SUMMARY:
She had been trying to survive, she fought, she killed, she ran. She had endured the pain and suffering of watching the ones she loved turn into soulless bodies who wanted only to feast upon the flesh of the living.
Six months after the dead started walking, she was kidnapped by a group of rogue scientists who unethically used her and hundreds of other survivors in an attempt to find a cure to save themselves.
When she finally made her escape, she encountered a group of survivors who she couldn't bring herself to trust, but two members vowed to take vengeance on the cruel and sadistic group that almost ended her life.
Carrie Matthews and her newfound friends endure every trial and tribulation thrown at them, working together to fight the dead, the living and the forces the Earth brought upon them while in search of the scientists who destroyed her body and soul in hopes of information and vengeance.
Amongst the pain and destruction, Carrie encountered a lot more than she bargained for when her two heroes became her reasons for living.
Warnings:
Some of the original storylines from the show will change, and some characters may not appear in order or at all. This story is set after the prison's fall and Terminus but before Alexandria. Rick is in his crazy era, but not as bad as when he first met Aaron. You will realise after reading the first chapter that the events at the CDC didn't happen in this book; however, Jacqui still didn't survive, and events at the farm, prison and terminus remain the same.
The usual triggers and warnings apply, which include, but are not limited to, descriptions of death, murder and gore, smut, experimentation on corpses, humans, and the walking dead, and foul language.
I will not be giving individual warnings for each chapter, so read this book with the expectation that all warnings apply to every chapter.
I know this story will probably not go down well on this site due to the vast changes, but I hope some enjoy it.
This will be a Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes/OC romance, but slow burn.
CHAPTER ONE:
AFTERMATH
Her chest was burning, her legs aching, but she couldn't stop. She needed to run. The night had turned to day, but she couldn't stop; she knew they wouldn't stop coming after her, no matter how long or how far she ran.
She fought through the pain that was taking over her body as she whipped through the trees, the surrounding area flying past her in a blur. She had no weapons, no supplies, but she knew she had better chances of survival out in the woods alone than she would with them.
Carrie could feel her body slowing down; she knew she needed to stop, rest and continue after. Her eyes met a large oak tree with a thick trunk she could hide behind momentarily.
She slammed her back against the rough bark, her chest rising and falling heavily. She squeezed her eyes closed, praying for a miracle, but instead, she heard his voice.
"Ninty-seven, I know you're out here."
God, did she hate being referred to as number - ninety - seven.
His voice echoed throughout the woodland, bouncing from tree to tree, making it impossible for her to work out which direction it originally came from.
"Shit," she hissed before taking a deep breath and running straight ahead. She stumbled over fallen trees, her feet tangled in vines and brambles.
She fought against every desire her body had to stop and give up, and then she saw it, through the branches of the trees, a watch tower.
"Where did you find her?"
The voice echoed around the room, along with the sounds of machines beeping and alarms ringing.
Her head ached, her arms, legs and feet were flooding with pins and needles. Her eyelids were heavy; she couldn't bring herself to open them.
"By the river, up north," another voice replied. She recognised the voice. It was the man who promised her safety; he had come across so convincing and sincere. She scolded herself for trusting, but her barriers were down after watching her friends be eaten alive by the dead. The images of the blood seeping from their wounds clogged her thoughts; the echoing sounds of the snarls of the dead and the screams of her friends lingered in her ears.
"Okay, this makes her test subject ninety- seven; let's start her on dose number one of the WD-22 vaccine."
Another voice spoke up, "for the purpose of the tape, this is test subject ninety - seven, female, caucasian, roughly thirty years old. The subject is approximately one hundred and forty pounds and one hundred and sixty-seven centimetres tall," he began. "Subject appears in good health, with no bites, scratches or fever. Doctor Candace Jenner is proceeding with the first dose of the experimental vaccine, WD-22. This is a revision of the failed vaccine WD-21 and the first time we are using said vaccine on a living test subject."
Something inside her began to fight; a deafening roar erupted from her lungs as her eyes snapped open. The light above her blinded her, but she fought, flailing her legs but unable to move her bound arms. "Let me go," she screamed. The sound of her voice echoed around the room.
