season one, episode one.
"days gone bye."

002. we're the ones who live.

day fifty nine.

ALMOST TWO months has passed. two whole months. lydia is now running low on supplies, and is loosing more and more sleep each night. eden crying through the night every so often does not help either. but she loves her endlessly, and will do anything for her, so she got through it.

the almost twenty-six year old woman's eyes blinks slowly as she tiredly walks on an isolated road, limping slightly. eden was sleeping in the sling she managed to find along the way, which was getting on the small side, but still fits. she makes a mental note to find a new one soon.

lydia adjusts the strap of the backpack and ignored the aching feeling in her arms and shoulders as she notices the harrison memorial hospital come into view.

she sighs of relief, realising there could be some sort of supplies or even civilisation there. she doesn't know why she didn't think of the hospital before, but she is grateful she found it again now. eden stirs in her sleep as lydia hushes her, rocking her slightly as she jogges towards the hospital doors.

as she enters, she felt the chill air hit her bare arms. all that could be heard is the faint beeping of a room in the distance. she walks around the abandoned building and searches for any types of food or water, or supplies for eden. the blonde wipes the sweat off her forehead and walks deeper inside.

she searches through the hospital with a tired look on her face. wondering if she can sleep there for the night. she picks up a few extra blankets she found in one of the rooms and then walks towards the hallway.

"hello?" a distant voice calls out hoarsely as she froze, turning around, her eyes scanning the hallways. "please help."

"who's there?" she speaks, a hand on the machete she managed to find in an abandoned house a few weeks ago.

"hello? where are you?" the panicked voice calls out again as she slowly continues to walk forward until she sees a man with a hospital dressing gown on and a white bandage wrapped around his chest. she widens her eyes and the man tilts his head slightly, his blue eyes staring intensely at her.

"who are you?" she asks, and the sheriff squints his eyes slightly.

"i...i'm rick grimes." he whispers, extremely confused at what was going on.

"lydia haven." she introduces, a slight southern accent lacing her tone, "this is eden." she motions to the baby in her arms as he looked slightly surprised.

"i remember your name..." he says quietly, squinting. "i think i've arrested you before...yeah. you punched my colleague in the nose a few years back."

"...probably."

"she yours?" rick asks her, looking at eden as lydia nods silently, covering eden's head protectively. "wh-what happened here? where is everyone?" he asked. she notices the sweat trickling down his forehead as lydia took eden out of the sling to place her on her hip.

"there...there's been an outbreak. the dead walk with us now. it's been...almost two months since." she explains briefly, trying not to completely scare the poor man to death.

"i don't...i don't understand." he shakes his head, putting his hand over his face, as if it was all a bad dream.

she takes a careful step towards him, showing she meant to no harm. "you've been in a coma. i seen it on the news couple months back." she tells him and he squinted again as she sighs, "come on, i'll show you." she nods back to the door as he follows hesitantly.

he takes notice of her hazel coloured eyes which never leave his, the warm smile on her lips and her arms wrapped around the child on her hips. she looks away from him and opens the back door. she motions for him to take a look, and as soon as he does, his eyes widen in horror. there were at least a hundred dead bodies covered up. lydia looks back at him with troubled eyes.

"i..i need to find lori and carl." he whispers, his voice breaking. she frowns slightly at him, looking confused. "my...my wife and son." he informs.

lydia looks down at eden, realising how she would feel if she had lost her child, and nods, giving him a gentle smile, "i'll help you." she offers and he nods, a heartbroken look on his face.

sensing his discomfort, she carefully reaches out to hold his shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "it's okay, rick. we're the ones who live." she tells him, a reassuring smile on her face. he looks up at her, his blue eyes staring into hers in interest as he nods slowly, deciding to trust her.

RICK AND lydia make their way to rick's house, to see if lori and carl are still be there. the ex-sheriff is still struggling to walk, so she has to help him every so often, whilst still carrying eden in her arms. once they arrive, lydia quickly jogs after the man when he runs into the house, desperately calling his wife and son's name.

she stays quiet as she stares at him nervously. "lori? carl!" he yelled out painfully as he rummaged through the house. most of it has been packed away, drawers carelessly placed on the bed, clothes on the floor. "carl!" he yells again, tears filling his light eyes.

lydia watches, her eyes filled with slight fear and upset as she watches the man begin to sob while he searches every room in the house, before collapsing onto his knees, painful sobs leaving his lips. "carl!" he cries out as he lays on the floor.

the blonde swiftly makes her way over to him, kneeling down next to him as she placed a hand on his shoulder, much like she had done earlier. "we'll find them, rick. i promise."

