AN: I don't own anything from The Walking Dead. I'm just a fan of the drama and characters. I shouldn't have to tell you I was inspired by "Mother of the Apocalypse" by-AJealousSoulsLullaby, it starts off in season 1, I start off in season 2 (because I really don't think I can start from there and accidently do a complete rip off of their work.) Its cannon, for the most part, except for a few changes that will affect the story later on. Lori is Leon, Rick is Rachel, Daryl is Daryl (Drools). Right now I'm just putting up one chapter to see if I get any favourites/followers, and if you want I can continue writing it. Leave a review if you have any questions and I'll answer them as best I can, Flamers will be taken into consideration (If they make a valid point.) Thank you for reading!~ X)

TWD Chapter 1

Rachel watched her husband with a slight smile, a memory resurfacing. It was a little hard to believe how much she loved him, even after all these years.

Still driving, he caught the look and smirked, "What?"

In the back Carol seen the exchange of looks between the loving couple and envied them, wishing her marriage had been more like theirs instead of the abusive fear filled memory she wished she could forget.

"I was just thinking about the time we tried to take Carl to the Grand Canon…" He involuntarily snorted, his wife sharing the laugh as well.

"We went to the Grand Canon? I don't remember that." Their son piped up.

"Yeah, you wouldn't… you were just a baby. Side's we never did get to see it." She drew her husband's unoccupied hand into hers, intertwining their fingers.

"Why not?"

"You got sick, your mother tried to kick my ass for not driving fast enough to the closest hospital." Leon grinned at her. "You drove slower than Miss Daisy." Rachel quipped right back, making Carol cover her mouth in a light giggle while the kids looked back and forth between them confused, who's Miss Daisy?

"I never knew a baby could throw up so much!" Carl's father continued,

"Doctor in Texas said you were alright, so we turned around and drove straight home." They finished with a light squeeze of their hands, the look they shared with each other was complete and pure love.

"Well that sucks." Carl frowned, making all of them laugh.

"No, my boy… it was a good trip."

"Can we go?" Sophia innocently asked, leaning comfortably into her mother's side.

"We'd never go without you and your momma, that's a promise."

Shane worked mechanically, his hands cleaning the guns and taking them apart with great expertise. Unaware of the look of complete awe he was getting from Andrea.

Every attempt at focusing on something else was always in vain though, his mind would always wander back to her, his partner, best friend, their fearless leader… the one that got away.

Rachel Grimes

It was your typical story, first childhood friends, best friends, high school sweethearts, than before you knew it-they weren't anything but best friends. And that was all because of super-nice-guy Leon, the nerd that no one paid attention to in high school, including the man's present wife. It was between the time they broke up, they always had an on-and-off relationship. Shane had unknowingly given the overweight nerd the opportunity to move in on his woman. At first he was okay with the relationship, shrugging it off as nothing more than the girl going for the rebound, than they graduated… and Leon was quick to propose to her, claiming her legally and making her completely out of his reach.

That's when he realized she was never coming back. The sneaky little bastard had wormed his way into their relationship taking what was his. Not long after that Carl was born, making Rachel even more unattainable. It was his life he was living, a family that should've been his.

Although…

Everything couldn't be completely Leon's fault, he might've also had a hand in her leaving. It was just for fun -at first- breaking up with Rachel, than messing around with the new girl that was on his hit'n'ditch list. Shane always silently promised himself that the current girl would be the last, that he would go back to Rachel and give up his lecherous ways, until a new set of brown eyes and wide hips would make themselves known. Even with everything he's put her through, she was always quick to forgive him, writing them off as "Shane's ways".

Even when they were partnered up at the station, she bore him no ill-will. In the end, Rachel chose to forgive him and keep their friendship instead of being petty and upset over a relationship they both knew should never have happened… or at least, she knew that should never have happened.

"Looks complicated." Andrea finally spoke, after a few minutes of silence.

He blinked, not realizing how deep in thought he was.

"Uh… yeah, at first it is… if you want I can clean yours."

She smiled, the first time since Amy had died. "Could you show me how to do that?"

"Sure."

While the two talked in the back both Glenn and Dale frowned in displeasure at the sight of the road, abandoned car's littered the interstate.

