First off I'd like to apologize for how long this chapter has taken to get done. It's no excuse of course but I have been working on a lot more Michandrea, some Rickyl and even some Beth Greene fics that it's been hard to me to get this done. But I haven't given up 'The Daily Bleeds', especially considering how it's hardly started yet. So I've made this chapter extra long in hope that with this chapter I'll be able to get up the next one quicker, so again thank you for your patience and I really hope you enjoy it.

3 – One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

Andrea stepped out of Michonne's home to make her way over to the trunk of her car, quickly opening it up to grab her denim jacket and slipping it on her with a sigh that soon enough turned into one of exasperation at how Amy's luggage in particular was rammed in so carelessly it was no surprise that Andrea would obviously be the one fixing it.

She thought it was mildly funny that even in dire situations like this (and this was one of the direst Andrea had ever been in) she could find something to complain about that ended up being Amy's fault, it at least let her know that there was something out there that she could grasp onto without allowing her sadness to swallow her whole. Because it was lingering there, at the very back of her mind, lingering at how this damned trip was already turning out to be a disaster and how she had wasted months on planning it just so Amy could be comfortable.

And now this? Andrea let out an exasperated sigh, "unbelievable Amy, just unbelievable."

She's just cleaning up the awkward mess that her sister's left behind when she feels someone cough behind her, her immediate reaction being to turn around with her hand already flailing grab at the gun at the back of her pants, her fingers skimming the pistol lightly as she turned to come face-to-face with nobody other than the woman who's house she had just left behind her.

Michonne's brow was arched sceptically at Andrea's posture, "expecting someone else?"

Andrea, to her own credit, did her best to not show any fear at what the woman said and instead only snorted and resigned to rubbing away the fake dust from her jeans and smiling as though this woman didn't just scare the living daylights out of her moments ago.

"Didn't expect to be sneaked up on that's all," she said in a cheery tone that only made Michonne's brow arch even more, "uh, you ready to go? You're going to need to tell me where to go because I'm not familiar with this neighbourhood."

"We're going on foot, the pharmacy isn't that far away," Michonne told her, pulling her own faded, denim jacket hoodie on and reaching up to pull it over her head, giving the woman a look of glumness that would have made Andrea smile any other time at how eerily it reminded her how she used to do that with her hoodie, "but first I'm going to check up on something."

Andrea nodded and closed the trunk of her car, turning to follow Michonne as the darker woman led her down the pathway of her garden and up to the street, stopping once when she got to the house next to her own to open up the gate and make her way up the patio towards the house's entrance; leaving Andrea in a weird stupor as she watched in confusion as Michonne knocked on her neighbour's door.

"Shouldn't we…" She started to say before Michonne made a shushing noise, cutting her off as she continued to knock against the door, "oh right, talking is much noisier than knocking."

Michonne ignored her and continued to knock before seemingly growing discontent with the matter altogether, snorting at the lack of answer before making her way over to the fence that separated the neighbour's garden from the street before placing a hand on the fence and vaulting over it, using a strength that made Andrea's eyes widen and for her mouth to gape open uselessly at the sight of it.

And then it hit her.

"Hey that's private property!" She called after the woman, running after the woman in particular to poke her head around the fence, brow crinkling in impatience as she caught sight of Michonne looking through the windows of the house in search for someone or something, "Michonne! Going on private property is illegal!"

And again Michonne ignored her, letting out a frustrated sigh when it looked like nobody was inside. She looked as though she was about to climb back over the fence before the woman surprised Andrea completely, choosing to instead kick the back door of the house in with a force that made the door rattle on its hinges as it flung back to hit the wall, granting the darker woman entrance.

The woman in particular smiled at Andrea, the sight of it shocking the blonde for a moment before she heard Michonne's next words.

"No, this is illegal." And with that she departed from Andrea to head into her neighbour's house, the sway of her hips almost mocking in a way that made Andrea roll her eyes and curse at Michonne under her breath.

She hopped over the gate after Michonne, muttering about how she really hoped these people were out so she wouldn't have to pause this trip any more than she already had just because of this woman's weird urge to break into her neighbour's home. No, she definitely was not putting this trip on hold, no way.

Making sure that nobody had seen them Andrea hurried her way inside the back of the house, spotting Michonne immediately as the woman went around testing out light switches and frowning when none of the lights seemed to work.

"Power's out?" Andrea suggested weakly, shrugging at the sour look the other woman sent her way, "Alright charmer, I'll stop pointing out the obvious if you stop glaring at me."

Michonne snorted, fiddling with the light switch a few more times before she gave up completely, giving Andrea a look that made the blonde smirk at how Michonne actually looked humbled for a split second.

"M'not glaring," the woman mumbled with a shake of her head, departing from her previous position to enter the living room of the house with Andrea hot on her heels, looking nervous as she took in the dark, almost gothic furniture, in the equally dark house they were inside.

Andrea let her eyes wander over the back of the woman's head and repressed a smug grin by instead moving past the darker woman, taking in the surroundings of the house around her. Pictures of the young family that had resided there were still hanging up on the walls and posters and sculptures were still in their proper place too, but yet the house was empty with nothing looking like it had been moved or taken away.

