"Carl, Lori. Stay with me!" Shane yelled pulling the two behind him.
Ana and I stood back to back. I fired my gun, Ana threw her knives until she ran out and then started to fire. Then there was more gun fire, that meant Rick, Glenn and Daryl had returned. They joined us firing and killing the walkers, they were just in time.
•••
The next morning we worked on moving the bodies. We buried our own and burned the walkers. Andrea had sat with Amy all night.
When the bodies were taken care of, we all grouped to talk about the situation with the walkers and Andrea.
"They must be moving out of the city. Running out of people" I said looking out into the distance
"So what're you saying?" Daryl asked
"We gotta keep moving. Farther and farther. Then less and less walkers. They'll be easier to fight"
"You got the whole plan for how you're gonna end the apocalypse, ginger?"
"Yeah. That's exactly it" I turned to him and rolled my eyes.
"Jim's bit!" I turn and see Jacqui backing away from Jim
"Show us!" Daryl yelled
"I'm fine" Jim said scared and he lifted his shovel
"Hey. Easy, man" Rick says
T-dog holds his arms behind him and Daryl lifts his shirt to reveal a nasty bite. Daryl drops his shirt and T-dog lets him go. We all regroup again.
"The dead girls a ticking time bomb and so is the man" Daryl says talking about Amy and Jim
"What are you saying?" I ask mocking Daryl
"Take he shot. Clean through the brain. I can shoot a turkey between the eyes from this distance"
I scoffed.
"Just leave her be" Lori says sympathetically
"What about Jim? He's gonna turn too"
"I heard the CDC was working on a cure" Rick says
"Heard a lot of things before hell broke loose" Shane says
"We could try. They'd keep that place protected until the last minute"
"Or we could try Fort Benning. They've got guns, food, security"
"Well if no one else is gonna do anything" Daryl yells and raises his pick axe to kill Jim. Rick raises his gun to his head.
"We don't kill the living" Rick says through gritted teeth
"Funny comin from a man with a gun pointed at my head" Daryl says lowering his pick axe.
The whole thing was tense. It had everyone nervous to see what would happen next. But it all died down and everyone went to do their own thing.
"Isabelle" Ana says walking to me
"Yeah? I'm not gonna start talkin about my dad or Maggie or Beth or Hershel. They're gone now"
"But you can't just chop up your dads body and move on"
"But I am fine"
"Well Maggie, Beth, Hershel. You'll see them again"
"Okay" I say and walk away to our tent.
I started to pack up my stuff. I knew we were leaving sooner or later, and if they weren't, I was.
•••
I looked outside my tent to see what was going on. Ana was talking to Andrea and Daryl. She got along with others well while I just didn't. I never seemed to get along with anybody except for Ana. It might've been my dad, I just know that I'm glad I got to eventually live with Hershel and Maggie and Beth. It felt like home. Loving and caring. They ate dinners together, home cooked, I had my own room and I just felt like I belonged. Sadly, my mom passed away shortly after having Maggie. Hershel remarried and they had Beth, but Beth's mom died also. When I turned 25, I fled the farm to live in the city. That's where I found out that the dead started to walk and I was nowhere near home.
"Whatcha thinking about, Belle?" I heard Rick say
"Don't call me that, Grimes"
"Who said I wanted to be called that?"
"The ridiculous uniform. You don't need it. No one gives a shit about who you were before, none of it matters now"
"It made me the way I am today"
"Okay officer"
"Someone hurt you in your past, didn't they? So you push everyone away"
I stayed quiet for a second. Long enough for me to change the subject so he knew I was uncomfortable with the subject.
"What's our plan?" I asked
"For what?"
"Tomorrow. CDC or Fort Benning?"
"CDC. We oughtta try. Are you against it?"
"Nothing. Don't accuse me of being against something without-"
"Maybe you need some rest"
"Okay. Maybe I do"
I slid back into my tent and zipped it up. He was pushing my buttons and I let it bother me. I just knew, if I let it go too long, I might've done something I'd regret. Next thing I know, Ana is at my tent.
"What happened?" She asked
"Nothin. Grimes is just an ass"
"You think everyone is"
"That's not true. I like you"
"And Hershel, Maggie and Beth"
"Yeah"
"Well. Let's get to bed. We've got a long trip ahead of us" she laid in her sleeping bag and I kept my upright position "you gonna sleep?"
"I think I'm gonna walk" I say while I leave the tent.
I had my gun in its holster and my knife in my waistband. I walked into the woods. It was dark and the leaves of trees covered the night sky. Whatever it was about the woods made me calm down and feel relaxed. Outside is all we have anymore really. I heard a noise from behind me, I raised my knife ready to attack. I saw Rick standing with his hands up and I rolled my eyes.
"What" I ask and continued to walk through the woods
"You shouldn't be out here alone" he says walking up to my side
"I need a cop with me. Right? I can kill walkers just as well as you"
"It doesn't matter when there's two of them and you can't reach your knife"
"why are you really out here?"
"I wanted to say sorry. I brought up a sensitive topic and I had no need to"
"It doesn't matter" I turned to walk back to camp
"The way you hit that man, your dad, you have something that still matters"
"Are you my therapist? Goodnight" I said and started to jog ahead of him and right to my tent so I could sleep.
