CHAPTER ZERO ━━━ THIRTEEN DAYS IN.
Act One : Season One of The Walking Dead

SHE KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG WHEN SHANE IGNORED HER PHONE CALL. She wore dark blue scrubs, the Blackberry clutched between her fingers as she lowered the device from her ear. The hospital was abuzz, as it had been for the last few days. But this time around, things were a little crazier inside the sanitized walls. Here's what happened: Adeline Grimes-Walsh had to pull a double. Which, wasn't an odd thing. She did that at least twice every week. But, this is where things start to get tricky. She went into the on-call room, planning on taking a thirty-minute nap tops. Instead, she ended up sleeping into the next day. And that? That meant she hadn't seen her husband in two whole days.

Adeline was nothing but distracted, her mind weighing heavy with new responsibilities that found their way into her lap. Her twin brother was in a coma and she had to make sure his family was okay all while keeping herself sane and her husband. Not to mention the double; it seemed everyone else had caught that new sickness that was going around, leaving it all up to the little 'ole her to keep things in order.

Which was just great. Truly. That was exactly what she needed. A part of her truly believed that because the extra work did help distract her mind but then again, being in the same place that her coma-induced brother was in didn't have the same effect. In fact, it only reminded her of everything she had to do. Her nephew, Carl, had been spending the night with her and Shane ever since Rick was shot. Lori Grimes chose to stay with her husband at the hospital, or it was more so like she wouldn't dare do anything else except that.

Adeline, unfortunately, couldn't convince her otherwise, so she opted on focusing on the little boy placed in her care.

Then today rolled around the corner. She was called in fifteen minutes after she'd stepped through the front door of her home at 6:27 in the morning. She then proceeded to pour herself a cup of hot coffee that she had to brew while keeping quiet to not wake her husband and nephew, change into a semi-clean pair of scrubs, then leave once again. Like she was never there. She even started to question if she had imagined going home.

Because when she woke up from her day-long nap, the hospital seemed to be in the middle of an evacuation. And she had locked the door to the on-call room, meaning if anyone did come looking for her, the last thing they could do was get inside.

Adeline hadn't allowed herself to panic. Yet. She managed to sneak into a surprisingly vacant stairwell, which is where she stood with her back pressed into the railing. A small huff of aggravation left her lips, eyes glued to the smaller screen of her phone in her grasp. She eyed the string of messages she'd received from Shane, ones that she had yet to answer. Not to mention the forty-five missed calls. All of the texts were almost the same, to sum it all up it was a heap of; Where the hell are you? Addy, answer your damn phone. We're worried sick here. Everyone is evacuating to Atlanta. We should too.

That last message made her stomach drop. What the hell happened? All he had to do was babysit Carl today.

She furrowed her brows, turning the device off and sliding it into her pocket, feeling its cold surface press against her thigh through the material. She was tired. The underlying fear began to poke through that something bad went down, her anxiety bubbling in her stomach as she ran her hands over her face before shaking her head. "Nobody is dead. Everything is fine." Addy whispered to herself, fingers falling to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Why was everyone evacuating to Atlanta? And why on Earth would that be the best thing to do? When things go wrong, the first things to fall would be the cities. The excuses rolled through in attempts to ease her nerves, body pushing up the stairs and back towards the 3rd-floor exit.

By the time she reached the door, unlocked it, and shoved it open, Adeline had prepared herself for the swarm of patients and nurses pushing through the hallway. She stayed to the wall, hastily moving out of the way to avoid a figure that rushed past her and into the once-locked stairwell. "Jesus." She muttered under her breath, not caring enough to look at the man as she avoided the moving crowd. She knew half of the patients, but all of the faces seemed to blur together the harder she searched for a familiar one.

Addy managed to make her way through the mass of people, slipping past bodies as her heart quickened in its pace within her chest. She had to avoid some armed soldiers that were thrown into the mix, but after a minute she eventually found herself behind the counter of the empty nurses' station.

But it was more so abandoned.

She didn't allow her mind anytime to think, eyes falling past the cluttered surfaces to where a tall coat rack sat in the corner as she moved towards it. Her brown cardigan sat on the far right hook, accompanied by the army-green strap of her messenger bag. She gave up on carrying a purse years ago, when you pull doubles every week there happened to be a variety of things that were good to keep on you. She also didn't have any time to throw her things in the on-call room earlier before she was paged to the emergency room to tend to victims of a car crash, so that was always fun.

