Hey all! Here is Chapter 8 of "Something New". I would truly appreciate comments and reviews if you are reading. I would like to know what people like and don't like! This chapter Blake gets a little closer to the group! Enjoy!
Chapter 8
Daryl was shocked to say the least. He had kept his eyes open for this girl since he ran into this group.
"Blake?" he asked back, wondering if it was really her. He scanned her body, checking her for any bites, but it seems the only blood on her body was the black goop from the walkers.
"Yeah. Wow. I didn't think I'd see you again," she began saying to him, still on the ground. "Where have you been?" Blake asked without hesitation, with annoyance in her voice. She immediately regretted asking.
"Tryni' to survive and shit," Daryl retorted.
"I thought you didn't have a camp. You just left me and my brother out there?," she snapped at him
"You don't know nothin'. How about some gratitude for saving your life again!" he snapped at her. He then stormed off in the other direction. He mumbled under his breath, "Stupid bitch".
He was not in the mood for some bitchy broad. He had enough on his plate since he returned empty-handed from Atlanta. Well…he had a hand. That was all. He immediately didn't want anything to do with this girl and stormed off in the other direction.
Blake got on a knee and pushed herself back on her feet. Shooting daggers into the back of the redneck's head. Maybe I could have approached that a little better, she thought as she made her way over to her brother.
"Jesus Christ, Bea. That scared me to fucking death. I couldn't get out, I had gotten trapped. I'm so sorry," Tanyon said, bringing her in for a hug. "Stupid mistake, leaving my gun. So stupid. We both could've gotten killed," he said.
"No, Tanyon. Don't think like that. We're still here. We both are," she said to him soothingly. They all nearly died. There was no sense in putting blame on anyone else, especially one self. She lightly hugged her brother and gave him a smile. "We're ok," she said as she gripped her only family a little tighter.
Bake and her brother were able to camp out in the RV that night. Dale was extremely kind and didn't mind one bit that they took up some space in his tight RV. Besides, Andrea hadn't left Amy's side all night. Blake could feel the tension within the group, they were all nervous that Andrea was going to crack when her sister finally…came back. That could have been Tanyon last night, sitting on the ground by my lifeless body. Having that picture in her mind made her stomach roll. Blake let her mind linger away from the horrible fact that Andrea had lost her only sibling, her only family left.
The soft glow of the morning sun started to come over the horizon as it lit up another summer sky. There were soft white clouds becoming visible as the last remnants of night began to disappear behind the curvature of the earth. Blake rubbed her eyes and looked over at her brother. He was able to sleep. Lucky bastard. Blake didn't get a wink of sleep…she couldn't. The nightmares were too horrible to deal with it at times. They plagued her mind when she woke up. Now that her hopes and dreams have been destroyed, her nightmares could easily become realities.
It was going to be a beautiful day, but of course a hot one. Blake was already feeling her skin get hot and it couldn't be any later than 6AM. Blake decided to leave the RV to see if anybody was milling around the camp. By the time she had gotten her self up and around her sleeping brother, she was stepping outside into the mugginess. Looking around she realized only a few people couldn't sleep that night. Shane was still up from what she could see, also Dale and a few other survivors she hadn't had a chance to meet yet. It was quiet but there was chatter amongst the group.
Blake stepped off the RV and into the hazy, groggy Georgian air. Some people were already up. "Hey, new girl!," a voice called out to her. She turned around to see an adorable Asian boy with a baseball cap approaching her.
"Hey," she responded, watching him as his eyes scanned her body. He looked up at her and got slightly red.
"My name is Glenn," he said as he stuck his hand out. She giggled and went in for the handshake.
"Hi, Glenn. It's nice to meet you. My name is Blake. But, you can call me Bea," she said.
"Glenn, she didn't even give me her nickname, you already got the in," Shane elbowed him in the side, making him turn even redder. Shane chuckled a bit then went back to the grim task of moving bodies into a pile. Blake's smile faded when she saw the death around her.
"They were really good people," Glenn stated, the smile that complimented his cute face dissipating. "If we had been back earlier we could've saved more people," he said, looking around the camp then down where Andrea laid with her sister.
