The night had been one of the worst that I'd experienced in a long time. No one was really sure what to do. We wanted to take care of the bodies but it was too dark. The sun wasn't up and it wasn't coming up for a few hours. There was a chance that we could have built more fires but we didn't have the energy or supplies to do that right now. So instead we all leaned back on the ground and waited out the darker hours of the night.
No one said or did anything for a long while. Everyone knew that this was a time to be respected. We had just lost friends and loved ones. Andrea still hadn't moved from her spot with Amy. The pair sat together near the Winnebago. I sat near the fireplace, sharing a log with Dale. Glenn was across the fire from us and he was trying to keep it going. Rick and Shane were trying to silently devise a plan on what to do with the dead. No one wanted to say it, but we all knew that we were going to have to destroy the bodies. We couldn't leave them here.
Sophia, Eliza, Louis, and Carl were hanging out with Carol and Jacqui. The two women were taking care of the kids. Daryl was wandering the campsite. I hadn't seen him in a while. I assumed that he was trying to take a count of the dead. Jim was with T-Dog, the two men gathering any blunt weapons that they could find. Daryl returned my arrows to me about an hour after the attack and I thanked him. It was the only thing I'd said to him since thanking him for saving me from the walker during the attack.
As the sun began to rise the strongest of the workers went to identifying and counting the bodies. We had ended up losing fifteen people in the attack. It was over half of our group. Most of the losses had been the nameless ones that I'd never bothered speaking to. I hated thinking that I didn't even care about them. The only ones that we'd lost that I'd known were Amy, who it hurt to lose, and Ed, who I was glad to see gone.
Apparently Ed had been attacked inside of his tent while he was recovering from Shane's assault on him. He had been the first victim of the walkers. Carol had been told about his death with the rest of us and she was currently crying softly to herself. She would move on in time, once she realized that she was better off without him. It was odd seeing that Sophia didn't look the slightest bit fazed by her father's death. She just seemed freaked out by the attack. I didn't blame her. We all were.
As the group members began to pass in front of me, I did a head count to myself to see where everyone stood. I was curious about what had happened with everyone else, to see how they were reacting to the attack. It took me a while but I finally realized that we were still missing one person. The one person that a huge part of our fighters had left to go rescue. Merle. He wasn't here.
My heart gave a soft twinge. I didn't like Merle, but I did feel for Daryl. He was mourning a sibling right now, just the way that Andrea was. Maybe it was why I hadn't seen him in a while. Once this whole thing had calmed down I made a note to myself to make sure to go offer my condolences to Daryl. Whether he screamed at me or not, I wanted him to hear that I really was sorry.
A few hours had passed and we were all beginning to walk around. Carol was nowhere to be found, as were most of the people that were still mourning their losses. Daryl was currently off taking care of the people that we hadn't ensured would not turn. It wasn't just Daryl. T-Dog, Glenn, Rick, Shane, Morales, and myself were all taking care of the bodies as well. It wasn't very many of us for an absolutely horrible job.
Cleaning up the bodies was a messy job, but I knew that we had to do it. We were burning the walkers that had invaded our camp and burying those that we knew. Burning them all would have been easier, but it felt a little cruel to dispose of their bodies like that. Walking past all of the walkers I had taken down, I pulled out the few arrows that were still remaining. Some were mine and others were Daryl's. I placed them all in my sheath, intending on giving Daryl back his arrows once the job was done.
The man in question now had a pick axe that he was using to drive into the walkers' skulls. Just to be sure that they were gone and not coming back. I glanced up from my work and wiped the sweat off my brow. Even with my hair tied back, my shirt rolled up, and wearing the smallest pair of shorts that I owned, this was hard work and the Georgian sun was brutal. I sighed and glanced around, noticing that everyone else was dripping with sweat too.
Shane was standing near me, working on another body, and I realized that his eyes were running over my legs. They briefly stopped on my chest and I snorted. Boys were all exactly the same. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him. Looking to my left, I saw that Andrea still hadn't moved from the spot that she had been in since Amy was attacked. Amy was already long dead and it made me nervous, seeing how close Andrea was to her.
I was walking away from a middle aged man's body when I stopped by most of our group. They were all lingering together, looking at Amy and Andrea. Lori seemed to be making her attempt at getting Andrea to give up Amy. I humphed and wished Lori luck on getting Amy away from Andrea. If I was her sister I wouldn't let anyone take her either. Just leave them be. Andrea would be able to handle it when it comes time to take care of Amy.
Lori leaned down next to Andrea and took in a deep breath as I watched on. "Andrea. I'm so sorry that she's gone. You got to let us take her. We all cared about her and I promise we'll be as gentle as we can," Lori tried.
It was obvious that everyone had been hoping for a different response, but there was no way that she was going to leave. Andrea wouldn't abandon Amy until the time came that she had no other choice. Andrea ignored Lori and, after a few seconds of silence, Lori chose to move on. It didn't surprise me in the slightest. Lori made her way back over to us and I moved to stand a little closer to Glenn. He looked like he might be sick at any moment.
"She still won't move?" Dale asked as Lori joined us again.
In a few minutes the rest of the group had walked up to us. Rick, Lori, Shane, Dale, Glenn, Daryl, and myself were all crowded around. "She won't even talk to us. She's been there all night," Lori responded.
I hadn't seen Andrea move once since Amy had been attacked. She was no longer crying but she was still leaning over Amy's body and holding her deceased sister's hand. "What do we do? Can't just leave Amy like that," Shane said.
It was clear that no one wanted to go and say anything to her. No one knew what to say. "We need to deal with it same as the others. I'll tell her how it is," Rick answered, walking over to Andrea and Amy.
"It won't work," I muttered.
"No. But we have to try something," Dale said.
"Andrea," Rick started weakly.
Before he got the chance to continue, Andrea pulled out her gun and cocked it, aiming it at Rick. "I know how the safety works," Andrea said, not even bothering to look at Rick. It was the first time she'd spoken in hours. Her voice was weak from sobbing.
Rick had frozen the moment that he'd seen Andrea hold up the gun in his face. "Alright. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Rick replied, moving away from Andrea with his hands up.
It was just as I'd expected. Andrea wasn't going to let anyone take Amy until she was good and ready. She waited a moment before letting the gun fall back to her side and running her hand back through Amy's bloody hair. My heart went out for her. Amy had been very sweet. The group was silent as we all watched Andrea and Amy out of the corner of our eyes.
"Y'all can't be serious," Daryl snapped. I turned to look at him and raised my eyebrow. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his attitude. Couldn't Andrea just mourn in peace? "Andrea's right there. She can manage," I hissed at the others.
