Home Is Your Heartbeat ('Home Is' Book Two - Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 3 - Bedlam Bridge (Midnight Oil)

NATE

So, I'm guessing this is what my hell is going to be like. For all eternity?

I'm lying in a padded casket that reeks of death. Unable to move because of the weight bearing down on me. Can't even roll my head to the side so I can avoid throwing up on myself.

'This coffin must've come with a sunroof?'  I think stupidly when my eyes open and the glare hits them.

Nup. Not hell and not a coffin, you Derpa!

I come to my senses with sudden realisation and then scramble to get my arms free. My fingers sink into rotting flesh when I struggle to push the dead again Walkers away from my upper body.

My movements become frantic. Rolling over, I claw desperately at the earth. To drag myself away from the corpses stacked on top of me....Jenga style.

Go to wipe the puke from my mouth and chin but stop in horror. Seeing the bits of flesh and rot covering my hands. So, I have to settle for a good old head shake and spit instead to clear my mouth.

Sitting up, I peer around in a daze. Then everything comes back with a solid wallop.

Not dead. You're not dead, you nitwit....just passed out for a bit.

My watch face is smashed to hell, so goodness knows how much time has elapsed. But at least it's been long enough for the Walkers who'd descended upon me to stagger off.

It's also clear that the attack is done and dusted as well.

Apart from my three dead and gooey doonas? I'm all alone. The four Woodbury people who were with me have now joined the ranks of the Un-Dead. Wandering the field and prison proper.

Hundreds of them. Heads down, shuffling and bouncing off each other like they're taking part in a Halloween rave.

I wonder how many of them were formerly part of the Governor's army? Even worse....how many were once my own family?

"Get off your ass, you shitty excuse for a human being"  I croak to myself.

Get up and do your duty. Go find them and if they've turned....then do the right thing.

Yup, Nate. Just like you did for Jeanette, eh?

That's totally on me and I'll have to try and live with what I did. Or rather didn't  do, in her case.

Try....

"What's done is done, no going back"  Again I speak out loud as I slowly find my feet.

Almost fall again when I reach down to get my knife. Hobble over to my rifle and lift it shakily.

It was Mich's actions that gave me the idea to cover myself with the Walkers. She told me how they'd masked her 'Alive'  scent and made it safe for her to walk amongst them without their noticing.

But there's something that I have to do before I can think about going up to the prison buildings. Better get it over with now before I lose even more of my stomach.

I return to my little pile of Walkers and lie down on top of their bodies. Writhing like a snake all over, covering myself totally in their stench and fluids....until I'm soaked in them.

To be sure....one thousand percent sure....

*

It takes me a quarter-hour to wander, Walker-like. Up to the prison courtyard.