Afraid of Being Alive (Shane Walsh Love Story)

Chapter 17: Disease Control

Afraid of Being Alive

Chapter 17: Disease Control

The doors opened and we all piled into the building in a hurried and fast manner. I grabbed Shane's hand and tugged him roughly along with me, Shane giving in and allowing me to take charge. Each one of us held up our weapons as we stormed inside the CDC, our guns poised and raised.
"Hello?" Called Rick, doing a full spin around on the spot as he observed the gigantic building.
"Hello?!" Shouted Shane, raising his voice louder than Rick had done.
"Close those doors!" Demanded Dale, "and watch for walkers."

The echoes of our footsteps reverberated inside the spacious room, and every single noise made was heard. The cocking of some sort of firearm was next to follow, and the sound wasn't coming from one of our group members.
Shane turned the safety off of his gun and pointed it at a slightly chubby man of maybe fifty years or so, his weak, blonde hair seemingly clean. He wore a baggy grey t-shirt with daggy dark brown pants, some old and worn out sneakers to accompany them.
"Anybody infected?!" He yelled, holding up his assault rifle at us all.
"One of our group was," replied Rick, "He didn't make it."
Silence filtered into the room, leaving us all in a daze we didn't require.

The strange man lowered his weapon, but only slightly before speaking, "why are you here and what do you want?"
"We're here to find help." I said, stepping up and moving away from Shane and the rest of the group to walk closer to the stranger, "all we're looking for is hope. All we need is a chance."
He pursed his lips before replying, his firearm now being held at his side and pointed down at the ground, "that's asking an awful lot these days."
"I know." I nodded.
The man eyed us all suspiciously as we lowered our guns, putting them down on the floor to show that we meant no harm and didn't wish to be any trouble.
"You got stuff to bring inside?" He asked, pointing over at the doors.
I nodded in reply.
"Well go and get it now, because once this door closes it stays closed."

I bowed my head once to show the man that I understood his request and turned to go and exit through the door. I spun around and jogged for the doors but was stopped by a firm hand on my shoulder that held me back.
"There ain't no way in hell that I'm letting you go back out there." Said the voice that belonged to Shane, "whatever you need, tell me and I'll go fetch it."
"I'm good." I huffed, placing my hands on my hips, "I can do it."
Shane gave me a look of disbelief before sighing and shrugging, stepping out of my way with a disappointed look on his face.
"Fine." He huffed as I pushed past him.
I rolled my eyes at him before exiting, Glenn, Rick, Daryl and Shane all following me out the doors.

I ran with my pistol up and pointed at the heads of all surrounding dead-ones, pumping as many as I could full of solid, hard lead. They growled and foamed at the mouth as they extended their arms towards me, grasping the air as their decaying legs allowed them to limp towards me. I made a run for the caravan, sprinting in and grabbing my bag and jacket inside, also stopping to bring the women's toiletries with me so that the men weren't the ones having to carry a bag of tampons and whatnot.
"Have you got what you need?" Asked Rick as he grabbed whatever else we needed.
"Yeah, I got the women's stuff." I replied.
Rick nodded and allowed me to pass.

As soon as I stepped outside of the RV, I saw that Shane and Daryl were busy blasting the brains out of the dead-ones with their rifles.
"If you make a run for it now, I can cover you from behind." Suggested Daryl as he stepped in front of me.
I agreed to this and began to run for the CDC as fast as my legs could carry me. Generally speaking, it could be pretty fast but it seemed as though my body had given up for today. As I ran with my bags in hand, I felt my feet kick something hard, causing me to double over onto the ground. The bags went flying out of my hands as I landed face first into the pavement, my head smashing into concrete.