Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, nor the storylines. And of course, I don't make any money out of this (although I really wish I did). I will be following very closely the storylines from the first 4 seasons (with some modifications, of course).
I do, however, own Becca, Ben and Mike.
Happy New Years to everyone! I hope 2015 is better than 2014 was to all of you!
Chapter eleven
The next morning, they all received a briefing by Shane on how to use the CB, and what to do if there was no signal.
Becca was sad when the Morales family said they weren't going to be joining them, but she understood why.
She joined Lori as she hugged all of the Morales family and watched as Louis gave Ben his ball cap. She put a hand on Ben's shoulder and went back to her spot, which was next to Daryl, giving him a look that meant don't say a word. She was pleasantly surprised when all he did was scowl when Rick gave Morales a gun and some ammo.
After the Morales family had piled in their car, she started walking towards the RV, only to be stopped by a hand on her forearm. She looked back, and saw the hand belonged to Daryl.
"You ain't goin' back in the RV" Daryl told her.
"Why not?" she asked him.
"No kid should be in the RV with Jim bein' there. I know you wanna help out, but I refuse."
Becca looked from Daryl to the RV, then to Ben.
"It's ok hun… I'll take care of it" Jacqui said, as if she had known what Becca was thinking about.
"Fine then" Becca shrugged." Where are we supposed to go then?"
"Goddamn it girl, thought I was bein' pretty obvious…"
Becca realised that he had meant for them to go with him. "Oh… Sorry…" Daryl walked to his truck.
Shane had been watching from a distance, and stepped up to Becca. "You know you can come with me, right?"
Becca turned around to face him "No thanks, we'll take Daryl's offer." She told him before she walked towards the truck, her arm around Ben's shoulders.
Becca made Ben sit between her and Daryl, as he was the smallest one of the three. Just like she had been when they had gotten out of the house. She had thought.
They kept on watching as everyone got into their respective cars, and eventually Daryl joined them. The caravan got going, and they waved a last goodbye to the Morales family.
Becca smiled as she looked down to Ben, who was now asleep on her shoulder. She then looked at Daryl, who was chewing on his thumb, something Becca had seen him do many times before.
"Listen… I want to thank you…" She told him. Daryl looked at her, surprised at the sudden noise.
"What for?" he asked.
"For saving me… well us last night" Becca answered. Daryl shrugged his shoulders and bit his thumb again.
"Figure you saved me enough… about damn time I returned the favour."
Becca nodded and looked back at the road, knowing the conversation had ended.
Becca was lost in her thoughts when she felt her eyelids become heavy. She snapped them open when she felt the truck slow down.
She looked at Daryl, who shrugged his shoulders and they both got out of the truck, leaving a sleeping Ben in it. Once they walked up to the RV, they heard Dale talk.
"I told you we wouldn't get far on that hose. I needed the one from the cube van." Dale told Rick.
"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked the older man.
"That's all it's been so far… it's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." Dale answered.
"I see something up ahead… gas station if we're lucky." Shane said while looking through binoculars. Just then Jacqui came out of the RV.
"Jim… It's bad. I don't think he can take it anymore."
Becca looked at Daryl, and then the rest of the group and made her way inside the RV behind Jacqui.
Becca sat down next to Jim and put her hand of Jim's forehead. She easily felt the heat radiating from it.
Becca grabbed the wet cloth that Jacqui had been holding out for her and put it to Jim forehead as Rick walked in.
"We'll be back on the road soon" Rick said to the trio.
"Oh no… Christ! My bones are like glass. Every little bump… God… This ride is killing me. Leave me here… I'm done. Just leave me… I wanna be with my family." Jim pleaded.
"I don't think you know what you're asking. The fever made you delirious more often than not…" Rick started.
"I know, don't you think I know? I'm clear now, in 5 minutes, I might not be. I know what I'm asking." Jim said.
Rick looked at Becca, who nodded, confirming that he was in fact not delirious.
"Leave me here. Now that's on me, my decision." Jim started. Becca really felt guilty that she hadn't taken care of him.
"It's not your failure… neither one of you" Jim said, as if he read Becca's mind.
Once Shane and T-Dog got back from the gas station, everyone met outside the RV to discuss the situation.
"It's what he wants" Rick stated.
"And he's lucid?" Carol questioned.
"He is" Becca confirmed "I made sure of it"
"So we just leave him here? And take off?" Shane said. "Man, I'm not sure I could live with that…"
"It's not your call" Becca answered. "Either one of us. It's Jim's…"
Shane and Rick nodded to each other before going inside of the RV to get Jim. Becca, Lori and Carol went back to the cars to get the kids, knowing they would want to say their goodbyes.
As Shane and Rick placed Jim against a tree, the latter looked up and saw the tree.
"Oh look… another damn tree." He mumbled, earning a smile from Becca.
One by one, everyone said goodbye to Jim, leaving Becca and Daryl for last.
"Well Jim… you sure you want this?" Becca asked.
Jim nodded before he spoke up "You take care of yourself and Ben. And take care of him, even though he doesn't show the need." Becca nodded, knowing who Jim had been talking about, even though he never mentioned a name. She turned around to walk away, wiping her tears, Ben following her.
Daryl had kept his distance. Situations like this always had made him uncomfortable, and today was no different. He looked at Jim for a few seconds when he was alone before nodding to the man in front of him.
"Take care of Becca, please. She needs a man like you in her life" Jim said before Daryl had completely turned around. Daryl never looked back to the man.
They all piled up in their respective cars, and once more they headed towards the CDC.
A few hours later, the caravan finally arrived to the CDC.
Becca looked on as she noticed the multiple dead bodies in front of the building. They all got out of their cars, the smell of decaying bodies hitting their nostrils.
They slowly made their way to the building, most of them gagging as the smell got stronger.
"Keep moving. Come on" Rick coaxed them.
It wasn't long before the made their way to the door, only to find it shut. Rick knocked on the doors as Shane tried to open them to no avail.
"There's no one here" T-Dog said.
"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asked.
Becca and Daryl looked at each other before looking back at their cars.
"Walkers!" They screamed together. Everyone then started to panic.
"Nice move" Daryl said sarcastically to Rick.
"He made a call" Shane said.
"It was the wrong damn call" Daryl retorted.
"Shut up!" Shane said as he pushed Daryl. He turned back to Rick, who was still focused on the steel doors in front of him.
"Rick, this is a dead end…" Shane told his best friend.
"Where are we gonna go?" Carol said as she hugged Sophia.
Everyone was now panicking and screaming at each other. Slowly, people started to make their own calls, most of them heading back to the cars. Everyone stopped in their track once they heard Rick scream that the cameras had moved.
Everyone had wanted to believe the sheriff, but at this point, the walkers were now too close for comfort, and they had to make their move quick.
"You're killing us! We've got women and children!" Rick screamed as Shane was dragging him away from the door. "You're killing us!"
Rick was just about to give up and turn around when the doors opened, revealing a bright, white light.
Let me know what you think!
Tasha
