Dear Reader,
This story has not been posted so you can tell me I left out a word or spelled something wrong. It's here because I wanted to write it and thought someone else might enjoy it. I don't know if I will ever finish it since SPOILER Shane dies but I might.
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I'd just sat Carl down at the couch with a plate of chicken fingers when the doorbell rang. I left my nephew watching Spongebob while I answered the door. I smiled when I saw my brother's partner in crime and an old friend of mine.
"Thought you were going to leave me to take care of the twerp all by myself," I said stepping aside to let him in the house.
"Now I wouldn't do that to you," Shane said ruffling my hair and heading over to Carl.
"Hope Rick and Lori are having fun," I said. My brother Rick had left his son with me and Shane to babysit while he and his wife Lori went on a much needed vacation. Carl wasn't hard to look after. It's just he had a habit of exploring. I had asked Shane to help me keep up with him today on our trip to the fair.
"I'm sure they are. Probably broken in every surface of that hotel suite," Shane said plopping down beside Carl.
"Shane!" I said with wide eyes.
"What?" he said looking up at me. I motioned towards Carl and Shane glanced down at him. "He's clueless."
It's true. The 8 year old was completely engrossed in the TV show. I left Shane to watch him while I finished getting ready when I was done Shane grabbed Carl's things and we headed out the door but not before I shut off the light. Shane paused at the door and looked at me. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"That is why you're my favorite female little Grimes," he said pointing to the light switch.
It was about two years later when Shane called me with the news that Rick had been shot. I was in Savannah Georgia at college at the time. I went home immediately to learn my brother was in a coma. I couldn't stay for long and when I left for Savannah again I was so struck with grief I thought I'd never see my brother alive again. How right I was.
I was in class taking notes on the Renaissance when the first of the dead appeared. The campus city was taken so fast I don't know how I survived to make it out. It was all a blur as I ran down the crowded streets of Savannah with the rest of the living. The people in the back and on the sides were being grabbed and bitten fast. People were being ran over by panicked drivers. Others being shot by confused soldiers who had entered the city.
I managed to make it to my dorm where I packed my backpack full of things I would need and rushed to my own car. I took the quickest way out of the city and headed to my hometown without hesitation. The only thing left for me in King County was my sister-in-law Lori, my comatose brother, and Shane. But I knew I had to get to them. The interstate was packed bumper to bumper. Check points were set up everywhere to make sure no was transporting the infection. If someone was suspected of having the virus they were taken to the side of the road, put down on their knees execution style and had a bullet put in the back of their head.
Cars were running out of gas and people were dying everywhere. I was still hundreds of miles from home and my car was low on gas without an exit in site. My radio was on picking up a station saying the outbreak was being handled and to stay indoors. They weren't sure what the virus was but they urged people to wash their hands and take someone with symptoms straight to the emergency room. I called my friend who was a nurse back home but she only answered for a minute saying no one knew how to treat it and they were covered up with patients.
My car ran out of gas 30 miles out of Atlanta. Home was just north of there. A man helped me push my car to the side of the road. His car had also ran out of gas a few miles back and he was making a hike to Atlanta. I agreed to join him. A small family consisting of a man, his wife, and small girl joined us 10 miles later. By now the sun had began to set and we decided to make camp for the night in an abandoned SUV.
None of us slept. Between the screams of the living and the growls of the dead in the distance it seemed impossible. Gunshots were heard all night telling us they were closing in on Atlanta. I planned to find a way home once I reached there. I just had to make it there before the virus took the whole city over, or worse, me.
The next day it seemed my backpacked weighed 100 pounds and I thought I would die of starvation and the heat. Just when I thought I couldn't walk any further an RV stopped alongside us.
"Need a ride?" an old man asked from the door.
"Dale this isn't a good idea," I heard a womans voice say from inside.
"Nonsense. Come on in. You looking to make it to Atlanta?" the man asked. I nodded and he motioned for us to come inside. I looked around my group before entering the RV.
"Thank you sir," I said. "My names Josephine. This is Jim," I said motioning to the man who first helped me, "Carol, Ed, and their daughter Sophia," I said letting the little family in.
"Well I'm Dale," the old man said sitting back in the driver's seat and merging back into traffic. This is Andrea and her sister Amy." I nodded at the two women also in the RV. One was a little older than me and one was younger.
Atlanta was in sight when the RV needed to stop and refueled. Dale pulled over and Andrea helped him with the gas cans. I was sitting at the table playing cards with Sophia when I heard voices talking to Dale outside.
"The cities overrun. The best bet would be to set up camp up in those quarries," a voice said. I peeked out the window to see a latino man talking to Dale. There were other people there as well but I couldn't see them. "We've been up there and there is already a small group there. We've packed our things and are heading there now."
"I'll have to ask the rest of my group," Dale said. Andrea said something but Dale ignored her and came into the camper. He told us what this man, Morales, had told him. We all agreed to check it out and Dale followed the man up the path to the camp. The road was rough for the RV but we made it to the top of the hill. Morales and a black man directed Dale on where to park the RV. The group here consisted of about 10 people. There was Morales family of 4, the black man named T-Dog if I heard Morales correctly, a woman named Jacqui, two brothers named Merle and Daryl and the rest of the group was down in the bottom of the quarry.
I helped Dale set up the RV and set up a spot for me to camp out under the awning. Dale argued that wasn't as safe as the RV or a tent but I didn't have a choice since the RV was overly full anyway.
Jim and Dale were working on the RV when a Jeep pulled up. A young asian boy jumped out first. Next a small boy and his mother while the driver took the Jeep to the side to park it. I nearly died when I saw them. I felt my heart come up my throat and my head started to spin. I was so shocked and speechless I couldn't move. Carl saw me first. He stopped and starred back at me for a second before tugging on Lori's sleave and pointing at me. She too a glance at me then a double take. Her jaw dropped. Carl started running towards me and I swept him up in my arms. Lori joined the embrace.
"Joey! I can't believe this! How did you find us?" Lori asked.
"I didn't really. I just came up here seeking refuge. This is unbelievable!" I said looking down at Carl.
"Dad's not here," he said. Carl was always blunt and honest.
"Carl!" Lori said pulling the boy back. "We tried but,"
"I understand," I said cutting her off. I heard another pair of boots walk up behind them and looked up to see none other than Shane Walsh. Lori saw him walk up and grabbed Carl taking him to their tent.
"How the hell," Shane started before grabbing me in a hug. "I thought for sure you were gone. When I heard about Savannah,"
"Shane! I'm here. I'm alive. Don't worry," I said smiling up at him. "My brother,"
"I tried to get him out Joey. I really did. Those walkers, they were everywhere. Military was shooting doctors in the hallway. Living people Joey," Shane said reaching up to push a strand of hair from my face.
"I'm glad I found you Shane."
"Yeah, me too," he said smiling. "Now do you have a tent? I'll help you set it up."
"Actually I don't. I was in a hurry when I left and just got things from my dorm. I was going to camp next to the RV," I said looking down now realizing how dumb that seemed.
"No way little Grimes," Shane said grabbing up my backpack. "You can stay with me until the next group goes out for supplies."
"You sure?" I asked.
"Yeah. Not like we've never slept in the same bed before," he said then paused and looked down as he thought about those times it was us and Rick.
"Guess there's no Rick here to run me off," I said trying to extinguish the awkwardness.
"Yeah. No Rick here to tell us we're sleeping to close," Shane said ducking into his tent.