Curative

By Kaimaler

This idea came from Animelover1993!
I just wanted to say thank you for it! I kept thinking about how Laura needed more in her time before finding the Atlanta Group, but I couldn't figure out what to do.
And I was too scared to put something in without having a reason it was there. Soooo, eh, I have gone back and replaced chapters with the idea Animelover1993 provided.

I felt I could not continue unless it was done. :D

She'd been on her own for a few more days, Laura missed that little interaction between her and Glenn. He seemed nice, she wasn't quite sure about people though. Especially not after those men.

However, she did enjoy being close to them if but only for a few minutes.

She continued on with her life, opting to ignore almost everything else in the desolate city. The ruins of buildings that were still so fresh in her mind, they'd always be busy, people flocking into them to enjoy whatever was inside. The beautiful creatures of the ocean, a man taming tigers and doing death defying acts, or simply enjoying true art.

Which she was passing now. The High Museum of Art, it was a large building, she had actually been inside it before. It held wonders from dinosaur bones and even had Starry Night by Van Gogh before. There were many things she remembered about the museum.

She approached the building, she had an image of the white shimmering building in her minds' eye, but what she saw was drastically different. It was worn, unkempt, there were a good deal of things marring it's once flawless walls.

With a sigh, she passed it by, trying to keep good memories about these places that once brought joy to so many people. She never had any real friends as a child, being shy never won anyone any awards, but she loved these buildings and the many things inside them. For a few hours spent inside their walls, everyone around her was her friend. The building was a better friend to her then anyone else had ever been.

She grimaced, that was a depressing thought.

Pressing on, she would pass by a few more buildings like that, her dying friends. They were so uncharacteristically quiet, the only sound in the entire city were the birds and the occasional shuffling of the undead.

It was so strange looking at her beloved city collapsing in on itself like this. The holes where mass damage had been done, the buildings around them would be shattered like they were as delicate as glass. She avoided those streets, it looked like if she were to breathe on them wrong, more of the buildings would come down on top of her.

Since meeting Glenn and the blonde woman, she was determined to find new life, wherever it may be hiding. Their appearance just went to show that people could survive in this difficult world, even in this dead city. If they could do it, perhaps there were others?

So she scoured the city day and night, just looking for more life or any signs of people in general. New or old. She didn't know if she'd actually do anything about them, maybe she'd just stare at them like an endangered species, or she could help them like she had with Glenn and the woman.

But what were to happen if they ended up being just like them? What if they were vile?

She steeled herself, those were bad people, not everyone was like that, but she still felt scared at the idea of being trapped again. She wasn't strong enough to fight people off, she'd been starving and lost most of her previous human strength. Granted, she was never strong, yet she had never been this weak. Her condition made her even more so.

No matter what, she'd help those she could, but if they tried to hurt her like those men did, she would do what she needed to so she would never face a dark room or the pain again. She may be weak, but she wasn't going to be the victim again.

It wasn't until the forth day searching that she came across signs.

She could hardly believe it when she saw it. She had entered an old abandoned grocery store, the shelves almost cleaned out completely, but there was a fresh undead corpse, the blood still pooling out around the crushed skull.

There were bloody shoe prints leading away from the corpse, she followed them closely.

The excitement of finding people blinded her to her area, she had left the store and gone down a tiled sidewalk in a small high end marketplace. The dry ground started to clean off the blood from the person's shoes and dried out the blood on the ground. Quickly, they faded away.

Looking around, she didn't find much, but had to guess, from the shoe prints that the person was still heading straight, as there wasn't many places to go other then directly ahead. She took a guess and kept going forward, but she kept her eye on every passing door and every last possible way they could've gone.

There were so many variables, they could have gone anywhere and she'd never be able to check so many places in dozen or so doors could actually be where they were holding out at or they could've found a hole in the fence to her left and went through. Maybe they kept going down the road and left to another part of the city completely.

So many options and not enough time to figure out which was the right one.

Instead, she stopped looking, for now, and stopped in front of a store that had a painting outside of it, flat on its back on the ground. It was so badly damaged, the top right corner torn, the paint unprotected from the weather, it was losing it's color and shape. It looked particularly sad.

She looked at the store, it was a small art gallery. She smiled, she loved art.