The blackberry in her pocket began to buzz the second she slipped her arms through the long sleeves of her cardigan, a huff of aggravation falling from her chest as she tugged the long locks of her hair out of the back. Blindly grabbing her bag off the other hook, she situated the strap over her right shoulder while sliding her left hand into her pocket. Adeline retrieved the phone, her finger falling to press against the button with the little green phone on it. Raising it to her ear, she began to move towards the hallway that had emptied out quite hastily in the past three minutes. "Hello?"

She should probably call Shane after this. She was starting to panic, she hoped they were all okay. Instead of doing that, the doctor chose to worry internally, grab her things, and head to her brother's room. There, she could attempt to get her bearings and see what the actual hell was going on. Priorities mattered a lot to her, she just thought it was best to move from one to another. Calmly, that was. Running down the stairwell in a panic didn't seem smart to her, so she kept her movement at a normal pace and made her way down the long, barren, and desolate hallway.

"Addy? There you are. Jesus Christ, we've been trying to get ahold of you." The rushed yet familiar voice of Lori Grimes broke through the other end, confusion knitting Adeline's eyebrows together as she pushed the stairwell entrance open. "I- it's hard to explain. I didn't see any of your texts or calls." She retorted, her voice carrying an echo. While talking, she ignored the ache in her legs and made her way up the stairs to the fourth floor where the ICU unit was.

Hearing a muffled conversation on the other end of the phone, Addy caught the sound of her nephew's voice. "Is that Carl? Are you with Shane?" She questioned, not allowing the woman to talk. She couldn't help it. She was worried. Lori started to speak, but it was nothing but spews of useless information. People are going crazy, everyone's leaving. But no real answers, only words that made panic brew in the stomach of the doctor.

"Okay, just..." Adeline slowed in her steps, stopping by the fourth-floor exit with her words. "Can you just tell me what the hell is going on? Say it outright."

"I- I don't know, Addy. It's bad. People are... they're goin' crazy. Everyone evacuating to Atlanta. That's why I left the hospital. I tried to find you, but everyone I asked said they hadn't seen you and that you were probably in surgery so I had no other choice but to go get Carl. Shane agreed this was the best decision, he's been trying to call you. He just left to find you." Lori hastily informed, causing her sister-in-law's stomach to tighten anxiously. Evacuate to Atlanta? How would Rick get there?

Adeline fell quiet, her back pressing against the railing of the stairs. Her fingers tightened around the phone in her grasp, "I'll try to find him. Thanks, Lor." The words left her mouth reluctantly, opting to not wait for a response as she lowered the device and hung up. Right now, the only thing running through her mind was the last words she spoke to her brother before he left that morning. Before he was pushed into the emergency room while she was working, covered in blood with her husband following close behind.

She remembered how he rushed up to her and pulled her away before she could get a good look at Rick. Ever since then, Addy had been pretty bad at keeping up with everything that was going on due to her newfound responsibilities. But right now, she should at least have an idea of what to do. Her plate, was technically clean. She had no responsibilities. Carl was safe. So was Lori. And it terrified her because she had absolutely no clue what was supposed to happen next.

Find Shane and then what? Leave to Atlanta? Why? This is her home. It didn't make any sense to her, not even to mention the fact that Lori said people were going crazy and that Shane believed leaving was the best decision. What all had she missed out on in the last twenty-four hours? If she knew anything for certain, it was that she was officially done pulling doubles multiple times a week. She felt completely clueless right now. With a sigh, she slid the phone back into her pocket and continued to move up the stairs to the exit.

The cardigan she wore brushed against her thighs as she walked, she really shouldn't have taken that nap. Her tennis shoes squeaked against the tiles, her hand curling around the rails before moving to the metal handle of the wooden door. Addy pushed it open and suddenly, a loud commotion that she'd been oblivious to flooded into her ears. Once again, she was greeted by a wave of people pushing down the hallway, a few armed soldiers were thrown into the mix. That made Adeline even more confused, the door sealing shut against her back and softly bumping her towards the moving mass.

