Hello once again!

I'm really rewriting this story again because I lost energy with it and I really wanna add a bunch of stuff to it that I thought of afterwards.

Thanks to RayaSwift for messaging me and getting me into the mood to go back and rewrite everything again.

I'm also putting this on Wattpad, my account is rosapocapoca.

Thanks for reading!

Miri was getting ready to go to bed when her cellphone rang.

She saw it was Rick and quickly put it on speaker as she brushed her hair up into a high ponytail. "Rick!"

"Hey Miri, what are you doing?"

"Getting ready to go to bed, what are you doing?" she looked in the mirror and saw her hair looked alright for tomorrow.

"Oh, then I'll just let you go to bed-"

"Rick," Miri laughed lightly, not bothered in the least from her brother calling. "Its fine, I'll always make time for you."

"Thanks." He chuckled. "I'm just on my way to work, going to go and pick Shane up from his new ladies' house. How are you?"

"I'm good, I miss you guys though." She pouted even though he couldn't see her. "I need to see you guys in person, not on my screen."

"Carl's been asking when you're coming to visit. I want to tell him you're coming next week, but he'll love the surprise." She could hear the smile on her brother's face. She knew he was trying to hold the secret back and was thankful that he was holding himself back.

"How is my little man?" She smiled brightly as she thought about her nephew.

"Getting better at school now that he goes to that after school tutor program. I caught him gloating the other day that his aunt was famous and can kick butt." They laughed.

"He got that from me, since I always gloat that I have the best nephew and brother." Miri smiled as he laughed again.

"Kiss ass. How are you and that guy …Dustin?" Rick guessed, never really paying attention to the guy's name.

"Austin, Rick, his name is Austin." She sighed and laid down on her bed. "We've been having problems, but that's nothing new. How are you and Lori?" he stayed silent. "What happened?"

"We didn't have a good night, last night." He paused and sighed into the phone.

Miri got up as she heard her stomach growl and walked to her kitchen. "Come on, Rick. You know you can talk to me."

"That's what she always says. Talk to me." He sighed deeply. "You would think I was a closed mouth son of a bitch."

"Do you talk to her though?" Miri asked as she made herself a sandwich as a snack before bed.

She could hear him become upset, but not at her. "Whenever I try, everything I say just makes her madder, like she didn't want to hear it after all. It's like she's pissed at me all the time and I don't know why."

She swallowed the bits of sandwich in her mouth. "Maybe it's something that's bothering her and she's just taking it out on you?"

"Do you and… Austin? Am I right? Do you guys have fight like that?"

"Not really, we rarely see each other now-a-days since he's off filming and I'm either here doing talk shows, photo shoots, or visiting you guys." she took the last bite of her sandwich and drank the last of her juice. "It gets in the way at times."

"Well you guys are TV stars and stuff."

"And we haven't been together as long as you and Lori." Miri placed the dishes in her dishwasher and turned it on. "Nor do we have a child."

"Speaking of kids." He groaned at that. "Do you know what the last thing she said to me this morning was?" Miri could almost see her brother rubbing his mouth, his habit he has had for years. "'Sometimes I wonder if you even care about us at all.'" she sighed and leaned against her island. "She said that in front of Carl. Can you imagine going to school with that in your head?"

"That's too cruel… poor Carl. Did he say anything?"

"No, but I would never say something that cruel to her. Certainly not in front of Carl."

"I know, Rick. I know."

She heard a door open and slam.

"Hey Rick, who you talking to? Your mistress?" a male's voice said jokingly.

"Hello Shane." Miri laughed. "How are you and the new lady? What's her name?"

"Miri? Hey! Uh, I don't really remember her name that well, I think it was Susan." The siblings laughed at Shane. "Oh! Hey, I almost forgot, the guys at work wanted to thank you for the autographed poster, mostly Leon though. Says when you two meet up again, ya'll gonna lock eyes and fall in love." Shane started making kissing sounds.

Miri laughed loudly. "Leave the man alone, Shane. Well I have to go, been on the phone for almost two hours and I got an interview tomorrow morning, super early. So goodnight, love you guys and tell the guys I said hey."

"Aw, but it's only 9 a.m." said Shane.

"For you." she laughed. "I'm 10 hours ahead, meaning it's 11 for me. Got to get up at 6 to drive down to do that interview about SoBe water."

"Alright, love you Miranda-panda." That nickname made Miri smile, since that what he would call her when they were teens to bother her but it became a loving nickname.

"Love you too, Ricksaur. Bye Shane!"

"What? No 'I love you Shane'?"

Miri laughed as she could hear the pout in his voice. "Love you, Shane. Goodnight."

