You do ridiculous things when you're drunk. You do amazing things. Terrible things.

Horrendous things.

And he was merely a boy of sixteen, blinking the snow from his eyelashes. The poisonous liquid on his tongue being the cause of his erratic legs. He swerved from left to right, exiting his house. The swank white-bricked house, that had a frozen over pool sitting in the back.

It was so cold...

The boy travelled down his driveway, spotting the luxurious and sleek black car, and it was all too tempting for him. It was like a dark siren, singing him towards trouble. To the depths of more booze and treacherous travels.

His slender body slid into the seat of the car, and it started to roll even before he got both his legs into the car. He quickly shut it, drool dripping onto his faded jeans. He wiped at it blindly, fumbling with the keys to start the engine.

Soon enough, he was travelling down a white road, the snow beating at the windows. The darkness behind every snowflake was blurred in his eyes, by alcohol and tears.

He didn't want to care. He didn't want to be so soft.

This is what made him regret finding the liquor cabinet key, in the little Celtic cup his father kept in the glass cupboard. The cup where his dad used to stash joints and DS game cards when he lost them.

It was all to make him learn a lesson; don't lose it.

The speed at which he was driving was all too real. Travelling past farms and fields, unable to see the yellow flowers that gathered at each post of each fence. He was hitting speeds no one should in that type of neighbourhood. It was a place where everything was kept inside, and everything was nobody's business.

He was too drunk to notice the oncoming car, the one which held two dentists driving towards a place that held a gift. It only seemed like a dark cloud passing over him, rather than something that could potentially kill him in one swift blow.

His car collided with theirs, and the boy held his breath as the once sleek car tumbled and turned, flipping over. Glass shattered, sending shards past his cheeks and arms. Metal bent, everything went entirely wrong in almost too short a time.

The noise was like thunder cracking, splitting the air with light getting destroyed.

He couldn't see it all happening clearly, the coldness seeping into the car, the alcohol still blurring his vision, the tears being sucked up because sometimes when you're really scared there's no time to cry.

There's only time to be scared.

When the boy of sixteen awoke with a pain in his neck, and glass in his arms, he coughed and spluttered. He moved his arms to crawl from the wreckage. The ice on the concrete being the only sense of relief for his gashes.

His could breath raised into the air, chugging like a train running on empty. Desperate. Scared. Confused.

All he could think about was how much his dad would be disappointed with him. How much his dad would hate him for smashing up his car. How much his dad would shout. How his dad would want to kill him.

And then he saw it; the other car.

The boy clutched his arms with numb fingers as he approached it, taking careful steps. His muscles trembled in the cold wind.

Violet Van Allen was still in the passenger seat, but a large splintered piece of wood had struck itself through the window and right through her chest.

Neil Van Allen had exited through the window, his body colliding with the ground in a heap of broken bones and bruises. There was a moment as Neil shuddered in the wet dirty snow, his body turning purple.

"No. No. No. No. No." The boy whispered he brought his hands before him, waving them about in a panic.

He sounded like a child.

He kept muttering those words, running from the scene. Running from the guilt that plagued his every footstep.

Neil could see the wet of the snow and the way it lay on each blade of grass. How he could feel the sinking mud beneath him.

He thought of his children.

+

Harvey's eyes fluttering open, wincing as dust fell into his view. It made him cough, his throat dry.

He stood up, walking over the two sleeping bodies beside him. He looked down to them both, yawning into his hand and starting to walk towards the gate that held them safe. It stretched across the counter, protecting the from intruders.

He felt like a prisoner.

Any stranger would salivate at the medicinal stash they held behind that gate. The coup they had built for themselves, even if it was only three of them, was strong.

Harvey approached a small bucket in the corner, unzipping his pants and starting to do his business. He whistled quietly, thinking of anything but having to do his business in front of his two friends.

He patted down his pockets, looking for a cigarette when an empty box hot the back of his head.

"Jeez," he jumped, looking over his shoulder. "What, fuck's sake?" Harvey scrunched up his nose in annoyance.

"Don't just piss in the corner, Harvey!" The woman yelled.

Laura sighed tiredly, trying to find something else to throw at Harvey. She patted around her sleeping bag. When she did, she was reminded of the constant crick in her back as she sat up further. Having to sleep on the floor wherever they went

"Fine, I won't do it again," he yelled. In return, she gave him an angered look, a warning glance. "But I can't just stop right now."

"Fine," she muttered, climbing from her bruised knees to stand up. She lightly kicked the other sleeping form.

"Willy Wonka, time to wake up," Laura yawned. She kicked him harder for good measure, earning herself the floor when will yank her leg sideways.

"Fuck you!" She screeched.

Harvey quickly zipped up his pants, rushing over to the two "adults" and tearing them apart.

Will, the one who laura had kicked, smacked away Harvey's hand. "Get the fuck away, faggot!"

"Alright," Harvey sighed, stopping his efforts at keeping them from beating each other to death. "Laura, you can kick his ass."

