take their time to read my story