❛ ❪ buzzing flies. ❫ ❜

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AFTER DISCUSSING IT, it was decided to leave Jim behind.

"Hey," Jim spoke hoarsely with a small laugh as Rick and Shane leaned him against a tree, "another damn tree."

You could tell the guilt dampened the air. It was loss, after loss, after loss, after loss.

It felt like they were never going to survive this world full of death and that they'd be the ones walking eventually— the ones rotting.

"Hey, Jim—" Shane began to speak in a soft tone, crouched in front of the man, "I mean, you know it doesn't need to be this."

Moonee was stood next to Carl and Sofia, and the three children had scared looks on their faces. Moonee held onto Carl's hand tightly, in fear that maybe he or Sophia would be next on the list to get bit and end up like this.

"No." Jim whispered back, "It's good. The breeze feels nice." he hoarsely spoke, his eyes barely open, as sweat glistened over his pale skin.

"Okay." Shane took a moment to respond to his words, "Alright." Shane got up, and stepped back, wiping his face.

Jacqui was the next up, and couched in front of the man with a sweet smile, "Just close your eyes, sweetie." she tried to comfort the man, "Don't fight." she pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek.

The dark-skinned woman sniffled as pulled back, holding in a cry, before getting up, and walking away from the man.

Rick then moved to crouch in front of him— he was the most concerned about the situation. Not wanting to go through with this. Rick thought that the CDC center would help him.

"Jim, do you want this?" Rick asked in a concerned tone, holding a handgun out to him. Rick looked down at the gun, then back at Jim.

"No." the sick man whispered, "You'll need it." he paused for a moment, "I'm okay. I'm okay." Jim repeated. Rick nodded and patted his shoulder, before leaving the man, getting up from his crouched position.

Dale smiled at the man as he knelt down to be on his level in front of him, "Oh, hey. Thanks for, uh— thanks for fighting for us." the older man smiled at sick Jim, "Okay."

The older man then stood up, and gave Jim one last smile, before leaving to stand with the rest of the group that was piled on the side of the road, sadly staring at Jim.

· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·

The sun was lowering into the earth, as the moon began to take its place.

Moonee nor Daryl spoke for the few hours they drove— but a sadness, melancholy feel hung in the air, and Moonee suddenly wasn't in the mood to read anymore.

"Death is normal, y'know?" Daryl looked over at the young girl, as he drove, before looking out at the road again.

Moonee shrugged, "I know." she sighed, and looked over at Daryl, before looking out at the trees they passed again, "But a death like that shouldn't be normal."

Daryl looked over at the girl, then back out on the road, thinking to himself about her words that began to rattle in his skull.

A death like that shouldn't be normalized. Death should be normal— natural. He wonders if his brother suffered the same death. Deep down Daryl knows that Merle deserves whatever came to him.

A large building came into view, and all cars in front of Daryl began to slow. Daryl slowly stops the car, and Moonee stares at the building, then her eyes widen as she sees all the bodies that were lying around it.

It was a horrid sight to see.

"Come on," Daryl muttered, as he took his crossbow out of the car, and began to get out of the car. The moment Daryl opened his door, the smell of death wafted into the car.

Moonee held her hand over her mouth as she gagged, and opened her door. Flies buzzed loudly in the air, and the smell worsened, as Daryl and Moonee began to follow the group that got out of the cars.

The large group coughed and gagged loudly, as they began to walk towards the building. Moonee swallowed thickly, trying not to let the smell get to her head, as she lowered her hand to her sheath instinctively, while everyone carried guns.

Moonee's fingers wrapped around her knife as she pulled the knife from the sheath on her belt.

The knife was too big for her hands— symbolizing she wasn't made for this world, showing she was still a child. A child who had fucking charms on a goddamn knife she might have to kill someone with one day.

Earth reeked with death, and Moonee could really see it now. The bodies that lie around the building were being eaten at by bugs, were all people at some point.

"Alright, everybody." Shane walked backward as she whispered to everyone, "Keep going. Go on." he instructed, as he guided everyone, along with Rick, "Stay quiet. Let's go."

The group migrated along with Rick and Marcus who stayed at the front of the group, with guns to protect them. The smell got worse as they passed a large stop sign that was in front of the parking booth.

"Okay, keep moving." Rick said to the group, as he kept a slightly crouched walk, while everyone's voices began to overlap, "Come on."

The group began to worriedly chatter loudly, and Moonee felt like her head was going to pop off due to stress. Shane shushed the group as he stayed a few feet away from them, being their lookout.

Military vehicles littered the parking lot, along with more bodies that had dried blood underneath their heads— indicating that they had all died from head punctures of some kind.

Flies haunted the young girl's ears as she walked along with the group, feeling acid rise in the back of her throat as they all approached the front of the building, where the doors were located.

"Keep it together. Come on." Shane said quickly, as everyone rushed to the front of the building.

Rick, Marcus, and Shane immediately went and checked the garage-looking doors at the front of the building— trying to pull them open.

"Nothin'?" Rick asked as Shane tried the pull at the bottom of the large metal door, and Marcus shook his head 'no' at him.

Anxiety shook Moonee's bones as she saw that the doors were opening, not even budging a tad. Marcus pounded on the door out of frustration, while Rick stepped back from the doors.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog said, out of breath, along with worry that hinted in his tone.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asked in a frustrated voice, looking over at T-Dog and then back at the metal doors.

