I was looking at Carol as she was tying the tap around my ankle with Dale right beside her showing her what to do and making sure that she got it right. I twisted my ankle so badly last night that it was swollen and when I tried to move it, pain shot through my ankle up through my whole leg. Carol was trying her best to be as gentle as possible but my leg kept flinching everytime that a little pain shot through, " I'm very sorry." She said to me as she looked up at me with a sorry look in her eyes.
" No, you're okay. I was stupid enough to not paid attention around my surrounding." I said to Carol to reassure her, which worked cause she had a little smile on her face.
" At least it was nothing worse, I'm surprised that there's still some of us standing." Dale said as he looked over at the others. For me, I was surprised that Daryl didn't just save my but he risked his own while protecting me.
" It's not safe here anymore." I said as I lowered my head looking down to my lap, wondering if I should just leave the group, but I knew that I couldn't cause my ankle for one and two I just couldn't Rick and his family after everything they've done for me when I was in trouble. Pulse I really did like this group, especially a certain redneck. I stopped that thought immediately and shook my head.
" Are you okay?" Carol asked as she was done wrapping my ankle and I nodded my head to her.
' What the heck is wrong with me, there is no way that I would be in love with that asshole. But he's still really cute though...STOP! There's…..There's just no way that i'm falling for him. It would never work out.' I thought as I was looking over at Daryl and a little blush appeared on my cheeks but I shook my head again and I looked back over Carol and Dale as they were talking, which meant that I was good to go and that they left me alone to my own thoughts. I looked over to the RV to see Adrena hadn't moved from her spot with my sister on the ground dead, she stayed in that spot all night and she pointed her gun at anyone that got too close to her. Lori would be the first to be close to her without the gun pointed at her and I could tell she was trying to talk to her, but Adrena wasn't going to hear it. Lori got back to her feet looking sad as she walked over to Rick and Shane and started to discuss what to do with Amy.
I really wanted to go over and talk to Andrea and talk to her, but it wasn't my place to talk to her and tell her to let her sister go. I was starting to get bored, so I slowly started to get up, " What are you doing?" Carol asked me as she looked over at me.
" I was trying to stand up and go over to where Rick and the others are at, so I could find out what they are talking about." I said as I got up to my feet and started to walk over to them slowly but then I started to lose my balance halfway to them and I started to fall to the ground and I braced myself for impacted, but that was when I felt a hand grab my shoulder and helped me get my balance back and I turned my head to see who it was and it was Daryl.
" Tell me where you're trying to go and I'll take you there." Daryl told me as he held my arm so I wouldn't fall.
I pointed over to where Rick and the others were and Daryl nodded his head. Then all of the sudden he scooped me up into his arms and started to walk towards the others. I wasn't used to this, so my first instinct was to get out of his arms but he tightened his grip on my arms which made me stop moving and look at him, " Why are you helping me again?" I asked him as he continued to the others.
" It's quicker this way," He said as he got close to the others and started to place me on the ground as Rick turned his head to see me and walked over to me and took me by my shoulders and helped me over to the RV and sat me down on the stairs.
" So, what are you talking about?" I asked as I looked over to them as I was adjusting myself.
" Trying to figure out what to do with Amy." Lori said as she crossed her arms looking over at me.
" That girl is a ticking time bomb. We gotta do something." Daryl said as he pointed towards Amy.
" And what do you suggest, Daryl?" Rick asked as he looked over at him.
" Take the shot, clean through the brain. Hell, I can shoot a turkey between the eyes from this distance." Daryl declared as he looked at us.
" Daryl, we can't do that, this is Andrea's sister we're talking about here. We take out Amy now, we won't have any idea what Andrea will do to any of us if we do that." I said to Daryl as I looked at him. Daryl shot us one last scornful look, and then he turned his eyes towards me and looked at me for a while til he walked away to help Glenn and Morales. I watched him drag a body along with Morales towards Glenn and he noticed where they were going with the body.
" What are you guys doing! This is for the walkers. Our people go over there." Glenn said with a distraught expression as he looked towards them.
" What's the difference? They're all infected." Daryl said as they placed the body down to the ground.
" Our people go in that row over there. We don't burn them! We bury them. You understand?" Glenn said to Daryl and Morales and then they both looked at each for a while til they both picked up the body again and started to drag it where it needed to be.
" You know what! You reap what you sow." Daryl said as he turned his head to look toward us.
" You, know what? Shut up, man." Morales said as he looked at Daryl when they dropped the body.
