Chapter 8

I wake up to the sound of Carl's wails and Jet's sobbing. What the heck was going on?

My eyes open fully and Daryl puts his hand underneath my head, I feel a tear drop onto my cheek.

"What's going on?" I say, looking to each of their faces. Sam is over on the other side, quietly sobbing to himself.

"You- You've been bit, Maddy," Daryl says, his voice cracks and starts to cry again.

A quick flash back occurs as I remember before I met Carl. The attack, the basement, my near death. I remember to the last time this happened and I sit up.

"No, you don't understand." I say, and they all shut up. "There's something I haven't told to you guys… Something that's probably really important."

"What-c-could be so important?" Carl asks, through sobs.

"I've been bit before," I say, shoving my arm forward, revealing the scar. It was wonky but healed over. It felt like years ago that it had happened, but really it was only a couple of weeks before Carl found me. They all stare at my arm, shocked.

"When Jet and his group of soldiers attacked my place, they let walkers loose into the house. I was hugging my brother and sister's dead bodies as one sneaked up on me and attacked. It only bit me once but I crawled down to the basement to hide from the others. And because I thought that when I turned, I didn't want to be munching away on my sibling's bodies." I explain.

"That's impossible!" Daryl says, "You can't be serious!"

"I am! I was too weak to get out of the basement by myself. That's why I hadn't been eating. That's why Carl carried me out. It all adds up, don't you see?" I shout, waving my hands in the air. "I don't get any fever of any sort; I just grow weak for a couple of days, like I have the flu or something. You have to trust me on this!"

I eye Carl as he concentrates, probably summing everything up. "How many days did it last before you felt better again?" he says.

"Three days."

"We'll tie you up and spend three days in a random house. We'll continue to feed you, but you won't go anywhere unless you need to go to the toilet, understood? We'll change shifts every hour to guard her." Carl says as he walks over to me. He pulls out one of our supply bags and winds the rope around my whole body, and then he duck tapes my mouth, so I can't chew or anything.

"Who wants to carry her?" Carl asks, and Jet nods. He lifts me into his arms and we set off, walking to a house.

Soon after we find a street, newspapers and rubbish scattered everywhere. Bins tipped over and house windows smashed. We find a house that is abandoned and not too smashed up. Whatever is open we board up, well, they board up and I watch from my chair. I know the next couple of days will be boring, scary and annoying. But if I want to stay alive I have to go through with it. When we have dinner my tape is taken off and Jet offers to feed me since they don't want to untie me. It's awkward at first but soon I just get it over and done with. He stays afterwards to talk for a bit before putting my tape back on.

"So, how you holdin' up?" he asks.

"Alright I guess, this situation is pretty shitty but I'll get through it." I say, sighing. This really was a shitty situation. Bloody hell.

I see Sam sit down, he looks pretty bad. His eyes red and puffed, and it looks as though tufts of his hair had been pulled out. He looks to me and gulps back his tears.

"Sam, I know you loved Chelsea. But now we have to accept the fact that people die a lot more in this world because-

"It's not that. I'm over her death, I was already prepared for it. It's you, I'm the one who shoved you to the ground! The walker got you because of my actions!" he says, cutting me off.

"Sam. When I was explaining to you guys that I'm somehow immune to the bites, I wasn't lying." I say, in a calming voice.

"You're still at risk." He says, and stomps away.

I sigh again and close my eyes briefly. Thinking about all the crap that has happened, re-living the memories in my mind. The Governor, the rapists, the hospital, the dream, Jet…Chelsea…Bites.

I feel a hand touch my face, lightly. I open my eyes instantly and I look into his eyes.

Carl.

I smile and he smiles too. "Look Maddy, I'm sorry I had to put you through this but it's for the best. It's not that I don't trust you…It's just we have to be extra careful about everything now. I can't lose anyone else."

I nod in response and he moves his hand up to my forehead. "No fever, nothing at all. By now you'd have one…Severe one actually."

The next three days come and go in a blur of time. Nothing interesting happens; everyone just sits around and waits. Waiting for my death or my recovery? I guess I'll never know.

"Alright, we can set you free now." Carl says as he unties me. I jump up from my seat and stretch, jump up and down and give Carl a big hug.

"I'm so glad I'm free again. Now let's set off to the others." I say as Daryl pulls me into a hug, then into a big group hug with Carl, Sam and even Jet.

