Curative
By Kaimaler
Whaaatt. No way right? UNLIKELY. If anything, even impossible?! Hmm, maybe there's something to that. How could they have possibly ran into Red's group? What are the odds... hmmmmm?
:)
or maybe they just crossed paths out of sheer luck! WHO KNOWS? I DO! But I'm not tellin'!
Laura was sat down with Carol beside her on an old, brown couch in the center of the room. They were given each a bottle of water and dried fruit to eat. For a moment she almost felt like she was back at the Greene farm with everyone looking at her.
This awkward time was only beset by Carol when she gave them all a grateful smile. "It's kind of you to welcome us in like this and offer us food. I haven't met all of you yet, but you all seem to know Laura."
"Yeah, we know her from way back." Daisy sat beside Carol, "I'm Daisy and it's nice to meet you and to see Laura again. We have some food stores and with Markus vouching for you, we have no problem sharing. People are very... unforgiving these days."
"I can understand why. So much uncertainty. I'm Carol." She took a sip of the water, it had been quite some time since she had good, clean water.
"I'm Braddock," The largest of the group stepped forward, offering his hand politely. Carol was a bit surprised when she accepted the greeting; the muscular man was gentler than she expected. "That's Red in the corner and Michael." He pointed them both out, "It's good to have some company around."
Red approached them displaying something Laura had never seen him do before. He was smiling. "Pleasure to meet you Carol. We don't get to see a lot of other survivors and have to be careful even when we do. Never know who's out there. Laura's a trusted friend, I hope you're the same as she."
"Don't worry about me, I'm friendly." She joked, everyone knew survivors can be harmless when happy, but dangerous any other time. This was a pleasantry they had not seen since before the outbreak. Carol was polite, considerate, and listened well to manners she had learned as a child even in this new world. "We've been on the road for a few months now, it's nice to finally sit down and relax for a bit."
Everyone turned back to Laura, who was less than pleased to be sitting here with the people who tried to kill her. Their past deed went unforgiven and disturbed Laura's once peaceful memory of them.
Somehow, by knowing they had survived the undead of Atlanta, made reminiscing about their history before the incident that separated them impossible to Laura.
"So... Laura, how have you been?" Daisy tried to seem approachable, hoping that Laura would accept this extending branch. She was not so cooperative.
Laura turned her head to stare ruefully at Daisy. The heavy gaze was enough to break Daisy away from her question. It was enough to know Laura was alive still, but they struggled to reconnect with the damaged woman. Laura internally whisked away in her thoughts, "Am I a damaged person?" She posed the question to herself, her mind racing through all manner of memories before she came to a conclusion within seconds. "I think so."
Everyone seemed to look to Red for guidance on dealing with the proverbial elephant in the room. He is their leader, gave them hope and security when they thought there was none. In this case, Red was more unsure how to proceed, but not unwilling to try bandaging this festering wound.
"Laura-" He skipped a moment when her unnaturally silver and black eyes snapped to him, almost daring him to say something. He was braver than that, he would speak his mind and let Laura do with it as she wished. "-I speak for everyone here when I say... I'm sorry. I wish I could change things. I wish I would have listened."
Laura was not satisfied, Markus had already given her his apologies. It was expected that they would do the same, anything less would be insulting to her.
"-but I can't. I can't go back and change what we did, what happened was... a mistake and it almost cost you your life." Red was standing close to her now, yet she did not move back from her hunched over seat on the couch. Her glare was unrelenting, he wondered, the way she is, if she even had to blink anymore. "We would've committed to a murder without knowing the whole truth. It's true, we all lost people, we all know what this infection does to people. Yes, this changes how we see other survivors and it effected how we treated you."
Still unmoving, an almost hateful glare. Red was almost overwhelmed by how sinister she looked to him and to them all.
"That's not an excuse to treat people so... poorly. We made a horrible error and it almost killed you. There's nothing I can do to show you how sorry we feel and even that wouldn't make a real difference." He relaxed his tense jaw, the stress of this situation was getting to him. He had lost that once edgy touch that made them all worried for him. "We'll do whatever we can to help you and Carol both. It's not much, but all lost you in Atlanta. It's... amazing to have you back. To have that second chance."