Laura pummeled his ribs, shouting to the heavens about how she's tried to teach him not to use those disgusting words.

Will had the propensity to use words that never needed to be. Ones that cut deep, attacking things no one could change about themselves.

"Alright, alright, jeez."

Laura rolled off him, retrieving a pair of dark torn jeans from her bag and kindly giving the taller man her middle finger. She shuffled them onto her legs awkwardly, stretching her limbs as she did so.

Will peeked a look at her behind.

"You two act like children, I swear to god," Harvey had now retrieved a cigarette, hanging it from his plump dry lips, puffing light dusty smoke into their small space.

"Great," Will was the last to stand, leaning against the metal barring. "We've been here like three days, and prancy Bambi over here has turned it into his personal ashtray."

Harvey, taking after their friend laura, slowly blew out a long drag of smoke, and followed it with his own middle finger.

"Jesus fucking christ."

Laura clapped her hands, then placed them on her hips. She faced the gates. "One thing this pharmacy is good at."

It was a few hours then, of sitting around doing a little under nothing.

There was nothing they could do.

The safety of their fort set an easy fog over them. Where they couldn't do much but breathe. And they'd rather be bored and breathe than have something to do whilst taking their last breath. The numbing attitude they had would put most people out of their minds, but who wasn't out of their minds these days?

Will exited the pharmacy, going through the front door and inspecting the street.

It was vast and empty, no sign of life or death - it was eerily quiet. And Will never really liked the quiet. He had a yearning for loud music and thrashing voices. The apocalypse was his personal hell in the form of lowered volume.

He turned to go back inside, but the warm metal that pressed to the back of his head made his feet stop.

"Stay still," a voice said.

"I kinda got that."

"Don't get smart," another, more impatient and broken voice, spoke. And it paired up with the first face he saw, through the eyesight of a crossbow, the mystery man stared down at him.

More up at him, since will was towering to anyone.

He turned on his heels, bringing his palms to face forward. In a surrendering motion, he looked to the men who had his life in their laps.

Daryl opened the front door, surveying his surrounding as quickly as he could, glancing over his shoulder as Rick still held the gun to the strangers head.

"Drop the crossbow, asshole."

Daryl had obviously not surveyed enough because a gun was now pointed at his own head.

Two others behind the counter, guarded by a large metal rusted fence.

Daryl was too distracted by the twisting in his gut, the feeling of constant paranoia. The paranoia that something was happening to Marley and he wasn't there.

He needed to be there, as much as he hated showing any vulnerability to anyone, he may just crack a seam if he didn't get back to her in time.

He may just...

Rick, Glenn, and the Will joined him in the pharmacy. Their rushing footsteps echoing on the tiled floor.

"Will Day, nice to meet you," Will introduced himself, seeming all too calm despite having a gun pressed firmly to his skull.

Will was almost six feet tall, a slicked stylishness to him, a dirty amount of stubble, and large unnerving eyes.

The two behind the counter were his friends.

Laura was slender and slim, her dark hair falling in messy curls. She had tanned skin, and rich, warm, chocolate eyes. They held a welcoming gesture in them, yet seemed to still show off the feel of ice.

Harvey was the shortest and had a square face. He seemed to be all hair as his growing beard and mop was a wild brown that stuck out in all places.

Glenn brushed past Daryl, ignoring the stranger's guns and trying for the gate. It was locked and rattled as he shook it for a moment.

"Open it up." Glenn sounded extremely desperate. He may as well just got on his knees.

Harvey was the next to speak. "Don't really want to." The cockiness sent a shiver down Daryl's spine. Coming across a personality like wills struck a memory in him.

The slicked hair, the following eyes, the tendency to get on every nerve he possessed.

"I'll shoot your friend," Rick warned. He pushed Will forward, showing off the very close aim he had on.

"And for what?" Laura seemed genuinely intrigued, as she adjusted the shotgun in her hands. She also didn't seem that bothered at the guns pointed to both her and her friends.

"I think you know what for."

The woman sighed. "Medicine. What type of medicine?" Laura sounded like she heard the plea for medicine every single day. But in reality, these three men was the most exclusive human interaction her little group had since the world turned to unorganised dust.

"Any type, I guessed," Will was way too smart-ass for the predicament he found himself in.

"Just open up the gate," Rick's voice was dark and warning.

Daryl's was just impatient. "Don't need more trouble." He waved the crossbow to the gate expectantly.

Laura laughed dryly, and discreetly flickered her eyes to the shelf underneath the counter, where a stack of keys sat.

"We can't just give you them," the woman stated.

They had expected there to be a catch.

"What do you want?" Glenn said in a rushed tone. He was adamant to get the medicine and get back on the road again. He was anxious to what was happening to Marley.

Out of Daryl and Glenn, the latter showed the most worry. The former's being trapped in a cage he had mastered his whole life - yet, if you looked hard enough, you could see inside it.

But Rick didn't care. "We could just shoot you and break open the gates ourselves."

"Then you wouldn't know where we hid the medicine." Will waved his fingers as he still had his hands raised. "And it would be a waste of bullets when we could just resolve this in a humanly manner."

