Time To Grow Up
Chapter 8: CDC
…Cara's POV…
…Group Meeting…
We are going to the CDC... And the adults in this group think that is a great idea. I think that they need to realize that it is a stupid idea, because most people would have left by now. I mean, I wouldn't want to stick around a stuff lad while my family was getting eaten by zombies. I would allow my father to be eaten, which has already happened, but I wouldn't if I had a better father. I would want to go and protect them as long as I could. I would probably loss my godforsaken mind, if I didn't know what was happening to the ones I care about.
"Everybody, listen up," Shane said, clapping his hands, "Those of you with CB's, we're going to be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem and don't have a CB or can't get a signal, or whatever, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" He kind of sounded like my old math teacher... Man I hated him.
"We're... um we're not going." Morales said, stepping away from his family.
"We have family in Birmingham. We want to we want to be with our people." His wife, Miranda, said.
"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane warned.
"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family." Morales spoke.
"You sure?" Rick asks, stepping closer to him.
"We talked about it. We're sure." Morales said.
"Alright, Shane." Rick said, turning towards Shane.
"Yeah, alright."
".357?" Rick asks Shane.
"Yeah." Rick pulled out a gun and handed it over to Morales, while Shane handed over some ammo for it.
"The box is half full." Shane said, pulling away from Morales.
"Thank you all… For everything." Miranda said, smiling weakly.
"Come here." Lori pulled Miranda in for a hug, acting how any 'First Lady' should act. I don't think that Lori is fit for this job.
"Good luck, man." Shane said, smiling.
"Appreciate it."
Everyone started to hug the Morales'. I stood off a little bit, not wanting to be a part of it. I was never really close to them.
"Yeah." I heard Eliza say to my sister. I looked over and saw them hugging.
"Bye." They say at the same time.
"Thank you." Miranda whispered to Jacqui, while they hugged. Eliza handed Sophia her doll, causing them both to cry.
"Channel 40, if you change your minds. Alright?" Rick mentioned, Morales just nodded.
"Yeah." Mom said, shyly. She had taken Sophia and I into her arms. Sophia leaned into our mother, while I leaned away a little. They were crying a little and I was just trying to get all over with.
If you can't tell, I am not much of a crier. There are times were I will cry, but this is not one of those times. It takes a lot for me to cry, you know since of being abused for most of my life.
"I know." Morales and his family packed themselves into their car. We all waved goodbye as they drove off.
"What makes you think our odds are any better?" Way to pessimistic Shane, "Come on. Let's go. Let's get move out." Shane order, climbing into his jeep.
Everyone was packing themselves into their respective cars. I looked around, not knowing which vehicle. They all seemed to be filled to the brim with people and supplies. Daryl's truck was the only vehicle that wasn't crammed full with stuff. I gingerly walked over to him, watching as he slams the back of his truck.
"Hey, Daryl."
"What?" He asks, turning towards me, "Oh sorry, kid. I thought you were someone else. So, what do you need?"
"I was wondering if I could ride with you. Every other car is packed to the brim with stuff and people, so I don't have a place to be."
"I don' mind if ya ride with me. I like ya company more than any of the other peoples."
"Thanks, Daryl." I smiled up at him widely. He moved to the passenger side door.
"No problem. Now get in." He chuckled, opening the door for me. I hopped in, tossing my pack onto the floor. Daryl shut the door and ran over to the driver's side if the truck.
…
We drove behind the RV, which Dale was driving while Jacqui took care of Jim. Or that is what Glenn told everyone over the radio. Glenn was mostly talking to me, which was bothering Shane. He wanted us all to be quiet and we weren't giving him that. Shane even snapped at us once when we passed a couple of Walkers. Glenn and I laughed, which pissed Shane off anymore. Daryl chuckled at me when I moved to flip him (Shane) off.
While we were en route to the CDC, the radiator hose burst. We had to pull over to take care of it. There had been a few Walkers that the older guys had to care of before we were all able to get out of the cars. I climbed out of the trucked and headed over to the RV.
"I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the hose from the cube van." Dale said, running his and over his face.
"Can ya jury-rig it?" Rick asked, leaning against the front of the RV.
"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape that hose. And I'm out of duct tape." Dale replied.
"I see something up ahead. If we're lucky, it is a gas station." Shane said, stepping up. Jacqui stepped out of the RV, looking worried.
