Hey…authors note at the end.
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Cause they will run you down, down til the dark
Yes and they will run you down, down til you fall
And they will run you down, down til you go
Yeah so you can't crawl no more
~ Kaleo (Way Down We Go.)
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Smoke seemed to become something very familiar to Annie at this point. She had seen it multiple times in her life, somehow surviving slowly before it enters her body. Now she was staring into it into a fire, her kids on either side of her, and Crackers resting on the other side. Where was the prison? It was gone.
They had lost it all. Some fuckers had hired an attack on them, and now everyone was separated. Just like how it happened with Daryl. Just like that.
Jesus…
To think that she and Daryl had met under those circumstances. Now, she was the one on the run needing someone by her side, and she was the one who had no clue if her husband was alive or not. Her family.
Her children were in front of her, gently sleeping, as if having no troubles at all, but Annie knew them better. Hallie, although young, could tell what was going on. She just wasn't as affected as Kelly had been by the attack. The fuckers had killed Ellie in a heartbeat, and Kelly had been there to see.
What had pissed Annie off even more than the death was that fact that she knew the two of them had been growing closer, to the point where she thought that they're friendship might turn into something that happened like her and Jills, but hell, those fuckers had taken care of it real damn quick.
Annie sighs and rest her head on her knees, looking down at the ground. She had tried so hard to keep her family safe, to keep her life safe, and now they were separated. Gone. With no idea if they were alive or not. This was not how she wanted her life to go, to live like this. She wanted to survive, to live, and now this happened.
"Fuck," she whispers.
A subtle crack is heard in the woods and she looks up, only to see it was a walker. She rolls her eyes and stands, bringing her knife over to kill it. Almost instantly it dies, and she watches it fall to the ground, just like how she felt. Dead, pushed over. Nearly insane. She wanted to kill someone, to punch someone. She wanted to fucking find whoever had taken out their life, their prison, their home, and murder them.
Wow. Now she could finally understand how Daryl felt from all of his pain and rage at the person who had taken his home all that time ago.
Annie takes a deep breath and looks back at the ground, before her eyes glance over to her two children. Wanting revenge or not, she had to look out for her children first. That was what she needed to do to stay the hell alive, and God help her, she would. For them.
So with that thought in her head, she sat back down on the ground with a quiet plop, and let herself rest her head back against the tree she was sitting next to. She was going to keep them safe. One way or another. She would, and everything would work out.
Somehow.
~%~
Three months had passed, and the threesome were still walking around, looking for anyone. But at this point, Annie had kinda given up. But her daughters were alive, and that's what mattered the most.
Now, she was thinking about Jill. How she had been reunited with her best friend after all these years, lived together, and now she was taken again, practically from her fingertips. Now, she was gone, along with Daryl.
Jesus, Daryl. God, she fucking missed him. She didn't think she could miss anyone else more than him. In times like this he would remind her that everything was going to work out, and that they would be together, no matter what. Annie wanted to tell herself that now, but with no clues and no hints to where he might be at all, she was starting to lose faith in that too.
She was starting to lose faith in a lot of things.
"Mom, what about that?" Kelly asks quietly, pointing over to what looked like an old food store. Memories flashed back to Annie of her and Daryl's last intimate moment together. He had said he wanted a baby. That didn't happen, but they had said they could keep trying. And now, they'd never get the chance again.
"Yeah, that could work." The threesome walk over, and tie Crackers up, before heading up into the market. The two girls walk down some of the aisles, trying to see if there were any other items they could take, while Annie kept a look out. As she did, her eyes caught something shining on the floor. Curiosity overtook her, so she moved the debris and found…two katanas. Lying on the ground. It was like someone had just left them there. Well, she was running low on ammo, and her knife couldn't be the only thing she could use to kill walkers. But she had no fucking clue how to use one of these. Like, whatsoever.
Annie carefully picked them up and looked at them quietly, thinking this through, before deciding to take them. Any weapon was a good weapon.
"MOM!"
Annie races over to see Kelly looking at something in her hands. It looked like a box of cookies. The little girl smiles.
"I found cookies."
Annie sighs before taking the food. "It's better than nothing." She places them in her bag and grabs the other food. "C'mon, we gotta get going."
"To where? All we do is walk around," Hallie mumbles.
"Look here, little girl. We have walkers all around us. If we want t survive, we keep moving until we find somewhere that doesn't have walkers," Annie says sternly. "I don't want to be the bitchy mom. Trust me, I don't. But right now, we don't have time to whine. I saw a herd before we left, so we need to walk now."
The two girls sight but nod, following their mother outside into the streets. As they walk away, Kelly looks up quietly.
"Are we ever going to see daddy again?"
Annie sighs before looking down at her girl. "I don't know for sure, baby. We just need to stay focused on what's ahead, not in the past." But that didn't stop the feeling of pain that went through her heart.
They probably would never see him again, and it was all her fault. Because she couldn't keep that place up. None of them could. They lost. Again.
~%~
Six months had passed now.
Kelly and Hallie looked weathered, but Annie was keeping them afloat. Crackers was truckling along, but she could tell he was getting tired too. Just looking at him made her sad, because all she thought of was Daryl.
Damn it.
Annie had grown a bit. Her katanas rested in two holders on her back, something she had learned to master, and now used them on the daily when it came to walkers. Ammo was just too precious nowadays, and she needed to conserve it as much as she could.
Now, she wasn't thinking as much about Daryl and the others. Now, it was mainly everyone she was thinking about. Rick and Carl, along with little Judtih. Jill and Ariel, how they were doing with the loss of Ellie. The people that had taken them in after Aasim fell. Everyone she had grown to care about. Rachel and Nicki. Her parents. Little Carla.
All of them. She had no idea if they were alive or not.
But God help her, one day she would find out.
As the three of them walked, tired, dull, they were suddenly called out. "Who trespasses on Kingdom Ground?"
Annie stops and puts her kids behind her, before turning to see a man come near her. He had dreadlocks in his hair, and was on a horse. Her brow furrows.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I am King Ezekiel, and I am guessing you need refuge, including your two girls." Annie looks over at Kelly and Hallie and had a long moment. They couldn't keep walking. They needed somewhere safe.
And for now, this guy would have to do. Until she could find Daryl again.
"Yes, sir, we do."
~%~
Hi, so literally this is the shortest chaptesr I've ever done, but that's because my ideas come to me very slowly lol and this one was just to show what had happened. Two, I am so FUCKING SORRY IT HAS TAKEN ME TWO FREAKING YEARS TO UPDATE. I graduated high school and I'm in college and I'm lowkey kind of depressed, so writing hasn't been my strong point lately.
But the other day I was rereading this story and forgot how much I love it. Now the chapters most likely wont be as long unless I have super amazing ideas, but the story will go on. I will e updating most likely on a biweekly basis on this story, as well as working on my others. I am excited to return to the story of Daryl and Annie, and bringing their life into the world of the Saviors, with a few twists and turns.
BTW, I have changed a lot, so there will be some changes in this story, but they will all make sense. Trust the process.
Again, I love all of you. Thank you for sticking with me and reading this and just being there with me throughout the whole entire ordeal. I swear I'm going to be a better writer and give you content that is amazing weekly. You guys are awesome.
So, once again, don't forget to drop a review on what you think and follow and favorite! They make my day! I hope all of you are having a lovely one :)
~Ali