1 - Glenn wont be in this series and will be replace by Mark because this Show is set in the TV universe and Glenn is with Ricks group in the Shows timeline.
2 - Lee still has his arm chopped off in the TV show version, But is saved by the commonwealth group before he dies and stuff like that.
3 - Kenny will appear in S2 like in the game.
4 - Katjaa will be bitten instead of Duck
5 - Chuck/Charles will be killed by the stranger while Chuck/Charles is protecting Lee and Clementine from him. (Chuck/Charles is the old guy in episode 3 on the Train.)
6 - Carly and Doug both survive the Drug store and Doug is shot by Lily and Carly is depressed.
7 - Ben goes though a character Arc so he isn't completely useless in this Rewrite TV concept.
(I might make a remake with a different Tier list.)
CHILDREN OF VIOLENCE - FEAR THE WALKING DEAD REWRITE (series Masterlist)
Meet Nikki Clark before reading <3
Summary: With a complicated past, Nikki tried to lead a normal life after getting out of rehab for the umpteenth time. She got to nursing school, she wanted to help people but... she got expelled for taking drugs from the infirmary and Madison managed to prevent the school from pressing charges if the young woman left. A normal life overall. It wasn't the worst thing had happened to her but at least, she had some medical training and she still could help. For a while, everything was normal for the Clarks. That is, until an unknown illness started affecting the citizens of Los Angeles, turning them into undead beings relentlessly seeking human flesh. This incited a catastrophic chain reaction that will bring down civilization as they knew it.
[Status: ABORTED] -- i'm too lazy (and busy with other fics)
Words: 4.1k
Chapters' list:
SEASON 1 (2015)
Chapter 1 - Fear Begins Here
Chapter 2 - Canary in The Coal Mine (TBA)
Chapter 3 - The Body Keeps Scores (TBA)
...
SEASON 2 (2016)
...
SEASON 3 (2017)
...
SEASON // (////)
...
!! My fanfiction follows the events/timeline of the TV series!! (lots of seasons 1,2,3 etc spoilers to expect)!!
Summary: You had no idea what your life will become when you left for Atlanta, leaving your beloved brothers behind. Struggling to find your purpose in society, you met the wrong people and made mistakes that made you who you are today. The Apocalypse is your last chance to redeem yourself. But what if in this world you can’t be good anymore? Maybe it’s not you who has to change. Perhaps it’s the people around you that have to harden to survive.
Pairings: Rick Grimes x Female Reader (main pairing); Shane Walsh x Reader; Unrequited male OC x Reader
SEASON 1-3 》 in progress!
SEASON 4-6 》 coming soon!
(send me an ask or fill out the form in the pinned post if you’re not on the taglist, but you’d like to be tagged in this series)
A/N: So, I have thought about doing this and here it is!! This is a series rewrite for The Walking Dead. I DO NOT own twd or any of the characters. So, no copyright infringement or whatever is intended at all. This is going to be a reader insert and I will do it episode by episode. Some days I may post a couple at a time, and then I might not post it for days on end. Please, let me know what you think of this. And as always, feedback and any kind of CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM is welcome. However, if I get any hate, you will be ignored and I won’t post whatever you say. Also, let me know if you want to be tagged in anything!! And I will most likely make a separate Masterlist for this specifically that will be linked in the regular Masterlist(eventually). My Request box is always open. This will most likely get gruesome at some point, so if you get queasy by the thought of blood, I suggest you read something of mine that doesn’t involve it. Read at your own risk. Thanks for reading!!
MASTERLIST
Series rewrite Masterlist
Next: Guts <episode 2> >this ones episode 3 Tell it to the Frogs
This first part will be a bit of a quick review of who Y/n is and will then get on with how the episode happened
You are Shane Walsh’s sister, Y/n Walsh, CIA agent. You had been away from home, on a mission, when the end of the world began. When you made it back to your home from your personal plane, still wearing all your gear, you noticed that Shane’s things were gone. Or, at least some of them anyways. You searched around the house and found nothing else out of the ordinary. When you were back outside, it was eerily quiet.
“Hello?” You said, not too loudly, but not too soft. You had a very bad feeling in your gut, so you went in and made a few go bags. You put weapons in each one from your stash, and put them all on your motorcycle. It wasn’t one of the obnoxiously loud ones, so you had always been able to drive it around in your relatively quiet neighborhood. You started her up and took off in search of anyone else. After mere minutes, you found a man, who seemed to be injured, walking in the middle of the street. You slowed to a stop and reached out to his shoulder.
“Sir…?” You called out hesitantly, while tapping his shoulder. He turned around and your eyes widened and you let out the breath you didn’t realize you were holding. His face, my god, his face. His jaw was unhinged and hanging from his face grotesquely by some skin. His skin was grayed out and his eyes… his eyes were clouded over in an unusual and sickly color. You backed away slowly, and he kept coming, while making a breathy groan. You heard a gun go off and saw the blood splatter with little pieces of the pink organ that was his brain. The survivalist part of your brain went into overdrive, beginning to compartmentalize what just happened and how to react. You grabbed your gun from the holster and put it to the head of the man who shot another person.
“What the hell was that?” You ask, taking deep breaths to keep your cool.
“That was a walker that would’ve bitten ya and turned ya into one of them. And I would appreciate it, if you wouldn’t mind lowering your weapon.” He said, and you obliged, but didn’t put it away.
“What, if I may ask, is a walker? And why would he bite me and turn me?” You ask, perplexed.
“You haven’t been around much have you? The walkers, used to be people. And they died, but then they came back. And all they want to do once they come back, is get food, and turn others in the process. They don’t care about anything but that, and they cannot speak. They are dull minded creatures as well, but are strong.” He replied, and you nodded your head, seeing as that would be the only solution as to why he would try to bite you.
“Okay, well, strength in numbers yeah? Allies?” You offered, and put your hand out. He looked at it before looking back at your face. “Listen, you don’t seem the type to be completely alone, and I have weapons and perishables. We look out for each other and I can find food for the three of us, how does that sound?” He nods and shakes your hand.
Over the days, Morgan told you about the walkers and how the world went to shit. He had a son named Duane, who only seemed to be about 10-12 years old. You showed them both a few moves to help defend themselves, and you all shared the food and water that you had. The days afterwards, you all found out that there was a man roaming the street. Duane had hit him and almost literally knocked him out. Since you had a more than normal experience and training with treating wounds, you fixed the man up while he was unconscious. You had been resting and taking a watch when you Duane came up to you and told you tht he wasn’t bitten, and that it was time for dinner. You smiled before retiring downstairs. The man was there and he stared at you quizzically.
“Y/n?” He asked. Your eyebrows knitted together before you responded.
“Yeah? Do I know you?” You responded with a question of your own.
“No, but I knew your brother. You and I had never been introduced, because of work, but your brother and I were partners.” He replied.
“So you’re The Rick Grimes I’ve heard so much about from Shane? Huh. Have you seen him? I’ve been away for a long time and his stuff was missing from the house.” You said, and watched as his expression fell.
“No, I haven’t. I have no idea if he’s alive, or even if my wife and child are alive. See, I got shot on duty, and I assume shortly after, many things changed.” He said.
“Oh. Well, I’m sorry.” You say, and that’s when you were interrupted by Morgan telling you both to get a move on and eat before dinner got cold. You all ate and Morgan began the process of explaining the new world to him. Even through the short time of being with them, Duane looked up to you as a motherly figure. Whenever he had had a nightmare, he would sometimes come to you instead of his father. And the both of you were okay with it, it was just a little weird. So when the car alarm went off, he had jolted awake, but you and Morgan both put a hand on each of his shoulders and he was instantly calm. Morgan got up with Rick to look out, while you turned the lights off. After a minute, Duane got up and that’s when he saw her, his mother, walking up to the house. He came over and he was beginning to sob. Loudly. You reached your arms out to him and lifted him up and had him in your lap, cradling and rocking him. His father grabbed a pillow and told him to cry into it, because he needed to be quieter. Rick went to the door and was looking out there when the doorknob began its turning. You leaned your head back against the wall you were propped up against, and you soon fell asleep.