" Y'all left my brother for dead. You had this coming!" Daryl yelled as he pointed at all of us and then his eyes landed on me for a few minutes till he walked away pissed off at the world.
I got up to my feet and I started to limp away from the others till I looked over at Jim and Jacqui and noticed that there was something wrong with him and that was when Jacqui got up to her feet and backed away from him, " A walker got him! A walker got Jim!" Jacqui yelled and that was when my heart dropped after I heard her say that, in a matter of minutes Jim was surrounded.
" I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim said as he was turning his head and looking around at everyone.
It didn't take long for both Rick and Daryl to stand right in front of me. Rick had his hand on his gun while Daryl had the pickaxe on his shoulder, " Show it to us." Daryl said as he pointed towards Jim and then he started to walk towards him.
Jim starts to panic and he goes over to pick up a shovel to defend himself. I started to feel bad for him, so I pushed passed Daryl and Rick and I noticed that T-Dog was sneaking up on Jim and all I did was shake my head no to him and he stopped as I turned my eyes to Jim who's eyes landed on me and I raised my hands in the air, " Hey, Jim. Look nobody here wants to hurt you. They're all just scared, just like me, so please show it to us. Show us the bit." I said as I slowly but steadily moved towards Jim with a soft smile on my face and I could hear Rick and Daryl calling my name but I just ignored them and focused on Jim as he lowered the shovel. Then T-Dog grabbed him from behind and Daryl dropped the pickaxe and went over to Jim and pulled up his shirt to reveal a nasty bit mark.
T-Dog released Jim as Rick walked over to him and carefully off to the side of the RV before coming back to us. I kept my eyes on Jim as he was looking over at us with a worried look in his eyes, " So, what are we going to do?" I asked as I turned my head back to others.
" Put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." Daryl said as he held the pickaxe in his hands.
" Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked him as he looked over at him.
" Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl said and all I did was shake my head at what he said.
" I hate to say it...I never thought I would…..But maybe Daryl's right." Dale said as he was looking between us.
" There's got to be another way, Jim deserves way more than getting killed off." I said as I looked over at Jim and back at the others.
" Sam's right. Jim's not a monster Dale, of some rabid dog." Rick said as he looked at Dale and then down to the ground and shook his head.
" I'm not suggesting…." Dale started to say but was stopped by Rick.
" He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick asked us as he looked up at all of us.
" The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be." Daryl said, speaking his mind again.
" What if we can get him help? Give him a chance to stay alive?" I asked everyone and looked at me when I said it.
" I heard the CDC was working on a cure. That's his chance of surviving." I said as I looked at everyone.
" I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane said while looking at me, which made me feel uncomfortable and I looked away from him to the ground.
" What if the CDC is still up and running?" Rick asked as he looked at Shane.
" Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane said as he shook his head and looked at the ground.
" Why is that?" I asked him as I looked at him.
" If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they?" Rick asked with his eyes still on Shane.
" That I can agree with Rick, it's our best chance for shelter, protection…" I said but was stopped by Shane.
" Okay Samantha, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." Shane said as he started to argue with me and it was starting to piss me off.
" That's 100 miles in the opposite direction. I think that's out of the option." Lori said calmly as she looked at Shane to stop him from fighting me.
" The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance, just like Sam said." Rick said as I nodded my head and I turned my eyes to look at Daryl to notice that he was looking at Jim and I Immediately knew what he was going to do. I got to my feet and watched him as I slowly started to limp around the others and I stood in front of Jim waiting for Daryl to make his move.
" You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl yelled as he started to charge towards Jim but stopped to see me standing right in front of his target and just glared at him.
" Get out of the way!" Daryl yells at me as he steps towards me but then I heard a click of a gun and I noticed that Rick had pointed a gun to his head.
" Rick, don't!" I yelled at Rick as I raised my hands to him to stop him.
" We don't kill the living." Rick says as the gun was still pointed at his head.
" Rick please don't. I had this." I said as he turned his eyes to me and then back at Daryl who turned to look at him.
" Funny. Coming from the man pointing a gun at my head. Even in front of your own daughter." Daryl grumbled before shoving the pickaxe into my hands and walked away from both of us while Rick put his gun up and both him and Shane moved Jim to somewhere safe. I remained breathless as I watched Daryl walk away.