"Walkers!" Daryl shouted, alerting the group that the corpses were now approaching them— I guess Daryl was also on the slang-train with Rick and Marcus.

Moonee's eyes widened and Lori spoke over at the girl, "Moonee, come here." she instructed quickly, and the scared girl rushed over.

Carl let out a noise of horror, as he saw a few geeks begin to approach them. Lori held onto the two children tightly, and Moonee looked over at Carl who was on the verge of tears.

All the guns began to cock and Daryl moved and shot one of the dead with his arrow, "You led us into a graveyard!" he yelled at Rick, before retrieving his arrow.

"He made a call." Dale defended Rick, and Daryl rushed over and shook his head.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl yelled at Rick, and Shane immediately rushed over to the yelling man.

Marcus looked over at the man, "Shut the fuck up, Daryl. We don't have time for this." he snapped at the man as Shane rushed past Marcus to shut Daryl up.

"Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane shouted at Daryl, pushing him back before turning back to Rick, "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Carol asked in a cry, holding onto Sophia with dear life— concerned for her daughter.

"Do you hear me?" Shane approached Rick, "No blame."

"She's right." Lori agreed with Carol, "We can't be here, this close to the city after dark." the woman said frantically, shaking her head, looking between Shane and Rick.

Rick looked around with a sigh, and Shane looked around frantically then back to his best friend, "Fort Benning, Rick— still an option." Shane said with a sigh, trying to calm himself.

"On what?" Marcus asked, "No food, no fuel. That's one hundred miles." he said in a breathless voice, looking around cautiously.

"One-hundred-twenty-five. I checked the map." Glenn corrected, and Moonee shook her head at him frantically.

"You're not helping, Glenn," Moonee said in a breathy voice, her young brain unable to even comprehend what was happening in the moment.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight— now." Lori shook her head as she shouted at the two with slight annoyance and frustration, while Carl cried into her side.

"We'll think of something." Rick tried to explain, as everyone began to talk loudly over one another, behaving to gather up to leave again.

"Let's get out of here!"

"Let's go. Please."

"Go! Go!"

Everyone shouted, and Moonee was being pulled away by Lori, as she watched Marcus and Rick stare at something above the shutters.

"The camera— it moved," Rick shouted, and everyone froze, the overlapping chattering stopped, and they all looked
over— except for Moonee who was already staring at the two men curiously.

"You imagined it." Dale tried to muster up some kind of explanation since they couldn't stay out in the dark for too long.

"No," Marcus shook his head, "I saw it." he defended Rick, looking at her daughter, then back over at the camera that was above the metal doors.

"It moved." Rick said again, barely over a whisper as he began to approach the garage-looking doors, "It moved." he repeated.

"No. It's dead, man." Shane shook his head at the two men who stared at the white camera that wasn't moving in the moment, "It's an automated device. Man— it's the gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now, come on."

Shane tried to pull Rick and Marcus from their trance of staring at the device, but the two posted, pushing Shane off of them. The raven-haired man tried to reason with Rick and Marcus, who only stood with what they saw.

A fight then broke out— only verbally, and only Shane was the one yelling. Rick moved away from the man and pounded on the door, while everyone shouted at him that no one was there.

Moonee couldn't breathe. It felt like her heart was going to explode because it was beating so fast. This could not be healthy for a girl her size and age.

It felt like the world had stopped. Like it was only her and she couldn't breathe. All she could hear was blood pumping through her ears, while watching Rick pound on the door and scream at the camera above that didn't respond.

Her dad stayed on Rick's side defending him— trying to get the camera to either speak out or open the door, knowing someone else was behind the camera.

It is nothing but chaos overlapping. One thing, then another thing, and another thing.

"I know you're in there. I know you can hear me." Rick yelled at the camera, while Shane screamed at everyone else to get into their cars, "Please, we're desperate. Please help us, we have women and children.

Marcus scowled at the camera, "Our blood is on your hands, we have no food, and hardly any gas left." he spat at the camera.

Watching her father go insane was not on Moonee's bucket list. But there she was, standing there, watching this all unfold while Shane yelled at her to get in a car but she didn't budge.

Lori then rushed in front of Rick and Marcus, "Hey!" she shouted at them "There's nobody here." she tried to push the two away, "You're scaring your kids!"

"If you don't let us in, you're killing us!" Rick screamed, moving to pound on the shutter again, "Please!" he practically tore up his vocal cords screaming.

"You're fucking killing us!" Marcus yelled, as Shane pulled on the two men's arms, pulling them from the shutters, "We see you! You're killing us!"

Moonee's eyes stayed wide, as she held her knife that was too big for her hands. The knife hung from her fingers as she stared at the scene.

It felt like her feet were frozen to the ground and she couldn't move. Like she was watching some horror movie and able to do anything about the scene that played on the screen.

Shane pulled them back but then froze as the shutter slowly began to lift open. Moonee's greyish eyes brightened with the light that slowly revealed itself while the metal door slid open.

Everyone stood and stared as the light brightened their features then began to dim out. A breeze blew by and the smell of rotten flesh continued to stain the air.

· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·

-- 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 :
wooo !!! we made it to cdc.

    i've been posting more, since i've finished this volume, so i can get it out to you guys, but there will be a pause after i've posted all of volume one.

    it won't be a long pause but just a bit so people can catch up and i can make more chapters and be prepared to post all of them !!

© witxiter, 2024