"Love ya too Miri. Night."

Miri opened her eyes and remembered where she was exactly.

She was in her room in Rick's house. She sat up in bed and ran her fingers through her dirty messy hair. She really needed to wash it.

Miri felt the warmth next to her and looked over to see a little blonde girl, Alice, was still curled up asleep hugging Burnie, her giraffe plush. She didn't want to wake her, but the little girl needed to eat.

Miri swung her legs off the bed and put on some black ankle socks on. She reached for a pair black lace up front combat boots, ignoring the spots of blood on it from kicking the dead back from her or stomping on them. She tucked her dark skinny jeans into the boots and stood up. She noticed the jeans were a bit bloody and loose, since she really wasn't eating that well, wanting Alice to get more of the things she needed since she was still a kid, only five.

She took her belt off of the nightstand and put it through the loops of her jeans, tightening it so it wouldn't fall off in the middle of a terrible situation. She picked up a cranberry colored button-up blouse with rolled-up sleeves and put it over her no longer all-white cami. She really needed to wash these clothes too.

She walked out of her room, her eyes flashing over to the blanket covered windows and the secured front door. She walked to the kitchen and picked up a yellow office pad that has all the supplies they had written on it, a lot of the things listed had been crossed out.

When she and Alice first got into the house, they had many supplies after they had ran from a group, yet she came across a man and his son during her time searching through houses for things they needed or could use. She could not stand to see the man's young son so hungry, so she told them the house next to them was clean and that she was willing to give them the supplies they needed when she could or tell them about houses that still had things to use.

Miri and the man never asked or told each other's name, but whenever they saw each other while on patrol, they would nod hello and help each other on which place was alright or if the other person needed medical supplies. They were survivors now, with their own kids to take care of from the way the world was now.

Miri's blue eyes scanned the list and saw she had five more cans of canned sliced peaches. She reached for two cans, opened them and put them onto the table with some spoons. She fixed the list to show only three cans left made her way back into her room.

She moved Alice lightly, as to not scare her. "Time to get up, sweetheart. Breakfast is on the table."

Alice blinked her eyes a couple times and sat up. She looked at Miri and smiled sleepily. "Morning Miri."

Miri patted her hair and pulled her from the bed. She put on her dirty white lace-up sneakers that hid her yellow smiley face socks. She, like Miri, slept in her clothes from before. It was a way for them to quickly get out should anything happen.

They left the room to the dining room area, where the cans sat. They sat down and Alice's eyes practically glowed when she saw the peaches. She put Burnie on the table and attacked the peaches.

Miri laughed silently and ate hers at a normal pace, the feeling of sitting at the table and eating breakfast was an odd feeling but it made things feel normal. When she finished her peaches, Alice was looking at her suspiciously. She raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"You only give me sweets when you're leaving…"

Miri smirked down at her. "For a five year old, you'd make a brilliant detective." She stood up and cleaned the table. When she was done, Alice was still sitting at the table with her arms crossed looking at her.

Miri sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, messing it up more. "I do have to go. We're running low on food and water. I have to keep you alive, sweetheart." She went over to her and crouched down in front of her. "You remember where to hide until I come back right?"

Alice nodded.

They left the kitchen and went back to Miri's room. "You can stay in this room unless you hear something." Miri took their bags and hid them deep in her closet, behind a shoe rack just in case. She pulled out a khaki canvas backpack from under her bed, the bag she always used while on patrol. She reached inside and pulled out two two-way radios. She handed Alice one. "I'm on channel 2. If you are in danger, you just click the side and it'll tell me by vibrating. I will tell you I'm close by calling you, but I'm putting it so it vibrates, just in case you're hiding."

Alice nodded and took the radio, holding it tight. She hated when Miri left.

Miri showed her the button to press to call her and showed her that it was in a mode where it vibrated. "I'll probably be gone fifteen to twenty-five minutes. I should be back by this time." She quickly wrote down the time on a piece of paper. "If I'm not back by then, call me. If I don't respond, go through the back door and go next door where the nice man and his son is."

Alice nodded again and turned to her bag, not looking at Miri.

"Hey," Miri called out softly. "You okay?"

Alice turned around with tears in her eyes. "Please come back." She ran to Miri and hugged her waist tightly. She hated when Miri would leave.

Miri smiled softly and patted her hair. "I will, Ali. Just sit here and be careful." She pulled away and smiled. "I'm going to gear up now." She went into the bag and pulled out a twenty-one inch polished steel machete in its sheath, remembering how this weapon saved both her and Alice's life. She put it on the left side of her belt.

