Carol helped Ed back to their tent to clean them up and we finished the laundry. After we were done hanging them up to dry, Amy and Andrea used Dale's fishing stuff to go fishing in the quarry.
I decided to go on top o the RV with Dale with Jamie next to me.
"Do you mind taking watch for a while?" Dale asked me.
"No problem." I replied, taking the binoculars and the gun from Dale.
"Thanks." He replied before going down the ladder.
I watched him walk away towards the hill and I used my binoculars to see what Dale was doing. I saw Jim digging. What was he doing? It was really hot out, he must be tired and thirsty.
A few minutes later, Amy and Andrea walked over with a bunch of fish.
"Oh, baby. Will you look at that?" Morales said, walking over to them and grabbing their fish. "Ladies... because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you."
"Thank Dale. It's his canoe and gear." Andrea replied.
"Mom, look at all the fish." Carl said. "Whoa."
"Yeah, whoa. Where did you two learn to do that?" Lori asked.
"Our dad." Amy answered.
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Carl asked.
"Sure. I'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff. If that's okay with you." Amy replied.
"You won't catch me arguing." Lori answered.
I looked over and saw Dale heading over to us, "Hey, Dale. When's the last time you oiled those line reels? They are a disgrace."
"I, uh, I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem." Dale said.
He pointed in the direction of Jim and everyone watched. Everyone decided to go up there and see what Jim was doing, but I stayed behind to put Jamie down for a nap. A few minutes later, Shane had Jim's arm around his back, walking him over to a tree and tying him down to cool off. About thirty minutes later, Jamie was awake and he was learning to write with Lori and Carol who were also teaching math to Sophia and Carl. I stayed on the RV so Shane and Dale could talk to Jim. A while later I watched as the kids walked with Shane and Carol to go clean the fish. I looked in the mirror in my tent, and I had a bruise on my cheek. It's not nearly as bad as what Ed got.
That night we had the best dinner yet. I had to help Jamie cut his fish and Morales asked Dale about his watch.
"I see you everyday, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass."
"I've wondered this myself." Jacqui said.
"I'm missing the point." Dale replied.
"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." Jacqui responded.
"But there's you everyday winding that stupid watch." Morales said.
"Time- it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least." Dale replied. "Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here."
Andrea shook her head and took a sip of her beer.
"I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it'."
"You are so weird." Amy said after a few moments of silence and we all laughed.
"It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." Dale replied.
We were silent again and Amy stood up, "Where are you going?"
"I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here." Amy answered before walking to the RV.
Jamie yawned and I picked him up to go to bed. I moved his hair out of his eyes, "We need to get you a hair cut soon."
He shook his head, "No."
"Yes." I replied.
"No." He argued.
I started walking toward the tent when I heard Amy scream. I turn around and saw a walker bite her arm. Everyone stood up and started screaming. I ran with Jamie in my arms to our tent and grabbed my gun. I shot the walkers that got near us.
I looked back to make sure Jamie was behind me. Someone ran behind me and Jamie and I got separated.
"Jaime!" I yelled.
"Mommy!"
There was a walker coming up behind him. I tried to shoot it, but my gun was jammed. I smacked it a few times.
"Jamie look out!" I screamed.
I watched as an arrow went into the walker's brain and I saw Daryl pick up Jamie.
"Come on." Daryl told me and we ran toward the RV.
He shot the walkers that was coming toward us and once we got to the RV, there were no more walkers.
"You okay?" He asked me, setting Jamie on his feet.
I nodded before checking Jamie over.
Shane told us to get some sleep. Carol and Sophia's tent was covered in Ed's blood, so I gave my tent to them. I sat next to the fire, watching Andrea who was sitting next to a dead Amy. Jamie was sleeping against my side with a blanket around him.
"You should get back to your tent." Daryl said, sitting next to me.
"Sophia and Carol's tent had Ed's blood all over it. I let them take mine." I replied.
"Come on." He said, helping me stand up.
I grabbed Jamie before following him to his tent. Daryl unzipped it before helping me inside since my arms were occupied. I set Jamie on the cot and covered him up more with the blanket.
"Daryl."
"Hmm?"
"Thanks." I said.
He nodded before leaving. I grabbed his blanket before using his bag as a pillow. I couldn't really sleep, though.
Not many people survived. There was Rick, Carl, Lori, Andrea, Morales, Miranda, Eliza, Louis, Shane, Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, Jacqui, Carol, Sophia, Jim, Dale, Tyler, Jamie, and I. We lost around ten people, Amy being one of those ten. That night I cried for her.
The next morning I woke up and Jamie was already out of bed.
"A walker bit Jim!" I heard Jacqui yell.
I ran over and some of us gathered around Jim.
"I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim said.
"Show it to us." Daryl demanded.
Jim turned around and grabbed a shovel.
"Easy, Jim."
"Grab him."
"Jim, put it down. Put it down."
T-Dog ran behind him and grabbed his arms. Daryl ran over and lifted up his shirt, showing the bite mark.
"I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim kept repeating.
We had him sit behind the RV while the group talked. Well, everyone but Andrea. And the kids.
"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." Daryl said.
"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked him.
"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl answered.
"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale said.
"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick replied.
"I'm not suggesting-"
"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick interrupted
"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be." Daryl replied.
"What if we can get him help?" Rick asked, "I heard the CDC was working on a cure."
"I heard that, too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane responded.
"What if the CDC is still up and running?" Rick questioned.
"Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane commented.
"Why? If there's any government left, and structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they?" Rick replied. "I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection, a rescue."
"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." Shane said.
"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori commented.
"That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." Shane finished.
"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance." Rick replied.
"You go look for aspirin, do what you need to do." Daryl said, "Someone needs to have some balls of this damn problem!"
Daryl ran towards Jim and raised the pickaxe,
"Hey hey hey!" Rick yelled, pointing his gun at Daryl's head. "We don't kill the living."
"That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head." Daryl replied.
"We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down." Shane said.
Daryl put the pickaxe down and started walking away.
"Come with me." Rick said, grabbing Jim's arm.
"Where are you taking me?" Jim asked.
"Somewhere safe."
We all left to do our own things. I decided to go see Andrea.
"I'm sorry." I whispered, sitting next to her.
I looked behind me and saw Dale walking towards us, "I came to pay my respects."
"Did I ever mention how I lost my wife?" Dale asked after sitting on the other side of Andrea.
"Cancer, wasn't it?" Andrea answered.
"Yeah. I dragged her to every doctor, every test. And after all the surgeries and the chemos, she was ready. She accepted it, you know? But I never could. And I spent the last few years so angry. I felt so cheated. Since she passed, you three girls were the first people... that I cared anything for." Dale said.
We looked at Dale and smiled. We watched as Andrea pulled out red wrapping paper in a shape of a square.
"This is her birthday?"
Andrea nodded, "Her birthday was always like a week long affair. But I somehow always missed it. I was away at college or too busy for kid's parties. She'd call all excited. I always said that I'd make it home and I really always meant to, but I never made it past that phone call."
"I know things are hard enough for you without adding guilt into the mix, huh?" Dale replied.
Andrea unwrapped it and it was a mermaid necklace. I knew Amy would have loved it. Andrea took the necklace and fastened it around Amy's neck.
"She would've loved it." I told Andrea before giving her a quick hug and leaving to go grab the laundry from the clothes line. I just finished folding Daryl's when I saw Amy moving her arms. I watched Andrea talk to her as Amy tried to bite Andrea. Apparently everyone was watching.
"I love you."
I flinched when Andrea pulled the trigger.