Carol slowly watched Laura as her body tensed, she was not used to seeing an angrier, unyielding side of Laura. The usually shy girl they found in Atlanta became a thicker skinned person than any of them anticipated. Carol was earning her own strength, but there was a part of Laura that no longer stayed within the boundaries of the natural.
Laura slowly came to a stand. Even her smaller stature seemed to overtake Red quickly, he was not going to back away from her though. He was adamant about proving himself to Laura, though she looked less than thrilled at his speech.
"You are sorry?" She growled, "You forced a knife to my head, pretty shitty way to die as is. When I tried to explain you all ignored me. Then, I escaped you; you attacked me. I wouldn't have hurt you and you knew it. Instead, you attacked me and knocked me down a full flight of stairs." Her voice gradually increased until she was bordering on yelling in anger. "I was in pain already, you don't know the shit I went through before I found you! How I had been experimented on, how I learned what my organs looked like first hand. How those men used me. I should've never helped you ungrateful bastards! I went against everything I knew to defend you, fight for you; I saved you and you didn't even give me the time of fucking day!"
This rage from Laura had silenced the room, they knew very little about her or even her life before the outbreak. She was an unknown to them, a stranger if they really looked deep into Laura. She was known by name and actions, but never spoke about herself. Laura was always a mystery, keeping to herself and listening to them.
Laura thought that, for once, she had stood up for herself and said what she wanted to say. It was empowering, enlightening experience and Laura could feel this deep seeded anger rise from a pit in her stomach.
"Laura!" Carol stood beside her, somehow though, remembering Carol was with her and hearing her voice forced Laura's anger to quell almost instantly. The anger in her resided in the dark part of her mind, it was not rearing its head while Carol addressed her.
She looked at Carol, her eyes softened at the sight of the smaller woman. "We need to talk, privately." Carol stormed around Laura who followed dutifully behind. The group remained to respect Carol's call for a private discussion.
Carol led her to a dinning room and closed the large double doors behind them. She waited a moment to speak, attempting to collect herself and her words. This was a delicate issue and Carol knew Laura was in an even more fragile state. Not only were these people her friends at one point, she was still trying to keep herself under control.
As she stepped closer to Laura, she realized Laura was carefully shifted backwards. This small action warmed Carol's heart, to know that even while Laura is angry, she was still thinking of Carol's safety.
"Laura, I know this must be difficult for you." Carol spoke attentively, watching Laura's reaction with scrutinizing detail. "I can't imagine how hard this must be. I just need you to know that they seem to be good people who made a bad mistake. This world has gotten complicated, hard to understand right from wrong. Like what happened with that boy in the shed."
Carol put her hands together, giving Laura a very caring, motherly look. "You don't have to forgive them, you don't even have to like them. If they're good people, we could use their help... Actually, we need it. We don't know how far out the other are or if we're even on the right path anymore. If we want to make it anywhere over the winter, we need help. If they're not good people, we will find another way."
"I know you're right." Laura looked away from Carol, glancing down to the table while she picked at a piece of loose wood. She was trying to distract her mind, tame herself by not facing Carol's tender eyes. She is a compassionate woman and Laura felt ashamed of her uncharacteristic anger. "I just... I feel this rage inside me. I want to scream, to claw, to make them hurt like they made me. I want them to know how I felt; how I feel now. We're alone out here and I'm not always the best company anymore. I only want to get you to Sophia so that... you can be happy again."
Carol knew Laura would not let her approach her out in the open like this, not when Laura was teetering on the edge of a walker-esque insanity. Neither of them wanted her control to falter, but Carol yearned to show Laura the care she used to back when she had needed comfort back at the farm.
"It will be alright, Laura. We'll find them and we'll find a place for you too. None of them would let you go so easily." She sighed, the group was very understanding to Laura's position. "Let's just get to know these people, like you got to know us. Maybe they aren't so bad. You were afraid of what we would do when we found out what happened to you."