Looking at the door, she contemplated going inside. She wouldn't have if she hadn't noticed the blood on the door handle, it was smeared and still dripping a little bit.

Her eyes went wide, the person didn't run, they were hiding.

Cautiously, she reminded herself of the gun she carried and went over to the door, opening it slowly. The bells jingled upon her entry and she winced at the sudden sharp sound and let out an annoyed grunt. The bells just gave her away.

She didn't really know why she wanted to help people, she just did. Her love of life was so strong she felt compelled to find and help people, to extend the same hand Glenn tried to do for her. It pushed her to help others not so fortunate as her.

"H-hello?" She called out through the store, it was dark inside, but her new sight cut through the blackness. "I'm n-not here t-to h-hurt you. I want to h-help."

A careful response, one she wasn't sure she was going to get. "Are there more of you? Out there?"

"I'm a-alone." She answered, she was completely alone.

The sound of a few steps came from the far back of the store and a person stepped into the light. It was a young man, there was blood on his hands and a little left on his sneakers. "What are you doing out here then? The cities' dangerous on your own."

"I g-get a-around." She shrugged, taking a step back, she was more the wary of a man who looked capable of overpowering her. He seemed to get this and put his hands up. "I'm not going to do anything, I swear. I just want to get back to my friends."

She nodded, "I c-can h-help you."

He grinned, "I'd appreciate it. I'm not real familiar with the city, I come from a county North of here, Atlanta's one big maze to me."

Waving him along, they left the store. She made sure he was a few feet from her as she looked out over the city. "W-where w-were they l-l-last time you w-were with t-them?"

"Down by the theater, we dodged in there for a breather. We were being chased and I got cut off. I don't know where they went after that though." He licked his lips and put his hands on his hips.

"The t-theater is t-this w-way." Laura went back down the street she followed him on, he wasn't too far behind her and she made a point to keep her hand resting on her gun. Just in case.

They went straight to the theater, there wasn't a great number of the undead between them and the theater now. She wasn't concerned about herself, more for the man who couldn't take out half of this many undead alone. Attracting any more and he'd be dead in seconds.

"Wait h-here, or s-s-somewhere s-safe, I'm g-going to g-go see if t-they're i-inside." She went forward, she could hear his protests but eventually he couldn't do or say anything about her walking straight into the undead. He had to do as she said.

She ran straight passed the undead, they still cared not for whatever she did. The theater was straight out of a horror story, the torn carpets, ruined and dark posters of other horror stories, and corpses strewn about while the undead hovered around lifelessly.

Going from room to room, she searched around for the rest of that man's group. The dark screening rooms seemed most likely place to find them, if they were holed up somewhere in the theater. There wasn't many other places to go, a few smaller rooms, but nothing substantial that could hold more then a few people at once and she hadn't a clue how many people were in this group of his.

So she drew her weapon and pushed every door open and searched the rooms with her gun at the ready.

When she opened one of the doors near the end, it was cut off by hitting something behind it. She could just barely make out the shape of some chairs and a janitor cart behind the door.

Trying again, she pushed much harder but was rewarded with the stuff moving maybe an inch before stopping completely. She was just still too weak, she lost her muscle and weight after she was turned, having not eaten anything as of yet wasn't helping either.

Sighing, she stopped pushing and guessed why the door was blocked. There is a high chance that this was due to the man's group. So, instead of trying to force the door open like she was one of the undead, she knocked.

And waited, before knocking again. "Hello." She called out through the crack she could open the door to.

"Yes! Yes! Hello!" A woman's voice cried out from the door, "We're in here! Who are you?"

"I'm L-Laura," She answered, "I w-was outside w-when I r-ran into a m-man, s-s-said his g-group got a-attacked b-by the u-undead. T-told him I'd h-help. S-so, here I a-am." She hoped they believed her, there wasn't any way for her to prove that she was telling the truth. She couldn't sneak the man inside the theater, he was likely to get killed.

There was some noise on the other side, it consisted of quick and reprimanding whispers and the sound of various objects getting knocked around carelessly.

After a few minutes of this, the door was flung open, revealing a disheveled looking woman with red hair, a larger man behind her, a young man who looked around the age of the man outside, another man carrying a shotgun, a little girl about twelve years of age, and another woman who looked in her early twenties.

