Hi everyone!
Thank you again for the continued review/follows/love. One of the reviews asked how I picture Allie, and her age. I picture Allie to look like Liz Gilles when she had blondish highlighted hair: /images/HTixdL
For age, Allie is around 28. I imagine that her and Shane had a larger age difference between them, around 13 years or so. I think with the timeframe here, this story is taking place about 5 years after the apocalypse started. So if she was 23 when everything was turning, Shane would have been about 36, which I think makes sense. You'll learn more about Allie along the way, but those details I think help start to paint a picture of her.
I'm going to start writing flashback scenes as well, to learn more about Allie's relationship with Shane, Rick, Lori, and Carl before the walkers, as well as her time at Woodbury. Those will be in italics.
I'm also finding that I'm a much more detailed writer than I originally thought, which is leading to long chapters. I'm sure no one is complaining about that, but fair warning that I do tend to just write and write and write until my thoughts are out.
Allie opened the door to Shane's house after the doorbell had rung, and Carl, Lori and Rick stood there with smiles on their faces. Rick was holding a box that was wrapped with a bow on it.
"Happy graduation!" Lori said, as she made eye contact with Allie.
"Ahh! Thank you, come in, we've got tons of food and booze. Let's party!"
The family joined the party that was already in progress. As Allie had mentioned, the kitchen was lined with food and alcohol. Lori prepared a plate of food for Carl, while Rick made his way to Shane, who was socializing with some of their family.
"Hey brother," Shane started, pulling Rick into a hug. "The whole family here?"
"Lori and Carl are getting food first, figured I'd come let ya know we're here".
"Thanks, man. Did you get what you mentioned you were going to get Allie?"
Rick showed Shane the wrapped box. "We got it, just gotta find the right time."
"Time for what?" Allie approached the men who had been talking.
Rick and Shane exchanged glances, and Shane shrugged. "Now's as good a time as ever"
Rick handed the wrapped box to Allie. "Happy graduation, Allie Cat".
Allie giggled at her childhood nickname. "Ooooh, let's see what my Grimes family got me!" Allie ripped open the wrapping, and lifted the top of the box. Inside sat a pink lined stethoscope. Allie looked up at Rick, her eyes lit with gratitude.
"Every good nurse needs their signature accessory." Rick said with a smile. "You'll be the sassiest nurse on the surgical floor for sure."
Allie's eyes started to tear up, and she went and hugged Rick. "Thank you, bro. You have no idea how much this means to me."
The two separated, and Allie sighed heavily. Lori made her way over to the group.
"I see you opened your present! Are you sure you have to run off to Chicago so soon?"
Allie smiled and shrugged. "Northwestern is one of the best hospitals in the country. And they have me on the track to become a scrub nurse within three years. I can't turn down the opportunity to be in the OR like I've always dreamed of."
Shane wrapped his arm around your sister. "You know, with Rick and I as sheriffs, I'm sure we could get you in the OR here sooner than that."
Allie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and all I'd be assisting on is C-Sections and appendectomies. No thank you. I'd rather learn about brain and heart surgery".
"And it'll give us a reason to travel and visit the windy city," Rick smiled. "We'll miss you Allie Cat, but we'll be right here when you need to come home."
...
Allie had been driven to Alexandria by Rick and Daryl, where they gave her a place to stay that had been built up as they revived Alexandria. Allie had gathered her bags from her car before they had left, as she kept the car at the Hilltop, giving the keys to Maggie. If anyone needed to leave there, they were free to use it. She placed her clothes she wanted to keep for herself in the small dresser, and placed the rest into a bag that she would offer up to anyone who could use them, as she had come into possession of a surplus over her time living off scavenging. She unpacked her pink stethoscope from one of her suitcases, and placed it into her backpack, for when it would come in handy.
After settling in, she made her way over to Rick's house, and was greeted by Michonne.
"Is Rick here? I was hoping to talk to him for a few."