You all had woken up and eaten a little something and Rick checked again if they were actually dead, before proceeding to use the baseball bat to bludgeon the walkers head in. You all went and made your way to the Sheriff’s station, and found that the water was working. You all took showers, and changed your clothes. Rick went to the gun storage and grabbed all the guns and ammunition. They were put into bags and taken out to the cars. You had decided to go with Rick to Atlanta because your brother could be there. You took Duane to the side before talking to him, and letting him know that you’ll find each other again. And that he should look out for Morgan. He hugged you one last time before going with his father. You followed Rick on your motorcycle and stopped with him when his car ran out of gas. He told you he managed to get on the emergency channel but no one responded. You both walked up to the house. He looked around while you were scanning the surrounding area. He didn’t find what he wanted or needed, so he went over to the truck that was there, yet there were no keys. But, there was a horse that he managed to get calm and took the horse as his transportation. You had managed to make it to Atlanta, but it was barren. You knew something was wrong, as you had seen many military protocols for something like this. I no one was around, then they were most likely dead.
“Rick! We need to go. This isn’t right. Something’s happened and if there are even the few walkers that we’ve seen, then I’m betting that there will be more of them just around a corner. And I intend on leaving, with or without you. And if you get hurt, it will be because of your own stupidity.” You state, and then turn your bike around, and begin to leave. But then, you heard the sound of a horde. “Dammit!” You take off the other direction of the horde of walkers. You had managed to evade them, but when you made it to the highway, Rick wasn’t even with you. You decided to go and get a vantage point with your things, and left the highway without your motorcycle to be quiet, and went back to get Rick.
Summary: Anna wasn’t going to be preserved from the Whisperers for long. They were getting closer to them, ready to surround the survivors and Alpha wasn’t going to go easy on them, ready to destroy everything, to terminate them as human beings. They would join her, as her walkers once the fight was over and they would rise again, growling. They weren’t willing to lose, though and were prepared to fight them off.
Words: 5k
Warnings: The walking dead season 10 part 2 spoilers (specifically episode 11, and beginning episode 12), daddy issues, healing from codepencial behavior, past toxic father-daughter relationship, fire, explosions, bombs, fight, blood, dead/walkers, dad issues a bit, angst ANGST ANGST, not so much fluff this time
Anna had remained at the Hilltop’s camp for about a week or so now, sleeping in Alden’s trailer, not really feelling like going back to Alexandria since the disappearance of her father. She preferred to keep her mind and herself as busy as possible to avoid dwelling on this all day long, at least here at the camp, she could be useful and land a hand to the people that needed a little bit of help in their tasks. It occupied her time and it was good for her reputation as well. Maybe they would consider her more as a fellow survivor than a threat or someone that deserved their wrath. Anna didn’t think so highly of herself, but she was sure of the fact that she didn’t deserve to be treated badly for her father’s actions. Past actions. She understood their point of view, but she understood how she felt more. In any case, this wasn’t really on her mind since she found work here and there. Her thoughts were mostly on Alden, thinking about that slightly drunken evening when they kissed and well, slept together afterwards. Their relationship had quickly leveled up since she came to see him at the Hilltop. Anna had realized how much she cared about and for him. But, despite all, she still didn’t really feel home there. She wasn’t sure of where to go or what to do and was a bit lost. Without her father, she felt strange, empty, even though she was with someone she loved. She sighed as she walked across the camp to the gate with a lazy step, narrowing her eyes because of the sun, high in the sky this morning.
“You really thinking about leaving ?” Alden called out to her from the forge as he worked.
“I doubt I'm unexpendable in Alexandria but, I don't know, I just... I need to move.”
“It’s not a good time to be out there on your own, Anna. The whisperers–” She cut him off.
“I’ll be careful, okay ?” He looked at her for a few seconds before leaving his post and walking up to her to hold her in his arms.
“They killed Enid.” He breathed out. “I would never forgive myself for not insisting on you staying if something happened to you too. And wherever he is, I’m pretty sure Negan would skin me alive.”
“Well, I’m not so sure. He left without a word, maybe he didn’t want to have to take care of the shit I put myself into.” She shrugged it off and swallowed as she took a couple steps back. She smiled at Alden and went to the horses, stationed near the gate. Saying that she needed to go back to Alexandria, she was landed a mount and they briefly opened the gate for her.Most of the ride was quiet, she was sure that they weren’t anyone lurking about because she could hear the birds and such in the surrounding forest and enjoy the fresh air among the trees along the road she was taking. Because it was quite chill, she didn’t feel she was in any sort of rush and let the horse trot, going at his own pace.
They had covered a few miles, maybe four or something like that, in the hour that had passed since she left camp, when she saw a walker roaming about in the forest. As he got closer, the horse stirred nervously, blowing hard from his nostrils. Anna tried to calm him down, bringing him to a stop and pulling softly on the reins until she eventually descended from her mount to take care of the undead bothering the animal. She pulled out her knife from her belt and approached the walking corpse, slowly before suddenly stabbing him in his rotting skull and letting him fall to the ground heavily. She wiped off the blood from the blade on the dead man’s clothes and looked around, on the look out, checking if he was alone or if there were more coming their way. It seemed like it was the first option that was the one true at the moment but, for whatever reason, she got back on the horse and led him in the forest. She had a strange gut feeling even she didn’t understand. This was a stupid decision, that much she knew already but she had to check whatever it was she wanted to check. After a few minutes making the horse slalom between the trees, she decided to stop there before getting too deep in the woods and get lost. She wasn’t sure of her location at the moment but she knew she could go back to the road. At the very moment she turned her mount around, ready to go back, she heard a bunch of groans and rattle coming from all over the place. Then she saw the walkers making those noises. Because of the trees surrounding her, she couldn’t see very far but she had to leave, before she was not only surrounded by trees, but also by walkers.
“All right, let’s go.” She mumbled as she started the horse softly.
He refused to move and she realized that the dead that were previously scattered in the woods, had gathered in a small group and were getting closer to them. The horse stepped back and Anna let out a cry when he reared up, holding so tightly on the reins she felt her palm warming up, almost burning. He got back on his four irons and she struggled sitting back up. On top of that, one of her feet was stuck at the ankle in the stirrup. She was firmly clutced on his back as he scampered away. She didn’t dare move from her lying position, in fear of falling and getting dragged in the dirt, hitting the trees and hurting herself badly because she knew that she wouldn’t be able to free her feet if she fell. She had let go off the reins and grabbed his mane in one hand and the saddle in the other as she tried speaking to him, gently, in a soft voice. She grunted as she managed to get back to a seated position, putting her free foot in the stirrup. She held onto the horse’s mare and grabbed the rein tightly before shortening them and raising it up and back, pulling toward her shoulder to try and stop the panicked beast, her teeth gritted as she focused on her moves. She let out a sigh of relief when he came to a stop and she was able to free her foot from the stirrup, safely. She stroke the horse’s neck, praising him for stopping and took a deep breath. Looking around, biting on her lip, she noticed the horse had brought them deeper in the forest and they were now completely lost. From the corner of her eye, she saw his ear turn to the side and she frowned.
“What is it ?” He raised his head but she didn’t understand what bothered him now. She didn’t see or hear anything aound them but she decided to trust his feeling. She knew that something was wrong and tightly holding the reins, she made him turn around and trotted back to the road as fast as she could without getting lost even more. It was them. It had to be or he wouldn’t be so nervous after she managed to calm him down. Wherever those assholes were, he had felt them. They were coming and she had to warn everyone at the Hilltop. The plan of going back to Alexandria was aborted for now. They had to now that the danger was on its way, coming for them.
When she got near the Hilltop, she raised her arm to wave at the lookouts. One of them was obsering her with binoculars and upon recognizing her, she motioned at someone to open the gate. She had been gone for a couple hours at most and here she was, coming back already. She stopped the horse once inside and dismounted. Someone from the camp, who was supervising surveillance at the gate and whose name Anna no longer remembered, approached her.
“I thought you were leaving.”
“Same.” She nodded, passing her fingers in her blond hair, getting leaves and small thin branches out, pulling on her roots. “But, they’re coming.”
“Go to Yumiko. She’s in Maggie’s office with the others.”