It was all so odd to look at and realize that nothing had actually changed, almost as if looking through a mirror and seeing her reflection stare right back and see that whilst you couldn't see anything that had changed physically it was quite obvious that something had changed.

Michonne had retreated into the back room of the house into what looked to be a dining area, her body hunched over something as she looked through cabinets and drawers. It made Andrea huff slightly, sure it was quite obvious this family had left the house but did that mean Michonne needed to come over and make it a mess? If the police ever found out Andrea would hopefully be far away from Atlanta as possible.

"Do you know the people who live here?" She asked instead, trying to block out the thought of tis family coming back and seeing her and Michonne rifling through their house like scavengers. She didn't want to refer to the family in the past tense either, sure it did look like the house had been abandoned for weeks but that didn't mean anything, they could have easily gone on holiday.

'And leave their car still parked in the driveway?' Andrea thought to herself, irritated with how stupid she was being in thinking these people would actually come back, 'it's obvious they've left the city or...'

Her thoughts were interrupted by a large thumping noise from upstairs and with a gasp Andrea moved back a few steps, bumping into a cabinet and causing the vase on it to fall and break on the floor, smashing into tiny shards of glass and plastic near enough to Michonne that it made the darker woman retreat from where she had been searching through this family's drawers.

The look that Michonne shot her at least let Andrea know that the other woman too had heard the sound and with a brief nod the darker woman got up from her kneeling position, hands wrapped tightly around what looked to be some sort of long object covered in black cloth, said cloth falling away from the object when Michonne moved it away to reveal a sheathed sword that hung loosely from a thick piece of string.

Andrea was just about to protest ("we're stealing now?") but found herself growing silent when Michonne withdrew the blade, pointing it in Andrea's direction as she examined the blade in the moonlight that was filtering through the blinds of the window with an expression of something that resembled a smugness that made Andrea's brow furrow in confusion.

Michonne must have seen the look on her face because immediately she snorted and placed the sword back in its sheath, giving Andrea a look that made Andrea cock her head to the side in annoyance as if to say 'well? What is all this about in the first place?'

"If we're going outside and we've been told not to by the government," Michonne explained with a shrug of her shoulders, placing the sheath over her head so that the bundle could rest on her back, "then it seems to me we're going to need to be defended against whatever the hell we're up against. Besides, it's not like they're going to miss this if they didn't take it in the first place."

Andrea had been prepared to fight the other woman on this but actually Michonne was making some sort of sense about this and so with a sigh the blonde let the other woman be, her only action being to watch the darker woman walk past her once more to head back into the living room before then departing there to head towards the staircase, taking two steps at a time so Andrea had to rush to keep up with her.

From the looks of it they were going to investigate the sound that they had heard coming from one of the rooms here, a thump that still made Andrea nervous even as she rushed into the situation headlong behind Michonne, terrified but feeling utterly brave and excited at the same time. Perhaps that was what it was like to be a police officer and being on duty for the first time, though it made Andrea wonder what kind of person she was if she was getting excited over the thought of the potential crime that lingered inside this household.

"Get a grip Andrea," she muttered under her breath as she made her way down the corridor where Michonne was leading her towards a giant double wooden door, the door in particular looking as though it had been barred if the giant axe that had been shoved in between the handles were any indication of what had happened here.

Michonne looked back at her, her expression one of faint concern that didn't fail in making Andrea feel somewhat better even as she sighed and pushed past the other woman to grab the axe from in between the handles to allow the axe to swing in her hand whilst giving the woman behind her a smirk at the incredulous look she received in return, "by all means, after you."

The other woman mumbled something Andrea couldn't hear but took Andrea's invitation with ease, opening the door with a small gasp escaping her that made the blonde herself look up to echo it, heart jumping right up to settle in her mouth.

What stared back at them was a sight Andrea knew she wouldn't forget in a hurry, her eyes wide and her mouth agape in horror as the sounds of what looked to be the dead started to resound through the house in such a terrifying pitch that it reminded Andrea of the grating noise of teeth mixed with the sound of pained groans; the overall sound being so dreadful that it caused her to take a step back in an attempt to get away from it even as her eyes betrayed the instinct to rush away in the other direction.

Hollow, sunken eyes stared back at her, the white of them reflecting eerily in the moonlight that shone through the window ceiling that each thick strip of robe was tied to, the weight of the four bodies causing the window to stutter slightly with each slow swing of the bodies that writhed in impatience, an impatience that looked awfully like hunger, to get at the two women that watched the scene from below.

These bodies…They were of the family that Andrea had seen in the pictures downstairs, two young boys that didn't look over the age of fourteen wrestled with one another as they practically screeched trying to get loose from the bonds around their necks, the eeriness of it all becoming all too familiar with how they seemed more interested in Michonne and at how the woman with the sword that had belonged to their household was now circling around the four bodies, her features scrunched up into one of absolute confusion.