Everyone was staring at Daryl as they processed his words. "What do you suggest?" Dale asked the hunter.
Daryl shrugged. "Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance," Daryl answered.
To be fair, I could take a clean shot at Amy from this distance, too. She wasn't that far away and I had relatively good aim. I was sure that Shane and Rick could as well. Plenty of people here could make the shot. But that didn't mean that we should. For a moment, I thought that some of them were considering it and I ground my teeth together.
"For God's sake people, leave her alone!" I snapped. Daryl's head turned towards me and he glared. "Let her mourn like I know all the rest of you would have wanted if it were your loved one. Andrea will know what to do when the time comes."
My words were partly for Amy, too. She had been a real person just hours ago. To kill her like that would have been cruel. She was Andrea's family, and it was her choice what to do with her sister. Just because I wasn't necessarily an Andrea fan didn't mean that I wanted to cut short the time she got to mourn her sister.
"Rain is right. We leave her be," Rick said.
"Just keep an eye on them," Shane put in.
Daryl took a few moments to scowl at me before turning and looking over at Jim. "Wake up, Jimbo. We've got some work to do," Daryl snapped at Jim, jamming a shovel into Jim's arms before rolling his eyes and scoffing at me.
He walked past briskly and I rolled my eyes. "Thanks," Jim answered Daryl's shadow irritably. He seemed pretty out of it.
Honestly, the only thing that I wanted was to take a step back from everything. The air was a little too thick for me right now. So I took a few steps away from the people that remained. I could hear Glenn and Daryl arguing off in the distance, but right now I was more focused on Andrea. I walked up to her, unarmed, and made sure to stay back a few feet.
"Andrea?" I called out softly. The blonde didn't look, but she did stiffen. "Look, I don't want to take Amy away from you, I just wanted to pay my respects to her."
I slowly approached Amy and almost gagged at the wound on her shoulder and the pasty white color of her skin. She looked every bit as dead as she was. It made me sick to my stomach, to think that she really was dead. Closing my eyes, I said a quick prayer and opened them again once I was finished. I noticed a small mermaid charm that hung from Amy's neck. I was almost positive I'd never seen her wear that before. It was the only thing on her that didn't have blood coating it.
"That's very pretty, Andrea. Amy would have loved it."
Although Andrea didn't look up, I did hear her mumble, "Thank you."
Rising to my feet, I prepared to continue helping with the dead when I heard a shout from Jacqui. "A walker got him! A walker bit Jim," she was shouting.
No. Without waiting to see if everyone else would move, I turned and sprinted over to where Jim and Jacqui were standing. The rest of the group was standing back as I ran up to him and Jacqui backed off. I was the first one to his side, but I was unsure of what to do. The rest of the group caught up with me a moment later. Everyone was panting at the sudden panic. We'd thought that our losses were done with, but evidently they weren't. Not yet.
"Show it to us. Show it to us," Daryl growled, walking over to Jim.
It was easy to see that Jim was now panicking. He was insisting that he was fine, but everyone began talking over each other, desperate to see the mark. Jim merely backed off and picked up a shovel to defend himself with. They were all shouting to grab him, while keeping away from the shovel, and T-Dog acted first. He grabbed Jim's arms, locking them behind his back, as Daryl ran forward and yanked up the shirt, revealing a perfect bite mark.
He kept his shirt up for a moment to show us how very real the bite was. My heart dropped when I saw it and heard Jim continue to repeat, "I'm fine."
T-Dog and Daryl released Jim, stumbling back away from him as Jim continued to insist that he was okay. Everyone was standing back and staring at him. It wasn't long after that when Jacqui sat Jim down near the RV and motioned for us to leave. We all moved away from Jim and the RV to discuss what was to be done now. We didn't have a damned clue as to what was to be done. Jim was just like the rest of us. He was still human and he was our friend.
It broke my heart to know that there was nothing to be done. Jim was going to die and he was going to turn as a walker. Daryl, Carol, T-Dog, Jacqui, Rick, Morales, Shane, Dale, Glenn, Rick, Lori, and I were standing around, discussing what we should do. It was a known fact that we would have to do something, but no one wanted to be the one to have to kill an innocent man.
"I say we put a pick-axe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it," Daryl grunted.
I glared at him for his cruel insensitivity to the entire situation but he ignored me. Some were shocked while others mirrored mine. "Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked, sharing my sentiment.
The hunter merely scoffed. "Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it," Daryl snapped.
My head turned to him in slight surprise. He wasn't looking at me. He was still glaring at Shane. I genuinely believed that Daryl was telling the truth. He didn't care about his own life once he knew that it was sure to end. At least he wasn't a hypocrite. He had that much going for him.
"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right," Dale agreed.
My head shot over to him so fast that I was sure I'd given myself whiplash. Daryl mirrored my movements. It wasn't just us. All heads snapped over to Dale. No one had ever thought that he would suggest something like that. I was one of the people that hadn't thought that he would suggest something like that.
"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick put in, looking ashamed at the older man.
Dale looked horrified that people were automatically assuming that he meant to kill Jim and Amy in cold blood. "I'm not suggesting -" Dale said before being cut off by Shane.
"He's sick. A sick man."
"We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick asked.
Daryl stepped in first. "The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers - or them to be," he added.
It was killing me that there was nothing to be done for Jim. We had already lost Amy. The last thing that I wanted was to let Jim die, too. "What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure," Rick put in.
Someone had a cure? Someone was actually working on a cure? They must have known about the virus longer than they'd made it sound like. I hadn't even thought that someone would be thinking of a cure. I had just suspected that rescues were in the works. Of course I should have figured that someone would be working to actually end this thing for good.
"I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell," Shane muttered.
"What if the CDC is still up and running?" Rick asked.
People had really been hearing that much about the virus? I must have been really into that stupid paper. A waste of my last few good days. I supposed that if there was a chance that someone was still running the world it, would be the CDC. I mean they were the Center for Disease Control. It had to be them that were still working. Maybe they'd found a cure but, without the mass media, they weren't able to distribute it.
"Man, that is a stretch right there," Shane argued.
It was a stretch but it might be our best chance. It might be our only chance. "Why?" Rick asked his best friend. "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," Shane mentioned.
We would have to choose one or the other. They were in two different directions and we only had enough gas to get us to one of the locations. "That's one hundred miles in the opposite direction," Lori argued.
"That is right," Shane admitted. "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."
There would be protection there, but the only chance for a cure would be at the CDC. I wasn't sure which one was the safer bet. "The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance," Rick said.
For the sake of Jim I hoped that we would choose to go to the CDC. "You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl shouted.