“Okay, thanks.” Anna turned to the house and walked inside. The office’s doors were opened ajar and Yumiko was standing outside of the room, discussing something with two guards from the Hilltop. She saw the young blonde woman enter and walked over to her, her brows frowned, arms closed tight over her chest. She looked down at her, depite not being significantly taller than Anna.
“Alden told me you left for Alexandria this morning. It was reckless of you to go away alone, but why are you back? Something happened ?”
“Uh, yeah. I was about four or five miles away and the horse felt something in the forest. He was freaked out.” She understood what Anna was talking about and what the horse might have felt and she quickly turned to the two people she was talking to just before and motioned at them.
“Eyes open. Any sign of a horde approch or whisperer movement, you radio us immediately. Be safe.” They nodded and walked out of the house. She now motioned at Anna for her to follow inside the office. Lydia’s voice rose from behind the doors as Yumiko closed them after Anna entered. Arms crossed, Lydia complained again as she walked to the center of the room. Her gaze was fixed on someone but Anna had no idea who this person was so she didn’t look at them for very long. Some people in the room, who knew of her improvized departure this morning, seemed surprised to see her beside Yumiko. Especially Alden, who frowned instantly upon seeing his lover, keeping himself from going to her and remained in his seat.
“Even if you took out half the herd in that cave,” Anna suddenly remembered the incident in the cave the teenager was talking about. She didn’t really know what happened in detail since she wasn’t with them but she heard that some of their friends had been stuck in there after rocks collapsed on them or something like that. She didn’t know them either, but she hoped they were okay. “she’s got thousands left. You can’t stay here.”
“The skins could march straight to Alexandria for all we know.” Earl, the old man with whom Alden worked at the forge, spoke up.
“Yeah, we’re right in their way.” Daryl retorted, leaning on the back of the sofa where the man was sitting.
“Maybe she goes around us.”
“She doesn’t need to go around you.” Lydia cut him off, frowning. “She’ll just run through you.”
“I’m not running again. Hell, no.” Jerry shook the idea off, staring at Lydia. Anna listened quietly, passing her eyes from one to the other as they discussed the situation they were going to be in.
“Lydia’s right. We can rebuild anywhere.”
“To have to flee again if the Whisperers find us? How many times will we have to accept being forced to leave home to understand that it is not a sustainable solution?” Anna said, arms crossed. She had been silent, trying not to interfere but she was in the same boat as the rest of them and she had her say in this. Lydia gave her friend a look as the old man from earlier spoke again.
“Precisely. How many scouting missions have you been on, son ? Hundreds ? Have you ever seen a place like Hilltop ?”
“No.”Aaron mumbled, softly shaking his head.
“We have a few dozen able-bodied fighters here. Maybe.” Yumiko argued. “You like those odds ? Cause I don’t.”
“Neither do I.” Aaron added. “Now we don’t have to die here.”
“Anna’s right.” The old man insisted. “We’re going to have to fight, and if we die, we die fighting for a place that means something. Can you think of a better way to go ?”
“Yeah. We go with my daughter’s life intact. And Judith’s, and Ezra’s and Adam’s. You want me to keep going ? Anna’s way of thinking isn’t wrong but we have other options. Better ones.”
“All right,” Daryl raised his voice, putting an end to this whole discussion that would be fruitless if they kept going. “let’s get the kids out first. Everyone, pack up. We’re going to Oceanside. Grab weapons, food… whatever you can. We’ll regroup there.”
They all followed Daryl’s directives quietly and got to work to get the children out of there. Anna let her arms fall by her sides and walked out of the office that was once Maggie’s before she left, one day. The young woman felt someone touching her arm and she looked behind. It was Alden. He started walking with her as they went to his trailer to get their things, or Alden’s things, really, because she didn’t bring much here from Alexandria when Daryl rode her here. She didn’t bring anything at all.
“Why did you come back ?”
“The horse.” She bent over to grab some stuff lying on the trailer’s floor and gathered them on a furniture nearby. “He felt something was off in the woods. They’re coming.”
“You could have ran into them and–” She cut him off, staring at him.
“I know, Alden. I know.” He sighed and they left the room. The children were brought in a cart, with some women who went with them. They drove off next with Daryl leading the procession. After a while, they finally came back. Anna had spent all her time helping around the camp to get everyone ready, and when they got back she was with Alden then. She joined them, wondering what was going on. Aaron approached them in turn after welcoming back his daughter, and urging everyone that came back to go inside the house.
“What happened ?” He asked.
“She blocked all the roads. Mean they’re closing in on us.” Daryl declared. “Mean that if we had a window to get out, we just missed it.”
“But we can’t stay here.” Kelly nervously retorted. “You said– you all said… we can’t stay here.”
“We can– we can call Alexandria, right?” One could hear in his voice that Luke, among many other, was starting to freak out. “Call Alexandria, and– and they’ll bring fresh fighters here, right ? And– And– And it’s not gonna just be us. It’s not gonna be just us, right ?”
“Oceanside can’t get here. Alexandria, either. Not in time.” Dianne replied, her words met by a brief but heavy silence. “Not after what happened. We’re on our own.”
“Divvy up your arsenals. We got catapults up on the walls. And a damn good militia. This is what you’ve all been practicing for.” Earl announced. “Come on, now, people ! Do whatever you need to get your heads on straight ! This is gonna be the fight of our lives.”
“Eh.” Daryl called out to Anna as everyone walked away to get ready. She stopped in her tracks as she was about to follow Alden and Earl and looked at the survivor. “He’s with them.”
“What–”
“Your father blocked the roads, with them.” Anna froze when he articulated these words, her mouth widening and closing like she wanted to say something but couldn’t get anything out. She was confused, not seemingly able to correctly process the information.
“How do you know he–” He cut her off, giving a look at something or someone behind her in the distance for some reason. She looked behind her and the only person standing there was Carol, staring at her fella Daryl as he talked to Anna.
“You’re gonna have to fight the Whisperers, but you’re father too. I need to know if you’re still on our side, Anna.” She glanced at Alden, who looked back at her from the forge. She swallowed, watching him for a second before turning her head back to Daryl.
“Now more than ever, Daryl.” She declared.
“Good.” He nodded, patting her shoulder and walked over to Carol, who was probably waiting for him since she had been standing there for forever. Anna was the kind of person able to multitask, even if the pressure and tension of everything could lead her to feel a little bit dizzy or tired lately, but it wasn’t a big deal. She worked alongside Alden and eventually joined him on his walk to the house to move boxes full of things that would certainly be usefull for the upcoming fight. She put down an umpteenth box on the floor and saw Alden stopping in front of a red head woman who was dressed in rags and was approaching the stairs on which were seating a couple survirvors with a baby. If she remembered correctly, it was that woman from the whisperers when they came to their doors to threaten them and she was holding a crying baby in her arms. They were going to let her and the newborn at the walkers’ mercy but the people of Hilltop didn’t see it this way and went to their rescue, welcoming the two of them in. Alden and Earl had taken it upon them to take care of the baby, whose name was Adam as Aaron stated back in the office, and Alden didn’t seem to appreciate the woman’s presence here or the fact that she could go anywhere near the baby boy.
“Hey. What do you think you’re doing ?”
“I’m going to say hello to my nephew.” Alden grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away. “Please.”
“Alden.” Anna called out to him as the woman begged and freed her arm off his grasp.
“Alpha could come any second.”
“And whose fault’s that, huh ?” Anna was less than ten feet away, watching them, hesitant to intervene. Aaron walked in at that moment and she decided to approach them to calm things down.
“What’s going on here ?” Aaron outpaced Anna and raised his voice before she could say anything.
“She’s not supposed to be here.”
“Alden… She’s not gonna hurt him. Do you really wanna fight about this, right now ?”
“Yeah, I do. Earl’s a better father than mine was. And we lost Tammy, and then I lost…” He paused, staring the former whisperer, dead in the eyes. “If Anna had crossed their path, I would have lost her too. He's been raising this baby alone. For them. And for us. Not for you. He’ll never be. And you think I’m picking a fight ?” He turned his head to Aaron. “Think I’m being unreasonable ? If I die tonight, it’ll have been for everything we’ve been trying to build for him !”
