𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄

𝟏𝐱𝟎𝟓

IT had officially been morning time. We were burying bodies of our people. Good people, people who were sisters, brothers, cousins, and more to a lot of people and just like that their gone. Taken from the dead, who once were the living just like us. The living that wouldn't receive proper funerals, and die in the most gruesome of ways.

We were sweating from how hot it was in the Georgia heat. I felt like I was being barbecued. Daryl swung the pick axe in his hand down on a walkers head making its death permanent, so we could move the body into the pile. I helped Glenn and T-Dog move the body into the pile by the fire.

We had two piles, one for the walkers, and one for our people. They don't need to be mixed into with each other because our people are getting buried. Daryl was walking over to help Morales with the body of one of our people. They started dragging it into the pile for the walkers. What the hell are they doing?

"What are you guys doing? This is for geeks our people go over there." Glenn said to them before pointing towards the other pile. "What's the difference? They're all infected." Daryl retorted. "It's a big damn difference. Our people go over there in that row." I stated firmly.

They stopped what they were doing and looked at Glenn and I. "We don't burn them! We bury them. Understand?" Glenn implored. "Our people go in that row over there." Glenn continued. Daryl and Morales picked up the guy and moved him towards the pile for our people. I looked at Glenn and nodded before patting him on the back.

"You reap what you sow." Daryl said. "You know what? Shut up man." Morales remarked to Daryl. "Y'all left my brother for dead." Daryl griped. "You had this coming." Daryl continued on angrily before walking off.

Jacqui and Jim were arguing about something. "A walker got him. A walker bit Jim." Jacqui professed. Then we all made a circle around Jim. "I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim swore repeatedly. "Show it to us. Show it to us." Daryl asked wanting Jim to prove it. Then Jim grabbed a shovel in a defensive manner.

"Easy Jim." Shane said calmly. "Grab him." Daryl demanded. Everyone started talking over each other and watching the scene unfold before them. T-Dog successfully grabbed Jim by his arms from behind forcing Jim to drop the shovel. Then Daryl came up and pulled Jim's shirt up so everyone could see the nasty bit mark on his abdomen. When they saw the bite mark Daryl and T-Dog pulled away from Jim.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim repeated again softly. I felt bad for him, but hopefully he can be with his wife and kids where ever they are. "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim repeated hysterically before he started breathing heavily.

We huddled up in a group to figure out what to do with Jim, while Jim sat by the RV. "I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girls and be done with it." Daryl suggested gruffly. "Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked Daryl. "Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl stated.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale admitted. "Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick remarked sternly. "I'm not suggesting-" Dale said before being cut off by Rick. "He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick asked. "The lines pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be." Daryl lectured.

Well I see both sides of it. Jim is gonna turn and he could potentially kill us when he does, so putting him out of his misery would save us the trouble. Then there's the other side of it. What if we could potentially save Jim's life? I would be up for that because he doesn't deserve to die but neither does everyone else if he turns and eats us. So you guys see the conundrum here.

"What if we can get him help? I heard the C.D.C was working on a cure." Rick suggested optimistically. "I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane argued. "What if the C.D.C is still up and running? Rick asked. "Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane stated. "Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they protect the C.D.C at all costs, wouldn't they?" Rick explained before asking Shane.

"I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection-" Rick went on before Shane cut him off. "Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." Shane carried on. "That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori said matter of factly.

"That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." Shane said to Rick. They were having their own conversation while all of us, apart from Jim, we're watching. Their an old married couple, it's ridiculous.

"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C is our best chance and Jim's only chance." Rick quipped. "You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Daryl exclaimed before raising the pickaxe to hit Jim. Oh for fucks sake.

"Hey hey hey!" Shane exclaimed before running over to Daryl with Rick on his tale. "We don't kill the living." Rick said with his gun aimed at Daryl's head. Daryl lowered the pickaxe and glared at Rick. "That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head." Daryl argued. "We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down. Go on." Shane urged. Daryl sneered before slamming the pickaxe into the dirt before walking off.

