Surviving The Walking Dead (BOOK ONE IN THE SURVIVING THE WALKING DEAD SERIES)

Shitty Day

     I woke up the next morning to the sounds of people getting breakfast together around the fire pit. I was so exhausted. Dale and I spent most of the night talking, mostly about his past life and our current ones. I didn't dare to go too deep into detail about my past, I like this group, and I didn't want them to kick me out for some choices I made when I was a teenager.

     "Morning." Dale smiled at me from his chair down below. "Sleep well?"

     "Like a rock." I lied.

     "You were crying in your sleep." My eyes widened. "Are you having nightmares?"

     "You could say that." I sighed as I stood up and stretched.

     "It's okay to have bad dreams, especially in the world we're in." If Dale only knew. If he only knew that my dreams weren't really dreams, just me reliving the murders I committed.

     "I'm fine, really. It was just a-" Something suddenly fell on top of my head. Something furry. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed. The creature dug its claws into my scalp and held on for dear life as I frantically swatted at it. "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OOOOOOFF!" The creature, now realizing was a squirrel, managed to avoid my flailing hands and seek refuge in the front of my shirt. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

     Everyone stood around the RV watching me like I was a one-man comedy act. I swatted at the massive lump in my shirt, and the squirrel bit down on my side. CHOMP! "GAH! STOP BITIN' ME!" THWACK! CHOMP! "GAAAAAH!" THWACK! CHOMP! "STOP IT!"

     "Take your shirt off, it'll run away." Shane suggested.

     "You'd like that, wouldn't ya?" CHOMP! "GAAAAH!" In the midst of my flailing fright, I tripped over my own two feet, sending me falling over the edge of the RV. "OOOF!" I landed on my ass with a hard thud. CHOMP! "GAH!" The squirrel bit me again. "GET IT OFF OF ME!" Shane came running over to me, followed by Daryl. Shane helped me to my feet and Daryl quickly reached down into the front of my shirt, pulling his hand back when it bit him.

     "Son of a bitch!" Daryl reached in again, grabbing the squirrel by it's tail and threw it against the RV, killing it instantly.

     "Are ya alright?" Shane asked. I lifted my shirt up to my underwire of my bra and examined my abdomen. I was covered in little welt marks, but luckily it didn't draw blood.

     "I fuckin' hate squirrels." I groaned.

     "I dunno, I think the squirrel had a jolly 'ol time." Shane laughed.

     "True, but it had more fun than ya ever will."

     "HA!" Dale suddenly blurted out. "... sorry." Shane shook his head and smiled before walking away. I looked over at Daryl who was picking up the squirrel.

     "Thank you." I smiled. Daryl grunted in response. "Listen, I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm new here, and I just wanted to contribute my part to the group. I felt as if I wasn't doin' enough, so I wanted to prove my worth. That and Glenn looked absolutely terrified, I've been through some rough shit, so I knew I'd handle it a lot better. I'm sorry." Daryl grunted again, but unlike the first one. This grunt was softer, as if acknowledging my apology and accepting it. Daryl wasn't much for words, so I knew I had to accept it.

     After breakfast, Rick had everyone who was going out to look for Sophia gather around the truck. "Let's get goin', we've got a lot of ground to cover." Rick said as he flattened the map across the hood. "Alright, everyone's gettin' new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might've gone further east that we've been so far."