"Humanly manner kind of flew out the window," Harvey added in. "As soon as guns were involved."

"Shut up, Harvey," Will went to toss another insult about Harvey's sexuality, but had a small flashback of Laura punching his ribs into the ground.

He had to learn to be better.

"You got a group?" Laura asked, tilting her chin upwards for a second. "A place? Something?"

Rick adjusted his grip on his gun. "No." He didn't want to add some strangers to his list of worries, especially when his distant pregnant wife was the top of that list.

"Liar," Will sang... like it was a game.

"Shut up, please," Laura stressed. "Just let me do the talking boys."

"We're not lying," Daryl clenched his teeth, getting more impatient by the minute, and the trio of people who didn't even seem to get along with each other was definitely not helping.

"How's your wife?" Laura prodded, lifting an eyebrow.

Rick glanced quickly to the platinum ring around his finger.

"She around?"

Rick sighed heavily, sucking on his cheeks.

"See, you look more annoyed that I spotted your ring than sad that she's gone," Laura smiled to herself. "So I'd go with the former.

"What do you want," Rick finally asked.

"Whatever you have," Laura looked some kind of excited and slightly giddy at the thought of getting out of that damned pharmacy. "To share."

"Share?"

"Yeah... be a part of your group."

"No."

There was a silence that followed. A thick one that sliced at their minds to resolve this situation sooner through words so that they wouldn't risk their physical selves.

"Please," Harvey sounded like a wimp.

"Why do you want to join our group, anyway?" Glenn asked, the aim of his gun faltering slightly.

Harvey looked to both will and laura, stooping his shoulders exasperatedly. "Look at us," he waved his arms around. "Apart from medicine, we don't actually have anything."

"We're not even sick."

Rick didn't look convinced. He really didn't want new people in their group, when their small colony was already miles apart.

Glenn took pity on them, already agreeing in his head to take them in, throwing caution to the wind because his friend was probably going to die if they didn't compromise.

He turned on his feet, looking to Rick in a pleading manner. "Marley needs this, can we just get on with it and go."

"You have a Marley in your group?" Will cocked a brow, feigning disinterest. Yet, he had all the interest in the world.

Glenn regretted saying her name.

"Yeah," Daryl said defensively. "So?"

"We know a Marley," Harvey said, relaxing slightly as their conversation became less confrontational. "More specifically, Laura does."

"Anyone could know a Marley," Daryl was radiating a protectiveness he'd never shown for anyone else.

"Marley Van Allen?" Laura seemed to soften at her own words, a sad smile painted on her lips.

Rick and Daryl looked to each other, a silent duel of questioning whether Marley brought with her a caliber of good or bad people.

They both knew how strange Marley's name was, to begin with, a name they both never heard in their life until they met the damaged girl.

You never came across many Marlene Van Allens.

Glenn stuttered, he was about to ask them how they knew her, but Daryl beat him to it.

"What's her middle name?"

Laura sighed angrily, not in the mood to be questioned whether she knew Marley Van Allen or not. She felt like she knew the most but Daryl Dixon was in the room. "Martin."

"Boyfriend's name?"

She scoffed at the thought of the man. "Jimmy fucking Blake."

Daryl squinted his eyes, happy at the little nickname she had given the thankfully long dead asshole.

He still always thought about the black eye the man had given both Marley and Daryl.

Then he thought of another question. "Where are her parents?"

This time, Harvey answered instead. "They're dead. Car crash on her birthday."

Glenn's breath faltered. He knew Marley's parents were dead, but he never knew how abrupt and awful it must have been.

He started thinking about how much he didn't know about the redhead.

Daryl raised his eyebrows and Harvey rolled his eyes. "December 25th, asshole. Any more questions on the tragedy of Marley Van Allen?"

The hunter clenched his teeth, so much so he thought he would crack a molar.

"Even if you do know Marley," rick spat her name. "How can we trust you?"

"Marley would trust us," Laura swallowed before speaking, a terrible coil tightening in her stomach.

Rick smiled bitterly. "Doesn't make me trust you." Because Marley had trusted Shane. He didn't bother to hide how much friction he and Marley held between them.

"You're gonna have to," the woman picked up the keys from the counter, dangling them in the air and making them clatter, teasing them. "Because we have the keys, and we have the medicine."

"And you have a sick girl on your hands."

Daryl took in short breaths, angering at the thought of someone from Marley's past coming to hurt her. It planted a seed of worry in his head, letting it sprout further into his thoughts and curling around every step he took.

If they touched her...

"Done," he spoke for everyone, not looking Rick in the eyes as he swung his crossbow over his shoulder, and let Laura place the keys in his hands.

Laura could see how much he cared for Marley, even before assessing the way they were around each other.

She had been that way before.

+

AN example of how I cannot do original plots for shit

WTF IS THIS

ugh I feel so dumb but I am so this is what I came up with

what do you think of harvey, will, and laura?

and that scene at the start?

- sylar