She opened the drawer to her nightstand and pulled out two pistols and one leg holster, which she clicked around her right thigh and to her belt. She put her one gun into the holster and the other in the back of her pants, hidden just in case she ran into the type of danger that was alive.

'Crap, I'm really low on ammo.' Miri thought as she saw the almost empty box of ammo in the bag. She put her hair into a high messy bun, so it was out of her face and away from grabby hands.

Miri clipped the radio to her belt on the front, put her bag on and looked at Alice. Alice had the notebook that Miri had gotten her open in front of her and she looked to be deep in thought while writing.

"I'm going now, Ali. Be safe." Miri kissed Alice's head and walked out of the room. She made sure the front door was blocked when she went out of the back door.

Miri peeked over the fence and saw there were no roamers around. She jumped the fence and ran to a house, peeking into the window of the house to check if it was safe. Nothing moved, so she opened the door and looked around.

She spotted two dead bodies near the door, but one had been stabbed in the head and the other had been shot with a gun in its hand.

She walked over to the female corpse first to check the gun in her hand. "Fuck." she cursed under her breath. It was empty. She walked over to the man and pulled on the studded rosewood hilt of the knife in his head. She gagged as the sound of it coming out of the head. She could never get over the horrible squelch noise.

She wiped the blood off on his shirt and looked over the blade in her hand. There were designs on the blade that made it look odd, but beautiful. It looked to be around ten inches, so it would be easy to hide on her person.

She got up, keeping her new knife in her hand and walked carefully throughout the house, gun cocked and ready just in case. She saw that the house was clear and went into the kitchen, pulling the bag from her back. She opened a pantry and nearly screamed from happiness, the pantry was stacked with cans of soup and beans.

She took out the cans and looked them over. Most of them were red beans and chicken noodle soup, but some were chucky creamy chicken and dumpling soup. Her mouth watered at the thought of the soup warming her on the inside. She was getting real tired of eating canned veggies.

She quickly put the cans in the bag, since not only was it edible food, but it was a good source of protein and fiber for both her and Alice. She opened another pantry and saw it had two boxes of granola bars. She stuffed them into the bag and left the kitchen.

She made her way up the stairs and noticed a leather knife holster on the steps. She picked it up and slid the knife into it. It fit, so she placed it safely in her bag.

She continued walking up the steps, stopping in front of one of the rooms that had a bit of blood on the door. She was expecting it to be a bedroom but saw it was a room used for collective weapons, some video games, a half a pack of bottled water and a box with the words 'Jack Links' in the front with the head of a bull and the horns on top of it.

Miri whistled lowly. "Damn, glad I came into this house." She went over to the water and put the rest of the water into her bag neatly. They were running low on water so this was a must to take back. She took her machete and cut the tape that sealed the box. When she opened it, she saw all the little packets of jerky. She excitedly threw it all into her bag, not caring what flavor they were. It was another source of protein that they needed.

Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention; a video camera. She picked it up and turned it on.

A young pretty woman with dark hair and dark eyes came into view with a big smile on her face. "Hello! This is day 56 in our new house! Gus has already set up his nerd room, let's go check it out!" the camera moved around to show the hallway Miri was just and then the door of the room she was in was shown on the screen.

She turned the knob and opened the door. She walked in and turned to the desk, that wasn't turned over at the time, to see a light haired man with his head down on the desk. "Awe, how cute. He must've been so tired from work." She walked closer to the man, noticing a bite on his arm. "Honey what happened to your—"

The man, Gus, brought his head up and Miri could see he had changed into one of the infected. As soon as he saw the woman behind the camera, he growled and attacked her. She dropped the camera, screaming while running away with Gus on her heels, then the sound of her cries of pain and growling sounded far away. Silence was heard next before a loud pop from a gun, so Miri turned the camera off, knowing what happened to the woman downstairs.

She put the camera in the empty box and looked at the collectable weapons around the room, some were fantasy swords, but what caught her attention was a beautiful white and blue recurve bow. She picked it up and tried it out by pulling the string back. She was glad that she was able to pull the string back, so she decided to keep it. It would be easier to make arrows than bullets, that's for sure.

She looked around the room and found a soft padded case with two exterior pockets. She opened the front pockets and found string for her new bow, a brown bracer that was made from a soft and comfortable leather with speed laces and covered mid-left arm, a brown leather shooting glove that didn't cover the thumb and pinky on the right hand, small things that looked like it was things to help make arrows, arrow tips, items she had no idea about and pictures of what Gus looked like when he was alive with the woman.

Miri put those pictures on the floor carefully. She opened the main pocket of the case and saw some arrows in a leather quiver. "I hit the jackpot in this house." She picked up the case and tested the weight, thankfully it wasn't heavy.

Buzz!

