THE WALKING DEAD
( season one episode four )

DEATH LAY ON Alana's mind constantly. Her father was gone again — risking his life for a man he barely knew. A sick feeling lingered in her stomach. What if he never came back?

Lori could hide her worry quite well. She could act like everything was normal when really the poor woman was suffering. Carl didn't properly understand — he was just a kid after all. Rick had promised to come back, so that's what he was gonna do.

Alana sat beside her younger brother, resting her foot on the table in-front of them. Her ankle was still hurting. Shane told her to try and stay sat down.

All of a sudden, all eyes flickered to amy and Andrea Harrison. The two sisters were approaching came with over a dozen of fish.

Morales turned to them, pure happiness in his eyes. "Oh baby, would you look at that?" the man spun around you he rest of the group "hey, check it out!"

Lori's mouth hung open as she started to clap at the girls. She wasn't a big fan of fish nor was Alana but in the apocalypse, cooking your favourite meal wasn't an option.

Morales took one of the bags of fish from Amy "ladies — because of you, my children will eat tonight. thank you"

"Thank Dale" Andrea told him, gesturing to the RV where the old man usually stood "it's his canoe and gear"

Amy high-fived Alana as she walked past the girl. Carl jumped up with excitement "look at all the fish!"

Lori softly chuckled as morales waved the fish toward her. She tilted to the side, shaking her head at him "no, thank you"

"Whoa" Carl stated, touching the slimy scales with a big smile plastered on his face.

"yeah, whoa" Lori replied, eyes flickering to the two blondes "where did you two learn to do that?"

"Our dad" Amy spoke proudly, grabbing her blue water bottle.

Alana turned to them, with a smile on her face "can you teach me?"

Amy frowned "I thought you hated fish"

"but I still need to know how to catch them" Alana explained, spinning around in her camp chair to face Amy "you can't do everything"

Amy's smile grew bigger as she rolled her head around "fine. I'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff" she glanced to Lori "if that's okay?"

"You won't catch me arguing" Lori told her, shaking her head as she looked away.

"can you teach me too?" Carl asked, eyes big like a puppy.

Amy softly smiled at the boy "sure"

Andrea's attention was drawn away from them when she spotted Dale approaching "hey Dale! when's the last time you oiled those line reels? they are a disgrace"

"I — uh. I don't want to alarm anyone" Dale spoke, making Shane jump from his seat "but we may have a bit of a problem"

The old man gestured in the distance to where Jim was stood. Carl frowned before his gaze met his sisters "what's he doing?"

"I — I think he's digging" Alana replied, shrugging her shoulders. She blocked the sun with her hand as she narrowed her eyes.

Andrea raised her eyebrows "in this heat?"

____

THE MAJORITY OF THE GROUP had joined Dale and Shane when they went to 'check' on Jim but Alana had stayed at the campsite. She was stuck on babysitting duty while the others went to interrogate Jim.

The girl's mind was full, with too many thoughts to handle — Shane and her mother, Carl, her father. He was still gone and the fact they had no way to communicate made it ten times worse. He could be dead already and she wouldn't know.

Alana tipped her head back, gazing up to the bright sun. She missed the world — The world where her life wasn't at risk every single second.

"Are you okay?" A familiar voice asked from beside her. She looked up to see Amy Harrison stood next to her.

Alana sat up, making eye contact with Amy before smiling "I'm exhausted"

Amy chuckled, taking a seat beside the girl and drinking from her tiny blue water bottle "me too — Andrea's snoring keeps me up all the time"

"Same! Carl's snoring is loud and then my dad too now" Alana began, nodding along to her words "I seriously need my own tent"

"Maybe we could ask if anyone would swap?" Amy grinned, leaning back in her seat

Alana chuckled, slightly shaking her head "I don't think my parents would like that idea"

"Probably not"

There was a silence between the two before Alana asked "do you ever think about what life would be like if all this didn't happen?"

"All the time" Amy nodded, slightly smiling at her. "You know, I would've been graduating college soon. We've all missed out on so much. Having kids, starting families, working"

"People can still start families" Alana shrugged, raising her eyebrows.

Amy shook her head "It's not the same though. I always wanted a family, a husband and two kids — and a dog!"

"me too. I always wanted to be a mom" Alana leaned backwards as she replied. Her eyes met Amy's and she turned her head "Two daughters and maybe a son"

"You know, my mom used to tell me how she always knew she was going to have daughters" Amy told her, tilting her head back in her chair. "She said she just had a feeling"

"I dunno. Bringing kids into this seems a bit cruel — and I'm way too young" Alana smiled, her cheeks going red.

"yeah but when you get older" Amy chuckled, crossing her legs "your almost eighteen"

Alana frowned at Amy as her mouth dropped "in two years? Amy I'm only sixteen and even at eighteen, that's pretty young to be having kids"

"Whatever" Amy replied, jokingly rolling her eyes "we're all probably going to get eaten anyway"

"that's not funny" Alana told her, hiding her smirk as a chuckle escaped her lips.

"Really?" Amy asked, nudging her "then why are you smiling?"

                                        ___

SMILES WERE PLASTERED on across everyone's faces whilst they were sat, gathered beside each-other. The campfire's heat warmed the cold breeze as the bright hot flames flickered, lighting up the campsite.

mutters and mumbles came from the campers as they ate their portions of fish that the Harrison sisters had caught earlier that day.

