Warnings: Death, violence, mature themes(Will update as warnings come up)
Rating: Mature
Paring: DarylxOC, Richonne, Glaggie
Summary:
Yvonne Tawnie had spent her entire life blending into the background, never striving for much, never standing out. She coasted through her days with a carefree attitude, content with mediocrity. High school came and went with average grades, and college wasn't much different-more parties than studying, more reckless fun than responsibility. She never imagined that same recklessness would seal her fate.
A typical night, a normal house party-until the screaming started. Chaos erupted, blood splattered, and before she could make sense of it, she was bitten. While the rest of the world seemed to come crashing down because of the bites, But Yvonne? She never turned.
As civilization burned and the dead outnumbered the living, Yvonne realized something impossible. She wasn't just lucky. She was immune.
Now, survival isn't enough-she needs answers and the CDC might hold them, which turns out to be more difficult than she assumed. That is until she crosses paths with Rick Grimes. They make a pact to help each other get to Atlanta, her for the CDC and him to find his family.
Read on: Ao3 | Wattpad
Rick had been walking in silence with nothing but his own footsteps and the sound of trees to keep him company. His police car had broken down miles back, forcing him to travel to Atlanta on foot. So when the bushes just to the right of him started to rustle, he stopped dead in his tracks. He set the gas can on the floor as quietly as he could, in case the rustling was caused by the undead and not an animal or wind. The noise grew more aggressive, and even if it was an animal, it was large enough to be a concern. He wasn’t about to take any chances. He pulled his colt from the holster hanging from his waist. Rick's striking blue eyes were hyper-focused on the rustling; the sweat dripping down his brow and onto his cheek was from more than just the beating sun.
He held the gun up with precision, ready to take out anything that emerged from the bush while a million scenarios ran through his brain. All of the anxiety came to a halt when he came face-to-face with a head of long blonde hair and… glitter eyeshadow? His gun now pointed directly at a woman no older than 25, an observation he made from experimental swipes of color and glitter on her eyes and the whimsical pink overall dress. He'd seen this exact type of girl dozens of times at the trendy coffee shop near King County's local college.
She didn’t notice him right away, taking a few steps before realizing she was no longer alone. Once she noticed him, she immediately stopped, eyes wide. The two strangers were now having a staring contest.
“H…Hey…” The sound of her voice came out like a car crash, completely out of her control, followed by her raising her wide-open hands.
Unfortunately, this caused the bike she once held up to fall to the side, but not even that was enough to break the eye contact between the two strangers. Rick tilted his head to the right, his expression less stern and more confused, showcased by a squint. Had this been a different scenario, he wouldn’t have even blinked at someone coming out with a bicycle, but circumstances were not so friendly in the new world.
“I don’t want any issues, it’s just easier to ride on the road than the alternative,” she said, using her thumbs to point at the trees behind her.
Rick realized she was alone with nothing more than a bicycle and a backpack on her, which prompted him to lower his gun and holster it. He cleared his throat and adjusted his jacket, feeling the tinge of awkward confusion.
“I’m sorry about the gun. I was expecting something less alive to come out of the bushes,” he explained but paused, not sure what to even call the dead at this point. “Are you okay?”
“Well, as you can see, I'm very much alive and would like that to stay the case.” She lowered her hands, obviously still tense.
With that, she leaned down and grabbed the handlebars of her bike to lift it back up, figuring he wasn’t about to hold her hostage. Despite the tension lighting up, she didn’t move closer to him and stood in place.
“Is it just you?” he asked.
Rick knew that answer could be traumatic, and while he didn’t feel like this was the place to learn her family had been mauled by the undead or worse, he asked anyway. Despite his mission to get to Atlanta, he didn’t feel right leaving a young woman alone with nothing but her bicycle.
"Are you going to rob me, or kill me if I say yes?” She gripped her handlebars tight enough her knuckles were white.
Her question caused Rick to snort.
“What? No,” he shook his head. “There don’t seem to be many friendly faces around, so I was wondering if you were traveling alone.”