Buzz!

Miri jumped and looked to the walkie-talkie worried, she haven't been gone long. She jumped again when she suddenly heard a gunshot, making her heart race. "Shit!"

She picked up all the stuff she gathered quickly and ran out the door. When she saw the door to Rick's house was forced open with the stuff pushed aside, she bolted into the house and dropped her bag, new bow and case on the floor near the door.

She had more important things to worry about than those things. She pulled out her gun and searched the rooms upstairs, all empty until only her room was left. She kicked the door open and looked around, gun ready.

"Ali?!" She whispered, worried since she didn't see the little girl anywhere.

"Miri?" a voice whispered from the closet.

Miri put her gun down and opened the closet door. She pulled her to me in a tight hug. "There you are," she squeezed Miri back. "What happened?"

"I heard something open the door downstairs and move all the stuff in front of the door around. I grabbed my stuff and ran into the closet like you told me. I called you, twice, when someone came into the room." Tears were in her eyes. "I was so scared, Miri. He looked crazy with those hospital gowns on, crying and mumbling to himself."

Miri remembered about the door and ran back to it, so she could lock and block the door. "Got to block the doors and windows from light, that shot will attract the dead." She mumbled as her body worked on autopilot to block the windows and door.

"Miri? What are these?" Alice called from behind her.

Miri turned around and saw she was pointing to the stuff she had brought. She smiled and showed her what she found.

In the middle of showing her what she found, there was soft knocking on the back door.

Miri dragged Alice behind her as she cocked her gun. She pulled the blanket that was covering the window of the backdoor and saw it was the man that was staying next door. She opened the door and put her gun down, but not away. "Yes?"

"I need to know if you have any medical supplies. I found a man with a wound on his side, already checked if it was a bite, it's not and he's unconscious."

Miri raised an eyebrow at him. "Was he wearing a hospital gown?"

He nodded, eyebrows furrowed. "How did you know?"

"My little girl was in the house when he came in. He didn't see her because she was hiding."

"My boy hit him with a shovel, thought he was one of these bastards that had gotten into your home." He scratched his chin. "He got scared you two got hurt. I had to drag him next door."

"Come in, I'll get you some supplies." Miri moved to the side so that he was able to walk in and closed the door. She went into her backpack and put some of the cans of beans, soups, and water into his bag. "I found these in the house I was in." She went to a cabinet where she had the first-aid stuff. She stuffed the things he might need into his bag then handed it back to him. "I put some clean gauze pads and rolled gauze, and some antiseptic spray to clean the wound. Wait, I'll get you some clothes for him."

He nodded. "Thank you. Do you want to come next door to see the guy?"

Miri got the clothes and handed it to him, shaking her head. "I need to start cooking before outside turns into a thriller video, you should get back to your son. Tell him thank you for worrying."

He said his goodbyes to them and left.

Miri locked the door and went into her bag, pulling out two cans of the chicken dumpling soup. She reached into the kitchen cabinet and pulled out the hidden gas powered portable stove top she kept hidden just in case someone broke in.

She got a small pot, poured the contents of the cans that Alice opened into the pot and turned the stove top on. She stirred the pot as Alice stood there, breathing in the smell of the food as it lightly filled the room.

"That smells so good." Alice said next to her, watching as Miri stirred.

Miri laughed lightly. "Get two bowls and spoons, it's about done."

Alice rushed around the table to get disposable bowls and spoons to set the table with before sitting down.

Miri turned off the stove top and brought the pot over to the table. She poured half of the soup into her bowl and the rest into the other.

They didn't talk as they ate, focusing on the taste of the food than talking and the sounds coming from outside. When they finished, they just sat there rubbing their warm stomachs with smiles on their faces.

"That was really good, so much better than green beans." Alice commented.

"Green beans are good for you." Miri laughed and cleaned the table, putting the bowls on the kitchen counter. "Come on, let's go sleep."

Alice yawned and went to the room, where Burnie was probably already in the bed.

Miri walked over to the door, making sure it was safe and blocked. Once she was happy that it seemed safe, she walked to the room, took off her shoes and shirt and lay down, placing her gun under the pillow she was using.

She must've been asleep for an hour when a car alarm went off. She jumped awake with her gun in hand. She looked around the room confused.

She quickly got off the bed and walked downstairs to the window near the front door. She took a peek and saw all of the roamers were staggering to a blue car that was the culprit of the noise.

"What's happening?"

Miri jumped and looked to the stairs to see Alice holding onto Burnie. "Jesus, you gave me heart an attack." She turned back to the window and looked out. "Some roamers must have bumped into the car across the street again. Don't worry about it, let's go back to sleep."