Michonne made room for Allie to come into the house. "He's just finishing getting Judith dressed, he'll be down in a second".
Allie looked around their house, took in the atmosphere. "Nice place you guys have here, these houses are so practical, I love it."
"We built them," Michonne started. "Once the war was over, we rebuilt this community that had been destroyed."
"War?" Allie questioned. "Who did you go to war with?"
"They were a group called the saviors. Good number of them are dead, the rest occupy the Sanctuary, a community we trade with and work with now. The old leader from the Saviors is locked up in another building out here. Rick is in charge of keeping him locked away."
"You'll have to introduce me to him sometime, I've got badass sheriff in my blood", Allie shot Michonne a squinted smile. Michonne returned with a glance that was not as welcoming.
Rick made his way down the stairs and met the women in the living room.
"Good to see you up and about, Allie Cat. What can I help you with?"
"I was hoping I could help out with something and start contributing. I can obviously keep an eye on people medically, but I can also jump in on a run if you guys are going again anytime soon. You know better than anyone else that I can keep up with the rest of you".
Rick nodded and chuckled to himself. "That is true, I was the one who helped teach you to shoot."
"That's cuz Shane got so fed up with me asking questions." Allie started to laugh as well.
Rick looked to Michonne, ready to explain the story. "Allie was 16, she had just gotten her first pistol from her dad, and he trusted Shane to take her out to learn to shoot. So he dragged me along to take her to the shooting range."
Allie jumped in on the story. "Shane started to explain to me how to stand and get ready to shoot, and I kept asking him every question under the sun. I'd never held a gun before, I didn't know what I was doing. Eventually he just threw his hands up and said 'Rick, you do it! I can't handle her anymore!' And I shot the bullseye on my first shot, thanks to this man".
Rick looked down, knowing in his head that he'd eventually have to share with her the story behind her brother's death, but spent this time enjoying the company that he was sharing with the girl who had been almost his sister in their past.
"I was thinking about heading out on run to the rest of the strip mall we found you at. Finding you threw a bit of a change into our plans. Would you be up for a trip back there?"
Allie nodded. "Of course, who's all going?"
"I was thinking myself, Daryl and Rosita. Michonne is gonna hang back with Judith. I'll go round up the other two real quick."
"Sounds good, I'm gonna head up and say hi to Judith before we leave, if that's ok."
"Fine by me,"
...
Allie went up the stairs to Judith's room, where she was playing on the floor with a set of blocks. Allie crawled onto the floor to her level to see her.
"Hey Judith," she started. The young girl looked up at the older one. "I'm Allie, can you say Allie yet?"
"Hi Allie," the young girl said, shyly.
"I'm a friend of your dad's, I knew your mommy when we were younger. I wanted to come say hi to you."
"Hi!" Judith said again.
Allie watched her play with the blocks, occasionally moving one over toward her. She didn't know how to interact with the girl who was being raised by Rick, but technically belonged to her brother, who wasn't here anymore. There was a flood of emotions running through her brain, but she refused to give in to any one in particular. There was a run to head on, and she needed a clear and sane head.
"Well, I'll see you later, my dear" Allie said as she stood up. "We'll play sometime soon, ok?"
Judith smiled. "Ok!"
...
Rosita and Daryl finished gathering the weapons that would be needed for their run into the SUV the team would be driving in. Rick and Allie began to head over from Rick's house, each with their own backpack and weapon in their possession.
"We all good to head out?" Rick asked.
"Think so," Daryl said. "The princess coming with us?"
"That's your new nickname for me?" Allie looked to Daryl with disgust on her face. "That's cute. I kinda hate it. Yeah, I'm coming. I know the area better than any of you do."
"I don't think we've met yet. Rosita. You're Allie?" Rosita gave her a slight nod.
"That's me, nice to meet you. Probably should head on out, right? Wanna make sure we're back before sundown."
Allie climbed into the backseat with Rosita, while Daryl occupied the passenger seat in the front as Rick drove them back to the strip mall Allie had called home just a few days prior.