He made me jump at the sudden volume increase and I screamed as he jumped after Jim, pick-axe in hand. There was no way that I was going to let Daryl kill Jim in cold blood. I dashed after Daryl first with everyone else breaking into a chase after him to stop him from putting his pick axe in Jim's head.
"No!" I shouted, launching myself onto Daryl, knocking him over and landing on top of him.
In all honesty, it wasn't my brightest idea. The wind was knocked out of the both of us. Rick came running over to the both of us and pointed his revolver at Daryl's head. The revolver was in front of my face and I watched awkwardly as Daryl glared up at Rick. I would have moved, but it kind of seemed like the wrong time.
"We don't kill the living," Rick told Daryl, accentuating every word.
Shane stood protectively in front of Jim. Daryl scoffed loudly. I was mildly surprised that he seemed to be having no problem speaking or moving with me on top of him. "That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head," Daryl spat.
That's actually not a bad point. "We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down. Go on," Shane ordered Daryl, referring to his disagreement with Rick on where to go next.
It took a moment, but Daryl finally grunted and threw down the pick axe before turning to look up at me. I looked away quickly and realized awkwardly that I was still sitting on top of Daryl. My face heated up as I jumped off of him, allowing him to pull himself off the ground and storm off in a huff. I watched him go for a moment before letting out a deep breath. The group was all stunned from what had just happened.
Rick walked over to Jim and wrapped his arms around the dying man's shoulders. "Come with me," Rick muttered as he dragged him along.
Jim was clearly nervous. I could see him shaking from here. "Where are you taking me?" Jim asked.
"Somewhere safe," Rick muttered before shoving Jim into the RV.
The rest of the group slowly dispersed and I watched as people went back to their duties. Most were working on disposing of the few remaining bodies but some were sitting and mourning. Mulling around camp for a moment, I realized that I had no idea what to do now. I supposed that I should go and do something useful. Maybe I could do something with the other bodies.
As I walked, I saw that Daryl still taking care of the bodies. It was hard for me to remember that he was still mourning. He was just mourning in his own way. I kept forgetting that Daryl had lost his brother. Just like Andrea, he was hurting right now. I made a note in the back of my head to tell Daryl that I was sorry for what had happened to Merle. Whether or not he wanted to hear it, I was going to tell him.
The man in question was leaning over a body, about to put the pick axe in its head. Curiously I looked over to see who it was and sighed. It was Ed. I hated to sound heartless, but I couldn't bring myself to feel any sympathy for the man. He deserved what he had gotten. I hoped that it hurt when he went. Payback for how badly my cheeks, eyes, mouth, and nose hurt.
I was very surprised when, not even a second later, Carol came up to Daryl and insisted that she be the one to put the pick axe through his skull. Tears were streaming down her face as she took one swing, then two, then more swings. And more and more and more. It wasn't long before his head was a bloody mess. It was to the point where it seemed like she would never stop hitting him. I guessed that she was taking out her anger on him after all these years.
At least she was starting to heal. Deciding that it was an episode I shouldn't watch, I turned to walk away from the main camp. I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do, but I knew that I had to leave for a few minutes. I couldn't stand the somber attitude here. I stalked off into the woods and began a small hunt. Just in case, I stayed close to our camp. We had already been attacked once and lost far too many people. If another attack happened, we couldn't suffer any more losses.
Walking around in the woods, I debated on whether or not I would want to leave with them. Despite these people's faults they were a good bunch. Even the Dixon brothers. Or, I supposed I should say brother. I supposed that I could go with them. But that would mean I'd have to share my supplies, possibly be slowed down or killed while trying to protect people, and I'd never have time to myself. But if I went out on my own I may not ever be able to speak to another human again, get killed in an attack, and I may not be able to gather enough supplies on my own.
The choice was a hard one, but I had a feeling I would stay. For some reason, a part of me was attached to these people. I wanted to stay and to be able to protect them. Maybe they were beginning to feel like the family I'd lost so long ago. Maybe they could be the family that I had always wanted.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I focused on my hunt. I pretended that I was back in the old world, out on the target ranges for practice. I'd never liked killing innocent animals. I checked my haul just over an hour later. I had caught dinner for all of us. Four squirrels, a rabbit, and a duck. It wasn't going to be much to feed those of us that remained, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully they wouldn't be too hungry.
Returning to camp, I walked over to the fire pit and took a seat. I tossed off my belt of animals and picked up the first squirrel. Daryl picked took another one off of the belt and sat across the fire from me. The sun was beginning to sink and I could just barely see the outline of his face.
"Thanks," I muttered as he got to work.
He nodded at me as I reached back and tossed him the rest of his arrows. "Thanks," he muttered back.
There wasn't really anything more for either one of us to say. We weren't the chattiest duo. We both skinned the animals without speaking to each other. It wasn't just that. Neither one of us had looked at the other since sitting down. We were just working in silence, each one of us trying to move past what had happened a few hours earlier.
Once I'd cleaned all of the animals and skinned them, I tossed the meat into the pot that I knew we would eat from later. Shane was stepping up towards the group and I knew that they had made a decision to move on. Daryl and I both stood and headed over towards the RV to hear the decision on whether we would leave or not.
Shane ran his hands through his hair. It must have been a habit of stress. I didn't blame him. This world was stressful. "I've been, uh, I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"
Everyone nodded and walked off, still not speaking to each other. It seemed like a mostly silent agreement that we would all be leaving together in the morning. No one really had anything better to do. We hadn't said where we were going, but it did sound like we were heading towards the CDC considering Shane had talked about how much he trusted Rick's opinion. Either way, I was glad. We would be safer wherever we were going. And maybe we'd get some answers.
A few hours later we were all sitting together and eating our dinner of the animals that I'd caught in the woods earlier. There was barely any food for each person, but it was better than nothing. It wasn't long before everyone had gone off to bed. People had inhaled their little bits of food before leaving. There was very little conversation around the fire, so there was no reason to stay after we ate. The air was thick and heavy. No one wanted to stay and try to force out a conversation.
I was one of the last people to leave, so when I got up I wandered around the empty campsite. Daryl had offered me to use his tent, but he hadn't taken as long on that hunting trip as I'd thought he would. And Merle's seemed wrong to use after what had happened in Atlanta. So, with no place to sleep, I got up and planned on unpacking my small blanket on the roof of the Winnebago. It was the only place that I could think to go.
It wouldn't be very comfortable, but at least I would be able to watch the stars. It was something that I had always liked doing. Maybe someone would be up on watch. At least I wouldn't be completely alone. And it wasn't raining. That was an added bonus. I made it about halfway to the Winnebago when I heard a familiar voice call out to me.
