Lt. Sonya Eisenhower ran through corridors, gripping her gun and firing random bursts of rounds at the dead sailors following her closely. She slammed into walls as she tried to steer her way through the network of hallways.
"Help! Ple-" A voice screams out from a cabin beside her. She barely pauses to take in the sight of a crew member being ripped to shreds by one of the undead cooks. There was no helping them now. All she could do is pray he doesn't turn.
Sonya's mind was racing. What are these things? Why won't they die? What's happened to everyone attacked? No information has reached her from the medical ward, the first section of the ship to go down into chaos. Sonya was in her bunk sleeping when the screams of her crew reached her ears. Then Johnny grabbed her and they fled to the top of the ship. They were separated early in the disaster and she hadn't seen him since.
It's been 3 days in this hell.
In front of her was another wave of walkers rapidly approaching her while behind her was an ever growing pack. She shot through their skulls, but only a few dropped, the rest climbed on over and ran for her. She was barely lucky enough to reach her destination, the control room. She launches against the door but it was locked. She steps away and shoots the lock off. She was just out of the reach of the walkers when she slams the door shut on their faces.
"Shit!" She yells.
She pushes against the door with all of her might, breathing hard from the terrifying rush of adrenaline that pushed her into survival mode. She spotted the radio set on the captain's desk beside her on her right. Captain Davis's body was slouched in the chair with a gun in his lap and a bullet through his brain. She shook her head in shame. The man who was supposed to lead them into the worst of battles was one of the first to opt out.
"Admiral Burkett to Captain Davis, what is your status?" The radio's speaker booms out into the room.
She stretches out a hand to the radio without moving from her position blocking the door but the radio was just out of reach. It took all her strength to hold the door shut and there was no way to reach the radio without the hoard of walkers filling up the room.
More and more groans and growls erupted from the other side of the door as the crowd collects, making it harder to keep the door shut. She holds the door shut with her foot and grabs hold of the desk to her left. She piled furniture over the door, barricading herself into the room.
"Mayday, Mayday. We have been infected and over run, Admiral. Captain Davis and many, many others… opted out hours ago. There are only a handful of us left… and a countless number of them." There was a short pause while she waits for a response and another scream echoes through the ship as one of her mates were savagely attacked by the undead threat onboard.
She was ready for the dreaded words from the admiral, ending all hope for a rescue. Somewhere on the lines of 'Every man for himself'
"What is your name, sailor?" He responds, assertively. "Lieutenant Sonya Eisenhower, sir."
"Lieutenant Eisenhower you are now promoted to Captain. We are not the army, Captain Eisenhower and I will not ditch the last of my sailors. We will try our best to reach your coordinates."
Sonya could barely suppress a squeal as relief lifted her chest.
"Thank you, Admiral. Godspeed." She says, grabbing hold of the automatic rifle in her arms.
She dropped the radio and loaded a new mag. It was time to get control of her ship back.
"What is that? Carl hollers excitedly as he approaches a projecting object out of the rocks. The beach waves crash on the surface of the wreckage violently.
"I'm going to check it out!" He says, running out of reach before anyone could say otherwise. Rick immediately ran after the boy, followed by a pregnant Lori. The rest of the group followed closely behind.
As they got closer, the 'object' in the rocks ended up being a huge part of a giant Destroyer, a U.S navy ship. It was only part of a deck and a lot of random pieces of equipment, a typical wreckage.
The group stands next to the wreckage as Rick takes a closer look. "Dad! Look!" Carl says, pointing towards a collapsed body leaning against the boat. "Carl, Stay back!" Rick drew his gun when the body moved and groaned. He was about to take the shot when the body, the creature, pushed dirty brown hair out of its face and looked up at him in wondrous blue eyes. Eyes that shone like the sky above them, eyes clear as day. "You are alive." Carl states, crouching beside the person.
She mumbles incoherent words under her breath before falling back into an unconscious state. Daryl approaches beside them. "She's probably already infected."
Rick shook his head. "We should at least see what information we might get out of her. She was part of the Navy, she probably knows of survivors." Rick calls Hershel over. "Is it safe to move her?" He asks, noticing the odd position of one of the girl's legs. "We will have too. She'll freeze out here. "
It was a team effort moving her to a safer location. They put her in the back of the van and drove to their shelter, some home they were camping out at for a few days. Rick carried her inside while T-Dog and Daryl scoped out the place to make sure it was secure.
Hershel set up his supplies in the master bedroom, after they moved the corpses out of the room. Rick ordered everyone out of the room except for Carol and Hershel to check her for bites and scratches. Rick stayed in the room to make sure the girl didn't attack two of the most valuable members of the group.
Hershel set her broken leg and stitched up the side of her head while Carol cleaned up her arms and face then wrapped her cracked ribs. She asked questions and Hershel answered, Rick just sat and watched the process absently. "All we can do now is watch, wait and pray that no walkers come knocking on the door any time soon." Hershel says, pushing hair out of the young woman's face.
"How long do you think she was at the wreckage?" Carol asks, looking down at the girl with pity. "It could have been a week but there is no knowing until she wakes up." He stands up and walks to the window. "If she wakes up" Rick says, being the pessimist of the group. Hershel just nods.
"I'll watch her. You guys can go back with your families." Carol says with a sad smile. Rick grimaces at the cold air in the room created by her stale statement. "Are you sure?" He starts but she was already pushing them out of the room. "I'll let you know if she starts a fever."
After they finished eating the last of their canned food, Daryl decided to go check up on Carol, partially because he was worried the girl reanimated and partially because he was curious about the Naval officer.
Daryl knocks on the master bedroom's door but got no response. "Carol, it's Daryl." He says, with no response again.
Worried, he pushes it open to find Carol asleep beside the bed and a confused Naval Captain just waking up. He steps into the room quietly, so not to wake up Carol.
He caught the Captain's attention quickly and she tried to speak but no words came out.
She clears her throat and tries again."Water." Her throat was so dry it came out course.
He nods, steps out of the room and goes in search for a water bottle. By the time he came back with some water after alerting Rick that the girl was up, Carol was already up and fussing with the girl.
Rick and Hershel followed him into the room and the three of them crowded the girl, eager for some answers. "How she holding up?" Hershel asks, checking her temperature. Rick approaches beside him and starts interrogating. "What's your name? Do you know what happened to your ship?"
"Give the girl some room, she just woke up!" Carol scolds, shooing them further back from the bed.
They all take two steps back and Carol then helped the girl sit up. Daryl walked towards the window and peeked out through the blinds. A few straying walkers roamed about, not having a clue they were inside.
"Where am I?" The young Captain asks, after finishing off the entire water bottle. "Coast of Georgia." Rick says. "We found you in the wreckage of your ship." Her eyes shift down towards the bed and she shakes her head. "We were the last." They all share a moment of silence. "Did you find any other survivors?"
Rick shook his head. "If you guys wanted more answers than that, then I'm afraid I've disappointed you. Radio contact cut out after I got my replacement crew, that was within week 3 of the infection."
Rick sat with the girl a bit more, talking about the situations they've caught themselves in before Hershel declared the girl needed some rest. Rick assigned Daryl to stand guard by the girls room in case she needed anything.