As they had only made their way through the convenient store on their previous run, the group planned to hit as many of the other stores present in the strip mall. Their first target was the secondhand clothing store, as the group was always in need of more clothing to distribute to the community members. There were a few stray walkers that were wandering around the parking lot that were easily taken out with Daryl's crossbow, and Allie's knife. Each member had both a gun and a blunt object to be able to take out any surprise walkers with. The group easily made their way into the store, which had been previously scavenged by a number of survivors.
"Grab anything you find useful, stuff it into a bag," Rick instructed. "We can make use out of anything and everything"
The group started to sort through racks of clothes, depositing the useful items into bags that were around the store. Rosita and Allie managed to find themselves sorting through racks near each other. The one Allie skimmed through had more formal wear scattered in it. She picked up a tight, shiny purple dress and held it up for Rosita to see.
"What do you think? I could take this back and parade around camp in it. Really live up to that Princess nickname Daryl has dubbed onto me" she said, sarcastically.
Rosita looked at the impractical item and gave Allie a slight chuckle and smile. "You know, I think I saw some heels over on the wall, maybe you should grab a pair of those too."
"I like the way you think, so practical", she laughed.
As they continued to talk about the items they were finding, they heard a struggle in the corner across the store. Allie peered her head over to see that a couple of walkers had found their way out of a back closet and over to where Daryl was scavenging. Allie bolted from the rack she pillaged through and ran over to the corner where Daryl was. He had taken down two of the walkers that had come at him, but was struggling with the third and final one. He had missed its head when trying to attack it, and now found himself trying to push away the creature that was lunging at him. Allie made her way behind the walker and stabbed its brain with her knife, causing the creature to go limp and fall onto Daryl, who fell to the ground. Allie grabbed the dead walker by the shirt and dragged it to the side of Daryl, and offered him her hand to help him up. He took it, and brushed himself off, looking to the girl who had spared his life.
It was at this moment that Daryl began to take in her appearance. She wasn't the princess that had cleaned herself up at the Hilltop to look presentable and proper as she spoke about her apocalyptic experiences with the leaders of the group. She was now ragged and strong, just like the rest of the group. Her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, her eyes piercing everything they made contact to with a fire that he found mysterious, and insanely attractive.
Can't think about this now, he thought to himself. You've got a job to do, and a woman ain't gonna get it done quicker.
"Thanks," he huffed out, proceeding to continue to gather any items they could find.
...
The scavenging team made their way through the rest of the strip mall, and managed to make it back to Alexandria before the night fell. Daryl and Allie hadn't said any other words to each other since their walker encounter. After unloading the car, Allie began to make her way back to her house.
"Allie," Daryl yelled after her as she walked away. Allie turned around. It was the first time he had used her name.
"Ahh, so, Princess wasn't cutting it anymore?" she said with a smirk.
"Shut up," he said. "'Wanted to say thank you. Would'ntve been able to fight it off myself. You're alright, I guess."
She smiled a genuine smile. "Would have done it for anyone here, you guys are my people now." Allie looked down at her shoes for a minute, deciding whether she wanted to say what was on her mind. Fuck it, she thought, no harm in making a friend. "You know, Merle always talked about you. We'd find ourselves chatting around a fire some nights, shooting the shit about our lives. He always told me I'd have liked you."
Daryl looked to her, his eyes lightening slightly when she mentioned his brother. She smiled at this, and began to walk away. After a few steps, she looked back over her shoulder.
"He wasn't wrong."
Aww, some slow-burn action is starting to spark. Next time, Allie meets the hot neighborhood prisoner, Negan! Wonder what their first interaction will entail.
I'm going to be adding a story status section to my author profile. I'm hoping to start diving into my other projects as well. This one has been my bigger priority since it is so easy for me to write, but it will be fun to get the gears turning for other stories.
As always, R&R.
Peace. Love. Lo.