What Lies Ahead • the walking dead ¹

1 • Time

Leaves crunched and cracked under Alexa's feet as she ran. Her heart was racing and her head was whirling as the world flew by her. Away from her. Her feet ached from how much she had been running. Running from the dead, that was almost upon her. Running to get back to her little brother.

Chase would be alright, she told herself. The determination to get back to him was rooted deep in her bones. But her bones screamed at her, yelling for her to stop. But she couldn't. Alexa willed herself to speed up, to push herself farther than ever, to run. Despite the pain.

The groans of the dead acting as encouragement, sending her into overdrive. Forcing her to run. To sprint. To race. To compete. Years on the track team served the girl generously, giving Alexa the stamina she needed to return to her brother.

Alexa's lungs burned, she wanted to stop, she needed to stop. To catch her breath to will herself to continue. But she couldn't. All she could think about was getting to her brother. Get home, protect him, keep him safe and feed him. That's all she wanted to do.

The girl swerved, ducking around a tree, forcing her thoughts away from her brother. She inhaled watching as the dead that was chasing her slouched away, further into the forest.

Alexa exhaled, calming herself before sprinting off in the direction of her house. The place where her brother was. The place Alexa needed to be.

-  -  -

The last of the brush cleared, letting the small farmhouse and its surrounding land come into view. The place was secluded, separate from the rest of the world and the overwhelming majority of flesh-eaters in the city.

Alexa tried to avoid the city at all costs, not because she couldn't kill the bitters- the girl could handle them well, but because there were so many of them.

They covered the streets, jam-packed in every nook and cranny, making it near damn impossible to scavenge anything. Especially meds. The one thing her brother needed most. Medications to get him through his fevers.

Chase was always sick, always running a fever. It made Alexa cringe every time. She too had always been sick as a child. Her fevers were perhaps nastier than her brother's.

Alexa sighed heavily as she jogged across the small farmland which was mostly blueberries, it didn't matter anyway because all the production was dry and dead. The normal harvest was long gone, it had been for months. And even then the farm was insignificant, only being run by Alexa, her sisters, her brother, and her father.

The only remaining members of the family left now, were Chase and Alexa. They were the only thing the other had left. Chase had Alexa and Alexa had Chase. Other than that they were completely alone.

Alexa practically jumped up all the porch steps, knocking twice on the door then stop followed by three more knocks. Their secret knock. Alexa was smart, she knew how to survive, how to take precautions, how to stay safe... Stay alive.

If her father was good for one thing, it was the numerous occasions he had stuck her in the woods to hunt. Or when he forced Alexa to do errands for him, get cigarettes or beer. The girl's father taught her to survive, it was the one thing she was grateful to him for. The skills she needed to be fit for the new cruel world. The apocalypse.

A small shuffle was heard from beyond the door, it creaked open slowly. Only an inch. The chain behind the door ended, preventing the door from coming fully opening. Two small emerald green eyes poked out, before the door snapped shut and reopened.

There stood Chase, broad shoulders, green eyes, and dark brown hair with thick bangs that covered his right eye, all pulled together with a wide, slightly upturned nose. Burns were visible around his mouth and nose. He looked identical to his older sister minus the fact that Alexa didn't have any burns.