𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch. XXXII pt. II

oOo

The ride had been long and exhausting but they'd finally arrived.

The worse part of it was when Diana discovered a red stain on her underwear while on the toilet. She sincerely hoped that the place had some tampons, but for now rolled up toilet paper would have to suffice.

Dale announced their arrival less enthusiastically than she'd expected, but it was understandable considering the circumstances.

Diana put her backpack on and grabbed her bow off the coat hook. It was humming strongly now; she could almost feel it in her chest. "It's okay," Diana whispered, as if it were sentient, "It ain't your fault, I know that." Funny how she could say that but still blame herself.

They climbed out, one by one, and Diana almost couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Hundreds of inert bodies everywhere she set her eye. In the grim evening light, it looked like something out of a horror movie. The CDC compound set off grandly in the near distance, the landmark of their achievement, the beacon of their near triumph. But the sight of it amongst the decadence didn't inspire much confidence in her. Many of the walkers were donning military uniforms, that was everything but a good sign.

Diana saw her siblings hop off the truck and almost glided to them. Alice mouthed holy shit, wide hazel eyes taking in their surroundings.

Felix whispered, "Not gonna lie, I'm kinda really scared right now, Diana." He grabbed onto her upper arm, his grip tight and trembling, just as his towering form. She was more or less desensitized to them, having seen worse in Atlanta, but Felix's fear was justified, especially because of... Yeah, it was normal.

They all moved as a single unit, keeping together and keeping the children in the middle.

Diana sidestepped a woman with a caved-in face, maggots crawling in and out of the indistinguishable features. The sight and the stink emanating from her was rank enough to make her gag against her hand. It smelled like rotten fish mixed with bad eggs and stomach contents. It made her eyes water and her lungs burn with the need for fresh air.

As they walked deeper into the massacre, fat disease infested buzzards flew at them like crazy. Diana waved her bow around to keep them off her and Felix, her other arm still in the boy's tight grip.

"I swear, these things are driving me nuts," Alice hissed as she joined Felix's other side. Diana immediately shushed her. "Oh, shush yourself, these binches are all dead."

Diana whispered, "Better safe than sorry."

"Good thing I'm never sorry," Alice murmured to herself, hand striking the air around her head.

Once they passed the security check booth, they hurried their pace, Rick instructing them to keep moving, low and alert.

The ambiance was too eerie. The silence accompanied only by the buzz of the flies was disquieting, foreboding, fucking creepy.

Alice put a hand on little Sophia's back to help the girl move along. Carol tightened her grip around her daughter's shoulders and both ran ahead.

"C'mon, move along now."

"Keep moving, keep quiet."

They reached the shutters at the front entrance with hearts pounding with fear and adrenaline. Rick and Shane tried to get them open, rushing, trying to pry them open, pull them up, whatever got them inside quickly.

The others paced and jittered and shuffled in distress.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog hissed, eyes jumping from the inanimate walkers surrounding them to Rick, and back.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick defended. He became growing desperate, hands roaming over every crevice of the shutters, trying to find a weakness.

Diana startled when she saw it, heart beating out of her chest. "There's a camera, guys, there's a camera. Hey!" She let go of Felix and waved her arms over her head, looking straight into the lens.

"That thing's dead, there's no one inside. Diana, keep it down," Shane said, dragging her away by the arm.

"Walkers," Daryl called, and everyone was on their toes immediately. Daryl shot one in cammo greens, but many more were standing up and dragging themselves towards them, awakened by their fresh smell.

They were sitting ducks, a perfect trap for a meal.

She felt her insides tremble until it was noticeable in her hands. "Keep close to me, alright?" Diana dragged Alice and Felix behind her and joined the offense line. Shots rang alongside the silent release of her arrows. She didn't hit nearly as many as she'd hoped.

A stab in her lower abdomen caused her to double over in pain. For a vague moment, she wondered if the walkers could smell her blood, which only increased her panic.

She rubbed a hand over her belly and retreated to her siblings. "It's okay, we're gonna be okay," she said, straining a smile. She stroked Felix's cheek, his eyes wide and frightened, as he grabbed onto her wrist with a vice grip. Alice's eyes jumped from body to body on the ground, keeping alert to any rising threat, but the tenseness in her body spoke of her anxiety.

Glenn grabbed her by the arm and yelled, "Diana, let's go. We're leaving!" Daryl ushered the kids, putting himself between them and the oncoming walkers.

She'd desperately wanted this to be it, she'd needed that. After what happened, she needed explanations, had questions that needed answers, and now, that too had been taken away.

Diana took one last glance over her shoulder. In that second, she saw the surveillance camera move, the lens now pointing directly at them. She felt something lift in her. With a deep breath, she called out, "It moved! Rick, the camera moved!"

Rick had seen it too. He ripped himself away from Shane's grasp and started banging on the shutters, begging at whoever was behind the monitor to let them in. "Please, we're desperate," he cried, "Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left."

No response came.

Rick kept at it relentlessly. "You're killing us! You're killing us!" he yelled. Shane fought to drag him away, his shouting only alerting more walkers to them.

Diana wiped her eyes with the back of her hand when Felix stepped to her side, grabbing the back of her top, bunching up the fabric in his fist. "We're gonna be okay," she repeated, even if it felt more and more like a lie.

To Alice, who had stayed by Daryl's side, Diana gave a wavering smile, and the girl raised a clenched fist. 'Fight', she mouthed, 'Win'. Diana returned the gesture.

Among the shouting and the terror and confusion, the mechanical sound of the shutters rolling up was loud and clear, and their darkening world was suddenly bathed in white light.