"is this real? am i even here?" he whispers as she stared, looking down at him carefully. "are you real?"

"i'm real." she reassures, shifting eden on her hip. "c'mon." she whispers as they both stand up and walk out of the house. she assumes he would follow her, but rick gently sits down on the steps, letting out a sigh.

lydia was about to speak to him, but pauses when she notices a man in a black outfit walking across the street. "look, the man." rick pointed, looking confused, almost trying to wave him over as he looks closer.

lydia widens her eyes in realisation, gently grabbing rick's arm in a panic. "that ain't no man. it's one of the dead." lydia whispers.

however, before she could protest, a shovel smacks rick in the face, before the unknown young boy turns to her. "what the fuck!?" she jumps up in shock.

a gunshot can be heard as an older man on the street shot the dead, and then looks over at lydia and rick. "daddy! i got one! i'm gonna smack him dead! he was gonna kill the lady!" the boy yells.

"no, no, he's alive, not dead!" lydia exclaimes quickly, holding her hand out to try and stop him from hitting rick again.

"and she's delusional!" the young boy yells out.

"carl...i found you." rick whispers quietly, before closing his eyes and leaning his head back onto the grass.

"he say somethin?" the unknown man asks his son.

"he called me carl." the boy replies.

"hello? i'm right here! he's not the dead!" lydia repeats, waving her arm infront of the father and son.

"son, you know they don't talk." the man scoffs before pointing his gun at lydia, who cradled eden in her arms, covering the baby's head. "what's the bandage for?" he then asks rick.

"he got shot couple months ago, went into a coma." lydia answers frantically.

"hey!" he shouts, making lydia jump. "i'm askin' him. for all i know you could be coverin' up for him."

"i don't even know him!" the girl protests with a scoff. however, the man ignores her.

"what kind of wound?" he asks rick once again, "you answer me!" he orders as rick blinked slowly. "or i will kill you."

"rick?" lydia frowns as she steps forward, but the ex-sheriff's eyes closes and he fell back onto his head. the unkown man frowns, hesitating before lifting rick up. "you come on inside." he told lydia once he reaches his house.

lydia stares at him hesitantly. "you been bit? scratched, anything?" the young boy asks her as she shook her head quickly, "no." she replies, her eyes on rick.

"what about the child?" the elder man asks as he places rick down onto the sofa bed to check on his wound. "no," she shakes her head.

"you sure?"

"she's been with me every second of the day since this all started. i'd know if she was." lydia says protectively, pulling eden closer to her if that was even possible.

"my name's morgan. this is my son duane...you wait with him til he wakes up." morgan tells her, pointing to rick as she nods and sits down.

"thank you." she replies quietly. "my name is lydia."

morgan glances back at her before leaving with his son.

HOURS PASSED and morgan has cleaned and re bandaged rick's shot wound, and duane stood by them all with a baseball bat when rick finally woke up, although he was tied to the bed. morgan didn't tie lydia since he a, has more respect for her already, and b, doesn't want to frighten her or the baby.

"hey, they changed the bandage, rick." lydia tells him quietly as rick blinks slowly.

"it was pretty rank." morgan adds, causing lydia to crack a smile. "what was the wound?" he asks.

"how many times?" lydia scoffs in disbelief.

"i need to hear it from him." morgan argues, looking back to the ex-sheriff.

"gunshot." rick answers hoarsely before lydia can argue anymore.

"what else? anything?" morgan asks, rick almost scoffs.

"gunshot ain't enough?" this makes lydia chuckle as she fed eden, rocking her slightly.

"look, i ask, you answer. did you get bit?" he asks almost angrily.

"bit?" rick frowned, looking at lydia in confusion.

"bit, chewed, scratched, anything like that?"

"no. i got shot. just shot." rick tells him confidently as morgan nods slightly, reaching out to touch his forehead.

"feels cool enough. fever would've killed you by now."

"i don't think i have one." rick says hoarsely.

"be hard to miss." morgan replies, before pulling out a pocket knife, and pointing it at both of them. lydia widens her eyes slightly. "take a moment, look how sharp it is."

lydia moves the knife away from eden's face, "you guys try anything, i will kill you with it, and don't you think i won't."

"you'd kill a child?" rick asks, motioning to eden who slept soundly. at his words, lydia looks at morgan, her eyes darkening in slight anger.

morgan doesn't reply, however he releases the binds holding rick against the bed. "come out when you're able." he tells them before leaving the room.

it took a while, but rick soon gets out of the bed and he and lydia walk into the kitchen where morgan and duane was. "this place...it's fred and cindy drakes?" he asks.