Laura shrugged, "But that was different. I was scared of something you never did. I hate them for something they did and I begged them not to kill me... You would have listened though, even back when we first met. Rick listened to me, you all accepted me. I didn't have to plea for my life or fight you. I explained myself, answered your questions, and you gave me the benefit of the doubt."
With a hopeful smile, Carol went back to the doors. "Maybe they've changed. When faced with their mistakes, good people improve. They might surprise you."
It was almost a grudge war with Laura at first, but she was calm around Carol. Markus would relate Laura to a dog, defensive, loyal, and kindly only around Carol though. This oddity went unknown or less noticed by most of the group though.
Red, Markus, and Daisy figured it out quickly. Melanie was too young to understand and Braddock was also very kindly, despite his size.
This change in Laura's hostile attitude was a welcome gift, if Carol had not been there to diffuse the situation, they had no idea how Laura would have handled seeing them again. Regardless of how they each felt, they were happy to have Laura there. What happened before was a mistake and, seeing Laura alive now, provided all the evidence they needed to accept that.
Though they all shared in a less tense company now, Laura was still not convinced that she needed to be kinder to them. "Do unto others and all that shit." She was struggling internally to listen to the more patient side of her, the side that wanted to listen to Carol and acknowledge the woman as being a better judge of character.
Laura almost laughed at herself. All through the troubles of this new world, she had never been a good judge of character. Good and bad seemed to just slip by her, not to mention how frequently people changed until the pressures of fight or flight all the time. It was a definite test of morality that never let up on a person.
She absentmindedly wondered how Rick was doing these last few months. How was he holding up, did he find a place for the group to live? Was he even still alive? Anything could happen on these roads.
As they all relaxed, more questions were directed to how Laura and Carol ended up in the area and the group they were with. They both expected these questions and were ready to answer. However, the first questions were not directed to Carol. This group has seen someone they thought dead walk in through the front door. It was worth learning about.
"Where did you go... after us I mean." Daisy asked, sitting on a single chair across from Laura and Carol. They had moved around the room a little since the earlier dispute, but none of them were upset over it.
Laura glanced to Carol, she would answer even if she didn't like to. Carol gave her a reassuring nod. "I ran into the city, walkers don't... they don't want to kill me. So I followed a horde through the city, scavenged around. Not much happened immediately, but after a little while I found two members of the group that I soon joined. Where I met Carol at. Led by a few guys I didn't know very well until later of course."
"Were they good, to you both?" Markus had more concern over the men and women in the group. He heard his own horror stories out there, he hoped he was not listening to another one.
"They were nice, protective people. We looked out for each other." Carol smiled, "Everyone was a little hesitant at first. It was all so scary what with Atlanta being bombed. I found part of the group on the road and we made camp near a quarry outside of the city. We hoped help would come soon, some talked about leaving to a place called Fort Benning, some just wanted to wait it all out."
"I met two of the group initially before I joined, helped them escape from the horde I traveled with." She knew she was earning odd looks for talking about walkers like they were unimportant and docile. "I met them again later on, along with a few more members and another new one that joined that day too. There were a few complications, but we eluded another herd attracted by the gunfire and that's where I met the rest at the quarry."
"They just let you join them, no questions?" Red queried, he would not allow someone to join his group without knowing who they were first. It was safety for them all, it was an unfortunate idea.
"I helped them survive a herd that would have killed them all. Their new leader joined the same day, his name was Rick, a cop, and he was looking for his wife and son. He was in the hospital during the outbreak, after being shot on the job. He woke up from a coma after everything was overrun and eventually made his way to Atlanta, found part of the group in Atlanta, and came back with them." Laura smiled weakly at the memory. "Turns out, his wife and son were there, safe all along."
Daisy giggled, "Wow, he's a lucky man."
"Extremely." Carol agreed, it was still such a surreal moment to think back on how Lori was beyond shocked to see him alive. From what they all knew, her husband had died before the outbreak.
"What happened after that? You must've all left the quarry if you ended up all the way out here." Red came back around, almost envious of Rick as his good luck. Laura about forgot how Red used to be, he was cold, an unknown even in the group.