We pack up all our things and set off down the road, Daryl up ahead.

"So you know where they are?" I call out.

"Yep, we planned it beforehand. If the bus had to go, then they'd go. But they would wait at the meeting place for a couple of weeks, wait for any survivors." He explains, reassuringly.

"That's good." I say.

I inspect my bite on my leg, it was big but not gross looking, not swelled up and it had started to heal over pretty quickly. I was definitely immune to it, but how could I help? Yeah, so I didn't have to worry about being bit and turning…But does that really make me feel better at all? While everyone else has to suffer the change, I can just run free?

"Did you guys ever think of going to hospital or something? I remember when they said that they were trying to make a cure for it, I could help that. Since I'm immune and all." I say.

"We did find one, but he blew himself and the hospital up on purpose." Carl says.

"What-

"Well, he said he had tried to find a cure but that apparently there was no hope. None at all." He continues, "So he committed suicide along with a member from our group…"

"Oh,"

We walked on further but my leg started to ache and I had to stop several times. I should be fighting the pain but I guess sitting down for three days made me weak again.

"We can't just keep stopping, we have to keep going." Jet says, "Get on my back, I'll carry you."

"Oh-okay," I say, stuttering a little, remembering back to the night he comforted me.

No, he's just being nice. Stop being so hormonal and get over it.

I climb onto his back and we walk onwards, no conversation between anyone. I guess we just wanted to get there as soon as possible. Soon I fall asleep, listening to the trees sway and the sound of footsteps, breathing and the breeze on the back of my neck.

"We're here," Jet says as he wakes me up by lifting me down. I lean on him for a few seconds and then he grabs my arm, dragging me forward. The meeting place was a big house, abandoned of course but surrounded by trees. It was a mansion! It had a white picket fence, bomb shelter and a basement. Three levels too, it was massive.

I rub my eyes sleepily as we walk in, happy shouts of greetings and hugs come all around. I spot each face, Maggie, Glenn, Beth, Hershel, Rick, Tyreese, Michonne and Sasha. I greet them all, plus a few little kids from Woodbury but I only recognise Lizzie. Judith is alive and well too, thankfully. I watch the bright smile spread across Carl's face as he holds her, laughing and smiling. I haven't seen him so cheery since we were at the prison.

I notice Daryl talking to Rick alone and I suddenly tense up. Is he telling him about my immunity?

Rick looks over at me, beckons me to come over.

"So, I heard you've been bit, twice now." He says, "How come you didn't tell me? This is important stuff you know." His eyebrows crease worriedly, he's always so anxious. His head angled to the side, staring at me.

"I didn't know how to say it and I didn't think you'd believe me." I mumble and he just continues to look at me.

"Okay, but next time you hide something as important as this I won't let you be with Carl anymore, OK?" He replies.

"I'm not with him anyway," I state, glaring.

"Don't you glare at me, girl. I have seen the way you look at him, and the way he looks back. You can't fool me; now go on ahead with the party. Us adults will be speaking alone." He says, then he rounds up the adults so I go hang with Sam, Jet and Carl. Lizzie runs off to her friends as they go upstairs, shouting and playing.

I feel different, I feel alone. Now that there's no Chelsea… I'm suddenly surrounded by boys. It sucks, a lot. I know Sam hasn't gotten over her death, sometime he just stares in the distance and takes a while to come back to reality. I don't blame him for missing her, he really liked her. That's why I can't show my feelings to Carl, what if I lose him? I can't imagine the pain Sam is feeling. I hope I never feel that pain.

"So… What's up?" I ask, glumly.

Everyone just mumbles or sighs, no one really cares anymore. I lay back on the ground while they sit on the couch. Right now I wish I could just sit down and watch TV with a bowl of chips like I used too. Or lay upside down on the couch and gossip to my friend over the phone. All that keeps me going is the memories I have and my friends now. Everyone is so… broken. I wonder if they think I'm a freak because I'm immune?

"I miss Chelsea." Sam says, and I smile. Not because she's gone but because he finally let it out. He finally admitted it and now he can finally accept it.

"So do I. Now I have no one to gossip too," I reply.

"Aye, what you talking about to her?" Jet asks.

"Sam," I say and smile.

