TWD Ch. 7

It was definitely a sick feeling, knowing that we lost Warren. Jimmy explained to us that he tried to go back for him, but the poor kid had already been swarmed. Unfortunately we didn't have time to grieve, especially not for someone we had just met. Not to mention that Jess...is starting to look a little under the weather.

It was a silent drive for a while, Daryl seemed to be fighting sleep in the seat between Jess and I. I knew that nobody was really in a good mood, so I tried to ignore the cramping in my stomach. But after about thirty minutes of driving, it was just too much. "Uh...Jess?"

He was sweating like crazy and looked like he was trying to stay awake as well. Luckily he wasn't really swerving yet. It was definitely frightening, however, to see how much energy he actually had to bring forth in order to talk. "W-what, uh, what do ya need girl?"

With an answer like that, Daryl couldn't help but give a sideways glance at his dear uncle. His head still resting against the back of his seat to make it seem like he wasn't that concerned, but his eyes watched Jess' every move. Then the cramping came back to remind me of why I had bothered Jess in the first place. "I was...uh, I was wondering if you managed to scrounge up some food back in Sedalia?"

He looked at me for a second before facing back towards the road, and it was hard for me not to gasp out loud. The man's skin had literally darkened and his eyes gave away how weak he really was. He looked so sickly, I actually inwardly asked myself how the hell is he even still breathing? While keeping his gaze on the road, he shakingly pointed to a small duffle bag sitting on the dashboard. "It's in that bag. Pass 'em around for me."

Quickly swiping the bag from the dashboard, I unzipped it and instantly smiled. "Oh, nice!" Grabbing an individually wrapped item out of the bag, I moved to turn around in my seat. Resting my knees into the leather and setting my right elbow on Daryl's shoulder as leverage, I opened the back window and slightly poked my head out. I had to yell a bit in order to speak over the roaring wind. "Hey! Officer Jimmy Blake!" He jumped a little at the sound of my voice. He was leaning back to the right of the window, chin resting on his hand while he watched the scenery fly by. But he quickly turned to face me with a questioning look. Smiling at the man, I wiggled Jess' find out the window. "Ya want a fiber bar?!"

He smirked at that, then repositioned himself so that he could actually face me. "You mean those things that you THINK is gonna be a delicious granola bar, but end up tasting like shit instead?!"

I couldn't help but giggle as I answered him. "Yup! That's the one!"

He let out a chuckle. "Then, hell yeah!" With that, I tossed him the fiber bar and he managed to catch it. He looked at it for a moment with what seemed to be gratitude, before glancing back up at me. "I must say Miss Kelsi, I had my doubts at first!"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do ya mean?!"

He opened the fiber bar and munched on a large bite before answering me. "It looks like you really are my guardian angel!"

Before I could even think about responding, Daryl wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back in, then slammed the window shut again. I was fixin' to yell at him, but was stopped when he leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Instead of flirtin' with Officer Douchebag, ya need to be payin' attention. We got a real problem on our hands."

Glaring at him, I decided to be a bit of a smart-ass for pulling me in like that. "Now why would I be flirtin' with him, when I got you as a boyfriend?" His face darkened at that, letting me know that he was serious. I let out a sigh and pushed my attitude away. "Alright, I'm sorry. Now what's the problem?"

He looked back at the driver's side quick enough to make sure that his uncle wasn't paying attention to us, before turning back to me. "Jess ain't lookin' too good. I'm gonna have to take over driving, but I need you to keep your guard up while ya sittin' next to him. I don't need him turnin' and then you gettin' bit, because you was too damn worried about ya new best friend in the back."

"Really, Daryl? You're gonna be the jealous type?" His harsh scowl was a straight answer to that, making me quickly get back to the current issue. "Alright, calm your tits sweetheart. Tell him you're gonna drive so he can get some rest or somethin'."

Guess that was a good enough suggestion, 'cause he swiftly nodded his head in agreement, then turned to address the ill man. "Hey, Jess. Why don't ya pull over and let me drive for right now? Get ya self some shut-eye?"

It took a moment for Jess to even acknowledge Daryl, he was so focused on the road. Once he did seem to process what his nephew had said, he quickly looked at him with a bit of confusion. "Ya got a problem with my drivin', or somethin'? You forget whose truck this is, boy?"

