Finding Sophia (The Walking Dead Fanfiction)

Twenty-Three: Reality

Andie's POV
The next day didn't come soon enough. I didn't run after Daryl that night or cry or anything stupid. It was just a kiss, and a stupid mistake. I didn't even like Daryl...I don't think...and I just missed kissing. Just a stupid fucking mistake.

Finding Daryl was a pain in the ass. No one seemed to know where the hell he was.

"Maggie!" I called up to the brunette, who was leaning on the railing of the guard tower. "You seen Daryl?" I ask.

"Saw him near the dining pavilion earlier." She calls back.

"Thanks." I call back. I toss a glance over my back, listening to the walkers. Walkers. Been around these people too long.

I walk back over to the dining pavilion, and there he is, plan as day, leaning against the post. It was well past lunch time, so it was completely empty. Except for him...

"Hey Daryl." I mutter, crossing my arms over my chest.

He licks his thumb and says, "Andie."

"About last night..." I start.

He interrupts, "Save the bullshit. I got things t' do." He brushes past me, walking over to the sink.

"Listen, Dixon," I tell him angrily, walking over to him, "I'm sorry about what happened, I really am. But it was just a stupid mistake."

"What? Kissing me?"

"No!" I nearly screeched, "I'm sorry that I made that fucking mistake...that fucking slip of the tongue, alright? Caesar...he was..."

"What?" He asks, getting close to me, towering above me. I take a step back, but I don't show any sign of retreat. I'm not afraid of him. "Your dead boyfriend? We all got dead people, Andie. You ain't some...special little snowflake. Ye can't make me...make me care about you and then fucking pull that shit."

"I didn't make you do anything!" I yell at him. "I know I lost folk! I have no doubt in my mind that you have too...but at least you had them to lose! My family was in Hawaii when the shit hit the fan! I didn't say goodbye! I don't know if they're dead or alive or geeks or what! So cut me some fucking slack!"

He looks at me first sympathetic, and then angrily, and then he looks away altogether before asking, "Who was Caesar?"

"Why the fuck do you care?"

"Because I do!" He says angrily.

"He was my boyfriend, ok? We were together when it started...and we split up. Stuck behind with a shitty group with an even shittier leader. He was my first...and my last." I pause a second and think about it... "Happy?" I ask.

He stays silent a minute before asking, "Martinez?"

Cocking an eyebrow, I ask, "Yeah...why?"

"Sonuvabitch." He mutters. "Shit...Caesar fucking Martinez? As in Woodbury?"

"What the fuck do you know about Woodbury?" I hiss at him.

Suddenly, someone calls from the other side of the yard, "Help!" I look to Daryl wide eyed, and pulling out my gun. I ran to find the voice, leaving Daryl behind me.

A person from D, Bethany, I think, said, "There are walkers in D!"

"Any breaches?" I ask Rick.

"Not sure." He responds. He has nothing but a knife strapped to his belt, but I'm not giving up my gun. We all run inside, following Bethany, and see nothing but hell breaking loose in D.

Walkers are everywhere, and I recognize all of them. Just people who were good, who made this place up. Killing one after the other hurt a bit, but it was what had to be done. I look for someone I don't recognize, or the cause of death, and I find nothing, all except a few with bites.

Until, finally, I pull Patrick, a young boy we found not even a month ago, had long streaks of blood down his cheeks. I look at him. He was a walker, but...before that...no bites, no nothing, just blood. I'd seen this before. It was only once, and I didn't know him. It was out, in the woods. And he was just dead. I didn't think much of it, but now that it was in here...He'd choked to death on his own blood.

Dr. S begins to explain how these things work, using the example of a shaken soda can, except that your nose, ears, and eyes are the top and the soda is the blood.

"I've seen it." I tell them. It was just me, Daryl, Rick, and S. "Out in the woods, before Sophia. It was only once, and I didn't think much of it. Geek had blood running down his face."

"It's not uncommon. Birds and pigs. That's how these things spread before." S pauses, "All of us in here...we're all exposed."

Later in the day, I'm sitting outside. Watching the walkers. Thinking about...everything. That was the first time I'd openly said it like that.

Jackass is probably dead anyway.

I'd always thought about him in the sense he was still out there, still alive with that stupid, shitty group. But it occurred to me how stupid that was, how stupid it was that I was still alive. I should've died a long time ago. I was a painter, and here I am, a post apocalyptic badass. Not too bad, but not too realistic...hard to believe it's real life.

"Andie?" I heard someone behind me. I turn around, and see Sophia standing there.

I smile, "Hey, chipmunk."

"You okay?" She asks.

"I'm fine...just...tired."

"Then why don't you sleep?" She jests, smirking widely.

I roll my eyes, "You and I both know it's not that easy." She sits next to me.

"I sometimes miss it out there." She tells me.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah. We never really got sick like this..."

"You heard?" I ask. She nods and I say, "We shouldn't be this close together. I was exposed."

"Me too." She claims. "We'll be ok?" She asks.

"We'll be ok." I promise. I hope so. Let's tell reality to fuck off and make our own story.