"What!? Wha- What did she say?" he asks, stuttering and blushing.

I sit up and face Sam. "She told me once that she really liked you, before you guys got all cuddly. Then when you guys started to she told me how much she loved you and that she always will love you. She was glad the apocalypse happened because she would have never met you. Those were her exact words."

Sam stares at me for a long time and then he smiles. "I love her too," is all he says.

I stretch back onto the floor, laying on my back again. "I think we've gone through enough, maybe it'll stop now."

"Nothing will ever stop, it'll just keep coming." Carl says.

I hear the adults walk back into the living room so I sit up immediately and spin around to face them. They all eye me cautiously and this is what I feared. I didn't want to be treated any differently now that they know I'm…Different.

"We all talked about your…immunity. For now there's nothing either of us can do about it but if we ever can, we will." Rick says.

"Of course, just one thing," I say. He looks at me and nods to go on, "Can you guys treat me the same as before? I feel like you're scared or too cautious around me. There's nothing wrong with me."

"Of course," Rick says and everyone nods in agreement. Soon the adults who are in cooking duty make their way to the kitchen, guard duty goes up stairs and outside and us teenagers continue to hang out.

"Carl and Sam, could you go help out with us in the shed?" Glenn calls out from the back door. They both stand up and say a quick goodbye as they head out of the room. I stand up and sit down next to Jet on the couch, putting my arm on the arm chair and leaning my head on it, I started to think. If we ever did find someone who could make a cure because of me I wonder how they would do it? Extract some of my blood? Or what if I had to die to make a cure? If I had to die to save the world full of millions of people, I would.

"What's on your mind?" Jet asks, casually. I look up at him and notice his hair

"Oh nothing, just thinking how to save the world," I say, sarcastically. He laughs and then scoots closer to me, making me blush and feel uncomfortable again.

"How are those nightmares?" he asks.

"Nightmarish. Well, I just hate the ones where it seems so real and I have to watch everyone I care about die… You, Carl, Sam, Daryl… even Chelsea…" I say, letting it all out.

"You care about me?" he asks, surprised. His face was too cute, too cute to look at.

I look away and blush, "Well, yeah. Of course I do."

"Thanks," is all he manages to say, and then slides his arm around me.

But instead of walking away I lean into him and I feel… a lot better. I'm always thinking about walkers, people's lives, what could happen to us. But now all I feel is comfort and peace, something I haven't felt in a long time.

"You're hot," Jet says and I immediately push him away from me.

"Wha-what!?" I shout.

"You're cheeks were hot…That's what I meant…" he says, looking away.

"Uh-oh, okay. Sorry." I say, awkwardly and sit normally again. Jets arms rests back on his lap, no conversation between us seems to come to mind.

"Sorry for being socially awkward," I mumble.

He goes into a fit of laughter and replies, "That's OK, I'm socially awkward too."

I start laughing too and it seems we're back to normal. "Well, I guess we can be awkward together!" I say in between laughs. Jet smiles at me briefly and then in comes Carl and Sam.

"What you guys talking about?" Carl asks.

"Just how we're both extremely socially awkward," Jet replies.

"What did you guys have to do?" I ask, changing the subject. I didn't want Carl to think I was closer to Jet than I was to him.

"Just helpin' open up the shed and lift some stuff out," Sam says. I watch Sam as he sits down on the other couch, his eyes not so red anymore which makes me realise that he had bright blue eyes all along. Sam was actually quite attractive but I never even thought about him more than a friend and neither did he about me. His golden hair was scraggly now and oily, just like the rest of us. I only just notice at how tanned he's become, how funny. Why am I only realising these things now? Jet's only a little tan and Carl isn't at all. I look down at myself and see that I've tanned too.

The adults call us for dinner and we all file in, Lizzie and the other kids too. We eat together and then Carl and I decide to find a room for all us teenagers while Sam and Jet are on cleaning duty.

"How come they never give me any jobs anymore?" I ask as we climb the second staircase. On the third floor we find a couple of bedrooms but neither of us liked them.

"I don't know," Carl says as he shuts a bedroom door, "But don't worry about it, I'm sure it's nothing."