"We left a man in Atlanta. He was unfriendly, gave me a black eye and nearly killed one of our group. We cuffed him to a roof top, but the walkers couldn't get him..." Laura took in their reactions, some of them seemed taken aback. "We felt that we couldn't leave him there to die. So we, Rick, myself, the man's brother, and two others came with to save him and pick up a gun bag that Rick dropped when he was trapped by the Atlanta herds."
"Jesus." Markus gasped, "That's just fucked."
Carol rested a hand on Laura's leg, it was a kind gesture even though Laura was worried about the closeness. "We lost a lot of people that night. Another herd attacked camp just as they came back. Most of our group had died. We left the morning after and headed to the Atlanta CDC building."
"How was it there?" They seemed a little excited to hear something from disease control. Daisy leaned forward, "Any... progress?"
"It wasn't what we hoped it would be." Carol gulped, "It's gone now."
Red ran a hand down his face, "That doesn't sound good... Why are you both out here alone? It's dangerous without a group anymore."
"We found a farm after we-" Laura looked to Carol, "One of the group, a little girl, was chased into the woods by walkers. We tried to get her back, but instead Rick's son, Carl... was shot and we couldn't find the girl. After a bit, we met a family who owned a farm nearby and joined up as the man, Hershel, took care of Carl."
"Sounds like you guys had a rough ride..." Daisy related well.
"We stayed there for a long time, built a bit of a life... Before a herd overran the farm and we got separated from them. Now it's just me and Carol trying to find the rest. We know they made it off the farm, we know the direction they headed in; we just don't know how far ahead of us they are anymore." Laura finished the story by glossing over any unneeded details.
Red looked to Braddock and Michael. "You're welcome here as long as you want to stay. We owe you that much at least. Just ask if you need something to eat or drink, gotta' watch our rations is all."
"Thank you, we do appreciate the help." Carol replied to Red as she could see that Laura was less than pleased with Red most of all. "All we really need is a safe place to rest before moving on to find the others."
"You don't want to stay?" Daisy understood wanting to find their people, but worried more about survival than anything.
"It would be nice and you seem like good people, but we have to find them. My daughter is alone there, I have to find her if nothing else." Carol had no question about that at least, she could not be convinced otherwise. They all respected this, there was nothing more important than family in this world.
"We understand completely. If you're alright with it and if for however long you stay for, then we'll have shifts all night, but you two get some sleep tonight at least." Markus offered, he was being good to them and no one had any complaints about it.
Laura stood up, "I can keep watch all night if you want, I don't sleep." She looked to Carol sitting on the couch, "I'll be outside if you need me."
Without answering any of the questioning looks she got, Laura headed out to the front porch to keep watch. The group was not done investigating what was going on anymore. There were many things that went unanswered.
"She doesn't sleep?" Markus posed the question to Carol first.
She nodded to them, "Laura's... condition has left her without sleep. She's never slept while she was with us at all. Every night she'd be up on top of the RV keeping watch with someone else there with her. It's just how she is now."
"We're all curious, Carol. What... happened to Laura? She said she was experimented on, tried to tell us that she had been cured. Is that true, is there a cure?" Daisy was anxious to ask this, they were all hopeful to hear this news. A cure could solve so many problems in the world that they could not hide how amazed they were to hear this.
"From what she's told us, her father had experience in the field. He was a scientist of some success and she told him about her bite back before it was really known about. She says she woke up sometime afterwards and apparently she had turned, but he found a way to help her." Carol couldn't explain much about it, Laura had told them a series of events, but no specifics.
"So your group, her father, is with your group? And he has the cure?" Red raised the idea to his group and it made them all begin considering finding their group too. For safety in numbers and a cure if they are bitten. It was worth a risk.
"No." Carol shifted a little uncomfortably, "Her father did what she said earlier. He experimented on her while she was alive again and when she got a chance, she left him to find her own way. It was a bad situation for her and I'm glad she's no longer under his knife."
