We all stared at the blinding light that was emitting from the CDC. Rick leads the group inside while Daryl still had a hold of me as he made his way inside.
" Hello?" Rick asked as everyone was following him as he stood in front of the man.
" Close those doors, watch for walkers." Dales said as he looked at the others and the door closed.
" Anybody infected?" A man asked as he was looking at all of us and he looked like he's been through some deep shit.
" One of our group was, he didn't make it." Rick answered honestly as he looked at the man straight in the eyes. The man looks over to see me in Daryl's arms.
" What about her?" The man asks Rick as he points towards me.
Rick and the others turned to look at me as I was starting to breath really hard and I noticed that I was starting to feel hot. I saw Carol walk over to me and placed her hand on my forehead, " Oh my god, she is burning up with a fever." Carol said as she looked up at Daryl.
" She was never bit. She was with me the whole time and when she fell to the ground I grabbed her and she's been in my arm's the whole time." Daryl said as Rick walked over and took me from his arms.
" I…...I…...I'm not bit. I'm just exhausted." I said as I leaned my head Rick's shoulder and then everything went black.
* Sometime later *
I groaned and I started to open my eyes and noticed that I was in a room and I started to look around till my eyes landed on Carl who was sitting in a chair right next to me asleep. I started to sit and noticed a rag fall down to my lap. I picked it up and felt how hot it was, I placed it down back on my lap and I looked over at Carl, " Hey, hey Carl wake up." I said as I reached over and shook his shoulder.
He opened his eyes and looked up at me as I smiled at him and that was when he got up and jumped at me and wrapped his arms around me, " I'm so glad that you are ok. For a moment there we thought that you were bitten for a moment till Carol checked every part of your body to be sure. So the doctor guy gave a shot to lower your temperature for your fever." Carl said as he lets go of me and smiles at me.
" So what happened while I was out?" I asked as I looked at him and then looked around the area.
" Well, the man that let us in, his name is Dr. Edwin Jenner let us in and asked if we didn't mind taking a blood sample to make sure that we weren't infected. He wanted to check you first because he thought you were a bit, but Daryl defeated you by saying that you were. Once everyone got it done, he came back to us to let us know that we were in the clear and that Daryl was right with what he said and that you were just sick, so Dr. Jenner gave you some medicine and he showed Daryl where you could rest while the rest of us followed Dr. Jenner to the kitchen. But I didn't want to leave you, so mom let me stay with you, but told me that once you were awake to take you to where they are right now." Carl said as he offered his hand to me.
" So Daryl was the one that brought me here, huh?" I asked as I took his hand and he led the way.
" Yeah he was worried about you even though he tried to hide it." Carl said as he took the lead.
" Really now, so where are we going?" I asked him as I let him lead me.
" I'm taking you to the kitchen where everyone is at right now, they are eating dinner and I know that they were worried about you." Carl said as we got close to a door where we heard laughter. He opened the door and everyone looked towards the door to see Carl and me, Rick got up and walked over to us and he wrapped his arms around me while I hugged him back.
" I'm glad that you are okay. Are you feeling any better?" Rick asked as he let me go and I nodded my head as Carl walked over to sit right to his mom and Rick followed right behind him and sat down. I looked around to find a place to sit but I couldn't find a place till I noticed the area where Daryl was sitting and I walked over to him and sat down on the floor. As I got down on the floor, I saw a pair of feet in front of me and I looked up to see Carol right in front of me with a bowl with something hot in it.
" Here, this should help your stomach after what happened yesterday." Carol said as she hands me the bowl and I nodded my head to her thanking her. As I was eating my soup I was watching the others laughing and having a good time.
" In Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France!" Dale said as he was pouring a glass of wine for Lori. I noticed that Carl looked over at his mom, waiting to see what she would say about it.
" Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori said as she covered Carl's glass before Dale could pour any wine in it.
" Oh come on! What's it gonna hurt? Come on!" Rick said as he chuckled. Lori looks at him and then she laughs along with him and removes her hand from the glass.
" Okay." Lori says as she nodded her head to Dale as he poured wine in Carl's cup.
" There you go young lad." Dale said as he handed Carl his cup. We looked at him in silence to see what his reaction was.
" Eww." Carl says after he took a drink of the wine and placed the cup down on the table and made a funny face which made us all laugh.
" That's my boy." Lori said as she laughed and pulled him close and kissed his forehead and grabbed his cup and poured the wine into her glass.
" Go ahead and stick to soda pop." Shane said as he looked at Carl.
" Not you Glenn." Daryl said as he walked over to the table.
" What?" Glenn asked, looking confused at Daryl.
" Keep drinking lil man, I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl said with a smile on his face.
As I was laughing Daryl offered me a bottle that was in his hand and I shook my head no to him, " Thanks, but no thanks. I don't drink for one and I'm trying to recover after the fever that I had." I said to Daryl and he nodded his head to me.
" You've never had a drink? Why is that?" Andrea asked as she looked at me in shock.
" Cause my mom did a lot of drinking and when she did drink, she was a total bitch." I said as I looked down to my lap and didn't say anything else about it, which gave everyone the hint to drop it.