Andrea almost envied her, because how did Michonne make it able to be confused when there were four supposed to be dead bodies writhing furiously above them from the ceiling window? It made Andrea bristle and wonder for the other woman's sanity considering right now all Andrea could think of was how she most definitely wanted to be sick and that if she wasn't careful she actually would be sick what with the horrendous smell that accompanied the ghastly sight in front of her.

Logic tried to make sense of what she was seeing in front of her but Andrea knew better than anyone how little that would help now, especially once she caught sight of the two parents of these children and let out a gagging noise once she realized that half of the father's face had been off, revealing only a gushy red waste of bone and blood to drip down onto the wooden floorboards under them.

A drop of it hit her on the side of Andrea's face and ran down her cheek, the sensation of the thick liquid running down her skin making her shudder as she tried to combat her nerves (as well as her full stomach) to take a step around the huddled group of the dead that still writhed relentlessly to get at them.

"What the hell is going on?" Andrea asked the sword-wielding woman next to her, eyes wide in confusion and shock at the utterly calm look that was Michonne's expression, "they're dead but…They have to be dead! Right? Half of that woman's face is hanging off and I'm not…I'm not imagining this. I'm not…"

She pinched herself hard, hoping against hope that when she opened her eyes she would be back in the motel her and Amy had been in and this was all just some elaborate dream that she would be able to escape from the moment her eyes opened.

Michonne was in front of her when she did eventually open her eyes, the inky pools of the other woman practically striking Andrea into a state where her tongue felt as though it had swollen ten times bigger and her heart skipped a beat, simply not used to such overwhelming eyes in a situation that both intrigued her and terrified her.

The smack of lips and grinding teeth brought Andrea away from the intensity of Michonne's eyes to stare once more back up at the screaming dead above them, her face still formed into one of horror as the swinging noise of the bodies moving back and forth finally got to her and she turned her attention back onto Michonne.

"We should cut them down," she told the other woman, ignoring the bewildered look that she received in reply so she could carry on with her explanation, starting to circle the bodies once more to get a full look of them and the carnage that had been wrecked on each body, "the children especially, just look at them all… It looks like they've all been…"

"Eating one another," Michonne put bluntly, her eyes softening for a moment as she gazed upon the children who were now starting to pull and gnaw at each other whenever they banged into one another in mid-air, "I don't know what this is but it must have been going on for a week or so, about the same time as the government announcing it."

Andrea disagreed, "It can't have been a week since all this, don't you think the government would know something about this?"

"Why would the government care about this family? We don't even know what this is," And of course Michonne disagreed with her, it made Andrea wonder if the woman just heard what Andrea thought and decided that to piss her off she was going to disagree with it, "And this is just one family, on our way to the pharmacy we'll go by the station and see if there are any officers on duty there so they can clean up this…Whatever this is."

Andrea was just about to protest about leaving the family hanging there when she felt the younger woman brush past her roughly, sending Andrea back a few steps with a force that caused her to look up at the walkers hanging from the ceiling above her with a small sigh.

Her eyes lingered on the children and the axe in her hands, the urge to help these poor children almost unbearable to an extent that it made her want to cry frustrated tears but in the end, at the sound of Michonne thundering her way down the stairs Andrea lost the nerve to do so and with one last lingering look she slammed the door shut and followed the other woman down the stairs and back through the house to the fence they had both jumped.

The sounds, the smell, the skin, the blood, the guts…They were hard images to repress and as soon as Andrea managed to jump over the fence she pushed the darker woman away from her so she could be sick at her feet, the meal she had consumed before regurgitating right back up with a force that made her cling to her thighs in support of herself, only slightly pleased to remember that at the very least her hair was tied back and away from her eyes.

Andrea felt as though she had just vomited all the energy out of her, eyes slinking closed as the last of her strength faded from her and left her slumped against the fence of the house her and Michonne had been rummaging through as she panted heavily and wiped her mouth, thoroughly exhausted from her heaving.

When she finally managed to recover she felt Michonne's gaze on her and with a cough she gave the other woman a small, brief (and very much forced) smile, "sorry, it just took me by surprise back there."

Michonne made a small, disgruntled noise but made an effort to at least patting Andrea on the shoulder, giving some small of comfort even as she once more roughly pushed past her with a call of 'hurry up' to the blonde a few moments later. It was such a strange thing to Andrea, that this woman could be so casual for a moment and then so harsh the next, it was so unlike anything Andrea had ever experienced before and she found herself unable to keep up with the whirling thoughts in her head even if she tried.

She tried not to think about what she had just seen in the room of the house they had just left, fearing that if she did then she would hurl again. No, now was not the time and with a shake of her head Andrea jogged to catch up with the other woman as Michonne started to make her way up from her street at a pace that shouldn't have been as hard as it was to catch up with considering the other woman was almost a head shorter than her.

The woman gave her a look of concern before charging off in long strides, the clacking of her sword against her thighs being the only sound in the dismal silence of the streets they walked along with both their heads held up high in search for the pharmacy Michonne had mentioned.

