Crossbow Lovers

When They First Met

The sun shone brightly down upon the small town named Alexandria. It was a quiet morning, besides the bang of the undead hands against the metal walls that stood, surrounding the town. 

A man, who was no older than 40, stood at the wall. Slamming his hand against it. Aching for the warm bodies on the inside. To feel their flesh between his teeth and their blood run down his throat. Not much went on in his mind besides the fact he needed to eat the living beings on the other side. He sure didn't know how to get to them. His undead thoughts stopped short when an arrow coursed through the soft part of the man's skull, piercing his brain stem. The undead flesh fell to the ground without another movement or growl. 

A well built man who was probably in his early 40s went up to the pile of human remains that use to be a living person before the virus spread. He pulled the arrow out of the man's skull and wiped the blood on his pants. He replaced the arrow into his crossbow and made his way to the front gate of the community. 

The community was quite large. There were about 30 people which was a lot for how the world was today. A single scratch or bite and that's it. You are down for the count. Such a simple thing could kill you in a matter of minutes or days. It all depended on you. How strong your body was to fight it. 

Not far from where the community sat, a girl in her mid 20's was camped out, not knowing civilization was so close to her. Even if she did know, she wouldn't have went to it. Being alone was much easier. You didn't have to look out for other people. Just yourself. However, being alone was not a piece of cake either. 

A loud snap came from behind the young girl and she quickly picked up her crossbow and aimed it at the head of the thing coming towards her. This however was not one of the walking dead. This was a real live person. A breathing person with fresh blood in their veins. She froze for a second, lowering her weapon slightly. The man in front of her held his hands up and smiled. He had a W marked onto his forward. Blood, mud, and sweat caked his skin. His long black hair was stuck tightly to his head. 

"Hello there," the man said taking a step closer. The girl pulled her crossbow up again, aiming at his head. 

"Don't come any closer," she warned, her finger hovering the trigger. 

"Are you alone?" He asked, eyes searching the small campsite. 

"No," she lied. He gave a slight chuckle lowering his hands. Her grip on the bow became tighter. 

"I know you are. We've been watching you for quite some time now. You are very interesting," he said with a smirk.

"We?" She growled, her eyes scanning behind him. 

"You don't really think I'd be alone in a world like this," he scoffed. She huffed slightly as he took another step towards her. Before she could even think she smacked the man in the face with the back of her crossbow. He dropped to the ground, out cold. She should have killed him, but life is too precious, so she ran. She grabbed her backpack and ran. As fast and as long as she could before she collapsed against a tree. 

"Hello," a soft masculine voice spoke behind her. She spun around, aiming the crossbow right at his head. Her eyes narrowed seeing how clean and freshly shaven he was. "Its okay! I'm not going to hurt you. I come from a gated community. My name is Aaron. What's yours?" The light haired fellow asked. 

"Tegan," she whispered not moving her bow from its place. 

"It's nice to meet you Tegan. Are their others in your group?" The man asked. She had a funny feeling. One that she hadn't felt in a long time. She could trust him. 

"No," she said matter of factly. 

"I'm going to reach into my bag real quick and pull out some pictures for you to see," Aaron said pulling his bag in front of him. Before he could show Tegan the pictures they heard footsteps. Not the slow crunches of the undead, but the fast crunches of the living. 

"No time," Tegan said slinging her crossbow on her back. "We have to leave, now!" She grabbed Aarons arm and yanked him in the direction she had been running. 

"Come this way," he urged trying to lead her down a different path. She followed, unsure of where they were going.

Tegan's lungs grew weaker. She could barely breathe but they had to keep moving. Thankfully for her, it wasn't long before they made it to a big metal wall with a bunch of beams holding it up. There was some noise on the other side, but nothing too loud. A big metal gate was pulled open and a man with a black mullet stood there, hands draped at his side. His lips were flat, not hint of any emotion. 

The pair stepped inside the gate. Tegan glanced around at her surroundings. Kids were walking down the street, parents holding their hands gently. Teenagers running about, seeming as if they don't know what lay on the other side of those walls. This pained Tegan, as she knew one day they would finally see the horrors of the real world. 

"What were we running from?" Aaron asked the girl standing beside him. 

"People," she whispered, still taking it all in. She saw a group of men walking towards them. One was tall, with curly hair and a beard. The other was an inch or two shorter than the first, but he was built bigger. His muscles with pushing at his dark gray button down shirt. If he had moved a certain way, Tegan was sure the shirt would rip. It hugged his toned body tightly. He had on a black leather vest, but Tegan couldn't see the angel wings on his back. His dark brown hair was slick and greasy falling just over his narrow eyes. His black pants were tucked and tied into his black boots. Tegan eventually ripped her eyes away from the brooding man to look at the other one. He was a smaller Asian fellow with short dark hair. 

The men walked towards Aaron and the woman he had with him. The first thing Daryl noticed was the crossbow on her back. The same as his. Her red hair was pulled up into a high ponytail with just her bangs covering her left eye slightly. The blue of her eyes pierced right through you. Her forest green shirt hung loosely around her waist, but tightly to her chest. Her cleavage was slightly exposed as she only had a bra on underneath the v-neck t shirt. Her boot cut jeans hugged her curves nicely, showing off everything they could and flowing a little at the bottom hiding her black Timberland's. 

Daryl noticed her staring at him. She shifted her gaze then to Glenn, not lingering near as long on him as she did to Daryl. 

"Who's this?" The bearded man asked. 

"This is Tegan. Tegan this is Rick, Glenn, and Daryl," Aaron introduced the three. She nodded towards them, but didn't say a word. "We were running away from some people."

"Who?" Daryl snapped, his gruff voice sending shivers down the red heads spine. 

"I don't know," she said. "There was a man. I knocked him unconscious and ran, but more followed. They had W's on their foreheads." Daryl's eyes were trained on Tegans as she spoke. 

"You lead them here?" Daryl growled. "How do we know you ain't one of 'em?" He took a step closer to her. Instinctively, Tegan whipped her bow around aiming for Daryl's face. His lips went up in a snarl as Aaron placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Daryl, trust me. She was running from them when I found her. She hadn't seen me or us before then," Aaron said soothingly. Daryl looked at the man and nodded slightly. Tegan eyed him, but lowered her bow.

"Did they follow you?" Glenn asked, worry filling his eyes.

"I dont know," Tegan and Aaron both said. Before any of them could speak again, a sharp whistle came from the watch tower above.

"Looks like the did," Daryl growled before taking off in the other direction. Tegan watched him go.