We almost start to go back downstairs when I notice a loose panel, I walk over to it and Carl stops walking. "I wonder if this could be a- I pull the panel right off the board and poke my head in. "A secret passage…"

"Awesome, let's find out where it leads too!" Carl says coming up behind me. I crawl through the hole and Carl follows. It's quite dark but I can still see everything in front of me. We continue crawling until I see a ladder in front of us. By now the ceiling has grown high enough for me to stand without hitting my head. We climb the ladder without conversation and soon enough, I push open the trapdoor at the top. We pull ourselves through it and look around us. A big room with a couple of beds and bookshelves, and a small window on the other side. I walk over to it and open it up, sunshine spills into the room making everything brighter and easier to see.

"This is perfect," Carl says, amazed. "I'll go get the others,"

"Can we…Just talk by ourselves for a bit?" I ask. I don't know why I was saying this.

"Sure," He nods and steps closer.

I study his face for only just a moment, grubby and tired. Everyone's tired, physically and emotionally. His locks of brown hair fall over his face slightly, sweat is formed up on his forehead and his green eyes look wary.

"How are you? I don't just mean it as a conversation starter –how are you, really?"

He looks uncomfortable for a moment and then looks at me, "I really don't know anymore. Lately everything feels so hard to do, way too much has happened over the past week."

"Yeah I know what you mean," I look away but I still feel him staring at me.

"I know you miss Chelsea, everyone misses Chelsea." He says, taking a step closer. "But you never grieved about her, and you know, it's OK to grieve about someone's death even if death is a part of an everyday thing now."
I look up at Carl, his blue eyes reflecting the sunshine that spills into the room. "It's not that I don't want to… It's just –why did Chelsea have to die? I'm just so angry, so angry that I can't even let my feelings out! What kind of world is this? Why the heck are so many people trying to survive in a crappy place like this!?"

Carl's lips spread across his face, giving a sad smile. "I asked that a lot when my mom died." He says, looking away. "But having all those feelings bottled up doesn't help anyone. You were the person I spilled everything to, you can always tell me everything."

Carl looks back at me, waiting for me to say something but all I can think of is Chelsea's cold, lifeless body slumped on the ground, being eaten by the flesh eating monsters that roam the Earth. Tears start to well up in my eyes and Carl's face becomes blurry, "I just wanted to live a safe, happy life." And then I lose it. I drop to the floor and hug my legs, keeping my face pressed against my knees. All I do is cry, and it felt good to just cry. The tears that streamed down my face were like letting my bottled up emotions go free. I dig my fingernails into my leg and feel the pain and I know that it's real. That I really am living a hell-like life.

Suddenly a warm, reassuring arm rests on my shoulders and I lean into Carl. Jet's hug felt peaceful but Carl's felt safe and strong. "Carl?" I whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being there when no one else was," I say and I feel Carl hug me tighter.

"You too," is all he says.

We stay together like this for a while until we hear a strange sound coming from downstairs. I immediately get up and so does Carl, his arm still around me. "What was that?" he asks, looking confused.

"I have no idea…" I say as I walk closer to the trapdoor, opening it up. I climb down the ladder and Carl follows, we crawl through the space and out of the hole. After Carl gets out I close the panel tightly, "Does it sound a bit too quiet?" I ask, looking around nervously.

Carl looks around and nods. So, we make our way downstairs all the way to the ground floor and we spot everyone outside, crowding around something. Before we go outside I look over and see Jet, Sam and the other kids crowded together, Sam looking weary and Jet looking at us, directly.

"What's going on?" Carl asks, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

Jet looks at us for a while before talking, "They're- they're thinking about someone's execution…"

I look to Carl and his eyes widen and look back at mine. "What the heck-
We run out of the house and Daryl turns around and blocks both me and Carl from going any closer. I push his arm but he's way too strong to back down.
"What are you doing?" I shout, "What's going on?"

"It's nothing, really. Just go back inside with Jet, Sam and the kids, OK?" Daryl says, pushing me back slightly.

Carl manages to manoeuvre around Daryl, causing a distraction which allows me to run full pelt into the group. Once I reach there I see a girl, sixteen or older. She had short, black, boy-ish hair and a cloth was wrapped around her eyes. She wore a loose tank top and ripped, dirty jeans.

"Georgia?" I ask, unsure if it really was the punk girl who hung out with me, who was a pretty good friend of mine, even though she was two years ahead of me.

Her head turns slightly, "Maddy?" she asks, almost looking relieved.