"never met 'em." morgan replies, looking around the house, before settling at the table.

"i've been here. this is their place." rick confirms as lydia thanks duane who pulls out a high chair, carefully placing eden in it.

"you ain't let that baby go since we saw you. give your arms a break." he jokes and lydia smiles.

"it was empty when we got here." morgan replies to rick's comment. rick went to pull the curtain apart as morgan stops him, "don't do that. they'll see the light. there's more of 'em now it there than usual. i never should've fired that gun today."

rick looks confused, so lydia explains, "sound draws them in. now they'll be all over the street." she tells him. morgan nods in agreement.

"c'mon, sit down." morgan tells the two of them as lydia makes sure to sit next to the high chair, whilst rick was opposite her.

"before you fall down." lydia jokes with a smirk as rick rolls his eyes, but smiles at her.

"here." morgan places food on rick and lydia's plates as the girl widens her eyes. she hasn't had a proper meal in weeks after usually living off snacks from her backpack or finding food from stores. "thank you, sir."

"daddy, blessing." duane speaks up, morgan nods and all of them held hands. rick was hesitant, but did it anyway.

"lord, we thank thee for this food, thy blessings. we ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. amen."

"amen."

"mister, you even know what's goin' on?" morgan asks rick, noticing the distant look in his eyes as rick looks up.

"lydia told me a little...i woke up today, in the hospital. found lydia and that's all i know other than what she's told me."

lydia swallows her mouthful. "i only told him what i know. that the dead are after us, and noise draws 'em in."

morgan nods at her words, "the walkers. like the one i shot today. he'd have ripped into you, tried to eat you, taken some flesh at least." he explains. "that baby would've been gone in minutes."

lydia blinks at his words, suddenly not feeling very hungry.

"we'll be fine, as long as we stay quiet." morgan speaks again, reassurance in his tone. "they'll probably wander off by morning. but listen, one thing i do know: don't you get bit." he says as lydia raises a brow curiously.

"i saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of. bites kill you. but then after a while, you come back as one of them." he tells them both. lydia looks worriedly at rick, whilst also trying to stop duane from feeding her poor child actual food.

they soon move to the living room where they would be sleeping as lydia hushed eden, rocking her before placing on the mattress beside her. "she yours?" morgan asks.

"yeah." she replies, looking up at him briefly before back down to eden.

"where's her daddy?" morgan asks curiously.

lydia looks up, letting out a small breath. "he ain't around no more. and for good reason." she admits and morgan nods, noticing she didn't want to speak about him anymore.

"carl... he your son? you said his name today." he then asks rick who nodded.

"he's a little younger than your boy." rick speaks quietly.

"and he's with his mother?" morgan asks.

rick sighs, rubbing his face. "i hope so."

"dad." duane whispers, "hey," morgan strokes his head.

"did you ask him?" duane asks tiredly.

morgan chuckles, "your gunshot, we got a little bet going. my boy says you're a bank robber."

rick laughes quietly, "yeah, that's me." he jokes. "deadly as dillinger...nah, i'm sherrif's deputy." he tells them and morgan raises his brows.

all of a sudden, a car alarm goes off as duane shoots up, panicked as eden begins to cry. "hey, it's okay," morgan holds onto duane before looking at a worried lydia.

"i'm so sorry—she'll calm down, i promise, i'm sorry." she whispers, rocking the quietly crying baby in her arms.

"it's alright. they shouldn't be able to hear us in here." morgan reassures, but they all knew he is lying.

lydia sighs in relief when eden stopped crying and lays her back down, rocking her. "one of them must've bumped into a car."

"are you sure?" rick whispers, getting up, being careful not to wake eden.

"it happened once before." morgan admits. "it went on for a few minutes. get the light, duane." he tells the boy.

duane immediately turns off the light and whilst rick and morgan went to the window, lydia cradled eden in her arms, closing her eyes in fear as she kisses her forehead. "the noise. won't it bring more of them?" she asks.

morgan sighs. "nothin' we can do about it now." he tells them, duane getting up to look.

all of a sudden, duane gasps. "she's here." tears fill the young boys eyes as he looks up at his dad. "don't look, get away from the windows." he says as duane rushes over to the mattress and begins to cry into the blankets, "c'mon, duane. it's okay, quiet now." morgan whispers into his head.

rick stares through the peep hole at the door, looking slightly shocked and scared as the doorknob began to rattle causing lydia to widen her eyes and quickly rick sat back down, glancing at lydia and her daughter with a nervous look on his face. "it's okay," rick reassured gently, smiling softly at her. lydia nods quietly, but is still fearful.