It was pure chaos. She wondered how she was so painfully unaware of everything going on around her until she remembered that not even fifteen minutes ago, she was passed out in an on-call room. If she had known how much she would regret taking that time to herself, she wouldn't have done it. Sounds that she hadn't paid attention to several minutes ago reached her ears, the whir of helicopter blades slightly muffled by the remaining floors above. There were shouts of different deep voices, each throwing out directions and orders for the other soldiers.

Maybe this was all some kind of prank. That or the world was falling apart right before her eyes.

Before she could stumble into people she didn't even recognize (she guessed they were the workers that the CDC sent down to take care of the new disease), Addy stopped herself and pressed her spine back into the stairwell entrance. Looks like they're great at their job, sarcastic words filtered through the doctors' mind as she looked down both sides of the hallway━━━ eyes landing upon the familiar sight of her brothers' room. 450. She repeated the number to herself, sticking close to the wall as she grew near to the closed door.

All she had to do was get there. At least that was the lie she fed her mind, hand anxiously falling to rest against her bag. The second she reached the room, she twisted her fingers around the silver handle and peeled the door open just enough to slip inside. Stepping into the room, it sealed shut behind her, her attentive eyes immediately landing on the sight of Rick Grimes. As always, the room was quiet upon her arrival. Minus everything going on around them, of course; her ears were now prone to the sound of helicopter blades whirring a few floors above them. Their town was small, the King County hospital wasn't necessarily a big one.

Which made her wonder why there was a fucking helicopter. Something shitty must've happened. Right about now, she was starting to swear to herself that she was never taking a nap ever again.

Adeline tried her damndest to focus on her brother, but her mind seemed to be stuck on the state of disarray that the hallway found itself in. Papers were everywhere, people in a panic. And she couldn't remember correctly but she coulda swore that she saw a spray of crimson on the tiled floors. A part of her failed to ignore the deep irritation that scoured her mind for not knowing what was going on. She hated being out of the loop almost more than anything, it took everything in her to not snap at Shane when he wouldn't fully explain to her how Rick had gotten shot.

It was safe to say she managed to lure the story out of him after a few minutes.

Sliding the strap of her messenger bag off her shoulder, Adeline placed it onto the chair by her brothers bed before moving towards the window. Her eyes were quick to adjust to the bright sunlight outside, spotting multiple military vehicles parked in the back lot. There were groups of soldiers, the majority armed with rifles. Okay. Three days ago, the government issued a military-ran camp behind the hospital in case of emergency. For the new wildfire virus running around. Addy didn't know too much about it, they sent a group scientists down to help with the overwhelming cases.

The rumors of it turning people into cannibals was what made her a little worried for the fate of humanity.

But she never expected them to evacuate the hospital. How bad had it gotten? And how much had she not paid attention to while shoveling piles of nonstop work in her face since Rick was shot?

She was trying to think things through. Adeline did not want to freak out. Especially if she was alone, because then she didn't have anyone there to help calm her down. With a sigh, she pulled away from the window and turned back to the unconscious figure of her brother. "You'd be the one to miss out on the end of the world." She spoke, stepping towards his figure with crossed arms. "Be a great time to wake up."

"I'm not gonna leave you here alone." Adelines voice fell quiet with her promise, her hand moving to squeeze her brothers. "Pinky swear." She whispered, interlocking her little finger with his own. And like past thirteen days, there wasn't a response. It was just quiet, the air between the siblings carrying an unspoken silence.

When the door was hastily pushed open, the Grimes sister felt her stomach drop to her stomach. Then she spotted the familiar beige uniform that belonged to Shane Walsh. Her husband. The very man she was supposed to be looking for. His eyes were equally as wide as her own, gloved hands falling to the wooden structure to shove it shut. "Addy?" He breathed, his chest heaving up and down. Disbelief was written across his features, like finding her here, in this room, was the last thing he expected. "I've been lookin' all over for you." Were his next choice of words as he moved towards her.

"Shane." Adeline felt relief tear through her, the weight on her shoulders easing. He moved by the hospital bed, reaching her side and wordlessly wrapping his arms around her body. His hold on her tightened, the radio he wore strapped to his shoulder pressing into her neck. Addy brought her hands to his elbows, gently moving away from him to look him in the eyes. "Can you tell me what the hell is goin' on?"

