A Heart Inside the Cave
Hi! This story's about a girl, Jamie, who was injected with a cure against the walkers (you'll know more about it when you read the story) when she was young. The story is mostly Jamie's POV, I might change the POV a little later in the story, but I highly doubt it. It's mainly Jamie for now though.
The story's Jamie+Merle, but I might change it around after some things happen.
NOTE: Js I'm a new writer, so please review with helpful hints… please don't hate helpful criticism is okay… thanks
Ch1: Woodbury
I stumbled across the forest, a hoard of ten to twenty walkers on my trail. The bite was slowing me down, but I knew I had to keep going. I had to keep on running to find shelter.
"C'mon Jamie, don't be a pussy," I thought, trying to ignore the blood trickling down my ankle, "Ya can't pass out here, move!" I guess most people would give up, knowing that they were already bitten, but I had a different case on my skin. I kept running straight, I'd have to exit the area sooner or later.
Finally I came out of the trees and found myself a large road.
"Road's gotta lead me somewhere," I mumbled. Loud moaning sounds came from just behind me.
"Shit!" I pushed myself to keep on running til I finally found a wooden gate just about a hundred or so meters up ahead.
"That's close enough, put ch'yer hands in the air and drop all yer weapons!" Somebody yelled to me. My eyes looked around for the voice til I found a couple army looking guys on top of the gate.
"I said, hands in the air!" The guy in the middle yelled. He looked like the leader of the three on the gate, tough and burly. Looked to me like the commander of something. He had a missing hand, which was replaced by this metal looking thing.
"There's a pack of walkers behin' me, lemme in!" I yelled up at 'em.
"Drop yer weapons and put ch'yer hands in the air or we'll shoot'cha!" the one-handed one said, tougher this time. I was panicked; had no choice. So I dropped my gun belt and took my bow off my shoulder. I raised my hands in the air and put them behind my head.
"Martinez, get 'er," One-handed ordered the guy next to him. Martinez dropped to the ground and pointed his gun at me.
"Kick the guns over," he demanded me. I did.
"Now turn 'round." I did. I felt cold metal on my skin, then I realized he cuffed me. "Please don't notice the bite…" I thought quietly. He didn't.
"I got her cuffed, open the gates for me," Martinez yelled, "Holy shit! Merle, walkers up ahead!"
"I told you…" I scoffed at him.
"Get in! Hurry!" Merle yelled to us. Martinez grabbed my arm and pulled me in. He pushed me to the ground and said, "Don't try anything tricky," as he turned back to get my guns.
"We in, close the gate!" Martinez yelled to the other guy, af-merican tough guy.
"Martinez get'er to the hospital and get'er checked," Merle yelled.
"C'mon, get up and come with me," said Martinez, offering me a hand. I looked around and couldn't believe what I saw. I was inside a small town, in the middle of a zombie acopolypse that'd been going on for about a year now. It seemed weird that civilization was still thriving in this little place when the whole world had gone down to hell.
"Where am I?" I asked Martinez as we entered a large building on the side of the street.
"You're in Woodbury, safest place you'll ever find yourself nowadays," he said in reply.
"How's having guns put up your face 'safe'," I scowled. He ignored my comment and brought me inside a small hospital room.
"Hi there, I'm Sherry, I'll need to check you for infection," A af-american woman said in that fake caring voice nurses had. Martinez pushed me down onto the bed and left through the door.
"Sorry if you've been treated a lil rough with him and Merle, it's just their job to keep Woodbury safe and sound," Sherry said with sympathy in her words.
"Do they usually put guns in peeps faces?" I asked, and then felt a little guilty for saying it so rudely at a woman who was trying to be comforting.
"Yeah, they gotta look intimidating for the others, our people here in Woodbury need to feel safe and unafraid of what's out there, could you take off all your clothes, I'll need to check for any exposure to those things out there," I did as she asked. Silence fell as she checked me for any bites. When she noticed my ankle, she paused, and worry slipped into my thoughts.
