I don't own the walking dead and this story is pretty much based off of the commercials after the mid-season finale!
You know that queasy feeling you get when your little and your just standing knee deep into the water, staring at the far side of the pool? When you feel as if you would drown if you ever crossed the invisible line you formed separating sanity from insanity? That's what I feel like right now. If I took one step out of my room. I would cross that line to insanity. All it took was one final step to the end, one step that could change my world. It was my choice now. I wouldn't have dared take a single step outside my door since the apocalypse. Since my parents died and I had to fend for myself. Its been two or three years that I've survived. But that didn't matter. I could die right now. I heard footsteps enter my house. I made sure to clear my house of biters every hour just to keep it clean, then I would grab very little food, and lock myself back in my room. That's what I called them, biters. Zombies sounded to cliché to me. The footsteps grew louder, the difference was, they were faster than biter feet. So I figured they belonged to other survivors. Of course, I was completely scared they would kill me for the house if they found me. But the footsteps make a turn into the living room. I heard water run and the sound of two male voices. One sounded to be around my age, fourteen, and the other sounded older. Must be father and son or something like that. I decided to stay in my room for about an hour or so. I fell asleep sitting on the floor of my bedroom and leaning against the door with my gun in hand.
"Wake up! WAKE UP!" I heard the younger voice scream. I abruptly snapped awake and unhooked the safety button on the gun. I slowly opened the door and walked out with the gun raised up. Sun was barely leaking through the house. I opened the door to the living room. I heard the boy gasp as he looked up from shaking and screaming at a man "sleeping" on the couch. Surprisingly, he raised his gun at me at the same time I raised mine to him.
"W-who are you?" I stuttered out trying to stay strong and push the fear out.
"You first." He said in a firm voice despite the stained tears on his freckled cheeks.
"Your on my property. You first." I said just as firmly. He swallowed.
"Carl." He replied not lowering his gun even an inch. I was surprised he hadn't pulled the trigger yet.
"I'm Carmen. Why are you here?" I asked being the bigger...woman, and put my gun on the floor. He seemed a little surprised at the question.
"My dad...he's not waking up." He said, looking as if he just remembered his unconscious dad on the couch. He hesitantly put his gun on the floor and turned back toward the man. Then I understood. They weren't here to kill me, one of them was hurt and just happened to be looking for the nearest place to rest. I must of looked like a witch. My brown hair almost black ringlets had become too knotted up and turned into a bush of hair, my eyes were most likely as red as blood from crying everyday, and my skin was dry from lack of moisture. I had light brown skin, that exposed my ethnicity easily. I was half African-American, half Mexican. Not much to it. But that didn't matter. If I could form some kind of bond with these guys then maybe I would live a little longer. And anyways what was so bad about trying to help a kid my age save his dad? I walked over. As I did, he gave me a puzzled look. I could practically read the mixed up emotions in his eyes. He trusted me, but he didn't want to. He looked me in the eyes cautiously. So I stared right back at his with my green eyes, hoping he realize that I meant no harm. He seemed to understand and slightly nodded. He stepped aside allowing me to check his dad's pulse.
"He's breathing. I think he went into shock though. Might be out for a few days." I said. He nodded not saying anything.
"Its going to be okay, I promise." I said smiling then walked into my kitchen and pulled out a box of stale cookies from the pantry. The pantry was huge, and empty. Just last year a small group of survivors threatened to kill me if I didn't let them pretty much raid the pantry for food. At the time I had just walked out of my room for a brief second, unarmed, when they threatened me. All that was left was this box of cookies. I walked back into the living room to find Carl looking at all of the photos of my family. I tried my best to avoid the pictures of my dead family, not wanting to think about it. All I knew was that my parents went to the super market to get us more food at the beginning of the apocalypse, but never came back. Carl turned around.
"Sorry." He said, expressionless.
"Its fine. Cookie?" I asked. He shook his head.
"I figured. Who would want stale cookies right? But I've been sort of living off of them." I said setting them down on the coffee table and I sat down in a chair next to the couch. He eyed me suspiciously then looked at the box, and walked over. He sat on the coffee table. Mom would have kicked him out of the house for sitting there. I looked over at his dad and immediately noticed a billion cuts and scratches on his face and his arms. I gasped. Carl gave me a puzzled look.
"What happened to your dad?" I asked Carl looking him straight in the eyes. He looked a little uncomfortable at first but then he answered.