Rick stood up with his cup in hand, " I don't think we've properly thanked our host, and also thank you for making my daughter better. To Jenner." Rick said as everyone raised their cups over to Jenner who was sitting with the others smiling at them.
" Yes, thank you Jenner." I said as I nodded my head to him.
" Boo-yah!" Daryl said as he lifted his own bottle of wine into the air. He then plopped back down into a chair that was right next to me and nearly fell to the ground in the process which caused me to giggle at him a little bit.
" Boo-yah!" The rest of us said behind Daryl.
" So when ya gonna tell us what the hell happened doc? All the other doctors, where are they?" Shane asks, making everyone go silent as they look towards him.
" Shane, really? Now is the time. Let us have a peaceful night?" I said as I glared at him.
" We're celebrating Shane. We don't need to do this now." Rick said as he was looking at him.
" Well wait a second, that's why we're here isn't it? This was your move man, wanted to find all the answers, well instead we found him. Found one man, why?" Shane tells Rick as he points towards Jenner.
" When things get bad, the people just left, they wanted to be with their families. And when things got worse, the military cord got overrun, the rest just bolted." Jenner said as he was looking at us.
" Everyone's the last one." Shane asked as he looked smugly.
" No, many couldn't face walking out the door, they 'opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Jenner said as we all froze in place when we heard what he said and I looked down and continued to eat my soup.
" You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked as she looked at Jenner.
" I just kept working. Hoping to do some uh-good." Jenner said as he looked down.
" Dude, you are such a buzzkill man." Glenn grumbled to Shane drunkenly. He was right cause all of our happy vibes have vanished and we now wore a frown upon our faces while Shane just licked his lips.
" I-I think we should call it a night." Rick said as he looked at all of us.
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as everyone started to get up and I started to slowly get up off the ground till I saw a hand in front of me and I looked up to see it was Daryl, and I took his hand and he helped me up the rest of the way. I took my bowl to the kitchen and I placed it in the sink and then I started to follow the others with noticing that Daryl was right behind me.
" Most of the facilities are powered down, including housing so you'll just have to make do here. Couches are comfortable. But there are cots in storage if you'd like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might like, just don't plug any of the video games in, or anything that draws power, and if you shower, go easy on the hot water." Jenner said as he was showing us to certain areas.
" Hot water?" Glenn asks as he looks at T-Dog.
" That's what the man said!" T-Dog said as he turned to look at him and at everyone else. I was so happy that I was able to finally take a shower. After a while we all talked about room arrangements and everyone found a room to stay together which left only me and Daryl to share one.
" You're roomin with me." Daryl said as he looked over at me. I nodded my head to him and followed him to the room where I think he placed me in when I was passed out. Our room was at the very end of the hallway, he opened the door and let me in first and he followed behind me and closed the door. There were two cots in the room and I noticed that my stuff was on the far right near the bathroom which meant the bed that was close to there was my bed.
" Ya can shower first. I'm gonna go see if I can sneak another bottle." Daryl said as he walked towards the door and left the room with me by myself.
Daryl's P.O.V
I made my way into the kitchen to look for another bottle, I knew that I hadn't had any in a while after everything that has happened, let's just say it was really helpin me right now. Was I drunk, no I was just tipsy? A little bit. I opened the kitchen door, and I smirked when I saw a full bottle sittin there on a shelf. I grabbed it, and then I popped open the lid and took a swig, it felt really good going down.
I closed the fridge and I started to make my way back to the room, where I left Sam. For some reason I was eager to get back, ' I wonder if Sam is out of the shower yet? What if she fell and hurt herself? What the hell am I doin? Why am I really worried about her getting hurt? Why was I even acting like this towards this girl? I don't even like her!' I thought to myself as I growled at myself as I made it back to the door. I started to open the door and what I saw made me freeze in place.
I saw Samantha standing right in front of trying to put on her shirt but what I saw on her back was unbelievable, she had scars just like me but worse, I started to get very mad at what I saw and I noticed that she was looking away from me at the ground. I just walked past her and went towards the shower and I slammed the door behind me.
Sam's P.O.V Few minutes before Daryl came back
For the first time in a long time that I had a hot shower, the only time I had a really nice shower when I was living in my house. That was when I realized that I probably was in the shower for over 30 minutes, and I had a feeling that Daryl wanted to take a shower by now. I quickly shut it off and I stepped out of the shower. The bathroom was steamy because of the hot water I used, I kinda felt bad for taking so long, I hope that I didn't take all of the hot water from Daryl.
As I wrapped the towel around my body and then I started to brush my hair and noticed that the steamed from the hot water and I whipped the mirror and I immediately frowned at my own reflection. I could see some of the scars on my shoulders and down my arms and when I dropped my towel, I cringed seeing the rest of my scars that were from my past, scars that will be with me for the rest of my life. I covered myself back up with my towel and I turned to notice that I left my night clothes in the room.
I opened the door to the bathroom and I sighed with relief to find that Daryl wasn't back yet. Which gave me a chance to run over to my bag, I slipped on some underwear and then I put on some sweatpants, but for some reason I couldn't find my shirt at that moment. Finally I was able to find a long blacksleve shirt as I reached to grab it, and I was about to put it on. That was when I heard the door open from behind me and I froze in place and I turned my head to see Daryl standing there staring at my back.