A Few Minutes Later

We all gathered around where we're going to bury our people. "I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies. It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn em all, wasn't that the idea?" Daryl questioned to Rick and Shane. "At first." Shane replied.

"The china people get all emotional, say it's not the thing to do, we just follow them along? These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are." Daryl continued. This fucking dickhead.

"There are no rules." Rick retorted. "Well that's the problem. We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do." Lori chimed in.

We all watched as Dale and Andrea got Amy's body off of the back of the truck and carry her over near an open grave. Dale tried to help her out Amy's body in the grave but she objected. "I can do it. I can do it. I can do it! I can do it." She strained while crying. Andrea had gotten her body in the grave and placed Amy's head down on the ground slowly.

Dale put his hand out for her to grab to get out of the grave. She was panting and sniffing. After that was done we had all made our way back to camp. We were all sitting around in chairs in a circle. I was in between Glenn and Daryl, as Shane, Rick, and Dale had came back from their sweep.

"I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no guarantees, either way I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?" Shane announced. He was giving us quite the ultimatum and it was either gonna make or break the group.

We all headed up to bed in our tents. Glenn and I walk back to the tent together and take off our shoes as we enter. "So, what do you want to do?" I asked him. He looked up at me confused. "Do about what?" He asked. "I mean what do you want to do about the C.D.C thing. Do you want to leave in the morning?" I asked. I wanted his opinion on this.

"If it'll save Jim's life we should give it a shot. Do you want to?" He asked. "I just wanted your opinion first, plus if you go I go. Your stuck with me loser." I said while smiling. "Fine dumbass." He responded while laughing. I fake gasped and pretended to be offended.

"I thought Ranger Rick was the dumbass?" I asked jokingly. "Your both dumbasses." He retorted. I threw my pillow at his head. "Oh come on! That's not even fair!" He groaned at as I laughed at him.

Morning

Everyone was gathered around the cars that we were about to take to the C.D.C. "Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. But let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B, can't get a signal or anything at all, your gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane announced to us.

"We're, uh...we're not going." Morales chimed. "We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." Morales's wife continued. "You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane warned. "We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family." Morales stated. "You sure?" Rick asked.

"We talked about it. We're sure." Morales responded referring to himself and his wife. "All right. Shane?" Rick asked. "Yeah." Shane responded while Rick opened the bag of guns. ".357?" Rick asked. "Yeah." Shane said. Rick then handed Morales the gun. Then Shane handed him a box with ammo for the gun.

"The box is half full." Shane told Morales. "Thank you all...for everything." Morales's wife said in gratitude. Lori went up to her and hugged her, while Morales shook hands with Rick. Their daughter hugged Sophia and Morales's wife hugged Jacqui. "Channel 40 if you change your minds alright?" Rick told Morales. "Yeah." Morales responded.

"What makes you think our odds are any better? Shane asked Rick. Rick looked on not knowing the answer to his question. "Come on. Let's go. Let's move out." Shane told us.

Morales and his family went in the Jeep. When we came up to the intersection he went right and we went left. On two totally complete paths, on two different journeys, to get to one destination.

There were five separate vehicles everybody was in. I was in the RV with Dale, Glenn, Jim and Jacqui. Rick was in another car with Lori, Carl, Carol, and Sophia. Shane was by himself and so was Daryl in two separate cars. T-Dog and Andrea were in another car. Everyone had been following each other, well everyone was following us because Glenn had the map.

Long story short our adventure got put on pause when the RV started acting up. Everyone got out of their vehicles to see what the hell was going on. "I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van." Dale told Rick. "Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." Daryl responded. Well that's a pickle. "I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky." Shane chimed in with binoculars in his hands. Then Jacqui stumbled out of the RV frantically.

"Y'all, Jim. It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore." Jacqui told us. "Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead see what I can bring back." Shane asked. "Yeah, I'll come along too and I'll back you up." T-Dog offered. "Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back." Shane said while Rick went back in the RV to check on Jim.

