Chapter 5

I felt myself keep fading in and out of consciousness, but I could still see everything that was going on around me. It would get blurry for a second, and then get clear, then I wouldn't be able to hear anything and then everything would be too loud. I felt like I was going to fall over even though I was sitting on an old milk crate. I didn't know where I was, or who these people were; I didn't trust them. I'd grown up not trusting anyone.

My first reaction was to get the hell out of there. But the guy that found me, he seemed; he seemed different. He acted like he knew Merle, like he as his friend of somethin'. This place made me feel uneasy and sick and I didn't like it. I could remember how many days it had been since I'd seen another person, or even spoke. But I wasn't scared, I was beyond that. I felt like an empty shell of a person, just like I had been before my dad was…

"Here, drink some water. You'll dehydrate, and we don't have the medical supplies to fix that." I looked up at the woman the guy that found me called Lori. She was very skinny, almost to skinny, and she had long wavy dark hair. She had a light smile on her face that brought me a little comfort. I took the bottle from her hands and drank it; all of it. When was the last time I even had water? I thought, but I didn't know. I remember drinking out of a creek bed a few days ago, and then a few days later it rained. I just couldn't remember and that drove me crazy.

"How long have you been out here alone?" the guy asked. He looked sort of Asian, but I couldn't really tell; my vision was getting hazy again.

"A while. Over a week. The city isn't safe." I said shaking my head, and I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. There were hundreds of them in Atlanta, walking around like they were alive. Men, women; kids. I had to kill so many people… But they weren't people anymore, and now, I was a killer. I felt like I was going to be sick, but I had nothing to regurgitate.

"Were you alone?" he asked. I wished he would just stop talkin' to me. My head hurt and I just wanted to go home. To be back in my bed again.

"I lost someone. He was taken from me," I looked up at him and made no facial expression, "he wasn't bitten, he was taken away." I looked away, then at the ground. "We thought it was help coming for us, but it wasn't. All I remember was taking his knife and stabbing three people then being knocked out and waking up with three dead guys wearing army greens around me. Merle was gone, and I was alone…" I trailed off; waiting for someone else to ask me a question that I didn't want to answer. Lori and the Asian kid looked at each other, like they knew something; something that I didn't. "What?" I asked, nearly demanding the answer.

"Was he your friend long? Merle, that is." The other guy asked. I got a weird vibe from him; he didn't seem sympathetic like the other two, like he only cared about the answer I was going to give him and not about Merle at all. I winced starring him down, wanting him to look away before I did. I broke first. Shit.

"Yeah, him and his brother were all that I had growing up. They were my neighbors, and took me in when my dad," I almost told them the truth, but I didn't, "When my dad died." I got goose bumps thinking about him, and I was glad that he was gone. "Why?" I asked him scrunching my eyebrows together. I could hear other people talking, it sounded like two guys but I could've been wrong.

"Rick, can you get her some more water please? She needs to keep hydrated in her state." Lori said handing Rick my bottle. My eyes followed him as he it from her hands and stood up and left. I didn't trust him, not in the least. "He means well, he's been in a coma for the past few months. He's really only just adjusting to this life." I didn't look at her as she spoke; I kept my eyes on Rick until he was out of sight.

Shane walked around the back of a big red SUV and trotted towards us. He then stood in front of me, directly with his hands on his hips and rocked back on his left foot changing his height from 5'7 to 5'5. He looked at Lori who looked away from him then back at me. I waited for him to say something but he didn't; he just stared at me. It was uncanny. Something moving behind him broke my stare from him. My vision was still blurred from the sun exposure but I could've sworn that I knew who it was. No, no that can't be him… could it?

I tried to stand, but I staggered; Shane grabbed my hands to keep me from falling on my ass. I tried so hard to focus but I just couldn't. I rubbed my eyes and widened them, he giggled but I ignored him. I wanted so badly for it to be who I thought it was, if only I could see. Suddenly everything around me got really bright and I really couldn't see anything. I knew what was happening and I couldn't stop it from happening. I was having another heat stroke. I didn't know if my eyes were open or closed what I knew for sure was that I was blinded by the sun.

"Get her on the ground!" a man's voice said. I could feel my body moving in slow motion, like I was moving threw water. "Hand me that bottle," I felt something cold on the back of my neck, then run down my back. I think it was water. The last time I'd had a heat stroke I was working on the roof of the Dixon brothers' house. I fell off and woke up in the hospital with a broken leg and a fractured arm. Merle was so pissed at me, and Daryl; he was just pissed that I did a better job fixing it by myself than he did with help.

They continued putting water on me and I slowly began to come back from the wonderland that I was in. When I could see again, I saw that I was sitting on the ground and propped up against the RV wall. I looked up and saw Lori, Shane, the Asian kid and… Daryl Dixon. Am I dead?

"Daryl?" I said slurring my words. I felt like I was drunk, but at the same time I felt like I wasn't. "Am I dead? Or is this real life?" he laughed kneeling down in front of me.

"No baby girl, you ain't dead. Your alive," he rested his hand on my bare leg. His hands were rough and calloused. "Your very much alive."

HOW'D YOU GUYS LIKE THE FIRST CHAPTER WITH KRISTA? AND ALSO THE FIRST CHAPTER IN HER POV? I REALLY TRIED TO GET IN THE MINDSET OF HER CONDITION, BEING OUT IN THE SUN FOR THAT LONG WITH BASICALLY NO WATER OR FOOD MESSES YOU UP SO I HAD TO THINK ABOUT IT, WHICH IS WHY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO WRITE :P.