When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was…the ceiling. My eyes darted around in their sockets as I looked around the room. It was nice and bright and…my pain was gone. I felt so much better than I did before. I was so confused. Am I dead?

I slowly sat up in bed. Where's Daryl? Everything was extremely quiet. Then again, it usually is, but not this quiet.

I hopped out of bed and slowly opened the door. Peeking out, I did not see anyone. I walked the rest of the way out of the room and down the hall. "Daryl?" I called. No answer. What's going on? Where is my brother?

I finally found him outside sitting on the porch. "Daryl?"

He whipped his head around and looked at me. "Le?" It seemed as though he couldn't believe his eyes. "Le, what are ya doin'? Why ain't in bed?" He got up and stood in front of me.

"…I-I feel better." I stammered. He just stared at me. "I'm serious."

"You ain't playin' games with me now?"

"No! I swear! I'm just as confused as you are! I don't know what's goin' on neither!" I exclaimed. He was looking at me funny. Then all of a sudden, he felt my forehead with the back of his hand.

"Not warm at all." He nodded. "What the hell's goin' on?"

"I don't know." I put my head down. There was a brief pause then my brother hugged me tightly.

"I'm so happy yer okay."

A few days had gone by and I was still feeling okay. I was worried all the time, though, because all I could think about was getting sick again. That happened before and I'm really dreading it happening again. But for right now, I was good. So, best to moved on with our lives.

"Well, I'm goin' on a run." I said to Daryl. I grabbed my gun and put it in its holster.

"Hold up." My brother stopped me. "What do ya mean yer goin' on a run?"

"I'm just gonna go look fer some stuff." I stated. "I won't be long and I won't go too far."

"Where ya goin'?" He pressed.

"I said I won't go too—

"I heard what ya said. But I wanna know where yer goin'?"

I sighed. "Just around the block, I guess."

He was silent for a moment. "Right there, that's the deal. Got it?"

"Okay." I nodded.

"Just holler if ya get into trouble. I'll hear ya."

"All right." I nodded and walked out the door.

I checked in a few houses down the street. I found some food and some supplies we needed. I was surprised that I was able to find anything at all. It's getting harder and harder to find things.

As I was making my way back home, I walked through a small field. Well, it wasn't supposed to be a field. I think there was a house there that got torn down right before the turn. The grass grew over and now it looks like a field.

I heard a walker and looked up. There was one making its way over to me. I quickly pulled out my knife. Right when I was about to stab it, I felt a stiffness in my arm. "Ah." I cringed. I almost dropped the damn knife. The walker grabbed onto me and we fell to the ground.

"Come on, ya dumb arm." I tried shaking it out, but it wasn't working. Finally, I was able to stab it in the stomach, ripping the fresh all the way up and the blood poured all over me. I pulled the knife out and stabbed it up through the jaw. It finally went limp. I laid there catching my breath.

I finally pushed the walker off me and got up. I looked down at myself covered in blood. "Gross."

"I'm back!" I called as I walked in the door. "I found a bunch 'a stuff, too." I started setting the items on the table. "Batteries…flashlights…more canned food." I giggled. I looked over and saw my brother just staring at me. "What?"

"Ran into some trouble I see."

I looked down at my blood-covered clothes. "Oh yeah. It was just a walker. My arm got all stiff on me fer some reason."

"Yer arm?"

"Yeah." I answered while looking at my arm. "I don't know." I went back to the supplies I just found. "Check it out. Mac' n' cheese." I giggled.

"Yeah, so I was thankin'…now that yer better. We should find a different place to stay."

"What's wrong with this one?" I asked while moving the cans and stuff around.

"Well, it's just…we usually don't stay too long in one place and…it's probably all infected with yer germs."

"Okay sure, Daryl. We can leave."

"Ya want to?"

"Yeah, whenever ya want." I smiled. And so it was settled.

We stayed that night in the cabin then moved on first thing in the morning. We traveled to a town called Geneva. A lot of the area was farm like so we found ourselves a nice farmhouse to stay in.

We have been here for about a week now. Everything has been going pretty well and I haven't gotten sick again. Daryl and I were out on a run today looking for a few certain items.

"Ya find anythang good?" My brother asked me.

"Not really." I replied. "There's these stale candy bars." I giggled.

"Better than what I found." Daryl said. "Oh, I forgot somethin' in the car. Go ahead in."