"Y'all, Jim...it's bad. I don't think that he can take anymore." She said, the worry from her face filled her voice. I gasped.
"Hey, Rick, want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back." Shane said, looking at Rick.
"Yeah, I'll come along too and I'll back ya up." T-dog said, walking forward.
"Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back." Shane said, more like demand/ordered. I roll my eyes and turn back toward the truck. I saw Carl and Sophia sitting on the hood of the car that Rick was driving. They were giggling and chatting like they could still be children. I frowned and walked away from them, an unusual feeling started to bubble up in my stomach.
I turned and ran passed Glenn and Andrea, tears threatening to spill. I didn't pay either of them any mind as I ran by, I just wanted to get away from Carl and Sophia.
…Quick Third Person POV…
Glenn and Andrea stood on the side of the RV by the door, standing guarding while Lori and Carol checked on Jim. They tried to make some small talk, but gave up when things got awkward. They just stood there watching the other members of the group try to find something to do. They found it rather boring. They listened to Shane, Rick, Dale, T-dog, and Cara talk by the front of the RV. Cara was the only not really talking, it was most likely due to the fact that she was 12 and they were grown men. They wouldn't have listened to anything that she said anyways. When the little group broke up, Cara walked towards the other cars, probably heading back to Daryl's truck.
She had stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Carl and her sister sitting on the top of Rick's car. The two kids were talking and giggling, leaning in close to each other. If they had been a little older, Glenn and Andrea would have thought they were flirting. It seemed to Andrea that their actions were bothering Cara. Her thoughts were confirmed when Cara ran by with tears in her eyes.
Andrea sighed and stood up from her spot leaning against the RV. Cara never cried, which added to Andrea's worry.
"I am going to go check on Cara." She said to Glenn, not waiting for his answer. She trailed after Cara. Cara had stopped and hopped onto the top of Daryl's truck.
…Cara's POV…
"Cara?" A voice said, causing me to jump. I looked down and saw Andrea.
"What do you want?" I snapped.
"Hey, I just wanted to know if you were okay, but I can see that I am not wanted. So, I'll be going now." Andrea started to walk off, but she was walking slower than normal.
"Wait!"
"Yes..." She drew out the s in yes, turning back to me.
"I think that I am jealous." I mutter.
"Jealous of who, sweetie?" She asks, leaning against the truck.
"Sophia."
"Why would you be jealous of her?" She looked up at me. If she noticed the blush that had taken over my face, she didn't say anything.
"ShegetstotalktoCarlallthetimeandIdon't." I rambled.
"What was that?" Her eyebrows furrowed. I sigh.
"She gets to talk to Carl all the time and I don't."
She nodded her head. "I get it."
"You get what?" I asks, sliding off of the truck.
"You like Carl." She said, a little louder than I like.
I shushed her, "I don't want the whole world to know that."
She chuckled, "I get that. I don't think you need to be jealous though." She wrapped her arm around me.
"How do you know that?" I ask, looking up at her.
"I know that, because I have seen him watching you. You know, when you are helping around camp or just reading on top of the RV with Dale. He watches you all the time, I think that it is pretty adorable." She cracked a little smile.
"No he doesn't."
"Yes, he does."
"Whatever you say, Andrea." I mumble.
"Just you watch, he'll start talking to you more. I promise."
I looked up at her, "You mean that?"
She nodded, "I mean it."
I smiled widely, "Thank you."
"No problem. Let's get back to the others." I nodded and let her lead me over to the others.
…
Apparently, Rick had gone into the RV to talk to Jim. I know this, because Andrea and I stepped up to the group; he came out of the RV. When Shane and T-dog came back from their run, Rick told everybody that Jim wanted to be left behind. I gasped. Jim happens to be one of the people I am actually close to in this group, so this whole thing is starting to upset me. I lunched myself into Glenn's side. He held onto me, tightly.
"It's what he says he wants." He said, trying to sound strong.
"And he's lucid?" My mom asks, trying to make sure that he wasn't going crazy.
"He seems to be, so I would say yes." He replies, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
Dale stepped forward, looking at Rick, "Back in the camp, when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down. You misunderstood me," Dale continues to look at Rick, "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gunna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think that we have his answer."
"We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that." Shane said. Well, you have done worse. And there is no problem with you living, so why is this different? I thought.