Again she tried hard not to think of what had happened back at the house but the more she thought about it the easier it seemed to be on thinking what the hell had happened in there and if it could possibly relate to the situation in Atlanta, it at least had the possibility now didn't it? Everywhere she looked the houses lights were off, making them look abandoned and desolate, almost as if she was starring in one of those damn haunted movies Amy loved to watch so much.

At least when she risked a glance up she could see that Michonne wasn't acting all like herself either, the woman's hasty movements could be mistaken as impatience to any other person but Andrea knew better than to think that Michonne was not the least bit affected by what she too had seen back in the house.

Not that she knew the woman to make any assumptions of her, but if she had to guess…

The walk wasn't as long as Andrea had expected but it wasn't short either and many of times did she have to glance over her shoulder to see if they were being followed, the dark of the night bringing a sense of paranoia that she just simply couldn't escape no matter how hard she tried. But what did she expect? The dark wasn't a friend, especially with how much crap she had seen in the damn dark with what had happened to Terry and Mike outside the motel.

Still the night felt wrong and she was petrified that something was going to come out and take a chunk of out her like what had happened to Terry, something that seemed more and more likely now that she had seen what she had back in Michonne's neighbour's house.

That made her stop mid-step, the lack of echoing footsteps also making the sword-wielding woman stop and turn to look back at her with wide eyes that looked as though she was urging for the woman to hurry up.

"Those people back at the house," Andrea said, her own eyes wide as realization hit her straight in the face as the pieces she had felt didn't fit before finally started to fall into place for the first time, "the way they looked as though they were going to eat one another and then Terry getting bit by some guy that he takes a chunk out of his arm? It could be a connection of some sort, but what doesn't make sense is how this has only just come up now when this has been going for near enough a…"

Michonne cut her off with something that sounded like a mix between a growl and a grunt, spinning around on the spot to fix Andrea with a hard-eyed glare, "you have no idea what you're talking about, just drop the whole thing because that's not what we're going through these streets for now is it? I'm going to the pharmacy, but if you want to stand here and think up theories then be my guest, but I'm leaving."

And like that the woman had turned on her heel and was already making her way back through the streets of Atlanta, ducking and curving through an alleyway to her left without bothering to look back to see if Andrea was following her.

It made Andrea mutter angrily under her breath, the damn nerve of this woman was starting to get on her nerves and her refusal to think? It just made her more suspicious, just not suspicious enough to stop following her – unfortunate but true, it was almost as if some sort of instinct was keeping her following Michonne in the first place.

She ended catching up with Michonne near the bank that was at the end of the alleyway just opposite to the pharmacy of their destination, shocked to discover that the moment she had stepped through to go after Michonne the other woman pushed her back into the alley and up against the brick wall, covering her body with her own with such force it made Andrea's head slam back up against the mortar with a sickening cracking sound.

"What the fuck-" Andrea grunted before her mouth was covered by the palm of the other woman's hands, her wide eyes shushing Andrea just as much as the hand across her mouth.

Michonne gestured to her left with a jerk of her head, "Look."

Andrea followed the gesture and found herself relieved that Michonne's hand was covering her mouth, otherwise she wouldn't have known what she would have done apart from gasp out loud at the sight of what looked to be a group of five men that were moving slowly around the faint light the moon gave them.

When it felt like a whole ten minutes had passed Andrea was finally allowed to speak as Michonne's hand moved from her face, her whole body moving forward so fast that it almost made the other woman tumble back as she leered around the corner of the alley to stare out into the darkness of the pharmacy where she could see the figures starting to shift to and from the shelves of the pharmacy store.

"It's just people," she said with a shrug, moving away from Michonne's grip to start to make her way over to the open door of the pharmacy, throwing a bewildered look at the sword-wielding woman over her shoulder, "c'mon, you're not that afraid of social interaction right? They're probably looking for the same thing as we are."

She heard Michonne hiss behind her but the sound of her footsteps following her was more than enough reason not to turn back, glad that finally it seemed like she was able to take control of the situation without following Michonne around like some stupid puppy dog.

However that control seemed to vanish the moment she realized that the pharmacy doors were actually locked.

Andrea tugged on the brass handles of the pharmacy doors, her confused expression becoming more and more apparent as she tugged harder and harder until she grew so frustrated she let out a small grunt of anger and stood back, hands on her hips as she looked into the closed doors of the pharmacy to see the five figures still moving around in there.

"Hey!" She called out to them, banging her fist on the glass of the door to try and gain their attention whilst completely ignoring Michonne's pleas for her to be damned quiet, "Hey you in there! Are you with the pharmacy? Can you open this door up? Me and my friend need to get inside!"

The banging did manage to catch their attention apparently for Andrea watched with a smug smile as each and every one of the shadowy figures stopped for a second before turning towards the sounds of her fist slamming against the glass pane of the pharmacy's windows.

"See?" She said to Michonne with a small laugh and a shrug of her shoulders, turning away from the pharmacy to give the other woman a smile, "I told you that they're just people in the pharmacy, this way we won't have to wait until tomorrow morning to get the medicine for Terry."

