Light in the Darkness

Chapter 5

When I woke up the next morning I saw Dean putting his shoes on, but Rick was gone. "Mornin princess how ya feel?" He asked a little louder than necessary. I gripped my head, the pounding setting in full force. "Ugh what happened last night?" I asked not remembering a lot. Then I remembered Rick coming to our room and I sat up looking around. "He already went to breakfast," Dean said smiling at me. I caught him giving me a knowing look. I fell back onto the bed and covered my eyes. "Don't look at me like that," I said ignoring him. He laughed and I heard the door open. "You guys need to come out here," Sam said in a nervous voice. We got up and followed him down. When we got to the others I finally noticed a clock and it was counting down. My chest tightened as I remembered something Jody had told me. "What level?" I choked out feeling my chest get tighter.

Dr. Jenner looked at me confused. Suddenly a door closed and I heard some go punding on the door. I held my gaze on Jenner. "Deontamination using HIT's," he said blankly. I dropped to the ground as I lost my breath, knowing what that meant. I felt someone behind me pulling me back up and Dean ran in front of me. "Breath Y/N, breath slow," he said seeing me in panic. I shook my head as tears fell, "I can't go back Dean, I cant." He pulled me to him and whispered I wouldn't over and over. "What are HIT's?" Rick asked in a low voice. "They light the air on fire incinerating anything instantly," Jenner said as Dean tried to get my breath under control. By the time he was able to we had about two and a half minutes left. I ran to Jenner and grabbed him roughly by his shirt almost lifting him off the ground.

"Open the fuckin door and let us out or so help me God, I will make the next two minutes the most painful death anyone could ever experience!" I yelled at him. I dropped him and he ran to the button opening the door. He grabbed my wrist stopping me as the others ran, "You need to know, we're all infected. When we die that's what we will become." I nodded to him that I understood when I felt someone grab me, "c'mon woman." I ran with Daryl meeting back with the others who had been trying to break the glass. I pulled a grenade from my pocket, "Think this might help." I ran over and made everyone else take cover. I pulled the pin and gently place it next to the glass. I took a breath and released it then ran to where the others had taken cover. I had almost made it when the grenade went off. The blast sent me through the air into a wall and I felt my shoulder dislocate. Dean ran to me picking me up and as he pulled me through I felt my arm get cut on glass. I growled in pain as he ran faster almost tripping. He hid me behind the impala, covering me with his body. We quickly got in the impala followed by Sam and Casn taking off with the others before walkers could surround us.

When we got far enough away I got out wincing, my arm still hanging loosely at my side. Rick looked at me while he held Carl and nodded at me, "You ok?" I nodded and felt Dean try to lift my arm to look at the cut and I screamed from the pain. "Shoulder first Dean," I said glaring at him. Rick and Carl watched with Daryl as Cas and Sam held me. Dean grabbed my arm and I grabbed a stick on the ground. Once I was ready, Dean grabbed my arm and put it back in place. I spit the stick down as Glenn walked over with an arm sling he had found at some point and helped me put it on. "You're gonna need stitches," Dean said examining the gash on my arm. I smirked at him pulling out the glue drs would use instead, I had snatched from the hospital in Atlanta, "How about the less painful approach." Sam grabbed it and walked around me to apply it. He bandaged it up with gauze and helped me stand up.

We had lost a lot of light so we decided to stay where we were and camp for the night. I said I would keep watch tonight and Rick insisted he do it with me since my shoulder was hurt. Carl slept with Daryl that night since now Lori and Shane were sharing a tent. Once everyone was sleeping I saw Rick staring off into space. "You alright?" I asked him in a whisper. He looked at me for a minute before nodding. "Weirdly yeah," he said before looking at me as if he wanted to ask something. "Did you know about Shane and Lori?" He asked me bluntly. "I wasn't sure, they were really good at hiding it, especially from Carl, but now Crowley's comment to her makes a whole lot more sense," I said giving him a sad look. He nodded and looked back out. "We didn't have the greatest relationship towards the end. Sheriff in a big city takes up a lot of your time," he said . I sat down next to him and sat with my gun across my lap. He looked over at me but when I turned to look at him, he quickly looked away. "So all the monsters we thought were just stories are real huh?" He asked changing the subject. With him it felt easy to talk to him about some of it. I thought back over the years at everything we had been through. "Probably more than you would like to think," I replied looking up at the stars. I started telling him some stories and we talked all night until the sun came up. We shared more stories with me and somehow we had become like old friends over night. Dale came up the ladder as everyone started waking up and took over watch for us.

Rick climbed down first so he could help me down and I had made it almost the whole way without slipping until I missed the last rung on the ladder and fell back. Rick caught me pulling me against his chest with an arm wrapped around. He was careful not to jostle my shoulder, but when he breathed out I felt his breath against my neck, sending a shiver up my spine. I pulled away when I realized we had been in the same position a second longer than needed. I walked towards my brothers and instantly flushed. "You ok there?" Dean said with a smirk. "Fine," I said walking quickly away to change in his tent. Carol heard me struggling and came in offering me a hand. I walked out with her and saw Lori giving me a glare, but I ignored her and helped Carol make breakfast for everyone.