"All right." I walked into the house and just put my bag down and took my jacket off. Walking into the kitchen, I noticed the back door was open and there was glass on the floor. I slowed up. "Daryl." I called. Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. I gasped.

"Quiet, little girl." A man said.

"Don't touch 'er!" My brother yelled from behind us. The man spun us around.

"Don't do anything stupid." The man said. "I'll kill her." The man and my brother were just staring at each other. I was suddenly overtaken by emotion and thought about all the bad that's happened, all the way up to me being very sick. Suddenly, an anger arose inside of me that I didn't know was there. I elbowed the man in the stomach as hard as I could. He grimaced and dropped his guard. I pulled my knife out and angrily stabbed him over and over again in the stomach.

Finally, he dropped to his knees with blood grossly coming out of his mouth then fell to the floor dead. I stood there panting. It took me a while to calm down, but when I did I looked at my brother and he had an expression like no other. It was pure shock. I just walked away and sat on the couch in the living room.

Hours passed with neither of us saying anything. It was now dark outside and I felt better. Calm I mean. I have no idea what happened back there. I guess I just got sick of everything and took it out on that guy. Daryl got rid of the body soon after it happened.

"Sorry." I finally spoke. My brother just looked at me. "I don't know where that came from."

"I just, uh…never saw that from you before."

"Yeah, I know." I put my head down. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me." He came over and sat next to me. "Ya okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all right." I half smiled. "Are you— Suddenly, we heard a noise outside and jumped up in unison. Daryl made a gesture for me to go around the other way. I nodded in return and I made it to the kitchen before he did. There was a man outside, he walked right into the house.

"Paul!" He yelled. "You in here?"

"Don't come any closer!" I yelled with my gun pointed at him. Daryl came around the other way with his crossbow up. We had him cornered.

"Whoa! Take it easy!" He said with his hands up. "I'm just looking for my friend. Have you seen him?" I glanced at my brother.

"Yeah, he tried to kill my sister so we killed him." Daryl said.

"What? He's dead?"

"That's right. And if you don't do what yer told then you'll end up just like 'im." I said.

"Look, I don't want any trouble. I just wanted to find my friend. I can go and…" While he man was talking, Daryl gave me a signal so I hit the man in the back of his neck with my pistol and he passed out. Daryl hurriedly tied him up and put him in the other room.

I would have helped my brother, but I started not to feel so good. "Oh no." I said to myself. I walked into the bathroom and leaned over the sink. I puked. "Great." I was feeling hot and dizzy just like before. I think I'm getting sick again.

I slowly and weakly made my way out to Daryl. I saw the guy tied up on the floor, he was starting to come to. "Daryl?" I said. He emerged from the living room.

"There ya are." He said. "I was lookin' fer ya." I didn't say anything, I leaned on the table to help hold me up. "What's 'a matter?"

"…I-I thank I'm sick again." I said. I stumbled a little. Daryl quickly came over to me and caught me then walked me over to the couch. I laid down breathing heavily.

"It's okay, Sissy." My brother pushed my hair back. "Just relax, okay?" All I could do was nod.

"What's wrong with her?" The man asked.

My brother ignored him. "I'm gonna get ya some water."

"Please." The man said again. "I used to be a doctor. I can help you, but I need you to tell me what's wrong." Daryl just stared at him. "Look, just trust me, okay? Just tell me."

"…she's been real sick." My brother finally said. "Like this."

"What are some of her symptoms?"

Daryl sighed. "I don't know…fever, pain, headaches—

"What kinda pain?"

"My muscles and joints." I said weakly. "Everythang just hurts."

"What about swelling?"

"Yeah." I said. "And I'm always super tried and feel like I cain't breathe."

"She also had a weird rash on her back." Daryl stated.

"What did it look like?" The man asked excitedly. "Was it like a bull's eye pattern?"

My brother and I shared a look. "Yeah." I finally answered him.

"Did you have a tick where the rash is? I think you have Lyme Disease." The man stated. I gave my brother a horrified look.

"Yeah, she did have a tick." Daryl shook his head. "There's no way, though, she's fine."

"She doesn't look fine to me." The man said. "I can help you. There's an old medical shelter just up ahead and I think they'll have what you need. If you just untie me I can—

"No!" My brother yelled.

"Look, do you want her to die?" The man snapped. "Because that's what's going to happen if you don't get her help now!" They just stared at each other for minute.

"Let's do it." I said. "I trust 'im."

"No." Daryl said again.