"This-uh-guy got in a fist fight with him." He said.
"Your not telling me the whole truth are you?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" He asked defensively.
"No one just randomly attacks a man and gets into a fist fight with them. Carl, seriously, what happened?" I asked. He looked away then stared at the ground.
"A group...they attacked the place where we last lived...a prison. Then things got really bad from there. My dad was getting beat up by the leader, but I think someone killed him. Dad was so weak...then we looked for my baby sister, Judith, just to find her car seat empty on the ground with...blood on it," He paused, holding back tears, then he continued, "One of our people, who was a doctor, was killed. And we all got separated. We just found this place and cleared it out. Then he just collapsed here." He said. I knew my jaw was hanging open, but that was a lot to go through. I know I would have gone crazy by then. Which I did. Sometimes I would find myself in the middle of a conversation with my dead mother. It was beyond insanity. After a moment of silence I finally spoke up.
"Carl, you're so strong. You have to know that. Okay?" I said. Trying my best to crack a smile that was too hard to force onto my lips. He looked down at the ground, tears falling down his cheeks and soaking into the ground. I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up and hugged him for...a little longer than I had intended. I let go feeling a little awkward. I had never hugged a boy, much less a stranger. He looked up and dried his tears with his arm. He seemed to actually study me for the first time, as if seeing what I looked like. At this point I didn't know what to do. I grabbed a few towels and soaked them with cold water.
"Hold these on his cuts. I'll be back." I said.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"To find your group." I said smiling. I grabbed my gun quickly and was about ready to leave, when he stopped me. He tapped me lightly on the shoulder.
"Its gonna get dark. I don't think you should go." He said.
"Was that a complaint?" I said surprised.
"Yeah, it was. I'm not going to let a girl that just helped me and my dad, let us stay in her house, and tried to comfort me, go looking aimlessly for people you don't know." He said.
"Oh so, you think I'm not strong enough as a girl to go by myself and do you a favor."
"It won't be easy." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Fine. But if you even think about leaving too. Then you have someone whose going to stop you. Remember that." I said. He shrugged and walked back into the living room. I sat back down in the chair and closed my eyes trying but failing to go to sleep. I knew Carl was awake keeping an eye on things. He was so alert and cautious, it scared me thinking about how much sleep he was losing. I opened my eyes again. I sighed frustrated that I couldn't sleep.
"Anything?" I asked him. As I looked at his dad. He shook his head no.
"Can I use your bathroom?" He asked.
"Oh yeah sure. Down the hall on the left." I said watching him leave. After a about two minutes I felt a little uneasy. Something felt wrong. I pulled a blanket over his dad then unhooked the safety button on my gun again and walked down the hall to the bathroom. The door was closed. I heard a thump against the door, then a gasp, then,
"Carmen. Carmen!" I kicked the door open to find myself face to face with a biter. I shot it in the head then moved inside the bathroom to see Carl desperately trying to keep the biter away as he wrestled it in the tub. I had to act quick, problem was he was moving around to much for me to get a good shot.
"Carl! I need you to let go really quick okay?" I said. He didn't respond but did as asked. He fell into the tub hitting his head. He cried out in agony but kicked the biter off with his boots, sending it spinning toward me. I squinted one eye and shot it in the head. At first there were no noises except for me and Carl's heavy breathing. That's when I heard a ton of growling surrounding the non-soundproof walls. I felt like it was in my head but Carl exchanged expressions with me. We looked at each other. My eyes widened and I hissed,
"Crap. We're surrounded." I lowered the gun and started hyperventilating, unable to control my breathing as it grew faster and faster. I felt myself slip away from consciousness. Then I started muttering things like, we're gonna die...we're gonna die...mom? what now? Oh,God, we're gonna die. I looked up still breathing in quick short breaths and murmuring to myself. Carl got out of the tub and put his hands on my shoulders trying to keep me from going insane. I could see his lips moving but I couldn't hear him. All I could hear were the biters starting to break the glass windows in the kitchen. I felt two arms wrap around me trying to calm me down and hugging me. It was Carl, but his face started transforming in my head and it became disoriented and the only noise I could hear were the growls coming from him and from outside. How was he all of a sudden biter? That was it. I was sent over the edge. I was plunging straight into the deep end. I couldn't take it anymore. I was driven mad. I covered my ears with my hands, squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.
