Alive

Chapter 1

She's gone. As soon as we saw Daryl carrying her out of that damned hospital, we knew. Beth's dead. People are crying all around me and calling for me to come sit with them. But it's all being drowned out. Beth's dead. It keeps going round and round my head. Again and again. I'm walking towards her, not even thinking about it. I walk past my mum screaming on the floor, my dad trying to help her. I'm moving past all the crying faces. I walk past Carl, and Tara. Then I reach her. I reach down and kneel beside her. I hold her hand but it's cold. It's not right. I let go and stand up again. I can see the entrance to the hospital, I can feel my gun ready to fight. Before I can think about it, I'm walking towards the door. People step in my way, tell me it's finished. But how can it be finished? Beth's dead and they aren't. They need to pay. Daryl tries to stop me, but he can't. He can't because he wants this too. But then Rick comes. He steers me back to the group. And into Carl.
"She's gone, isn't she?" I say, looking into his eyes.
He doesn't reply, just wraps his arms around me, and we fall to the floor, together. But I can't get upset. Beth always taught me to be strong. To fight.
"I don't cry anymore". She always said that. So I wouldn't either.
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I awake to find myself asleep on Tara. Everyone in the truck is asleep, so I gently leave through the door, and stand outside. There's walkers out there, but they can't hurt me. I can see a small store a few yards away, so I decide to walk towards it. After checking it was clear, I went inside. But I didn't search. I found a corner and I just sat there. I can't hold the tears back any longer. Then a noise, at the door. It's Tara. She must have followed me. Sneaky, really.
She doesn't say anything, just sits next to me. After a while I'm curious as to what she's doing, so I have to ask.
"Tara, why are you here?"
"Because I saw you go off. I needed to make sure you were okay."
"Fine. But you've done that now, so you can leave, right?"
"Right. But I'm not going to."
"Why?"
"Because when I lost people, I blocked people out. And that's not healthy. I get that you don't want to talk about it, so I'm just going to sit here until you go back to the truck, alright?"
I didn't reply. In truth, I wasn't pissed off. I just didn't know what to say.

A few hours later, I opened my eyes and light was streaming through the windows. Tara was also asleep by the door. I stood up, and walked over to her.
"Tara, wake up. The others will be worried."
"Two more minutes". She said sleepily.
I laughed. Then stopped because I felt guilty. I left Tara asleep by the door and snuck out through a window. The glass was shattered and I cut up my hand pretty bad trying to get out. By the time I had reached the truck, blood was pouring out of my cut.
"Shit" I said to myself. No one was inside the vehicle, except for Eugene, but his mental state was the equivalent of Judith's right now.
Something behind me moved, and I swung round. It was just Tara. She saw my hand and said,
"Dude, what the hell happened?"
I explained and then said this,
"The others are probably looking for us. You go find them and whilst your doing that I'll go into that hospital and see if they can help me out. It's the least they could do."
Before she could stop me, I turned and started walking. I assumed the silence meant she accepted my plan.
As I approached the hospital door, I aimed my gun. I advanced through the corridors until I bumped into a blond haired woman dressed as a cop. She didn't aim at me, so I lowered my gun.
"You know that girl Dawn shot? She was my family. I was climbing out of a shelter earlier when this happened to my hand. I don't suppose you could let me have a bandage?"
"Of course. Follow me. But whilst your here, can I just say I had nothing to do with your Aunties death. None of us here now did".
I just nodded at her.
She led me into a room with a man wearing a white coat and glasses. She relayed to the man what I had already said and then left him to stitch me up. When he was done, I managed a solemn "Thank you."
"Anytime. Although don't go cutting up your hands everyday".
I smiled weakly. The I stood up, nodded at him, and made my way out. When I arrived outside, I was greeted by and band of guns. They were lowered when the group realised I had been helped.
My mum walked up to me, and I hugged her. Maybe she hadn't been completely broken. Then I saw Tara and said,
"Maybe I should boss you around more often, ey?"
This achieved a small smile from everyone in the group. We were going to be okay.
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Daryl
It had been a few weeks since Beth's death. It was still raw, but we were dealing with it. Sometimes I'd watch Mckenzie out on a run, or tracking like we had taught her an Carl. I had a feeling she would be the last one standing. She was strong, did what had to be done, and didn't dwell on anything. She's gonna beat this world. The group agreed with me. Carl would change the world too, but he wasn't as strong as Mckenzie.