His tone rose suddenly and he went straight to pick up the boy from a woman’s arms seated on the stairs. Of course she let him take back the baby boy and he then left the hall of the house, under Anna, Aaron and the whisperer’s silent gaze.
“Alden, he’s your boyfriend ?” She asked in a soft voice after Aaron was gone. Anna was about to reply no without thinking, like she needed to justify herself even though she was now perfectly aware of the feelings between her and the 30-something man, but this answer wasn’t really true. It was just a generic response.
“Yes.” She then aticulated, not looking at the woman at all.
“I’m sorry, I made him lose his temper.” Anna shrugged it off.
“I don't think he gives a damn about your apology, if you ask me.” The former whisperer nodded at her answer and waited a few seconds before speaking up again, as if she was thinking about something.
“I was wondering who you reminded me of but, now I know. You talk and stand like him.” The blonde woman looked down at her body to see how she was standing, brows furrowed. She was as usual, arms to her sides, a finger resting on her knife’s handle, feet slightly apart and her shoulder a little unbalanced, one more lowered than the other. She recalled what Daryl had told her earlier and came to the realization of who she was implying she looked like but she still pretended she didn't know what she was talking about.
“What do you mean ?”
“There’s this tall man that joined the whisperers. He said his name’s Negan.” Anna already knew he was with the whisperers, for whatever reason, but it still upset her to hear it worded. She didn’t reply and in a sigh, she left, going the same way Alden went a moment ago, leaving the woman in rags behind. She was not in the mood to talk about her father to a stranger. Not at all.
As the moon got high in the darkening sky, the camp emptied. The survivors of Hilltop were either in the house with the children, or outside in the front line holding thick shields or behind, armed with spear, bladed weapons or bows, ready to fire to cover their peers in close combat. Anna was with the soldiers, outside, defending Hilltop’s walls despite Alden asking her to remain inside with some other survivors and the children but she was able-bodied, as Yumiko put it in the office today and she would have felt really bad not to give her help on the field. One row of electric wires had been installed in advance to slow down the approaching horde, with a second barrier, filled with tight piles of branches, kind of like a bramble bush. Anna was in the middle of the crowd, right behind Aaron who was in the front light, shield in hand.
It was a dark night with not much light and they couldn’t see really far ahead of them and were at the mercy of their enemies, waiting for them to decide when to come out of the forest surrounding the poor Hilltop camp. She was holding tightly onto her weapon, taking deep silent breath to try to calm down. She was anxious. There was no point in saying the opposite. She was stressed and apprehended the fight pretty badly because of one specific person that was involved, but not on the right side. Her father. She still didn’t know why he was with the Whisperers after mysteriously escaping from his cell in Alexandria. This whole thing was too strange to not be something worth to look into. He didn’t do all of it alone, and he wasn’t out there for no reason. He wouldn’t have abandoned his only child to join the ranks of the people wanting to kill them all, his daughter included.
“Formation !” Aaron yelled and all the shield-holders straightened them up in a tight unbreakable protection line as everyone stared at the walkers getting closer. It was a huge horde and Anna was getting even more nervous to have to fight this much undead. She had been through awful fights, having to choose between two sides and the choice she made each time was the one made by the little girl she was deep within, the little girl who hoped her father would change thanks to her or realize the gravity of everything he had done in the name of protecting her. At least she wasn’t fed with the religious bullshit, her father was far from being a pious man. Neither was she. And she wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a grown-up, about to fight the biggest threat she ever faced and she was scared but she couldn’t back down. She had to fight with them, or her presence in their ranks was pointless. She had to make her hits count and protect this place. Not in the hope to get a peaceful life afterwards, but in the hope to get answers and discover why the fuck was her father with the people trying to end them all. Something was up and she didn't need to have the sharpest senses to feel that. Someone would have to answer to her eventually. Her father, or whoever was involved in this too.
Everyone stood there, watching the walkers get cut in half by the electricity in the wires, falling to pieces. After a little less than a minute, the pressure all the dead put on the wires made them gave way. Some of the walking corpses fell on the grass and got walked over by the others who kept approaching, getting closer to the last row, the one through which the survivor were going to have to put them down.
“They’re splitting into two !” Aaron ordered again. “They’re gonna load up ! On my command, splitting ranks ! And… Break !”
And on these words, all but the archers moved further to the barrier, in two groups. Anna followed Aaron and walked with him to the left and the archers stayed behind fired at the walkers while everyone else was in movement. Daryl had left the formation and was waving a spiked ball hanging from a chain and smashing the head of a couple walkers as the rest of the soldiers walked to the barrier, the ones holding the shield pressed it against the fence to counterbalance the dead that piled up on the other side. The spearmen, whom Anna was among, stabbed them in their rotten skulls one after the other, accompanied in their gestures with the bladed weapons and hammers and such. It was an awful concert of smashing sounds and growling and grunting.
“The fence isn’t gonna hold !” A man screamed at everyone in panick. Suddenly, as they were going on and on, getting rid of the dead with their blades and pikes, bombs were thrown at them but to their surprise, at the explosion of those projectiles, they got covered in a sticky fluid that went everywhere around them. Anna closed her eyes, wincing as she felt drops fall on her.
“What the fuck is this ?” She passed her hand on her forehead and looked at him curiously. It had a strange scent.
“Smells like a Christmas tree !” Jerry added. Just a few seconds later, most of them looked to their right upons seeing a part of the fence filled with branches light on fire. Someone then screamed and ran around the field, on fire. Anna widened her mouth, observing the scene from Aaron's group. “It's like gasoline !”
“Get ready to fall back !” Aaron urged everyone, struggling with his shield against the walkers pressing on it with their dead weight.
“Back inside ! Come on !” This time it was Daryl motioning to the survivors to stop and go inside take cover to avoid getting burned alive. Anna followed Aaron closely when he retreated and everyone left their position rushing back inside the walls of Hilltop. They couldn’t risk to lose anymore people to the fire of the Whisperers and the only option they had as of now was to leave the battlefield or it would just be a pointless blood bath. Another rush of flaming arrows ignited wood around them, stopping them in their attempt to turn back. A part of the Hilltop front wall had become a real bonfire. It was impressive but awfully scary. They couldn’t even dare get too close to the fire or they would light themselves up and die, burned alive. The last sound they would hear would be their screams drowned in the dead’s growling. Anna passed her fingers through her hair with disgust. It was so sticky, so uncomfortable. Most of what landed on her face was on her hand and it would feel like cardboard soon. The only thing she wanted to do, other than terminating every dead and whisperer, was to get water to get rid of this shit. It was like glue.
The time they lost standing there, staring at the flames, not able to cross the huge fire that kept spreading all over the place. Anna sweared hell couldn’t be hotter than the mess they were in right now. The dead even lit on fire as they got closer, there was so much fire. The survivors that held the shields turned back to them and pushed the shields against them to keep them from getting closer, trying to jam them up at the gate after managing to get in the camp compound. The ones that got though the defensive lines were met by the rest of the survivors with their sharp weapons. They wouldn’t hold much longer before the camp was flooded by the horde but they had to fight and not give up or it would be their doom. They had no real other choices. Anna looked up and saw Alden and Earl helping to fill the catapultes with the projectiles, standing above the walls while they fought in the camp. She let out a grunt, stabbing a dead in front of her and spinning the spear around her to make another one lose balance and then pierce a hole in his head. If Hell existed, they were right in it.
The dead were slowing down because of the shields at the entrance of the camp so they gathered the children to prepare their escape so they wouldn’t find themselves in the eye of the storm currently wiping out the whole place. Anna let a cry out when a dead fell on her and she struggled against the latter, holding her spear at his neck, her teeth gritted. She gasped and closed her eyelids shut when blood splattered over her face. Someone grabbed her hand and helped her back on her feet. It was Alden, a weapon in hand. They stared into each other’s eyes for an instant and jumped, turning around, when something blew up across the camp. They had to run.
