22 (TWD Fanfiction)

Chapter 8 - Center for Disease Control

  I sit in the jeep at the bottom of the hill watching as the others say their farewells to Jim. I had tried to say my own goodbyes but all that came out was a sob so Shane led me back down to the jeep and told me to wait.

Daryl's the last one to start heading back toward the vehicles. Looking back up at Jim I see him turn his head and give me a weak smile. I return it with my own teary one.

"I thought we were gonna save Jim?" I say to Shane, once he gets in the Jeep. My eyes are once again teary.

Shane sounds remorseful as he says, "There wasn't enough time kid."

Everyone gets back into their respective vehicles and we head off again.

Time seems to pass slowly as we drive down the abandoned highway.

I watch a small group of walkers stumbling around in the parking lot of some old laundromat. The windows are all shattered and a car is rolled on its side at the entrance. A woman's body is limply hanging against the seatbelt keeping her from being smashed up against the window. I notice streaks of dried blood on her face, bite marks littering her arms, I wince and quickly look away.

"Charlie?" Shane asks.

"Yeah?"

Would you mind grabbing my bag from the back seat?"

Unbuckling my seat I carefully lean over and pull Shanes's bag up to the front seat. It takes more effort than I thought it would, his bag is heavy.

"Are you carrying around rocks or something? Your bag weighs a ton," I tell him.

He laughs and glances at me with a smile. "Open it."

I unzip it and look inside. A couple of guns are safely tucked to the side, and boxes of bullets, tools, and other miscellaneous items are scattered throughout. Right on top though was a can of soda.

I look back at Shane with excitement.

"Found that at the gas station. Figured you could drink it on the way."

"Really? Thank you, Shane!" Grabbing the soda I tap the lid a couple of times before popping it open and taking a sip.

"There was only one left, so don't go telling the other kids about it, okay?"

"I won't," I promise. I take another sip and wonder why he gave it to me and not Carl. He probably hates soda or something.

"Shane?"

"Yeah, Charlie?"

"Shouldn't you give this to Carl?" I ask hesitantly.

His eyes harden and his voice deepens. "Carl's got his own dad to take care of him."

After that, I keep quiet, content with just sipping my soda and watching the sun as it crosses the sky. It's hot and without a roof over the jeep to keep the sunlight out I'm beginning to melt. Shane's hat helps keep it out of my eyes but that's it. Whenever we'd get to an open road we'd speed up and the wind would help. Hopefully, we're almost there.

We'd been on the highway for a while when we finally take an exit and drive through a few streets. This area is more built up than where'd we been earlier. It's much closer to the city, bigger buildings and apartment complexes were scattered throughout the roads.

Passing a few lone walkers we drive up to a huge building. The front is mostly large glass windows except for the entrance. As the cars roll to a stop I notice the hundreds of bodies littered about. Military weapons and barricades were set up along the pathway leading up to the CDC. The closer we got the more I could smell the rotting corpses.