"Georgia!" I shout and run over to her, pushing past Beth and Rick, who tried to stop me from going closer. I reach my hand to her face and pull down the cloth that covered her eyes, which I remember were the colour of silvery-grey. Her eyes brighten as soon as she recognises me and I pull her into a hug.

"Maddy, get away from her," Rick says, in a stern voice, his hand on my shoulder trying to pull me back.

I snap my head around to face Rick, "Shove off Rick, she's my friend. Obviously I know her,"

His eyes burn into mine with anger, "Don't you tell me to shove off," he says, pointing his finger directly at me. "She was caught stealing from us!"

"So what? She's probably hungry!" I say, sticking up for Georgia. I turn to face her and she looks scared, her grey coloured eyes looking nervous. "Are you by yourself?"

She looks around again, "I-I- yes, I am." She mumbles, looking afraid. I turn to face Rick again and he glares at me. Then, out of nowhere he grabs my shoulder and shoves me to the side, causing me to fall on my butt.

"What the hell!?" Carl shouts, coming over to me. He looks wildly at his dad, "Are you mental!?"

I push Carl away from me, "I'm fine," and walk over in front of Georgia, facing Rick again. Daryl and Carl join my side and soon I spot Sam and Jet come over too. "I know she tried to steal from us but how many people have we stolen from? Let her join our group, she's already proven that she's got some skill."

Rick looks from me to Carl and he frowns. "Alright, fine but if she causes one slip up, one wrong move and she's out!" he storms away, not even bothering to ask her the three 'royal' questions that are so important to him. Why is Rick so –so scared of people ruining the group? Is he that nervous or is it because he's afraid?

Georgia gets up quickly and stands by my side, clutching on to my arm. "Thanks," she whispers only just loud enough for me to hear.

"No problem," I say, smiling at her and she smiles back. I lead her away from the crowd so we both calm down from all the excitement I guess. "So, how have you been going?"

She looks at me and tilts her head to the side. "You look like a badass. I remember when you were a quiet little girl, what happened to you!?" she says, jokingly. I laugh but realise she's trying to avoid the question so I narrow my eyes at her and ask again, "Seriously though, how have you been?"

"Uh –it's been really, really tough." She says, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "You know, killing already dead people that continually chases you just to take a bite out of you which then ruins your whole life because you turn into one of them and…"

"Guess it's a good thing I don't have that problem," I mutter, deciding I should just tell her since she'll probably hear it from someone else anyway.

She looks confused for a bit but then suddenly realises at what I'm implying and she stares at me, shocked.
"Yes, I can't turn into one of those…things." I state.

She raises her hands to her head and sighs. "That's…that's really great, maybe we can find someone who can study you and create a cure!"

"I hope so, I really do. I feel… kind of guilty for being immune when no one else is…" I mutter, looking away. "But if it means I can 'save the world' then I'll definitely try."

"A-actually," Georgia says, speaking up so whoever still stood outside could hear, "I met this doctor guy a while ago, said he was trying to find a cure. I remember where he's staying, in an old research lab or something. Maybe if we go-

"How would we get there? We only just formed our group after being separated. We can't all go." Hershel says.

"Yes but, if he really can create a cure, isn't it worth it?" I ask, looking at Hershel. He stares back for only a moment before replying.

"I guess, but what if he can't? What is he's as crazy as the other one that Rick was telling me about? You go out there and you risk your life. And not just your own but everyone else's who goes with you."

I look to Carl, Georgia, Jet and Sam and they all nod back at me.
"If it's to save the world we're willing to risk everything." Sam says, firmly. I smile inside; I never realised how trustworthy and spectacular these guys were, they're the best kind of friends anyone could ever have.

Hershel frowns and says, "Well, if you don't mind then I guess I don't but it's not me who decides remember. Rick is the one and I'm sorry but I don't think he'll be for it." As I hear this I remember Rick, like I had forgotten that he was the one who had to make all the choices. Hershel was right, even if we convinced him it's Rick who decides in the end.

"If he doesn't let us go then he'll have to remember how we could have put a stop to all this crap when he's breathing his last breath," Carl says and Hershel stays expressionless and walks away.

So basically this will be the focus on the next couple of chapters, hope you like it. :) x Oh and I hope you like sassy Carl, ahaha.