I sat back in my chair, the heat of the fire warming me as I had my nose buried in my book. Books were an escape for me, a coping mechanism if you will. A way for me to forget about every bad thing that was happening, and at that moment, I could think of about a million bad things that were happening or had happened prior to the moment I was in.
To put it into perspective, I was sitting in the mountains of Georgia with my mom and some other survivors, living there. It wasn't some fun family camping trip with friends, this was our permanent residence at the time. And the reason I called the other people I was with "survivors" was because a lot of other people didn't survive in the major crisis that took place. Some virus that had spread like wildfire, emitting almost immediate panic across the United States, maybe even worldwide. The symptoms of this virus. Death. And then coming back to life. But not as what you once were. You came back as simply a shell of your old self, who you were was gone and replaced with one goal. Feeding on other humans.
My mother explained this all to me when we got off the road and into this camp. She said she didn't want me to have to face the harsh reality, but it was most likely for the best. She wanted me to be ready just in case I ever came into contact with one of the human like creatures. We never planned on me getting close to one, we thought we would have been saved by the government earlier on, but that hadn't happened. So we just stayed in the mountains and prayed that help would eventually arrive.
To say that I was scared would be an understatement. I was only 12 years old and pushed into this new terrifying world that I had no clue how to navigate. I had lost my dad and my brother, and my mom was the only family I had left. Losing them was like losing a piece of myself. One thing getting me through this was my newfound bestfriend, Carl Grimes. He was a kid my age at the camp, and even though there were other kids there, me and Carl clicked immediately. We bonded over the loss of our fathers, even though his had been shot before any of this had happened, but we still connected over the pain. We had a similar sense of humor, had a lot of the same interests, and we loved to hang out together. He had a love for comics and I had a love for books. We were the perfect duo as our moms would say.
Carl was a bit taller than me, his eyes were a striking blue and his hair was a simple brown, just like his moms. Freckles dotted his cheeks, and we always pointed out the fact that we matched because I had freckles too.
Carl, Carl's mom Lori, and Carl's father's best friend Shane all sat around the low campfire with me. They chatted together as Lori cut an annoyed Carl's hair and Shane cleaned his gun.
"Delilah!" Carl's excited voice drew me from the words on the page. I came back to reality, my hand clutching at my butterfly necklace that my mother had given me on the highway, when everything was just starting. It had been a few months since then, but the memories were still clear as day. Trauma sticks with you. "Delilah, Shane said he's gonna take me to catch frogs! You need to come."
"Catching frogs? What for?" I questioned, shutting my book while my finger was still bookmarking my spot.
"For eating, apparently." Carl grinned, turning to Shane to confirm. Shane gave him a slight nod.
My face twisted at that disgusting thought, a laugh escaping me. "That sounds nasty, but maybe I'll come."
"It's okay, we can catch the frogs, you don't have to." Carl smiled brightly at me. "I just want you to come."
I smiled back at my best friend, nodding. But the moment was soon lost as a blaring alarm began coming up the mountain. It sounded like a fire alarm or something, sharp and irritating. I watched as Shane jumped up from his seat, going straight to action.
Shane was a cop who worked with Carl's dad. He was tall and tough, and was like a leader figure for our group.
"Talk to me Dale." He walked towards the RV that the older man stood on top of, looking through a pair of binoculars.
Dale grimaced, the bright sun blaring as he stared through the binoculars. "I can't tell yet."
"Lilah." I heard my mother call, and I looked over to see her holding her hand out for me to come take. I stood up, dropping my book on the chair I was sitting in and running over, slipping one of my hands into hers and using the other hand to grip her shirt as we walked closer to Dale.
"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy, a woman from our camp questioned.
I wondered too if it could be them, them being the people who had gone out on a supply run in the city. A few people had gone which was rare. Usually, it was just a man named Glenn who did the runs. He always went alone, knowing the layout of the city like the back of his hand. We were getting worried about the group on the run. It had never taken this long, and just a little bit ago, someone from the group came through on our radio, saying they were trapped. Amy's sister Andrea had gone too, which was why she was standing with a worried expression, one she'd been wearing since her sister left.
"I'll be damned." Dale said in a low tone as we stood waiting to hear what was being seen.
"What is it?" Amy asked, becoming more and more fidgety by the second.
"A stolen car is my guess." Dale answered, pulling the binoculars away from his face and staring at where the car would soon drive up to the camp.
I shuffled closer to my mom as we walked up to stand next to Carl and Lori, watching as a bright red sports car drove recklessly up the mountain and to the camp. The car door swung open, a familiar face stepping out with a wide smile. It was Glenn!
"Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" Dale yelled as I let go of my mother's hand and took off in Glenn's direction.
"I don't know how!" He yelled back, his head turning to see me running towards him. He held is arms open as I raced into his arms, right into a big hug. "Hey Delilah!"
Suddenly, chaos ensued. Shane was yelling at Glenn to pop the hood of the car, Amy was asking a million questions a second about her sister, the car alarm was still blaring in our ears. Glenn let go of me, throwing his hands up in defense and sliding into the front seat, popping the hood of the car and stopping some of the commotion.
"Yeah, yeah, she's okay!" Glenn tried to calm down Amy who was still freaking out.
"Why isn't she with you?" Amy asked frantically as Jim pulled something out from under the hood of the car, thankfully stopping the alarm. It was finally silent aside from Amy's questioning and I had some room in my brain to think. "Where is she? She's okay?"
"Yes!" Glenn yelled, Amy finally being satisfied with that answer and going silent "Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much."
I looked over at Glenn, his face distorting into a slight frown after that sentence. He looked over at me, pulling me back into a side hug. The thing with me and Glenn was that we were really close. He had always been so kind to me, bringing me back books from his runs and always asking me about what I had read. He taught me how to skip rocks on the water and we had rock skipping contests together, which he would always win. He would even sing songs with me while we took walks around the camp. He reminded me of my older brother, Nick in many ways. I was just glad that he took the time to hang out with me.
I was worried about the part about Merle, knowing that his brother, Daryl, was not going to be happy if he got back from his hunt and found out something happened to him. Daryl was another member of our group, although he was pretty independent. He was rougher and tougher and stronger, or that's what he told Merle anyways. Merle was kind of just an asshole.
"Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here? You trying to draw every walker for miles?" Shane leaned on the car, anger evident in his voice. Definitely not a smart move on Glenn's part.
"I think we're okay." Dale responded, glancing around.
"You call being stupid okay?" Shane looked back at Dale.
"Well, that alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Dale explained, causing me to nod. I hadn't even thought about that, but I was sure he was right. Shane glared back at him though, not having the same idea as me. "I'm not arguing, I'm just saying." He turned back to Glenn. "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?"
Everyone turned towards Glenn who had a "deer in headlights" look, awkwardly standing there. "Sorry. Got a cool car." He perked up, motioning to the bright red car.
We stood in silence for a moment, nodding as he was kind of right. It was still very stupid though. Then, a cube van started pulling up, averting our attention towards it. The others must've been back!
I heard the back of the cube van open, Andrea hopping out and locking eyes with her sister. A bright smile appeared on my face as I heard their happy screams, running into each other's arms. Jacquie came out next, followed by Morales, his kids and wife calling out to him happily and hugging as well. Then came T-Dog. All of this was really sweet and I was happy for the reunited families, but I couldn't help feeling a tinge of pain as I knew I would never get to see my dad or brother again.
Glenn patted my shoulder, and I turned, trying not to cry and starting to make my way back to my mom who seemed to have noticed my sadness. Her face was full of sympathy as I came to stand beside her, leaning into her side. I looked to see Carl also in tears, and my heart ached for him. I wish we could all have our families.
"You are a welcome sight." Dale said joyfully with a laugh, hugging Morales. "I thought we had lost you folks for sure."
"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked, and I wondered the same. We all really expected them to not come back, especially after hearing them come through on the radio saying they were trapped, but here they were with only one casualty.
"New guy." Glenn answered. "He got us out."
"New guy?" Shane questioned, his brows furrowed. I also looked around confused, wondering who this new guy could be. Was he still in the van?
"Yeah, crazy vato just got into town." Morales said with a smile. He turned back towards the van. "Hey helicopter boy! Come say hello."
My eyes landed on a brown haired man in a cop outfit, his hands on his hips, looking up at our group. Then I noticed his face totally change. His eyes began to water. I looked around, trying to figure out what was going on, and then I had a suspicion.
"Dad!" Carl yelled, running to his dad and crashing into a hug. My suspicion was correct, a huge smile growing on my face as I watched them fall to the ground together. Then they met up with Lori, having a big family hug. They stayed like that for a little while, and I knew that that feeling must've been indescribable. I was so happy for Carl and his mom and dad.
A part of me just wished that I could've also felt that indescribable feeling.
…
A/n – Hello! I really hope you enjoyed the chapter! Make sure to favorite, follow, comment, all the good stuff. I love seeing people's feedback! I know it's not super interesting right now, but it'll get a lot better as we get further into the show! My update schedule for now is at least one chapter every week, but if I miss a week a really apologize! I have school and work, but I try to write as much as possible. Anyways, see you next week, lots of love 3