SAVIORS DON’T SAVE THE WORLD - THE WALKING DEAD REWRITE (series Masterlist)
Meet Annabelle Smith before reading <3
Summary: Being the daughter’s leader isn’t easy. Especially when the leader in question is the leader of the Saviors. Annabelle is this kid. She has always been overprotected by her father after her mother died. He refused to let this happen to his baby girl. He couldn't stand that to happen. Anna knew it and she loved her father but this man that led the Saviors wasn’t her dad. But we can’t change people... they only become who they really are, right? Anna believed it to be true. And that was why knowing that it was deep down all an act comforted her in the fact that all was not lost. Despite everything that had happened in the past and might happen in the future, her father was not lost, and neither was she. “Sometimes kids get to show their parents the way.” - Carl Grimes.
[Status: DONE]
New chapter every Sunday 6 & 9pm CEST
Words: 96.5k
Chapters list:
SEASON 8 (2017-2018)
Chapter 1 - Have Mercy
Chapter 2 - Clan War
Chapter 3 - Tell Me Your Sins
Chapter 4 - Survive
Chapter 5 - Farewell
Chapter 6 - Old Friends
Chapter 7 - Trust is Hard to Earn
SEASON 9 (2018-2019)
Chapter 8 - Second Chance
Chapter 9 - Does it Ever Get Better
Chapter 10 - White-Out
SEASON 10 (2019- - -2021)
Chapter 11 - Everything Happens At Nightfall
Chapter 12 - The Whisperers
Chapter 13 - Moment Of Truth
Chapter 14 - Father And Daughter
SEASON 11 (2021-2022)
Chapter 15 - Until Death Do Us Apart
Chapter 16 - Left in the Lurch
Chapter 17 - Let Bygones Be Bygones
Chapter 18 - Rest in Peace
DEAD CITY - TWD SPINOFF
SEASON 1 (2023)
Chapter 19 - Isle of the Dead (SOON)
Chapter 20 - ... (TBA)
SEASON 2 (2024?)
...
!! My fanfiction follows the events/timeline of the TV series!! (lots of seasons 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 spoilers to expect)
Summary: The Sanctuary. Anna couldn’t quite figure it if she really lived there freely or if she was kept prisoner. In any case, getting out wasn’t really an option. Her father would never allow it. She had to be kept safe. She got that but, she was not one to follow orders too closely. She was secretly waiting for the perfect opportunity that would allow her to escape.
Words: 6.9k
Warnings: Daddy issues ? (Does it scream daddy issues ? Maybe, idk you tell me. Never said I didn’t have daddy issues tho but maybe this whole fanfic is gonna scream daddy issues at some points lol), fugue, Carl being the pure ANGEL he is (gimme back my baby pls), angst, cursing, language, survival, mentions of death, nostalgic, worrying health and undernutrition, spoilers season 7 & season 8, little season 10 spoiler hidden somewhere (if you know you know eheh)
Sitting crossed-legs on her bed, Anna was staring at the books on the shelves against the wall of her room. A room she liked to think of as a cell lately. A golden cell. She sighed. She was bored and observed absently a fucking plant put on a dresser in front of her. She had no interest in it right now. Leaning towards the edge of her bed, she put her arm under and grabbed a worn-leather diary and opened it to the very first page. June 12th, 2008. Pretty much a couple years before all this happened. She missed the good old time, and although in a way everything seemed simpler now, it was just as much crap. It was the first notebook of a kind of series, where she jotted down everything that came into her head as long as she wanted to write it down. Since primary school, Anna had accumulated an awful lot of them. Since her mother had offered her her very first diary in 2008, when she was just about 9-year-old, the one she was holding in her hands, she had taken a liking to see the evolution of her way of thinking and seeing things, from this June 12th, 2008 to now.
Sometimes, when she would re-read her old diary like this one, she would realized over and over again how much of a spoiled brat she was. To her parents she was sweet, the perfect little girl and at school, with other children, she would be incredibly bossy. A fucking little pain in the ass. In fact, it wasn’t really her fault. She just wanted to show that she had a strong character, like her father and make the latter proud. It had always been about him. She had always wanted to be her daddy's little girl. Let him be proud of her. She sought everyone’s attention because her dad was giving her attention, and therefore she wanted to impress everyone else, to make them admire her, so that she would be able to shove them away whenever she wanted. That would give her power. Her father was an example to her, not especially a good one, but still her most important one. Anna realized it now. That the only ones she could never compete with were her parents. The only ones that she admired. The only ones she had once trusted. Despite what had become of her father after the death of her mother, she could never be able to say to herself that he was a monster. It was twisted but no matter what he would do and how he would behave, she could never ever hate him. She just couldn’t.
Suddenly, someone knocked on her bedroom’s door. While keeping the old diary in her hands, she turned her head in its direction. Dwight opened the door, holding a sandwich and a closed soda can into his hands.
“I prepared you a little snack. You hungry?” Anna smiled slightly while standing up from her bed. She put the diary on it and took the sandwich and the soda can, nodding. A snack would not be refused right now.
“Thanks, Dwight.” He smiled back at her before closing Anna's door as he left. Her stomach growled. She sat down on her bed, took one of her books from the shelves on the wall and started eating while reading it. After a moment, she found herself upside down on her bed, head towards the floor and tossed the empty soda can in the air, until she eventually didn't catch it in time, and it fell on her face. She winced as she slid on the floor. “Ugh, fuck.”
She straightened up and sat on the floor, staring at the can, thoughtful. It had been a while since Dwight had came to her room to bring her food. She looked at the window. It was almost night and the sky was darkening outside. Usually, not many people were still hanging around in the halls at this hour. She stood up, grabbed a black hoodie and put it on. Putting her leather jacket over it. She pulled the hood over her head, grabbed the empty can, and left her room. It was her little night-out time. She walked through a few mazes of corridors, as discreetly as possible, before finding THE specific door that interested her and which led to the fence of the camp. The fence where the Saviors' prisoners installed the dead that had come back to life. She put her hand on the doorknob. Luckily the door wasn't closed. She stepped out onto the front steps and sat there. The walkers hadn't seen her yet. Hidden in the dim light, out of their sight, she clutched the can in her hand and tossed it over the wire mesh fence. It fell to the other side with a hollow metallic noise and rolled to the ground.
She stayed there, watching the decomposed bodies stirred around, pulling on the chains which held them to the fence, in a metallic concert. She let herself be lulled by the unpleasant sound of their frantic groans. Whenever she came to see them, she couldn’t help but think of her mother when she turned. Her rolling milky eyes, her sick pale complexion, her mouth tinged with a cold blue, and her scalp, hairless from the chemo. This image of her, tied to the bed, a plastic bag around her head. This image of her haunted Anna. She was barely 11-year-old when it happened and she still thought about it. Every single fucking day. She was taken out of her thoughts when she heard a whistle coming from inside the building. A whistle she would easily recognize among a thousand, filtered through the door ajar. She was sitting there, still, listening to the door opening behind her. Anna knew who it was. It was obvious.
“Not sleeping, huh ?” She shook her head negatively, continuing to stare at the dead. He crouched down to her left and sighed lightly. “Anna, I don't care if you come and spend time here. You can do whatever the fuck you want. But at night, uh-uh, not the best time.”
“When is it the best time then?” She breathed out, not looking at him. He knew she wasn't talking about coming here in the middle of the night anymore. He knew that she had just radically changed the subject in a single sentence. His expression grew more serious, and he took a slight breath. He stood up, spinning Lucille, vertically against the floor.
“This is no longer the time.” He motioned for her to get up. She did so and stood up before following him inside, her hands tucked into the belly pocket of her hoodie, the hood still on her head. “Your hood.”
“What my hood ?”
“Take off your hood.” She couldn't help but giggle. The big bad Negan, able to pop anyone's head without batting an eyelid, asked her to lower her hood. The world might have become a complete mess, but one had to believe that parental responsibilities remained unchanged, and annoying. She shrugged.
“It’s just a hood, dad.”
“And I’m just your father. Take that off, unless it rains inside.” She lowered her hood and bowed a little, plastering a fake smile on her lips. He was standing in front of Anna, leaning back slightly casually, Lucille in his right hand, resting on his shoulder. Now that image of him was the one everyone had and he had become the one everyone feared, respected or admired, or all three, depending on your point of view. “You better get to bed now, Anna.”