"Getting medicine for Terry in the morning was never an option in the…" Michonne was just about to tell the blonde woman off (that Andrea could tell by how she had rested her hands on her hips with her head cocked to the side) before she was cut off by the sound of a whole group of muffled, gargled growls that filled the streets of Atlanta.

Andrea and Michonne both jumped back from the pharmacy's window, the sword that Michonne had thrown over her shoulder immediately coming out and the axe Andrea had dropped to the floor to tug on the doors already back in her hand as the both of them took in the sight of five people pressed up against the glass panes of the windows with snapping jaws and wide eyes.

The same wide eyes of hunger that they had seen shining in the family they had left around half an hour ago, and if that didn't give it away? Then the look of rotting flesh and the way one of the people had actually lost an arm was enough to tell Andrea that whatever the hell was up with the family had also occurred with these people in the pharmacy as well.

Apart from the fact that unlike she had been at the house Andrea found herself feeling more and more horrified and angry all mixed up into one at the sight before her, her heart thudding so loudly in her chest she wasn't quite sure if the fear that was so apparent to her was because of the fear at the monsters in front of her or the fear she would actually have a damn heart attack if she wasn't careful.

Michonne on the other hand had such a tight grip on Andrea's shoulder that when the woman squeezed it Andrea let out a loud gasp of pain, glaring over at Michonne with her features scrunched up in pain and irritation, "hey would you mind…"

"What is this?" Michonne whispered in disbelief, letting go of Andrea's shoulder to knock the handle of the sword up against the glass pane of the pharmacy store, sending the blonde woman a look of clear disbelief as her actions only seemed to intensify the haste of these monsters clawing to get at her.

"One time, okay," Andrea said, her grip on the axe tightening as she stared into the pharmacy's windows, "but two times? Are you seriously telling me you had no idea this was happening? How could you not have any idea that the dead were roaming the streets?"

Michonne looked as frustrated at herself as Andrea did, "I don't know! Me, Mike and Terry didn't go out anywhere but our street and whenever we wanted to leave the city the guard there always let us out and the radio kept saying everything was under control and there were more and more people leaving to go to the hospital, some that didn't even come from Atlanta in the first place…"

Andrea studied the group of dead that banged against the glass of the pharmacy's windows, she didn't understand much on how this had been kept so hush hush but it didn't matter because this…It had to be real, hadn't it? It made no sense but it had to be real otherwise, otherwise…

The grip on the axe loosened and with a muffled groan she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, "this whole situation is fucking crazy…"

And as if to prove her wrong the both of them was met with the sound of a crazy yelling inside the pharmacy, startling them both from their musings on how to get the medicine inside to see that within moments the banging of the dead against the glass suddenly vanished to be replaced with a loud yelling noise and the sound of something sharp slicing through something thin and papery.

The sound of blood hitting the windows of the pharmacy shocked Andrea once more from her thoughts, causing her grip on the axe to loosen even further as she took in the sight of the large blood splatter that had replaced the sight of the dead and how that too meant next to nothing when seconds later the glass broke as one of the bodies in particular flew out of it to land right in front of the two women.

"A little fuckin' help would be appreciated in here!" Came a cry from the pharmacy, startling them both into action as they headed towards the large hole that had been revealed after the dead's hasty exit from it.

Michonne went immediately towards the call for help however Andrea hesitated, eyes drawn to the dead that lay at her feet to examine it as carefully. The head of the dead in front of her had looked like it had been smashed to a bloody pulp before it had been kicked out of the pharmacy window, the carnage of the remains clear enough that it made Andrea gag slightly as the decay of the remains hit her full front in the face.

The only thing that stood out to her as well as the smell was the fact that the only similarity this body held to the others they had found was that it was one of the dead, yet the similarities stopped there as Andrea took into the account that the freshness of the body indicated that it hadn't been dead for long and as well as that the body itself didn't look as though it had been eaten apart from one lone bite that was clear on the body's neck, making it look more like a vampire bite than anything.

Another yell from the window made Andrea start and with a gasp she charged forward and into the darkness of the pharmacy, eyes searching for anything that would tell her what the hell was happening inside this store and the moonlight gave little to no help, especially when almost as soon as she had into the pharmacy a shelf had collapsed behind her to block away the little moonlight available.

And that was before she felt rotting fingers grab at her shoulder to spin her around to come face-to-face with one of the dead that she had seen at the window, the fear at seeing the hunger in the dead's eyes making her yell in fright and for her to drop her axe at the shock as hungry jaws started to open and lean towards her face.

She didn't know what the hell was going on and that showed by how little she tried to move away from the dead was moving down to take a bite at her, but before she even did have time to get her bearings she was met with the dead in front of her head crushing, the splatter of blood with it near blinding her as the dead in front of her collapsed into a heap.

Andrea didn't have time to thank her saviour before they had moved past her, the rough barge against her shoulders and the muscle she felt during the force enough to tell her that this was definitely the guy who had called out to them, and that was more than enough for her to know that if this man needed her help then she would try and help in return.

