Playing For Brains

Chapter Nine

All eyes were on Arlie as she walked out of the little side room where she left the four individuals bewildered by her piece of information. Carl was the only one not bothered by her presence as she walked past him. She was heading to the main door to the church and was half way down the church aisle when the door to the little room opened once more and Daryl stormed out angrily.

"What the hell is this? Are you fooling around with us or something? Are you some sort of test subject? Fancy filling us in, because it would sure be nice to have less secrecy around here" he yelled angrily after her, waving the file in the air. He was fed up of these cryptic messages coming from individuals, feeling like if he blinked, he would miss something important. The whole thing confused him, he thought she just got the wrong vibes from Eugene like he did that she could see right through the lie, but she knew what the cure was and that's why she knew that he was lying. Why didn't she just get this file out, or tell them that she knew the cure rather than send half the group out on a supply run to gather supplies for a cure in which Eugene had no idea about, did she want to humiliate Eugene that much? So many questions were running through Daryl's mind as well as the other three who were in the main room now as well. The situation was surreal, they didn't know what to believe anymore. Surely if she knew the cure then they could end all of this and maybe start to live normal lives. Maybe be happy, not have to keep one eye open every time they went to sleep.

The members of the group who stayed behind and were sat in the main part of the church now looked at the pair in confusion. They had no clue what the hell happened in the room, but it was clear that Daryl was angry now, so something must have gone down. Carl was no longer paying attention to Judith's, instead listening to the commotion that was taking place just next to where he was sat with his younger sister. She kept tugging on his shirt, but he paid her no mind and instead removed her hand without giving her a glimpse of attention.

"Daryl just leave her alone, she couldn't have known for sure" Beth pulled on Daryl's arm to try and stop him from getting closer to Arlie but he just shook her off "Just because you're her assistant now doesn't mean that you are her spokes-person, she still has her own mouth Beth" he turned around from Beth and got up in Arlie's face, causing her to stand her ground more. She knew that she hadn't done anything wrong, she was just being cautious, which after last time was a good move.

Arlie admired Beth's attempt at pulling Daryl back, but it wasn't working so she just put her hand up to tell her to stop. "I was working on a cure before this, we had narrowed down the components down before everything started to go wrong. The research centre went into shut down mode. Ran out of fuel. So, my boss got me and my 4 colleagues to take the 5 possible cures we currently had. We were each living Guinnepigs for the cure, and we each have one of these folders. We had to record what happened with each cure so that maybe one day we could tackle this disease" Daryl nodded, telling her to go on.

"I'm telling the truth, unlike Eugene I believed that I know the cure. That's most likely why I'm not dead yet, the fever has completely gone, and my pulse is back to what it should be. I should be one of them or dead, but I'm not. I'm here and talking to you. I think I'm immune Daryl" she pleaded with the man stood in front of her to believe what she had just said, giving him a second to absorb it all.

"What the hell is going on in here? I want answers now" Rick shouted from the door "Don't test my patience, I've had enough of lies today, just tell me now or else I won't be responsible for my actions. I've had enough of petty arguments and going around in circles. How are we going to survive when we are all acting like five-year olds?" They both turned to look at Rick in the door, both a bit unsettled by Rick's harsh tone and threat. It was clear what had happened to upset him so much when Eugene was dragged in unconscious by an angry looking Abraham, placing him on one of the pews. Clearly Eugene had lied and been a phony, but Arlie didn't fancy celebrating that fact any time soon, the air in the church was too tense as it was. Daryl and Arlie turned to look at one another before watching Beth step forward past the pair with the file in her hand, passing it over to Rick once she reached him. He took from her hand reluctantly with a flash of confusion appearing on his face before flicking through the pages, stopping on the one reading ARLIE SIMPSON. When he noticed the tick, he looked up at the young woman standing in front of him and passed the file back to Beth "We need to talk" Arlie nodded at Rick before walking up to him and them both turning around and walking outside side by side. They made their way across the road so that they were not within hearing distance of the church, but not too far away in case there was any trouble. Not that they were expecting any, they hadn't seen any walkers around here since the small group of them here when they first arrived.

Once they both stopped Rick turned to Arlie with a sad, worn out look upon his face "We lost a member of our group today out on that run. Now I'm not going to get angry at you and blame you because I know that you did it to see if he knew the cure and that if he did you could save yourself. I'm more annoyed at him, because if he had said in the first place then we wouldn't have been out there. However, that's not how Abraham see's it so just watch out for him, cause I really don't think that he likes you that much and we don't know all that much about him so steer clear. Do you understand?"

She nodded her head and Rick placed a hand on her back leading her back towards the church steps. She stopped when they were half way there "I promise that I didn't know that I was the one with the cure until earlier. I had a 1 in 5 chance and I really didn't think I would be the lucky one, I would have told you about possibly being cured but the past has taught me that it doesn't always end well"

He looked at her once again as they began walking "I understand, but I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse for you to be cured". Thinking about it she knew where he was coming from. It was a blessing in the sense that a bite couldn't kill her which allowed more room for living now, but it was a curse because she was surrounded by people who would still turn if they were bitten. She would end up having to watch her friends die in front of her while she was still safe.

When they stepped back into the church it was clear that everyone had been filled in on both the news about Arlie and the trip to the hospital. The atmosphere was heavy with quite a few members of the group upset and that was when Arlie remembered what Rick had told her outside about someone dying on the run. She scanned the room trying to figure out who it was, she saw that Eugene was awake now and just staring at his shoes, she went to sit down next to him as she continued looking for who hadn't made it. Her eyes settled on the ground next to Carl and how the boy had tears in his eyes before realising who they had just lost. Not only had the kid lost his real mom, he had now lost the person who he saw as his best friend, Michonne.