“Yeah, right. Night.” He watched her walk into her room before turning around and walk to his. Once she closed the door, Anna didn't waste time. She walked over to her bed, sat down on her knees and pulled a black backpack out from under the metal box spring. She opened it and looked inside. There were a few clothes, two books, a flashlight, and various other items scattered around inside, like a knife. She had had this backpack long before they were quietly housed at the Sanctuary. As she opened her mouth to talk to herself, she let out a yawn instead. “I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”
She closed the zipper and slid the backpack under her bed. Standing up, she let herself crash heavily on the mattress and rolled on her back. She reached over to the calendar that hung on the wall her bed was against, and draw a new line on it with a pen. This allowed her to keep the notion of time, of the years passing by. It had been almost six years already. So Anna was aabout to turn 18 in a few months now. Time was passing so quickly and so slowly at the same time. It felt awful. She then put the pen down and fell asleep, without even turning off her bedside lamp. Anna slept peacefully. It was a dreamless night. For once, it hadn't been marred by nightmares like it used to. She woke up quietly, rubbing her eyes with her fingers, surprised not to see the light on. She took a few seconds to stretch and yawned while standing up. She took off her clothes from the night before, tossed them into a corner of her bedroom, and walked over to her dresser, just wearing her underwear. She opened a drawer and put on clean clothes before tying her blond hair back into a loose ponytail. She took a box of chewing gum that was lying on a shelf, took one out and left her room. Chewing casually, she walked over to the main room and walked along the railing, watching the workers below out of the corner of her eye. She went down the stairs leading to their level and zigzagged between them, stealing a few things in the process.
The morning was already underway as she walked up the stairs, biting into an apple freshly stolen from a stall. She was surprised to see her father arrive alongside a boy around her age. She frowned. She had no idea who he was but his eye patch and hat caught her attention. Anna looked at her father holding Lucille out to the teenager and then, as he turned his head towards her, Anna acted like she wasn't coming their way and turned around to go back downstairs.
“Anna, come and greet our guest.” He smirked, and then Anna was forced to walk over to them, biting into her apple again. Without answering her father she looked at the way the boy was holding Lucille.
“Don't you know how to hold a bat or what? No, I mean, there are ways to hold Lucille.” She spat out.
“Carl, carl, carl. This is my daughter, Annabelle.” He looked at Carl's hand which was holding Lucille, then clicked his tongue several times in annoyance, shaking his head. “It's true, look how you treat Lucille. Show some goddamn respect, kid.”
He suddenly put his left hand on one of Carl's shoulders, laughing lightly. He showed the boy the workers below and banged on the railing. Everyone looked up at them and instantly knelt down. Her father smiled proudly while Carl stared in front of him with discomfort. After a little while, her father resumed left, almost dragging Carl with him. The latter brushed past Anna as he approached the stairs. She gave him a sidelong glance before throwing the core of her apple over the railing and returning to the halls of the building. While doing so, she quietly followed her father and Carl. They were going to an upstairs bedroom. She tried to listen to snatches of their conversation before turning around when she saw a Savior arriving and walking towards the bedroom. On the way back, she passed Sherry coming out of the hallway leading to Daryl's cell. She looked worried and didn't pay any attention to Anna, which was odd and unusual. She liked Anna, despite not liking her father at all. Sherry understood Anna was still just a kid and didn’t blame her for things she had nothing to do with. She hadn't seen her even though the teenage girl was literally standing in the middle of the hallway. Anna raised an eyebrow, wondering what she had been doing there and why she looked so anxious.
Engine sounds coming from outside brought Anna back to earth. She turned to the window at the end of the hall and her eyes widened. Her father and other saviors were leaving the Sanctuary at this very moment, probably heading back to Alexandria. In a rush of adrenaline, she ran to her bedroom. She changed her clothes quickly and grabbed her bag from under her bed. She wasn't wearing the most adequate outfit to escape, so she had to be quick. Anna put on the black sweatshirt from the day before, her leather jacket over it, opaque black pantyhose under a pair of torn dark jeans and black lace-up boots. She opened her bag to check its contents. There was, of course, the gun that she had stolen in the armory, a knife that belonged to her father, a blanket, a little food and ammunition that she had once again stolen and for which another Savior had taken the blame. She sighed and left her room as she passed the handle of her backpack over her shoulder.
When she entered the hallway where Daryl's cell was located, she saw that the door was ajar. She froze. Not knowing what to do, she quickly hid behind a wall and waited to see what was going to happen. After a long minute, Daryl opened the door fully, glanced down the hall, and slipped away. Anna came out of hiding and followed him silently, putting the hood of her sweatshirt over her head. She saw him enter a room and didn't immediately understand why, but when she saw two Saviors coming from the opposite direction, she looked around and in the rush, entered the same room as Daryl. All of a sudden, she felt someone put their hand over her mouth, and it took a second before she realized that it was Daryl. She moaned in surprise but her voice was muffled by his hand.
“If you scream, I kill you.” His voice was cold and firm. There was no room for arguing with him. She nodded slowly, and he released her. She caught her breath before looking at where they were. They were in Dwight's room.
“We're in Dwight's room, I don't think you'll find anything for you here-” He ignored her and searched the room. He knocked over a table, and when he realized she was still there he glared at her, giving her a death stare. She raised her hands in defence. “I want to get out too.”
“You’re not coming with me.” She clenched her fist, while refraining from raising her voice. She didn’t quite like him and he didn’t quite like her either.
“I didn’t plan on coming with you. But if you want to get the hell out of here too, you should hurry up before my father comes back.” She looked around her and saw loose clothes. Anna grabbed them and threw them at Daryl in a rush. It didn't take him too long to change as she peeked down the hall. Once changed, he moved closer to the door.
“If you're Negan's kid... why do you want to get out of here?” There was genuine curiosity in his voice. More because he was suspicious of her than because he was actually interested.
“None of your damn business. Come on, let’s move.” Anna walked out into the hallway and led Daryl to the back door, leading to where the motorcycles were parked. He walked past her. When they stepped outside she looked up and saw him aim a gun at Big Joey. The latter saw me and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Daryl shot him dead. Footsteps were heard on their left and a man with shoulder-length hair, wearing a black beanie and a long leather coat arrived in front of them.
“Daryl, we have to go.” He looked first at Daryl then at Anna when he saw her. “Who’s that ? You let her follow you ?”
“Don't be stupid, Jesus. Alright, let’s go.” Noises came from the building behind them. The two men didn't lose any more time and exited through the small back gate. Anna imitated them. Her father hadn't come home yet, and she had hopes that she could finally get out. Once outside, she ran as fast as she could to get away from the Sanctuary, even if it meant going deeper into the forest. She wanted to survive at all costs, without being trapped in a fucking ivory tower.
Anna ran for over an hour before she had to stop, totally out of breath and lost. She leaned against a tree, her hands resting on her knees, catching her breath. She breathed out and let herself cry, in the middle of this forest. In the midst of the dead. She was crying because she had just achieved something she had been planning for so long. She dropped to the ground. She was crying because she wanted to see her father again, but not the one she had left behind today. It took her a moment to fully calm down. She took a deep breath and resumed walking through the woods, hoping to find shelter while pulling out the knife she had inside her bag, just in case. She had had to kill some walkers before she hit the road again, but there was nothing she needed to worry about. Everything went fine. All she hoped for now was to never cross paths with the Saviors.
For the rest of the day, she just walked along the road. The air cooled as the sun went down and chills were rising all over her skin. As she stood a few yards from the wreckage of a car left by the side of the road, she froze when she began to hear a multitude of low groans in the distance. She looked around and realized that a horde was coming. She panicked and bent down, pressing herself against the body of the car so as not to be seen. She reached out for the handle and tried to open the car door, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt it open without any resistance. Anna slipped into the car as discreetly as possible and lodged under the glove box after closing the door. She pulled out the blanket she had put in her bag and put it on top of her to hide and prepared to wait for the horde to pass their way. She closed her eyes, convincing herself that everything was going to be just fine.