"Where ya planning on sleeping tonight?"
To my surprise, it had been Daryl that had spoken to me. I hadn't been expecting it. I thought he hated me. He hadn't said a word to me today, other than to thank me for returning his arrows. After I'd gotten over my initial shock of hearing him speak to me, I motioned back to the RV.
"On top of the Winnebago. Maybe I'll keep whoever is on watch company," I said with a shrug.
Daryl shifted awkwardly before motioning back to where his and Merle's tents were still set up. "Look, I don't mind if you wanna use Merle's tent tonight. I had offered you mine but that didn't really work out. So if ya want, the tent don't have anyone in it," he said.
I wanted to say something to Daryl about Merle, but I couldn't find the words to say anything. So I nodded at him with small smile. "Um, sure, I'd really like that, Daryl. Thanks," I said happily.
Even after everything that had happened over the past few days, we were managing to get along. He hummed at me before turning and walking back to his area. I had to follow quickly or else I would've lost him. It was pitch black and I could barely see his strong form ahead of me. Racing to keep up, I didn't notice a root that was slightly out of the ground and I very ungracefully tripped over it. Luckily for me, Daryl paid no attention. We arrived at his campsite quickly and I stopped behind him.
Daryl motioned to the tent on the far left. "The one on the left's Merle's. I'm gonna pack up his shit. As soon as I'm done, you can have it," he said.
Without waiting for me to say anything to him Daryl went into the tent. "Thanks," I called after him.
"Sure," he said.
Before he could disappear, I reached for him. "Hang on." As stupid as it was, I couldn't help the sudden urge that came over me.
The moment that I'd said it, I hesitated. "What?" Daryl asked.
I knew that I had to say something. "I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about Merle. I wasn't close to my sister, but I know that if I was, it would hurt like hell to lose her," I told him awkwardly.
I wasn't one for apologizing or offering my condolences. "He ain't dead," Daryl said.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"I know that he's still out there somewhere. Asshole sawed off his own hand to get free, cauterized it, and took down two walkers. Nothing can kill Merle but Merle," Daryl explained.
We were silent for a little while as I thought about his words. "Damn, that's brutal," I said.
Daryl chuckled softly and nodded. At least, I thought that he'd nodded. I couldn't believe that Merle had sawed off his own hand. He must have been desperate. But still, cauterizing the wound? Maybe Merle wasn't as stupid as I had originally thought he was. So far it seemed that he was doing okay on his own. Especially after everything that had happened. Daryl was cleaning out Merle's tent as I thought about everything that had happened with Merle.
"Why'd you say you were sorry?" Daryl asked, coming out of Merle's tent and snapping me out of my thoughts.
My breath caught in my throat as I sighed deeply. "He's still a human being and no one deserved what he got. It was unfair of us to leave him there. Had I been up on the roof when we were leaving I might've tried to help but I was already in the truck. I didn't notice that Merle wasn't with us until we were almost back to camp," I explained. It seemed like he might have nodded. "Anyways, he's your brother and I know what it's like not to have a family, so I guess I just feel bad that you don't have yours."
I really hadn't meant to say something like that. It had been an accident. It had just slipped out. Daryl had seemed to mull over what I said before giving me a scrutinizing gaze. I wished that I hadn't accidentally let that come out. I didn't want to talk about my family even more than I already had.
"What happened with your family?" Daryl finally asked.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to say anything to me. I had thought that he would blow it off. "It's a long story, and we need our rest. Maybe another night," I quietly responded.
Seemingly understanding that I didn't want to talk, Daryl moved out of the way of the tent and I crawled in. "Go to bed. Got a long day tomorrow," Daryl said.
Before zipping up the tent, I peeked out out and gave Daryl a small, "Goodnight."
I laid down on the small blanket that Daryl had left for me. It was the only thing that was still in the tent. I appreciated that he'd given me one, considering that I hadn't taken one from my apartment. I laid my head down under my folded up jacket - which I'd been using as a pillow - and yawned. It was probably early, but I was still exhausted. It had been a long day. For a while I didn't hear anything, but right before I drifted off I could have sworn I heard a voice drift from the other tent.
"You, too."
My sleep was restless, but thankfully the night went fast. I kept having dreams of the attack on the campsite, so I was grateful when the sun finally peeked over the tops of the trees. All I wanted was to get on my way, somewhere that we would be able to walk around without worrying about being attacked.
Daryl came outside of his tent at sunrise and poked his head into mine. "Come on, girl. Time to wake up," Daryl called.
"Alright. Thanks," I groaned.
Without getting much sleep, I was pretty exhausted. I stood and started to get ready for the day, hearing him walk off. I changed into a pair of dark blue jean shorts and a white tank top before lacing up my boots and strolling out of the tent. Very few people were up yet, so I took a brief walk in the woods to our burial site. I said a quick goodbye to our fallen friends, knowing that we would never be back here, before sighing and making my way out of the woods once more.
As I made my way back into camp, I saw that everyone was gathered around the fire pit. They were all standing together, looking very grateful to be moving on. Andrea was the only person that had no emotion on her face. Shane was standing in the center of the circle explaining what was happening and I made my way over to stand next to Glenn.
"Everybody listen up," Shane called. It didn't make much of a difference. No one had been talking. "Those of you with CB's, we're gonna be on channel forty. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB or can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"
The group was silent until Morales stepped in and spoke up. "We're, uh... We're we're not going," Morales announced.
"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people," his wife said.
It was the first time that I'd heard her speak. My eyebrows rose in surprise. Morales seemed to have been so good with our entire group. But, if they had family there, I couldn't say that I blamed them. His wife looked guilty and their children were standing back, each crying softly. I looked away from the kids quickly and watched as Shane walked up to Morales.
"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane attempted to have the Spanish man stay.
"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family," Morales told them.
Damn it. We were just going to lose another valuable person. He was a fighter and his wife was good for taking care of the chores and children. They were valuable resources. Although, it would be good to have four less mouths to feed and three less women and children to watch out for. I wanted to say that they were good people, but I really hadn't known them that well. Although Morales was nice enough.
"You sure?" Rick asked.
He seemed extremely unconvinced. We all were. Risking going off without a group to protect you was dangerous. After a pregnant pause, Morales nodded and his daughter let out a little sob. I had noticed before that she was close with Sophia. It must have been hard for the two girls.
"We talked about it. We're sure," Morales answered.
"Alright. Shane?" Rick asked, leaning down.
"Yeah," Shane responded.
Rick and Shane walked over to Morales and I watched as they handed him a revolver. "The box is half full," Shane said, handing Morales a box of bullets. Daryl scoffed off to the side.