Daryl just shook his head and calmly answered, "It ain't like that, man. Let's just stop and stretch our legs for a moment. Get ourselves somethin' to eat."

He thought about it for a few minutes, but ultimately agreed. He gave a small, "Fine." then moved the truck to the side of the road. The three of us piled out of the cramped vehicle and immediately stretched our aching muscles. At this point we all knew the sun would settle within the next hour, so we wanted to make this pit stop rather quick. None of us wanted to really be out in the open during the night.

Once my tense muscles had finally relaxed, I decided to grab some more fiber bars from Jess' duffle bag and give some to each of us. At the end of our small meal, however, Jess seemed very antsy to get going. He tiredly asked us, "Everyone done yet?"

The two boys nodded their heads, but I needed to do one last thing before we got back on the road. "I'm gonna go piss before we move out. Been holdin' it for a while now."

Jess nodded his head in acknowledgement, then made his way back to the truck. Daryl, however, had other intentions. "I'll go with ya."

I was in the midst of pulling my roll of toilet paper out of my bag when he said this. So the surprise of it naturally made me drop said TP, which of course caused the damn thing to halfway unroll down the pavement. My aggravation hitting its peek as I started to re-wrap the toilet paper, is definitely to blame for the attitude in my tone. "I'm a grown woman, Dixon. I don't need you to come help me wipe my ass. Been usin' the bathroom on my own since I was three, so I'm pretty sure I got it down by now."

He glared, then stomped his way in front of me. "Yeah well, what ya DON'T have 'down', is lookin' out for the bitin' dead folk that's roamin' around. I'm goin' to make sure your stupid ass doesn't get ya self caught, AGAIN."

And with that, he swiftly walked past me in the direction of the tree line. He pissed me off so bad with that comment, that my hands were shaking. I had to fight to get the rest of the toilet paper back into its initial shape. Following the path he took, I made sure to walk close enough to him so he could hear me, before moving behind one of the many surrounding bushes. "You're a fuckin' dick, ya know that?"

He clicked his tongue and answered while checking the area for any danger. "I'm YOUR dick, KJ. So I guess ya best just get use to it. Huh?"

As I unbuckled my belt, I retaliated with, "Well my 'dick', best keep his mouth shut and turn the other way."

I looked over my shoulder and waited for him to turn around before squatting in the itchy, dry grass. Quickly doing my business and wiping away the mess, then tossing the soiled tissue into the bush. Once my clothes were all situated, I swiped the toilet paper roll from the ground and made my way back to the truck with full intentions of ignoring my hunting partner. Those intentions were quickly foiled, however, when he decided to smack me on the ass-HARD. A hiss quickly escaped me at the same time my hand moved to massage my poor bum. I turned to glare at him, but he just smirked and bent in to peck the corner of my mouth. Then his lips moved to my ear so he could whisper, "That's pay back for earlier. Now c'mon."

After driving through the backroads for an hour and a half, a very nerve-racking hour and a half, the truck started to sound like it was struggling a little bit. I say 'nerve-racking', because the whole time I had to keep a sharp eye on Jess. But my nerves definitely got worse when ever the engine started to smoke. At the sight and smell of the smoke, the four of us immediately perked up. Daryl's face showed anger, while the rest of us had the face of someone very nervous and very scared. None of us were too sure if the geeks would act any differently at night, than how they are in the day. But we did know one thing; stumbling around in the dark, half blind, was something we really wanted to avoid.

Daryl cursed under his breath. When the engine finally died down, he turned into the closest place he could. Which just so happened to be the Garwater Campgrounds. Coming to a complete stop, the four of us quickly jumped out of the truck. While Jimmy and I took on the job of checking the inventory and getting our weapons/gear ready, Jess and Daryl popped the hood to check the still smoking engine. It didn't take long, however, for the two men to quickly deduce what type of situation we were in. As I made my way to the front of the truck, Daryl spoke to our small group. "She ain't gonna make it. We gotta find a new ride."

Jess shook his head at the idea, and quickly went back into the habit of rubbing his wounded arm. "Hm...Don't much like the idea of being out at night. It's too hard to see."

It was obvious that none of us liked the idea. But Daryl just told his uncle like it is. "We ain't got a whole lot of choice."

Jess nervously scanned the area before speaking again. "Can't be TOO careful...'till we know more about 'em."

