That Valley Girl || Daryl Dixon

[ 003 ] The Survivors

A took a glance at the front of the car, seeing more cars and some tents. I'm guessing we're at the camp now.

Andrea opened the door, rushing out. I was the second one out, I was dying to get some fresh air.

I got out of the car and looked at my surroundings. There was more cars, an RV, tents. And from what I could see so far, it looked like they had a good amount of people.

Andrea ran up to a blonde woman, engulfing her in a hug. They looked pretty similar, I guess they were sisters.

Some part in me deep down was hoping that my sisters would be here, waiting for me. But I somehow knew they weren't here. Everyone continued greeting their families and friends as i sat back, a pang of jealousy hitting me.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" A man asked.

"New guy, he got us out." Glenn explained.

"Yeah, crazy vato just got into town." Morales said. "Hey helicopter boy! Come say hello."

"Come meet everyone." Jacqui pulled me along towards everyone. I was hesitant, but she reassured me.

I saw the cop run up to a little boy, engulfing him in a hug. A woman shortly following.

He found his family.

-

"Disoriented."

"I guess that comes closest." The cop said.

We were all sitting around a campfire now. It was dark outside. The cop told his story to us, explaining how he woke up in a hospital or something. I wasn't really paying attention.

"Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short." An old man said in response.

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life, and put somewhere else." The cop continued. "For awhile I thought I was trapped in some coma dream."

I found myself relating heavily to his words, It's how I had felt when I stepped out of that apartment. It felt like I was in another dimension, nothing seemed real. It still doesn't feel real. I've barely processed any of it until now.

"-from the look of that hospital, it got overrun." I snapped back to reality and listened in to the conversation.

"Yeah looks don't deceive. Barely got them out, you know?" The man from earlier said.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane." The cop thanked.

"There go those words falling short again." The old man laughed. "What about you, young lady?" he turned towards me.

"Me?" I questioned, not knowing how to begin.

"I've lived in Los Angeles all my life. Came here for my mom's job. I wasn't here for long once all of this happened."

I heard wood clatter and turned around, seeing another man drop more wood into our fire.

"Hey Ed, you wanna rethink that log?" Shane growled.

"It's cold man." Ed said, clearly not rethinking his decision.

"Cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once."

I watched as Shane got up, walking over to face Ed.

"You sure you wanna have this conversation right now?"

"Go on. Pull the damn thing out." Ed said in defeat.