Always In My Heart (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 3

Authors Note: Just thought I'd clear a few things up before I carry on with the story :) 1st thing: At this point in the actual show (Season 2), Carl was about 12 years old, but in this he's about 15, like Elena :) 2nd thing: I'm probably gonna put some sort of flashback or thought into each chapter, so if you don't like that sort of thing then I'm sorry:/ 3rd thing: I apologise if there's any spelling mistakes or whatever, its just I type really fast so I don't really see them until I'm done, then I usally can't be bothered to fix them haha oops sorry :( final thing: im sorry if some chapters are short/long, i just stop and start a new one when i think its necessary :) Okay, I'm done:) Don't forget to vote, comment, follow etc etc, thankyou :D

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The fire cackled as we all huddled around it, telling our stories of how we got here and how we survived. I was sat with Carl on my left and Sophia Peletier on my right, as they were the only people I was at complete ease around, and the first people I had met. 'Elena, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?' the woman I knew to be Lori asked me. 'Well I'm 15 years old, I'm from Atlanta and I 'm a dancer. Or more like, I wanted to be,' I explained, memories of dance tournaments and classes filling my mind. 'A dancer? wow,' Lori said, a kind tone in her voice. I smiled as I went on. ' I lived with my mom and my two younger sisters, my dad left when I was four,'. My voice suddenly began to crack and my smile dropped. I could feel my face falling as I continued. 'My mom was bit, died right away, and my sisters.. my sisters were...'

'You dont have to tell us if its too hard,' Lori said solemnly.

'No, it helps. My sisters and I lived in our attic for a few weeks, and we were doing fine. I went out to get food one day, like I had done a few times before, and I left them in the attic.'. I felt the tears stinging behind my eyes as I replayed the traumatic time in my head. 'I got back and I could hear their screams. I ran inside and there was a walker, hanging off my middle sister's arm. She was screaming, pushing it away but she couldnt get free. I shot it through the head, I didn't care if other walkers heard the gun. Then I asked her where Amelia was, my youngest sister, and she said the bathroom.  I got in there and she was...' I couldn't hold it back anymore. I let the tears flow from my eyes, but carried on talking. Somehow it helped to get it out.

'She was dead, no question. She had a huge bite mark on her neck, but for some reason the walker let her be and left it at that. But she bled out. I went back to where Megan was, and she was gone too. There was nothing I could do for either of them. Megan was 7 and Amelia was 5. Too young to die. I knew they'd reanimate,  so I did what I had to do. I buried them, then I got some things together amd never went back to the house. I was on the road for another couple of weeks and now I'm here,' I finished, wiping away tears and cleaning up my face with a rag Carol had handed to me. I got some sympathetic looks and various people came and tried to console me, but I didn't want their comforting. It was kind, but I knew I had to move on, or I'd never be able to cope.

I huddled closer to the fire and listened patiently to the next person's story as I tried to forget what I just explained to my new found friends.

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I opened my eyes to the rustle of trees. 'Daryl,  Daryl!' I panicked,  not knowing where he was  or what was making the noise. 'Hey, hey, hey, its ok, its alright,' Daryl whispered,  wrapping his arms around me and trying to steady my breathing. 'I was just collecting some wood.' he paused. 'and guess what...I got us breakfast!' he exclaimed, holding up a perfectly skinned squirrel.

'Even if this outbreak never happened, would you still eat squirrel?' I laughed,  grabbing another piece of bark and throwing it onto the dying flame. 'Mmm, probably' he mumbled, his mouth full of meat, and his face and fingers covered in grease. 'Ew, you are so disgusting,' I said sarcastically. 'We'll finish up here then we better get going towards the highway,' he said. The highway! I completely forgot! 'Um Daryl, shouldnt we have gone there earlier? Like, they've probably left by now,' I questioned, beginning to worry. 'You know, for such a good fighter you sure as hell worry too much,' I let out a chuckle, and with that, we stomped out the fire and rode away on Daryl's bike.

We had no pots or cutlery to wash, and no bags to collect since I left them all in the Chevrolet, so we just had to ride until we found them. We'd gone about twenty minutes away from the farm to try and avoid the herd, and seeing as we only had Daryl's crossbow and a couple of arrows between two of us, we didn't want to get caught up in everything again. I must've been really sleep-deprived right then, because the last thing I remember was leaning my head against Daryl's back and closing my eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.