The Life We Live

Chapter 2

It's him, I can't believe it.

I quickly scurried down the tree and turned to face the group of people.

There he is, in the flesh, Daryl Dixon. we stared at each other in disbelief for a few minutes, everyone was dead quiet. Then I flung myself into his arms and he hugged me tightly. I'm not much of a crier but tears were streaming down my face like a leaky faucet. I know Daryl was crying two because his loud sobs were the only thing I could hear.

"I thought you were dead" he sobbed.

"So did I" I whimpered.

We stood there like that, hugging and crying, for what seemed like hours. We finally pulled apart and everyone was staring at us. I narrowed my eyes at them, I'm not really a people person. I wasn't going to introduce myself and Daryl knew that so he did it for me.

"Everyone, this is Rain, my sister." I attempted to smile, realizing I would probably have to get along with these people.

"Rain, I have three questions I need to ask you before you can join us" said the man with the southern accent, he seemed like the leader.

"Woah what the hell, she's my sister, she's joining no matter what" Daryl snarled.

"Daryl, you know this world changes people, you've seen it happen" said the man. Daryl sighed and nodded his head.

The man turned towards me and I looked him directly in the eyes, trying to seem intimidating.

"How many walkers have you killed?" He asked.

"Too many to count" I replied simply.

"How many people have you killed?"

"One. Just one," I said, trying not to choke up.

"Why?"

"He was bit, he begged me to kill him. I wanted him to suffer but I gave in. He deserved to suffer, I should have let him" I finished. Rick nodded his head and I wasn't really sure what that meant. I turned towards Daryl and saw tears in his eyes.

"Dad?" He asked. I nodded my head. "You're right, you should've let him suffer."

"Well Rain you're welcome to join us, let me introduce you to everyone" said the man with the southern accent, "I'm Rick, this is Glenn, T-Dog, Carol, Dale, Andrea, Shane, my wife Lori and my son Carl" said Rick as he pointed to each person. I nodded my head and they all muttered greetings, I could tell they hadn't had the best day.

"We were just at the CDC, it was goin' great till it self-destructed, we lost one of our own," explained Rick. Then he leaned in close and whispered, "Carol's daughter Sophia is lost, don't mention anything about her, she's been going through a rough time already and this is making it worse."

"Okay people, let's get going!" yelled Rick, getting everyone's attention. I stuck close to Daryl, both of us lingering towards the back of the group.

"Where's Merle?" I asked, I hadn't noticed his absence until now.

"I don't know" replied Daryl, I knew that was the only answer I was going to get so I didn't ask anything else.

"Hey Rick," I yelled, "where exactly are we going?"

"I'm thinking Fort Benning."