I walked over to a car and placed the pickaxe right next to it and I walked away from it and walked over to Rick and Jim, " What are they going to do with me?" I heard him ask Rick as he was taking him over to the RV where it was safe and I knew that I couldn't do anything, thanks to my ankle so I decided to sit down a log and I just watched everyone taking care of the dead and I noticed that Daryl grabbed the pickaxe again started to bash the brains of the walkers. He walked over to a body that was Ed's body and was about to put it in his head till Carol stopped him and walked over towards him, " I'll do it, he's my husband." Carol said as she reaches for the pickaxe that was in Daryl's hand and he hands it to her and at first I thought that she wasn't going to be able to do it until she started to bash in his head and she did it over and over again till she stopped and handed the pickaxe back to him and walks away crying.
I looked over toward Andrea who still hadn't moved from her spot and I started to walk over to her but then stopped when I noticed that Amy was starting to move and I heard her growling and looking at Andrea.
" Andrea?" I asked as I kept my eyes on Amy while my hand went for my knife but Andrea shook her head to me and then looked back at her sister. My eyes started to tear up as I watched Andrea leaned forward towards Amy while she was stroking her hair as Amy slowly started to sit up.
" I'm sorry, I was never there...I always thought there would be more time." Andrea whispered to Amy. Amy started to growl deeper and she wasn't the same girl that I met when I came here, I was about to do something til I saw Andrea lower her head closer to her sister.
" I'm here now Amy. I'm sorry...I love you." Andrea whispers again in a choked voice before putting the gun to Amy's head and pulling the trigger. Amy was not dead and she wasn't going to be coming back. I looked down to the ground as tears went down my face but then I wiped my tears away and walked over to Daryl's truck and I opened the door and got inside and shut the door. I looked over to notice that Daryl was looking at me and then walked over to the driver side and started it up and he started to drive towards the grave site.
" Why are you even in my truck? You shouldn't even be walkin' " Daryl asking as he focused on the road.
" I want to help and you can't tell me what to do. Or not my boss, you know." I said as I looked out the window as we made it to the spot.
" I still think it's a mistake, not burnin these bodies. It's what we said we'd do right? Burn'em all? Wasn't that the idea?" Daryl said as he got out of the car and walked over to Rick and Shane while I was getting out of the car and slowly walked over to them as well.
" At first." Rick said as Shane continued to bigging up the graves.
" Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do? What so we jus' follow along?" Daryl asks as he throws his arms to his sides. Rick starts to dig again once more, " These people need to know who the hell is in charge, what the rules are." Daryl said as he looked at Rick.
" Daryl, you know as well as I do that there are no rules, right." I said as I looked towards Daryl as he turned to look at me and that was when Lori walked up.
" That's a problem. We haven't had any time to hold onto our old selves, we need time to mourn, and we need to bury our dead. That's what people do." Lori states and I nodded my head in agreement.
We started to bury the dead, I tried to help as much as I could even with a hurt ankle but Rick told me to stop and sit down so I wouldn't hurt myself even more and I watched everyone else continue to bury the bodies and I had Carl and Sophia right next to me keeping me company. I looked over to notice that Andrea kept insisting on putting Amy in her own grave all by herself. Even she struggled a bit till Dale stepped in to help her. She just glared at him until Amy was into a grave. We all stood in a moment of silence, mourning the loss of everyone before walking back to camp. I looked over towards Carl and noticed that he was crying, " Hey, you ok?" I asked him which made him jump and look at me.
" Yea, I'm fine. It's just allergies." Carl said as he whipped his eyes and followed his mother back to camp with me following right behind them. Once we got back Rick announced that we were going to CDC and I knew that Rick would want me to come with them and I didn't want to be alone anymore.
I sat down at where the fire was last night and I noticed that Rick was walking back to camp clinging tightly onto an old walkie talkie, " Who's on the other line of that thing?" I asked him as I looked at him with a confused look on my face.
" When I first woke up from the coma, I was saved by this man named Morgan. He had a son named Duane who also helped me survive. We stayed in this little house for a couple days before deciding to split ways, he wanted to stay in the town while I moved to the city and we wanted to keep in touch in case Morgan and his son ever wanted to find us." Rick said as he looked down at the walkie talkie in his hand.
" Any word from him?" I asked him as I looked over at him.
" There has been nothing from him. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. We promised to try and talk every day at dawn." Rick said as he shook his head to me.
" Hey, don't worry. I bet him and his son are okay and being safe, I'm sure of it." I said with a smile on my face.
" Your right, he's out there somewhere….I would know if he was dead. But he's tough. He can survive anything, so can his son." Rick mumbled.
" We're going to be okay. We are going to get to the CDC, we're going to get the cure for Jim and we are all going to be safe." I said as I gave him a little smile on my face and he nodded his head to me.