"No one is ever ready for it, Glenn. I hope you don't put to much pressure on yourself," Blake said as she put a hand on his shoulder. Glenn looked down at her and gave her a small smile and walked off to help with the bodies. When Glenn approached Shane's side, Shane turned around and called Blake over. Perfect, he was who she was looking for at first anyways.
"Hey Blake, listen. Last night was not what we were expectin'. We're assumin' they are migrating out of the city," Shane said,
"They probably ran out of food," she said grimly, looking down at all the rotting corpses they had dragged over.
"Me and my partner, Rick, are discussing what to do from here, but I think we both agree, and the camp will agree, that we should start to move. We can't stay here any-"
"I understand. It's a graveyard now," she said sadly as she glanced over at Amy. "Listen Shane, me and my brother had stashed some supplies before you found us yesterday and we have a camp about 5 miles from here. We have a small amount of food and some ammo, nothing much, but it's something," Blake said.
"Do you think you'd be able to grab all your things and be ready to go by tomorrow morning?" Shane asked.
Blake nodded. "Definitely. We will help you with your loved ones today then we'll head to our camp."
"Thank you, Bea that's much appreciated," Shane said as he smiled down at her. Another man approached Shane wearing a Sheriff's uniform:
"Hey, so I talked to Lori, T-Dog, and Dale and they're on board with heading out tomorrow. As a group we're going to have to discuss where we're going though," he said. The officer then realized that Blake was in the middle of a conversation with Shane and spoke, "I'm sorry, Miss. I wasn't paying attention. I'm Rick Grimes, you are?"
"My names Blake Carter. You can just call me Bea though," she said.
"Well, welcome to the group, Miss. Carter. I know you were here last night when we were attacked, thank you for helping. You unknowingly protected my son and wife and I truly appreciate your efforts. You just got here and could have chosen to not help us. Thank you," Rick finished.
"Please, don't even, Mr. Grimes. Don't thank me for what needed to be done," Blake said as she shook his outstretched hand.
"It means everything," Rick said and smiled at her.
"I don't know if you have met her brother yet, but he's with her. They have supplies back at their old camp site. About 5 miles out. They want to run back and grab whatever they can before we head out tomorrow," Shane told Rick.
"That sounds good. After last night though I don't know how comfortable I feel sending two of you out on your own," Rick said as he looked around. "I'll try and find somebody to assist you on the trip to your things. If not, I'll volunteer myself to help you guys out. Have you met Glenn?"
"Yes, I have. He's a nice guy, I wouldn't mind taking him with me," Blake said. She was eager to get to know somebody in the group but more eager for the hands to help her and her brother.
"I'll talk to Glenn and maybe I can convince Daryl too-,"
"No, no," Blake said a little too quickly, causing Rick to raise an eyebrow at her. "I'm sure me, Glenn, Tanyon, and Shane can bang this out," she said as she looked over at Shane.
Shane shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure, I can tag along. I'll talk to Glenn then," he said. "After we bury the dead, we'll hit the trail," he said, looking at Blake and giving her his handsome smile. She could feel her face get a little warm as she turned to face Rick.
"Do you mind if I ask Glenn?," she asked. A little uncertain of whether he or Shane holds authority around here.
"I'm sure he wont't turn ya down. Just be safe out there," Rick said to her.
"I do my best," she replied.
Rick then squeezed Shane's shoulder and looked at him then made his way over to Lori and Carl. That's when it hit her. Oh my god. That's what Shane and Lori were discussing in the woods. That's a hot mess. She did not want to dip her toes in that problem. Rick seemed like a very sweet guy, what a shame. Atleast he's with his family again and Lori was very quick to shut down whatever advances Shane had made, at least as far as Blake knows.
After the burning of rotten corpses and the burial of those who passed in the previous night's attack; Shane, Glenn, Blake, and Tanyon started their journey back to the RV. The sun was at its highest when they first started their trek back to the siblings camp. Thank god for the shield of foliage that kept their skin from burning to crisps.
