I hear Daryl grunting again. He's helping others to move the bodies and burn them. I've been sitting near Lori and Carol since last night. We haven't even slept. I've been watching Andrea's back the whole time. I still can't believe Daryl couldn't find Merle.
Rick comes back from...Wherever the fuck he was.
He comes near us. "She still won't move?"
"She won't even talk to us." Lori tells him "She's been there all night."
"What do we do? Can't just leave Amy like that." Jacqui adds
"We need to deal with it same as the others." Shane says
"I'll tell her how it is." Rick walks towards her. He tries softly.
She pulls her gun out and points it at Rick. We watch how he backs up slightly
"I know how the safety works." She warns him.
"All right. Okay. I'm sorry." He says putting his hands up and walking backwards slowly. "I'm sorry."
"Y'all can't be serious!" Daryl comes and stands next to us. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."
I look up to him tilting my head slightly. Time bomb... Yeah, in a sort of way...
"What do you suggest?" Rick asks
"Take the shot." I look up at them. Daryl keeps talking "Clean, in the brain from here! Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."
"No." I mumble looking at him "She would jump on you. Its not worth the mess"
"For God's sakes, let her be." Lori tells us angrily "its her sister we're talking about"
Our brother is gone too, and we ain't whining like that
Oh well...
We decide we'll listen to Lori and leave her alone. The guys keep burning bodies and putting out people separated from the walkers.
I am watching Daryl work. He helps Latin Guy with a body and walk to the burning pile.
"What are you guys doing? This is for geeks." Glenn stops them "Our people go over there."
"What's the difference? They're all infected." My brother asks carelessly "They're dead anyway."
True. What's difference does it make?
"Our people go in that row over there. We don't burn them! We bury them. Understand?" Glenn argues with broken voice and points to a different pile of corpses "Our people go over there."
Daryl stares at him for a moment with no expression at all on his face. He tilts his head and and then sighs annoyedly
He helps the hispanic man lift the dead body once more and says loudly "You reap what you sow."
"You know what? Shut up, man." Latin Guy grunts
My brother ignores the comment and tells the group "Y'all left my brother for dead. You had this coming."
I shake my head and try not to think about it. He's angry again.
If he was an animal he'd be an angry fur ball 24/7
I want Merle to come back... I'm not used to being bossed by Daryl unless we hunt, but here...
I think of the day I spent the day handcuffed in high school to keep my mind away from all this.
Oh wonderful Junior year! Asshole teens everywhere!
Suddenly Jacqui screams and startles me. We all look at her
"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!" She warns backing away from him.
I stand up to get a closer look
Everyone stops doing whatever they were doing and approach Jim like me
"I'm okay" he says not letting anyone come close "I'm okay."
"Show it to us." Rick demands
I observe them curiously
"Easy, Jim." Shane walks forward slowly
"Grab him!" My brother runs to him but is stopped by Shane and Rick
He only made Jim nervous. Jim takes a shovel to protect himself from us
"Jim, put it down." The former police men say almost at the same time "Put it down."
Jim tightens his grip on the shovel until T-dog grabs him from behind making him drop the 'weapon'
The shovel falls to the bloody soil and only then Daryl is able to run toward him and lift his shirt quickly.
There's the bloody bite.
Poor Jim. I look at him with sad eyes.
He was a cool guy. I was starting to like him
Both, Daryl and T-Dog back away quickly
"I'm okay." He says again without moving an inch like a scared kid looking at his mother "I'm okay. I'm okay." He repeats over and over again.
We look at one another trying to think on what to do
The whole group is discussing what we should do to Jim and Amy.
I look at the guy and feel sorry for him at the same time. I would be one of those corpses if it wasn't for him.
I do understand that Amy is a time bomb, like Daryl said, and so is Jim, but Amy is no longer alive like Jim.
I would hate to be in his place. Just waiting for the moment, knowing you don't have a lot of time left
"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." That has to be my brother.
I would hate to kill Jim, but isn't he suffering already?
"Is that what you'd want if it were you? Or Mac?"
"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it."
"Both of us would." I mumble
Everyone looks at me. Rick frowns.
''what? I would hate to see Daryl as a walker. Or suffer because of the bite."
"What if it was Merle?" Lori adds
I give her a death glare "You don't talk about Merle. Besides, Putting an end to it sounds more humane than letting him sit there until he dies. Right, T-Dog?"
The african american man looks at me.
Hy eyes tell him 'You dropped the key, remember, Dumbass?'
Theres silence around until someone else talks
"I hate to say it, I never thought I would but maybe Daryl and Mac are right." Dale says
"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick insists "He's sick. A sick man."
''He's infected!'' Daryl roars
''We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"
"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be!''