"Maybe we could head back and-"

"not enough gas." The old man said,

Daryl, their crossbow wielding, motorcycle riding, bad mouthed hunter rode up next to the RV signalling them to follow.

After carefully swerving around car after car, Dale and Glenn practically jumped in surprise at the spew of exhaust that shot out of the front. "Damn! I know this would happen." Dale groaned, pulled over, and proceeded to stride into the back of the mobile home to fetch his tools while everyone else gathered onto the cluttered highway.

Nobody noticed the slight tension that sparked once both Shane and Leon made eye contact… nobody except Daryl, who scoffed at their pathetic attempts to stare the other down. Fighting over women was dumb -he thought- learning from personal experience himself. Both parties always lost.

"What's wrong?" the much fought over Rachel Grimes casually strode over, rifle in hand, posture straight with analyzing blue eyes.

"Radiator hose gave out…" Glenn answered.

Maybe in the beginning, before he knew she was married, Daryl had considered the woman stunning. But that thought was quickly tossed when Leon had claimed her as his wife. Well… the word 'claimed' didn't really suit her, more like, she chose him and officially wrote herself off the menu-sort a speak-. The dazing Dixon shook his head, these people were really starting to affect him, none of these people mattered to him. He was just here because there was no other place for him since Merle disappeared. Getting caught up in the stupid squabbles wasn't any of his business.

So, with one last scornful glare at the ground he turned and began searching through the closest car, letting them know they could do more than stand around doing nothing. "We can scavenge from these cars!"

"Siphon more fuel, look for food." Why were they still standing around? He had already found a baggy of trail mix and half a bottle of water.

"This is a graveyard." Leon stated plainly, making every single one of them look down guilty at the ground.

He figured him for that type, the type that thinks too much on sentimentality. No one answered of course, probably too ashamed to admit the man was right.

"I don't know how to feel about this." He gazed at his wife, who looked back with sympathy; he always did wear his heart on his sleeve. It was one of the many reason's she loved him.

"I know baby…" she murmured into his shoulder,

Everyone knew their jobs and immediately set out to do it. Rachel was on watch on the ground with Dale watching from the roof of the RV who had Glenn learn about the interior of the RV's engine, Shane scavenged, Daryl and T-dog siphoned gas from the vehicles, Andrea was inside the mobile home doing-lord knows what, while Carol and Leon watched both the kids and searched the cars.

Ever since Leon's 'accident' he was never able to actually help physically. His missing leg limited his abilities of contributing properly with the group. Most of the time he was put on watch, helping Carol do laundry or cook, or even just teaching the kids things they'd learn in school-much to their dismay.

His wife had forbidden him from going out on runs, every attempt was thwarted with her giving him that 'look' he had come to fear/hate. It was obvious who wore the pants in the relationship. Before this he was able to support his family, money-wise. Keep them happy and healthy… and then the apocalypse began, rendering him completely useless especially after that walker had snuck up on him in the woods near Atlanta.

"Dad you need help?" Carl gazed up into his father's wide eyes, pride hurt by the innocent request, But Leon merely grinned, pushing the annoyance of being useless to the back of his mind and shook his head "I'm fine son. It's just this crutch is really digging into my side now." it wasn't a lie, it was uncovered and practically sticking painfully in his rib cage, but his boy didn't need to know the uncomfortable details.

When he tried to scurry off ahead Carl was stopped by his dad's hand on his shoulder. "Always within my sight."

"Sophia same goes for you." Carol added,

They both nodded.

The summer sun beat down hard onto the hard working group, Georgia's air hot and slightly burning to the skin.

Rachel's only form of shade was her deputy sheriff hat. It wasn't much, but it was something. She looked up at Dale who had risen his binoculars with a look of concentration. Immediately, she peered down the sights of her rifle watching for any movement, her breath caught in her throat at the patchy head of a walker as it shambled its way towards them. For a moment she contemplated on shooting it, when another head shuffled behind it, than another. Soon a swarm of heads were clumsily making their way on the road in their direction.

A herd.

Panicked filled her, as she took off running, warning the rest of the group in an urgent whisper. "Get under the cars! Walkers!"