Again, the group almost expected that answer, but Daisy felt another sting of guilt. They knew so little about Laura before she found them and when she tried to tell them... Daisy closed her eyes momentarily, trying to take in the information. "But she is... cured, right?"
"In a manner of speaking." Carol spoke before she thought, when she saw their faces she shook her head, "Let me explain. Laura is human again, she can think and feel. Her heart doesn't... beat normally. In fact, it doesn't beat at all anymore. Physically, Laura's body is dead now. She used to have a pulse once, but she collapsed back at camp right before the herd came. Laura doesn't heal like us, when she's hurt it takes her a longer time to heal. So she's different, her appearance is even different; she's still Laura though and she is cured."
"That's good. I'm glad Laura found a group that could... that did understand her when we didn't." Markus scratched the side of his face. His own nervous tick that he never minded being noticed. "Is she... has she talked about us?"
Carol shrugged, "Laura never talked a lot about her history before us. She told us how she was cured, but... There are difficulties she's faced alone, before we found her and after. It's not my place to say what those are though. If you want to know, I suggest speaking to her."
Every person there was hoping to learn more about Laura through Carol, as none of them thought that Laura would open up to them now, not after everything that lead to this moment. Though they didn't know deep enough that Laura was glad to see them alive, but her anger was too amplified by her hunger and the Voice to properly tell between her own anger and a different kind of personality changing her.
They all listened and understood Carol's meaning. Somethings are just meant to be shared between one person and those they trust.
Without prodding, Daisy ushered Carol into the storage to find their rations, water, and supplies that would last them the winter. It was all packed and ready to leave when they wanted it too. They had planned to remain in this farm house all through the cold months, but were recently swayed that this house may not keep them as protected as they wanted.
There were more complications that they went over, but instead of remaining with the group, Markus had another idea. He felt he was one person out of the group who was determined to make it right. While the others remained inside to talk to Carol, Markus slipped out through the front door to find Laura.
He saw her sitting on the rocking chair on the front porch. It was an old wooden wicker chair that was in less than ideal condition.
Awkwardly, Markus cleared his throat to gain her attention. All he earned was a weary sideways glance before she refocused on the land in front of them. Taking a few steps toward her, he leaned against the porch railing facing to Laura.
He gave her a sweet smile, an expression that told her many things about what he was thinking. He was anxious, clearly he wanted to get something out. Laura was not in a listening mood, but Carol had done well to relax her somewhat. She would not mind being around the group, so long as they did not get too close to her.
She noticed a lack of this hunger feeling with the group though, almost as strong as the control she gained when putting that gun to her head. There was fear of being caught and killed; survival was the grounds for all her actions. Not even the Voice inside her could argue that.
"So..." He started, instantly getting a testing stare from Laura. "... You had quite the wild ride, huh? We know the feeling, once we got out of Atlanta we had no idea what to do. No safe zones, no military; we were pretty lost."
Laura leaned back in the chair, she was quite interested on knowing where the group had gone while Laura was with Rick and his group. They seemed to have come a long way if they crossed paths again.
"We started heading North first, but that didn't turn out to well, so we kinda went in circles for a bit. Until we found a stretch of countryside that barely had one shuffler in it. It was nice for a while, suppose that made us a little complacent. What with the herd coming this way now." Markus rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "We, uh, caught up with another, larger group. They seemed alright at first..."
Laura nodded, "Ended badly?"
Markus, pleased she was actually speaking with him, smiled back to her before clicking his tongue. "You could say that... Group was a little... rattled, I guess is the best word for it. They figured that it was alright to eat people and even harvested their own members and anyone they came across. Well, Daisy in there was pretty enough to get noticed by one of the head honchos of that group and they ended up not eating us, but inviting us for dinner."
"Can't imagine that went over well." She huffed, still remaining a bit distant from Markus. Which he was expertly focused on getting her full attention.