"You know Markus? Where is he? Why isn't he with you?" The distressed woman kept asking, pleading with Laura who just shook her head. "N-not here, have t-to get y-you outta' h-here first. T-then w-we'll talk."

"How we know we can trust her, guys? I mean, come on, really? Just gonna' get up and go with her?" The man with the shotgun asked, resting the weapon on his shoulder.

"Y-you d-don't know. J-just gotta' take a l-leap of f-faith." She smirked and pulled out her gun, "W-we need t-to g-get you outta' h-here fast. F-find a w-weapon and b-be r-ready to u-use it."

Each of them already had a weapon of some form. The large man had an ax, the woman had a crowbar, the man had his shotgun but was smart enough to put it away and take up a knife he had with him and the woman held a machete. The little girl just clutched her teddy bear and pressed onto the woman's leg, she put an arm around her shoulder and they all left the room.

The hall to the main room was empty, just corpses, which gave Laura the time she needed to formulate a plan.

"S-stay tight, they c-come c-close d-deal with them, but d-don't leave the g-group. Stick t-together and y-y'all have a better c-chance at l-leavin' together." She explained, she didn't have a melee weapon but she looked around until she saw an old tool box and took out a long screwdriver. It would have to work.

She sunk the screwdriver into the first undead's head, she could hear them behind her cutting down others, but didn't look back. They had to survive with what they had, they couldn't run around and tear through the undead, they had to be methodical.

They reached the front doors without any casualties and Laura slowly opened the first door and stepped out, checking every corner she could to find any undead that may sneak up on them as they tried to escape.

Outside there was a good few undead wandering around, a few saw them and started making their way to the group. They all took their time and cut down which ever ones' they could reach and stayed together, Laura was happy that they knew how to do this. They knew to, they had practice fighting their way out of a bad situation.

Crossing the street was easy enough and once they got through the hardest part, Laura looked around for the man from earlier, Markus the woman called him.

Sure enough, there came Markus. He cut down one of the undead as he made his way over to them, a bright smile plastered on his face contrasted heavily against his blood soaked clothing and exhausted look.

"Markus!" The woman threw her arms around him, they laughed and cried. They weren't out of the woods yet though, more of the undead were converging on them. "Guys, happy reunions later?" The man with the shotgun gestured to the encroaching undead.

They got tight together and began moving. "This way!" Shotgun man lead them away, he seemed to know what he was doing and Laura was okay with letting him lead. So she brought up the rear, following just behind the young woman.

He took them out of the marketplace and onto a main street, Laura got a little worried about running into a horde out in the open. The horde's usually followed the largest and easiest paths to follow, but so far there was nothing around, a straggler here or there, but nothing to warrant actual concern.

After a turning down two more streets and meeting a few unlucky undead, the group came to a building with a boarded up front. They went around back and opened a back door, everyone ducked into the building and Laura looked at the door, at the interior she could see from just outside the door.

It was dark inside, but there were people in this building, unsure people. Hesitantly, she stepped inside and closed the door, her hand firmly on the grip of her gun just to be a little more sure.

She caught up to them in the stairwell, one she struggled to climb. They'd already reached the top by the time she reached the second to last floor.

Sighing, she made the rest of the way relatively slowly and once she made it, she saw the group digging through supplies and a few snacking on whatever food and water they had.

"There she is!" The woman got up from her seat on the edge of the building. "Laura right?" She nodded, looking around to see the group worn out from their day. They almost died, it was understandable to be so tired.

"I can't thank you enough for saving us back there." She smiled appreciatively, but Laura shook her head. "H-handled yourselves f-f-fine, didn't n-need m-me for a-anythin'."

"Don't be ridiculous girl," The large man stood. "We really needed help today, with all those damn things walkin' around. Just needed someone to kick us into gear."

The man, Markus, came up and gave her a hug that surprised her. "Yeah, we owe you our lives. You're more then welcome to stay with us as long as you want." He grinned, "You know you want to."

They all appeared around her now, excluding shotgun man.

"Where are our manners?" The woman laughed, "I'm Elizabeth and this is my brother Markus." He nodded to her.

"Call me Braddock." He shook her hand.