She made a grab for her dropped axe and followed the figure through the darkness of the pharmacy (eyes still roaming to look for Michonne at all times), ducking and weaving between fallen stalls and shelves and moving out of the way as soon as the figure came across another of the dead, slamming his weapon (which turned out to be a baseball bat) against the heads of the stumbling biters that they came across until all that was left was damaged brains and skin.

Whilst there had only been five who had been knocking at the window it seemed that there were at least nine of these dead walking around, dead that only remained dead when their heads suffered an impact so great that they staggered slightly before falling to the ground with such force that it made the ground underneath Andrea's feet shake; something that Andrea quickly learned herself when she turned slightly to the right to be met with two of the dead lunging at her.

And once again she hesitated. These were people…People that looked dead yes, but was this instead some sort of infection, the reason why people were being ushered into the hospital in the first place? How could she kill someone, knowing that in truth they were nothing more but infected and could be treated later?

That decision however was taken out of her hands as a glint of silver flashed through the air, startling her backwards until she hit the corner of one of the shelves with a force that made her hiss in pain even as her eyes rested on the now two decapitated heads that practically flew from their bodies to land at her feet with a loud thud as their now motionless bodies soon followed them straight after.

"Don't just stand there man!" She heard the male call out to her again, the term he used to address her with making her bristle slightly in indignation, "you want them to bite you? No? Then smash their damn brains in!"

Andrea whirled at the sound of gnawing jaws behind her and with a yell she pushed at the chest of one of the biters making its way towards her, her hand wielding the axe shaking as she raised it to slam the blunted blade against her attacker's head, the force behind her swing causing the biter to collapse to the floor in a heap.

It was as if that movement caused the whole room to collapse into silence, the only sound truly being heard were the loud sounds of deep breathing coming from each of them in the pharmacy, the rugged, deep breaths of the man Andrea had been following stopping to be replaced with small gasps of words as the man that had saved them now desperately tried to speak.

Michonne met her gaze and at once the both of them looked their saviour over with mounting interest; he was a middle-aged man who didn't look anything over 35 with a moustache that was flecked with the same grey that his trucker hat covered over his sweat-stained locks that sat messily on the top of his head – he was definitely not the sort of man Andrea was expecting to take on this small group of the dead, but then again from the things that was happening? Maybe she should stop expecting altogether.

The man shrugged at her silence, looking somewhat indifferent to the fear in her eyes, "ya'll never killed a walker before I'm guessin'," and before Andrea could answer to that he had wiped his bloodied hands on the back of his jeans to stick out to her, "name's Kenny by the way, was just passing through here to get to the hell outta Atlanta and saw that you attracted the walkers in here."

"So you diligently offered your services," Michonne said before Andrea could even get a word in on what the hell was doing on around here, "the pharmacy door was locked, how did you even get in here without breaking the glass?"

Kenny who at least looked like he didn't mean them any harm (which of course didn't mean Andrea was dropping her axe for anyone's business) suddenly turned on the sword-wielding woman, his hands holding the baseball bat getting considerably tighter around the curve of the bat as he glared at the darker woman.

"What you think that I saved your asses out of the good of my heart? Hell, ya'll need to understand that with the noise these walkers were making if I didn't get rid of them quick there would be more of them," Kenny explained, the calm in his voice not matching at all with the angry stance he had taken in addressing the woman in front of him, "I got a family man! I needed to get rid of them to protect them, but with the noise you two were makin'? You're just lucky I managed to get rid of them before the rest of these biters came out of the woodworks to chomp at ya'll."

A voice from one of the back rooms seemed to flitter inside the pharmacy, so quiet that Andrea had to strain to hear it.

"Kenny? Kenny is everyone okay?" The voice was definitely female; the voice of his wife more than likely but from the way Michonne was eyeing the door that the voice was coming from with such suspicion? Andrea wouldn't even be shocked if she was hearing things with what she had seen today.

"We're fine Kat, just keep quiet and try not to wake the boy," Kenny called back to his 'wife' softly before turning his attention back to the both of them, specifically Michonne, "ain't I even getting a thank you from you two?"

Michonne didn't seem convinced of his motives: "That still doesn't explain how you got in here if the pharmacy was shut, or how you knew what to do with these…"

Andrea wished she had the other woman's patience, but she didn't and that was why she interrupted the two of them, coming in between them to look the now nervous looking man straight in the eye with her own gaze hardened in an attempt to show that she meant serious business here.

"Forget that right now, I want to know what the hell is going on," she motioned to the lifeless bodies at their feet, "first off, what are these things right here? Secondly I want to know how nobody knew about these damn things without sending off some…"

Kenny placed both of his hands up to silence her, a heaving sigh escaping him as he took in the sight of the frustrated blonde woman in front of him, "I don't know everythin' but I can tell ya'll what I know and see where that gets you, okay?"

Andrea nodded whilst Michonne rolled her eyes and snorted, already making her way down the shelves in what the blonde presumed to be in search for the medicine that she would need to help Terry back at her home.

