Disclaimer: Once I again I own nothing to do with the walking dead since all the characters I am using are from the TV Series.
Chapter 3:
Don't Judge a Motel by its Car Park
Once Paula felt the last contents of her stomach force their way out of her mouth she stepped back outside of the toilet and took a seat next to Lori, everyone looked at her like she had just screamed bloody murder.
"You ok?" Lori asked her and she felt reluctant to speak, the taste of vomit fresh on her tongue.
"Yeah… Just needed to get it out." She said, she saw Lori cringe a bit and withdraw some chewing gum from her pocket.
"Been keeping this since Atlanta, seems now is the time to use it." She said slyly and handed a strip to Paula, she unwrapped it and began chewing, enjoying the sensation of fresh mintiness covering the foul taste of stomach acid.
"Thanks I needed that." Paula said breathing a sigh of relief, as she did so she licked her lips and realised just how dry and cracked they were from dehydration. "Hey did anyone grab some water?" she asked the RV, Shane responded.
"Yeah a couple of packs, you want water or Coke?" he asked picking up and opening his backpack, Paula felt queasy at even the thought of sugar entering her body.
"Water please." She was handed the water and she unscrewed the bottle, the cool liquid easing down her throat and quenching her thirst. She took a moment to look at everyone properly since the ordeal. Ed was driving in a world of his own, going straight on the highway dodging the occasional abandoned car. Carol looked paler than usual and slightly tired out, climbing a car and yelling must've exhausted the weaker woman.
Carl and Sophia were fine, reverted back to their original state completely as they played cards like nothing happened, lost in childish babble. Paula looked to her right and saw Shane take seat next to Ed as Lori stared off into space, although it had only been 5 or 10 minutes since the scavenge the woman seemed different. As far as Paula knew that was her first walker kill… Paula herself still had to reach that particular milestone…
The thoughts of flesh blood and bite wounds crept back into her mind and she felt the bile creep back up her throat, she bit it back down. Although these people knew by now she wasn't exactly impressive she didn't want to give them any more incentive for reasonable doubt.
"Hey guys… look like we got our motel right here." Ed mused from the front seat, Paula and the others turned to see a fairly shabby looking motel look into the distance off of the highway, with sunlight fading fast it looked like this was the best option.
The RV pulled into the parking lot and it seemed like there were others here, although there were no lights there were two fully stocked cars waiting to go but no one in them.
"We are gonna have to clear this place you know." Shane said from the other front seat, Lori glanced a worried look to her son in the opposite seat.
"Same plan as before? You, me, Paula and maybe Ed go in and check the place whilst Carol keeps a lookout and keeps an eye on the kids?" Lori asks, Shane nods.
"Sounds like a plan. You up for it?" Paula took a moment before realising he was asking her, he was looking at her through suspicious eyes.
"Me? Oh yeah…sure…" she trailed off when he held the glare.
"You definitely sure? Cause I can't have you freezing up at all or you might get yourself killed, maybe you wanna stay on lookout duty with Carol?" he asked in a concerned voice, Paula felt a bubble of irritation that came out in her voice when she answered.
"I am sure Shane, give me the machete and I will prove it." She said in a slightly more fierce tone than she was aiming for, the man held up his hands in mock defeat as Ed put the handbrake on and grabbed the axe he was waving around earlier.
"Let's do this shit." He said gruffly.
"Let's go." Shane said, Lori and Paula both bit back warnings to Ed for his language as they followed Shane out of the camper door wielding their weapons, ready for another possible confrontation with the living dead.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Carl sat patiently in the RV next to Sophia, he was feeling annoyed that his mom was leaving him inside the RV again. It was bad enough she did it once before but doing it again? It annoyed Carl because he wanted to help.
Then again staying away from walkers is something he wanted to do more.
"Are you scared of the walkers?" Sophia asked out of the blue as they played what felt like the hundredth game of Go Fish. Carl had to think his answer over in his head.
"Sorta. Like I ain't scared of them because they are dangerous, it's because they're dead." He said, she looked at him with one eyebrow raised and Carl knew she saw through the lie.
"It's ok, I'm scared of them as well. I don't like them at all…" she trailed off looking at her cards before coming back, "Do you have an 8?"
"Go Fish."
"Damn…" she picked up a card from the pile. Carl continued with the conversation.
"It's not that I'm scared of them really… I've just never seen one up close." He said and she looked at him with slight disbelief.
"You have never seen one up close?" she asked in wonderment, Carl felt a bit embarrassed and felt himself flush.
"Well I have seen walkers before but I ain't never touched one or been near one. Have you?" He said feeling more stupid with every word that left his mouth.
"I saw plenty up close on my way here, when we were coming to Atlanta one actually grabbed me!" she said, the game lost on the both of them now.
"No way!"
"Way!"
"It touched you?"
"On my shoulder."
A few moments of silence passed between them.
"What did it feel like?" Carl asked curiously, he knew she probably didn't want to talk about it but he had to know more about them. She looked nervous at the question.
"Um… like a regular person but cold I guess…" she said shyly, suddenly the exclusivity and wonder behind being touched by a walker wasn't so grand. Carl pondered on the thought for a second and asked the question he had put off before but it came back time and time again since he first met her.
"Do you like your parents? Cuz you never really talk to either of them…" he asked sheepishly, he saw her face turn bright red and the words that left her mouth were barely audible.
"Um… my Mom is really nice, she bakes cookies and keeps the house clean and all that and Dad earns money I guess…" she said turning brighter, obviously she really didn't want to talk about them. Carl felt himself turn a little red and began to change the subject when he heard a gunshot from the motel which made his heart stop dead.