"Hey, Bea," Glenn called when he decided to make his way up front.
"Hey, Glenn," she spoke with a smile on her face.
"It's crazy how you guys have been up here as long as us. I didn't think we had any neighbors," he spoke
Blake chuckled, "Yeah. I definitely didn't think there would be a whole camp full of you guys a few miles away. I like your quarry, it's huge compared to the one near our camp."
"How did you end up finding us anyways," Glenn asked. By the tone in his voice, Blake could tell he was just curious.
"I just happened to run past this quarry. I really shouldn't haven't been out that far, but I was in a mood. I happened to hear the kids in the water. I just…I just couldn't believe I could hear children's laughter. The last things I have heard are screams and the sounds of nature," she said, still kind of surprised that she was getting along with a member of the group already.
"Yeah, one or the other. Or absolute silence. Now-a-days I wonder which is worse," Glenn said.
Blake could only nod in agreement. To continue conversation for the trek she asked Glenn a question too. "How'd you find yourself here with everybody? Like where were you?," she didn't have to elaborate or say the unnecessary. Glenn knew exactly what she was asking.
"I was in Atlanta. I had just gotten back from a morning class that was near downtown. I had a place that I shared with my roommate and I waited hours for her to come back so we could get out. By that time military and police were trying to push their way into downtown. I don't know. I think they started shooting the living, to be honest. It really started to be complete chaos. I ended up having to leave, because my roommate never showed up. I found Dale and his RV right outside of Atlanta right before they started napalming the streets, and everyone kinda just gathered from that spot on the highway," Glenn finished his story.
"You guys already seem a very nice people,' Blake said when he finished off relaying his journey to her.
Glenn continued to really open up to Blake about life at the camp so far. They had been surviving for a while till they had to make a run. That was where Glenn found Rick in Atlanta.
"And to top that all off, before we even initiated any plan to get out of the city, Rick had to handcuff Daryl's brother, Merle, to a metal pipe. I'm pretty sure Merle was high,"
Shane interrupted, "It is highly likely that trash was doped up."
Blake caught the harsh tone in his voice toward Daryl's brother. It comforted her to know that other people thought he was douche-y too.
"T-Dog, I don't know if you've met him yet, but he accidentally dropped the key down the drain. Daryl nearly had an aneurysm when the news was broke to him," Glenn said as he described the day vividly.
"And that's why you went back, isn't it?" Blake asked.
"That's exactly why they went back," Shane began as he and Tanyon remained in step behind Blake and Glenn. "They had to save that redneck asshole from what he had comin'. He didn't work well with others, it also kept them from being here when the camp was attacked," Shane bit.
Glenn hung his head in shame with probably what were thoughts of last night and the guilt he felt. All those lives were weighing on him and Blake knew that. "That's not fair, Shane. Don't put the blame on him or them. This world is unpredictable now. That could've happened if you guys went on a food run," she said as she looked over her shoulder towards Shane.
"Well, it was neither of those. It was for that prick," he said again, his anger subsiding but his annoyed tone left little to the imagination about how he felt.
"You're right. They didn't go back for medicine or food, they went back for something more valuable. One of your group member's lives. I'm assuming he wasn't that bad, he couldn't have been much of a threat. Because I'm sure I heard somebody talking about poppin' a cap in someone's ass if they threatened anyone in the group," she pointedly said, shutting down Shane immediately for putting that dark cloud over Glenn's head. The world was shitty enough without putting the guilt of others lives on someone's shoulders when they had nothing to do with their deaths. Sure, things could have happened differently, but they can't live their lives off what if's.
Shane grunted and continued to look around, avoiding Blake's gaze before she finally snapped her head forward to focus on what was in front of her. When she brought her eyes up she caught Glenn looking at her. He smiled warmly at her and she did the same. She walked up next to him and elbowed him in the side. He chuckled and they continued walking till Tanyon spoke for the first time.
"The shed with our things should still be up ahead, we'll grab it on the way back so we aren't lugging it everywhere," he said.
"Alright," Blake responded as they continued the journey to the camp.