All eyes were wide as they raced for hiding places, Shane quickly grabbing the petrified Glenn. Leon tried to calm a whimpering Carol as she realized her daughter was by herself, under a car, alone. Instinctively, Rachel had gotten a hold of her son and practically shoved him under the closest vehicle, throwing herself down and rolling in next to him.

At this point it was every man for himself.

T-dog crouched warily beside a car, searching for any hiding places. He leaned heavily unto a car door, it broke beneath his weight making him fall and his arm be caught on a sharp piece of metal. In surprise T-dog pulled his arm right to his chest, biting back a wail of agony as an excruciating amount of pain rippled across him.

Blood squirted from the large cut, his front shirt turned red within seconds. At seeing his own blood, he stumbled backwards, away from the oncoming horde. Fear filling him at the thought of their keen noses catching a whiff of him, catching him, than eating and ripping his innards out from his body.

Carol watched through blurred eyes. Her daughter's form under the large minivan was as rigid as a board, tears were streaking down her face, her lips silently mouthing the words "mom". She wanted nothing more than to rip herself from Leon's hold and race to her daughter's side, take her away to safety. But the ever commanding Grimes woman would send her a look.

They made eyes contact again, one pleading, the other hard with a glare demanding she stay in place. Rachel pressed her finger to her lips in a shushing signalling for Carol to remain quiet.

Time passed by excruciatingly slow, walkers shuffling feet and moans were the only things Rachel could hear. That, and her son's raggedly quiet breaths. Shifting ever so carefully, she turned to get a look to the other survivors. Both Shane and Glenn stared at her from under their vehicle, all the way on the edge of the highway.

Her partner was calm and collected while Glenn… not so much. Those wide terror stricken eyes were visible even at this distance. He looked like he wanted to run, body straight and prepared to run at a moments notice.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the sight of clumsy tattered shoes were no more.

Feeling a little relieved, and eager, Sophia quickly slide to the edge of her hiding spot, not paying attention to the last two straying walkers behind.

"Ahh!"

Rachel's head whipped in the direction of the soft scream. Her mind reeling at the sight of Sophia desperately trying to inch away from the reaching hands of a hungry monster. Telling Carl to go to his fathers side, she rolled out from under the car and took off after the girl as she raced into the woods, the two walkers dead on her heels.

"I left her right here. Told her if I didn't come back in time to go off into that direction-" she pointed to where she knew where the highway was. "and keep the sun on her left shoulder!"

The three men searched the area, hopefully the girl was hiding in a spot they overlooked, she wasn't.

"A girl being chased by walkers? Scared, tired, hungry, makes me wonder how much of what you said stuck." Shane contradicted,

"Naw, there's her tracks here. She did what you said and took off towards the highway." Daryl offered, throwing a glare towards her partner.

"She's probably scared and hid in a bush somewhere." Glenn added hopefully.

They followed the tiny tracks with renewed diligence.

"She stopped, and took off to the right." Their tracker spoke, pointing in the direction of where she ran.

"Pro'ly got spooked. Saw something an ran."

Sun was high above, Rachel had to guess that they were out there for a good hour or so, people would start to get anxious if they were all out there for too long. "Shane, take Glenn and head back to the interstate-"

"What?!" he shouted.

"We all can't be out here for too long, I'll take Daryl and keep searching. You and Glenn head back and make sure the group stays calm. Give em chore's, take their minds off it for a while. Just make sure their busy." He seemed like he wanted to protest when she gave him a hard stare. That same stare he helped her develop when they were kids, to show people she wasn't to be messed with, and to show her stubbornness.

"Alright…" he gave Daryl one look of warning -which the redneck scoffed at- and did as he was told.

"You know I'mma punch that boyfriend a'yours in the face if he keeps given me those looks." When he spoke, Rachel blinked a few times in surprise, she never expected him to willingly start a conversation. Than the realization of what he said struck her.

"I'm married, Daryl…"

"Don'stop him from acting like he owns you." Where was this conversation heading?

"He's just like that, been like that ever since we were young." She defended.