Commercial Break😁

Rick had gotten out of the RV to see the rest of us waiting on what the verdict was with Jim. T-Dog and Shane had came back in time to hear what Rick had to say. Rick told us that Jim wanted us to leave him behind. Umm...Jim, no one left behind, dude. It's like an unspoken rule. But, it's his choice, he wants to die by his own choice and I respect him for that.

"It's what he says he wants." Rick told us. "And he's lucid?" Carol wondered. "He seems to be. I would say yes." Rick answered. "Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer." Dale announced. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that." Shane told Rick.

"Good thing it's not up to you. It's up to Jim, it's his life." I spoke up. "She's right, it's not your call. Either one of you." Lori said in agreement with me. Shane and Rick carried Jim over to a tree. We all looked over at Jim solemnly, he didn't deserve this, no one did, but he wanted this and if that choice had been taken from him it would be unfair. A few of us went up to him to say goodbye and thank you, the rest of us nodded toward him when he made eye contact with us.

We all walked down the hill and headed back to our cars and got in. When started driving past Jim everyone looked out the window to see him looking up at the sun. Our journey to the C.D.C had been back on and it took us forever to get there, but we got there. It was about to get dark outside when we got there so maybe about 6 ish or 7 ish. I'm giving my best estimate here.

When Glenn, Jacqui, Dale, and I got out of the RV first we heard a bunch of flies buzzing around several dead bodies. The C.D.C had to have gotten overrun with the way its looking and its looking not pretty. Everyone else got out of their cars after us and saw all the dead bodies too. When we started to walk toward the C.D.C the fetid smell of decayed corpses wafted in front of us. It was absolutely revolting, but we had to get through it to actually get to the door.

"All right, everybody. Keep moving. Go on." Shane whispered ushering us to keep moving despite the smell. "Stay quiet. Let's go." Rick whispered. We were all coughing and put our shirts over our noses. (A/N so they knew about corona before we did and ain't tell nobody 😒 that's sum bull shit.)

"Okay guys keep moving. Stay together." Rick said. "Keep moving. Come on." Shane said. Now I thought we were supposed to be quiet and you guys are doing all the talking.

We made it up to the door and Rick and Shane tried to open the door but it didn't open. Shane pounded on the door. "There's nobody here." T-Dog said. "Then why are these shutters down?" Rick questioned. "Walkers!" Daryl exclaimed. I pulled my sword out of my scabbard as a precaution and went towards the back of the group so they wouldn't hurt anyone.

Daryl had shot down one walker with an arrow. "You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl exclaimed. "He made a call." Dale remarked. "It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl exclaimed again. Shane stormed over to Daryl. "Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane yelled while shoving Daryl.

"Rick, this is a dead end." Shane told Rick. "Where are we gonna go?" Carol asked. "Do you hear me? No blame." Shane asked Rick while pointing his finger at him. "She's right. We can't be here, this close to the city after dark." Lori said sternly. "Fort Benning, Rick still an option." Shane reminded.

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Andrea remarked. "125. I checked the map." Glenn spoke up. "Forget Fort Benning we need answers tonight, now." Lori said getting on her last nerve. This is too much going on. "We'll think of something." Rick stated. Then Shane started ushering us to go and some of us rushed to leave. Rick still stayed back. He said he saw the camera move and Dale said he was imagining it.

Then Shane rushed over to Rick who pounded on the door telling the camera that he knows whoever is behind it can hear them, and that we had no fuel or food. Shane tried to pull Rick away from the door but Rick wouldn't let up and he was determined to get the door to open. Lori even tried to get him to get away from the door but he still wouldn't. Everyone one was yelling over each other and it was out of control. I was just thinking about food, preferably pizza or cake.

I was lost in my own world until I heard the screeching sounds of the door being opened and the light shining from in the building shining outside. Well I'll be damned, someone was inside of there.

Anywayysss that is another chapter and it was about 3k words. I think this relationship is going to be a slow burn as well as the rest of my books. That's just what it's looking like considering season one of TWD is only six damn episodes, which is unbelievably short BTW. Anyway enough of that I hope you enjoy this chapter, vote and comment and smell ya later. I love you guys 3000.
-brayla❤️❤️