"It's not your call, neither one of you." Lori said.
…
Rick and Shane carried Jim out of the RV, trying to be gentle with him. They leaned him up against a nearby tree. I had ran ahead of them and cleaned out a spot for him, so that he could be comfortable.
"Yeah. That's it." Rick said, causing Jim to groan.
"Hey, another damn tree." Jim chuckled. I gasped, trying to stop myself from tearing up.
"Stop it, Jim." I mumble, coming up to him.
"Hey, Jim...I mean, you know it doesn't need to be like this." Shane stepped forward.
"No, it's good. The breeze feels nice." Jim said, smiling softly.
"Okay, alright." Shane said, moving away. They had tied him to the tree.
"Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight it." Jacqui said, sweetly. She brushed the hair out his face, kissing his cheek. Rick took out a gun and leaned forward to hand it to him.
"Jim, do you want this?" Rick asks.
"No, y'all need it. I'm okay. I'm okay."
"Oh. Hey. Thanks for, um, fighting for us." Dale said, weakly. Everyone else moved to go back to their vehicles, but me. I stood in front of him.
"Hey, Jim." I said, my voice suddenly sounding small.
"Miss. Cara, what are you still doin' over here?" He asks, looking up at me.
"I wanted to say goodbye."
"Well, goodbye darlin'."
"I, I didn't want this to happen." I sobbed.
"Aw, sweetie. I didn't either." A tear fell down his cheek.
"I am gonna miss you."
"I am gonna miss ya too, darlin'. Hey, I want you to do something for me."
"What?"
"Darlin', I want you promise me that you won't let this world mess you up any more than your old man already did. I don't want you to be cold. I want you to be able to let someone in, someone other than Glenn and Daryl. You got me?" I nodded, "I need to hear it, Cara."
"Yes, I promise." Another sob bubbled out.
"Good. Now, go back with Daryl. He seems worried." I nodded as he began to fade away.
"I love you Jim." I whispered, walking away from him.
Daryl had the door open and waiting for me. I climbed in not looking at him. I let the tears fall, not trying to stop or hide them. I heard him sigh and shut the door. He didn't say anything to me as we drove to the CDC.
…
We drove for a long time, before we pulled up to a building. There was sign out front that said "Center for Disease Control." There was loads of dead bodies surrounding the building, there also was loads of flies flying around them. I tried not to gag as I got out of the truck. We tried to quietly approach the building, but there was a couple of us that were trying to not throw up. I happened to be one.
I stood close to Glenn and Daryl, using my shirt to block out the smell. Glenn gripped a gun and my hand, while I gripped my hunting knife and his hand. Daryl had told me to take out my knife when we got out of the truck.
"Alright, everybody. Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let's go. Okay, keep moving. Stay together." Shane ordered.
"Keep moving. Come on." Rick said, much nicer than Shane.
"Sh!"
"Carol." Lori said. Didn't you hear that we need to be quiet?
"Shh!" Shane shushed her.
"Oh, God." Glenn said, gripping my hand tighter. We had reached the building, but it was locked and had its shutters down.
"Keep it together. Come on." Shane said, trying to keep us together.
"There's nobody here." T-dog stated.
"Then why are the shutters down?" Rick said in a panic.
"Walkers!" Daryl yelled. He moved in front of me. I groaned and pulled out my gun.
"Daryl, I can help." I said, stepping up next to him.
"I don't want you to get hurt Cara."
"I got this." I put the silencer on it and shot a Walker getting close to Lori and Carl.
"Baby, come on!" Lori said, I am not sure if she was talking to Carl or Rick.
Daryl shot a Walker in the head before turning towards Rick, "You led us into a graveyard." He kind of shouted.
"He made a call!" Shane shouted.
"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl yelled again.
"Just shut up! You hear? Shut up! Rick, this is a dead end." Shane said, getting agitated.
"Leave him alone!" I yell, talking about Daryl.
I am ignored. "Where are we gonna go?" Jacqui asks.
"Do you heat? No blame." Shane said. You could tell that he was starting to blame Rick.
"She's right," Lori says, butting in, "We can't be here, especially this close to the city after dark."
"Shut it, Lori. You know nothing about shit." I snapped at her. Her head snapped towards me.
"That is not how you talk your elders, young lady." Lori scolded.