"You cut your ankle or somethin'?" Sherry said as she examined it. I felt confused, I was obviously bit, there was a chunk of my ankle missing just half an hour ago. But then I looked at it and I was pretty shocked at what I was looking at. I was expecting a gash of blood and white bone, but all there was, was a small cut, quickly healing.
"Hon? Your ankle got cut?" Sherry asked again.
"Uhhh.. yeah… ran into some unfriendly people," I made up.
"How long ago? Looks real severe, but its pretty okay now, healed real quick I guess,"
"Yeah,"
"Why don't chu rest 'ere for a mo', whilst I go get the governor for an introduction," She left, leaving me on the bed. I laid back and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what the heck was happening. Then I decided not to worry bout it and closed my eyes, drifting away into the dream world.
"Jamie, you've seen too much, we're going to have to bring you into the Walking Dead project. I've discussed this with your dad already and he agrees that we should put you in now that you've seen our works," Uncle Ben said to me. I looked up at him, confused and scared. What had I done? I only saw the lab, I had no idea what was going on. I looked around for my dad, but he was nowhere in the room.
"Jamie I'm going to give you a shot, it'll cause a small headache, but you can deal with that, am I right? Your father's raised you to become a strong little girl, I'm sure you'll be able to handle this." Said Uncle Ben. He pulled up my sleeve and my muscles tightened when his cold hands touched my skin. I watched him tie a band on my arm, and looked away when he put the needle into my skin. This was not at all like a doctor's shot, where they'd give you a lollipop afterward and a Dora Band-Aid for the shot. This shot was those for the adults, large needles and creepy looking injections. Why would they give something like this to a little 8-year-old girl?
"After the headache settles down, I'll run a blood test on you and make sure the injection isn't fatal, then we're going to give you a little test of what we put into you," Uncle Ben said to me.
I suddenly felt hot inside; sweat was forming on my back, then suddenly cold. My head started to fell dizzy, then as if a bug was eating away at my brain. This wasn't a 'small' headache like Uncle Ben had said; it was as if someone decided to tear your skull open! I began to scream, and kick, then I stuffed my fist into my mouth. "I can't be weak," I thought. A couple minutes of deathly pain passed by, then everything seemed to calm down.
"The headache seems to have gone, are you ready for a blood test?" Uncle Ben asked with no sign of concern for the little girl he was testing. I nodded. As I watched him extract a portion of blood from my arm, I began thinking about what I had seen in his lab. These things were trapped in glass rooms, they looked like people, but they were defiantly not humans. Their skin was flakey and grey, and their eyes were bloodshot. They didn't act like people either, it had seemed as they had lost every bit of humanity. Their hair fell off their heads as if they were glued on with glue sticks, and they were banging on the glass with their fists. Their mouths were half open, half closed, and they looked at me like a meal. I guessed they were some kind of zombies, like those I watched in the movies, but I knew that they couldn't be. Zombies weren't real.
"August 8th, 2010, time 23:17, I am Professor Benjamin Lee Wong; Test subject 0206 has been injected with a possible cure to Virus ABAC, a virus known to reanimate victims' brains after fatality, bringing their brains to life again, but not their consciousness. Test subject 0206 is not infected with Virus ABAC, but we hope the cure may fight off the virus when infected with such. Testing will begin shortly. 0206's blood test has been normal, but I am currently seeing…. Several new cells that are repopulating in her blood test, I cannot identify them. They look similar to red blood cells, but their structure is much different. It seems…. It seems they have no definite cell structure. I have a hypothesis that they are back up cells, where when the body they house in is lacking a certain frame; they will change into those that which it lacks. Or in simpler terms, these unidentified cells posses an ability to change into any cell structure that their host is in current need of… strange, these cells can be very unstable. I will begin the final test on subject 0206."