"Thank you all for everything," Morales's wife said as Lori wrapped her in a hug.
"Good luck, man," Shane told Morales.
He held out his hand and grabbed it to shake Morales's. I didn't say anything but I did give Morales a small smile which he returned. Everyone else exchanged smiles and hugs with the family. I noticed that Daryl and Andrea were the only people - besides myself - that didn't say anything back to them.
"Appreciate it," Morales finally answered Rick.
"Channel 40 if you change your minds," Rick said.
Morales nodded at him. "Yeah. I know," Morales said.
We all watched as the Spanish family returned to their things to finish up packing their car. Unfortunately, we were losing that extra car to them. It was something that we definitely could have used. We watched them work at packing up for a moment before Shane caught our attention once more.
"What makes you think our odds are any better?" he asked Rick, who frowned. "Let's move out everyone!"
With that, everyone moved to their respective cars and I went searching for an empty one. I needed a place to go, considering that I didn't have a car with me. It seemed that no matter where I went every car was already crowded. The RV was completely filled. The only place there for me would be on the roof. There was a small SUV as well but most of it was full with supplies. There was also a Jeep but T-Dog and Glenn were currently making use of it.
All of the cars were full but one. There was a little bit of room in Shane's car, if he could manage to move some things around, but I didn't want to be a burden. There was only one place that would have been easy for me to ride in. Daryl's. He was loading a motorcycle in the bed of his truck, but the cab was empty. There must not be anyone riding with him. He was going to be my only chance to get a ride.
"Hey Daryl!" I called out. He didn't turn back but he did hum at me. "Mind if I hitch a ride?"
He still didn't look up but I knew he had heard me. He mumbled something, probably obscene, under his breath. He didn't seem all too happy about my asking, but he nodded his head anyways. I jogged to the other side of his truck and threw open the door. I tossed in all of my stuff and then jumped in myself, making a cozy spot to settle in, in the corner of the truck. A few moments later Daryl jumped behind the wheel and revved the engine.
Before we left, I saw him look at me briefly, his eyes widening to almost twice their size. "Damn, princess, what the hell happened to you?" Daryl asked.
He looked like he was somewhere in between shocked and pissed at the sight of my face and neck. "Ed," I answered between gritted teeth.
The only time Daryl had seen me close up and full frontal in the past day was last night, but it had been too dark to see anything other than our silhouettes. He must not have noticed them this morning either. I noticed Daryl's jaws grind together, almost surprising me. Did he really care that Ed had beaten me half to hell?
"What happened?" he asked.
"We were down at the quarry while y'all were gone. The women were doing laundry. We were just laughing and chatting when Ed came up, telling us that we needed to be focused on our work. Andrea and I told him to leave us be, but he didn't. He demanded that Carol come with her and we tried to stop her. He got frustrated when we were trying to keep them apart so he reeled back and slapped her in the face. I couldn't take it. I hit him. And he hit me back," I muttered.
"Someone pull him off of you?"
"Shane did."
"Asshole got what he deserved," Daryl growled.
Even though Daryl wasn't the nicest person in the world, he wasn't the type to tolerate abuse towards women. I didn't say anything back but I nodded in agreement. We began to rumble down the road as the last in the caravan and I sat with my feet up against the dashboard. I was trying to keep my gaze off of Daryl and out the window. I didn't need to get into a fight right now. The ride had been in comfortable silence so far but I felt the need to start talking come up.
"You said you wanted to know about my family, right?" I asked.
Why did you say anything? Daryl looked surprised at my abruptness, but nodded anyways. "Yeah," he said softly.
I took in a deep breath; I'd never told anyone the full story so to tell someone I barely knew was a big deal. "I guess I actually had a good childhood growing up. My mom was as sweet as any mother could be and my dad was the kind of dad every daughter wished that they had. Everything was great, even through my early teenage years, and then when I was just barely thirteen years old my younger sister was born. I was thrilled at first, I mean a new kid to have in the house! I could get away with more things now too.
"Everyone was happy and my parents were more in love than I'd ever seen. It was sweet. But, anyways, fast forward about nine months and my mom has my sister. Still, everything is good but my parents started paying a lot less attention to me. Still, not that bad. I had kind of expected that with a new baby in the house.
"Anyways, a few months went by and my parents had almost completely stopped talking to me. That seriously hurt." Daryl's face fell and his hands tightened on the wheel. "So one day my mom went out to the grocery store... And she never came back. She'd gotten in a car crash and died at the scene. The last thing I told my mother was that I hated her. We had gotten into some stupid fight before she left. Needless to say I was devastated. So was my dad.
"So instead of crying and trying to move on like I did, he took his anger out on me." Daryl's face looked almost pained. My childhood left much to be desired. "He would hit me and scream at me until I was in tears, always saying that my mother's death had been my fault. Saying that my awful attitude had driven her to drive recklessly that day and get in the crash. Trust me, for years I believed him. Sometimes I still do."
It took me a moment to realize that he was shaking his head, silently telling me that it wasn't my fault. "So months more go by and the beatings were at an all time high. My dad would now give them to me when he was drunk. He was drunk most of the time. He really always was after my mom died. And it was those times - when he was so drunk that he could barely stand - when he didn't know how to stop. At that point he was nearly sending me to the hospital with his beatings. He sent me to the hospital a few times.
"Then I couldn't take it anymore. So I packed up my things, got emancipated, and left. I put myself through school with two jobs and hard work. But, anyways, with all the stress on me with school and bills and whatnot these past few years, I haven't had any time to make friends. I guess I could say you guys are my first friends since I was fourteen," I said pathetically.
Daryl was silent for a few minutes, probably processing my story, when he finally spoke up. "Welcome to the shitty childhood club," Daryl said lowly.
We both laughed at his comment. As pathetic as it was, it made me smile. "So you had a bad childhood, too?" I asked after a beat of silence.
Daryl glanced over at me and shook his head. "Gonna need to get me drunk for that conversation," he said.
I gave a bitter smile and glanced down at my lap. He must have had just as bad, if not worse, of a childhood than I did. I would have believed that, considering his personality. We sat in silence for a while and I started humming softly under my breath. Daryl glanced over at me and I blushed, knowing that it was probably annoying him.
"Sorry. I'll stop," I said softly.
"It's okay," Daryl said. "What song was that?"
"It's a lullaby that I heard... a few years after leaving home. When I first lived on my own I would sing it to calm myself down whenever I would get anxiety. The anxiety is long gone, but I still like the song. I start humming it sometimes."
"What's it called?"
"Mordred's Lullaby."
"Can't sing something like 'Hush Little Baby'?"
We both laughed at that comment. "I'm impressed that you know that," I teased.
