AN: My newest Brick fic! This was takes place in the zombies apocalypse but is AU from episode one onwards. We start at the end of Season 2, when the Greene farm falls to a horde. I hope you all enjoy my newest Brick fic! :D I have no end game yet for this fic... so hopefully you stick around to see where this goes!

Warnings: This story will eventually have an extreme age gap romance. It's a slow burn (well, as slow burn as I can get, which is probably normal for other writers) Beth will at least be 17 when the romance starts put Beth pines from the beginning. So please avoid if either squicks you!

Summary: Rick never meets up with the others in Atlanta, he waits for Morgan and Duane before heading to Atlanta and therefore never runs into Glenn. Consequently, Shane and Co head for Fort Benning and, while still losing Sophia, Carl never gets shot so they never find the Greene's. But, the Greene farm is still overrun by a passing herd. Beth and Jimmy escape and when all seems lost, they run into Rick Grimes.

Rabbit Heart

Chapter One

The day was beautiful, winter was fast approaching but today the weather was warm with the slightest crisp of fall in the air, the sun was shining and leaves were beginning to take on a red-orange tint. It was entirely unfair, Beth thought, that the day be so beautiful when the world was so awful.

"Beth, keep up." Jimmy hissed over his shoulder.

She rubbed at her red rimmed eyes and continued her trudge behind Jimmy. The blue Taurus had run out of gas an hour ago and they were now walking down a county road loosely in the direction of some Atlanta suburb where Jimmy supposedly had an uncle living. Jimmy was sure they could find shelter and food but Beth wondered what the point of trying was. Her family's farm had been overrun by the infected, Patricia had been ripped right out of her arms by three infected and Jimmy had to drag her away while Otis attacked the man that tore into Patricia's shoulder with his teeth. Jimmy had thrown her into the backseat of the car and drove away frantically not even waiting for Otis or anyone else. Beth wept in the backseat lying on her side curled in a ball for a long time before shaking herself coherent enough to scream at Jimmy for abandoning the others. She had no idea if her father or sister were alive, or if Otis rescued Patricia. Jimmy refused to turn around and go back to the farm, he stated that there had been too many infected and they couldn't be stopped, not when Otis fired rounds into them, they just kept coming un-phased. The infected were worse than her father had told them and she had lost her entire family in one night. She didn't see the point of even trying to survive but Jimmy seemed determined so she followed along numbly.

Beth was ripped from her miserable musing when she nearly ran into Jimmy. He had stopped suddenly and Beth was staring at the ground and barely missed running into the duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Jimmy glared over his shoulder at her before gesturing to two infected along the side of the road. They hadn't noticed Beth and Jimmy yet, they were kneeling over some sort of carcass eating and Beth felt nauseous at the sight.

Jimmy brandished his bat, their only weapon, and slowly approached them. "Jimmy! What are you doing?" Beth hissed in a whisper. He ignored her. He swung the bat into the first one's head and it knocked clean off. Beth shrieked as the head rolled to a stop but the mouth and eyes of the infected kept snarling.

The second infected rose to attack Jimmy and his next swing connected with its upper arm. The crack of bones and flesh breaking was audible but it just kept reaching for Jimmy and Jimmy panicked and dropped the bat while trying to avoid its grasp. Beth screamed as the infected grabbed Jimmy's arm and attempted to bite while Jimmy shoved at its chest.

A shot rang out. The infected collapsed as a bullet ripped through its head and Jimmy scrambled back from the now still corpse. Beth looked up to see a man in a police uniform holding a rifle about twenty yards away. He lowered the gun and started walking towards them and Beth noticed he wasn't alone. He was with another man and a young kid, about twelve years old, the man had gun as well. "You two all right?" The man in uniform asked.

"Either of you bit?" the other man asked, he seemed more wary than the first man.

"N-no, he only grabbed me." Jimmy responded. He picked up his bat and dropped duffle and turned to greet the approaching group. Beth stayed rooted to her spot not wanting to get any closer to the dead infected or the new strangers.

"What about scratched? Did it break your skin?" the wary man asked again.

They reached Jimmy by then and the officer studied Jimmy intently. "I don't see any rips or blood." He commented to the man with him. "My name is Rick Grimes," the first man introduced himself. He was now close enough that Beth could see that his brown uniform was for the sheriff's department of King County. "And this is Morgan Jones and his son Duane." The other two nodded and the young boy seemed excited to see other people but his father kept a protective arm on his shoulder.