"she, um...she died in that other room. on the bed in there. there was nothin' i could do about it. that fever, man. her skin gave off heat like a furnace. i should've put her down...i know that, but, i...i didn't have it in me." morgan explains about who duane saw, his voice breaking.

"i'm sorry." lydia speaks up with a smile, before reaching over to pat duane on the back. "i lost my mom and dad on the first day of the outbreak. it's how i found out. i got to their house, saw the news and then found my parents as a walker in their room." she tells the young boy who listens with wide eyes.

"i'm sorry, lydia. you're too young. i pray for the baby, too." morgan tells her as lydia smiles lightly and lays down to try and get some sleep.

LYDIA WAKES up to morgan telling her and rick they will be going outside to train how to kill a walker. duane promises lydia he would look after eden, so she reluctantly leaves the four month year old with him, but was reassured once the young boy started playing with her.

"are we sure they're dead?" rick whispers once they bet outside. lydia rolls her eyes at him. what a clueless man. "i had to ask one more time." he notices her facial expression, laughing slightly.

the two of them laugh together quietly, making morgan raise a brow at them, silently wondering why rick was even bothering to find his wife when there was a woman infront of him right there.

"yes, they dead. except for somethin' in the brain. that's why it's gotta be the head." morgan says quietly as rick and lydia slowly walk towards the walker who is laying down with a bat and an axe.

hearing them, the walker gets up almost immediately and begins to make its way towards them.

lydia backs up a bit in slight fear, but when rick swings the bat at its head, she nods to herself and uses the axe to smash its head in half. "phew." she pushes the stray hairs out of her face. rick falls slightly due to the pain in his shot wound, and she turns around. "you okay?"

"need a moment." the man whispers as she nodds.

"can i go see eden now?" she asks morgan who chuckles, amused. however, he nods and they walk inside to the house.

rick and morgan soon follow behind as rick speaks up slowly, "they're alive. my son. my wife." he begins, his eyes looking over to lydia to see her walking in the room, eden on her hip. she nods at him, knowing she made a promise to find him. "at least they were when they left." he adds, a concerned frown on his face.

"how can you know?" morgan asks as duane tugged on lydia's sleeve. she looks down at him and he lifts his arms out, she chuckles and carefully hands eden to him. duane beams. "by the look of this place...i-" morgan continues.

"we found empty drawers in the bedroom. they packed some clothes. enough to travel." rick explains briefly. he glances over at the interaction between duane and lydia and chuckles lightly. "you know anybody could've broken in here and stole them clothes right?" morgan raises a brow.

rick shakes his head, pointing to the walls. "you see the framed photos on the walls?" he asks as lydia pulled a face. there were none. "neither do i." he tells them as she nods in interest. "some random thief take those too, you think?"

lydia smiles lightly at his words, he was sarcastic. to her, this was one of the reasons why they got along so well. both unbelievably sarcastic and blunt. she walks further into the room, looking around curiously as rick opens up a cabinet. "our photo albums, family pictures, all gone."

morgan looks up at him, "photo albums." he says between laughs, sitting down at the table. "my wife...same thing. there i am packing survival gear, she's grabbing photo alb—" morgan cuts himself off, trying not to cry as rick and lydia look at him in sympathy.

"they're in atlanta, i bet." duane spoke up after helping lydia change eden's diaper. morgan glances at him before nodding. "that's right." he held his head in his chin.

rick tilts his head slightly, "why there?"

"refugee centre." morgan tells them, lydia's eyebrows raising in interest. "a huge one they said, before the broadcast stopped. military protection, food, shelter. they told people to go there, said it'd be safest." morgan explains, rick and lydia sharing a look.

"plus they got that disease place." duane adds as lydia looks down at him. "what do you mean?" she asks, tilting her head slightly with a frown.

"centre for disease control, said they were working out how to solve this thing." morgan answers for him.

rick listens, before turning around and grabbing some keys from a cabinet. "follow me."

THEY FOLLOWS the ex-sherif to the police station where he used to work, and turns on his torch as unlocked the doors. they all carefully walk in as he leads them to the showers.

the showers begin to run as lydia's eyes widen. "no way." she mutters.

"gas lines have been down for a month." morgan looks up at rick with a frown.

