I'm Not the Only One

Chapter Eight: White Sheets

I hate doing third person, but I sorta have to.
Third person pov

There must have been a tie of who was taking it worse. Carl or Tara. He felt like it should have been him. That maybe if he took watch the night before instead of Tara she'd still be here. Tara felt like it was all her fault. She wasn't eating, she wouldn't. She was like a vegetable. She was in total autopilot, but trust that she could still kick a walkers ass.

They were planning to bury her later today. They hadn't completely kill her yet because no one wanted to. Carl told them that once they put her in the ground he'd do it. Alone. He wanted to do it alone. They bandaged her head as soon as they pulled her out and she was fine for a while, but then her pulse went away and they couldn't feel her breathing.

It was a stupid way to die, Tara thought. With everything that Jade could do... She dies in a car crash...

They found a white sheet to wrap Jade in. Daryl lowered her to the ground sniffling. Carol hugged him when he got back up. They all surrounded the new grave in the middle of nowhere. They realized they haven't seen anyone take this long to turn. It had been eight hours at least. Jim lasted a few days, Rick remembered. But that was different. That was early on. Rick clutched Carl's shoulder like a life line but Carl looked dead himself. He'd been alone the entire time in the red minivan. If you walked past it you could hear Carl sobbing. It shouldn't have happened. Tara was trying her best to keep her sobs in, but it wasn't working that well for her.

They all looked at Jade. Or the sheet.

"She saved us." They all looked up at him. Tom. "She saved all of us. In different ways sure... But she did it. She wanted to find her little sister. So, I think we should do that in her honor." There was nods and murmurs all around.

Suddenly, there was movement under the sheet. Then more movement. Jade - or the walker - sat up.

"Carl," Rick croaked. He nodded, pulled out his gun and took a few steps toward the grave to shoot her. Tears were steaming down his face until -

"Fuck! Oh, fuck! Damn it! Get off! Get off!" The white sheet was torn around til it was thrown to the ground.

He was dreaming. She was dead. She's dead. Her hands flew to her head and she looked up at him. Then, she screamed. "Oh my God! We're y'all going to bury me?!" She hopped out of the grave. "I'm not dead! What the hell?!" She started to kick the newly turned dirt back into the grave. "I can't believe you all -" she was cut off when Carl ran up and crushed her with a hug.

"I thought you were dead." She felt tears wet her shirt. Her eyes glazed over at the fact that he was really crying over her.

"Carl it's okay. It's okay. I'm still here, you know breathing. You know if you hug my any tighter I might have to punch you," she attempted to joke unsuccessfully. There was no making this situation funny. There was no making this situation lighter.

She pulled away from the hug, but held his hand tightly. "I'm sorry for scaring you all. There's always bumps in the road right? Sorry for cussing around Judith, too. I'm okay. Just past out for a while. I'll be fine."

"I'm so sorry." Tara ran to Jade and hugged her while breaking down.

"It's okay. You took watch all last night. I don't blame you." Jade told the gradually-calming-down thirty-year-old woman. "I'll drive next time though." They pulled away from the embrace and laughed.

Daryl hugged her next and she told him that she can't die that easily. Tom hugged her last, but held on for a while... Like a father. Jade missed her father so much, but now she had these men (Daryl and Tom, maybe even Rick a little bit) that she cared for like fathers. Men that cared for her like daughters apparently from the red eyes they had.

And looking around at these people that were supposed to be at her funeral she realized they were her family. That she really loved them. All of them even though they've all lost people and that they were all a little fucked in the head. Every single one of them did things they weren't proud of. Things they didn't want to talk about.

As she stood in Tom's arms she looked at Carl. Jade saw his eyes already staring at her. She smiled a little bit until he mirrored her. Then she realized: she couldn't live without him. She couldn't live without stealing his hat or seeing him smile or feeling him wrap his arms around her when they slept. She didn't want to and she couldn't.

"I love you guys," she said and smiled. Her head started to pound and she gripped her bandages, squeezing her eyes closed and promptly hit the grass. Her hearing was going in and out until she heard nothing, felt nothing and slept yet again.

You guys may think the whole death and coming back thing is stupid, but it becomes important to the story later on.