The stranger pondered his words for a moment, offering nothing but a shrug and forced smile. Before he could ask where she was headed, the blonde walked her bike towards the road a few feet from Rick.
“Well, thanks for not shooting me.” She was short and to the point. “Good luck!”
She was clearly eager to get back on her way. Rick watched her get to the road and lift one leg over the side of the bike to mount it.
“Wait, I don’t think it’s safe for you on your own,” he raised the free hand that once held the colt at her.
This caused her to glance back and raise an eyebrow in his direction.
“I’m trying to get to Atlanta, and you don’t look like you’re in any position to offer me safety along the way.” Her eyes moved up and down Officer Friendly and his empty gas can on the road.
“Atlanta? You’re headed for the refugee camp?” he asked as he grabbed the gas can from the street.
“Uhh…” It was clear by her expression that she hadn’t heard of the refugee camp. “Not exactly…”
His eyes wandered from her face to the clean-ish clothes she was wearing, causing him to wonder if she’d been staying somewhere before their encounter. From her clothes, He looked at the mid-size backpack hanging from her shoulders; it wasn’t overfilled. It had a pale yellow fur lining that offset the vibrant blue and pink colors that made up most of the backpack. There was a college patch on the top, but it wasn’t a school he knew, causing him to wonder how far she’d traveled on her own.
Lastly, he examined the bike, which was black and deep green with what looked to be band stickers all over it. The bike didn’t look like it was hers, so he wondered how she came upon it. The more he examined her, the more questions he had about how she wound up wandering the harsh world they were both stuck in alone.
“I take it you’re going to the refugee camp in Atlanta?” Her question broke through his thoughts, bringing his eyes right back to hers.
“That’s the plan. Like I said, it’s not safe out here, and I’m hoping the camp is still up and running when I get there,” he confirmed, leaning over and grabbing the gas can now that there was no need for the gun.
“Well, good luck.” The stranger turned away; his concern about her being alone clearly hadn’t changed her position on traveling alone.
Despite looking like she was in a hurry, she paused to pull out a map from her pocket. Rick could hear the crinkle as she looked it over. He wanted to offer to help her get to Atlanta, but she had made it clear she wasn’t looking for a traveling companion.
Maybe the reason he wanted her to stay wasn’t for her, but for him. “I woke up yesterday from a coma with no idea just how much the world had changed.” Rick had no reason to tell her, but neither of them were in a position to travel alone. “When I finally got home, my family was gone with no sign of where they went. I don’t know if they’re even alive, but if they are, they’re at this camp in Atlanta.”
Hope was the only thing getting him through this.
The crinkling of her map stopped, and she turned her head back just enough for him to get a glimpse of her right cheek. She didn’t say anything right away, but he’d gotten her attention. “You don’t even have a way there, you’re literally walking to Atlanta by the looks of it.”She was skeptical.
“I don’t care. I have to find my family.” Rick was quick with a response, like he hadn’t even considered an alternative. “I was lucky enough to have some help through my first night—the man who saved my life told me about what’s been happening and about the dead, so I know it’s not safe for anyone to be alone.”
He watched as her head lowered, she was looking at the floor now. Several quiet moments passed, giving him a chance to look away from her and at the bush she came out of. He couldn't see very far into the treeline, but he knew the woodsy area of this part of Georgia was not forgiving. The grass had started growing out of control, and he didn’t wish a week of camping in it on his worst enemy, which made him wonder how many people were out there right now trying to survive another day.
“I’m not much help; I’ve got maybe two days worth of food in my bag, a change of clothes, and a first aid kit I made myself. I’ve been using this bike for weeks because gas is a bitch to find without more knowledge than I have,” she started to ramble. “I can’t even read this map properly; I keep getting lost and I realize how spoiled I was by the internet.”
Rick tilted his head, wondering where she was going with all this.
“But—” she lifted her head and glanced back at him, this time enough for him to see more of her right eye. “Maybe traveling with me will be a lot better than walking to Atlanta on your own.”
Rick nodded, his lips curled into a slight smile as he started off in her direction. “Rick Grimes.”
