(n.) to find healing by the process of forming scars
"tell me every terrible thing you ever did, and let me love you anyway."
"why?"
"because nothing about it will change how i feel about you."
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best ranks:
[18: phoebe tonkin]
[18: end of the wor...
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A WEEK PASSSED SINCE ATLANTA FELL.
People either made it past the first few harsh weeks, or they did not. Riley found herself and her little family on a campsite they found just outside of Atlanta where they could see the city slowly falling.
They were not the only family to be in this camp, they made friends with another family, the Pelletier family. A father, a mother, and a daughter. Ed was nothing, but a deadbeat father and abusive husband. Carol was a petite and quiet woman who held kindness in her timid smile. And Sophia was a small girl who was around Carl's age who made him laugh. A small form of sanity was gained and after a while, people would slowly join and become a part of this Atlanta group.
It would not be long until Riley found a friend, Glenn Rhee.
She realized it when she found herself tagging alongside Glenn, talking about whatever, whenever. Never a boring conversation, even with the circumstances of their situation. Their most talked about topic, anything pop culture.
"Beat It is one of Michael Jackson's top songs he's put out on Thriller" Glenn explained as the two walked along the quarry in circles, only their favorite routine.
Riley scoffed, "Billie Jean, superior to everyone."
"Or we can say the whole album is good," Glenn said giving a sign of defeat in his brown eyes.
"If that's your way of saying I'm right, then yes,"
Glenn was quick and extremely skilled when it came to supply runs for food and essentials for their community. It gave people hope as they were now surviving off what was given and learning to make do without modern technology and electricity.
The people made safety to the best of their ability. They would take used tin cans and attach them on string, surrounding the bottom of campgrounds that would alert when walkers, a name given to the dead, intrude. Then their last and least favorite was being equipped with guns or knives when anyone left the boundaries.
They had to adjust to new circumstances, to survive.
Today, Glenn would be going out on a supply run in search of more nonperishable foods. Riley always wanted to tag along but Shane was adamant about not letting her out.
"You going on a run today?" she asked as she trailed Glenn into the woods. She knew the answer but had to seem innocent as possible.
They wander the woods to look for something to occupy their minds that does not involve chores. The group came to an agreement that chores were going to be assigned to somehow form unison and normalcy. Riley would take shifts washing clothes, chopping wood, or fetching berries.
It was not fun.
It is bright out, the sun beaming down in between the cracks of the trees that provided shade. Small insects travel with their tiny legs and hide in the dirt when the two pass.
"Yeah... why you want to come?" he catches her motives and laughs, "Think you can master the art of being a supply runner?" he questions, fixing his baseball cap.
"Hell yeah!" she exclaimed with wide eyes, "Plus I want to see how it is how there... I don't want to be afraid the thought seems scary, but I'm willing to see."
Glenn was sympathetic, "Okay then."
Later on, the two left to scavenge the city. They left in her truck since she was the only one with a vehicle to spare. They drove on the highway listening to Thriller by Michael Jackson because Riley believed they needed to get hype.
It may or not fit the occasion.
Before they reached the city Glenn told her to park outside of the city limits and for the rest of the journey they would go on foot. Once reaching the last of the trucks ability to go, they hop out of the vehicle and make way into Atlanta.
They stay on high alert for threats, Riley stayed behind Glenn as he led them into the stores. Each time they would enter a building, she always stepped on shattered glass and saw the blood marks left behind. Goosebumps go down her spine in reaction and tense at the awry atmosphere.
"It's crazy," Glenn whispers as he stuffs canned food into his bag.
She looks up from where she stood "What?" Riley asked.
"One day I'm out delivering pizzas the next I'm delivering supplies for an apocalypse." He shook his head in disbelief.
"Truly, one moment I'm lying in bed eating chicken wings and next moment I'm lying on dirt eating... canned potatoes?" she read the label of the can she held in her hand.
They exchange sympathetic expressions before going back to the mission. Once done, they head back to the parked truck walking on the roadside by side.
She would push his side from time to time to mess with him. For a small second she forgot about the dead, so when a walker bangs on a glass window, she jumps with fright.
"My god!" yelling quietly as the dead lifelessly walk into the store's doors from the inside.
A pale green color washes the walker's body with bloody oozing from anywhere it could escape. Hair greasy and oily that just adds to the image of a walker, along with the ripped clothes.
"They're attracted to sound." Glenn spoke carefully, trying not to freak the girl out more, "That's why we ditched the truck, never seen one before?"
Her eyes stay on the dead and shakes her head in response. She worries if they keep walking, it will somehow break the glass and come right after them.
"Haven't been out until now. They just keep going don't they?"
Another appears as it too starts gnawing onto the glass trying to get out and eat the two humans they saw. The once living and now only had one thing in mind—
Hunger.
The two made it back to the campsite and as Riley parked the truck, she already felt the air get cold. She looked up to see Shane marching towards her vehicle in a frustrated manner.
"Oh great" she whispered, opening the door and stepping out.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Shane questioned, the veins in his neck popped out.
"I was just-" Riley began to speak but is immediately cut off.
"No, you were just risking your life without letting anyone know where you were. Hell, I thought you were snatched up in the woods that I almost sent out a search team to find you. You know the other lives you would have end up putting at risk!" With each word Shane spoke it only got louder and louder until he was just screaming at the girl.
"Shane, I'm sorry." She spoke quietly.
She hated the way Shane made her feel, like she was a kid. Yes, she might be younger than him, but she knew how to take care of herself. Riley did not need her brother to protect her from what she already knew. Though she could never express that to him, she never found her voice or wanted to cause a rift between them. He was the only one who was there for her throughout everything. After her best friend, her mother passed and then her father left them to fend for themselves. He became her safe place; he became her protector.
"No, you're not sorry you're just..." Shane's words trailed off and walked off to the other direction.
She sighed and turned to Glenn who watched the whole thing unfold, "That went... well?"