"I'm Jimmy, this is Beth." Jimmy nodded towards her and Rick's attention shifted to her.

"You okay Beth?" Rick asked. Beth shook her head no, because how could she be okay? She lost her family and infected people were trying to eat her. "Are you injured?" He asked. He approached her slowly, as if she was skittish horse, and stopped a few paces away. "It's going to be okay, you're safe now." His voice was soothing and calm and his startling blue eyes held hers intently and she did begin to feel safer. Safer than she did with just Jimmy.

He placed a hesitant hand on her shoulder and began to lead her back to Jimmy and Morgan. "Now what are you two kids doing out here by yourselves?" Rick asked.

"We're headed towards Atlanta, I've got an uncle in Riverdale."

"Towards Atlanta? That's a suicide trip." Morgan shook his head.

Beth shot a fierce glare at Jimmy before finally speaking, "We were on my Daddy's farm and it was… it was overrun by…" Beth gestured at the recently dead infected at their feet, "And we abandoned my family." She ended angrily.

"Beth, you saw what those things did to Patricia. I got us out of there. We're alive thanks to me." Beth felt tears pricking at her eyes again and turned her back of the group to try to calm down.

"Okay, let's settle down here. You kids are welcome to continue on your way, but I warn ya, Atlanta is full of walkers. If your Uncle was there its likely he left or he's dead. Or, you can come with us."

"Walkers?" Beth asked curiously, she turned back around and wiped at the few tear that had escaped.

"It's what we're callin' 'em, the walking dead." Morgan responded and kicked at one of the corpses at his feet. "You can only stop 'em with a blow or shot to the head, or else they just keep comin'."

"But we thought they were just infected… they're dead?" Jimmy asked shakily.

"I'm guessin' you two have been pretty sheltered so far," Morgan replied dryly.

"When we were in Atlanta, we stopped at the CDC… suffice to say, you get bit, you die, you come back as one of them. There's no cure." Rick told them.

Beth nodded miserably. So her mother and Shawn were truly lost to her, and her father and Maggie could be too. "Where… where are you guys headin'?" Beth asked hesitantly.

"Nowhere specific. We're looking for other survivors. I've got a wife and son out there somewhere." Rick responded.

"We were raiding that house over there for supplies when we heard you scream." Morgan gestured back to a house not too far away from the road. "We're low on gas and food."

"Thank you for the offer, but we'll keep going towards the city." said Jimmy.

Beth's head snapped back in his direction with disbelief, "What?"

"Beth, my uncle is one of those survivor types. We'll be fine."

"Fine? Are you crazy? We are so not fine out here!" she felt her voice rising as her hysteria rose. "I don't want to go anywhere with you!"

Jimmy's expression turned angry, "if it weren't for me you'd be dead!"

"Well, at least I'd be with my family!" Beth yelled back.

"Whoa, okay, calm down." Rick stepped in between them, Jimmy's face was angrier that Beth had ever seen but she wasn't backing down. These people were armed, prepared and could handle themselves and Jimmy wanted to leave them? No chance. "Now why don't we go back to that house over there, and we can discuss this calmly?"

Beth nodded and Jimmy agreed reluctantly. Rick led the group back towards the house and the young kid, Duane, fell in step with her.

Beth studied Rick as he and Morgan spoke with Jimmy. Rick was very good looking for a man so much older than her. He had blue eyes, brown hair, a very attractive face, but he also had something else, a confidence and charisma that Beth felt drawn to. Plus, his story relayed to her by the friendly and talkative Duane tugged at her heartstrings. He woke up from a coma in a hospital after the world had fallen, he had no clue what was happening until he met Morgan, and now he was on a quest to find his son. And wife. Beth couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit jealous of his wife. Jealous of the devotion that Rick felt for her, Beth had never experienced anything like that in her short life. If Jimmy hadn't been working on her daddy's farm for extra cash Beth never would have tried to seek him out after her mama and brother were bit.

Jimmy must have finally seen reason after talking with Rick and Morgan. He sulked as he walked back to her and took a seat next to her at the table she and Duane were sitting at.

"Mr. Grimes?" Beth spoke up hesitantly as Rick and Morgan walked up as well.

"Please, call me Rick," He said and smiled at her encouragingly.

