THE WALKING DEAD
( season one episode five )

THE CAMP WAS LIKE A GRAVEYARD. walkers were being burned in a fire whilst the corpses of camp mates were being piled into a van for them to bury. Alana hadn't slept, she couldn't. When the girl had got back to camp, she had saw what had happened.

Amy Harrison was dead. It was only yesterday that the two girls had been talking about their "future" and now one of them was just another dead body.

Andrea had refused to leave her sisters side. she held Amy's lifeless body in her arms all night, despite being advised by several camp mates to move away. It was only a matter of time before Amy was going to wake up.

Alana was sat facing the crackling fire with her knees tucked toward her chest. Her ankle was swollen and bruised but she was still able to walk. Her mothers advice was to just try and stay off it.

out the corner of her eye, she noticed her father approaching them. He held a walkie-talkie in his hand and looked disappointed "she still won't move?"

Lori stood behind Alana, placing two hands on her shoulders and glancing over to Andrea "she won't even talk to us. she's been there all night, what do we do?"

Shane's eyes flickered to the two sisters before he started shaking his head and frowning "can't just leave Amy like that. We need to deal with it, same as the others."

Rick nodded at Shane's words before making his way toward Andrea "I'll tell her how it is"

whilst rick began to crouch down beside her, Andrea spun around aiming her gun in his face. She glared at him "I know how the safety works"

"all right" Rick mumbled, slowly getting up — raising his arms in some sort of surrender "I'm sorry"

Daryl stepped toward them, holding his pickaxe over his shoulder. He scowled and pointed toward the blonde "y'all can't be serious, let that girl hamstring us? The dead girls a time bomb"

"The dead girls name is Amy" Alana shot at him, glaring at the man.

"Whatever" Daryl shrugged, eyes glancing toward her "soon enough, she's gonna come back from the dead"

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked, placing his hands on his hips as he looked up to Daryl.

The redneck stepped toward rick, lowering his voice as he spoke "take the shot. Clean in the brain, from here" he placed two fingers against his forehead, gesturing a gun "hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance"

"No" Lori cut them off, taking a seat beside her daughter as her eyes lay on the two Harrison sisters "for gods sake, let her be"

Rick and Shane made eye contact, nodding as they agreed with Lori whilst Daryl scoffed as he walked away.

everyone in camp had loved Amy. She was sunshine, no matter what she could always make you smile. Alana's heart was aching for her, for Andrea.

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!"

Jacqui's shouts were heard by all the camp as she quickly backed away from Jim. Everyone's attention fell on the man as he looked around frantically — panicking.

"Show it to us!" Daryl aggressively yelled, pointing at him whilst he circled the poor man "show it to us! right now"

as everyone started surrounding him, t-dog grabbed both his arms — restraining him whilst Daryl lifted his shirt to reveal the ring of teeth marks engraved in his skin.

"I'm okay" Jim repeated, they didn't know whether he was trying to persuade them or himself.

Alana's mouth dropped as she watched from a distance. The camp was falling apart. everyone was either leaving or dying.

The group had surrounded where Alana was sat, muttering under their breaths as Jim watched from the other side of camp.

"I say we put an axe in his head and the dead girl's — and be done with it" Daryl stated, looking eager to kill them already.

Shane looked up at him, frowning as he spoke "that what you'd want, if it were you?"

Daryl slightly raised his eyebrows, surprised at his question "yeah and I'd thank you while you did it"

"I hate to say it" Dale began, putting his head down "I never thought I would but maybes Daryl's right"

"Jim's not a monster" Rick argued, crossing his face at them "or some rabid dog"

"I'm not suggesting that —" Dale began before rick cut him off.

Rick kept his eyes on the ground whilst his hands lay on his hips "he's sick, a sick man. We start down that road, when do we draw the line?"

"The lines pretty clear" Daryl commented, glaring at rick "zero tolerance for walkers or them to be"

"What if we can get him help?" Rick suggested, eyes turning to everyone "I heard the CDC was working on a cure"

"I heard that too" Shane admitted "heard a lot of things before the world went to hell"

"What if the CDC's still up and running?" Rick asked, aiming his question at Shane.

Shane chuckled, shaking his head "and that is a stretch right there"

"Why?" Rick questioned "if there's any government left, any — any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection, a rescue"

Shane interrupted him, his tone going firm "Ok Rick. you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort benning."

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction" Lori stated, questioning his ways.

"That is right" Shane nodded, before shrugging "but it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me, if that place is operational it will be heavily armed. We'd be safe there"

"How do you know though?" Alana asked, making eye contact with Shane "nowhere's safe anymore, what if we get attacked by walkers there?"

Shane shrugged his shoulders "the same thing could happen at the CDC, but we could —"

Alana cut him off, frowning at the man "but the CDC could have a cure, like my dad said"

Rick nodded in agreement with his daughter, glancing at her "the CDC's our best choice and Jim's only chance"

Daryl looked up from the ground, slowly backing away toward Jim "you go looking for aspirin. Do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls and take care of care of this same problem!"

Alana quietly gasped as she watched Daryl swing his pickaxe over his shoulder, getting ready to slam it into Jim's skull.

