Scars

04 CDC

I wake up to Carl poking my face. "Rise and shine, Dani!" I yawn and practically go blind from the sunlight. "Mornin', buddy."

While everyone is packing their stuff up, Jacqui yells, "Jim's been bit! Jim's bit!" Everyone rushes over and he tries to reassure everyone that he's fine. "Come on guys, I'm fine. It's fine." Shane restrained him while Rick lifted up his sleeve. There was very clearly a walker bite. Daryl pulled a gun out and pointed it at Jim. "Woah Woah Woah. Daryl, calm down. No need to make any rash decisions." Rick held his hand out to Daryl as if it would stop him. Daryl didn't put the gun down. "D. Put the gun down." I lowered his raised arm. He glanced at me and sighed.

"We'll take Jim with us to the CDC, and then we'll decide what to do with him from there." Rick declared. Everybody broke off and went to pack their stuff into vehicles. Morales and his family decided they were gonna go off on their own. A slight breeze blew through and I went to wrap my arms around myself when I winced in pain. "What the hell?" I lifted up my sleeves and there were bruises shaped like hand marks from when Shane had grabbed me in the woods the other day. I quickly pulled down my sleeves went to grab the rest of my stuff.

"You gonna ride with me?" Daryl asked, sitting on his motorcycle. The alternative was riding in the truck with Shane. "Yeah sure." "Hop on." And I did, loosely wrapping my arms around his waist, and we were on our way. We were riding behind the Rv and the truck and another car. Suddenly we were slowed to a stop. I got up off the bike and walked up to the RV. "What's wrong?" Rick pulled me aside. "Jim decided it was time. There's also something wrong with the RV. Don't worry, Dale is fixing it." Shane called Rick over to the RV to help carry Jim to the woods.

They propped him right up against a tree. I was the last of everyone to go say my goodbyes. I crouched down next to Jim. He was weak and looked way worse than earlier. "Hey. I know I don't know you very well, but you seem like a nice girl. Keep Daryl in line. He cares about you. Stay safe." I held his hand. "I'll remember you. It would be hard for a lot of people to make a call like this. You're a brave man." I smiled and walked back to Daryl and hopped on the bike. Dale managed to get the RV fixed. And we were off. Again.

We pulled up to the CDC and walked up to the main doors. I tried to open it but it was locked. "Damn." A whole group of walkers started closing in on us. "I saw the camera move!" I darted my eyes up to the security camera above the door. "It's just the system, Rick," Shane yelled. "No, I saw it too." I said.

Rick started banging his fists on the door. "Let us in! You're killing us! Open the door! Please." Rick continued banging on the door when it finally opened. There was a man standing inside. "Are any of you bit?" "No. We had one member who was, but he's gone." Rick said. "Well get in here!" We all rushed in. "I'm Dr. Jenner. You'll need to let me take your blood for a test." We nodded. Dr. Jenner led us to an elevator that we all cramped in. Once we all loaded back out of the elevator Carol asked "Are we underground?" Dr. Jenner turned his head back to look at her for a moment. "Are you claustrophobic?"

"A little."

"Try not to think about it."

Dr. Jenner took us to a big room with a giant screen and loads of desks and computers. We all took turns having our blood taken. Andrea was before me. She almost passed out. I closed my eyes. "You afraid of needles?" I shook my head. "Just had bad experiences." My mom was a drug addict. She did every drug out there. When I was 14 I walked in on her in the bathroom, dead. She still had the syringe in her arm. That's when things started to get really bad with my dad.

"Where is everyone? The doctors? The staff?" I asked him. "It's just me. There was a mass suicide at the start. Everyone else left or got bit." I looked down at my hands. "I'm sorry." He smiled at me. "It's alright. I've been doing alright by myself."