Impregnable {A Walking Dead Fanfiction}

Four

(content warning: the following chapter includes discussion of SA) 

    The woman fell to the ground, screaming and gasping for air. The two went down on top of her, eating her alive. I had to turn my back and walk away, I couldn't take much more of this. A man finally ran past me to help her, I saw a few others grab their things and run into the woods. I kept walking, needing to get as far away as possible. It felt like my blood had been replaced with concrete, but I had to keep going. I heard people screaming followed by two gunshots, but everything felt so far away. I leaned up against a car and tried to stop the pounding in my head. A few others had jumped the median to help the woman, one began CPR.

    I had been there for a few minutes and most of the people had crossed back over the median when I saw something strange out of the corner of my eye. One of the corpses was moving. I rubbed my eyes and squinted, praying it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. No, she was moving, her arm was reaching forward in an unnatural jerking motion. A few people around me had noticed too, staring in disbelief. She clawed into the asphalt and weakly tried to pull herself forward, crumbling to the ground after a moment. "What...the...f**k." A man beside me said. She heard him and her head snapped in our direction. She unhinged her jaw and roared at us, angrily clawing at the air. She pulled herself out of the pile of bodies, dragging her broken leg behind her. We all stood in silent shock as she advanced towards us. An officer finally raised his gun and shot. The bullet hit her forehead, and she slumped to the ground. 

    We all stayed there for a while in silence, it felt like time had stopped altogether. No one talked about it, no one talked at all. One by one we turned and walked back to where we came from. I returned to the car and found Cameron lying the the reclined front seat in the fetal position, Mable was still asleep in the back. I knocked on the window and Cameron jumped before recognizing me and unlocking the door. "I'm sorry," I said, getting in. "Don't talk to me." He said, turning away from me. "I just saw a dead lady come back to life," I said blankly. He said nothing. We stayed there for a while, it was becoming obvious that traffic wasn't going to move. A group of people had broken down a section of the median and were heading back to Atlanta for answers. Most of us decided that wasn't a good idea and stayed behind. A group of men with guns climbed onto a semi-truck to keep watch. I almost felt safe enough to close my eyes. 

    I somehow drifted to sleep and awoke when it was still dark outside. It was quiet, only the sound of crickets in the distance. I opened my eyes to see Cameron lying on his side, glaring at me. "You need to find someone else to take her." He said, barely above a whisper. "I can ask around in the morning, she just needs a safe place to sleep for tonight." I had no intention of trusting her with a complete stranger, and Cameron more than likely knew that. "I don't get why you have to be so f*****g stupid sometimes." He scoffed. "Cam, I get that you don't like me, but you can't keep acting like this." "You lost the privilege of calling me that a long time ago." He said, months of anger welling in his voice. "I've said I'm sorry for what happened too many times. If you can't accept my apology, can you at least acknowledge it, and the fact that I'm trying to move past it?" I said. "Hollie...it doesn't work like that." I couldn't take it anymore. "Then why are we still living together, why don't you move out if you hate me so much?" I asked, keeping my voice low. "First, I don't hate you. Second, my name's on the lease," He snarled. I balled my fists, scratching nails into my palms to let out the rage. 

    What I had done wasn't completely my fault, but I've barred the brunt of everyone's anger. It was only four months ago, still fresh on everyone's mind. Cameron and I were high school sweethearts and had only been engaged three weeks. He was the best man and I was a bridesmaid at his brother Carson's wedding. Katie had been my best friend all through high school, I was with her the night she first met Carson and they fell in love. I never would've done anything to hurt them. The four of us were best friends, we had all lived in a rental house together until they got married and planned on moving up north. After the wedding, instead of a big expensive honeymoon, the four of us planned to hike up a huge mountain and camp out at the peak. About halfway up, Katie discovered her new crippling fear of heights. Her new husband had downed his first bottle of Jack Daniels and had started on the second when her panic attacks started. Cameron agreed to make the four-hour round trip to take her home. We'd set up camp and he'd be back late, we'd finish the hike in the morning and take pictures for Katie. 

    I was left with Carson, a bottle of Jack Daniels, a handle of Tito's, and two tents that needed to be set up. Carson handed me the vodka and said "It's going to be a cold night, you better start drinking." The only way I remembered what happened that night was because all of our family and old friends never let me forget. No one brings up the fact that he had a black eye and scratches on his face, no one talks about how many bruises there were on my body the next day.  They talk about the fact that when Cameron returned hours later, we were in the middle of having sex. Carson turned on me and called me whore, Cameron believed his brother. My engagement ring was ripped off my finger and thrown off the mountain. Cameron never moved, but we stopped having any personal conversations and he started sleeping on the couch. I know that if money wasn't so tight, he would have moved out months ago.