Rick instantly ran after him, cocking his gun and placing it to the back of Daryl's head. "hey!" Daryl froze as his face dropped "we don't kill the living"

Daryl lowered his weapon, turning around and scowling at rick "it's funny, coming from a man who just put a gun to my head"

"We may disagree on some things" Shane began, speaking from the other side of Daryl "not on this. You put it down. Go on"

Daryl slammed his axe into the ground before storming away. Rick grabbed Jim by his arm and took him into the RV whilst the rest of the camp finished sorting out the dead walkers.

___

MOST BODIES WERE ALREADY BURIED. Amy's was last, she had eventually woke up and Andrea had shot her in the head. Alana was stood by Carl, holding his hand whilst Lori had her arm wrapped around the two.

Andrea struggled as she grabbed Amy's body by the feet. Dale slowly approached her, reaching out to help her before she snapped at him "I can do it! I can do it"

He tried to help again but Andrea refused. Amy was a friend to all, she was a beautiful soul taken too soon. It was unfair.

Eventually, they had finished and everyone began walking back to camp. Alana took it slow — trying to not make her ankle any worse.

She could hear her father mumbling to her mother behind her "burying people is hard enough but the thought of one of us"

Carl turned around, his gaze looking up to his father "are we safe now, dad? Now that we're all together?"

Rick crouched down in-front of his two children, nodding his head "I won't leave again, I promise you that — not for anything"

His eyes went to Carl and he grinned "now you two head back to camp and look after your sister for me, okay?"

Carl nodded as a frown appeared across Alana's face "dad, I already told you I'm fine"

"I know but you gotta take it easy, kid" Rick told her, standing up and ruffling her hair "your not invincible"

Alana shrugged as she began walking away with her little brother "might be"

___

THE BRIGHT HOT FLAMES FLICKERED in the camp, lighting up the dark nights sky. Everyone was surrounded by the fire — heads down as they grieved over the loss of their loved ones.

Andrea was asleep in a small camping chair whilst Lori was crouched down on the floor — adding more firewood in the burning pile.

Glenn was sat on a log beside Alana, opposite to where everyone was sat. It was their last night in camp, Shane and Rick had decided to leave for the CDC in the morning.

"Do you think we'll be safe?" Alana asked, turning her head to Glenn as she folded her arms.

Glenn's face dropped, swallowing the lump in his throat. The boy was clearly nervous. "your dad seems to know what he's doing"

The girl shrugged her shoulders, her eyes moving to the campfire across from them "not all the time. You all said The city's overrun"

"Yeah but" Glenn chuckled, he paused for a second before his smile faded "your dad knows what he's doing. I mean he got us out of the city when we were surrounded by walkers"

Alana nodded, slightly smiling at him.

___

HEAVY BAGS LAY UNDER ALANA'S EYES as she climbed out of her tent. She had barely slept again. She couldn't stop worrying about everything. The girl looked around, her face slightly dropping. The quarry was practically empty — all tents were packed away, bags were piled up and being put into the car.

It just didn't feel real. The quarry was safe, that's why they were there. Everyone gathered on the logs as Shane stood in-front of them "all right everybody, listen up! Those of you with cb's, we're gonna be on channel forty. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a cb, can't get a signal or anything — your gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

Morales folded his arms, placing his head down then glancing to his wife "we're uh...we're not going"

All eyes lay on his family, several faces dropping as Miranda softly smiled at everyone "we have family — in Birmingham. We want to be with our people"

Shane raised his eyebrows, adjusting his cap "you go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back"

Morales nodded, wrapping an arm around his wife and kids "we'll take the chance. I gotta do what's best for my family"

"You sure?" Rick asked, his hands on his hips.

"We talked about it" morales replied, nodding his head and making eye contact with Miranda "we're sure"

"All right" Shane responded, grabbing a gun and a box of bullets before handing it to him "the box is half full"

Morales took it as he look at everyone with a smile. Miranda softly smiled "thank you all — for everything"

Lori instantly pulled her in for a hug before kissing the two children on the head. Then Miranda's daughter approached Sophia, handing her a doll before pulling her in for a hug.

Whilst everybody said there goodbyes, Lori sat on the roof of the car — both her arms wrapped around Carl and Alana.

Soon enough, morales and his family had taken off and it was time for them to leave. To go to the CDC.

Rick approached Alana, stopping her before she went into the car "your ankle still swollen?"

Alana leaned back on the car as she gazed down to her foot and smiled "it's getting better"

"you know, last night — I don't know what would've happened if we hadn't had found you" rick told her, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a sliver shiny gun "I want you to have this"

"really?" Alana asked, her eyebrows raising "but dad, I don't even know how to use it"

"I can teach you" Rick replied, nodding his head "this world is dangerous and the walkers — there's more of them, more people turning. I want you to be able to protect yourself. If your alone, if something happens to me or mom, I want you to be safe"

Alana slightly smiled as she nodded and took the gun, gazing at it "what about Carl?"

"he's a bit too young" Rick shrugged, glancing to Carl and Lori sat across from them "besides, he'll have you to protect him right?"

Alana chuckled "I don't know about that"

Authors note

I was listening to Jeff Buckley while writing this and I got distracted near the end as it started playing lover, you should come over 🙏 so please ignore any mistakes!!

Glenn and Alana's found family relationship means the world to me. He's basically like a brother to her but they get closer around season four 🤍