Chapter 7 – Maddy's POV (I think I'll continue with Maddy's POV for a while now…)
Carl pokes my face until I wake up, I rub my eyes and notice it's still dark. "Our shift now." He mumbles, sleepily. I see Daryl and Jet going back to their sleeping spots so I get up and follow Carl out to our little watch area, which is separate from the others so we can talk and they can sleep.
"Have any interesting dreams lately?" I ask, forcing myself to be wide awake.
"No, but I've had a fair share of nightmares…" he replies. I've had nightmares as well, about the Governor, Mike… Carl. In one of them the Governor forced me to shoot Carl otherwise he'd shoot me, the first couple of times this dream occurred I watched Carl die. But the most recent time it happened I chose to shoot myself, and that's when I woke up. In another, Mike is tying me up and saying rude, scary things but every time I wake up I can never remember what he said.
"What about you?" Carl asks.
"Mainly nightmares too," I reply, keeping it at that.
We watch silently for another couple of minutes and then I remember to ask Carl something. About what I did to Mike.
"Carl, I know what I did to Mike was crazy but I-
"It's OK. I would have done the same thing, he deserved it," Says Carl as he cuts in with a menacing glare, not glaring at me but just at the memories of Mike, I guess.
I nod and stare back at where I was watching. As time passes I grow sleepier and soon I feel myself drift off, I try to stop it but I was already gone.
I wake up later and it's day time, no one is around and I notice how bright everything seems. I don't remember ever being carried back into my bed, but I guess it was either Sam or Carl, maybe Jet. I get up and open the door, still no one is around.
"That's strange…" I mumble. "Hello!?" I shout and I hear my voice bounce of the walls of the empty corridor, echoing eerily.
No answer
I step out into the corridor and as soon as I do I hear a shuffling sound, a rotten smell and a long, sick groan. Three groans, no four different groans. Up ahead I see a group of walkers, slowly making their way over, bit by bit.
"Guys! Walkers in the corridor!" I shout, but still no reply. Now they're too close for comfort and I notice that I'm not carrying my dagger. I remember where I left it, beside my bed so I go to open the door but it's stuck. I pound at it, twist the knob furiously but it still doesn't budge. I turn around and I see a walker, a lot closer than before and I recognise the face… Carl.
My horrifying screams fill the hospital, it reaches out to every room, every nook and cranny. I feel tears splash down my cheeks as I notice Sam… Chelsea and Jet too.
Daryl? Where is he?
I run further down into the corridor but every time I look back they're still at the same length. How could they, I'm sure I'm running faster than them. They're not even running! I run harder, faster but they get closer with every step I take. I stop and they stop, I run and it's like I'm running backwards.
What the hell is going on?
"Daryl?" I yell, hoping I hear his voice. He has to be here somewhere, please don't let him be a walker!
I decided to run into the walkers, if they're getting closer with every step I take forward then I should go backwards? It seemed the right thing to do at the time and besides, I was going to be dead any second now. Might as well get it over with, so with great bravery I slam myself into the pack of walkers but as soon as I feel their cold grip and tattered clothes they disappear, like they were never there.
"Daryl?" I shout again but when the word escaped my lips it came out as a groan. I spot Daryl coming closer and closer, a loaded crossbow. Aiming at me?
I feel happier than ever before and I stumble over to him, almost tripping over my numb, tangled feet. Daryl's eyes concentrate for a moment and then I hear the snap and woosh of the crossbow being shot, and I feel the pain in my head. My body falls to the ground and I hear blood-curdling screams and recognise them as my own.
"Hey, Maddy! Wake up!" I hear Carl's voice and I blink my eyes open. Oh my… It was just a dream. Only a stupid dream…
I look to Carl and he looks worried. My mouth is slightly open and my eyes are wide, I feel sweaty and too hot. "It was…It was just a dream…" I hear myself say.
"Wanna talk about it?" he asks, nicely.
I shake my head so vigorously that I feel as if I'm trying to shake the nasty nightmare out. "Why did you let me sleep?" I say, angrily. "We're supposed to be on watch together."
"I thought you needed the sleep," Carl says, shrugging his shoulders.
"You don't get to decide when I sleep and when I don't. Besides, I wouldn't have had to live through that nightmare!" I shout, just a little too loudly. Carl's eyes drop to the ground and he mumbles and apology. Immediately I regret snapping at him so I grab his hand and he looks at me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's just… You don't have to care about me all the time, you should try caring more about yourself. You're just as important as the rest of us." I say and he nods. "Here," I pull him down so his head is in my lap, "Go to sleep for a while, I can take watch."
"You sure?" He asks and I nod so he closes his eyes shut. I watch him breathe steadily for a while and then play with his long, brown hair. He smiles as soon as I touch it, hopefully it will help him fall asleep quicker and maybe he will have a good dream or none at all.
Time passes and I still play with Carl's hair. My hands are always fidgeting so I focus on stroking his hair, it was soft and shiny. I twirled around my finger a couple of times and watched his face twitch occasionally. Then his eyes flutter open and as soon as he sees me he smiles, and I smile back.
"Were you stroking my hair the whole time?" He asks.
"Yeah, I guess." I reply
"I didn't know it felt that amazing." He says jokingly and I watch him stand up, then he proceeds to help me stand.
"Ugh, my legs are cramped." I say, feeling them ache painfully. I massage my legs hardly and groan as I stretch.
"It's time for Chelsea and Sam's watch." Carl says as he drags me back inside. He carefully wakes both of them up and I find myself stumbling sleepily over to my blankets. But I forget that there are other people sleeping in this room and I trip over a body and half land on him.
