Animal Gone Wild [DISCONTINUED]

3

MURDER AND DEATH GO HAND AND HAND

    I could smell the eggs from my spot in my tree near the camp. The only evidence that I was there was my bat dangling from my hand in boredom. I wasn't much of an egg eater. So my breakfast consisted of a piece of bacon. They tried to bribe me into having more, but I was alright with what I got. I don't complain about food. Hell, I didn't when I was younger either.
    I slowly watched Glenn get up and make his way near the tent and cleared his throat. I rolled my eyes. He's gonna say something stupid, isn't he?
    "Um, guys," Glenn started.
    He peaked everyone's interest, except mine.
    "So...the barn's full of walkers," he continued.
    That got everyone to stop eating. I closed my eyes with a frustrated low growl that no one caught. He said something stupid.
    With that, everyone went down to the barn. I trickled behind. I was near the back. Shane went to go check it out, only to get an eye of a walker. He started walking back towards us.
    "You cannot tell me you're all right with this," he growled.
    "No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land," Rick growled back.
    I sighed and sniffed the air. My head tilted in confusion. I could usually pinpoint how many there were, but since there were different smells in the area, it was kind hard. I concentrated, ignoring Shane and Rick's "who's dick is bigger?" contest. About a dozen...or a little over, could be a baker's dozen.
    "Okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility," Shane stated.
    I knew he was talking about the missing girl. Carol's girl. Tick. I tensed and closed my eyes and started counting vigorously.
    "We're not leaving Sophia behind," Rick stated.
    "I'm close to finding this girl," Daryl stated, "I just found her damn doll two days ago."
    "You found a doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll," Shane stated.
Tick. I breathed in heavily, scrunching my eyes and started re-counting. Shane started yelling about 48 hours and talking about how if Sophia saw Daryl comin' with his buck knife and geek ears, she'd run the other direction.
TICK. I snapped my eyes open. Three ticks. That's all it took. Before Daryl could even touch Shane they were being blocked off, but I had the chance. And I couldn't stop on my third tick. I ran up to Shane and decked him in the face, pretty hard. His face moved in the direction of my fist made and I tackled him to the ground. People were yelling, but my eyesight was hazy and all I could hear was the ringing in my ears.
    I was roughly pulled off and held back as I frantically looked around like a wild animal. Count. Count. COUNT. My breathing slowed down, and my vision and hearing cleared.
    I glanced at my holder to see Daryl. I shook him off and looked at a not so beaten up Shane. They took me off before I could do some real damage...I glanced at Rick who looked at me cautiously. The barn doors started moving and I swiftly turned towards it and growled, dropping to all fours.
    The women backed up as I held a fierce glare at the door, my growling continuing. I knew Daryl glanced at me, and shifted slightly closer but that was it.

    I sat against the tree with a bore expression. I was on lock down, aka Daryl was babysitting me.
    "I'm fine now," I commented, "I don't need a babysitter."
    Daryl just grunted. I rolled my eyes.
    "I'll explain everything to you and Rick if you'd let me."
    Daryl glanced at me to see if I was bullshitting. I knew he could tell by my facial expression I wasn't. He sighed and left to get Rick. When he returned Rick held a glare. They both stood in front of me.
    "I wasn't always like this," I informed.
    "What happened," Rick growled.
    "My parents," I stated, "they didn't like that I wasn't the stereotypical female. Dresses, skirts, boys, girly things basically. So, they treated me like an animal. Made me one."
    Rick and Daryl looked confused. I sighed.
    "They gave me ticks. When a certain thing is said, I get this tick. I know how to calm myself down from it, but what happened with Shane...it was my final tick, I can't control myself when that happens. I'm just glad you pulled me off before I did some serious damage..."
    "How many ticks," Daryl asked.
    "Three. You can tell when I get them. The first one, I close my eyes. The second, I keep my eyes close and I inhale heavily. The third...I snap my eyes open and lock onto my target."
    "As long as you don't get to your final tick...you're perfectly fine," Rick questioned.
    I nodded, "yes. It doesn't happen often, but it's never good when it does."
    "How do we get you out of it," Daryl questioned.
    "Pulling me back from the target, keeping a hold of me until my mind yells at me to count. Then when I've calmed down, I'll pull out of your grasp."
    Rick and Daryl shared a look, nodded and they untied me from the tree. I was handed my baseball bat and I went and laid in my tree, no evidence that I was up there, since my bat was in my lap.

    I watched Glenn walk away from watch, and then Dale walk away towards the woods with the bag of guns. I chuckled and watched, like I normally did even if there was someone on watch.

    I had my eyes closed when I heard arguing near the house, let alone Shane. I peaked my eyes open to see Shane passing out guns, from the gun bag Dale took earlier. I scanned him thoroughly. No blood...doesn't look to have done anything. I then heard a rustle near the woods. I snapped over to see Dale emerge. I let out a light sigh that meant a lot.
    I turned towards the barn to see Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy guiding walkers while the others ran towards it. I huffed, hopped down, and jogged over. Once there, I held my bat behind my back as I leaned both my arms on it curiously watching.
    Shane started ranting on how the walkers that Hershel and Rick were holding killed people and how they're not people. I watched in slow-motion as Shane shot the walker Hershel was holding. It seemed like the world stopped spinning. My ears were ringing and all I could see were glimpses of what happened. What happened to Callus. Over. And over again. I didn't hear my bat clatter to the ground, or the shootout. I heard nothing but the screaming agony of my brother. Over. And over. And over again.
    What brought be back was the one gunshot from a python. Rick's python. My mind cleared as I saw the destruction that happened while I was out. I looked down to see my bat a couple feet away from me as I was on my knees. I looked over at Carol, whom was being held back by Daryl, to see her crying. I turned towards Hershel and his people to see a couple crying. I looked down at my shaky hands to see little drops of water. Tears. I visibly gulped and stood up, wiping the few tears left off my face and went and retrieved my bat.
    I quietly left, not turning back. I couldn't. I wouldn't. I found myself on the outskirts of the farm, leaning against a tree, bat in lap. Thinking, thinking, and thinking all over again.
    -Beginning of Apocalypse-
    I laughed happily with Callus as we headed down the busy streets of Atlanta, Georgia. We heard of what was going on, but we thought nothing of it. Just the usual, "world could end" bullshit. We were making our way home to get ready for our usual fishing trip.
    It wasn't a long walk, but we liked to take our time. When we finally did reach home, our parents were passed out, like usual on a Saturday. We quietly packed our suitcases, and our fishing gear. We climbed into the rusty truck Callus owned and we headed out of Atlanta. We drove for hours.
    We jammed out like always before turning into our stop for the night. We tucked the fishing gear away and walked into the hotel to get a room. Once we did, we flopped down on our beds and fell asleep.
    Come morning, we were messing around and walking around the small town. We don't really go for fishing trips, we just say that to get away from our parents for a week, and we know they hate fishing. When were turned to the hotel, the town was quiet. Too quiet to be honest, and we've been to this town a lot. That's when we heard the moaning. We turned towards the sound curiously.
    "Hey, you okay," I questioned.
I reached out for them, but Callus grabbed my arm. I furrowed my eyebrows at my brother.
    "What if it's true," he whispered.
    I scoffed, "oh come on. Cal, they always do this. Something scary happens, and they think it's gonna be the end of the world. It's bullshit, we've established that."
    I ripped my arm out of his grip and was meant to head towards the person, but Callus beat me to it. Proceeding in him being right. It bit his neck viciously.
    -End-
    I flinched as I thought about what happened and rubbed my eyes.