Daryl nodded his head once, agreeing with his fidgeting uncle. "That's true."

Leaving it at that for the moment, we gathered what we could and began our trek down the gravel road leading to the campground entrance. It didn't take long for us to notice the flashing lights bouncing off the tree tops. Jess let out an annoyed grunt. "Ugh. Another cop."

At that, Jimmy immediately came back with a sarcastic, "Thanks."

Ignoring him, however, I decided to get back on topic. "So we got lawmen at the campgrounds in the middle of the night. Think they're dead?" Daryl's steps halted then, deep in thought, which caused the rest of us to stop. I already knew that this would be the place for us to locate a new vehicle and scavenge for anything useful. So I went ahead and gave Jimmy Blake his new task. "Officer Blake, you go on ahead and try to find anything we could use. Food, a tent, maybe even fuel."

He quickly agreed and took to the tree line. That's when Daryl nodded towards the flashing lights and said, "KJ and I will handle this. Soon as we score new wheels, we're out."

Jess seemed like he really dreaded the sound of that. When he spoke, he sounded so weak. "Yeah, I'm on it." He began to stretch and rub his lower back as he continued, "I'll whistle if I turn anything up."

As we watched Jess rub his eyes and head, Daryl's concerns definitely started growing. "Hey. You okay?"

Even though we knew he wasn't doing too well, he just waved off his nephew's worries. "I'm fine. Little tired, maybe. Been a long day."

Jess was right, it HAS been a long day. But by the way he was lookin', soundin' and actin'...I fear that he might not have much longer. This will, unfortunately, probably be our proof. Our evidence of what happens when you get bit. Do you turn? Do you just die? Part of me wants to find the answers to those questions as quickly as possible. But the other part of me, feels horrible that Jess will have to be the sacrifice to providing those answers.

Going our separate ways, Daryl and I head towards the lit up police car parked in front of the campgrounds. Realizing quickly that it's not lawMEN, but lawMAN instead. There was only one officer standing outside of the vehicle. Not to mention he was bald as bald could be. I mean, shit. The flashing lights were damn near radiating off of his head. During the small walk through the mostly dark road way, we could hear some of the officer's conversation over his radio. "...yeah, REAL bad. Damn massacre is what it is. Looks like a lot of folks tried to hole up here, but well...Yeah, found a couple...not as far as I can tell...maybe one more coming..." Once the man had finally became aware of our ever approaching presence, he quickly whipped around and pointed the barrel of his gun straight to our heads.

This caused an immediate reaction out of me, my autopilot mode quickly told my body to lift my hands up in surrender. Daryl's automatic reaction, however, was to defend himself with an angry tone. "We're still alive dumbass! Put the gun down!"

The lawman seemed hesitant for a moment, but soon put his pistol into its holster attached to his belt. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding as my arms relaxed and went limp by my sides. The officer then turned the volume on his radio down to address us. "You picked a rough place to stop. Campground's a slaughterhouse."

Daryl quickly glanced around before his eyes landed back on the paranoid man. "Yeah, I hear ya. But our truck's done for."

The bald man leaned slightly to see the smoking truck parked behind us. "Yeah, I see that." He then faced us and introduced himself. "Albert Lee, Pemberton Sheriff's Department."

Daryl surprisingly gave Albert his full name as he introduced himself as well. "Daryl Dixon." Sticking his thump out to point at me, he then continued, "This is Kelsi James. You think you can give us a lift?"

Officer Lee shook his head before glancing back at the two men in his backseat. "Eh, gotta get them over to Memorial...if it's still open."

Daryl quickly looked around at the surrounding abandoned vehicles, before offering another suggestion. "So then, can you set us up with one of these?"

Albert just frowned as he gave Daryl yet another disappointing answer. "Sorry, man. No keys. Tell you what though: there WAS a ranger. Hartwell. He was driving back to his station. Looked like HE had plenty of room." Albert then quickly opened the driver's side door and pulled out a pump action shotgun, handing it over to Daryl before continuing. "Here, take this. Wish I could do more for you."

Leaving the Officer, we head in the direction of the campsites. When we got to the small ticket booth, however, I gripped onto to Daryl's bicep to stop him. "Is that guy crazy? Why would he hand us a shotgun? Does he not know that the noise would draw 'em in for miles?" I couldn't help but ask Daryl the questions that I really wanted to ask Albert himself.

