I woke up, but I woke up in pain. Sophia was still asleep on my shoulder, so I had to tend to my ankle carefully. Instead, I carefully moved Sophia's head against the window. Now I could completely tend to it. I took my shoe off and then move sock. It felt nice to let my foot breathe. My ankle did not look good, at all. It was a dark purple color. It was swollen and bruised.
"How's it?" Rick asked.
"It hurts. A lot." I responded. "It's swollen and it's purple."
"Oh man, that must be a serious sprain. That happened to me once and it hurt like hell." Rick told.
I felt a sudden burst of massive pain. I wanted to scream, but I let out a tiny screech.
"We're stopping, we have to take a look at that." Rick said.
"Gah, okay." I replied.
We pulled over on a highway interstate. Boy, was that a wreck. Cars scattered all across, some flipped over, and some corpses in them.
"Where are we?" Carl asked as he woke up.
"Highway." Rick responded.
Everybody got out, Rick helped me out of the car. I sat on the ground… in pain, and Carol came over to me to check on my ankle. Everybody else crowded around each other and talked to each other.
"Let me take a look." Carol said.
I showed her the purple, swollen spot. It looked worse than it was a few minutes before.
"Oh boy, that doesn't look good." Carol told.
"I know." I said back.
"It looks like they're all looking for supplies in those cars, I'll tell them to try and find something for you."
"Thanks."
She went off and I stayed in the same spot. I thought about what happened yesterday, at the CDC. I can't believe I thought about killing myself. Well, not just killing myself, but going out like that with Jenner and Jacqui. Even if I did want to kill myself, which I don't anymore, I'd rather do it on my own terms, around the people I care about. Well, I cared about Jacqui, but not Jenner. He was an ass. I'm glad he's gone. I also knew that wouldn't be what my parents wanted me to do. But, we all die eventually, quickly in this world. It hasn't even been that long and we're losing so many people. Mom, Dad, Amy, Ed, Jacqui, it's too much, too soon. But then, something else hit me. What if it was me? What if I was about to die? Well, I knew what it felt like to almost die, since I barely got out of the CDC in time. But what if I was bitten? Would anyone care? What would it feel like? Now I'm curious. I don't want to get bitten, but believe it or not, if I can get bitten and not die, I'd be up for it. I don't want to die, but I want know what it feels like to be infected. I… I've got to stop thinking about this. Thankfully, I felt something fall onto my lap, but it scared me. It was some sort of medical tape. I looked up.
"Wrap that around where it hurts, it's the best we can do." Daryl said.
"Oh, uh, thanks." I replied. "Daryl, can I talk to you?"
"I don't got long, but what's on your mind?"
"If I was… bitten, would you care?"
"…Listen here little man. I don't always open up like this, but you know Merle, right? When we went back for him in Atlanta? Yeah, he wasn't there. He was probably bit by now. I'm the only one left of my family, just like you. You probably feel the same way, but these people are my new family. As much as I hate some of them, I'm with them everyday. That means you too. But, I don't hate you. I like you, and I respect you. You're going through a lot of shit, I can't imagine what you're going through. And it'd really suck if you were… In short, yeah, I'd care."
"…Thanks Daryl."
"No prob, little man. Stay safe, and try not to walk on that."
He walked away. Wow, I really admire Daryl. I didn't think he was that kind of guy, so caring, and emotional, almost. I look up to him now. I took the medical wrap and used all of it to wrap it around my ankle. It was extremely tight, it hurt almost, but that would make it heal better, I guess. I got back up to a vertical base, and I hopped around, using the cars as support. I hopped over to Sophia, since Carl was with Lori.