"Right, well, ain't going to be no easy way to tell this so I'll just get to it," Kenny started with a deep breath, leaning the majority of his weight against the counter of the pharmacy, "First time I saw it? Few days ago just before we left my wife's sister's, wasn't even outside the border with my family before I had to pull over cause I saw some poor fucker half outta his mind in the road. He looked like he ain't had a meal in days and his clothes were filthy as shit, but yeah, you know my wife, she's got a soft heart ain't she? Made me pick the guy up and drive him to the nearest hospital outside of the city."

He took a moment to pause in his story, eyeing Andrea with an uncertainty that had the blonde reaching cautiously for the gun in the back of her jeans. She didn't know this guy, didn't know his intentions and even if she was still aghast at the fact that she had put down…whatever it had been that she had attacked, it still wasn't on her agenda to try and hurt this man.

Luckily for him the uncertainty in his eyes changed swiftly to one of grief as Kenny continued his story: "Well the guy didn't want that, he said he had to get to Atlanta before he went crazy and well, ya'll know well as I do that there's different sorta crazies right? I didn't know what he meant! We drove as fast as we could, me, my boy, my wife and this crazy fucker who kept mumbling about god and whatnot, hell he was like some deranged animal the way he was talkin'."

"And that ain't even the worse of it," he turned away from her to take the hat away from his head, mussing up his hair with a loose sigh escaping him, "when we got to the hospital in Atlanta we thought that would be the end of it but the hospital kept all of us inside, 'no leaving until everything is sorted' they said. Sort what, right? We stayed in that hospital for two days with this guy we didn't even know before…Before we found out the hard way about what was goin' on around here."

Michonne's snort was still able to be heard even as Kenny continued to speak, the noise causing the man to pause in hesitation whereas it caused Andrea to glare in the other woman's direction in hope that the woman would shut up long enough that she would be able to get some more damn details off the guy.

She nodded at him, "Carry on."

"Watched the fucker's heart stop myself," he told her with a shake of his head, "the nurse was 'bout to carter him away before I saw him come back to life and tear her goddamn face off. After that? Busted my way out of that hospital so fast I ain't had time to breathe since then, especially with me defendin' my family from a herd of damn biters."

Andrea tried not to let herself get distracted but she couldn't help herself and thus she had to ask, "Biters? You call them that because of the whole…"

"Eating thing? Fuck yeah," Kenny said with a snort, giving her a glance that told her the man was quickly losing his patience with her and her questions, "that and the fact that when you get bit then you're fucking gone, ya'll one of them in minutes once the fever starts and ya'll burn out, well, that's what the ones I saw were like anyway, and it's a good thing we got out of that hospital in time before they all went up to hell and started letting those crazy ass biters escape the…"

Andrea hadn't been truly listening properly it seemed because in moments Michonne had drawn her sword on the guy, her body tense in such a way that Andrea was frightened that if she dared touch her then she might get cut in the process; so instead she had to resort to using her mouth instead, her body moving by instinct to circle the sword-wielding warrior in an attempt to calm her.

That didn't go well, even when she was only a few feet away from Michonne who in answer to Andrea's closeness stepped back, eyeing them both with anger and a hint of what looked to be fear in her dark, brown eyes.

Kenny didn't look so kind and friendly now and with a gasp Andrea moved away from the man when he pulled out a large kitchen knife from the side of his jean pockets, a poor weapon against Michonne's own but Andrea wasn't going to test him either way; not unless she wanted to draw anymore attention to them than she already had with her screams.

"Now you listen here lady I ain't got time for your bullshit so I'd suggest you put that…" Kenny started before he was cut off by Michonne's blade being thrust near his face, robbing the man of speech as he looked down at the sharp blade with a gulp.

"What did you say about bites?" Michonne asked the man, her tone stating clearly that she was in no mood for any hesitation or games and that instead she just wanted answers, answers that Andrea herself founded wanting after the realization on why Michonne was asking settled to the front of her mind.

The older man looked as though he was looking for a place to escape to next but once he realized that there was truly no escape from each of the women he instead just sighed, settling himself back against the counter of the pharmacy with a grunt, "well you heard didn't ya? One bite, that's all it takes and then, wham, that's it. No more of us living anymore, which is why it's such a damn good thing most of the infected are in the hospital or whatever and it's closed off otherwise…"

Michonne had turned away from the man as soon as she had gotten the information she had needed, her departure so hasty that she had forgotten the satchel she had thrown over her shoulder that held the medication from the pharmacy in the first place which left Andrea watching her leave with her mouth open in shock as Kenny in front of her continued to babble on even without Michonne's presence being there.

Andrea didn't waste any time either, she knew where Michonne was heading back to and if the worst had come to pass then…

'Oh my god, Amy's in there!'

She turned away from the man and rushed to grab the bag Michonne had left behind, throwing a quick 'thank you' over her shoulder Andrea rushed from the pharmacy to follow her way back through the streets and alleys to Michonne's house.

He hadn't answered all her questions but that seemed irrelevant right now, especially when everything that she had heard had started to fit into place like some bizarre jigsaw puzzle that showed an image that Andrea had never, ever wanted to see in the first place.

