Fatal Impact . . . The Walking Dead¹

[ 005 ] Do Not Approach

FATAL IMPACT

[ 005 ] do not approach
[season one, episode five]

Amy Harrison was dead.

She'd died to the ambient sound of her sisters sobs ― a sound that would haunt Tessa for years to come. Every night when she went to close her eyes she'd hear Andrea's screams, repeating her sisters name over and over again, stopping only when her voice became hoarse. Death was a cruel master.

Tessa had been unable to remain in the camp. The blood and the bodies had all been too much; a reminder that no matter what you did you were bound to fail eventually.

In the early hours of the morning she'd wandered down to the lake, sitting beside it in shocked silence. She didn't how long she'd been down there. Two hours? Three? Six? It had been a long time.

Small, choked gasps would occasionally leave her mouth as she tried to filter out the memories of the evening, with little success. It was as if she could still hear the sound of teeth grinding on flesh and bones. Every scream and cry was still there in her mind and as she drew her hands to her face she noticed the thick layer of sticky, maroon blood that coated her skin.

The sight sent agonising fear through her and she began to hyperventilate, scratching at the blood in a panic. She could barely feel her nails against her palms as she tugged at the skin trying to remove every last trace of the walker from her body.

Her panic only grew as she realised that her efforts to remove the substance were futile. She cried out, standing so quickly her head spun and she was forced to sit again. It was if she could feel the blood soaking into every crease and crevice of her skin, infecting her.

"Get it off. Get it off." She sobbed, dropping to her hands and knees and crawling towards the lake.

Mud squelched between her fingertips and under her knees, flicking up to coat her body. Tessa barely noticed.

Her hands reached the water first and she dug her fingers into the mud, pulling herself underwater. Below the surface of the lake the world stilled. The screaming in her ears stopped and the ache in her muscles fizzled out. Everything stopped under the pressure of the cool water.

It was as if time itself had paused.

The memories of the night before were replaced by something gentle and comforting. Screams were taken over by laughter and the sight of the dead became that of sunlit bathed children. Effy and Ruth's faces flashed across her memories as if they were pillars of peace.

With the world of horrors around her gone it felt as if Tessa could finally be free. To die would mean she could see her daughters again. She would never have to witness the horror of the walkers or see the people she cared for eaten alive. There was little she'd miss.