𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 | Daryl Dixon

8 | TEST SUBJECT 19

When they reached the CDC building, the sun was setting. It was still light enough to see, but within just a few minutes, that would change. A yellow hew had formed in the sky, cast by what was left of the sunlight. 

Bodies littered the ground - civilians and military alike, all dead. It was a complete ghost town, the bodies acting as a symbol for what had happened in the city barely three months ago. Odds were, that these bodies would never be moved again. They were too rotten for the walking dead to feast upon, and there were no living people left to give each body a true send-off.  

The only treatment those bodies would get from now on, was looks and grimaces of disgust. They weren't to be touched by anything other than the tiny buzzing insects which thrived on the consumption of their decaying skin and bone. They weren't people anymore... just shells of the humans they once were. Forgotten, and abandoned. It really was the end of days. 

The smell was beyond horrific, even before the group had opened the vehicle doors. The stench made the air feel hot as hundreds of flies and bugs feasted on the rotting flesh, blood, and guts.

"Alright, everybody," Shane whispered urgently. "Keep moving. Stay quiet, let's go."

Tori covered her mouth and nose with one hand whilst her other gripped the strap of her shotgun, jogging down the path, staying grouped up with the others, who were also choking on the smell of death. They entered the CDC parking lot, more corpses all around. The group did their best to ignore their nightmarish surroundings as they ran for the metal bay doors, all of which were shut down.

Rick got their first and tried to pull it up, but it was sealed. He and Shane pounded at the door with their fists, the metal slats echoing a rattle with every hit.

T-Dog voiced everyone's thoughts. "There's no one here."

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick shot back determinedly.

"Walkers!" Daryl called as he spotted some of the walking dead becoming attracted by the noise the group were making.

Daryl raised his crossbow, firing a bolt straight through one walker's head. Carl and Sophia were crying in fear whilst they clung to their mothers. Tori held her shotgun in her arms, hoping she wouldn't have to fire, as the noise would only make matters worse.

"You led us to a graveyard!" Daryl snapped.

"He made a call," Shane tried to defend his friend, but Daryl was having none of it.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Just shut up!" Shane yelled, shoving Daryl's chest. "You hear me? Shut up!" He turned back to his friend, who was still trying to get the doors open. "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where we gonna go?" Carol whimpered, frightened as she held her daughter.

"She's right, we can't be this close to the city after dark," Lori said, looking at her husband.

"Fort Benning, Rick- it's still and option," Shane lowered his voice.

"On what?" Andrea bit. "No food, no fuel. It's a hundred miles."

"One-twenty-five, I checked the map," Glenn corrected, not that it mattered.

"Look, forget Fort Benning," Tori cut in over the voices, seeing more walkers begin to appear across the parking lot. "We need to get the hell out of here, and now."

"We'll think of something!" Rick insisted, backing up.

"C'mon, back to the cars, go!" Shane said loudly.

They all started running, and Tori made sure the other women with the kids were in front of her as she kept an eye out for the dead. With everyone running ahead of her, she noticed one person wasn't following.