"Um, okay, Rick," Beth paused, her daddy had always taught her to treat adults with respect so it felt weird to her to address someone she didn't know so casually. "Could we… could we go back to my family's farm?" Rick didn't answer right away so Beth forged on, "You see, we have an orchard and a vegetable garden, and we have extra fuel stored for the farming equipment. Even if… even if no one is there it'd still be a good place to stop for supplies." Beth was proud of her argument.

Rick, who was leagues more tolerable than Jimmy, nodded at her words. "You make a strong case. But you said it was swarmed over by walkers, right?"

"It was… but if we know, going in, we can sneak in, or something." Beth fumbled.

Rick glanced over at Morgan, who shrugged back at him. "How about this, we stay the rest of the day here, keep clearing houses in the area for supplies, and tomorrow we head back to your farm?" Rick suggested.

Beth nodded eagerly, "Thank you sir—Rick-thank you!" She beamed up at him.

There were still walkers on the farm.

Not in the great quantity that had swarmed the grounds a few days ago, but just a few stragglers. The main herd must have kept moving, pursuing either Beth and Jimmy or perhaps anyone else who survived. Morgan declined to come until Rick gave an 'all clear' so he and Duane were in the Jeep about half a mile down the drive, parked with a truck that Rick had taken from one of the farms they had scavenged the day before. Rick, taking extra precautions, had also made Beth and Jimmy wear clothes of walkers over their own clothes, they stank something horrible all covered in decaying flesh, blood and other unidentifiable substances. Beth had thrown up after putting the clothing on, but Rick had a theory that the walkers would be slower to detect them and since they were heading into an area possibly crawling with walkers Beth agreed with his plan. Jimmy had whined a bit (while turning a shade of green) before going along after Rick told him he could stay behind with Morgan and Duane. Jimmy said he wouldn't leave Beth alone but Beth kind of wished he would. Jimmy was refusing to leave her alone with these unknown people but Beth thought he was being ridiculous: Rick was a cop, Duane was a kid, and Morgan was an overprotective father.

The three of them walked across the farm slowly towards the farmhouse. Beth could see about five walkers spread out, wandering slowly and aimlessly, they all seemed to be missing limbs. How had they all been so stupid to think that they were still people? Beth felt tears pricking her eyes but she did her best to suppress them. The barn looked untouched. Beth could see the heavy chains still on the doors keeping her family and neighbors locked in. The chicken coop fencing had been torn into, there were no chickens left, just blood and feathers. She paused for a moment, mourning the dead chickens and the unknown fate of the rest of her family. Beth had no desire to investigate the few bloody corpses that scattered the grounds, she didn't want to see Patricia like that, and she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it if she saw her daddy or Maggie as a lifeless corpse or shambling as a walker.

Beth felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder and she jumped slightly, startled. She looked up expecting to see Jimmy but Rick looked down at her with sad, blue eyes. He squeezed her shoulder to comfort her before speaking, "I'm sorry Beth."

Beth nodded. It had been a silly hope that her daddy or sister would miraculously be here, one born from a silly girl. Of course no one was around. There had been hundreds of walkers emerging from the woods, if anyone else survived they did it by not sticking around. If. Just thinking the word stung Beth. If. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her tears were still pricking at her eyes and a single traitorous tear leaked out and ran down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly with her fingers.

"There's… there was fuel for the tractors and cars in the stable. A couple of 20 gallon containers. And… and I think some of the vegetables will be salvageable." Beth gestured weakly towards the garden not far away.

Rick nodded and moved away. Beth immediately missed the comforting weight and warmth of his hand. They moved as quickly as they dared to not set off the wandering walkers. Rick killed one with a hunting knife that curiously wandered too close as Beth and Jimmy stuffed two duffel bags with everything from the garden that was edible.

They then slowly trekked to the stable. The horses were gone, Beth hoped they had run away and hadn't been a meal. But the fuel storage was untouched so Rick called Morgan over the walkie-talkie and five minutes later Morgan's jeep rumbled onto the scene. The fuel was quickly loaded, the noise of the vehicle was bringing the shambling walkers their way, but Rick and Morgan were quick and efficient and before one walker got within twenty feet they were ready and taking off.

Beth watched her farm recede through the window. Jimmy tried to comfort her by slipping an arm around her shoulders but she shrugged him off with a glare. She wasn't still mad at him, not really, Jimmy had just been trying to keep them both alive, but Beth didn't want his touch regardless. She wanted her father, her sister, her brother, and her mother. She pressed her forehead against the cool window glass and mourned.

AN: I hope you all enjoy the premise!

Review please?