Uncle Ben picked me up and carried me to a small room with a hole the size of a finger.
"Jamie I need you to stick your left little finger into that hole. Do not take it out until I instruct you to." He told me, so I did. Seconds past, and fear began to swell inside me. I began to shiver, I felt scared of what was on the other side of the wall. Then suddenly pain flashed through me, I couldn't get my mind to grip on what was happening.
"Jamie pull out, pull out!" Uncle Ben yelled. I yanked my finger out of the hole and fainted on the sight of my finger.
Uncle Ben said I had been out for 2 hours after I fainted, then dead for the third hour from blood loss. I still couldn't get the sight of my pinky out of my mind, so I looked at it again. All there was was a stub. Something had bit my pinky off.
"August 9th, 2010, time 02:54, this is Professor Benjamin Lee Wong; I have performed the final test on test subject 0206. Right after the test, subject fell unconscious in shock. Subject was unconscious for 2 hours, then died of blood loss in the 3rd hour at 01:43:02, August 9th, 2010. The cure for Virus ABAC is successful, test subject 0206 is alive and well, same as her state before the final test. Jamie, come here, say hello to the camera." Uncle Ben said, smiling for the first time.
"Hi camera!" I said in that cheery voice my dad loved.
"The cure is a success, though it cannot cure those who have been infected. We hope to try on another subject for sure positive results in 2 days ti—JAMIE! NO JAMIE DON'T TOUCH THAT! JAMIE GET AWAY FROM THERE! JAMIE!"
I woke with a start, my head hurting as Uncle Ben's voice carried through my mind.
"Ah you're awake. Are you feeling alright?" A man's voice came from my right side. I turned my head to look at the man; he looked like one of those princes in them fairy tales I used to watch. So charming it was cheesy. Behind him I saw Sherry and Merle. They were all looking at me.
"Uh.. I'm fine." I said.
"That cut looked like it healed up all right with time, could you tell us your name?" Prince Charming said.
"Jamie."
"Thank you Jamie. They call me the Governor, I run our little town here, keep everything in order and safe from the outside. I'm sure you know your nurse Sherry, and this is Merle," the Governor pointed out Merle.
"Yeah I know."
"Princess if you're gonna live 'ere yer better off without that attitude of yers," Merle said to me, his voice was so rough.
"Who said I'd be living in your little town,"
"Nobody, but chu'd be better off here than out there with them walkers running after yu,"
"Merle, this is our guest here, we don't want you scaring her away with that rude talk of yours." The Governor interrupted.
"I ain't scared of no pirate!"
"Now you watch yer mouth lil princess, or this pirate 'ere can drive his sword right through yu," Merle threatened, every bit of seriousness in his tone.
"We have a room for you in one of our apartments, you can stay there. We don't allow our residents to carry weapons in case of a riot, so we won't be returning any to you. They will be locked up in our arsenal for our use in return for your stay here. Everyone in Woodbury is expected to contribute to our town, do you have any talents that you could contribute?" the Governor asked.
"Can't cook, don't knit, never did and never will farm… all I am is a pretty good shoot,"
"We can put you on wall duty with Merle when you get better, if that's okay with you,"
"If that's what I gotta do, I guess I gotta do it," I sighed.
"Well then princess you'd better get well soon with what I'm gonna put chu through," Merle said, looking at me like I was some kickass little pretty girl.
"Merle… I don't want you making Jamie here feel uncomfortable." Governor said, "she's now a resident here."
"Yeah Merle," I teased at him.
"I can show you to your room now if you feel comfortable enough to move around," said the Governor.
"Thanks."
I got settled into my room as soon as the Governor left. It wasn't a big room, but it was better than sleeping up in the trees. I looked around trying to find something interesting. It was like one of those hotel rooms, but no TV and room service. I didn't need much time to tidy up; I didn't have anything to tidy up anyway. So I got into bed and fell asleep.