My eyes widened as my body started to shake and that was when I pulled the long sleeve shirt on, I turned towards Daryl and I looked down to the ground worried of what he was going to say. The next thing I heard was Daryl walking by me towards the bathroom and slammed the door which caused me to jump. I walked over to my cot and I sat down, I felt tears going down my face and I covered my face with my hands and started to cry, ' H...He saw my back, he saw my scars.' I thought to myself as I cried.
Sometime later I decided that I was going to avoid questions and anything else from him, I laid down on my cot once I heard the shower go off, telling me that he was done. I closed my eyes trying to pretend that I was asleep, a moment later I heard the door open and his footsteps walking out. I was fighting myself to prevent me from opening my eyes to see what he was doing right now. My heart was pounding hard and nervously as I heard him grunt and that was when I felt him sitting on the edge of my cot which told me that he was sitting down. I tried to keep clam but that didn't even work, " I ain't dumb ya know. I know yer awake." Daryl said as he grunted.
My body froze when I heard him and I opened my eyes hesitantly, I saw him while he was playing nervously with a bottle of Jack Daniels. When his eyes landed on mine, he sighed and offered me the bottle. I sat up, I was hesitant about reaching it, making me think that he was trying to trick me and then he nodded his head to me for me to take it, I took the bottle from him and I took a hug swig of the alcohol which burned my throat and then I handed it back to him.
" I ain't gonna make ya talk about em." Daryl said as he looked at me as I brought my knees up and I placed my chine on my knees.
" Just know that ya ain't alone." Daryl said as my body stiffened as I watched him run his hand through his hair.
I knew that he wasn't going to pressure me into saying anything but I had the feeling that he would find out sooner or later. So I took a deep breath, " They were all from my dad." I said as Daryl turned his head to look at me with shock in his eyes.
Knowing that I couldn't go back now, I took off my shirt with me just where I was just in my sports bar and just my sweatpants. I saw his eyes go wide at what he saw while I looked away from his gaze. I've never let anyone see my scars except for Rick when they took me away from my step father.
" My mom would let my step dad do things to me for punishment and she thought it was the right thing to do. She let him hit me, burn me, getting dragged around the ground with a dog leash, she even let him threaten me to kill me with a gun to my head. I had a feeling that she never cared about me, she even told me that I shouldn't have been born. What kind of mother would say that to her own child." I said as I started to cry as I looked away from him.
There were a few moments that were silent, and I finally stopped crying after a while and then out of nowhere I felt his hand touch my back. I flinched when I felt his fingers brush against my back.
" What's this one?" Daryl asked me as he touched one that was on my shoulder.
" It was a knife." I said as my eyes started to tear up.
" And this one?" Daryl asked as he moved his hand moved to my left side of my lower back.
He started to growl with every scare he saw and slightly touched every single scar, as I was sitting there, my body started to shake. Everything about me was of my ugly, past, my thoughts and my body. I felt like I was completely vulnerable right at this moment. I felt Daryl's hand stop moving right where my tattoo was on my left arm, which was a wolf tattoo, " Why do you have a wolf tattoo?" Daryl asked me as he looked at the tattoo.
" To hide another scar that was there and it is also to let people know that, I'm not scared anymore. But apparently not. " I said as I looked over at him and for the first time in my life, he wasn't looking at me like a victim.
He looked at me for a while to process everything that I told him, and I felt awkward under his gaze but that was when he looked away and took a drink from the bottle, " You should get some sleep, it's been a rough day for the both of us." Daryl said as he got up from my cot, I nodded my head to him and laid down and looked over at him.
" Hey Daryl?" I asked him as I looked at him while he was looking over to his cot and turned his head over to look at me.
" Yea?" Daryl said as he looked at me.
" Thank you for understanding everything that I just told you, you and Daryl are the only ones that know what happened with me. Just tell anyone else about it, please." I said as I shut my eyes and went to deep sleep.
* Daryl's P.O.V. *
I watched Sam as she fell asleep after what she said and then I laid down on my cot and started to stare up at the ceiling and I knew that I needed to go to sleep but I couldn't because of all the things that were swirling around my mind. Mainly with everything that she just told me about her and her scars, I couldn't believe that she was just like me but just worse. I looked back over at her and noticed that she was smiling in her sleep, she looked so different when she was asleep. She looked so peaceful, more at ease. I was very glad that she was more at ease than anything, I hated when she was scared and then seeing what that bastard had done to her. I hope that he was dead, cause if not I'll be getting my hands on him and making him pay for what he did to her. She's strong, a fighter and she is also a survivor, I know one thing for sure is that she is going to beat this world. I'll be making sure of that, I'll protect her no matter what.
End of the Chapter 8
Here is the next chapter, I hope that everyone is having a great day and is being safe out there. Sorry for the wait. I'll try to get to the next chapter as soon as I can. And as for the other fanfictions that I have, I'll try to get them done with some chapters as soon as I can but I'm wanting to do this one. Again very sorry again. See you guys next time.