As observant as she was, Shane seemed to be the only one in her blind spot, Daryl noticed. It would be a troublesome trait for her further down the line. Not like he cared though…

"Shane! Shane!" at hearing his name called he looked up to find Carl, the brightest grin he's seen the boy wear in a while. "Look what I found!" he excitedly dropped the black leather wrap he carried, it clattered, like metal scraping against metal. "It's an arsenal!"

Machetes, hatchets, everything they would need for silent killing the walkers. But Shane just continued to bang around under the hood of the Hyundai he was working on, not sparing the boy a glance. "That's cool bud, now go give'em to Dale."

"Carl! Are you alright?" the boy's father lumbered towards them, his eyes widening at the weapon his son swung so casually around. "Hey! That isn't a toy, put it down!"

"Can I keep one?"

"Are you crazy?!" with a pout, Carl handed the hatchet to him. The boy let out an annoyed whine before turning to the other man. "Shane can you please talk my dad into letting me keep one?" at this, he turned to give the boy an intimidating glare.

"What I say? Go take them all to Dale now!"

Leon handed the bag of weapons to Carl, a silent fury raging in his eyes directed at the other male. "You don't talk to my boy that way." he hissed.

Not wanting to fight Shane continued to work on the car, ignoring the disabled man's viscous looks. If they got into with one another, no doubt the old cop would win.

Once they had came back, with no Sophia, Rachel knew she would immediately be the butt of the woman's anger. Especially with her being the one to leave her out there in the first place. The brunette tried reasoning with her, saying she had no other choice, but Carol would hear none of it and continued to bash her.

She could imagine her pain, the thought of losing Carl in the woods scared her. How could she deal with something that heart wrenchingly cruel? And her answer was... she couldn't, "We'll fine your daughter." Rachel Grimes had never felt so strongly in keeping a promise.

Night went by with little sleep, Carol cries kept everyone from sleeping. And when morning came around there was not a single tired face, looked like everyone was as determined to find Sophia as much as she was.

Plan was simple, Dale and T-dog would stay behind and keep an eye on things, Dale would have the RV up and running by the time they got back. Everyone else would be out, looking in the woods for Carol's daughter. At first Rachel was against having Carl tag along, saying he was too young, he might get hurt. But one persuasive talk from her husband and she allowed him, under certain conditions of course.

Unfortunately the first two locations were a bust. A tent in the middle of the woods with only a dead man inside it, half his head blown clean off, and no Sophia.

The next was a church in a clearing, bells ringing loudly from it. A number of walkers had occupied the inside, ardent god worshipers who died in their sits. There was still no Sophia.

After a while their searched left them famished, Rachel had thought it was best to split up while she and Shane hunted for food, the rest continuing on. There was a bit of complaining from her husband, how he wouldn't mind going instead of Shane, but that idea was quickly dashed with her one look. He just wasn't quite use to his missing leg yet, it would be a problem if they had to run from walkers. Than Carl volunteered, she was going to dash that idea as well if Leon hadn't said. "He'll never learn how to respect a weapon if you keep sheltering him." taking her by surprise. It was true, her over protective behavior had escalated after the visit to the CDC. Her son's life almost gone in the blink of an eye, the thought was scary even now. But, she realized, he would never be able to defend himself from walkers if she kept coddling him.

Their trek in the woods was cramped and slow, mostly due to Rachel's distracted mind of watching the woods and watching her son. And although she was aware of her surrounding's, she just couldn't stop her wary glances she'd throw to Carl every few seconds. Shane was about to say a word to the woman's overbearing behavior, ready to risk any animals in the vicinity, when a crack of a twig stalled their movements.

Rachel was up ahead, scouring the area for any walkers when her eyes landed on a brown preoccupied buck.

From the way it was casually eating they guessed it hadn't seen them yet. Shane eagerly rose the gun in his hands, ready to claim the prize as theirs when his partner placed a hand on his forearm stopping all movements. He looked up curiously at her when she pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to the awestruck Carl. The boy's eye were large with a look of wonder. He had never seen a deer that close up before.

A sense of pride washed over Rachel as she witnessed the spiritual moment, unknowingly squeezing Shane's forearm. It took all self-restraint for the distracted ex-cop not to reach out and kiss her.

But the moment was ruined when a thunderous clap broke out across the woods. His mother watched with horror as the deer went down, taking Carl along with it.

"CARL!"