Chapter 4: No Man's Land
We all stood around in a circle, discussing which radio channels we would be able to reach each other on and how to communicate if the radio wasn't working. We were just about to head out to the CDC, everything had been packed and everyone knew the route and line up, well everyone except for me since I had been gone.
"Any questions?" Shane asked one last time.
One of the men stepped forward, "We're ugh, we're not going," he paused and everyone stared blankly at him.
"We have family in Birmingham, we wanna be with our people," his wife spoke up, her arm wrapped around her son as her daughter stood on the other side of her, clutching her doll. I didn't know these people too well, but they seemed good, kind hearted.
"If you're on your own you don't have anyone to watch your back," I said, worried for them.
"We'll take the chance, I gotta do what's best for my family," he nodded, at this point it seemed like they had their minds already made up.
With that said, Lori walked over to say her goodbyes to the friends that they would all have to leave behind. Sophia, a woman named Carol's little girl began to cry at the thought of losing one of her best friends. So did Carl, Rick's son. Seeing that almost made me pity them as they cried over someone that was only leaving, it wasn't like they had died or anything. It made me pity them even more thinking of the fact that they had so much to go through ahead of them, that when looking back, losing someone just because they wanted to leave was going to seem easy. Wanting to console him anyway, I walked over and placed my hand on his shoulder, squeezing it as a way to say that it's going to be okay. Once everyone was done saying their goodbyes we split off, people going to their assigned car as I looked around for Rick, to ask who I was with.
"Yer' with me, Red," Daryl walked past me, referring to my hair that was really more blonde than it was red. He swayed his way up to the old pickup truck at the back of the line, throwing his weapon and bag in the trunk where a motorcycle sat all tied up. I grabbed my stuff and followed his action before hopping in the passenger seat.
"How'd I get stuck with you?" I asked as nicely as I could while we began to move, setting out on our very long drive to the CDC.
He side-eyed me, taking his sweet time before he answered, "Everyone just follows the sheriff and sidekick's orders," he grunted, referring to Rick and Shane, "He thought you'd be safe with me," he then added in.
I snorted at that comment. "More like the other way around," I said as I made myself comfortable.
After that most of the ride was quiet, Daryl wasn't very good at making conversation with me. He didn't want to talk about anything having to do with life before the outbreak, didn't want to talk about himself, didn't want to talk about his brother, and didn't want to hear anything having to do with me. So I just gave up and now I sat there, staring out the window as the fast-paced motion of passing by trees put me in a trace.
"Sorry," he finally spoke up, his eyes glued to the road, not daring to look at me.
I turned my head to look at him, "For what?"
He paused, "Never mind," he then said, tightening his grip on the wheel. Daryl Dixon didn't seem like the type of guy to ever say sorry to anyone, which caught me by surprise. I don't know if it was for what he had said in the woods or his lack of communication almost ever. I didn't push it any further though, I just smiled to myself slightly and continued to sit in comfortable silence.
"What the hell's wrong now," he muttered as he slowed the truck, bringing it to a stop as all the other cars had parked behind the RV, which we could now see was leaking smoke.
I hopped out, grabbing my crowbar from the trunk just in case, and made my way over to the group.
"Y'all, Jim! It's bad, I don't think he can take anymore," Jacqui emerged from the RV, frazzled.
"Aye, Rick you wanna hold down the fort while I drive ahead, see what I can bring back?" Shane asked as I walked around the RV, seeing steam or smoke rising from the front. Rick nodded.
"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 called out as they got in their car and drove off.
As Rick went in to talk to Jim, Glenn and I both walked around to the back of the cars, saying we'd keep watch on the road behind us, making sure no other cars or walkers approached. We climbed into the back of Daryl's truck, standing on either side of the motorcycle so we could get a better view.
"Do you mind if I just…" I began to say but stopped when I got what I wanted, taking the red baseball hat off of his head and placing it on my own. "You wear this thing everywhere," I smiled at him.
