Chapter 7: New day and fresh start

My eyes opened up again, and I got up without much trouble this time feeling more energized now thanks to that rest.

I got up and arched my back until I was given satisfying cracks. I looked out the windows to see there was morning light shining bright.

Maybe we'll have a day off from rainstorms today.

I put on some new clothes I got from last night after dinner, exited my cell arching my back and yawning again. I looked up on the stairs holding Judith close to her arms and Judith was cooing happily.

"Hey, guys." I said as I made my way towards them. Beth looked up at me with a big smile.

"Hey, Casey." She replied.

"Eyudeca." Judith babbled happily reaching out for me.

We both chuckled at the little one. She was a cute little rascal alright and the happiest baby I've ever seen.

"You wanna hold her?" Beth asked.

I smiled. "Sure! Thanks." Was my answer.

Beth carefully handed Judith over to me. She was getting excited and she put her lips on my cheek and made a raspberry sound.

I laughed surprised. "Hey!" Beth was laughing like crazy.

"She loves raspberries." She told me.

"I can see that." I gave Judith back to Beth.

"Wheres her big brother?" I asked.

"He's outside farming with his dad and my dad." She told me.

I nodded. "You're dads a farmer?"

She nodded. "The best one I think. The farm we lived on was in our family for 150 years. And my dad has a lot of skill and experience."

My eyes widened. "150 years?!

She nodded giggling at my astonishment. "Farm folk tend to keep their farms, city boy."

I chuckled. "Hey! I'm proud to be a city boy."

"And I'm proud to be a country farm girl." She countered.

I nodded grinning. "Touche."

"Eeegun." Judith cooed with a giggle.

Beth giggled. "And Judith's happy to be a little princess. Right Judy?"

Judith responded with a happy squirm. "Wongo"

I grinned. "I guess thats a 'yes'. Well I'm gonna go out now. It was nice talking to you Beth."

She gave me a smile in return. "Okay. Talk to you later Casey."

"You too, Beth." I said.

"Bum Bime Keeseee." Judith babbled moving her arm.

I looked at her in shock. It sounded like she was trying to say. "Bye bye, Casey."

I smiled at the baby girl. "Bye bye Judith." I made my way toward the exit and made my way out feeling a warm sun along with a cool breeze, and everyone walking around, working, eating, playing, or simply talking.

I saw three people down by the fields working on the crops. Has to be Carl, his dad, Rick, and Beth's dad Hershel.

Rick was a good guy. Carl told me that he was a cop before the apocalypse and he likes to wear his hat, but I didn't see him wear it. He said that it wasn't a farmers hat, so I guess he couldn't wear it. That's a bummer...

I didn't see Rick at dinner last night, But Carl told me he was resting because of a hard days work in the fields. I've talked to Hershel a couple of times last night at dinner, he's a nice guy although a couple of times I saw him give Zach a hard time a couple of times. Then again both him and Beth were dating so I can't blame him. Me on the other hand, I have no plans of getting into another relationship ever since... Emma...

She was with me when I got separated from the group, but a few days later... I've seen a lot of people I've cared about died in front of my eyes... Mom, Dad, Jenny, Hector, and a lot of others, but Emma was the hardest I had to deal with...

Flashback

"Em... Come on... Please..." I said choking up tears. I can't believe that this was happening Emma got a bite on the arm and there was no fixing it. I was feeling all torn up inside. This couldn't be happening.

"Case... It's okay... It's okay..." She assured me coughing really bad. Emma looked really pale and sweaty. She had a hard time keeping her eyes open. "Look... Look at me..."

I complied looking at my girlfriend who was dying right in front of me. "Case... You're gonna... You're gonna be okay... You're gonna survive, You're gonna live, and you are going to find someone who will be there for you always... And I don't think it, I know it!"

I shook my head as a response sobbing silently. "I always thought we would make it."

Emma's hand cupped my face. "I'm not... You will... Just don't give up no matter how hard this world is... Promise me!"

I hesitated for a second nodded my head. "I promise, babe..."

She started smiling and tears started falling down from her cheeks. "I love you, baby."

I held her close to me and hugged her tightly. It was so painful right now. "I love you too, Emma... love you too..."

"You know what you have to do... Please... It's okay..." She told me with a small tired smile

I nodded and raised my pistol to her head making my hand tremble violently. Pointing a gun at her head is making it her me even more. But we both know that this was the only way...

"On three, baby..." She told me softly gripping my hand tightly.

One

Two

Three

"I love you..." Was all I could manage.

"I love you too..." She whispered.

*BANG*

I closed my eyes and sighed deeply.