"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure."
I think he wont give up...
Shane says "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."
"What if the CDC is still up and running?"
"Man, that is a stretch right there."
"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection."
"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base."
"Fort Benning?" Lori asks "That's 100 miles in the opposite direction."
"That is right." Shane keeps going "But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."
Daryl looks at me seeming annoyed and tired of this.
"Nothing related to the military is gonna be safe for us. Benning must be gone now" I whisper looking at Rick and Shane
"How's that?" Shane asks
"We were at the stadium when they were evacuating towards those safe zones. I saw military guys keeping their bites a secret. The helicopters had infected people and no one knew about it."
"That's true. The military were on the front lines of this thing." Rick tries to convince Shane "They got overrun. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance."
"You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do." Daryl loses his patience. "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem" he jumps back towards Jim with a pickaxe in his hands
I widen my eyes
"Hey hey hey!" We all run to him to stop him from killing Jim.
Rick takes his Python again.
Shit, not this again.
I put my hand on the knife I have hidden in my boot. Daryl stops moving.
"We don't kill the living." Rick warns my brother. Daryl turns around and speaks.
"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head."
"We may disagree on some things, not on this."
Rick puts the gun down, walks around my brother and grabs Jim. I move my hand away from the knife
"Come with me." He tells the infected guy
"Where are you taking me?" Jim asks looking scared
"Somewhere safe."
A little while after that discussion I see Carol saying something to Daryl in the distance. He gives her the pickaxe and she bashes Ed's head hitting it again. And again. And again. And again. She cries and sobs and looks like she'll never stop.
Suddenly she does.
Daryl looks at her in silence and takes the pickaxe back.
I turn to where Andrea is. I think I just saw Amy moving.
Amy sits and tries to bite Andrea. Some people run to where they are but stop when Andrea pulls the trigger and Amy falls back. Everyone else stops.
Everything is happening so fast.
I sigh.
I stand and walk to the RV.
"Where are you going?" Daryl walks to where I am.
"I need water" we walk to the RV. I look around and take the last water bottle.
"I need you to come with me to the truck. I don't want you alone here again"
"Where are we going?" I ask while we walk out and towards the truck
"We need to take all those bodies to the holes Jim dug yesterday."
I sigh "ok"
We park the truck and the others take the bodies to bury them. There's no way we're staying in the funeral.
Daryl and I drive back to camp. He's been bitchy and explosive since Merle is gone.
He looks at me for a moment, stops the truck and asks again "Are you sure you're alright? Merle would kill me is something happens to you" I smile sarcastically and look at him.
"congratulations, you'll survive one more day." he looks unamused "I'm ok. I think I just need to get used to this."
Daryl frowns. "To what?"
I hesitate "I.. think I'm scared."
Daryl rolls his eyes and sighs. "oh, come on. Don't be a fucking pussy."
"I'm not! Just.. Anything could happen to one of us any moment""
"It wont!"
"How do you know that? Nothing could kill Merle but Merle, remember?!"
"Merle ain't dead!" He growls angrily. "You think this is easy for me? I did all I could to get him back."
"But he ain't back! We're all we have left and you dont want to see it because your badass wannabe shit makes you think that you're invincible. You ain't. And I ain't either. You have to realize that any little shit could kill us any moment. I'm not a fucking pussy, I just want you to be more careful"
"I am careful." he replies "You need to stop being weak. I want Merle to come back too, but we both know that's not going to happen anytime soon. Now, grow some lady balls, and quit acting like Lori Grimes. That's how we both survive. Its called survival instinct, you're a bitch or you die. Stick that to your head, got it?" he says with his finger pointing at his own forehead. I look at him with a blank expression.
I nod and turn to face the window curling myself into a ball "Yes, sir. I'm sorry."
"Don't call me that. Just try to be yourself again." He says and starts driving again.
I open my eyes slowly. I'm back in Daryl's truck. I sit and look around. I fell asleep...
I open the door and jump down.
The others are reunited. Even Daryl is there. Must be important.
I run towards them.
Shane is talking. "Those of you with CBs, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB, can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn once. It'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"
Latin Guy says "We're, uh... We're we're not going. We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." I knew it. I heard them before.
"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane warns them.
"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family."
"You sure?" Rick asks
"We talked about it. We're sure."
"All right. Shane."
"Yeah, all right." They look at each other and open a bag of supplies and guns. They give some to Latin Guy. They say goodbye and some of them hug.
"Daryl" he looks at me "where are we going?"
"CDC" he replies and looks back up at the others
"We going too?"
Daryl nods
"Let's move out!" Shane says.
We get in the truck. Merle's bike is on the bed.