"Daisy didn't like the guy either, he was not the... handsomest of fellas. He would insist on her hanging around, but we always went together, we watched each others backs even in the large group. Especially when we found out that he was really starting to push his luck with Daisy." Laura's eyes shot to Markus, forming an alarmed question. "No- he never touched her. He was just really pushy about it, eventually got bad though. She came back to find Braddock talking about how he had tried to keep her in the sheds a lot of the people lived in. He had one to himself and he was threatening her and the group. Daisy got away and, well, Braddock is a big guy. Bigger than the guy that liked Daisy, that's for sure."
"So you all got out of there alright, I'm guessing?" She did not see anyone with missing parts or large scars. Each one of them seemed to be in decent health, excluding the one missing member that is.
Markus shrugged, "Aside from how hard it was to escape them, yeah... But the herd had caught up with us. Those cannibals survivors... they got overrun after that. We know a lot of them made it out, but they took some significant losses that's for sure. In our rush... Well, we had to keep going for days. Everyone was tired and hungry. We rarely got a place or time to sleep before the herd found us. It just got so bad that, after so long without really any food or rest, the herd caught us exhausted and... Elizabeth was bit." He spoke softly, his sister's passing was not an easy subject. Laura sighed to herself, a lot of people were lost during and after the outbreak.
"I'm sorry that you lost Elizabeth, Markus." She voiced her thoughts, but there wasn't much she could say to help him. Instead, she remained quiet to let him continue the story.
"Thanks." He winked at her, in attempt to show that he was fine, but it was too clear that he was still hurting. "After that, we knew we had to find some way to rest. We weren't so lucky to find a place though. After a few more weeks, we came across another group. This time we didn't want to deal with them, we were too weak to resist if they weren't friendly. So we spent a lot of time trying to avoid them, step around places they looted, dodge them on the roads."
Laura raised a brow, "Did you ever meet this group to know?"
"Nah, I mean... we overheard somethings and saw some pretty bad shit they did." Markus shivered, "We knew meeting up with them was a bad idea. They were armed to the teeth with automatic weapons; even mounted guns on military trucks. They were serious guys. Red and I went to watch the area once while the others were sleeping and saw them gunning other survivors down without even speaking to them. It was messed up."
"Sounds like you have a harder time with people than you do walkers." She smirked lazily, "My group on that farm, we just had a good life there... Only mistake we made was making too much noise. The herd came right at us then."
"That sucks. This place was a good find, it's the first real stop we've ever made. No undead bastards get in and we keep watch all day every day." He scanned the field, the brick and iron fence was in top condition.
"Except for the gate." Laura added, pointing to the one entrance. "It's unsecured. If a group wanted in, they could get by easy."
He nodded, "Yeah, but we watch everything that goes on. It's hard to be ambushed when there's only one entrance and we have a perfect view of it." The could both easily see the gate, still closed, and no signs of any survivors or walkers. "What that group did was surround other survivors, distract them, then just roll over them from all sides. No cover, no defense."
"It's not impossible to break in here. You said they had military vehicles with mounted guns." She mused, "They could just reverse through the gate and open fire. Big guns like that would knock the house down. No need to surround the house when all they have to do is overpower you."
Markus gave her an amused look, "Second guessing our temporary home?"
"I just like to be safe." She answered easily, there was nothing more important than keeping the group covered. "If it means making sure I have a way to escape if we're overrun, then I'll do it."
"I agree. That's why we do have a way out. On the far side of the house, opposite of the entrance gate, there's a few iron bars of the fence we took out. They're slotted in place now, but if we needed to go, we have it set up to where we can just pull them out and get away. We put it where the small patch of tree and overgrown garden is so it's hard to see." He explained, they had already planned for the worst.
With a frown, Laura remembered seeing that the iron was strong and had not yet rusted over. "How did you manage to knock whole iron bars loose?"
Markus chuckled at her confusion, "We have a blowtorch. Another part of the plan is to set the house on fire so if that group, or a different, equally unfriendly group tries to get in here; we have a distraction too."
"Good, I hope it works. Eventually someone is going to notice this place and try to get in." It was more likely than not; survivors were everywhere now, looking for whatever could provide even the most limited amount of sanctuary from the undead.