Daryl seemed to take in what I was saying as he examined the shotgun. "Maybe he didn't know. But hell, I ain't gonna turn down FREE weaponry." That is a good point. Even though it wouldn't be the greatest idea to use a weapon that would emanate such noise, it could be our savior if we got swarmed. Nodding my head in understatement, I quickly readied my bow and arrow. While I got myself prepared, Daryl decided to keep the shotgun out of his way for now. He looked it over to make sure there were bullets in the chamber, but the safety was on. Then he placed it in his backpack. It stuck out about halfway, but we hugged the zippers around it to help secure it.

With that, we weaved our way through the campsites. Some tents were still set up, while others had gotten torn to pieces. There were even a few campfires still going in some of the areas. We decided to try and clear the area before making our way to the station in the back of the campgrounds, this way we could safely scavenge for supplies.

Passing the first three campsites was simple, considering none of them were occupied by dead folk. Crossing the small bridge that hung over a skinny creek, lead us to the rest of the campsites. By the noise alone, we knew to be more careful here. You could hear the dead moaning, growling and eating in the background. Then came the God-awful smell of rotting flesh. The first site we came to, had one asshole literally eating his meal at the picnic table. The site of one dead man, eating another dead man sprawled out over a picnic table, was definitely a phenomenon I wanted to avoid in the future.

Daryl volunteered to sneak up behind it and lay it down with his knife, while I went for the closed tent to look for anything useful. Before unzipping the tent, I figured it'd be best if I put away the bow and arrow, and draw my knife instead. Taking my nails, I wiggled my fingers over the thin, silky material. This made enough noise to let me know if there were any trapped inside, but not enough to alert any others that might be around. Not hearing or seeing anything moving inside, I cautiously unzipped the small flap of a door.

There wasn't much inside, but something did catch my attention rather quick. Over to the left wall of the tent, sat a small cooler stuffed plum-full of MREs. A stack of about, ten Meals Ready to Eat, is definitely what we need in a situation like this. They're quick, don't take up much space and should be enough to hold us over for a while. Swiftly sliding my bag from my shoulders, I took every last one of 'em and stuffed 'em in. Seeing that I was done here, I moved to exit the tent. Daryl stood waiting for me outside the door, and took my hand to help me to my feet once I got close enough. While replacing my knife into its holster and returning my bow and arrow to my hands, Daryl curiously asked, "Ya find anything?"

I couldn't help but give him a bit of a condicinding smile. "I scored TEN MREs. We hit the jackpot in this fucker."

He smirked at my cockyness and playfully shoved my shoulder. This was his way of saying, 'Good job'. The playfulness went away, however, as we moved on to the next site. I quickly shot an arrow into the back of a dead female's head, while Daryl stabbed the male that was hunched over eating another dead person. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell if his meal was a man or a woman at one point. There was basically nothing but mush where the face should be, and the torso was completely ripped apart. Albert's conversation over the radio was right, there WAS a lot of folks holed up here. But it seems like the majority of 'em are DEAD dead, while the rest turned into brainless monsters with nothing but basic instincts.

My thoughts were interrupted, however, when the flickering light of the camp fire reflected off of something metal in my peripheral. Apon further investigation, I immediately called my huntin' partner over. "Daryl, get yer ass over here."

He looked at me confused of what I wanted, before his eye site finally caught on to what I had found. He smiled. "Aw, shit. A fuckin' hatchet?" Quickly bending over and gripping onto the handle, he pulled the hatchet from the skull of a male. He gave it a quick once over, then squatted down so he could clean the blade off in the grass as best he could. This weapon could possibly be a better choice than running around with only a hunting knife. But we soon moved on. We still want to find this ranger and his vehicle as fast as possible.

Shifting through the small gravel road that lead to the different sites, we were caught off guard when a dead female came out of nowhere and jumped in front of Daryl. Inside I was screaming from fear of his safety, but I knew better than to let it escape into the outside. I had intentions to take aim and try to shoot it, but Daryl was faster. He held the hatchet with both hands and used it to push the biter back. It stumbled, trying to catch its balance and go back for the fresh meat, but Daryl ran behind her and slammed the hatchet blade into her skull. Trying to gain control of my breathing, Daryl nodded his okay to help calm me down. It worked, but I was still deeply worried. Then, I couldn't help but wonder, is this how he felt when I got grabbed back in Sedalia?

