++++++ I do not own the Walking Dead or any affiliated characters apart from my OC's ++++++
Eleven
Instead of choosing to face my problems I chose to run from it.
I managed to shrug off guard duty back to Dale by bribing him with a packet of candy. Whilst everyone helped clean up from dinner, I loaded up the Jeep with some gas. My intentions were to head into the nearby town and start looking for any rogue supplies that scavengers had missed. A couple hours after everyone had gone to bed, I left a note for Ebony, pinned to the side of the tent, telling her not to worry about me. I then I headed off into town with just me, Johnny Cash and half a bottle of whisky to keep me company. The trip into town was incredibly uneventful aside from me cruising in the middle of the road singing at the top of my lungs-apart from the shower back home, no one had ever heard me singing before. The trip into town also gave me some things to think about.
Like how could I have kissed Rick?
He's a married man with a kid-I wasn't about to suggest chasing after him just because Lori cheated on him. Two wrongs never make a right despite what my math teacher always told me. It's those godforsaken gorgeous eyes-I have never seen eyes so…so…expressive before. I can see this becoming a serious problem if I stayed. Ebony would never leave mainly because there was finally some stability for her and Jade. She would never forgive me if I ever left but if I was gone then what I didn't know wouldn't hurt me. Ebony was so at home with these people-more so than she had ever been with me. All we did was argue from the minute we left New York and started travelling south. She was a people person and I'm just the weird ass roomie that everyone tolerated.
Hell, maybe it would be better just being me, the open road and Johnny. I wouldn't have to worry about anyone but myself.
What I had done was stupid-one of the stupidest things I've ever done. I had seen something that obviously wasn't there. The joking around, the jacket, the training, the talking…yeah-I had definitely seen something that wasn't there. I've been at their camp like four days and I'm already screwing things up.
Ebony was going to kill me when she found out.
I found what was left of an obviously looted convenience store and searched high and low. I found only a coupled packets of chips, some Band-Aids and some very old cans of spam-these days you can't be too picky about what you eat.
I jumped the counter and started looking through the drawers. I ignored the money-now it was just paper to burn-and kept searching until I found a zip-lock baggie full of green dry leafy material with a rolled up joint in the bag. "Well, well, well," I smirked, finding a lighter.
I lit up and tossed the stuff in my bag. Heading next door to some dingy little hair salon I continued my search. There wasn't much there except various chemicals used to dye your hair-Ebony would find some kind of use for some of the base chemicals but I wasn't sure what to make of the rest.
This is stupid, I mumbled to myself, you're only running around in the middle of the night on your own because you kissed a married man. You're being childish, I growled, taking a puff. Considering the minimal amount of food I've had in the past few days I know I was going to be so many different types of messed when I came down from this incredibly enjoyable high.
It also reminded me of the days before boot camp when I would hang out with the dead beats in our street. Man those were some good days.
I opened the door behind the front counter. There was a walker standing directly behind the door and it basically fell on top of me, grabbing, clawing, trying to bite at me. I fumbled around, trying to grab my weapon without being bitten. Eventually I reach back and grabbed a broken arrow that I stabbed straight through the walker's ear. The walker fell limp against me, I shoved the body aside and got to my feet.
"Son of a bitch," I mumbled. I pulled my small torch out of my pocket and turned it on so that I could find my bow which I had dropped. The first thing I spotted where several walker's focused on my position. I swore and retreated into the back room, slamming the door shut behind me and locking it for good measure.
How could I have been so stupid?
"Well isn't this wizard?" I growled. Slumping down against the door, I flicked the torch light around the room. This was a store room of some kind. On the floor I could see dry blood mixed in with dry vomit-someone had drunk a hydrogen peroxide martini. "Stupid fool," I mumbled, "killing yourself ain't gonna help-we're all infected…I wonder if Rick knows?" I asked myself. That group would fall apart if they knew-I was sure of it.
Outside the door I could hear the walker's thumping up against the door. I didn't know how long the door was going to last and I need any idea I could think of-I had three throwing knives, my bowie-and my gun was back in our tent as I had been mid-way through stripping it for cleaning. Besides, I don't think I'm in any frame of mind to be fighting walkers on mass considering my current smoking habits.
I got to my feet and went over to the window-there was nothing outside and it was small enough for me to get through. But I wasn't going anywhere without my bow. If I waited a couple of hours I'd have the drugs out of my system-enough to be able to hold my own with just a knife.
The question was though-what would I do with my time?