"Tell you? Addy you have been gone. We thought somethin' happened to you. I mean, Jesus, baby. You had me worried sick." Shanes face was doused with worry mixed with hints of relief, his hand finding it's way to her cheek. She felt as he ran his thumb against her skin, her brows furrowing at his words. The look intertwined within his features made her stomach twist. He looked... scared? That wasn't normal. She'd only ever seen that once, and that memory wasn't something that she was exactly fond on thinking back to.

Adeline brought her hand to his, curling her fingers around his own and bringing it down to hang between them. "What happened, Shane?" She repeated her questioned, there was something that he wasn't telling her. "What's goin' on?" Her voice was soft, careful. She knew better than anyone how to work around her husband, even Rick struggled to do it. Shane seemed to be more open to listening to her instead.

"The government- they issued a broadcast. One big one, talkin' about how Atlanta was the place to be. It's safe there, alright? Food, water, a refugee center. They almost got all the military down there right now. Protecting the CDC. We gotta go. It's our best chance." Shane informed, the hints of a plead lacing around each word he spoke. "I need you with me on this. Okay? We'll take Lori and Carl. Keep them safe."

The room fell quiet. Unlike the chaos that was happening right on the other side of the door, Adeline was silent. You could hear a needle drop onto the floor if you really wanted to. She swallowed the spit that gathered in the depths of her mouth, eyes pulling from her husband and onto the coma-induced figure of her twin. "And Rick? What about him?" The words finally slipped from her lips, head turning back to face Shane with that questionable stare of hers.

He expected her to say that. After all, he figured he knew his wife better than anyone. He grew up with her and Rick both. Adeline had always been protective of her brother and vice versa, when it came to him or the people she loved, she couldn't dare be out of the loop. She wouldn't allow it. She was stubborn like that. It was one of the things he loved the most about her. Her heart was filled to the brim with the undying responsibility of making sure her family stayed safe.

That's why it was obvious to him that she was upset with herself for not knowing what was going on.

"They'll medevac him. Right? They'll have to. I mean, they're not just gonna leave him here, Ad." Shane was quick to assure, stepping forward to curl his hand around hers. "But right now, we gotta go. Okay? Just me and you. We'll meet Lori and Carl down the street." He ushered, pulling him towards her in attempts to begin their exit of the room.

Adeline wasted no time in stopping him. She jerked her arm out of his hold, staying in her place by her brothers hospital bed. "What the hell are you talkin' about, Shane? I may be a bit gullible, but I'm not stupid. There are soldiers pushin' people through the halls, they're evacuating this place. Do you honestly think these people are gonna save the guy in a coma?" She retorted, motioning towards Rick.

"Because they're not." Was how she finished her current spell, voice sharp and direct.

She watched as Shane sighed, "Adeline, baby. We do not have the time for this. Okay? We cannot risk our lives here. Tell me, what do you think Rick would want? For you to die tryin' to save him? Nobody wants that, Addy. Carl... he needs you. Now more than ever. I need you." Emotion fueled his words, his body pushing back towards her with determined features. "Now we have got to go, okay? We can't stay here."

"Then we... we can take him with us. We can get a bed from the hall." Adeline suggested, moving towards the door where a black backpack sat hooked onto its surface. An emergency bag. They packed one for each hospital room. "I can- I can find a way to wake him up. We can all go together." She continued, sliding the pack from the metal hook before sitting it in the floor next to her brothers IV stand.

Her eyes moved to meet Shanes, and she hated nothing more than the look he was giving her. Like she was some kind of helpless little girl, desperately trying to find hope in a hopeless situation. "Stop it. Don't look at me like that. This isn't impossible." Addy defended her actions, staying in her place on the opposite side. "We're not leaving him here, Shane." She informed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I can't. I won't."

Now that was his wife. Adeline Grimes-Walsh had the tendency of getting exactly what she wanted. It didn't matter who it was from, she always got the job done. And Shane? There was nothing he loved more than watching her do it. But when he was the victim of her persuasive tongue, the end result undoubtedly seemed to turn out a bit more bitter for him. Right now, saying no to her would be stupid. The only thing it would accomplish is putting them both in danger.

After all... there had to be a genuine reason for the hospital evacuation. How was she supposed to know that the flesh-eating undead were making their way towards them?

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