Amber Grimes

Nine

The next morning, we all sat down for breakfast, Daryl wanted to tell my dad about last night, but I made him promise not to. We all laughed as Glen held his head, incredibly hungover from the night before. " Come on, even Amber can handle her alcohol better than you." T-dog laughed. " I had a lot of practice," I joked. " And what's that supposed to mean?" Mom asked, and I froze." You went on vacation with your friends when you turned twenty one, that was only a few weeks before the breakout."

I turned to my mom and dad and gave them an innocent smile. " Well, I may have been drinking since I was seventeen." ," Seventeen, are you serious right now?!" Mom yelled at me. " Please don't yell," Glen let out a small cry. " Lori, it's okay," dad spoke up for me. " How can you say that Rick, our daughter, has been drinking since she was a child." ," But she isn't a child anymore. The world's gone, the laws gone. We can't punish her for it, but we will be keeping a closer eye on Carl, " dad joked.

" Woah, what happened to you?" T-dog asked as Shane walked in the room, scratching marks down his neck. " Nothing, I fell last night. Obviously, I drank too much. " He smiled. His eyes stared straight into mine, I didn't know I had hurt him that bad. I felt another pair of eyes on me and turned slightly to see Daryl, who turned and glared at Shane.

The scientist came in and said good morning to us, looking very weary. " How close were you to a cure?" Dale asked. Everyone went silent as we stared at him for an answer. We followed Dr. Edwin into another room where he played a video of what happens to someone's brain after they've been bit by a walker. " I hate to interrupt," Dale spoke up. " But I can help but notice the giant clock that's counting down. What happens when it hits zero?" ," The building will self-destruct as a safety precaution to keep all these dangerous diseases from breaking out.

" That's what you meant by once the doors shut they don't open again," Dale sighed. " Yes, the doors are closed forever, and once that clock hits zero, we're all going to die." Sophia and Carl began to cry, obviously terrified that they were going to die today. " Open the doors!" Dad yelled." Let us try to survive!" " What's the point?" Dr Edwin asked." None of these children are going to survive for very long. Not even you. " He turned to me." From what I've witnessed, this world is going to eat you up."

" Don't talk to her like that," Shane threatened, getting in the doctors face. " She is going to survive this world, I'll make sure of that," " You will be the reason she doesn't," Edwin mumbled. Glen and T-dog began throwing stuff at the windows in the hope of breaking them. " You can break the glass. It's impenetrable," Dr. Edwin sighed. " But your head ain't!" Daryl yelled and ran at Edwin with an axe.

I cried at the thought of dying, I had tried so hard to survive in this world already, I didn't want all that work and suffering to be for nothing. I turned to Shane and sobbed. Everything that happened felt so stupid and little compared to right now. Maybe I did overreact to him last night. Maybe I shouldn't have hurt him and ignored him. I should have been okay with what happened, especially since we were going to die today.

Dad pulled Daryl away and went back to trying to convince him to let us out. " So what if we die? So what if we dont survive this world? If our children don't, but at least give us the chance to try. Isn't that what our country was built on? Trying to survive."

Dr. Edwin looked around at us all and sighed. " Fine," He said, pushing a button and releasing all the protective shields around the building. " The front doors still can't open, so you'll have to make your own way out." Shane grabbed my hand and ran as fast as he could to the front doors, picking up a chair and throwing it at the window in the hopes of breaking it. " Wait, I found something!" Glenn yelled and pulled a grenade from a bag, handing it to dad as everyone ran and hid. Dad placed the grenade at the window and pulled the ring before running and hiding behind a wall as the explosion went off.

Shane grabbed my hand and ran to the window, helping me through the broken glass before we ran to his car. We jumped into the front seats and closed the doors and windows. Shane pushed me down and threw his body over mine as the CDC building exploded. The heat from the explosion could be felt as the sound of glasses shattering echoed in the air.

We looked up once we thought it was safe and saw the building on fire. Shane turned the car on and began to drive off, dad's car, and the rv following after us. We drove for a while before pulling to the side of the road.

We all stepped out of our cars, and I threw my arms around my mom, crying uncontrollably into her neck. " You should have put that axe threw his head!" Shane yelled at my dad. " If I did, we wouldn't be alive right now," dad snapped at Shane. " He threatened you and your family, Rick! He told you to your face that Carl and Amber were going to die and you didn't do anything!"

" It doesn't matter now!" Dad yelled at Shane." We're here now. We survived so we can move on." Shane kicked his car in frustration." Well, what's the plan now, huh? We followed you out here, and now look, we got no cover.", " I'll think of something," dad sighed. " Well, think hard, Rick! We were safe in the mountains, we had water and cover and a way of finding food! Now we have nothing." " Can you stop yelling while we're out in the open? " I spat at them." Arguing isn't going to help us. We need to move before it gets dark." " Amber's right, " Shane sighed, " Let's get moving while it's still early."

Shane got back in his car and slammed the door, I sighed and got in beside him. We all drove off in silence, " I'm sorry, Shane," I cried after a few minutes of silence. " You ain't got nothing to be sorry for.", " I hurt you," I said, wiping my eyes. " I overreacted to what happened, and I only realised it because I thought I was going to die."

Shane gave me a sad look and stroked my cheek. " It's okay. We made it. We're alive. We'll get through this, okay?" I nodded my head. " Once we camp for the night, we'll talk, okay?" ," Okay."

We drove for a while before reaching the highway, and we drove slowly through the abandoned cars before being blocked in by two cars that must have crashed. We all got out of our cars and slowly made our way to the cars, checking them, but it was all clear. " Okay, Rick, Glenn, Daryl and I will move the cars. Everyone else be careful, look around for any supplies, " Shane ordered.

I walked around with my mom and Carl, carefully looking through the cars, finding some small cans of food as the men pushed the cars out of the way. Once the road was clear, we got back in our vehicles and began to drive slowly through it, only for the rv to break down. We all sighed as we got out, Dale sighed " What do you expect, half of it is duct tape, if you want us to move fast then find me a new water pipe from one of these cars."

We were back to start, looking for supplies and a water pipe for Dale's rv as he taught Glenn how to fix it. " Somone should keep look" I brought up " I'll sit on the rv roof and make sure nothing comes our way" " Okay, be safe" Dad smiled as I climbed up to the roof. It was quiet for a while, with no birds chirping or anything.

I turned around to see what Shane and Glen were laughing at and smiled at Shane washing himself in the water. I turned around to look out again, noticing something in the distance. I looked through Dale's binoculars and panicked, " Everyone hid now!" I let out a small yell for them all to hear. I quickly lay down flat on the roof, holding my mouth as I heard all their moans and feet shuffling past.

Everything was quiet, and the groaning and shuffling seemed to pass. I quietly turned over, glancing around to make sure everyone was safe. I noticed two more walkers coming and held my finger to my mouth as my mom and Carol looked up at us to see if the coast was clear.

Sophia suddenly came out from under the car she was hiding under and was caught by the walkers, letting out a scream as she ran down the hill off the highway and into the woods. " Sophia!"