"What's it about?" Daryl asked.
"This song is supposedly sung by Morgana, half sister to King Arthur. Her hatred for Arthur derives from the previous generation, where Arthur's father killed Morgana's father. Arthur, later, while married to Guinevere, was attracted to the wife of King Lot, and deceived her into believing that he was her husband, later to find out that she was actually Morgana. She became pregnant with Mordred, and resented him for a long time, because of the fact that he's a result of incest between half-siblings. Mordred hated his father for his sin of adultery and incest, and wanted to seize the throne," I explained.
Daryl was silent for a long time. When he finally looked over at me, he was looking at me like I'd grown a third head. "Aren't lullabies supposed to be for kids?" he asked. For whatever reason, his comment struck me as very funny. I threw my head back and laughed loudly. When I'd finally calmed down, Daryl spoke again. "Sing it."
His comment surprised me as a small blush fell over my face. "Ask nicely," I said.
"C'mon, girl. Sing it," he goaded. For whatever reason, I complied.
"Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
"Guileless son, I'll shape your belief
And you'll always know that your father's a thief
And you won't understand the cause of your grief
But you'll always follow the voices beneath
"Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty, loyalty
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty only to me
Guileless son, your spirit will hate her
The flower who married my brother the traitor
And you will expose his puppeteer behavior
For you are the proof of how he betrayed her loyalty
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty only to me
Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
Guileless son, each day you grow older
Each moment I'm watching my vengeance unfold
For the child of my body, the flesh of my soul
Will die in returning the birthright he stole
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty, loyalty
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty only to me
Hush, child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep."
Once I had finished the song. I looked over at Daryl, who was staring ahead. "You're disturbed," Daryl said.
His comment made me smile. "It's not a very nice lullaby, but I didn't have a very nice life," I muttered.
"It's pretty. I see why you like it," he said.
Once more, my face flooded with color. There were very few people that I ever sang for, and I'd known them for years. I couldn't believe that I'd sang for Daryl after only knowing him for days. "What were you doing? When all of this went down?" I asked, wanting to change the topic.
"I was in a bar with Merle," Daryl said.
"Of course."
Daryl turned an irritated gaze on me. He looked like he was about to slap me. "Alright, smart ass, what were you doing?" he asked.
"Writing a research paper," I said quickly.
Daryl snorted under his breath. "Nerd," he quipped.
My jaw dropped as I reached over and shoved him. "It was so I could graduate on time!" I barked loudly. "My last assignment before graduation. It was due the day of the outbreak. Never even got to turn it in."
"What was it about?" Daryl asked.
My head turned over to him. Did he really want to hear about that? Probably not. I'd barely wanted to write about it. "You don't really want to hear about that," I said softly.
Daryl shook his head. "No. But I get the feeling that you won't shut up even if I don't ask," he said.
The corners of my lips turned upwards. "It was on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World," I finally answered.
Daryl glanced over at me. "What?" he asked.
"Don't tell me you've never heard of the Seven Wonders?" I asked.
He had to have heard of the Ancient Wonders. Everyone had heard of them. "Didn't exactly pay attention in history class, princess," Daryl said, halfway teasingly.
"They're the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Great Pyramid in Giza. Egypt," I clarified, in case he didn't know.
Daryl's head snapped over towards me. "I'm not that clueless," he snapped.
We both smiled. I'd figured that he knew, but I wanted to make sure. "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. The Great Pyramid is the only Wonder that's still standing today," I explained.
He looked extremely confused. "What were you doing? In school?" Daryl asked.
"Construction."
That seemed to surprise Daryl. He'd probably thought that I was a business or women's studies major. "What school did you go to?" Daryl asked.
"I commuted into the University of North Florida," I said. It had been about a forty-five minute drive either way, which was why most of my classes were online. "Did you ever go to school?"
"Take a guess."
In a way, I'd already known that he hadn't gone to school. "I'll say no. Never found the reason to go?" I asked.
Daryl shook his head. "Not really. Nothing that I've really ever wanted to do," he explained.
In a way, we were almost in the same boat when it came to what we'd wanted to do with our lives. "I get that. No real purpose in life. Just kind of floating by, doing whatever comes in your way, until something happens. Just so happens that the end of the world was what happened," I muttered, gazing out the window.
"Must've been so tough in your old life. Pretty blonde girl," Daryl said, scowling slightly.
My head snapped over to him. Just because I looked put-together didn't mean that I actually was. "Never judge a book by its cover, Dixon," I said lowly.
"It'd do you well to take your own advice," Daryl responded.
And he was right. As much as I didn't want to admit it. I had judged him just because of the way that he'd looked, and he'd done the same with me. "I guess we both judged each other a little too early on. I'm not... just a pretty face. I'm not," I said determinedly.
Daryl nodded. "I know," he said.
"And I think that there's more to you than meets the eye," I admitted.
Even just in this little car ride, I'd realized that I was wrong about Daryl. "So I'm not a stupid, ignorant, piece of shit?" Daryl asked, almost teasingly.
Blushing at my very obviously childish remarks from before, I glanced over at him. "I'm sorry about that. I was angry that you spoke to me the way that you did when I was trying to make amends. Didn't give me a right to say what I did. It's been a while since I was around people," I muttered under my breath.
"I always only had Merle to talk to," Daryl said.
"So that explains the charming personality?" I asked teasingly.
Daryl glanced over at me with something akin to a smile. "Coulda gone with Shane. He had room. But yet you're here," he said.
Another damn good point. Why had I come with him? "Says something about both of us, I guess. By the way, did you call me pretty earlier?" I asked, nudging him gently.
Daryl snorted and shook his head. "Get over yourself," he snapped.
"You can say it. I won't laugh. In fact, I'll be flattered," I teased.
Once more, Daryl looked over at me. But I noticed something that made me smile at him. He had a tiny smile on his face. It was the first one that I'd seen, and it looked nice on him. Daryl's face turned downwards as he looked at me, the smile once more leaving his features.
"What?" he finally asked.
"You look nice with a smile. You should do it more often," I said softly.
Maybe I shouldn't have said that... But Daryl didn't seem offended. Maybe a little awkward, but not annoyed. "I think I've smiled more in this one care ride than I have in the past year," he admitted.
"Me, too. Daryl Dixon, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," I said brightly.
The reference went straight over Daryl's head. "What?" he asked sharply.
"Come on! Casablanca?" I asked. Daryl shook his head. "Humphrey Bogart? Ingrid Bergman? The 1942 classic romance? Almost always listed as one of the best films ever made?"
