Past and Present

Supplies and Reality

I screamed for my mother to come up the stairs because I knew that everyone else would follow. Carl and I jumped out of the bed and waited for them to come up the stairs.

Just like I thought, everyone who was downstairs was now standing in my doorway. Daryl was the first one there,"What's wrong?"

I grabbed the remote off of my bed and turned the volume up.

The only thing that could be seen was the warning flashing and all the could be heard was the sound of snarls.

Everyone stared at my television is shock. We had just gotten back together. Why was this happening?"

As instinct, I grabbed Carl's hand and he squeezed back.

The first person to react was Lori,"Maybe it's just one of them. Maybe we are all still safe from the virus."

Daryl snapped,"Do you think they would make an announcement for a virus epidemic if it was just one person?"

While everyone went back and forth, Carl and I just stared at each other.

"Hey!" Carl yelled. Everyone stopped.

"We can't act like this has never happened before. We need to gather food and clothes. Grab everything that will be of importance. Daryl, take my dad and go to the store to see if they have any baby food. Mom, Mrs. Matthews, I need you guys to go around the house and get all the food you can. Beth, Maggie, and Glenn, weapons. Joce and I are going to go to my house and see if we can gather anything from there. Then when you guys are done, go to your house and check for supplies."

I marveled at the fact that Carl was so quick to decide everything. No one argued. We ran in opposite directions to get everything done. Carl and I walked into the kitchen first and grabbed two knives each.

I saw a small grin come across his face and he said,"I just got out. I guess this is how my life is going to go from now on, huh?"

I kissed his cheek and we walked out the door and ran all the way to his house. We gathered up as many bags as we could and went all around the house gathering everything from food to batteries. As we went, I couldn't believe that this was happening. How could the scientists have let the virus out? If this was going to be anything like the simulation, this was going to be hell.

I stopped in the living room and looked at the pictures that had were a younger Carl, Lori, and Rick. They all looked so happy. I couldn't leave it there. I picked it up and placed it in my almost full bag.

Carl came into the room with his father's old sheriff hat on his head.

"You found the hat?" I asked with a smile.

He smiled back,"Yeah, it feels right considering that I bear the mark that caused my dad to give it to me anyway."

"You still have the mark from when you 'got shot'?" I asked.

He nodded and pulled up the front portion of his shirt. There it was. The white line that I had first discovered when we were... never mind.

All of a sudden, the lights went out. Carl gave me a knowing look and we both knew that this was the beginning of the end. We knew that the electricity was turned off because of the state of emergency warning. Just like before.

We went around the house once more and took out all of the clothes that any of the members of the family had left. I had hoped that somebody in the house had grabbed some of mine or my mom's clothes.

Carl and I met back in the living room and together, set off for the house that Glenn, Maggie, Beth, and Daryl shared. They had the biggest house of them all because the government had felt bad about putting us all in the simulation so they gave everybody one wish. Maggie wanted to live with her sister and boyfriend and Beth didn't want Daryl to be alone so they bought a huge house where they all could live and be comfortable.

Now, they're huge house would be used like we used the prison.

When we got there, I saw my mom's car, Lori's car, Maggie's minivan, and Daryl's motorcycle parked in the huge driveway.

I saw headlights come up behind me and I turned to see Denise's car. When they parked, Key asked me if I could help them bring they're share into the house.

Carl and I went into the trunk and grabbed all of their stuff. Stevan jumped out of the back seat and came to help.

Once we grabbed all the stuff, we walked to the door and I pulled out the key that Daryl had given me.

We all made our way into the house and I called for my mom. She came and looked down at us from the top of the stairs,"We were so worried."

"Yeah, Carl and I were outside helping Denise and them. They brought some stuff."

She nodded and called Daryl, Rick, and Glenn to help us. In no time, everything that was collected was put in the living room.

Beth and Maggie were assigned the job of going through all the things and separating them into different piles. My mom was holding Jacob and Lori was holding Judith. They all looked scared.

I was too. The only difference was that I was one of the longer survivors. The only ones that survived in the world longer than I did was Glenn, Daryl, Carl, Judy, and Jacob.

I could hold my own against these things and I wasn't going to show my fear.

I took my knives and walked up the stairs. Maggie and Beth had put together multiple guest rooms when they got the house so I went to the one that they had promised me.

I knew that I was going to have to share with the others. The bed was big enough for two.

"It's alright,"Carl said from the doorway.

"What're you talking about?" I asked.

He came over to me and wrapped his arms around me from behind,"It's okay to be afraid of the walkers. You don't have to hold it in."

The tears welled up in my eyes,"I'm not scared of the walkers. I've passed that. I'm scared of losing everyone again. It hurt when we thought it was real. What happens now that we know that it's real?"

He turned me to face him,"You can't think like that."

I hugged him close to me and wondered how long I would have with the people that I loved.