A/N: This is a work of fan fiction. No infringement intended.

The Country Singer

By Leah Pensotti

Chapter One

"Mellie. Mellie wait..."

She just kept walking. She felt dirty and tired and frankly, she wanted to sit down and cry. They had been at this for almost two years. They had yet to find any permanent sanctuary.

Before all of this...she had a good life. A recording contract. A sold out show at the Ryman in Nashville. She had even sung at the Grand Ole Opry.

And now most of her backing band was dead. With the exception of Adam, her drummer. He was following at her heels, like he always did.

The problem was, they ran out of bullets just outside of Richmond, Virginia...and Rob, her bassist had gotten eaten. The band, Juliet the back-up singer and Will, the road manager had been taken out on their way from Nashville.

Melanie McCall, once a rising star in Country music, had been reduced to fighting for survival since the government had declared a State of Emergency after her band had been on the road for two months. She had seen things she never thought she would...and done things she never dreamed of. Killing the re-animated corpses of her friends chief among them.

She had a backpack, a canteen and a machete. She also had a .45, but it was useless without ammuntion.

That is all she had to survive in this world.

Unless you count Adam.

He was the only person left in this world that she knew. Even before the world went to shit, she didn't trust many people. She wondered what would happen to her without him, and vice versa.

She had not become a skilled killer. But she did what she had to.

"Mels, wait!"

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. They had been following I-270, headed toward D.C..The last transmissions on television and the radio had told everyone to get to the big cities, that the government was going to help. She figured if there was anything left at this time...it would be in the nation's capital.

Melanie messed with the straps of her backpack and watched as he caught up with her. He was a big guy, tall and strong, but not known for his cardio.

"What Adam?"

He sighed and tried to catch his breath, "Maybe we should clear a house? Stay there a few days."

She shook her head, "No. It's D.C. or bust. You know that."

"We're low on food and water, boss lady. We need to stop."

Melanie hated when he called her that. It stemmed from the perfectionism she had when it came to her music and songs. They'd known each other for eight years. It took her six of those years to hit paydirt and get recognition in the industry full of teenage girls and gorgeous crossover pop princesses. Country music was in her blood. She saved up enough money to move to Nashville from Oklahoma when she was 25. Her career took off at 30 after paying her dues as a waitress and performer in the city. Adam was a session musician, a whiz at all instruments, all around Music Row.

Now at 32, Adam was her last friend in the whole world.

But she hadn't forgiven him for making her leave her guitar behind when their tour bus died outside of Knoxville over a year and a half before.

He said she could get another guitar when all of this had blown over.

"Would you stop calling me that? I'm not your boss anymore."

Adam smiled his sarcastic, sweet smile, "Aw, you'll always be my boss lady. Besides...you never forget to remind me when I screw up."

When she was 25, she would have found him charming. But now, he was just a well-meaning pain in her ass.

Melanie relented, "Fine. Just one night though."

Two hours later, they happened upon an empty roadside motel. It would have been creepy enough in regular life, let alone in the all too quiet post-apocalypse. After a quick sweep and one dead roamer that Adam dispatched with his baseball bat, they settled on a room on the bottom floor.

Someone had been there before and it was messy, but the door locked and the windows were intact. They raided what was left in the vending machine that hadn't spoiled...three bags of fruit snacks, doublemint gum and a mini can of Spam.

Melanie stood infront of the mirror in the dusty bathroom and studied her features. She looked old. She had gotten too thin and too tan thanks to traversing outdoors. Her copper-colored hair had grown out from her trendy long bob that she sported on the tour. It was a mess and needed to be washed, but until then she kept it in a long braid.

In her backpack, she kept the issue of Rolling Stone magazine she had been interviewed for. She wasn't a cover story, but she was "One to Watch" and they compared her to Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch. Looking back on it, everything was so shiny...all golden and filled with promises. Melanie McCall was one to watch...Mellie was just worn out, and all the pretty words she wrote down in her beat up notebook that she toted with her, couldn't save her from all of this.

As the night closed in, Adam took the first watch so Melanie could try and sleep. He whispered to he lowly, "Mellie?"

She answered in a hush tone, "Yeah?"

"You remember when we used to do open mic nights at the Bluebird?"

"Yup."

"Even though we played the Ryman and all...those were still my favorite times. You sounded great when we covered those Pam Tillis songs."

Melanie smiled for a bit, the memory providing a safe warmth.

She awoke from a dead sleep to hear a knock on their door. A knock, well-timed and coordinated.

Meaning alive. Not dead.

She sat up and met eyes with Adam, who was already looking out the peephole of the door. He waved her over and moved so she could see, too.

Standing infront of of their motel door was a clean shaven man with large blue eyes and a backpack, binoculars around his neck and a plastic gallon of water. Melanie looked away from the peephole and to Adam, who just shrugged. She gripped tighter to her machete and looked back out in enough time to hear him.

"I am a friend. My name is Aaron. My associate and I have been watching you. We think you'd be a good fit for our community, not far from here. We have houses, food, water...even jobs. We'd like to talk to you about it."

Mellie felt hope, dashed by a bit of doubt in her stomach. Since being on the road, they had encountered a few too many crazies and had one too many close calls.

This guy reminded her of a door to door Bible salesman.

"Where is this associate of yours?"

"He's keeping an eye out, but I can have him come this way if you'd feel better meeting him."

Melanie looked at Adam and he just shrugged. She opened the door slowly, her machete at the ready, "Come in. Call your friend, but don't be fooled with appearances. We can fight, and we will if we have to."

Aaron nodded, "I understand."

Melanie and Adam let him in, and secured the door behind him. He assured them over and over that he was friend, not foe. He willingly handed over his weapons while he spoke to them. He told them about his community, Alexandria. How close to forty lived there now. They had jobs, social order, big strong walls, running water and even electricity. Recently, a priest had been brought to town and a church had been established.

He also had pictures.

Melanie had to say it seemed too good to be true.

"So say we come with you. What do you want from us?"

Aaron shrugged, "A better community. Safety. The rebuilding of a society."

Adam looked at her and shrugged, that seemed to be most of his contributions recently. Before she could speak again, an aggressive knock came upon the door and Aaron smiled.

"That's probably Daryl."

Adam got up and opened the door, and a leather jacket-clad man entered the room, carrying a crossbow and four dead squirrels. Normally, Melanie would've been repulsed, but spam and fruit snacks made for a lousy dinner.

Daryl didn't say much, but cast furtive glances to her and Adam. He looked to Aaron and shrugged, "They comin' or what? We should probably be gettin' back."

Aaron smiled, "Mellie and Adam, meet Daryl Dixon."

Daryl gave them small nods and then Aaron continued, "Do you want to come back with us?"

Melanie looked to Adam and back to Aaron, "Yeah. Yeah we will."

A/n: Hi all! Trying out a new fic. Let me know what you think! And if you are so inclined, check out my long running TWD fic, "Redemption (The Road to Alexandria)"

thanks and love,

Leah P!