“Nice to meet you, Rick Grimes.” Once he was standing side-by-side with her, she turned to face him. “Yvonne.” After she gave her name, Rick was about to respond but was cut short by a follow-up comment. “Were you a cop before all this, or is the uniform for fun?”
Yvonne’s question caused Rick to laugh. “I was a Sheriff before all this.”
She nodded as she unmounted the bike. "Explains the whole coma thing. What a shitty world to wake up to."
Yvonne offered him the map, but Rick declined it with a head shake. “Let’s focus on getting a ride before we map out a way there.”
Yvonne didn’t argue, and the pair set off walking down the road. They were mostly quiet, as they didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. After several minutes of walking, Rick noticed a mailbox at the edge of a dirt driveway. Instead of a verbal notification, he simply gestured with his head and started speed walking in the direction of the driveway. Yvonne watched until he was nearly at the driveway, which prompted her to follow.
“There may be someone home who can spare some gas.” Rick glanced back, causing Yvonne to nod.
As they approached the quaint, white house, Rick called out for anyone there. “Hello, police officer out here.” He glanced back at Yvonne before continuing. “Can my friend and I borrow some gas to get to Atlanta?”
As Rick stepped onto their porch, Yvonne slowed as a precaution. Someone could sneak around the back to ambush them, or the dead could come stumbling from the fields. When enough time passed that she was confident they were alone, she let her bike fall to its side so she could join Rick on the porch. By now he had knocked on the door, trying to alert anyone inside before peering into the window. Without warning, Rick’s body froze, followed by a short but heavy breath.
Rick was still new to just how badly people could handle the end of the world, so as he saw the family inside with signs of taking their own life, his core was shaken with the revelation. For a moment, his own family crossed his mind but his mind didn’t stop there. He realized that Yvonne hadn’t mentioned anyone—no family, no friends—and he realized this could have been the very fate her loved ones met. He wondered if this is why she wanted to part ways so quickly, a fear of loss.
There was a smell to a house in this state, it wasn’t strong through the walls but the fate of whatever was inside was clear to her. She’d stumbled upon many slices of American pie just like this one, a normal family with a normal home that was destroyed by this new, cold world. The blonde saved herself the trouble of being too curious about looking into the windows until she was directly behind Rick. She could see his reflection through the window and the expression he wore caused her to set her hand on his shoulder.
"You…okay?” she asked, but before she could look into the window fully, Rick tried to stop her from looking by gently pushing her back.
“Don’t look.” His face was pale, and Yvonne trusted that nothing inside of that window was worth the peek.
She nodded and left the porch and back towards her bike. Rick followed her, clearly shaken by what he’d seen inside of the house. He took a moment to sit at the outdoor table, collecting himself as he watched Yvonne take her bag off and dig through it.
She pulled a rag from it and turned to approach him.
“This is how the world is now. On the outside everything seems fine”--she didn’t ask and just started wiping the sweat from his face—“but inside is nothing but the rot of what it once was. You’ll learn to smell it long before you see it. Next time, don’t bother looking because you’ll never forget it.”
She didn’t need to ask. She’d had that same pale face before.
Once she was done wiping his face, he looked up at her and she offered him a smile. “You may think it’s a bad idea for me to camp out in the woods but it’s a whole lot better than stumbling upon something like this.”
Rick watched as she stepped away.
“Thank you,” he said. She was becoming less of a mystery to him. He was realizing that Yvonne was just a girl, no better, no worse at navigating this world than him.
After a few moments to clear his head, Rick looked around the yard and noticed the car they passed when walking up the driveway. Yvonne watched him open the door and look around the car, likely for the key. Once done, he looked at her from behind the open door and shook his head in defeat. He slammed the door shut and started walking in her direction, and while she wanted to say something, when she parted her lips, they both heard the sound of a horse.
The noise caused them to look in the same direction, towards a beautiful hazelnut-colored horse inside of a fenced-off area. Rick approached the animal, grabbing a rope from the barn next to it. Yvonne approached as well but stayed a few feet from the open gate with her bike in hand. The horse whinnied as Rick approached it.