After what seemed like hours of sneakin' up on dead folk and RE-killing 'em, we felt that it was relatively safe to free roam. We used this opportunity to search for any supplies, while also trying to move fast. When we met back up, there surprisingly wasn't much, considering how many people thought it was a good idea to camp here. But while I was scavenging, I did take notice to how many empty cans and other things that kinda gave me an idea of what happened here. To me, it seems like these people managed to survive out here for a while before they got overrun. Presenting our finds, however, there were only; a few cans of corn, green beans and sliced peaches. A small pack of batteries for our flashlight. A couple flares and few bottled waters that were still manufacturly sealed.

Visiting the last campsite before heading for the station, we did find a couple of things. One of which being a box of shotgun ammo. But what was really interesting, was the item sitting next to the ammo. Daryl picked it up and investigated it before showing the object to me. It was a ranger hat...with pretty fresh blood splattered all across it. Daryl decided to keep the hat for the time being and stuffed it in between his belt and the hem of his jeans. Looking at him with concern for our find, I asked, "What do ya make of it, Dixon? That blood was just starting to coagulate." He kept his gaze to the ground in thought, but I continued to push. "What if that ranger's dead? What if we can't find keys to a new ride? What if we're just totally FUCKED, Daryl? We can't just wander through the damn woods like a bunch of drunks, tryin' ta find our way back home. We'll be mauled."

His anger spiked and in the blink of an eye, his hand reeled forward and took a tight hold of my chin. Moving his glaring eyes directly in front of mine, he spoke in a low growl. "Would you just shut the fuck up already? It's fine-"

But I wasn't hearing it. Grabbing hold of his hand and peeling it from my face, I stepped back and gave him a glare of my own. "No I WON'T shut the fuck up. And no it AIN'T fine. Don't you get it? We're dead if we can't find this guy and use his ride to get the hell outta here. We ain't gonna make it, stumblin' 'round in the damn dark."

Daryl just scoffed and began to pace. "Well, what the HELL do ya want me to do? Huh, Kelsi? I ain't magic. I can't shit a new ride from outta my ass."

"Oh, you stupid son-of-a-bitch. Ya know what-" but that was all of the retaliation that could make it out, before I was grabbed. AGAIN. This time, however, I kept a firm grip on my arrow. The bow did manage to fall from my hand, but all I needed to handle this was the tip of my arrow. I could see Daryl tryin' to move for me, but it was too late. My arrow tip had already sunk deep into the skull of the dead that was holding me by the time Daryl had got to me.

When I had finished retrieving and cleaning my arrow, Daryl already stood next to me, holding out my bow. I took it from him as he asked, "You alright, KJ?"

Deep down I wanted to finish what I was gonna say, but I knew that no amount of yelling at the handsome redneck would really help our dilemma. I sighed and gave him a quiet, "I'm good." then collected myself. Once I was comfortably back in 'fight or die' mode, we started toward the back of the campgrounds.

It wasn't a far walk, but as we got closer to the T in the road, we couldn't help but be concerned about the blood trail. Following the blood, it lead us to what we were looking for, but not how we was hoping to find it. Daryl spoke quietly, "And there's the ranger's car." Indeed, there it was. Parked right in front of the sign that informed us the Fire Station was on the right, and the Ranger Station to the left. But lying next to the ranger's jeep is where the blood trail ends. It was the body of a male deputy. His backpack thrown to the ground on his left and his entrails webbed across his torso. So now that we found the ranger's vehicle, we just need to find the ranger. Or...at least his keys.

Deciding to go ahead and try to find some more supplies first, we went down the right side of the T towards the small Fire Station. The garage door was open, but crouched in front of the doorway was a feasting eater. Daryl made quick work of slamming his hatchet into its head, as I made my way inside. There, chewing on a ranger lying on top of the desk, was a male that was missing an arm. I whipped my knife from its sheath and snuck behind the eater, stabbing its head just as it started to face me. At this point Daryl was behind me, flashlight on and giving a quick look through the doorway leading to the small kitchen. But I was too interested in finding out if this torn up man, was the ranger we were lookin' for. Apparently Daryl was too, since he asked, "That him?"