A snarl to her right startled Andrea just as she was about to make her way out of the alley and head back towards the street where she could see her car was parked and with a yell of surprise she rounded on the source of the sound, the axe in her hand whirling forwards to lop off the head of a biter ("because of the bite, the bite, the bite, the bite,") who she had to jump over as they fell at her feet.

Andrea didn't stop to check who the poor bastard was, didn't even stop to consider that once more she had killed another potentially living victim (they couldn't all be dead, could they, there had to be some sense in them, right?) because all her mind screamed at her right now was four names.

Amy, Mike, Terry…

Michonne…

When Andrea got to the door of the house she didn't waste any time to show something that would resemble chivalry, instead bursting her way through the door with her shoulder and Amy's name streaming past her lips as she looked in search for her sister in the darkened halls of the house.

"AMY!" She cried out, closing the door behind her and rushing into the living room where she had last seen her young sister, stopping midway as she caught sight of the scene that awaited her.

Michonne was slumped on the carpeted rug of the floor, the large tendrils of dark hair over her head was now a mess of curls and dreads that was coated with what looked to be black blood, the same sort of blood that…

And that was when Andrea saw the cause of it.

Just in front of Michonne lay Mike, his face torn to something almost unrecognizable as though he had been chewed on, his skeleton poking out of the skin left on his face to give such a imagery of the horrors that had been inflicted on him that when Andrea took a full look she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her mouth.

There was no way Mike could have survived his injuries, not with the way he had been ripped apart so diligently, it was almost as if someone had starved for days and had used Mike as one last good meal with only the scraps remaining… It was a sight that made Andrea's stomach heave, and that was before her eyes fell on the snarling sound that was coming beside the dead man in front of Michonne.

Her hand flew to her face as the worst she had come to fear actually became a confirmation for her, "Terry…"

A snarling, mindless walker growled up at her, his hands that weren't trapped under the table that had been thrown on him trying to reaching for her as his jaw contorted and twisted in such angles that shouldn't have been possible, the whites of his eyes visible and full of unspeakable hunger that to see it made Andrea cringe at each grind of teeth she heard coming from Terry's mouth.

Had he been the one to do this to Mike? It seemed likely but then where was…

"Amy?" She stammered at the shaking woman slumped in front of her, not expecting an answer either way as she moved past the carnage to look for her sister, "Amy! Amy! Amy, where are you?!"

A thump from the corner of the room and within seconds Andrea found herself enveloped in warm arms, her sister's blonde locks flying into her face so forcefully it caused her to sneeze at the impact almost immediately, but she didn't care – Amy was here, Amy was alive…

"I was so scared," she heard her sister whisper in her ear, the pained tone not lost on her whatsoever, "Terry just started to shake and Mike told me to go hide because he didn't know what was going on and he said I should only come out when you and Michonne were back and now I'm… I'm so, so scared Andie…"

Andrea just held Amy tighter, spinning her around to hide the horrific scene from her sister's eyes, "It's okay Amy, I'm here now and we're going to be fine. Just, just don't look at…"

"Get out," Michonne's voice interrupted all of a sudden and when Andrea broke apart from her sister (ignoring Amy's horrified gasp as she saw the sight Andrea had desperately wanted to hide from her sibling) she saw that the darker woman had her sword back in her hand and was pointing it at the snarling Terry whilst her eyes – full of remorse and anger – were staring straight at them.

It didn't matter either way, Andrea had decided, she wasn't going to let Michonne stay here by herself with these two dead men who had the potential to bite and infect her too. She didn't know the woman, not very well or at all, but she wasn't going to let her die either.

"Michonne…" Andrea started to say, reaching out to try and touch the other woman by the shoulder to show that she meant no harm, "Michonne can we talk about…"

Michonne whirled on her, her breathing heavy whilst her grip on the sword tightened as she now pointed it at the both of them before gesturing to the door down the hallway, "I said get out!"

Amy tensed up behind her in fear, that signal alone being enough to tell Andrea that she had little to no other choice but to listen to what Michonne said in case the woman decided to go crazy and hurt them but there was still the fact on where to go, surely Michonne wouldn't let them go out there alone, especially knowing what was out there?

So she tried again, one last time, "Michonne where are we going to go? You saw those walkers in the pharmacy, what if there's more out there?"

"Not my problem anymore," Michonne said angrily, gesturing at the door once more with her lower lip jutted out angrily, "I won't say it again."

Andrea physically slumped and took her sister's hand, leading her away from the destruction that was still so clear in her mind's eye that it made Andrea dread to think what Amy thought of it.

She couldn't let it worry her though, not now, because now? She needed to figure out where to go, a place where she and Amy would be safe away from these 'walkers' that were starting to litter the area with their presence.

A cry from the house next door made Andrea's head jerk in that direction, her brow furrowed inquisitively at the sound.

"It's okay Amy, I have an idea."

Thanks for reading! I know that if you're waiting for some more Michandrea fanfics then you should check out 'Warm Shadow' by musicalfreak86 and 'Stay Close' by the ramblin rose as both of these are two of my favourites. Check them out, they're really great reads. (: