A/N: Thank you so much to those who review, favourite or follow my story, it gives me the motivation to write this story and I really appreciate it. This is my first real attempt at writing a story in years and it can be difficult to do because I'm not used to it anymore, whereas years ago I could barely breath for jotting down story ideas or writing; school really does suck the curiosity and creativeness out of its students.
Cassie and her mom slept in one tent that night while her father slept in the other with the woman. She was glad for the sleeping arrangements as they were but knew, despite her age that it was unusual and wrong that her father had spent the night with a woman who was not his wife, though her mom really didn't seem to mind. She had agreed readily when he stated he was sharing with the woman and if anything had seemed relieved.
Everyone was quiet that morning as they packed up after a very short nights rest, the sun had hardly been up when her father woke them. They had a small dry breakfast of cereal bars and water then finished packing and started back towards the highway in silence, though Cassie always was silent when she was around her father anyway and her mom knew it was generally best to keep her thoughts to herself than to risk angering him. The other woman just seemed sad though; her eyes were red and puffy having obviously cried in the night. She wondered if her father had consoled her, it seemed unlikely to her as he had always got angry when she or her mom had cried, claiming we were trying to get our way with crocodile tears.
"What. The. Fuck." Her father and the woman had stopped just in front of them and looked stunned, staring at the ground.
She was completely confused until she heard her mom breath out, "He's gone." With confusion in her voice.
They were back were the left her father's friend yesterday, the leaves they had scattered over him were spread around the site but he was gone. They all cast their eyes to the trees surrounding them but there was neither movement nor sound other than the wind rustling the tree leaves.
Her father put a hand on the woman's back, pushing her forward, "Come on, let's get back to the cars quick."
She pushed him off, "No! He-"
He cut her off harshly, "Shut up. We're not searching the woods blindly, stumbling around looking for a dead man."
"He's not dead! He can't be! Dead people don't just get up and walk off!" she yelled back.
Her father got right in her face, his voice dropping low, "Whatever the fuck he is, he is gone. Now shut your fucking mouth and get moving." He gripped her arm, pulling her along with him with a sharp glance back at us to make sure we were following.
The woman kept pace with him, having no real choice in the matter, what with the grip he had on her arm yet she was twisting and turning her head as she went, no doubt looking out for her husband as though he would appear out of nowhere like nothing had happened.
Slowly as they went on and there was no sign of her husband she lost her look of anticipation and retreated back to the despondency from before. Eventually, they reached the edge of the woods where they had left their cars and her father held up a hand to stop them before they broke the tree line.
Peeking out from where they were hidden from view she could see the highway was still packed with cars though many had pulled off to the sides of the road as they had done. Many people still sat in their cars or on them, seeming to be waiting for something, like they were waiting for instructions of what they should do next. Many other cars however had been emptied and abandoned by their occupants who had left and walked off who knows where. Maybe they thought there was still something salvageable in Atlanta and had decided to walk in the rest of the way to try to find the refugee centre.
The woman tugged on her father's arm, "We should wait here with the cars; at least we'll be round other people and know straight away when help comes."
Her mom's head jerked round from where she had been watching the people on the road to look at the woman, "No. There are too many people here and no supervision or emergency services. Give it another day or two and people will start getting desperate, mass panic will spread and people will start looting and attacking each other."
Her father nodded in agreement, eyes still on the people on the road. The woman shot her mom a dirty look, not happy that she had been shot down or perhaps that he had agreed with her mom over her.
"Okay, we should be alright for now to go get our things. I'll help Karen get her stuff from her car and you and her can get our things." He directed to her mom, jutting his chin at Cassie when he referred to her.
Her mom gripped her hand tighter, "Stay right by my side the whole time, keep a grip on my sleeve or the bottom of my top if I have to let go of your hand. I'll grab the things from the car, you just make sure you stay close and keep an eye out for anyone approaching us, Okay?"
Cassie nodded, gripping her moms hand back hard. Her mom walked out nonchalantly, her stride confidant, quite the opposite from her father who kept a low crouch and sped towards the other car looking unbelievably suspicious and drawing people's eyes from the odd behaviour.
Looking up at her mom she saw her roll her eyes in clear exasperation and annoyance, before fixing her eyes upon their car and holding her head high, walking with purpose. They were getting a few looks too, nowhere near the amount her father was getting and these looks Cassie recognised from whenever she was out with her mom anywhere; envy or scorn from other women and lust or appreciation from the men. She knew her mom was beautiful and not just in the 'she's my mom and I love her' way but in the objectively gorgeous way, anyone she knew who met her mom always commented on it. It always made her happy when people complimented her mom in any way, she was the most amazing person in the world to her and it was nice to have people recognise even part of her amazingness.
Everyone not giving either her mom or her father looks just looked worried and anxious, none of them had a clue what to do now with no instructions and were just waiting in limbo for something to happen. Once both parties had reached their cars and it was clear they owned the cars, almost all the onlookers turned away, disinterested.
Her Mom was busy transferring anything she deemed important from the trunk into another backpack so she did as she asked, keeping an eye on their surroundings, watching to see if anyone tried to approach but she got distracted watching some of the people on the highway.
There was a girl who couldn't be more than a year older than she was, sitting in her dads lap at the side of the road while he was comforting her, patting her head as she clung to him. It made her feel envious and a kind of longing, she wished she had a father who would comfort and love her too or at the very least a father who didn't scare or hurt her.
"Hi." An unfamiliar voice coming from close by jolted her from her thoughts, literally making her jump in fright, both feet momentarily leaving the ground.
"Sorry!" the young woman that had been standing next to them squeaked, holding both her hands up as though we were holding a gun on her. Cassie's mom was holding a hand to her chest like she did when she had a fright so she had clearly not seen her coming either, Cassie looked down at her feet guiltily, she was supposed to have been keeping an eye out for people.
"Can I help you?" her mom asked her, polite but with a hard edge in her voice as she stepped in front of Cassie to hide her from the woman's view.
"I'm so sorry I frightened you and your little girl, I was just wondering if you knew anything about what happened at Atlanta. Or if you know somewhere else we could go." She really did sound sorry and she seemed like a nice person.
"We heard the bombs and saw the light from the explosions but that's it I'm afraid, we don't know anything either." Her mom told her.
"Damn, that's a shame. We're all just sitting here waiting for the military to come tell us what the hell is going on, there's been radio silence since Atlanta was bombed."
"I wish we could have helped; hell I wish we knew what the hell was going on too."
"Jenny!" her father barked as he stormed over, "The fuck are you doing?!"
This time it was the woman who visually jumped, turning to face Cassie's father with pure shock and offence written all over her face.
"She was just asking if we knew what was going on with Atlanta and the military, I was-" her mom tried to explain but he cut her off, "Do we look like the fuckin' military?"
The woman held her hands up again and backed off, "Whatever dude, just tryna' have a polite conversation with your..." her eyes flickered to the other woman who had came and stood behind her father and back to Cassie's mom, "...sister?"
Cassie understood the young woman's misunderstanding, neither her mom nor the woman looked like her father but at least both her mom and father were blondes with green eyes just like Cassie, whereas the woman had brunette hair so dark it was almost black and dark brown eyes.
"It's none o'ya business whose who to anyone here! Fuck off!" he yelled, practically spitting in the woman's face.
People were looking at them again, practically craning their necks to see what was going on. Cassie moved into her mom, pushing her face into her back to avoid their eyes.
"Fine! Fine, Jesus!" the young woman threw her hands up and stormed off.
He turned on her mom, "What the fuck was that about? I told you not to talk to anyone." He hissed at her, grabbing her arm roughly.
Cassie screwed her face up; she didn't remember him saying anything like that at all.
Her mom didn't argue though, it was easier to just go along with him, "She approached me, I didn't see her until she was right next to me. There was nothing I could have done about it."
"Could have told her to fuck off." He snapped, giving her arm a shake before releasing her, "Have you got all the shit together or what?"
"Yeah almost, just give me another minute."
He grunted, "Fine, be quick about it."
Her mom finished transferring their things from the car into a backpack then closed the trunk door and locked the car back up, heading straight back into the woods again the way they had came, all the eyes of the people on the highway following them.
Once they made it far enough into the woods that her father was satisfied, at least for now, they took a break to eat. By this point Cassie's feet were burning, she had a blister she knew was going to pop at any moment, the pain from it had had her holding in tears for the past half an hour as they trekked through the woods./p
The next two days past in exactly the same manner, her father was never satisfied that they were far enough into the woods or that they had set up camp in the best spot, so every morning after breakfast they would pack up and begin their trek, stop for lunch then carry on until they stopped for the night. At this point Carrie's feet were almost constantly bleeding, her shoulders and back aching from carrying her backpack constantly and legs feeling like dead weight.
Everyone's mood dropped drastically with each day that went by, her father's worst of all. Her mom was sporting a large purple bruise across her check and the other woman whose name she had somehow still managed to not learn had purple marks around her wrists that she had spotted but if the woman had any other marks they were hidden from view.
It was another day of stumbling along through the woods and Cassie didn't think she could go on much longer, they'd barely begun their day she was already dragging her heavy feet along and holding back tears from the pain. They weren't even an hour into their trek when Cassie stumbled and hit the ground hard, the weight of her backpack slamming her into the dirt.
"Cassie!" her mom yelled, immediately crouching next to her and pulling the backpack from her to release her of its weight, then rolled her over onto her back and checking her injuries.
She could already feel she had scraped her knees and elbows up pretty bad and her chin which she had hit hard as she landed but no pain could top the pure burning and throbbing of her feet. She couldn't hold the tears back anymore; they coursed down her face leaving tracks of clear skin where the dirt had caked on her face. She let out a series of gasps and hiccups, fingernails digging into the ground underneath her as she stared straight up at the sky blinking profusely, trying to gain control of herself before she started sobbing.
"Oi, get her up and moving! We need to get a move on!" she heard her father yell from somewhere behind her head.
She tried harder to get herself under control, taking deep shuddering breaths but they still came out in gasps and hiccups, her entire body shaking. She wanted to be strong and get up but she was in so much pain and even the thought of standing on her bloody, blistered feet once more filled her with dread.
"Mom." She whimpered between gasps.
"I know sweetie, I know. You're gonna be okay, tell me what hurts and I'll check you out and you'll be right as rain yeah? Just tell me everywhere it hurts Cass." Her mom pulled her hand from where she had dug it into the ground, clutching it in both of hers.
Cassie let out an unwilling sob, "M-my feet...mom"
Her mom shuffled down to her feet, carefully pulling her shoes off. She let out a gasp as she took in Cassie's blood soaked socks, painstakingly peeling them off and muttering out a slew of apologies every time Cassie whimpered or gasped in pain.
When Cassie looked down towards her mom she saw her with her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes as she took in the sight of her feet.
"Cassie, why wouldn't you say anything? You must have been in agony!" she cried out, tears spilling out of her eyes.
"She's gonna be in agony if you don't put her fucking shoes back on her feet and get her up and moving!" her father roared.
"She can't go anywhere like this! Her feet are destroyed! She needs to have them treated and keep off them for a few days at least!" her mom argued, actually yelling at Cassie's father, if she wasn't in so much pain she might have actually been able to appreciate it more, she wished she could see his face right now but he was still behind her head from where she was lying on the ground.
"DON'T YOU DARE YELL AT ME! GET THAT UNGRATEFUL BITCH UP AND WALKING OR I'LL LEAVE YOU BOTH HERE TO DIE!" he bellowed.
Then again maybe she didn't want to see his face.
"Then leave, we don't need you." Her mom's voice was chillingly cold.
She could hear her father's footsteps stomping towards them angrily, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME BITCH?!"
He stormed past her head, grabbing her mom from where she was crouching and pulling her so her face was centimetres from his furious one.
"Now you listen to me," his spat, his voice low and full of venom, "you don't talk back to me, you don't argue and when I tell you to do something you better fucking well do it."
He shoved her away with force, causing her to land hard on her ass.
He turned on Cassie making her tense her whole body, she knew he was going to do something, he normally barely acknowledged her presence around her mom.
"Get up. Or I'll make you."
She gulped, nodding quickly and moving, pushing her upper body up with her elbows and gritting her teeth through the pain. She was just beginning to contemplate how she was going to get onto her feet in the least possible painful way possible when her mom stood, putting herself between Cassie and her father.
"Don't you dare touch her!" she spat.
He back handed her hard enough to send her sprawling across the ground once more, stepping over her body as he raged, "FUCKING WOMEN TELLING ME WHAT TO DO! I TELL YOU WHAT TO DO! NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND!"
He pulled Cassie from the ground by her arm, her feet coming up underneath her unthinkingly to steady herself causing pain to shoot all the way from her the soles of her feet and up her spine to her head. She screamed loudly, her knees buckling under her until they crashed into the ground.
She was panting, head hanging with blonde hair falling in her face as her arm was pulled back at an odd and painful angle from where her father was gripping her. He suddenly released her without warning causing the rest of her body to fall, only just barely catching herself with her arms to avoid her face smashing into the floor.
"MARIE! LOOK OUT!"
Cassie rolled to the side to see what had her father sounding so panicked.
The woman's husband had finally reappeared and brought two others with him as well, only there was something wrong with them.
They were stumbling along; dragging their feet with their arms stretched out towards the woman Cassie had finally learned was named Marie.
There was her husband and another man and a woman, all wearing disgustingly dirty clothes with tears and dirt covering them, matting their hair and faces too. Their skin was a gaunt grey pallor, their eyes sunken in and wide, making it easy to see that the eyes were basically taken completely over by the whites of their eyes. Whatever the illness had done to them, they didn't seem human anymore.
Marie's husband, or perhaps what had once been her husband, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her face towards his as she screamed. Cassie's father ran to help but just before he reached the man... thing had already sunk his teeth into her cheek, her screams turning from a scared panicked sound into ear piercing shrieks as he tore the flesh from her face.
Cassie's father pulled Marie back away from the things as she held her hands to her face, high pitched whines and sobs coming from her mouth as blood poured between her fingers and down her arms.
Her mom appeared at her side while she was distracted watching in horror at what had happened, turning her onto her back and helping her sit up, hovering over her while keeping an eye on the things that attacked Marie.
To their left, her father pushed Marie behind him and pulled a gun from his waistband at his back, aiming it at the group and firing off a shot. It hit the husband in the shoulder making him jolt backwards and stumble only slightly before he continued towards them just as before.
He let off another shot, this one hitting the woman thing in the leg causing it to go down, face planting the ground. It caught sight of Cassie and her mom when it looked up, changing its direction and pulling itself across the ground towards them making horrible groaning noises as it clashed its teeth together repeatedly.
"KEVIN!" her mom yelled, trying to get his attention but even as he glanced their way and saw their predicament, he ignored her cry and turned back to the two things in front of him and Marie. They were almost on him and her now; he had enough time to let off another shot that went over their heads, nowhere near close to hitting them. When he realised how close they were now he grabbed Marie from behind him, fumbling and dropping the gun when she struggled, and pushed her into the things waiting arms.
Cassie's mom pulled her further back from the woman thing still pulling herself towards them, then dived for the gun by her father's feet as he was distracted by Marie's high pitched screams as her husband and the other thing ripped into her flesh with their teeth.
The horrific sight made Cassie turn back to the one still pulling itself towards her; if it reached her it would sink its teeth into her and rip her apart just like the others were doing to Marie. She began to panic, shuffling back as best she could on her ass, only using her arms to push herself back, knowing using her feet in any way would only slow her down due to the pain.
Her mom stood with the gun, aiming it at the one going after her daughter first and not hesitating to pull the trigger.
She couldn't look away from the woman's blood stained face, not until her mom came into her field of vision, blocking the view.
"Cass, hey baby, don't look. You're okay." Her mom murmured, caressing her hair.
"HEY! GIVE ME THE GUN QUICK!"
Her mom stood to face Cassie's father, who was standing a few feet to their left holding his hand out waiting for her mom to bring him the gun impatiently.
He hadn't noticed that his yell had gained the attention of the two things that had been devouring Marie; they stood, revealing the gruesome mess of Marie, who had been torn apart, to Cassie. She pressed a hand against her mouth hard, to conceal her gasp and keep herself from vomiting as her stomach churned at the sight.
Instead she watched as the two things stumbled towards her father as he waved his open hand at her mom, narrowing his eyes in anger when she didn't move.
They were almost upon him when Cassie had to look away, she wouldn't say she loved her father, but she didn't want to see him get ripped apart, didn't want to see anyone get ripped apart again.
Turning her face right, trying to get him out of her field of vision she was surprised to see another figure in the trees, for a moment she thought it was another one of those things but then she took it in properly and saw it was a man holding a crossbow. He had the crossbow trained on the things behind her father, but wasn't making any further moves.
"GIVE ME THE FUCKING GUN!" her father yelled at her mom, making Cassie whip her face around in reaction without thinking about what she was doing. She had turned back just in time to see the two things grab hold of her father and see the realisation and horror cross his face right before they bit into him. She had never heard her father scream as loud as he did then and still her mom held the gun on him and the things yet never fired a shot.
Cassie turned away from the scene, partly in horror but also to check on the man again; he had lowered his crossbow now and was looking back and forth between her father being devoured by the monsters and her mom who had lowered the gun and was looking on with an impassive face.
Her father had started out throwing verbal abuse at her mom, calling her awful things and cussing her out but now he had begun begging; begging her mom to shoot the things, to help him and eventually as the things continued to rip into him, for her to just shoot him, to put him out of his misery but still her mom watched and did nothing as his voice faltered and his eyes closed, his face going slack.
Now her father had fallen silent, Cassie could hear the slurping and crunching of the monsters eating his flesh. She heaved, trying to keep the vomit down but knowing it was coming, she turned spewing it on the ground at her side.
"Cassie!" her mom knelt by her side, her hand soothing her back.
She wiped her mouth, turning to hug her mom. She squeezed her hard, watching her father die like that had been awful yet there was an undeniable feeling of relief that he was gone like she had wished for, for so long.
Cassie's eyes flew open with the realisation that she had wished for him gone and now he was, and in such an awful way too. She felt responsible somehow, like she had made it happen.
Movement caught her eye over her moms shoulder; the things had gotten up again and were coming for them now!
"MOM!" Cassie yelled, pointing over her mom's shoulder.
Her mom shot up onto her feet, turning and pointing the gun at them again.
She fired multiple shots at them, the shots hitting them in their shoulders and bodies yet barely even slowing them in their advance. An arrow flew from their right, burying into the head of one of the things, stopping it in its tracks as it immediately fell to the ground, unmoving and didn't get back up.
Cassie and her mom's head whipped round, the man had moved forward out of the shelter of the trees. He looked as dirty as the things but you could easily see he wasn't one with none of the grey decaying skin or weird groaning.
"You've gotta get em' in the head." He nodded at the remaining one.
Her mom turned back to the thing that used to be Marie's husband and raised her gun, firing off a final shot that pierced his head. He fell backwards onto the ground, as unnaturally still as he had been the first time he had 'died'.
"Is he really dead this time?" Cassie asked, her voice quiet and timid in the presence of a stranger.
"He always was dead but naw, he ain't getting up again." The man told her, "We have to go, those shots'll have attracted more if there're any more round 'ere."
"Go where? And who the hell are you?!" her mom demanded.
He gave her a long look before responding, "I 'ave a camp further in, people who were on their way to Atlanta but didn't make it in before they lit it up. Families and kids there too." He nodded towards Cassie.
Her mom was hesitating, biting at her lip before she shot a look at Cassie's feet and her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"We'd appreciate it if we could join you there." She paused, giving him a hard look. "But if you try anything or this is a trap I'll put a bullet through your head."
He just smirked in reply.
Her mom gathered up their stuff and the man offered to carry the extra bag her father had been carrying. She thanked him and stood, walking over to Cassie and pausing, biting her lip again.
She sighed, "Actually, could you carry my daughter and I'll take the bag."
"Girl can't walk?"
"Her feet have been wrecked, we've been walking for days." Her mom gestured to her bloody feet.
He raised his eyebrows at the sight, making his way over and crouching so low in front of her he was basically sitting on the ground.
"Get on then, ain't got all day." He said gruffly.
She reached up, gripping his shoulders to help pull her up; her mom noticing her struggling came behind her and helped her on so she didn't have to use her feet.
She got a head rush as he stood, not used to being so high.
As they set off she noticed a bunch of dead squirrels hanging off one of his shoulders; she took him in or at least what she could see, the squirrels, the greasy, dirty hair along with the smell of sweat though she realised she probably smelt just as bad if not worse than he did, the crossbow he was clearly adept with and finally, she noticed the wings on the back of his leather jacket.
There was nothing about him that gave off a nice, warm, friendly vibe. He didn't seem like someone who would help a little girl and her mom with nothing to gain himself, and yet he had and she found herself trusting him almost implicitly despite having just met him. She knew he hadn't helped her father when those things had come after him despite clearly having the ability to, she thinks maybe he somehow knew what kind of man her father was, the kind of man who they were better off without.
"What's your name?" she whispered, knowing he would hear because she was so close to his ear.
"Daryl Dixon." He grunted.
"I'm Cassie."
"Didn' ask."
Cassie smiled, taking no offence in his gruffness; actually she found it rather funny. He was clearly a good person, even if he wanted to pretend he wasn't.