I feel a lot better now. Daryl was right, I havent been myself in the last couple of hours... maybe days... Maybe I was just tired.
We drive in the caravan for a while. I am curious.
"I thought we weren't following the group"
"Why do you say that?" Daryl asks focusing on the road.
"I thought you were mad"
"I am." He says "ain't you? "
"Who wouldn't be? Thanks for being bitchy and bringing me back to reality."
"Thanks for being immature and making me realize that I need to take more care of you."
"bullshit! I want grumpy brother back"
he snorts "yeah, Go fuck yourself"
"There you go. That's my grumpy brother"
Daryl sighs. We are silent for a few minutes, then he says "The gun you used to kill the walkers. It was in my bag"
"Yeah."
"How could you run and get it so fast?"
"I had it before"
"I hate when you touch my stuff without asking."
"I know. But I would have died if I didn't." Theres a pause.
Got a point!
"How did you know the walkers were coming?" He asks
"I didn't. Jim told me to have the gun with me and well, I thought I'd trust him"
The RV stops. Some people come down and start talking.
"Wait here" Daryl opens his door and goes down. He walks towards the others taking his crossbow with him.
I wait in there watching them talk until Daryl lifts his arm and tells me to go with them. Maybe they're going somewhere.
I jump down the truck and rush to where they are.
Rick and Shane come to the scene holding Jim. Others in the group follow them. We walk out of the highway and put him next to a tree. Daryl and I walk behind them. Are we going to leave him?
They talk to him. Carol kneels and gives him a kiss on the cheek. They walk back to the highway. My brother and I wait until everyone's gone, then he turns and nods slightly at Jim. Jim smiles. I think thats his way of saying thank you for warning me about the walkers.
I walk closer and hug him carefully
I whisper "thank you" and then move back to where Daryl is
Everyone walks back to their vehicles. We go back to our truck.
Daryl drives and I see Jim there for the last time with his eyes closed.
I feel bad for him
"Keep moving." Shane hisses
"Go on. Stay quiet." Rick whispers
We arrived at the CDC. Its almost Dark. We walk together looking out for the walkers nearby.
There are tanks and other military stuff abandoned in the area.
Everyone has their guns out. Shane his shotgun, Rick has the bag of guns around his shoulders and the Python in his hand. Lori and Andrea a small gun each, Daryl has his crossbow on his back and dad's rifle in his hands. I keep my hand on the bowie knife I got from Daryl's bag in case I need it, plus I dont have a gun...
Rick and Shane keep whispering to us.
"Keep moving"
"Stay together."
"Keep it together"
"Almost there."
We get to the building. Its closed. Completely sealed.
"Nothing?" Rick is shocked
"Great! Now what, sheriff?" I ask
"There's nobody here." T-Dog says
"T-Dog!" I talk again "you're a genius! We didn't know that!"
If stares could kill I would be dead now.
"If theres nobody here then why are these shutters down?" Rick seems try to process it while Daryl comes closer to me
"Walkers" He growls making the others look around and become even more anxious
"Baby, come on." Lori tells Rick and tries to pull him away.
Carl and Sophia start whimpering. The walkers are getting closer
"You led us into a graveyard!" Someone tells him
"He made a call." Lori defends Rick
"It was the wrong damn call!" Shane is losing it again
"Just shut up." Rick says "you hear that?"
The walkers keep coming. I take my knife out and position myself behind Daryl.
"Rick, this is a dead end!" They keep discussing. More like fighting
"Come on, let's go." Shane tells Rick "Let's get out of here!"
"Let's go." Lori pleads him when he ignores them Shane takes the lead
"All right, everybody back to the cars!" Shane says. " Move!"
We start walking ready to kill anything that gets near us when Rick stops us.
"The camera it moved."
"You imagined it." Shane says pulling Rick back
"It moved!." Rick fights against him "It moved!"
"Rick, it is dead, man! It's an automated device! Now come on!"
"We gotta move." I say desperately. Its too dangerous out here
"No, just go away!" Rick tells Shane
"Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead!" Shane insists "You need to let it go, Rick."
"Rick, there's nobody here!" Lori pleads him. Daryl and Andrea start getting ready to shoot.
"I know you're in there.! I know you can hear me.!"
Rick keeps fighting and screaming.
Carl and Sophia are crying now. The walkers are closing on us.
"Stay close" my brother tells me loading the rifle
"You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!" Rick shouts at the camera
Shane pulls him one more time "To the cars! Now!"
Rick finally turns around.
"Move!" Shane says pulling Rick in the right direction.
We start running but then, we hear the gates opening.
Everyone stops and turns.
The CDC is open. The light coming from it is blinding.
We stare at it in shock
I can't believe it worked!
Rick was right!