“Easy now, easy. I’m not going to hurt you.” He lifted his hand just slightly as he approached. “I have a proposal; Atlanta’s just down the road aways, and it’s safe there.”
Yvonne watched Rick approach the animal with compassion, shocked at how little the world had tainted him.
Rick continued, “Food, shelter, people, other horses too, I bet.”
Yvonne chuckled when he tried to reason with the horse, but Rick didn’t let that stop him from slowly placing the rope around the horse and whispering to it.
Once the horse was secured, Rick brought it through the gate and stopped near Yvonne.
“Have you ever ridden a horse?” he asked.
As Yvonne pondered his question, she approached the horse to pet it. She was surprised it was still alive with all the walkers around, but just as happy, if not more. After a few moments of petting the horse, she finally looked at Rick.
“Nope, and I don’t plan on it,” she laughed. The horse was beautiful, but she was afraid of riding one. “I got my steed right here, I can ride next to you.”
Rick didn’t argue and brought the horse over to the barn to get it saddled up. Yvonne let her bike rest on the fence so she could collect the bags for Rick, allowing him to mount the horse without worrying about the bags until he was steady.
“Thank you,” he said as she handed him the bags. “Atlanta isn’t far, but if you get tired of the bike, just let me know and you can hop on.”
Yvonne nodded and headed for her bike. Now that they both had a ride, they headed toward Atlanta. The ride was a lot smoother with another person, even if they didn’t talk along the way. Once the pair could see the Atlanta cityscape from the highway, Rick came to a stop and waited for Yvonne to do the same.
“You good?” he asked.
“As good as I’ll get. What’s the plan?” She came to a stop.
But before Rick responded, he prompted the horse to start moving again. “We just ride in and find this refugee camp or anyone that isn't dead.” It was a pretty simple plan, but Yvonne didn’t have a better one, so she nodded.
The rest of the ride into Atlanta was quiet as they felt the heavy air of the unknown around them. The city looked dystopian, trash and abandoned life everywhere. The once vibrant cityscape now lay in ruins, its skyline dominated by skeletal remains of skyscrapers looming ominously against the horizon. The deeper into the city they got, the slower they moved as both were looking for any sign of life. The streets that were once bustling with life now lay silent, aside from the rustle of debris. The smell of rot was stronger than their ride over, causing Yvonne to make a disgusted face and Rick to respond with a chuckle as he noticed her expression change.
As Yvonne glanced around, looking for any sign of undead movement, she noticed a pharmacy along a strip of storefronts.
“Hold on.” She stopped, placing a foot on the ground to keep her bike steady. “Can we check out this pharmacy real quick? I want to see if they have something I’m looking for.”
Rick was confused. He assumed they’d be able to get all the medical supplies they needed at the refugee camp. “I don’t think you need to worry about scavenging, they’ll probably have anything we need.”
Yvonne stopping caused Rick to do the same with the horse. He felt uneasy about stopping but didn’t want to risk getting separated. He looked around, and once he felt secure that nothing was sneaking up on them, he looked down at his companion.
“I don’t think they’re going to have what I’m looking for, please?” She lifted her hands from her handlebars and pressed them together. “I’ll be quick, I promise.”
“We’ll be quick because there’s no way we’re splitting up here; it’s way too dangerous.” With the rope in hand, Rick hopped off his horse and lazily tied it to a parking meter right in front of the pharmacy door.
Yvonne followed, hopping off her bike and walking it over to the wall near the pharmacy door. Before Yvonne could tap on the window to see if there were walkers inside, Rick was already at the door trying to open it. The doorknob jiggled, which caused Rick to assume it was open and just stuck so he tried to force it open by slamming his shoulder into it. Just as Yvonne was about to stop him, the sound of groans got her attention. From across the street, a lone walker started their way.
“Rick, we’ve got a friend,” Yvonne called out, mostly calm as it was just one.
