𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 | 𝐭𝐰𝐝 ¹

01.

   She only ever had one thing that her entire life revolved around. Day by day, the schedule never changed. Even when the world fell apart, she followed to the same routine.

   Wake up.
   Keep Cheyanne healthy and alive.
   Survive.
   Sleep.
   Repeat.

   In a sense, it was a daily grind of rinse and repeat. Everything they could need was packed into their car. She would've considered themselves lucky if she believed in such a thing.

   It was a good thing she didn't when the engine of her beloved vehicle sputtered to a halt. As she put the vehicle in park, a silent curse escaped her chapped lips. She leaned her head against the rest allowing her lungs to fill with the musky smell of her belongings and her ears to listen to the sleeping breaths of her nine-year-old daughter.

   The blonde slowly sat back up and placed her hands at the bottom of the wheel. Her exhausted green eyes gazed the surrounding area for any sign of those monsters -- those cannibals. A soft sigh escaped her mouth when she realized that they could not stay locked in a vehicle forever.

   Tiny whimpers came from her awaking nine-year-old as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. The mop of chocolate brown hair that sat upon her head moved as she looked at her surroundings. "Mama, why'd we stop?"

   With a shuddered breath, she opened the door without responding to her daughter. Her long legs walked to the back seat where her daughter sat. The child remained silent as her mother rummaged through their things. She took the silence as her telltale sign to be quiet.

   Swiftly, the woman threw an indigo-colored backpack across her shoulders while nudging a dull pink one toward the child.

   "C'mon." She quietly shut the door before striding over to grasp her daughter's hand.

   A distant snarl caused Cheyanne to cling close to her mother, who took that as her sign to get off of the road. They each took a step out and began walking into the forest.

   As they trekked through the underbrush, though seemed to flood the older woman's brain. She never expected to be trudging through a woodland with her daughter, who wasn't even the result of her repulsive marriage. Now, she loved Cheyanne with her whole heart but it was times like this where she questioned how she got into this situation.

   She never wanted her life to take such a turn as it did. When she was younger, she never wanted to be a single mother and the ex-wife to a drug dealer. Yet, her parent's pressure to be the perfect daughter succumbed her into making terrible choices.

   Her thoughts soared as the wind did through the branches of the Oaks above her. A subtle tugging on her hand pulled her from her thoughts and brought her attention to the little girl beside her. "What is it, Chey?" she inquired. Cheyanne pointed to the four flesh-eating monsters that were heading toward the pair.

   "Oh, shit," her mother cursed before pulling her short legs in the opposite direction. The woman's Flight or Fight instinct kicked in; she could barely take on one of the Monsters let alone four. There was no way she could take them on alone.

   The monsters continued to hobble toward them even though they were quite a distance away. The blonde haired woman spotted a small cabin in the near distance. As she held onto her daughter's small hand, they made a b-line to it.

   Her heart was racing. She could feel it in her fingertips and hear it in her ears. She had never run this fast in her entire thirty years. When they got to the door, she pounded on it in hopes that someone was inside.

   When nobody responded and the monsters got to close to her liking, she jiggled the doorknob. It opened and the older woman dragged her daughter inside, shutting the door behind her. She took in a large amount of breath in attempts to catch her breath.

   "Mama, try breathing in through your nose, out through your mouth." Cheyanne gave a big smile, "That's what Mrs. Emerson taught me," she announced cheerfully.

   The woman gave a soft chuckle and ruffled Cheyanne's curly mop of brown hair. "Are we safe now?" she questioned before she peered around at the things inside the room. Her mother was about to answer but then a pounding at the door interrupted.

   Snarls came from the mouths of the monsters that were outside that door -- their only barrier. They had no weapons to defend themselves with and barely any food. Things couldn't possibly get any worse. The blonde woman thought as she tugged her daughter behind her.

   She briskly looked around for any sign of a means of protection. She located a hunting knife sitting on one of the nearby shelves; however, there was a sudden series of thwump like noises which caused the banging outside to stop.

   "What the hell?" a masculine voice came from outside. This triggered a response in the fatigued woman and she hurried to grab the knife before returning to a protective stance in front of her daughter.

   The cabin's door opened and she tensed up when she got a rifle and a crossbow to her face. "Whoa," the older looking man uttered as he lowered his rifle, "Daryl, put that damn thing down."

   Daryl hesitantly looked at the older man before dropping his weapon and returning his gaze to the two strangers. His blue eyes met the tired green ones of the woman in front of him -- they both tensed.

   "What're ya doing in here?" Daryl gruffly questioned as he put his thumbnail into his mouth. The two were staring intensely at each other while standing in a defensive manner.

   "The monsters were chasing us. We found this place and ran inside," Cheyanne spoke up from behind her mother. The older man quirked an eyebrow at the two.

   "Ma'am, what's y'all's names?" the older man asked in the politest way he could muster.

   "You first," she retorted, clutching the handle on the hunting knife tighter.

   The older man chuckled. "My name is Jess Collins and this here is my nephew, Daryl Dixon."

   The woman somewhat shifted from her defensive stance before lowering the hunting knife in hand. "This is my daughter, Cheyanne."

   "Nice to meet ya, little miss." Jess gave the youthful girl a kind smile. "And you?"

   She took a deep breath before adamantly saying, "Nicole. Nicole Allegro."