"Crap," I mumble and the body groans and soon I hear a laugh.
I turn my head and see Jet's face, smiling at mine.
"You're such a klutz, please don't tell me you tripped over me while going to your bed?" he says.
I nod and he laughs again. I roll off of him and lay on the floor beside him.
"You gonna get up or just stay there the whole night?" he says and I remember that my bed is at the end of the room.
"I'm too lazy," I groan and whack him in the stomach.
He yelps and says, "What was that for!?"
"I don't know, I just felt like hitting you." I say, giggling. I'm way too overtired, I kind of feel a little drunk.
"Shut up," moans Carl and we both laugh again. I get onto my knees and bid Jet goodnight, then I stumble over to my bed and pull the blankets over me. I could still feel the hard, cool ground underneath the bottom blanket, but it wasn't too uncomfortable.
Later I wake up after another bone-chilling nightmare and I spot a person staring at me.
Jet
"Are you all right?" he asks in a whisper.
"No, I had another nightmare." I grumble and he beckons for me to come over to him. I crawl over and he suggests that I sleep with him since sleeping beside a person lessens the chance of nightmares. I agree because I can't stand the nightmares anymore, I think that if I have another one I might just vomit.
I crawl under the small blanket and curl up against his warm body. I hear his heartbeat which helps me fall asleep faster. Yes, this may seem an inappropriate thing to do with a sixteen year old boy but I really hated the nightmares, I needed sleep if we're travelling tomorrow and Jet doesn't seem to mind. His arm wraps over my shoulder and pulls me in close, I wasn't sure whether he was doing it in his sleep or not. At first I felt nervous and uncomfortable, heck, I've never done this with an older guy but then I remember he's only trying to comfort me so I finally drift off to sleep and dream of nothing. Not one single thing.
"Wake up you two, we got a lot of ground to cover by today." Says an older voice that belongs to Daryl. I open my eyes and remember that I'm beside Jet, who is still asleep.
"Mhmm," I reply, stretching my arms. I sit up and rub my eyes, everyone's only just woken up but Carl seems as though he's been up for hours. I wave to him and he nods back, not really focused at all. I feel Jet sit up and I instantly slide sideways so we're no longer touching and he yawns.
"Good morning," I mutter, stand up and then walk over to my bed. I gather up all my stuff and shove it into a backpack I had found earlier. I slip it on and walk out with the others, Jet following behind. I wish I could hang out with Chelsea more, but she's so occupied with Sam that it's like I don't exist.
We follow Daryl down a road for a couple of hours before we stop and start snacking on our remaining food. But we don't eat all of it of course.
I open a packet of chips and eat slowly and I watch the others. Daryl must feel crappy and annoyed that he has to look after us teenagers and having to mourn Carol's death would definitely be hard. Chelsea and Sam sat close together, talking quietly and laughing, wrapped in each other's arms. How could they do stuff like that when we're all going to die!? But then it hit me, maybe that's the reason they're doing it. We're going to die sooner or later, why not just decide now whether or not you're feeling love? The risk of dying is a lot higher now so it makes sense, I guess. I look over at Carl, just focused on eating. I wonder what was up with him, is he also sick of all this crap we've had to go through in the past weeks? He catches me staring and my eyes flicker away. Jet is sitting alone but out of the corner of my eye I just make out his body, his face and I notice that he's staring at me. Is Carl… jealous?
I stuff the rest of the chips in my mouth and stare at the floor, but hear footsteps pounding closer. I see the shoes and recognise them as Carl's, I look up and he smiles a little.
"Hi," I mutter, looking away.
"I'm sorry for ignoring you; I don't know what came over me. But, are you okay?" he says, with his cute nervous voice.
"It's OK. Sometimes we have to have space from others to deal with our problems. But you know, you don't need to be alone forever. And I'm fine, I guess. So much has happened that it's still processing through my mind. I wonder who else we lost…" I reply, my sentence trailing off.
"Aaargh!" someone screams and drops to the floor. Wails and shouts come from everywhere and so do the deathly moans of the dead. We're being attacked by walkers, not just three or four but more than a dozen.
I see the body slumped onto the floor and someone crying over it, Sam. I've never seen him cry and the only person he'd be crying for is Chelsea. I drop to the floor as I watch Chelsea's dying face turn pale. My best friend, the one I could talk to about everything, girl issues, gossip, anything. As I see her eyes close, I know she's gone. And I just have to accept it. I get up and run over to Sam, pulling him to his feet.
"No! Let me go, I want to be with her!" He screams, shoving me away and I roll onto my side. I feel a prickle of pain and notice a walker on my leg, attacking me. I shove it off and then stab it through the head.
I limp over to Sam and pull him, drag him away from the mess of walkers and blood. I see Carl in the distance, running away. I slap Sam in the face and his eyes widen. That's when I fall to the ground unconscious.
A/N; RIP CHELSEA- You will be missed, I'm sure. Next chapter will focus on the mourning of Chelsea and maybe the group will be reunited again? I don't know, read on to find out though! Oh and you'll find out something REALLY IMPORTANT, about Maddy, IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT OF THIS WHOLE FANFICTION. So please don't stop reading now! You'll find out more of Maddy's past as well as something that might give you a heartattack, SORRY IF IT OES, I DON'T MEAN TO KILL PEOPLE! ;D Bye for now! x AND SO SORRY FOR THE REALLY LATE UPDATES IN THE PAST, SCHOOL HAS STARTED AGAIN AND ITS REALLY PRESSURING AND YEAH