The young woman stepped forward. "I'm Daisy. Lame name, I know." She laughed, "And this is my little sister, Melanie." The little girl shied away behind her older sister. Laura smiled at the girl.

"I'm Micheal, pleasure to have you with us." The man shook her hand too, a little firmer then the last. "And Mister Pouty over there is Red."

She glanced to the shotgun wielding man, he did look like he was sulking about something. "I'm L-Laura, g-glad to h-have h-helped."

"Well Laura, allow me the great honor," Micheal smiled, weaving his words flamboyantly. "-of fixing you some lovely... um..." He shifted through his bag and let out an ah ha! before returning to her. "How about some delectable spam. Mmmmm, so yummy! What do ya' say, hmm?" He rubbed his belly like spam was such a fancy meal.

Laura's stomach answered for her, growling loud enough for them all to hear it.

The roof burst into laughter, the utter joy these people had made Laura a little relaxed. They were good people, nice people. They were trying to pay her back for helping them and she wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to eat.

They had a fire and a pot over the fire, the spam cooking to itself while Laura practically drooled over it. Spam wasn't fine lamb or veal, but at this point it was finer then the best sushi.

When her cook, Micheal, served her spam, she didn't put down the plastic fork they gave her to eat with down. Until she felt self conscious about halfway in and looked around at the group who had been watching her eat with amused looks. Swallowing her mouthful, she looked beside her where Daisy was sitting with Melanie and Laura held her plate out to them.

"No, it's yours. You look like you need it more then us too!" Daisy giggled, "Eat up. Everyone, stop staring!" The all laughed as they saw Laura take back her plate happily and finish off the plate of spam.

It was a delicious meal, she couldn't get enough of it. When it was all gone though, Laura set her plate down and ran a hand on her stomach. She still felt like she could eat a hundred plates just like that, but she was satisfied now. The hunger pain was gone.

After her dinner and they ate their own, they all discussed their homes and families. Laura felt this was actually done for her rather then towards each other.

Elizabeth came from Tennessee, she was in Georgia visiting her family when the outbreak happened. However, the family she was coming to visit was actually her dying mother who passed due to cancer a week before everything actually started happening. Markus lived in Georgia and was with her when their mother passed and was still there when the outbreak happened.

Daisy and Melanie lived just outside Atlanta before the outbreak, they were in their home when they met their first undead. Their mother died when giving birth to Melanie, but their father had been bitten by the undead before they had a chance to kill it. Daisy was a natural athlete, she was physically strong and while she wasn't bulky with muscle, she did look like she could hold her own well enough.

Micheal actually lived in Atlanta, he was here the entire time and hadn't left once since the world went to hell. Even before that it had been a long time since he stepped foot out of Atlanta. He ran a little antiques store downtown and was doing well for himself when the city met its first few cases of the virus. He said he was always a little bit of a neat freak when it came to germs and pandemics, so he locked himself up and tried to wait it out.

Braddock was a bodyguard, he was usually hired by important people coming into town or just anyone with enough money to actually afford his services. This explained the guns secured in their holsters under his arms. He wasn't on any job or anything when the outbreak happened, in fact, he said it was embarrassing.

Then chose to deliver a humorous groan and a "Fuck it, doesn't matter. The world ended anyways." He told them he was sitting at home enjoying his favorite ice cream, orange sherbet, and watching soaps.

Everyone stifled their own laughter at that, this large man sitting at home watching soaps was just an image they couldn't get out of their heads.

And because Red didn't seem to want to speak to anyone, Micheal explained that Red had a darker story. Said he had a son, but he didn't make it. There was no mother, she'd apparently left when the boy was young and Red had raised the boy himself, said that when Red told him the story he didn't sound bitter about being a single father, that he loved it.

He loved that boy.

The group was quiet after that, humbled by the man's loss.

When story telling was done and everyone ate, Micheal set her out one of their extra bedrolls and put it near Elizabeth's. They said they slept in pairs or all together, it was safer that way.

Laura didn't sleep that night, she never slept and never got tired.

Instead, she laid down and could make out Red's silhouette at the other end of the building, it was his watch.

She had to watch herself around him. He was reserved, but she still wanted to live. Outing herself to that man just didn't seem like such a good idea.