Each following day, Anna would add a line in the notebook she had taken with her and as the time passed, the page was filling up. On another hand, she was getting more and more tired. She was sleeping badly. On top of that, the most important, she was struggling to find food and drink and was using up her meager rations. After two and a half weeks, exactly 18 lines on her notebook, she managed to find an abandoned house. After making sure that there were no living dead inside, she entered. Upstairs there was a bathroom. The mirror was cracked and covered with a thick layer of dust. She ran her hand several times to get as much dust out of it as possible and after a moment, she could finally see herself a little more clearly. She approached the mirror, staring at her reflection and gently ran her hands over her face. She already had a pretty fair skin, but now her skin seemed much paler than usual. Dark circles were growing slightly under her eyes, and although it could have been worse, her face was a bit thinner. She already had a thin face and hollow cheeks naturally, so the lack of food was even more evident on her. She no longer had just hollow cheeks, but downright emaciated. She looked at her hair. A week ago, she had styled it into a braid, as tight as possible, so as not to be bothered by it, but the more time went on, the dirtier she felt. The last shower she had taken was already two weeks ago.
She rummaged through the bathroom, the bedrooms, and the remains of the rooms in this house, with the sole aim of finding a little something to eat. She had almost used up everything she had taken for food, and she had barely enough water left to rinse her face and hair and take a couple more sips. She also found a pair of broken cisors in a furniture. After rinsing her face, she undid her braid. Her light-coloured hair was greasy and dirty. She took the scissors and tried to cut her hair as straight as possible. She obtained a rather satisfactory trim, in view of the circumstances and the material available, and then, rinsed her hair. The feel of the water on her scalp did her more than good. She settled in the living room and after spending the night in the house, she left the place the next morning. Anna no longer felt afraid of the outside. She killed walkers with ease and only used her gun a few times, mostly using her knife. After another week, she reached a gas station. She smirked slightly, hoping that maybe she could find something there. She didn't really care who she crossed paths with anymore, all she wanted was food.
As soon as she got there, she entered the station to search the premises. She found the shelves emptied or littered with various leftover packages. She sighed and was alerted by noises from outside. She clearly heard voices, but she didn't know who was outside, or how many there were for that matter. She looked around, picked up her backpack from the floor and walked out the back door, clutching her gun in her hand. She zigzagged between the cars parked in front of the station and saw a man entering. She bit her lips. If she had stayed a little longer inside, the man would have seen her, and maybe even attacked her. However, she hadn't heard just one voice and knew that there was still at least one more person outside, somewhere not far from her. And that's when she saw it. This hat. She recognized it as soon as she saw it. It was the hat Carl wore when he visited the Sanctuary almost a month earlier.
Stealthily, she reached him. Coming up behind him, she pointed her gun in his direction. He felt her presence as he stopped moving. Anna didn't know if he would recognize her. He had only seen her once and at the time she was in great shape, clean and well-dressed. She was confident and arrogant. Now she was much more bony, pale and exhausted. She was no more than a shadow of herself. On edge.
“Put down your gun.” He did so, slowly. He was far too docile for her liking and she understood why when she heard the click of a gun near her ear. The man who had entered the station had visibly come out.
“Put down your gun, right now.” It took a few seconds before turning back to him, who for his part had never seen Anna before. He repeated himself, his brow furrowed. She sighed and bent down to put her weapon on the ground. When she stood up, he slid her bag down her arm, forcing her to turn around. “Who are you ?”
Her first instinct was to want to say “I'm Negan” but if she thought twice about it, that might not have been the smartest decision. Not many persons would spare anyone saying that. She had always assumed the Saviors had many enemies. She looked away, holding her back bag in her hands before looking at the man again. Carl had retrieved his gun and was looking straight at her.
“I-” Carl cut her off.
“I know who she is, dad.” The man turned his head towards him for a moment, still watching Anna out of the corner of his eye.
“How could you know who she is ?”
“I had a hard time recognizing her, but I know where I've seen her before.” He marked a pause. “At the Sanctuary.”
“Who are you ?” Carl’s father ignored my question.
“What were you doing there ?” She rolled her eyes.
“Do I need a reason to be anywhere?”
“If you were there, it is because you are part of the Saviors and no one leaves this place. So why are you out here, alone, huh ?” Anna tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear. Carl's father, whose name she still didn't know, kept staring at her suspiciously. She sighed.
“I left the Sanctuary, at the same time than someone from Alexandria. Uh, Daryl, I think.”
“Annabelle,” She looked at Carl when she heard him call her by her full name. “What happened to you ?”
“I've been outside for 25 days, it's more and more difficult to find food and I almost died two or three times, but it's fine.” Carl looked at his father. Anna glanced aside, before anyone spoke to her again.
“Dad, we can’t leave her here.” The latter then laid his gaze on her. He only half believed her and must have found her very arrogant given the position she had apparently found herself in during the previous weeks. Anna was still, pleasantly surprised at the kindness that Carl seemed to be capable of, without even really knowing her. It seemed that he didn't give too much importance to first impressions.
“What's your connection to Negan?” Carl’s father asked.
“He’s my dad.” He froze for a few seconds before looking at Carl again, shaking his head slightly.
“If Negan wants to find her, he will find her. We have bigger concerns right now. Come on.” Carl faced his father, wanting to try to convince him to help her. Anna was more than grateful to him, she really needed a shower and something to eat.
“Dad, we can’t leave her here.” He insisted. “We’re not talking about anyone.”
“That’s right, Carl. We’re talking about Negan’s daughter.” He shook his head again. While he was talking to his son, Anna had an idea. “I'm not going to take the risk of endangering everyone by bringing her back with us.”
“Wait, I could be your bargaining chip.” Anna started to feel desperate. “Please, I really need to take a shower and eat something else than beef jerky.” He looked up at her, but he didn't seem to really look at her and as he didn't respond, Anna was slightly destabilized, waiting for him to say or do something. He put his gun away and pulled out a knife from his belt. She watched him without moving, not knowing what he was planning to do with it until she heard a rattle not far behind her and saw Carl's dad come around her to stab its skull in the utmost calm, as if it were nothing.
“Alright. Let's not hang around any longer, you never know who else you might bump into.” His remark was not trivial. It was directed to Anna, to make her understand that even if he agreed to take her with them, it was more reluctantly than anything else. Anna followed them to a car.
“So, you, who are you ?” Before getting in, she looked at Carl’s father.
“Rick Grimes. Now, get in.” He walked around the car to get to the driver's seat. She sat on the backseat, keeping her backpack against her during the whole ride. They didn't have tied her hands or blindfolded her. They really had to be in a crisis. She looked at Rick as he drove. So that was him that she sometimes heard her father talk about. Rick Grimes. She had never met him before, but she obviously knew the name.
When they got to Alexandria, Anna felt everyone's gaze falling on her. Some Alexandrians closed the gate behind them as Rick pulled the car over. She watched Carl and his father walk out before seeing Rick approach her door. He opened it and grabbed her arm firmly so that she came out while keeping her under control. She put the handle of her bag back over one of her shoulders as she stepped out. Not caring about the questioning looks on them, he accompanied her to a house, followed by Carl. Daryl didn’t look like he was there otherwise Anna could be sure he wouldn’t have been pleased to see her here. Rick opened the front door and finally let go off her arm.
“The bathroom is upstairs, you can go take a shower. I'll go get some clothes for you, and then you will follow me somewhere. I don't want to keep you free, wandering around, for now.” He walked out of the house as Carl walked into the kitchen to take a quick look at the contents of the cupboards.
“I'll get something for you to eat. Go take a shower. You are safe here.” She smiled briefly at him as she went upstairs, keeping her bag with her. Anna opened the bathroom door and put it next to it. She took off her jacket and top, letting them fall to the floor. Suddenly, she heard the door open behind me, and she whirled around.
“My father brought you the clothes,” He froze and turned his head, handing her clothes. “Sorry.”
Anna smiled, holding back from laughing, he had almost instantly turned peony red when he saw her from behind. Luckily he hadn't seen me her from the front, he hadn't seen the beautiful prominent ribs. She still had to face him to retrieve the clothes he handed her but she didn’t care, she was wearing a bra. He looked back at her and a glimmer of concern passed in his left eye.
“Anna-”
“I’m fine, Carl.”