I rolled my eyes. "You aren't and won't be my elder."
"Cara." Glenn hissed, pulling me away from her.
Getting back on track, Shane stepped closer to Rick, "Fort Benning, Rick... still an option."
"On what? No fuel, no food. That's 100 miles in the other direction." Andrea pointed out.
"125. I checked the map." Glenn added. Great.
"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight." Lori said, causing Carl and Sophia to start crying.
"We'll think of something." Rick said, facing the closed shutters.
"Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's go. Please?" Shane begged, looking at the Walkers getting close to us. I shot a couple of them. The camera moved, which caught Rick's attention. Daryl came up and grabbed my arm, pulling me back towards the cars.
"The camera...it moved." Rick said, causing everybody to stop.
"You're imagined it." Shane shouted.
"It moved. It moved." Rick pointed at the camera.
"Rick, it is dead. Man. It's an automatic device. It's gears, okay? They're winding down. Now, come on." Shane said, pulling at Rick's arm, "Man, just listen to me. Look around this. It's dead, okay? It's dead. You need to let it go, Rick." Rick began to bang on the shutters.
"Rick, nobody is here!" Lori cried.
"I know you're in there. I know you can hear me." Rick screamed. Shane tried to drag him away with help from Lori.
"Everybody to the cars now!" Daryl grabbed me, trying to drag me to the car.
"I can walk on my own, you know that right?" I said, raising my gun.
"I know." He said.
"Please, we ae desperate. Please help us. We have women and children, no food, hardly any gas left." Rick pleaded with the invisible force behind the shutters.
"Rick. There's nobody here." Lori begged her husband.
"We have nowhere else to go." Rick continued, ignoring his wife, "Keep your eyes open. If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please!"
"Come on, buddy. Let's go." Shane gripped Rick's arm, pulling him backwards.
"Please help us! You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!" We were about to head back to the cars, when the shutters opened. We were then drowned in a bright light. The lights soon turned off, revealing a single man.
"Daryl watch the back." Shane ordered. Daryl nodded and pushed me up front.
"Hello?"
"Hello?"
"Watch the doors. Watch for Walkers."
"Hello?" Suddenly the person that the other hadn't noticed, cocked his gun. Everyone looked over to see the man holding a gun.
"Anybody infected?" He asks.
"One of our group was. He didn't make it." Rick said, causing gloom to fall over our group.
"Why are you here? What do you want?"
"A chance." Rick said, marching forward.
"That's asking an awful lot these days."
"I know."
"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."
"We can do that." The man finally lowered his gun.
"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." The men ran outside and grabbed some of the people's things. I had Daryl grab one of my bags from the back, it was one with some clothes in it. It wasn't completely full, so I could hide some stuff in it if I needed to. The men ran back to us when they had everything, "Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill power up here." The shutters went down and everyone got into a elevator.
"Rick Grimes."
"Dr. Edwin Jenner." I stood next to Carl at the front. We were really close.
"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asks from behind me.
"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough. Except you," He looked down at Carl, "I'll have to keep my eye on you." He chuckled.
"Actually, you should be keeping an eye on me."
…
A/N Hey there, hi there, ho there!
So, it has been a long time since I last updated... and for that I am sorry. I started school a couple of weeks ago and with school comes work (both job work and school work). I am in college, so it is super hard! I really hope you like this chapter, it took for me several days to write it because of stuff (and thangs) related to the stuff I mentioned earlier.
So, who do you think said that last line? Leave a review/comment telling me who you think it is. Leave a review if you want me to speed things up with Carl and Cara. I was thinking of having Cara be the one that got shot when they were out looking for Sophia. What do you think? Too much trauma for Carol? What did you think of Cara's moments with Jim and Andrea?
QOU (Question Of the Update): What has you schedules been like the last few weeks? Are you in school? Do you work? Do you work and go to school? Any after school activities?
I hope you all are doing great! I am doing well. I get to see the guy I like all the time (with no hope of actually talking to him...) at work. I work at my school. I am having a colonoscopy on Thursday... so pumped... not. Wish me luck!
Love y'all!
G-V Princess.
P.S. Tell me what you want to see.
P.S.S. Can you all read my Glenn story, please? I want to know if I should have Rick get together with Maggie or if I should create another OC for her. But for her it'll be OMC not OFC or it could be an OFC. I don't judge. Thanks!