Her other senses came to life; she could feel the cold metal she was laid upon, the stinging pain of the canular they had put in her hand.
She heard a laugh before the sound of metal on metal. Her eyes shot open, and she looked in the direction the noise came from.
"Maybe a sedative first," a feminine voice stated, laughter dripping from every word she spoke as she raised the needle in the air. "Time to sleep, my love."
Carrie's eyes travelled across the face of the woman who held her hand still against the mental table as she fought against the restraints. She knew she would never forget her face for as long as she lived.
Carrie emerged from the tree line, stepping carefully so as not to attract any of the shuffling corpses nearby.
She audibly gasped when she took in the sight of a prison, a fallen prison. The guard towers were emitting thick, black smoke, and a tank amongst other vehicles was left strewn across the field beyond the fallen fences.
As she crept forward, she noticed the bodies, those of the living and dead. One, in particular, caught her eye, the head of a white-haired, bearded man with his headless and legless body laid beside him.
She felt the bile travel to the back of her throat as she tried to keep the little content that remained in her stomach down.
Carrie continued her journey into the field, coming across an abandoned machete and a pistol, unfortunately without ammo. However, she tucked it into the waist band of the hospital scrubs she still wore.
She closed her eyes, trying to release the horrid images from her mind as the reminder of how they had forced her clothes off her body and into the ones she now wore trickled back through her memories.
She awoke feeling groggy, with only one desire - to drink. Her mouth was dry, and her face and neck were itching like crazy. She attempted to raise her hands in an attempt to scratch the burning skin of her face but found her hands bound to the bed she lay upon.
In those seconds, she remembered what had happened and began to pull at her restraints. She bellowed loudly, demanding she be released, but when the door to her room opened, she came face to face with the woman who had injected her.
"Let me go!" she screamed, flailing her legs and banging her boots onto the bed.
The woman smiled at her sweetly. Carrie imagined that before the world turned to shit and people became desperate that she was probably a nice woman deep down, but now she was nothing but evil in her eyes.
"What's your name?" the woman asked curiously; she held a clipboard in her hand and a pen in the other. "How are you feeling?"
"I ain't telling you shit," Carrie spat, pulling at her restraints in a pointless effort to escape and rip her throat out with her bare hands.
The woman smiled again and ignored her words, "six hours ago, you were given an experimental vaccine; you're doing a great service to our country by volunteering to be a part of this trial-"
Carrie cut her off angrily, "I didn't volunteer; your man kidnapped me! I didn't agree to any of this. You're insane if you think there is a cure. This is it; this is our life now."
The woman tutted at her response and shook her head as she pushed the pen back into her lab coat pocket. She clasped the clipboard to her chest before speaking again, "It is imperative for our survival to find a cure; you should be grateful you're here," her tone was becoming more agitated, seemingly unable to comprehend why the survivor was unhappy.
Carrie growled in frustration, "just let me go, please!" she begged while attempting to hold back the tears of fear that threatened to seep from her eyes.
"My colleagues will be providing you with more appropriate clothing. Please cooperate. Phase two of the experiment will occur in six hours."
With those words, she left, but she was replaced by two older, more prominent men.
"Don't you dare touch me," Carrie hissed as they approached.
One man dropped a small pile of clothes onto the chair beside her bed while the other took out a large pair of medical shears.
Carrie fought with all her might as they cut her clothes away from her body, removing her dignity as they went. She punched, scratched and grabbed as they forced an oversized pair of light blue scrubs over her body before attaching her arms to the restraints.
When they left the room, she cried more than she ever had before. She had lost her friends, family, dignity and freedom and was starting to believe that she would be better off if the deranged doctor's experiments killed her.
At the sound of the dead snarling nearby, she opened her eyes and began to jog towards the burning prison building. Bullet shells littered the floor beside the bodies of the dead, and blood splatters spread across the outer walls and floors.
She could only imagine the pain, suffering and torture that must have happened there. She wondered who the survivors were, who they had battled against and whether any remaining survivors were close by.
By the time she had inspected the surrounding area, she knew that those who were once there were either someplace else or dead.
