Ann was shaking when she managed to get herself to stand up. She looked over at Jim who frowned sadly at everyone else.
"I remember my dream now."
Ann looked past him and saw Amy bleeding to death from a bite to her neck. Ann made her way over to Andrea who was trying to talk to her sister calmly. Ann had hurried up after grabbing some clothing and pressed it onto Amy's neck. Andrea just looked at her blankly before she went back to talking to her sister.
"Ann can't ya do anything for her?" Carl asked wanting to believe that everything could still end well.
"Kid, we didn't exactly cover Zombie bites in Med School." Ann bit out through her tears. Ann checked Amy's eyes and noted the glassy gaze that looked over at her briefly before looking back her sister. She heard Andrea but she couldn't focus on the words she was saying to Amy. She was too distraught to find that she couldn't fix this. "Ah don't know what ta do!" Ann admitted with a sob. "Ah just don't! Andrea I'm SORRY!" Ann sat on the last step of the RV as Amy's life dwindled away. Ann pressed her face into the side of the doorway listening to Andrea's heart wrenching cries for her sister.
Ann finally looked around after ten minutes and took stock of the medical procedures that needed to be taken for contaminated objects. She approached Rick and Shane who watched her worriedly.
"Ann…"
"We need ta burn the bodies. Anything they came in contact with." Ann stuttered slightly holding her arms around her chest. Her body was shaking and her skin tone was even more pale than it had been. "We…." Ann stammered to a stop. "Eitha make sure the ones that got bit don't come back…" Ann muttered again. "Precautions." She ended knowing she wasn't making much sense. 'Ah'm probably goin inta shock.' Ann thought to herself.
Rick saw his sister's eyes. Something happened to her eyes. This wasn't the sister he grew up with. Her eyes were too empty. She would've passed for a Walker but he knew she was breathing. It's just what he saw deep in her eyes was that she was utterly broken. He looked over to Shane who mirrored his own expression. They were both on the same page with this: They probably had lost her. Considering everything that has happened she had always coped in some way or another. Something had happened when they were Atlanta or during the shit hitting the fan. Whichever thing it was whatever it was had swallowed her soul up chewed it up and spit it back out.
"That's a good idea Ann." Shane nodded trying to sound encouraging but he just got a blank look in return. She nodded back at him and walked to the edge of camp. "Hey where you gonna be?" He called to her and she barely stopped to tell them one word.
"Elsewhere." She muttered and kept moving.
Daryl looked around while they had started to pile the Walkers on the fire and didn't see one particular person. He approached Shane with his trusty crossbow in tow.
"Hey! Deputy dipshit! Where's Ann?" He snapped acerbically trying to hide his worry.
"She went for a walk." Shane muttered hating his nickname.
"AND YOU LET HER?" Daryl glowered at the taller man. "After what the fuck just happened ya let her go off alone?" HE stormed off into the woods ready to bring her back kicking and screaming if need be.
Daryl had circled all around the camp perimeter and still couldn't find any trace of her.
"Now that jus ain't possible…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Should be some kind of clue. Ya cain't jus disappear inta thin air!" He muttered out loud.
"Unless if Ah'm in the trees…" Came a broken voice from above.
Daryl looked up the tree he was beside and saw Ann just sitting on a thick limb.
"Now how'd the hell ya get up der?" He asked annoyed. "I tried ta git up der earlier this week but lost mah damn footing!"
"Try the ladder next time." Ann mentioned drolly and Daryl blinked in confusion.
"come again?" He asked incredulously. She then pointed to the batch of branches that oddly enough looked like a ladder but not a ladder if that made sense.
Daryl climbed up slowly being careful not to slip and kill himself. It'd be just his damn luck survive the apocalypse and get himself killed falling out of a fucking tree! He'd never live it down! Well then again he wouldn't live it down because he wouldn't be alive. Daryl rubbed his eyes dislodging the insane monologue.
'I gotta git more sleep. I'm gitting too logical and shit.'
Daryl finally found a spot beside Ann on the limb. Another limb was slightly above that one and she was leaning her head on folded arms.
"So what're ya doin up here?" He asked taking in her appearance.
"Thinking…" Ann admitted drolly and Daryl had a flash to the first time he asked what she was thinking about.
"About?" He asked worriedly hoping she wouldn't say 'going home' like last time. This wasn't the best place to pin her.
"I killed her." Ann sighed sadly and hiccupped on a sob.
Daryl was only a little confused it wasn't like Amy had been killed by her own hand.
"Amy was dead ta begin with. What with her gitting bit and all…"
"Not her." Ann stated simply. "Trudy."
"Oh her. Why you say that?"
"She wasn't dead and I killed her…" Ann stated trying to fight off her sobs.
"I don't quite follow ya darlin…"
"She was being ripped apart by those fucking things! I put a sharp stick in her head before she was dead…OH GOD I KILLED HER DARYL!" Ann sobbed harshly and almost lost her balance. Daryl reached out and caught her before she fell.
"What Ah said bout Amy, stands ta reason tha Trudy was already dead. She was bit right?" Ann nodded sobbing softly. "Then ya didn't kill her. Jus a matta o time fore she turned. Ya let her die without the possibility that she'd come back and take us out as well."
"I've never killed anyone before…" Ann looked over to Daryl who gave her an understanding sad look. "How do ya do it?" She asked him quietly.
"Ah try not ta think bout it much. Cause if Ah do, be sure I'd freak out more. It don't git any easier princess. Wish Ah could give ya rose glasses but It'd jus be a lie. Way I see it, they ain't the same that they had been. When they come back, so Ah figure it's okay ta send them back where they belong…"
"Yeah…" Ann sighed tiredly.
"We should be gitting back ta camp. I'd rather yer dimwit brother and Deputy Dipshit not find us holed up in a tree…"
"Why Daryl Dixon don't tell me yer afraid of Rick and Shane…" Ann finally felt a smirk on her face.
"Hell no! More worried about those fucking guns they got now." Daryl helped Ann out of the tree. "Come on let's git." They walked back into camp holding hands until Ann realized that Jim was cornered by Shane and Rick. They lifted his shirt up and Ann paled at seeing the bite mark on his side.
"Oh no…" She moaned in despair.