Chapter 41: Tara
Chapter 41: Tara
It all started so simply. It was just her and Lilly, conquering the world, doing whatever they could for her kid, and her dad surviving like usual.
She never thought her dad would last this long, considering his disease, but he did, and that was more than enough consolation for her.
Then he turned up. Brian, he claimed to be called. He was nice enough to Meghan, but she could tell he was using them to escape from something, or someone.
Why her sister couldn't see it was beyond her. Probably because she was desperately lonely and desperate people do dumb things.
She watches him kill her father. She watches him guide them out of hell.
She says nothing when the next day, the camp leader conveniently goes missing and supposedly falls dead into a walker pit, because this man scares the shit out of her.
He tells them they'll be invading a prison with other people in it, hurting them. They won't be hurt, and will leave.
Oh god, there are kids out there, an old man. He's holding an old man hostage. OH MY GOD.
He just…he just BEHEADED him! What the absolute fuck is going on here? She needs to get away, and fast!
When she doesn't encounter her would-be girlfriend, again, she figures it out quite fast. Alisha abandoned her, too, to death.
Meghan has died. To her horror, Brian kills her in front of her sister. Brian dies.
She sees her sister shoot that miserable son of a bitch dead.
"Come on, let's go!" She urges her sister.
"No. I don't want to go. No point anymore."
"Don't be stupid, Lilly! Let's get out of here before the biters get crazier!" She urges.
Lilly shakes her head. "You go on ahead. I don't want to be without Meghan anymore. Without her, I'm nothing."
"LILLY! NO!" She shrieks as her sister walks right into a group of walkers and is torn apart.
She doesn't know how long she remains like that, on the ground. She just is frozen in time.
'Get back up. Keep moving.'
Voices in her head tell her it's all her fault. She's an idiot for letting him do this. Everyone is gone. Everyone is gone. It's all her fault.
She encounters a man named Glenn. He's looking for his girlfriend.
Surprisingly, he forgives her. They find companionship in their shared similarities. They've both been left alone.
She meets the rest of them at Terminus and they're not….a bad group. She warms up to them.
Tara allows herself to feel again, allows herself to breathe again; and for a few short years she knows happiness in a world so dark and miserable.
When she goes, it is with satisfaction.
When she wakes up, she finds Lilly, Meghan, her father, Alisha and so many others waiting for her. She's happy, finally safe and free.
Rest in peace, Tara. You were brave and an inspiration.