What the hell was I doing here? I had no fucking idea. I should have been at the CDC, where I had been meant to go. Weeks ago. Instead, I was washing laundry. Laundry! In a creek―quarry―whatever the hell it was. My point was, I had spent nearly a quarter million dollars on my education just to end up a fucking house maid, outdoor maid. Whatever. I was a fucking maid. Great. My mother would be so proud―if y'know, she wasn't dead like most of the rest of the population. Part of me felt like I should be more upset about that, but when you loose your whole family at once and then have to fight for your own survival, you don't have time to grieve for them. It would hit me later. That was the funny thing about grief, it would come out, sooner or later, usually during high stress situations, you could bury your grief away by distracting yourself. So, for now, I had no time for feelings other than anger.

"Sadie," I turned at the sound of my name. Oh yeah, I wasn't completely alone. I had my older brother. Shane. He was still here. Sometimes, when he wasn't off screwing his dead best friend's wife. People were fucked up. Reasons I tried to avoid them. Did I mention that I hate people? I may have been a doctor―an ER doctor more specifically―I didn't have to deal much with other people. When I came into the room, everyone did as I said. Because I knew what I was doing. And they needed me. Social interaction was not my cup of tea. It never had. I had always been someone to try to be alone more often than not. I liked my space. It was much easier that way, too. Then they couldn't hurt me.

"What?" I asked, slightly annoyed with him. Deep down, I loved my brother, but we had always fought. It was what we did. I didn't see a point in changing for the apocalypse. It would seem fake to me. If I started pretending that we were two peas in a pod just because one or both of us could be dead any time now, that would not be me.

"It's um, the thing is, Rick. He's alive."

"Regret sleeping with his wife, yet?" I asked. It was the first thing that popped into my mind. I knew if the situation was reversed and I had been sleeping with Rick while he thought Lori was dead, I would probably feel at least a little shitty.

"Why do you gotta do that?" he said, his voice defensive. "Why do you gotta act like a bitch who doesn't give two shits about anybody."

"Because, oh dear big brother of mine, I am a bitch who doesn't care about pretty much anyone."

"You're so full of shit," he said, walking off. Good. I was better off down here by myself. I didn't need him. I didn't need anyone. But I heard footsteps behind me again. He was back. "You're not going to tell him, are you?"

"Why would I tell him anything? It's not my job."

"You've had just about the biggest crush on Rick since you were five."

"Fuck you. That was when I was a kid. I've gotten over that. So no, I won't tell him."

"Good," he left for real this time. Bye. I walked back to camp with a wet basket of clothes. Fucking maid duty. We fell back into the stupid, sexist gender roles that had plagued out society for years and I was fucking sick of it. I rarely did my own damn laundry!

"I'll hang those up," Carol offered.

"You don't have to," I replied.

"You've been washing all day. Let me," she smiled kindly.

"Thanks," I left the basket with her. I liked Carol. She was nice. Her husband was an abusive prick, but she was nothing but nice. He was an insecure son of a bitch who didn't deserve the gum from the bottom of my shoe. Only the lowest of low beat on someone they're supposed to care about to feel power. Someone needed to put the cowardly bastard in his place. Mark my words, it would be me if he ever did anything while I was around. Stupid asshole. I was the type of person to speak my mind and stand up for what I believed in.

"I see someone's risen from the dead―but not as a flesh eating asshole," I said to Rick, walking up beside him.

"Sadie," he looked at me in surprise. "I missed your sense of humour," he laughed a little, hugging me.

"And I missed your sorry mug," I grinned. It was genuine. Whether I liked it or not, there were a few people in this world who had gotten under my skin. A few people I actually cared about. Shane was one of them, for obvious reasons, Rick was another, he had been there all through my life, and Rick's son, Carl. Carl was probably the closest thing I would ever have to a nephew―or even a kid of my own. Lately, it felt like I was raising him. Because, y'know, Lori was too busy hooking up with my brother to give two shits about her own kid. A+ mothering right there, honestly. She would be my vote for mother of the year, if the committee for that type of shit didn't get killed off with the rest of the world that we knew.