Just as Yvonne said his name, the door slammed open and nearly took Rick with it. Luckily for both of them, there wasn’t a horde of walkers waiting for a snack on the other side, and it was just some boxes that’d been stacked up to keep the door closed. Rick turned his attention towards the walker coming up on them, stepping back out of the doorway and ready to take the walker out.
“I got it,” Yvonne announced before Rick could go for it. She was closer and had her knife at the ready.
She was quick, walking up on their undead friends, slamming it against the car and diving her knife deep into its skull. Rick watched her, realizing that just like Morgan and Duane, she had adapted to the new world in an intimidating way. Interacting with the dead had become second nature to once very normal people, so much that Yvonne wasn’t even out of breath from it.
Due to their distraction, neither Yvonne nor Rick noticed that whoever had piled the boxes up behind the door was still inside and slowly making their way towards the now-open door. There were about three undead now feet from Rick, and by the time Yvonne turned around to notice, Rick had little time to react.
“BEHIND YOU!” Her panicked tone startled both him and the horse.
Rick turned just in time to stop the walker from taking a chunk out of him but not in enough time to get a weapon out. He was pushed from the doorway and towards the left. Rick did everything in his power to fight it off of him but it was a lot stronger than expected. The sheer force caused him to fall and land on his back, along with the walker attached to him.
He tucked his left arm against its neck to stop it from getting at his face, but he was still without a weapon. Yvonne moved back to the sidewalk, blocking the two walkers left in the doorway. She grabbed the walker snapping at her by the shirt and pierced his skull just like the one on the street. With a limp walker leaning against her, she could safely block the last walker and force it to stay in the doorway.
“Rick, here!” she called out.
Once she was sure he was paying attention, she tossed her knife on the floor next to him. He snatched the knife and immediately took the walker out in one stab to the center of its forehead. Once he was sure it was dead, he pushed the walker to the side but left the knife in its head as he took a second to breathe. Just as Yvonne was about to ask for help, all of the pushing from the final walker finally caused Yvonne to lose her grip on the walker’s limp body and stumble back. The dead walker fell to the floor, causing the one coming right for her to trip into her and take her out with it. Before she could do anything, the impact caused both her and the walker to collapse onto the sidewalk. Yvonne was on her back, trying to guard the walker from latching onto her neck.
Everything felt chaotic, and all Rick could do was pull the knife from the zombie’s head where he left it and into the back of the walker’s head that was going for Yvonne. He set his free hand on its forehead to keep him from pushing it into Yvonne as he stabbed it and risking her safety. This time he didn’t take a breather before pulling the knife out and trying to help get the body off of Yvonne.
“I should have listened and just waited for the refugee camp,” Yvonne chuckled, maybe out of nervousness and maybe because she was happy they both survived.
Rick returned the chuckle and offered her a hand to get up, which she happily took. As he was pulling her up, he noticed blood on her sleeve and glanced at it. His smile dropped almost immediately as he saw her injury, causing her to glance at it.
She was bit.
Her entire body tensed. She hadn't even felt the pain or she wouldn’t have taken his hand. Once she was standing, she just stared at him.
He looked at her like she was already dead.
“Listen, it’s not what you think.” She covered the bite with her hand.
“How can you say that? You’re…” He had the same exact expression as when they were back at that house where they found the horse. “Bit.”
He wasn’t even looking at her face anymore. All he saw was her bite and he looked like he was just imagining her as one of them.
A walker.
“I’m fine, okay? Just calm down and let me explain.” She leaned down, trying to force him to look at her face, to see that she was still standing there, alive.
“I should have immediately stabbed that walker…” the sound of his voice was heartbreaking. She couldn’t tell if his face was covered in sweat or tears as she tried to get him to make eye-contact. “I didn’t react fast enough and now…”
She knew she had no choice but to tell him what she’d been hiding from everyone—the reason she’d been traveling alone and couldn't go looking for her own family or find a place safer than a forest campsite.
“I’m immune.” She grabbed both of his arms. “So just…stop looking at me like that.”
He finally looked into her eyes, for the first time since seeing the bite. It was almost like he didn’t process what she said, so he didn’t respond right away.
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