Emma dying on me was one of the worst thing that ever happened to me. I've known her all my life and she left this world. Her death hit me pretty hard like I felt really empty and numb to the point that I couldn't say a word for two weeks. Fortunately I kept my act together and fought on. I'm even thankful that the things I've seen didn't turn me into a murdering psychopath like some guys I've come across.

One way or another, I'm happy that she's in a better place now. That's all I could ask for.

After being lost in thought for a couple of minutes, I pulled myself back into reality, and made my way down towards the field to see Carl, Rick, and Hershel.

Rick and Hershel seem to be having a good time having a good chat and a few laughs, but Carl wasn't so thrilled about doing all this farming stuff. I guess I couldn't blame him. I want to give it a shot though at this farming stuff. I know it sounds kinda dumb doing some farming stuff, but when I was younger I always thought of owning my own farm and making it the best farm in all of Colton County Pennsylvania.

"You guys having fun?" I asked coming into the fields with them. Carl looked up at me grinning. bobbing his head in a "What up?" way, and I returned the favor. Hershel gave me a friendly grin and so did Rick who was walking towards me.

"You must be our new member I'm hearing so much about." He said smiling.

I nodded. "Yep. Thats me."

He held out his hand. "Rick Grimes nice to finally meet you."

I pulled my hand out and shook his hand firmly. "Casey Rodriguez. Same to you, Rick."

"He's an Eagles fan, dad." Carl chimed giving him a goofy grin.

Rick sighed shaking his head. "Not another one..."

I let out a chuckling. "Whats wrong with the Eagles?"

"They beat the Cowboys now allowing them into the playoffs." Carl explained.

"Hahaha favorite team I'm guessing?"

"My only favorite team." Rick told me in a prideful grudging way.

I let out another snicker. It was kind of funny how me and Rick first met and he was giving me a hard time about my team beating his team. "You guys want any help?" I asked.

"Sure." Rick said. "Carl needs a farming buddy anyways, so he won't whine all day."

"I don't whine all the time" Carl retorted.

"But you do." Rick grinned.

Hershel mostly did most of the teaching on how to pick the plants and to make sure they were good or not. He said I still have a lot to learn, but was pretty impressed on how I did.

"By the way, I used to do football back in college." Hershel said working on a plant. "A quarterback actually. I remember this one time we won a big game, and me and the other players would go out at the local Dairy Queens and order us ice cream and shakes. That was a great night."

We all looked pretty astonished and Hershel let out a laugh looking at our expressions. "You really think I was always a laid back calm old farmer?"

"Well... You do a good job being one." Carl pointed out.

Hershel chuckled again. "Yep. That I do. But back then I was one crazy kid."

"Still pretty awesome." I told him.

"It sure was." Hershel said.

We done a lot of work in the fields and I sweating, but I didn't really mind all that much, besides, we were still having some good conversations.

"So Carl? Where are you guys from?" I asked.

"A town called King County." Carl answered. "But when the walkers came, we left for Atlanta and later on the CDC. But it blew up, and we had to get out of Atlanta."

"How'd the CDC blew up?" I asked curious.

It was Ricks turn to talk. "The power was going to go out so the whole building self destructed."

"That's a bummer..." I said.

Rick nodded. "After that we all decided to make our way to Ft. Benning hoping to find shelter and protection. But turns out that didn't happen."

"My brother trained at Ft. Benning." I said smiling.

"Really?" Carl said sounding interested. "Your brother's a soldier."

I nodded. "Army Ranger."

"Those guys are like elite soldiers right?" Carl asked.

"Yep. My parents and I flew all the way down for his graduation. It was pretty awesome."

"Was he still there after all this?" Rick asked.

I shook my head. "No he was stationed in Korea when the outbreak began. For all I know he's still there."

"Glenn has some family in Korea too I think." Hershel said sadly.

After that little discussion, Rick continued with his story on how they ended up on Hershel's farm meeting him, Beth, Maggie, and a few others. But then a swarm overrun the farm and they were on the road for awhile until they found this prison.

"It's cool that you guys turned this place into something else." I said sincerely.

"It wasn't easy but we did it." Hershel said.

We were about ten minutes into this work until Hershel dismissed me and Carl, leaving him and Rick to do more farming.

"Phew! Well that was something." I said.

"Yeah, but it's not something I want to do for the rest of my life." Carl said.

I nodded. "I hear you, bud."

"Come on, let's go get something to eat." He said as we headed to the outside kitchen just dying for something to eat.

Chapter 7 is complete. Was it awesome or did it crash and burn lol. Review :)

DeltaSandman out