The Strongest Survivor

The long walk into the past

Artemis stayed for another twenty minutes looking at a map of how to get to Atlanta, while doing that she also checked how far away the farm was from Atlanta, 35 miles from Atlanta realistically she could make it to the farm in 2-3 days because she had to get to Atlanta first before getting to the farm that was if she never found her father or uncle. She drew a route on the map and grabbed her compass necklace her uncle got her for tracking. She grabbed her bag and her stuffed deer, willow, her daddy won willow at the fair in an archery game since then willow stayed with her, she helped when Artemis had a panic attack or one of her episodes. Artemis wasn't scared about being alone, she hadn't had friends at school because she always found it difficult to make friendships or to keep up conversations, sometimes she had difficulty talking to her daddy he would call her name several times before she would hear it but she would always apologise in case he thought she was being rude. She tended to have an obsession with tugging her fingers if nervous or scared and when she did talk with others she moved her hands a lot. She saw a family picture from the first time they had ever gone hunting and they caught a deer, her daddy was holding her on his back while Athena was on uncle Merle shoulders and he had a foot on the deer while having his hands on Athena's knees to keep her steady. Artemis could remember everything about that day, she had an extraordinary memory which was both a blessing and a curse as there were memories that she would like to forget.

She was walking at the side of the road, she had been walking for just over an hour, she saw a sign that said

Atlanta 5 miles
Leeway 17 miles
Fort bening 119 miles

Artemis was happy that there was only five miles left but it was getting dark so she decided to find a tree to sleep in. She found one and climbed high enough that nothing would reach her and took out two pieces of rope she found at home wrapped the smaller piece around her bag, bow and quiver  securing them to the tree, then she did the same for herself making sure she was tied properly before taking willow out and falling asleep.

Early in the day outside Atlanta

"Well Athena I'm looking for my wife and son, d'you wanna come with me and I promise I will keep you safe until we find your family." Athena nodded "otay wick." The officer nodded " how old are you sweetie." She put up three fingers "five" Rick chuckled and opened her hand "that's five honey." Athena looked down "oh, I am ot ery good at mumbers or countin' bu daddy says tha' fine cause, cause, I'm a good hunter." Rick could understand her even if her speech needed improving, he heard her stomach growl and the little girl whimpered in pain, "hey Athena, when was the last time you ate something?" She focused really hard on trying to remember but she couldn't remember "I no know" Rick crouched down by her "can I pick you up honey?" She nodded excitedly and made grabby hands towards him, he hoisted her onto his hip and they walked back towards his car and he sat her on the bonnet and took her little back pack off her back he opened it to see a small stuffed chick "he called clucky" Rick nodded and gave the chick to her, there was a picture of what he assumed was the girls family, there was an older girl around Carl's age holding angel on her hip with a man holding her shoulders and a slightly older man leaning on a truck behind them. He carefully moved the photo aside and seen a small army knife in the bag and a pink baby blanket which he wrapped around the dirty child "blankie!" She giggled there was an empty water bottle and wrappers from food bars in the bag he took them out and instead put some nutritional bars and some apples he found in her bag while also opening a bar and handing it to the hungry child, her eyes lit up as soon as she smelt the food and she was quick to eat the whole bar without difficulty. Rick also gave her some of the water he had left. He made a promise to himself to protect this little girl from harm as she was such a beacon of light and positivity. He knew his car was out of fuel but he saw a saddle for the horse the girl had been petting. "I need you to stay in this car okay until come back with the horsey, okay, if anyone comes near the car that isn't me, you don't open the door alright?" She nodded and he sat her in the drivers seat as it was the closest seat to where he would be. He kept her wrapped in the blanket and gave her the chick again. She was quite content to play with the toy until she got bored and looked around inside the car she stood on the seat and moved the sun visor down and saw a photo of Rick with a lady and a young boy she decided to take it and put it with her family picture in case Rick forgot it because she forgot things all the time which frustrated her because her sister remembered everything and her daddy and uncle never had problems remembering things either. She started humming a song as she sat back down with her chick cuddled against her chest. She started singing a song that her daddy would sing to her when uncle Merle went out at nights because he would make fun of her daddy " 'ake me ome, countwy oads, oo the pwace I bewong, 'est virginaaa 'outin mama 'ake me ome, countwy oads." She looked up and saw Rick with the horsey and she waved at him with a smile showing all of her baby teeth. He came to the car opened the door and picked her up "have you even rode on a horse before smiles?" She Shook her head then asked "Smiles?" He nodded as he sat her on the horse "yeah smiles is what I'm gonna nickname ya, cause it's all you seem to do smile." Rick put a bag of guns across his shoulder and took out a spare baseball cap and tightened it as much as it would go and sat it on Athena's head even if she wasn't that hot he didn't want her to risk heat exposure or worse sun burn than she already had. He noticed the sun burn on her arms when he carried her to the car which is why he wrapped her in the blanket. "Tan we call 'im Bob?" Rick laughed and looked down at her hat covered head " why Bob smiles?" She shrugged her shoulders "I no know, I jus' like it." He laughed and said "sure we can name him Bob."

They had been ridding for about 30 minutes when they arrived in the city, it was far too quiet and Athena felt a little scared, she had never been in the city but in all the movies she watched the city was always busy and full of people. "Whay all da people go wick?" He tried to keep his voice neutral but you could still hear the worry seeping through "I don't know smiles." They heard a noise and saw a helicopter in the reflection of a building and started following it until they turned a corner and saw loads of sick people, Athena called them monsters. "Wick! atch out!" The horse became surrounded and it bucked Rick and Athena off, she landed next to a big looking car with she was calling a unicorn horn on the front and she saw the top was open so she climbed up and into the hole as one of the monsters grabbed her ankle, she kicked it a few times in the face before it let go and she fell into the hole pulling it shut behind her. The bottom opened a minute later and she scrambled as far back as she could. It was Rick! He climbed in and saw she was holding her now sore head but he quickly shut the bottom and moved over to her and checked her head and her arms and exposed legs for bites or scratches, the only cut was on her cheek from falling into the tank. He heard a noise behind them and saw the dead soldier moving he quickly shot it forgetting to cover his or Athena's ears.

Athena's ears didn't stop ringing for a few minutes but she heard mumbling or Rick talking to someone through a box, she heard phrases like 'dumbass' , 'is the kid still alive' and 'ally across the street' she had no idea what was going on until Rick lifted her and said hang on tight, he rewrapped her blanket around her and put her her chick in her bag which she managed to keep wearing throughout everything.  They opened the hole in the roof and Rick climbed out with her holding tightly onto him so he didn't actually have to hold her at all, he started running away from the now very dead horse and shooting his loud gun which made Athena cry and whimper "Bob, no." They ran around the corner into an alley and into a young Asian man. "Woah! Not dead, not dead, come on come on!" He said frantically and ran back into the alley. "Faster! Come on come on!" Athena could see the monsters chasing them but Rick turned and shot them, they reacher a ladder and the boy started climbing up it. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! COME ON!" Rick started climbing one handed with the other on Athena's back and he reached the top where the boy said "come on get in." He let Athena down but she instantly latched onto his side. "Nice moves there Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff? Come riding in to clean up the town." Rick was panting the same as the boy "wasn't my intention." He responded with "yeah, whatever yeehaw. You're still a dumbass." Athena looked up shocked at his language and told him "swear," he just looked down at her with a smile and a small chuckle "Rick, thanks." Rick said sticking out his hand the boy shook it saying

"Glenn, your welcome."