" I hope so. Morgan's son is as tough as nails….It make me wonder what this world could turn Carl into." Rick whispered when he looked behind me and I turned my head to see that he was looking towards Carl.
" He's going to be fine, he's strong just like his father. He's got you to protect him and everything else, both him and Sophia is going to be the strongest out of all of us." I said with a small smile on my face as I got up and looked towards the empty camp as everyone was starting to get ready to leave. That was when I noticed that everyone was surrounded by Morales and his family and I walked over to them, " We're uh….We're not going. We have family in Birmingham, we want to be with our people." Morales said as he placed his hand on his wife's shoulder with his kids by his side.
" If you are on your own you won't have anyone to watch you back." Shane tells them.
" We'll take our chances. I gotta do what's best for my family." Morales said as he looked at everyone.
" Are you sure about this." Rick asked.
" We talked about it, we're sure." Morales says as he looks towards his family and then back at us.
" Make sure you take care of yourselves and be careful out there." I said as I limped over to them and raised my hand to him and he took it and shook his hand.
" Alright." Rick says as he walks over and grabs them a pistol and half a box of ammo. We all said our goodbyes and I limped over and hugged Morales and his wife one last time and then I knelt down to the ground and kissed their kids on the heads and I got back on my feet and looked at them, " Good luck. I hope that we met again." I said and they nodded their heads and we started to head towards the vehicles and at first I thought that I was going to get a ride from Rick till I felt a little tap on my shoulder and I turned my head to see that it was Daryl.
" You need a ride?" He asked me and that shocked me at first till I looked back at the vehicles and noticed that they were all full so I looked back at Daryl and nodded my head to him and followed him to his truck. I tossed my bag into the backseat before trying to get in the truck which I was having a hard time getting in till I felt someone's hand on my shoulder and I turned my head to notice that it was Daryl again and I nodded my head to him, and he helped me up in the passenger seat and he walked over to the driver seat. Daryl revved up the truck and that was when we started to make our way down the road with us following the RV leading the way and I pulled out my knife from my belt onto his sun visor and leaned back in the passenger seat . I looked towards the window to see Morales' car fading from sight as they went in another direction.
About an hour later the caravan of cars came to a stop, Daryl and I looked at each other with a confused look on our faces and we started to get out of the truck and walk over to the others. Dale was searching through a toolbox and sighed, " Sometimes I hate this thing, can't go 50 miles without this thing breaking down." Dale said as he tried to fix the RV. When I took a look I could tell that it was a radiator and I looked over towards Dale and Rick and I could hear them talking about duck tape and that was when the door of the RV opened and we all looked over to see Jacqui coming towards us.
" Y'all it's Jim, I don't think he's gonna make it." Jacqui said as she looked at us.
I stood off to the side while the others talked about what to do till they brought Jim out of the RV and leaning his against a tree and I heard someone standing right next to me and I looked over to see that it was Daryl and I looked back towards the others and I noticed that Rick was walking over to me, " Jim wants to say something to you before we leave him." Rick said as I raised an eyebrow and I walked over to him and knelt down in front of him.
" The breeze feels nice." Jim said weakly as he closed his eyes and I looked down at his chest to see him breathing very slowly and I didn't want to look at him like this, it just made me feel bad for him.
Tears started to fill my eyes as I looked back towards him, " We are almost there Jim. Please you need to hold on a little longer."I told him as I looked at him.
" I want to be with my family, I want to be with them again." Jim said as I nodded my head to him knowing him that there was nothing that we could do for him, even if we could get him to the CDC he would be dead by the time we got there. I looked down for a moment as tears went down my face and then looked back up at him and gave him a small smile.
" You know, it's a good thing that you are in this group, cause I know that they need someone like you in their lives. Keep them safe and alive for me ok?" He asked me and I nodded head to him and got up off my knees and I walked back over to Daryl, as I passed him I could feel his eyes on me as I walked to the truck and got in, I pulled my knees up to my chest and looked out window where Jim was at and then I heard a door opened which told me that it was daryl and as he started the car, he didn't say a word to me, which I knew was a good idea at that moment, cause if he started to talk to me, I didn't know how I was going to stop crying.
After long boring hours in the truck, we arrived at the CDC. What I saw was not what I was expecting, there were dead bodies everywhere and files were swarming them. There were no guards patrolling the area either and there was nothing in the surrounding area that could signify there wasn't any human presence there at all.