"the stations got its own propane system." rick reveals, lifting his hand up to check the water. he smirks. "pilots still on."

they all step into each shower, the men turning around for lydia's privacy, whilst the blonde shaves, washes her hair and gently washed eden with a content smile. morgan and duane's cheers filled her ears as she laughs, standing right under the water, letting it fall down her body, splashing eden lightly.

she gets a towel for herself and eden, heading to the dressing room and quickly getting changed, making sure to brush her wet hair out with the hairbrush she thankfully remembers to pack from the beginning. duane joins her to get changed so she gave him his privacy and went out the changing rooms to dry eden, getting her dressed whilst the baby wriggles around slightly.

"atlanta sounds like a good deal." rick speaks up once lydia joined the two men again. "safer anyway... people." he adds as the blonde nods in agreement. "that's where we were headed. things got crazy. man, you wouldn't believe the panic. streets weren't fit to be on. and then my...my wife couldn't travel. not with her hurt, so we had to find a place to lay low. and then after she died, we just stayed there...frozen in place." morgan admits as lydia and rick listen.

"plan to move on?" rick asks, morgan sighs, rubbing his head. "haven't worked up to it yet."

lydia leaves so the men could get changed, and came back out when morgan calls her and duane. rick has his sherif uniform back on, which makes lydia chuckle as they head into a room with a load of weapons. "a lot of it's gone missing." rick sighs as he walks in.

lydia notices a machete on the bench and picks it up, before putting it in the sheath which she places on her back. "daddy, can i learn to shoot?" duane asks excitedly. "i'm old enough."

"hell, yes, you're gonna learn." morgan replies almost immediately.

lydia freezes slightly as she looks down at eden who was in the sling. she was being brought up in a terrible world. she will have to learn how to fight and shoot as soon as she can walk. realisation dawned upon lydia, fear filling her eyes as she drowns out what morgan is saying to duane. rick glances at her, placing a hand on her arm, causing her to snap out of her thoughts. "you okay?" he asks in concern, icy blue eyes meeting forest green.

she blinks, clearing her throat, before nodding. "all good." she speaks up, eyes glancing back down to a sleeping eden, and then to rick who doesn't look convinced. "you're sure?" he asks, his hand still on her arm.

she nods, trying her best to make it believable. "yup. seriously, i'm fine." she smiles.

he nods, slowly pulling his hand away before turning back to morgan and duane. "morgan's right. it's not a toy, you pull the trigger, you gotta mean it. always remember that, duane."

"yes, sir." duane nods with a smile as morgan opens his duffel bag and they filled it with guns, lydia just getting more ammo for hers. "you take that one. nothing fancy, the scopes accurate." rick hands a gun to morgan who tests it out before nodding gratefully.

they soon leave the sheriff's department and rick begins to practically lecture them. "conserve your ammo. it goes faster than you think, especially at target practice." he tells them as they jog up the stairs towards a police car.

morgan tells duane to take the guns to the car as rick frowns slightly. "you sure you don't wanna come along?" he asks, walking over.

"a few more days. by then duane will know how to shoot and i won't be so rusty." he reassures, smiling lightly at them.

"thank you," duane speaks up to lydia who smiles at the boy, giving him a friendly hug and letting him kiss eden's head as she pats his shoulder. "no, thank you. for takin' us in, telling us about the walkers." she replies, looking at morgan who nods.

rick gets out a walkie-talkie and hands one to morgan. "you've got one battery. i'll turn mine on a few minutes every day at dawn. you get up there, that's how you'll find me." he tells him and morgan nods with a small smile. "you think ahead." he acknowledges.

rick shrugs, "can't afford not to. not anymore." he says as morgan looks at them both. "listen, one thing...they might not seem like much one at a time, but in a group, all riled up and hungry...you watch your asses." he warns as lydia looks up at rick. "you too." he replies.

"you're a good man, rick. i hope you find your son." morgan begins, his eyes looking at lydia for a tiny second, which was unnoticeable. "and wife." morgan finishes, before turning to lydia. "good luck. you're a good mama, i can tell."

she smiles in thanks, before watching as rick shakes duane's hand. "be seeing you, duane. take care of your old man." he advises as the young boy nods. "yes sir."

morgan suddenly pauses as lydia looks behind her to see a walker walking towards them through the fence. rick frowns in realisation. "leon basset? i didn't think much of him...careless and dumb, but...i can't leave him like this." rick speaks as he carefully walks over and as gently as he could, stabs the walker.

lydia gets into the passenger's seat, holding eden close to her as rick got in the drivers seat, looking at her with a small smile before starting the engine up as they and morgan pull out of the station, beeping at each other quickly before driving off.

"you ready to find lori and carl?" she smiles lightly. he turns to look at her, nodding slowly, a look on his face that lydia can't work out what it means. "hopefully."

we're the ones who live 🙃