"We know. There's no intentions on staying here too long, we just needed to rest. Our feet were blistered and cut up from all the running and moving... We had no time to scavenge anything. Though while staying here, we did get lucky and hit up a little old warehouse a few miles from here that went untouched... for the most part. Covered in shufflers, but we took care of that. Got inside and behold the fruits of our labor! There was a lot of spoiled food and useless junk in there. Had to wear shirts and stuff around our faces so we didn't get sick."
"You guys definitely got a stroke of luck then. Carol's been surviving on scraps, whatever I can find I get her to eat, but it's not enough to keep her strength up all the time... She tries though, I know. She works so hard to keep up." Laura looked down to the wooden porch, "Carol's a strong woman, always pushing herself to be better or to fight harder. I admit I didn't think she'd be the surviving sort after everything that's happened, how she was before, but she changed. I think she could make it on her own."
"Carol seems like a good woman." Markus offered kind words, "I'm sure she'll make it back to y'all's group."
He watched Laura for a moment and while he was pleased she had actually spoken to him, he could tell she had underlying issues that she was dealing with. There was a break in the conversation that the sounds of birds and insects filled. It was did not feel tense, for that Markus was grateful for, but he still wanted to speak with her.
"Laura... I'm getting the sense... that you're not going back to that group." He said lowly, trying to be considerate and give Laura a way to escape if she wanted it.
For a second, Laura glanced off to the side, her expression reading one of distress. "I can't. There's things... things I can't fix and going back to the group wouldn't help. I can't go back to them, but I will get Carol there if I can."
"Why aren't you going back?" Markus was curious. They both had come so far to find their group as it was, he could not imagine passing up the chance to rejoin.
Laura stared straight at him, "You can see what I am, but you don't understand what it means."
"I thought they took you in, accepted you regardless of... um, all that." They had covered this part already. The group was good to Laura and Carol, there was no given reason why Laura's current state would cause problem.
"They did. I told Rick and he defended me when the rest found out. I explained it to them and all of them agreed with Rick, except one man. No one liked that man, Shane was his name. He was kind at first, when I met him. After they found out about me, things got bad." She turned her face to the healing bruise on her cheek. It was faint now, almost gone completely if the skin was not so discolored. "He nearly killed me more than once, but each time Rick and the others were there to help me."
"Fuck. What did they do about it?" Markus could barely tell the bruise was even there, it was no longer inflamed so it did not stand out.
"Slap on the wrist. We didn't want to kill anyone, it was still taboo to us. Murdering another living being was... not acceptable. Eventually though, things got bad and the herd came. I helped who I could... I intended on leaving them for good that night." She admitted. Carol knew already, yet Laura still hated knowing that Carol would have to struggle out in the world alone with Laura.
Markus' eyes narrowed, "They didn't do anything to him? Not even... lock him away or something? I would've left too."
"I left... because I knew I was a risk." She corrected, "I have my own problems that come along with being... this. I ended up saving Carol from the herd; she had gotten separated from the others and everyone had left. So I pulled her out of the herd and we've been following them ever since."
He listened carefully, before giving her a sad look and a slight smile. "Problems with being cured, as you said."
"Just... I have instincts that are stronger to me than they are to you. I don't do things normally anymore, some part of me has split from who I am and has made me into something I'm-" She ran a hand on the side of her face. "It's hard to explain. I'm safe, so long as you're protected."
"Are you saying that... you still got shuffler things going in your head?" He was trying to make sense of her almost cryptic answers.
Laura licked her lips, "I'm saying that something is changing me and it's not for the better. I don't know what's happening, all I know is that I'm going to find our group, bring Carol to her daughter, and then I'll just... disappear."
Markus looked at her worriedly, but remained mute. He was not sure if that meant Laura was dying or turning. Either way, he supposed, she was doing as she said and Carol would make it to their group.
"Who am I to argue?" He made smiled subtly, "I won't judge you, not like before. If you think you're, er, turning or something like that. I'm not going to do something stupid, not again. You do what you have to, keep Carol safe, keep yourself safe. I'll be here if you need anything at all, as long as you're here."
She did not answer and was not looking at him. Markus assumed that meant she was done talking, though she just barely nodded to let him know she heard him.
"I'll do what I can to help you and Carol. I know you can't forgive us and maybe you shouldn't. That won't stop me from trying to earn it though." With a sad smile, Markus left Laura on the porch and headed back in the house.
Once the screen door shut and she heard the door close behind it, Laura leaned over and rested her head in her hands.
They were being good to her and Carol, offering shelter and protection all to make up for what happened back in Atlanta. Even Markus, who had lost his sister, was still trying to make a difference to Laura. She wanted them to still hate her, to ignore her, some act that gave her a more permanent reason to hate them back.
With Markus trying so hard to prove that they were different now, Laura could feel herself reeling back through her own guilt. She wanted to welcome them back into her life with open arms; her anger was fading more into obscurity.
This did not mean that Laura felt herself to be safer. There was a significant risk they all braved when they were around her.
She still had to tame this hunger inside her before she ever could rejoin any group. It hurt her to know that, while they were willing to accept her back into the group and Rick would too, she could not return the kindness they showed her.
A new, angrier creature inside her was just threatening to come out. Laura could not hold back forever, resisting this hunger only caused her more suffering, which whittled down her resolve slowly.
There would come a time that Laura would finally break and she was pleading with herself that when it happened, no one was around to see.
Psycho-Jellybean: Thank you! I felt the character needed to have more of a struggle than just "Look at me I'm bluuuee and hungry!" So I decided to give her something that actually happens rationally in survival situations. Just... with a not so good twist. x3
TWDfan: I'm glad you like it! I enjoy writing it so it's a win-win! :D
But yeah, we're catching up with the group in this chapter, but things will get more interesting soon! Sometimes stories just need a bit of downtime to combat the really bad shit that'll happen!
And yeah, she may be a super-walker! Rad as fuck! I can't wait to get more into writing not-so-good-Laura. ;3
Just a Wonderland: Heh, I hope the surprise is a good thing! There are some connections to what's going on. Like we know the herd at the end of S3 is on the ATL group's trail, but they did not know how many other survivors got caught in the herd's net area too! So I hope you like the inclusion of the old group Laura was tight with before!
And definitely! We're going to see some Laura-mental abuse in these chapters. This is going to be some of the toughest shit Laura's had to struggle with for a while. I mean, even with the whole "gun to the head" thing, she's still on the easier end of things. This is just the beginning! :D
The Voice is slowly integrating with Laura. I wonder how many readers have noticed this though.
Before I would put Laura's thoughts in italics without quotation marks to signify Laura thinking/speaking to the Voice.
And the Voice would have quotation marks like "I know what you're thinking."
But guess what! Now, Laura's thoughts are in quotes and the Voice hasn't really said much. Even when it did flair up, the quotation marks were backwards.
OOOO I WONDER WHAT THAT ALL SIGNIFIES :D
Totally, Andrea did lose her muchness! I loved that Andrea stepped up to the plate when shit got real. Lori was doing dishes, Carol doing laundry, and all that chore bullshit that did not help anyone.
Andrea decided "Fuck that, I'm going to defend us and actually survive!" But then turned into something of a jerk soooo... yeaahh.
Oh yeah, I mean... I'm going to abuse the shit out of Laura and Daryl + their relationship now that Laura's turning into super-walker (as TWDfan reviewed it). It's gonna rock, I hope I do the ideas in my brain justice! I know I'm not the world's best writer, but I am going to try! :)
Yeah, I'm wondering which to do. I think I might just keep it all in the same one because I adore seeing the high level of reviews! xD
Thanks, I'm glad you like the story so much eeee!
And absolutely! I love hearing from my readers, I think that some might want to hear from me! Just to let them know that I'm listening to them! Because I am, I love all my readers! I like knowing how you guys think the story is going, what you feel about an event or a character; I adore knowing what you think!
It maybe just a boost to my ego, but I cannot get over how excited I feel when I get a review!
So replying, even like this, is the least I can do to thank you! Plus, I just like to talk to my readers anyways!