" C'mon." Daryl said to me as he got out and grabbed his crossbow which I did the same thing. Pulse grabbed my bag in the process and followed Daryl from right behind. The smell was awful and it almost made me vomit when I breathed it in. As we made our way to the doors a group was starting to cough because of the smell, I noticed that Daryl brought up his crossbow while his other arm was over his nose and mouth. I raised my crossbow as well while keeping an eye on my surroundings for an immediate threat. The smell was getting to me so bad that I decided that I was going to hold my breath, before I made another step I felt a tap on my shoulder and I looked over to my right and saw Daryl holding a small, red cloth to me. At first I wasn't going to take it til he forced it into one of my hands. I nodded my head and placed the crossbow down for a bit for me to put the crossbow down and put on the rag around my face while Daryl had his crossbow up keeping an eye out and once I was done I continued forward.
The closer we got to the building, the closer the bodies were together and it made it even harder for us to walk because we could easily trip on the bodies if we weren't careful. I took one step as I was looking in the other direction for any movement and my foot got caught and before I could fall down to the ground an arm grabbed me around my waist which kept me from falling. I looked over my shoulder and I nodded my head to Daryl as he released me but I could tell that he kept close to me just in case if my foot got caught on another body.
We approached the doors where Rick and Shane were beginning to viciously try to pry the shutters open that wouldn't budge. I walked over to the door and started to bang on the door but nothing happened, " There's nothing here." I whispered as I looked over to the others.
" Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asked as he looked at everyone.
" Walkers!" Daryl yells out, we turned around quickly to see four walkers slowly making their way towards us. I shot one of the walkers in the head and it dropped to the ground while Daryl took out another one.
" You led us to a graveyard!" Daryl yelled at Rick.
" I did what I thought was best! I made the call!" Rick yelled back at him and I had to get in between them.
" You guys need to stop! Right now is not the time for this! We need to stick together! We need to get inside right now or we're going to die!" I yelled at them as I held them both back from killing at each other. They looked at each other and then Daryl backed off to take some of the walkers cause more showed up and I followed right behind him to give him back up.
" Where are we going to go!" Carol asked as she was starting to cry while holding onto Sophia.
" This place is a dead end." Shane said to Rick.
" He's right, we can't be this close to the city after dark." Lori reminded us. Lori was right, the sun was no longer visible and we were too close to the city.
" Fort Benning, still an option." Shane suggests to Rick while looking back at the walkers that Daryl and I were taking out. But for some reason all the energy that I had a moment ago was gone and my crossbow fell out of my hands and I fell to my knees. I didn't know what was wrong with me but I just couldn't move and I noticed that Daryl got closer to me while taking out the walkers.
' Why is he trying so hard to keep me safe when he really doesn't like me that much?' I asked myself that as I watched him.
" On what? We have no food, no fuel. It's a hundred miles!" Andrea yells at Shane.
" Hundred twenty-five, I checked the maps." Glenn said as he looked at others. I started to panic when I heard that.
" Forget Fort Benning! We need answers tonight! Right now!" Lori said as she looked at the others.
" We'll think of something!" Rick tells her as he looks back at the shudders.
At this point I was starting to get dizzy but I felt a pair of hands pick me up and hold me in their arms and I leaned my head on the shoulder of the person and looked up to see that it was Daryl, " Don't worry I got you." Daryl said.
" The camera. They moved!" I heard Rick say as Daryl turned to look at what he was saying and I was trying to see what he was saying but the camera wasn't moving at all.
" You're imagining it." Dale tells him as he points towards the camera.
" It moved, it moved." Rick said as he walked towards the door and camera.
" Rick come on, they're automatic." Shane says to him as he walks over to him and grabs his shoulder trying to get him to go back to the vehicles but Rick shoved his shoulder away from Shane's hands.
" I know you're in there! I know you can hear me! Please! We're desperate! Please we have women and children, no food! Hardly any fuel! We have nowhere else to go." Rick yells as he looks at the camera and I saw Lori walk over to him while Shane did the same thing as well and Rick started to struggle as he was being pulled away.
" You're killing us! Please!" Rick yelled as he was being dragged as the rest of us were starting to head towards the car, well I was still being carried. I didn't have any strength left in my body. As we started to leave and then a door opened from behind all of us and everyone turned to look and there was a bright light, and the shut steel shutters opened and a man stood there looking at us with a shotgun in his hands. I couldn't believe it that the CDC was still standing.
End of Chapter 7
I hope you guys are staying safe and warm with everything that is going on and I'm very sorry for not posting like I should have. Work has been kicking my ass and right now for the past two days I haven't been able to work and stuff so I'll try to post more as soon as I can. Thank you for all the views on this story and more yet to come.