"Sadie," Shane's voice called, walking over to me.

"Leave me alone. I'm talking to the living dead man," I stated.

"I need help getting water."

"Take someone else."

"I want to take you," he said through gritted teeth.

"You're a goddamn pain in my ass, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I love you too."

"Ass," I said, looking back to Rick. "I'll talk you later. Maybe Shane will too. If I don't murder his ass."

"Bye, Sadie," he laughed. I climbed in the Jeep and we sped down the road to the quarry.

"This means I'll be back in our tent full time," Shane said.

"Dammit! I was just about to add a new wall. Give myself some much needed closet space for all of my five things," I replied. If Shane was in there, he was in there. Of fucking well. It wasn't like I had belongings to take up space.

"Can you turn the sarcasm off for, I don't know, five seconds. You're all I've got, Sads."

"Yeah and you're all I've got. But you didn't seem to think about that when you had Rick's wife and child."

"Sadie..." he sounded guilty.

"Look, it doesn't matter. If we're all each other's got, we better make the most of it. We all know that we could die―and or come back from the dead―at any moment. Let's just drop it," I sighed. "Serious enough for you?"

"Yeah," he sounded a little sad. But only for a moment.

"That was more than five seconds," I complained.

Shane was my big brother. Which meant two things, he would not be weak in front of me, if avoidable, and he would always tease me if their was an opportunity. "Y'know, if I stayed with Lori, you could always enjoy Rick's company," he suggested.

"You're a pain in the ass, y'know that?"

"I know."

XxX

So the big blow up came when Rick confessed to Daryl that his brother had been left in Atlanta. And Rick also confessed that he was going back with Daryl to get him. "I'll go," I had said, I needed out of this place. Away from these sissy ass maid chores. I was sick was washing everyone's clothes. A little adventure was just what I needed in my life.

"No," Rick and Shane both said.

"Hm, last time I checked, neither of you were in control of me, and let's see...I'm a grown ass woman. I'll do whatever the fuck I want. But thanks so much for your input," I said, walking towards the big cube van.

"Sadie―"

"Shane, my decision has been made. I love you and all, but I don't care what you have to say. I'll see you later, alright?"

"Stubborn pain in my ass," Shane muttered as I climbed in the back of the van. Soon, T-Dog and Daryl joined me.

"Why'd you come?" Daryl asked.

"You're brother's fun to annoy," I shrugged. "And I know what it's like to have an asshole for a brother―even though they're a fucking asshole, you still don't want them to die." Daryl left it at that. Good.

"I don't see the resemblance between you and your brother," T-Dog said, changing the subject to me. For the two of them, I was neutral ground.

"I'm kind of the blonde sheep of the family," I said. My hair was this dirty blonde colour. Not quite brown. Not quite blonde. My mum had dark brown curly hair while my dad had the same jet black hair as Shane. I ended up with my mum's emerald eyes though. I didn't really like the topic of conversation being me. I didn't like talking about me. I didn't even really like talking to other people. Sitting in silence would be my preference but it's T-Dog, who keeps trying to keep the conversation alive.

Making our way through Atlanta was a blur. There was a lot going on around me and it was hard to focus on anything that was going on. We made our way to the store they were in, Daryl shot various walkers with his crossbow. Even I had to admit, he was an attractive man. Part of it was his survival skills in this world. I, just as the rest of the female population, was attracted to men with that primal instinct to protect. Daryl could protect anyone. That an attractive quality. We made our way up to the roof and where Merle should be, there was a hand. A fucking hand. This could only mean one thing. Merle cut off his own hand to escape the handcuffs. This was going to end well, I was sure of it, just like everything else.

AN: Hello everyone. I don't really know for sure where I'm going to go with this story. I just got the idea and I haven't written much in a while. So I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews always help get my creative juices flowing and if you'd like to leave suggestions, I'm always open to that as well. Thanks for reading!

~Michelle~

Update: 20 January 2016: I thought I'd go back through and give this story a bit of polishing. I like to do that every now and then, make it look a little better, fix some errors, so here it is :)