Daryl snorted and looked over at me. Luckily, without the traffic, we didn't have to be that careful with driving anymore. "You watch those crappy old movies?" he asked.
They were not crappy. They were good, as ashamed as I was to admit it. "They're classics! Just like classic books. Frankenstein, Dracula, Lord of the Flies, The Picture of Dorian Grey, and Don Quixote. Just some of my favorites," I said.
"I see why you had no friends," Daryl said.
"You uncultured swine," I snapped. Daryl grabbed a piece of trash in the center console and tossed it at me. I laughed and threw it to the floor. "If the world ever goes back to normal, we are having a movie marathon."
"I'll fall asleep," Daryl said quickly.
"I'll draw a dick on your face," I said just as quickly. Making me smile softly, Daryl laughed loudly and looked over at me. "Don't think I won't. I'm still a twelve-year-old at heart."
"Trust me, I believe that."
Though it wasn't very helpful, I couldn't help but to laugh and smile. Even Daryl wore a tiny smile. His smile made him look much better, just as I'd thought. I was about to make a smart-ass remark when I heard the horn honk from the Winnebago. The entire caravan stopped at the horn. Daryl turned off the engine and we both jumped out of the truck, heading over to the group.
"What's goin' on?" Daryl asked me as we walked up to the group.
I sighed and shook my head. "Judging by the smoke coming from the hood I'd say the radiator hose finally gave out," I guessed, the two of us coming to stand around the rest of the group.
"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van," Dale was telling Rick.
"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked. I nearly laughed. It was all that is was.
Unfortunately the Winnebago was about to be useless. We didn't have room for everyone else in the other cars. "That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape," Dale said.
Everyone seemed extremely put out by the news. "I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky," Shane pointed out.
He was right. There was a stone building not far from us. They could go scout out supplies while we checked over the radiator hose and tried to fix it up. "Y'all, Jim It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore," Jacqui yelled from the RV.
It was getting worse by the second. "Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort?" Shane asked as he walked back by us. "I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back."
We might as well do something while we were stuck here. "Yeah," Rick confirmed.
"I'll come along too and I'll back you up," T-Dog said, coming up to stand beside Shane.
If they were going to go, they needed to go now. We couldn't hang around here all day if we wanted to get to the CDC before Jim got to the point of no return. "Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back," Shane called as they left.
We all went over to Jim in the RV to check up on him. He was laying in the bed and looking absolutely terrible. Whatever this disease or virus was, it took a hell of a toll on the body. I could tell just by looking at Jim. He was sweating heavily and looked like he might die at any moment.
"My bones are like glass. Every little bump. God, this ride is killing me. Leave me here. I'm done. Just leave me. I want to be with my family," Jim pleaded.
We shook our heads as Rick and I leaned down next to him. We wanted to make sure that he knew what he was asking for. "They're all dead. I don't think you know what you're asking. The fever. You've been delirious more often than not," Rick tried to reason with Jim.
"I know. Don't you think I know? I'm clear now. In five minutes I may not be." Rick still didn't look convinced that leaving Jim here was for the best. "Rick, I know what I'm asking. I want this. Leave me here. Now that's on me. Okay? My decision. Not your failure."
My heart gave a small twinge as Rick nodded and stood. I brushed back Jim's hair, softly letting him know that we would be right back. Even though it was his life, I didn't want him to have to hear us discussing what was to be done with him. We walked back over to the rest of our group and came to stand next to them.
"It's what he says he wants," Rick told them. I could hear the defeat in his voice. No matter what, he was going to take whatever happened to Jim as being his fault.
"And he's lucid?" Dale asked.
Rick nodded. "He seems to be. I would say yes," he said.
We all shifted on our feet, trying to figure out what to do. "Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer," Dale said, finally explaining what he had meant back at the quarry.
As they had returned from their trip, I watched as Shane and T-Dog stepped into the conversation. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that," Shane said.
"It's not your call, either one of you," Lori chimed in, speaking for the first time during the day. She was right.
It turned out that Shane and T-Dog hadn't been gone for very long. They had managed to find a little bit of gas and some spare parts to help with the radiator hose. I'd helped Dale manage to rebuild most of the radiator hose. It didn't look that fantastic, and it probably wouldn't last very long, but it would hopefully be enough to get us to the CDC, so that we would be able to figure things out from there. We just had to get back on the road.
Unfortunately, by the time that they got back, Jim had gotten to the point that of where we wouldn't be able to do much more for him. And that was why we went back into the Winnebago and told Jim that we were going to let him go. He requested that we let him stay out in the open. He wanted to die around nature. It was something that we could respect.
Shane and Rick were carrying him to the wood line. "Yeah. That's it," Jim moaned as we dropped him under a tree near the Winnebago. "Hey, another damn tree."
I smiled and brushed the hair back off of his face. He was definitely getting the fever. "Hey, Jim, I mean, you know it doesn't need to be this," Shane offered.
The skinny man shook his head. "No. It's good. The breeze feels nice," Jim answered.
It took Shane a moment before nodding. I knew that he was trying not to force Jim to come the rest of the way to the CDC with us. "Okay. All right," he conceded.
Jacqui, who I had noticed was the closest to Jim in the camp, walked over to him and smiled. She seemed like a mother coddling a child. "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight," Jacqui attempted to soothe Jim.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek, fighting back tears, as Rick bent down in front of Jim. "Jim, do you want this?" Rick asked, holding out a small handgun for Jim to defend himself with.
"No," Jim immediately answered. "You'll need it. I'm okay. I'm okay."
The Sheriff nodded and tucked the gun back into his pants. I smiled and let Rick pass me by to head back to the RV. Dale walked up to Jim a moment later. "Thanks for fighting for us," Dale said happily.
I knew that he was trying to make Jim feel as comfortable as he could in his final moments. As everyone said their final goodbyes to Jim, I stepped forward ready to say mine. I would be the last person to say goodbye. I hadn't known him that well, but I wanted to say something.
"Hey, Jim. I guess I just wanted to say that it was nice knowing you even though we didn't know each other long. Say hello to your family for me," I said, giving him a small smile.
I hated having to leave him here, but it was what Jim wanted. We couldn't deny him that. "Thank you, Rain," Jim said.
On the bright side, he looked pretty terrible, which meant that he would be dead within the hour. At least he wouldn't have to suffer that much longer. Without anything more to say, I gave Jim a quick peck on the cheek and made my way back to Daryl's truck as everyone else began loading back in their cars.
Daryl already had the engine running as he motioned for me to get in the truck. "We're leaving already?" I asked.
The answer was kind of obvious but I was glad that Daryl didn't snap at me for my stupidity. "Yeah, I guess they found what they needed to fix up the RV," Daryl said.