Leaning over, I searched for some type of identification. However, it was hard to see anything through the dark shadows of the room. "Shine that light over here, Dixon." He did and I immediately caught glimpse of a name tag. "This ain't him. We're lookin' for Hartwell. This guys name was Jackson."

The sound of growling caught our attention as a biter made its way from out of the kitchen, arms outstretched in hopes of grabbing one of us. Daryl slammed the hatchet down, putting it out of its misery. That blow, however, proved too much to handle for the rusted up weapon. The blade completely came off of the handle. Not having time to really fiddle with it, we moved on. There were bodies laid about everywhere, but we kept a sharp eye in case one of 'em tried to get up. Laying on the dinner table was another MRE. I motioned for Daryl to turn around, then placed the package in his backpack. Then we moved to the garage.

Dealing with the two dead folk inside, we was just about to walk out and head for the Ranger Station. However, I couldn't help but smile at the object I found conveniently placed on a shelf. "Here ya go trouble maker. Found somethin' better than a rusty ol' hatchet."

He stood just outside of the garage, patiently waiting to see what I had found. A smirk quickly forming as I held it out to him. "Look at'cha." He started before grabbing hold of his new weapon. "Ya must really love me, KJ. First ya give me a hatchet, now ya find me a fire axe." It was hard not to blush when he suggested that I love him, even though he was clearly joking around. That was pushed aside though as he continued. "Gotta say, this is definitely a gift I ain't gonna have ta return."

Leaving the abandoned Fire Station and all its dead bodies, we put away the flashlight and used the streetlights to guide us in the direction of the Ranger Station. It wasn't a long haul, but we stayed alert and cautious. Taking down the five dead folk that was waddling on the gravel road, we finally made it to our destination. It seemed eerily quiet though. This gave my paranoid self an alternative, which I quickly shared with my partner before he walked in the front door. "Hold up. Let's go 'round the back, in case this place is swamped. Never know, there could be twenty of 'em havin' a fuckin' house party in there."

He looked back at the quiet, dark building and thought about it for a short moment. Ultimately agreeing though and taking lead towards the back of the Station. There was a male and a female wandering around by the back door, but we quickly took care of 'em. Carefully entering through the doorway, making sure to shut and lock it behind us, we're immediately faced with the kitchen area. Giving it a quick glance, we already knew that scavenging the tiny room was pointless. All of the cabinets were left open and empty. And the fridge had blood smeared all over it, which instantly turned me off to searching the appliance for food.

Coming out of the kitchen and into the main room, we had full intentions to scope through the area, but something else completely caught our attention. Mere seconds after walking through the doorway, we heard a panicked woman's voice over a radio speaker. "Ranger! Ranger Hartwell?! Are you still there?! It's Elizabeth! Ranger! Hello?! Is anyone there?! HELLO?!" Not exactly expecting it, we both embarrassingly jumped and let out a short 'yelp'. Realizing we're not in immediate danger, we gathered up our pride and found the radio in question.

Daryl picked up the mic and pushed the button on the side to talk to her, all the while his eyes scanned the open room. "Hello? I don't see no Ranger here, lady." While listening to them speak, I couldn't help but notice the bulletin board on the wall behind the radio. Several sticky notes where tacked on. All saying things like; Campgrounds not safe. Any survivors? Got swarmed. This made my panic level rise, but I kept quiet to hear what Elizabeth had to say.

You could hear the ever growing fear in her voice. It was as plain as day. This woman was in trouble. "I was jus TALKING to him! Who is this?!"

Daryl tried to stay calm as he answered her, in hopes that it would stick to the poor girl. "I'm Daryl, the guy you just scared the crap out of. My girl Kelsi's here too. Where are you?"

I wasn't too sure if it was the radio cuttin' in and out, or if Elizabeth was on the border of having a panic attack. "I'm at a Motel in Pemberton! I'm-there was a deputy here, but...h-he's dead. I'm...I'm using his radio-thing...They're right outside the DOOR! Can you hear them?!" She was so frantic it was kinda hard to understand her.

Grabbing the mic from Daryl, I tried to calm the girl down myself. "Elizabeth? Elizabeth sweetie, can you hear me? This is Kelsi."

At this point it was evident the woman was in tears. As the speaker cut in and out while she spoke, I could hear the banging and growls in the background. "K-Kelsi...I'm-scared!...They're gonna get me! What do I do?!"