However, ed hadn't joined them — nobody had seen him since the 'incident' with Shane but it was probably a good thing. The man was an asshole, not just to his wife and daughter but to everyone.

uninteresting words were passed from people until morales eyes landed on Dale, sparking a conversation with the elderly man.

Dale, who had previously been gazing at the sky, brought his attention to morales as he spoke "I've got to ask you man it's been driving me crazy"

"What?" Dale softly smiled, looking slightly worried that he had done something wrong.

"that watch" morales stated, pointing to the old watch on his wrist whilst a grin formed on his face.

Dale frowned, glancing down to his watch. The man would always wear it, everyday. Nobody would ever see him without it "what's wrong with my watch?"

"I see you everyday, the same time" morales explained, gesturing to his wrist "winding that thing like a village priest saying mass"

Jacqui's lips began smiling before she spoke up from opposite them "I've wondered this myself"

Dale looked at them both clueless, his face still slightly frowning "I'm missing the point"

Jacqui tilted, crossing her eyebrows "unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end"

"But there's you" morales added, pointing at the man with a smile "everyday, winding up that stupid watch"

"time. It's important to keep track, isn't it?" Dale asked, gazing at them all — waiting for someone to agree with him "don't you think? Andrea, back me up here"

Andrea took a sip of her beer, dodging the question and awkwardly shrugging her shoulders.

"It would be nice to know what time it is" Alana stated, softly smiling at Dale "to keep track of the day and stuff"

"see? Keeping track" Dale responded, his eyes flickering back to morales "its important"

The old man leaned back in his camp chair whilst his eyes slowly glanced to the fire "I like — I like what the father said to son when he gave him the watch, that had been handed down through generations" the groups focused on his words, intrigued in what he was saying "he said, I give you mausoleum of all hope and desire which will fit your individual needs, no better than it did mine or my fathers before me. I give it to you, not that you may remember time but that you may forget it for a moment. Now and then. And not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it."

silence had filled the campsite as the group pondered over dales worlds — even if they didn't entirely understand what he meant.

"you are so weird" Amy Harrison spoke, chuckling at him.

Dale turned to her, smiling "it's not me! It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing"

Alana grimes shivered as she leaned closer to the crackling fire. wearing a shorts probably wasn't her smartest choice. "uh, mom I'm gonna go grab my jacket"

Lori turned to her daughter, her gaze softening "do you want any help?"

Alana shook her head "I'll be fine" she smiled, limping back toward her tent. Her ankle was slowly getting better. It was just a sprain, after all.

The brown-eyed girl crouched down, looking into the suitcase beside her sleeping bag. Back at the start, her mother had packed their 'most important' things into a really big suitcase. Photo albums, memory boxes, clothes, etc.

Alana pulled out her green jacket, previously her mothers when she was younger. As she placed it on, a loud rustling noise came from the bushes outside her tent.

The girl thought nothing of it, until...

screaming.

horrifying screams echoed across the camp.

With no second thought, Alana immediately climbed out her tent — gazing back to where her mother and Carl were sat. Her heart was pounding in her chest and a worried expression was plastered across her face.

a eery growl came from behind the young girl as she turned to see the two walkers coming toward her. Alana tried to make a run for it, limping into the woods opposite camp.

the further she got, the closer the walkers got to her. The girl struggled to keep going, she could barely walk. Was this it? Was this really her fate — to be eaten by walkers in the dead of night?

Alana frantically turned her head and without noticing, she caught her foot on a tree stump — falling onto the floor. Her whole body was shaking in fear as her screams echoed through the woods.

she rolled over, eyes flickering to her ankle and as she tried to move it, a sharp pain started shooting in her foot. Her heartbeat was racing, she couldn't die here.

The nearest walker came right for her, lunging onto the ground and crawling toward her. Alana used her other leg, kicking it in the face and pushing her self backwards across the floor.

Her eyes looked in every direction, searching for something — any sort of weapon but in that moment, the walker pinned her to the floor. It's face almost on hers as it's rotten teeth snapped at her.

Alana used one arm, pushing it up but she wasn't strong enough to get it off her. She reached her other arm out, turning her head to see a large rock laying there.

The girl strained her arm out, eventually grabbing the rock with her fingertips. As she got a proper grip, she slammed it into the walkers head — blood splattering over her face.

Instantly, Alana shoved the walker off her. She leaned over it and repeatedly slammed the rock into its skull until it was nothing but mushed up flesh.

She had got it. She was okay or that's what she thought before another growling walker appeared in front of her.

Half-sitting on the floor, Alana pushed herself backwards kicking at the walker coming for her. She blew out a shaky breath — her heart racing in her chest.

gunshots.

All of a sudden gunshots began shooting the walker, blowing its brains out. Alana flinched — covering her face with her arm as the flesh flew toward her and it's body fell to the floor.

She looked up, putting her arm down to see her father stood right across from her. The rock fell from her hand and with a heavy chest, tears dripped down her cheeks "dad?"

"oh my god" Rick muttered, immediately approaching his daughter and crouching down to wrap his arms tightly around her.

"dad, I'm so sorry. I'm —" Alana told him through broken sobs. She buried her head into his chest while Shane stood behind them, looking out for other walkers.

"It's okay" Rick reassured her, looking down at her as he held her in his arms "your okay"

Authors note

A new chapter finallyyyyyy!!!!

I'm so sorry everyone had to wait so long, I've had no motivation for weeks but after seeing a sad twd edit on tiktok I finally decided to write again ( mainly cause I wanna get back onto the prison era asap )