It must have happened while I was waiting to say goodbye to Jim. So I nodded and took my spot back at the corner of the truck, kicking my feet up on the dash once more. I thought that Daryl might have told me to put my feet down, but he didn't. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw the corner of Daryl's mouth briefly twitch upwards.
"Great. Let's go, I guess," I said.
Once more, Daryl revved the engine and started off towards the CDC. It took us a little over an hour to get to the there because of a few stops we'd had to make. Mostly bathroom breaks for the kids, where one of us would have to stay with them and make sure that they were okay, being by themselves.
Our ride was mostly silent - as we were still dealing with Jim's death - but Daryl and I did exchange the occasional nod at each other. I was glad that we weren't completely ignoring each other. It would have felt a little too awkward. Our small glances at each other was a system, checking to make sure that we were both still okay.
Nearly two hours after we'd left, I saw the top of the CDC in the distance. It was one of the few buildings that looked mostly untouched, despite the death and destruction all around it. We had barely even made it to the entrance of the CDC and I could already smell death everywhere. It was awful. I was glad I had my leather jacket on so that I could pull up the hood to keep myself from gagging.
There were bodies everywhere and many were military. Sandbags were also placed everywhere and a tank sat in the distance. This place had been protected but it still seemed to have fallen. It looked like there was no one and nothing left around here. This was not a good sign. This wasn't good at all. There was nothing here.
"It feels like this place is deserted," I whispered to Daryl.
Even though we were in the car, it felt strange to talk at a normal level. Daryl parked the car and turned over the engine so that it stopped. "C'mon, let's go see," he whispered back.
He opened his door and motioned for me to open mine. I did so, cringing when the door squeaked softly. We both hopped out of the truck and headed to stand together. Within seconds the entire group were out of their cars and ready to see if this entire trip had been a waste of time. I wasn't sure that I wanted to know but I knew that we needed to. We all needed to see what we had come all of this way for.
"Alright, everybody. Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let's go. Okay, keep moving. Stay together. Keep moving. Come on," Shane said, directing everyone up to the doors of the CDC.
He was speaking so softly that it was almost impossible to hear him. It didn't seem like any animated walkers were around, but this was still near Atlanta. We had to be quiet and be careful. As we made it up to the front of the entrance of the CDC, I realized that the smell was getting worse. There was also a quiet alarm that I could hear.
"Oh God," I groaned, gagging at all the walkers that I was stepping around.
Part of me was afraid that one of them would reanimate and grab at my ankles. "Keep it together," Daryl muttered next to me.
But I could tell he wasn't incredibly happy with this either. His hand was on my lower back as he pushed me towards the front of the building, making sure that I wasn't going to stop. We had finally made it to the front door where everyone was rattling them in an attempt to get them to open. Daryl had still yet to take his hand from behind my back.
"Nothing?" Shane asked before pounding on the doors along with Rick.
"There's nobody here," T-Dog announced.
But there were shutters. What was the point of closing them if no one was inside? "Then why are these shutters down?" Rick and I asked at the same time.
We were all staring at the doors before I heard a call I'd been praying not to hear. "Walkers!" Daryl yelled.
That was enough to snap me out of my daze of watching the doors. I turned to see a huge group of walkers coming right towards us. I immediately pulled out my Beretta and began shooting the ones that were the closest to us. They would be on us in a few minutes and there weren't enough of us to fight them off.
While the others were moving away from the doors, I stayed put to protect Rick, who was entranced with the camera. "Baby, come on," Lori told Carl.
"You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled at Rick.
"He made a call," Shane defended Rick, both he and Daryl headed towards the Sheriff.
"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl shouted.
Oh, come on. Could you guys maybe stop arguing and help me fight these things off? It was a little tiring taking on all of the walkers by myself. It was unnerving seeing all of the walkers coming closer and closer to me. No one was bothering to help me and I ground my teeth together. Daryl had only fired one arrow before shouting at Rick.
"Just shut up. You hear? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane snapped at Daryl, shoving him backwards, before turning to face Rick. "Rick, this is a dead end."
"Where are we gonna go?" Carol asked, sounding on the verge of tears.
No one answered her. Shane was still trying to reason with Rick. "Do you hear me? No blame," Shane said.
The panic had settled into the entire group. We needed to get out of here and we needed to get out of here soon. I was going to run out of bullets before long. "She's right. We can't be here, this close to the city after dark," Lori said, panicked.
"Fort Benning, Rick. Still an option," Shane tried.
It didn't work at all. Rick's gaze was still on the camera. "On what? No food, no fuel. That's one hundred miles," Lori said.
"One hundred and twenty-five. I checked the map," Glenn said uselessly.
"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now," Lori snapped.
Rick was trying to calm everyone down as the kids started to cry. "We'll think of something," Rick said.
"Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's go. Please," Shane said, turning around and called to the rest of the group. "All right, everybody back to the cars. Let's go. Move."
People began to turn around and move back to the cars, but Rick stayed planted where he was. "The camera. It moved," Rick said, calling back to us.
"You imagined it," Dale said.
"It moved. It moved," Rick said, thoroughly convinced now. He was now walking up to the doors.
Shane merely shook his head and walked up to Rick. "Rick, it's dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down," Shane said, trying to pull Rick away.
As the two were arguing over the, camera I turned to the walkers and began to take them down one by one. I had replaced my magazine twice already without making a dent. There had to be nearly twenty walkers heading towards us, probably more. And more would come with all of the noise that we were making. There was no way that we were getting out of this with the limited manpower that we had right now.
"Shit," I muttered.
I could hear Rick pounding on the doors and shouting behind me. "Please, we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children. No food, hardly any gas left. If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please! Please help us. You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!" Rick shouted at the doors.
We were going to die here. We couldn't fight through the walkers and no one was in the CDC. Daryl was right. This was the wrong call. "We have to go!" Daryl shouted, running up and pulling on my hand.
He was tugging roughly, desperately trying to get me away from the doors. But just as I was about to follow him I heard an electronic hiss. Turning back, I saw that the doors that led to the CDC had opened. Blinding white light made it nearly impossible to see inside. With no other option but to go inside, I ran into the building, shouting for everyone to move behind me. It seemed after I said that everyone came running in. It was either that or a useless fight with walkers.
We were all standing nervously, waiting for whoever it was that had let us in. Just as we all got situated, Daryl pressed up against me. He still made me want to rip his head off from time to time but, at the moment, I knew that I was more afraid than I had ever been before. So I pressed myself back against him. A moment later the doors slammed shut behind us and we were surrounded with darkness.
A/N: Another edited chapter down. Let me know what you think! Until next time -A