She scouted the area one more time, finding only an abandoned backpack and a single can of green beans. With one last look at the location, she made her way back through the treeline, hoping that the one who followed her would be thrown off her scent by the large area he would have to search.
The further she travelled, the safer she felt. She hadn't heard the loud calls of her captors since she first spotted the guard tower of the prison, but she wasn't ready to let her guard down. She was ready to find somewhere to lay low and rest up before leaving the state and moving on as far away as possible.
During her travels, she had been lucky not to come across any of the dead, at least not the ones that roamed. For a short time, she found a trail of countless bodies littering the stretch of road she walked along. She wondered if it was survivors of the prison but also feared it could be the people who had tortured and used her.
Since leaving the scientist compound, she hadn't killed a single roaming corpse; previously, she had no weapons and chose to ignore any she ran past during her escape, and now, she wasn't sure she even had the energy or strength to fight against any.
The few roaming bodies she saw were far too distracted by a second set of thick black smoke in the distance. It set many thoughts in motion for Carrie. She was beginning to believe there was a group of deranged individuals who found pleasure in destroying the homes of survivors. She knew she should have been concerned, but after everything she had been through and the knowledge of who could be tracking her, she had more significant issues to deal with. She didn't possess anything of value in the new world, so she proceeded with her journey, hoping to be left alone.
As the sun began to set, Carrie began to lose hope in finding a place to lay her head for the night. She had been following a never-ending dirt track, praying she would find a cabin at the end.
When hope was almost lost, her eyes caught a glimpse of a small cabin in the distance. She smiled to herself in relief, hoping it would be safe for the night.
She began to quicken her pace as the cabin came closer into view while staying vigilant of any danger that may approach.
As she crept closer, she took notice of the fresh footprints that were engraved in the dirt. They were fresh and belonged to the living. She looked around quickly, checking and rechecking every flash of movement she saw in the corner of her eye. She didn't see anyone or anything.
Eventually, she backed herself up against the cabin wall beside the door. She took a deep breath, gripping the machete tightly before turning the handle. She slammed the door open quickly, her eyes darting around the room, which appeared empty beside broken furniture and fresh blood splattered across the dust-coated floor.
She should have left; she knew she should have, but her legs ached, and the lack of sleep made her body feel like a lead weight. She needed sleep more than she needed to be worrying about whether survivors would return.
Instead, she barricaded the door and laid on the hardwood floor, using the borrowed backpack as a pillow. Within seconds, her eyes were closed, and she fell into the deepest sleep she had ever had.
Carrie walked freely through open fields, lost towns and cities; her body no longer ached, the pain of the losses had vanished, and she was free, but she craved.
With every turn she took, she knew it wasn't as aimless as she had led herself to believe. She walked with purpose, her head tilting at every sound, her eyes twitching at every gunshot, scream and cry.
She found herself sniffing the air as a young woman ran past her, tripping across fallen debris from the bombed buildings surrounding them.
The woman looked frightened; she was screaming in pain and clutching at the gunshot wound on her leg. Carrie walked towards the woman; her brain was screaming at her to help.
The woman cried as she dropped to her knees beside her, grabbing at her arm before her teeth pierced the plump, sweat and grime-covered flesh of the young woman's arm. The young woman cried out in pain and tried to escape, but Carries hold was too strong for her to fight against, and soon the battle ended, a fresh meal now lying limp.
Carrie screamed as she was forced to devour the young woman, chewing her flesh like it was the most delicious meal she had ever had. Her hands dug into the tender flesh of her stomach, ripping her insides out before bringing them to her mouth, a warm copper feast that she couldn't resist.
She didn't want to do it; she didn't want to hurt anyone, but she killed and devoured the young survivor.
Carrie awoke with a scream, her eyes widening, but everything was black. She could feel the soft fabric of a blindfold covering her eyes, and as she tried to move her hands, she realised they were bound behind her back.
She raised her head from its drop as she realised she no longer lay across the hardwood floor and was instead sitting on a wooden chair.
The blindfold was ripped from her face, and as she tried to adjust her eyes to the blinding sunlight, she heard a voice.
"Rise and shine; it's time to explain why you've been following us."