"Too bad fer you!" I snapped. "I'm the sick one, not you and I'm willing to try!" I panted. "I'm the one who has to deal with it not you." My brother glared at me.

"Guess it's settled then." The man said. "Do ya have a car?"

The three of us were on our way to this medical place that the guy was talking about. My brother had to carry me to the car because I was so weak. I laid in the back while the guy drove. Daryl held him up the whole time waiting for him to make one wrong move.

"My name's Kenneth, by the way."

"No one gives a shit." My brother said. "Just drive."

"Nice to meet ya, Kenneth." I said weakly. "I'm Le and this is Daryl."

"Pleasure." He said.

We arrived at the place and the man pulled up to the building and parked. "You stay." My brother told me. "We'll go inside. Yell if anythang happens." I nodded. They hopped out of the car, Daryl still had his crossbow pointed at Kenneth. I laughed weakly. I watched them until I couldn't see them anymore.

I laid back weakly and breathed. It was starting to get bad again. It's getting harder and harder to breathe. "Just relax." I told myself. "They're gonna be back soon and you're gonna get better once ya take this medicine." I swallowed hard and breathed out. "I just hope they get back soon." I laid my head back and closed my eyes.

I heard the car doors being opened and jolted awake. "What?" I said. There were walkers coming out of the building.

"Go! Go!" Kenneth yelled to Daryl who was behind the wheel now. He started the car and quickly drove away. "That was too close."

"What happened?" I asked weakly. "Did ya get it?"

"Yeah." Kenneth said breathing heavily and smiled. "Here, sweetheart. Take these." He handed me two pills. I put them in my mouth and swallowed them with a gulp of water. "You should feel better in no time now."

"Gee, I hope so." I said.

"Yer gonna be okay, baby." Daryl reached back and grabbed my hand. I smiled and leaned back.

I was feeling better by the time we got back to the house. I hopped right out of the car and up the stairs. "Someone looks better." Kenneth said laughing.

"I feel so much better!" I said excitedly. "Thank you! Thank you so much, Kenneth!"

"You're welcome." He chuckled. We all walked inside. I noticed that Kenneth looked somewhat pale and a little sweaty.

"Take it easy, Le." My brother said. "You remember what happened the other times you was sick then got better. Ya got sick again."

"Yeah, but now I have medicine!" I said with glee. Then, I realized something. "Say, why did that happen to me?"

"That's the bad thing about Lyme Disease." Kenneth said. "It's hard to detect until it gets really bad. You could have the symptoms for years and not even know it. It'll just sneak up on you. You were one of the lucky ones."

"You can die from this?" I asked wide-eyed.

"Yup." Kenneth said.

"Wow." I looked down. I was one of the lucky ones.

"You can stay with us." Daryl said to Kenneth.

Kenneth was quiet for a while. "No." He said shaking his head. "I won't be here much longer."

"What do ya mean?" I asked him. He lifted his shirt revealing a bite. My eyes went wide. "You mean…"

"I got bit." He said sadly. "I got bit."

Daryl and I shared a look. I put my head down for a moment and thought. "That's why ya wanted to help us, cuz you was bit. It was meant to happen. You helped me and now we're gonna help you." I smiled. "Ya don't gotta be alone when it happens." Kenneth paused for a minute then smiled back at me.

Kenneth got weaker and weaker as the night went on. Daryl and I stayed right by his side the whole time. We owed it to him. "Thank you." He said. "Sorry to be a burden."

"No, thank you." I smiled. "Ya saved my life. I'm just sorry I cain't save yers."

"That's okay, sweetheart. Better for me to die than you." He smiled. I got tears in my eyes.

"Sorry fer knockin' ya out." I giggled. He chuckled, too.

"Man, thank you fer savin' my sister." Daryl said and put his arm around me. "She's my world, and it's okay." He nodded. Kenneth returned his nod. He grimaced and laid back.

"Kenneth, you okay?" I asked frantically.

"Oh yeah." He said. "It just hurts sometimes." I gave him a sad look. He eventually fell asleep and didn't wake up.

We buried Kenneth that day. This incident…this amazing thing that happened kind of changed me. There's still good people out there. We killed his friend and he saved me. If Daryl and I would have just killed him like we were going to from the beginning, then I would probably be dead eventually.

I put the last shovel of dirt on his grave. "Thank you, Kenneth. I won't forget you."

Please review and let me know how I'm doing and how you like the story!