Using a sympathetic, yet stern voice, I tried to navigate her out of her fear. "Listen to me sweetheart. Ya gotta calm down. Control your breathing. Trust me, the last thing you want is to have a bad panic attack and pass out. Ya understand?" Silence..."Hello? Elizabeth?"

It was quiet for a moment, but we both jumped again when her scream came through. "HELP! They're gonna get in! Please!"

Growing impatient, but still trying to help the woman, Daryl snatched the mic from my hand. "Keep it together, Elizabeth. Stay quiet. They can probably hear you."

It seems like our efforts are frivolous, however, when her voice came back through. "NO! NOOO! Ranger! Come help me! Come help me, PLEASE!"

Frustrated, Daryl hollered through the mic. "Lady! Elizabeth! There AIN'T no ranger-" He wasn't able to finish, because we found the ranger. The damn thing popped outta nowhere and jumped Daryl, knocking him on his back. Unfortunately, we both screamed...pretty loud too. Daryl was struggling to hold the dead man back, his fiercely chomping teeth getting closer. I could feel my body trying to become paralyzed with fear, but then my autopilot kicked back into gear.

Pulling my knife out, I stabbed the back of his head as hard as I could. Then stabbed him again for good measure. When his body finally stopped fighting, Daryl kicked him off so hard, he actually flung back a few feet. Putting my knife back into place, my hands instantly moved to grab hold of my partners arm, helping him to his feet while frantically asking, "Are you okay? You hurt?"

Once he got his balance back, he answered me fully annoyed while trying to clean the blood off his face with his shirt. "Naw, I'm alright." He leaned over the unmoving body and read his name tag out loud. "Fuckin' Hartwell. Where the hell are your keys?" As he searched the body, I readied my bow and arrow and swiftly moved to check the office room. Not long after entering the room, I heard Daryl saying, "Yeah, I EARNED these.", along with the jingling of a key ring. Knowing that he found what we really needed, I was ready to leave. That's when I saw something in my peripheral. Two grenades. As soon as I picked them up, however, the sound of a whole group of dead folks banging on the walls echoed through. Soon after, came Daryl's panicked, "C'mon Kelsi! We gotta go!"

Meeting him outside of the office, we ran back into the kitchen to sneak out the back door. Once we made it out, I handed him one of the grenades. "Here! Soon as we get to the front, throw 'em right at those assholes and blow this joint!"

He quickly nodded and making it to the front, it was obvious we wouldn't last long if we tried to fight. There was at least thirty of 'em. Where they fuckin' came from, I don't know, but we're gonna make it out of this. Right when a handful of 'em caught wind of us, we pulled the pins and tossed both grenades right into the mist of the group. Almost midway through the road leading back to the ranger's jeep, we heard the booms and felt the ground rumble. We didn't want to stick around to find out if that took care of all of 'em or not, so we sprinted towards our get away car.

Coming closer, we spotted Jess standing by the driver's side, his back facing us. Daryl pulled the key ring from his pocket and wiggled them in the air as he addressed his uncle. "Hey! Jess! Don't worry 'bout wiring it! I got the keys!" His lack of response didn't go unnoticed, but Daryl still grabbed hold of his shoulder. The sound of growling and gurgling came along with Daryl's gasp as Jess gripped onto his arms. He had turned. Even though we knew in our hearts this would happen, we had hopes that we were wrong. But we wasn't wrong. Jess was bitten earlier in the day and now he's one of those man eating monsters. It was heart shattering hearing Daryl's screams as he fought to stop his own uncle from tearing him to shreds. "Jess! Aw, jess! No!"

I moved to help him, but Daryl had already plunged the blade of his knife, deep into Jess' eye socket. His body dropped with an agonizing 'thump'. Daryl stood there for a short moment, keeping his back facing me. But I knew he was wiping away his tears. The sound of more dead folks growling, however, reminded us that we don't have time for grieving at the moment. So, we both moved quickly into the jeep and drove off towards the front.

Getting back to where we started, we noticed two things. Officer Albert Lee was gone...and Officer Jimmy Blake was on top of Jess' truck, a small group of geeks trying to reach him. Daryl pushed down the accelerator and ran over the pack of six dead folk. This gave Jimmy the opportunity to quickly jump in the jeep. Then we were off into the night, back on the road. Settling into the silence as we relish in the horrible events that had transpired this day.