Stay By My Side ||Carl Grimes

Chapter 2

So I have decided that Veronica is going to meet the group BEFORE they go to the CDC! Thanks for all the amazing suggestions!

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I hear mphone ring and pick it up to see my mom calling. She said she would be home at 10:00am but it is now 1:30pm. I started to get really worried about her.

"Hey mom, where are you!?" I quickly ask before she has a chance to say anything.

"Sorry honey, the CDC wants me to stay, they will probably want your father to stay too. Turn on the news and they will pretty much explain everything."

Her tone worried me, I've never heard my mother talk in the way she was, afraid. "Listen, I need to go, love you sweetie." She quickly adds, then hangs up before I get a chance to ask her what's really going on.

I put down my phone and immediatly turn on the news channel to see a reporter standing in front of the camera with a worried face. She muffles some words that I wasn't able to hear, then the TV turns black and I sit in silence.

My family's house is in the middle of no where and the only thing close it a large lake for fishing. I knew that nothing could happen where I am, so I head outside to look around, just in case.

Noticing nothing suspicious, I open the mail box and tons of letters and magazines come pouring out. I pick each up one by one until I see one that catches my eye. Its from my father.

My father wasn't someone I ever really talked to. He and my mother divorced when I was young, but they continued to work at the same facility because it would've seemed 'childish' to quit. I grab the rest of the mail and quickly run inside, eager to find out what the letter says.

------End of flashback------

I climb down from the treehouse, making sure that nothing is around to harm me. Leaves crunch under feet, and I know they don't belong to me. A tall man with scruffy brown hair appears from behind a tree, cross-bow loaded and ready to shoot.  I put my hands up in defense, afraid of him shooting me. "Who are you?" I ask quietly, careful not to alarm him.

"I was going to ask the same question" he says. He unloads his bow and places the arrow back in his sheath.

I widen my eyes, "Yeah, but I asked first."

"I'm Daryl, who the hell are you?"

"I'm Veronica, and you're in the wrong place."

He rolls his eyes and scoffs, then looks down at my leg. "We can fix that cut, it looks infected."

I forgot about my cut. When I was running I cut myself on a branch. "Fine but then I'm leaving right after. Just let me grab my stuff." I hurry up the ladder of my tree house, gather all my things, and follow Daryl to his camp.

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It only took a few minutes to reach the opening with about a dozen of people. They have an RV and a great view of the beautiful city, or at least what is left of it.

The entire group looks at me while Daryl leads me over to a man in a sheriff uniform. "Who is this?" The mad asks, who seems to be worried by my presence.

"I'm Veronica," I say, as I reach out my hand for him to shake. "Daryl and I met out in the woods, offered to help me with this," I point down to my cut as his eyes follow my finger.

He takes my hand and steadily shakes it. He exchanges glances with the other members of the group as they slowly circle around us. "How many walkers have you killed?"

Walkers? He means zombies? "If you're referring to the zombies as walkers, I haven't had an encounter with any so far. I've been trying to avoid them."

He takes in a deep breath and exhales, "How many people have you killed?"

I get taken back by his question, and laugh a bit, "I mean it may come as a surprise, because you seem to find me intimidating, but I haven't killed anyone. I've never even thought about it."

The group starts bickering, and I hear a few 'she seems suspicious' and 'I don't think we can trust her' come from the members. I roll my eyes in annoyance, I'm younger than almost all of these people, how come they find me so intimidating?

"Everyone calm down," the man in the sherif uniform starts, "she obviously means no harm." He turns to me and gives me a smile, "I'm Rick Grimes, welcome to the group."

{EDITED}