He looked her in the eyes before looking down, nodding, and leaving her alone in the bathroom. She put the clean clothes on the edge of the sink, finishing undressing before taking a good shower. She let the hot water run over her skin. She shivered slightly and for a moment she no longer felt tired or hungry. She genuinely felt good. She took her time, washing her body, rubbing her scalp almost raw to be sure to remove all the grime. Chills ran all over her skin as she stepped out of the shower. She put on her underwear and the clothes that Carl had given her earlier. It was just a simple black tank top, a checkered shirt and plain jeans, but the feeling of the fresh fabrics caressing her clean skin was a nicer feeling than she expected it to be. She stuffed her leather jacket into her bag, put on her black boots and walked out of the bathroom, holding her backpack by the handle. Anna walked downstairs. Rick was standing next to a woman with hair styled in thick brown dreadlocks who stared at her. Rick came up to her.
“Give me all the weapons you have in your bag.” Anna opened her bag and handed her gun and knife to him. He retrieved the weapons one after the other and when he took the handle of the knife in his hand, his gaze fell on something engraved on it. He shifted his thumb. Negan S. was the something engraved on the knife’s handle. He quickly looked up at Anna after seeing it and kept his gaze on her while handing the gun to the woman. She took it. “We’ll keep this.”
“What about my knife ? Can I have it back ?”
“I’m gonna keep it, better not for the owner to found it here. Alright, follow me, Anna.” He wasn’t as threatening as back at the gas station. Anna didn’t argue and followed him. They went onto the street, walked past a couple of other houses and made their way to a black gate that opened onto an outside staircase leading to a basement. As Rick motioned for Anna to come down first, she saw a figure approaching them quickly. She turned her head and recognized Daryl.
“First Dwight and now Negan's kid?” He sounded pretty pissed off. He stopped in front of Rick, giving Anna a look. She frowned.
“I got a name, dickhead.” Rick glanced at her but didn’t even comment.
“Yeah,” Daryl mumbled. “Who gives a shit.”
“Daryl, we’re gonna keep her here.” He pointed to the door at the bottom of the stairs. “As a bargaining chip, just in case.”
“Yeah, but watch out kid, if anything happens because of you, I'll kill you.” He gave Anna a death stare but she just looked bored by his demeanour. Daryl walked away and Rick gave Anna a slight push to get down the stairs. He then opened the door to the basement and let her inside. He left the door open behind them, pulling out a key to unlock a cell and motioned for her to get inside.
“We'll get you something to eat in a little while, until then, keep quiet.” Rick then walked out of the basement and closed the door behind him, plunging the girl into the silence.
She looked around slowly. It was a simple room, not very large, with stone walls. On the floor behind her was a thin mattress, a blanket and a rectangle flattened pillow. Light filtered through a skylight at the top of the wall to her left. She sank onto the mattress with a sigh, pulling her bag closer to her. There was not much left inside it now that she had had to give her weapons to Rick and get rid of her old clothes. There remained her jacket, her notebook, a few crumpled sheets of paper, her blanket and an empty tin can as well as a crushed water bottle. Anna took out the tin can and the bottle, taking up space in her bag for nothing. She threw them in a corner of the cell. She took out her notebook and leafed through it until she came to the page that contained all the lines she had drawn. She searched her bag for her pencil, but its lead was broken. With a sigh, she grabbed her bag and threw it against the cell door in front of her.
Anna tilted her head and grabbed her pendant in her hands. She opened the chain clasp, and placed the necklace in the palm of her right hand, opening the pendant. Inside were two photos, on each side. On the left side, there was a photo of her parents at their wedding. A small baby bump started to loom under her mother’s dress and a bright smile extended the corners of her pink lips. My father stood to her right, dressed in a black and white suit. It was a change from the leather jacket he was constantly wearing nowadays. Anna's gaze fell on her father's face, who was smiling. He had nothing to do with today's Negan. He didn't look so threatening, and yet he was already a hot-tempered man back then. In the photo, he looked so harmless and calm. She looked at the other photo, on the right side. On the latter, Anna was already 6 years old. Her father was carrying her on his shoulders. She let out a sad chuckle. She remembered that day. She was playing in the garden and after getting tired of doing so, wanted to catch a fruit that was hanging from the apple tree. Unsuccessful, her parents got out of the house and her father, who is a very tall man, had taken her on his shoulders so that she could reach the branches of the tree. Her mother wasn’t in the picture because she was the one taking it.
An involuntary tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it off with the back of her hand. Anna knew that the trigger, the thing that had completely changed him, was her mother's death. And she knew she was more important to him than anyone, that her life was worth a thousand times that of one of his lieutenants. If she died, the last spark of goodness and humanity that were still somewhere in her father would die with her. He would become a real monster, worse than now. The teenager was feeling bad for leaving the Sanctuary overnight, but she wanted to try and help the other survivors. She wanted to try to change her father. She wanted to find the father she could see in these photos inside her necklace. She jumped slightly at the sound of the basement door opening and reflexively closed the pendant of her necklace. She looked up and saw Carl standing there.
“I thought you might be bored, staying here all alone, so, I brought you these.” She put her necklace back around her neck as she stood up and walked over to Carl to grab what he was holding out to her. He held two comics in his hands, and passed them through one of the spaces in the cell grid. She smiled at him as she took them.
“Thanks. That’s nice of you.” She looked at the comics' cover pages then looked up at Carl. “I had similar ones at the Sanctuary.”
“Really ?”
“Yeah. Dwight used to bring me comics whenever he would find some.” A sad smile spread across her face and then Daryl's words, mentionning Dwight, came back to her mind. “Dwight came here ?”
“Uh, yes. He was among the ones who came with Negan to collect stuff.”
“No, I know. I mean… did he already come here ?” Anna gestured to the cell she was in. He nodded, following her hand with his gaze.
“Oh, I see. Yes, he ended up here not too long ago, actually. He had given us information about the Saviors”
“What for ?”
“To help us defeat the Saviors, and therefore your dad.” She didn't seem surprised. She knew that some people wanted him dead. It was hardly something surprising. He opened his mouth to pursue. “We're going to assault the Sanctuary soon. We've already made a plan and collected enough guns.”
“When is the assault planned ?”
“Tomorrow.” Anna looked away for a second, then returned her gaze to Carl. She opened her mouth to speak in turn, but was cut off by the sound of the door opening again. Rick appeared in the basement.
“Carl, what are you doing here ?” He looked at her and the comics she was holding in her hands. They answered his question on their own. “Can you leave us, please ?”
Carl nodded slightly, giving Anna a look before stepping outside. Rick opened the cell gate and stood in front of her, a hand resting on the weapon at his belt. She saw the handle of her knife, also at his belt, but slightly hidden by the shirt Rick was wearing.
“We're going to storm the Sanctuary. You better get as much sleep as you can tonight, because I'm taking you with us.” She had a blank face, but her eyes had widened slightly. She had run away from the Sanctuary, and she felt oddly happy to be able to return there. Rick turned and stretched his arm out to the side, as if to grab something. He then handed Anna a plate. “Eat and rest. Everything will happen very quickly tomorrow.”
She took the plate and looked at the food. As Rick closed the cell again and walked away, she didn't hesitate to sit down on the thin mattress and devour her meal. It wasn't much, but she felt full afterwards. She hadn't eaten a real meal for several weeks. She stayed there, sitting and yawning for long minutes before finally falling asleep. She was awakened in the middlef of the night, by the sound of something falling to the floor. She straightened up with a start and narrowed her eyes, looking around to see where the noise was coming from.
Looking up, she saw the small window overlooking the street, ajar. Anna stood up, wondering why she was open, and stepped forward until her foot stumbled against something that went off and hit the wall. There was a metallic sound that echoed through the whole room. She winced, fearing she had made way too much noise, but it was actually fine. The moonlight shone a blade and Anna gasped quietly, rushing to take the object in her hands. It was her knife. Her father’s knife. She ran her fingers over the engraving of her father's name on the handle before retrieving her bag, still in a corner of the cell after she had thrown it there a few hours before, and shoved it inside. She was willing to bet that Carl had something to do with this. She glanced outside. It was calm. Everyone must have been still sleeping. She hit the skylight shut and went back to bed.
