Lottie

The Beginning of War

They knew an attack was coming. They could all feel it. The entire group spent days pushing filing cabinets, bits of wood and metal against the windows, along the walkways and doors. Everyone was armed with an automatic weapon and given equal amounts of ammo.

Lottie was furious that they weren't going back for Daryl, though she helped anyway. Armed with the gun Daryl had given her and her assigned automatic weapon.

They spent every minute expecting an attack. Everyone slept with one eye open and in the day, they were restless.

Carl spent a lot of his time with Lottie. His father had become obsessed with protection and fortifying the prison. Carl was afraid of getting on the wrong side of him.

Lottie and Carl kept Hershel company, they spent a lot of their time in the grassy area in front of the prison, still behind the fences though.

One afternoon, while Hershel was educating Carl on various plants and they chuckled together. Lottie couldn't help but notice Rick beyond the fence and looking into a stream.

Hershel agreed to watch Carl for Lottie and she made her way through the gates and round the edge of the fences to find Rick. Still staring into the stream.

It was peaceful, away from the anxious atmosphere inside the prison. You couldn't hear Carol shouting about food or Judith's crying and you definitely couldn't hear Maggie ranting about guns and things.

All you could hear was the breeze in the forest surrounding them, the birds and the trickle of the stream. It seemed almost normal, as if dead people weren't walking around and eating the living.

"You all must think I'm going crazy." Rick mumbled, still facing the stream, somehow knowing someone was behind him.

"We're just worried. They told me you've been like this since you lost Lori." Lottie said quietly.

"I just, miss her." Rick admitted.

"Well of course you do, no one blames you Rick."

"Carl doesn't want to be near me!" Rick exclaimed as he watched Carl walk away from Hershel and back into the prison.

"He's dealing with it in his own way, you both are. You need each other and you know that." She insisted.

"You're right, I know you're right." Rick mumbled again.

"Let's go back inside, you need to eat." Lottie smiled towards Rick.

As they both turned around to head back, a large van with caged windows suddenly burst through the gates, knocking them off their hinges. The van stopped inside the grass area of the prison, where Hershel was.

Rick and Lottie looked desperately around to see if anyone else was around or if the huge crash had alerted any walkers and Rick tried desperately to signal to Hershel to run back to the prison.

The back of the van suddenly burst open creating a ramp and a dozen walkers sprinted hungrily from it. Lottie and Rick tried to run back through the gates as the rest of the group opened fire on the walkers, then on the approaching vehicles.

As they were running, they were set upon by way too many walkers that had been drawn in by the gunfire. Both Rick and Lottie had left their guns behind and were left with just logs and sticks they'd picked up as their weapons to defend themselves.

They noticed Michonne running towards them in the distance, katana out and slicing everything in her path.

She wasn't fast enough however, the walkers pinned both Lottie and Rick against the fence, they held back the gnashing teeth and decaying faces but the walkers just kept coming from the forest. They were outnumbered. Panicking and exhausted.

Lottie had almost lost the strength in her arm when an arrow shot through the head of one of the walkers. She kicked it to floor and looked for the source of the arrow, still fighting to hold back another walker.

Another arrow came flying from the tree line and killed one of the walkers on Rick. Rick was then able to get his last walker to ground and stomp it's face in with his boot.

Then, from the shadows, emerged the impossible. Merle came sprinting out and dragged the other walker off of Lottie, beating its head in with a rock.

Finally, from where Merle had appeared, holding his crossbow tight to his body, Daryl marched out of the darkness.