The rest of the day passed in a blur. I tried really hard to pay attention to what was happening , what paths we were taking, what the building was like, how many entrances it had, who I was being introduced to, but I just couldn't. I couldn't snap out of the daze I was in.
The train station was pretty much abandoned apart from the small group of survivors. It was cold, damp, and riddled with mould. But hey, it had four walls, a roof, and a door that could lock, so it was something. After an agonizing half an hour with the doctor, my leg was all stitched up. He kept telling me to drink lots of water, that I was badly dehydrated, and I was lucky that Daryl found me when he did. Yeah right, Lucky. The doctor was an old man with a very kind smile, who kept reassuring me that I was going to be ok now. I didn't have the heart to tell him that nothing was going to be ok, and that we were all screwed. I was ok with knowing that I could die at any second. Death didn't scare me anymore. I had seen too much of it, hell , I had even welcomed it.
I was led out of the small bathroom where the doctor was based (real hygienic. The world goes to shit, and suddenly it's perfectly ok to be a doctor who does all his doctor business in a broken down public bathroom) and felt every set of eyes in the small room on me.
I was suddenly very aware that there was no one there that I knew. I was a stranger imposing on a group of friends. It wasn't a very big group, maybe 11 or 12 people, but I still felt like I made them feel uneasy. I shuffled around a bit until I caught sight of the black and red poncho in the corner of the room, and awkwardly made my way towards the one person I knew.
He was in the middle of laying down blankets on the floor, presumably setting up his bed for the night. There were no actual beds here, from what I could gather, they all slept together on the floor, like a big family protecting each other. It was pretty admirable. He glanced up at me , and waved me over.
''Here. It's not much, but it's not that cold out, and it gets pretty warm in here at night anyways, with all of us packed in here'', he mumbled as he shoved some blankets into my arms. I stared back at him.
''What? '' , he grunted defensively, as he busied himself with his own blankets.
''I... I can stay?'' , I asked quietly. His harsh eyes softened,as he looked up at me.
''Well yeah. What, did you think we were just gonna push you back out there on your own?', he asked gesturing towards the now heavily boarded up door. I shrugged and half nodded. He sighed heavily and shook his head.
''What kind of assholes have you been hanging around with? '', he asked. My eyes shot up to his, as his question hung in the air.
'' Thank you for the blankets'' , I said quickly, as I turned on my heel and headed for the opposite side of the room. He didn't say anything or try to stop me, thankfully.
I made a little bed out of the blankets, and sat down gently, careful of my leg. I looked around as people began lighting small candles to illuminate the room that was growing dark around us. There wasn't many people near me, I had been careful to settle myself away from the group, as I knew they were slightly wary of me. But near me, I saw a mother tucking her son in, a couple with their arms wrapped around each other, and the guy who I had come to learn was the leader of this group. He was tall, intimidating, and also had a very strong southern accent. He was checking the boards that covered the windows, and doors, making sure everything was bolted down, and that nothing was getting in. I had spoken very briefly with him earlier, when he has told me that I was now part of this group, and I was welcome here for as long as I wanted to stay.
I had nothing with me, I owned nothing apart from the clothes i was wearing and the blankets Daryl had given me. I remembered vaguely dropping my bag pack that night in the woods. I just flung it aside, as I ran. Regretting that stupid decision as i lay down, I bent my arm at an awkward angle to try to make myself a pillow. After a while the chatter in the room gradually died down as one by one the people fell asleep, and soft steady snores filled the room. I lifted my head off my arm to have a glance around the room. Daryl wasn't asleep like many of the people now were. He was sitting cross legged on a windowsill, with what looked like a high tech cross bow balancing on his thighs. He was rubbing his eyes and looked like he badly needed to sleep. He nodded at the leader guy as he passed him. Ok, so Daryl was clearly a big deal here. What was he, like the elected protector of the group or something? He made eye contact with me, and gave me an awkward wave, which I returned, and lay back down. My head was spinning trying to take in everything that had happened in such a short space of time.
It was nice of him and his people to take me in, but they weren't my people. I couldn't stop the tears that rolled down my face as the realization hit me. I was truly all alone in the world now. I had no-one, I had nothing. I was surrounded by people, but felt heart-achingly alone.