He frantically rubbed his messy hair down, "Yeah, because it covers my hair and keeps the sun out of my eyes," he said, laughing while trying to grab it back from me. "And you've really only known me for two days, so you don't know that I wear it all the time." He stopped trying to take it back.
"Mhhm," I smiled, looking at him one last time before scanning the perimeter.
"How old are you anyway," he asked as I lifted my rifle, looking in the distance through the lens, thinking I might have seen something. False alarm.
"Just turned twenty-three." I sat down on Daryl's stationed bike. "You?"
"Twenty. Turning twenty one soon though," he smiled.
"Aha, drinking age," I responded.
"Don't think those rules exactly apply anymore," he laughed.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Van's fixed," Daryl then yelled to us, as he stood at the front of his truck, his crossbow resting on his shoulder as it pointed up to the sky. I swear he doesn't know how to hold that thing unless it was pointed at someone's face.
"We going then?" Glenn asked as he jumped down from the trunk, helping me down.
"Not yet," Daryl turned and started walking back to the others.
"Why not?" I questioned as we tried to catch up to him.
"Gotta say goodbye," he mumbled, "Jim's offin' himself," he said like it was no big deal. He had no emotion, he wouldn't let it affect him.
I followed behind him quietly as we walked up to where they sat Jim up against a tree. I didn't get to know him all that well, I never got the chance to since he had been bit, but he seemed like a genuine person. Someone you would deeply miss if you knew him, and obviously, I was right by the tears flowing from Jacqui's eyes and the absolute sadness plastered across each individual's face. One by one they said their peace to him, while I just stayed back and watched, flashing him a small smile when he looked at me, he smiled back. He held a gun in his head, gripping it tightly as he looked up to the sky, ready to go. With tear-stained cheeks we all retreated to our vehicles, leaving him to die as he asked.
Driving away, I stared ahead in silence knowing that we just lost someone special. Being last in the lineup of cars, just as we drove past where Jim sat, the loud echo of his gun went off. It caused me to jump slightly, breathing in deep and I closed my eyes and gripped the armrest. Seconds later my eyes opened in reaction to the feeling of a rough, yet warm hand, ever so slightly being placed over mine. The rest of the ride was silent.
After a few hours of driving we finally pulled up to a large building, it was getting dark out and we had little to no gas left. The building was an odd shape, a quarter of it was just covered in large glass windows. Getting out of our vehicles we grouped, looking around at what seemed to be a warzone. The place seemed abandoned. Bodies littered the ground, some looked to be ordinary pedestrians, others dressed in military uniforms. I don't know what we were expecting, but I was at least hoping for something a little more than this.
The closer we got to the front entrance, the more faith in this place I lost.
"Come on, stay quiet," Shane whispered as we walked. Weapons raised at the ready.
We all covered our faces with our shirts or arms, coughing and choking on the smell of rotting bodies polluting the air. Reaching the metal doors, Rick and Shane tried opening them, but they wouldn't budge no matter what they did. These doors were designed to keep people out, which made me want to be on the other side of them so much more. Shane slammed on the doors angrily.
"There's nobody here," T-Dog said what we were all thinking.
"Then why are these shutters down," Rick said, referring to the large metal doors.
"Walkers!" Glenn yelled, drawing everyone's attention to behind us. The sight of them immediately causes Carl to start crying. Reacting the quickest, Daryl stepped towards the closest one, shooting it with an arrow.
"You lead us into a graveyard," Daryl threw his hands up yelling.
Shane shushed Carl angrily as he was making too much noise, drawing more walkers towards us, before making his way over to Daryl, "Shut up you hear me! Shut up!" He pushed his chest. "Rick this is a dead-end," Shane turned to Rick, flustered.
"Where are we going to go?" Carol cried out, holding Sophia close to her.
"She's right, we can't be this close to the city after dark," I stepped forward, looking to Rick.
"Fort Bennett, Rick, still an option," Shane suggested through gritted teeth.
"On what?" Andrea stepped in. "No food, no fuel. We have nothing."
"Forget Fort Bennett, we need answers tonight, now!" Lori pushed as Carl cried beside her. Everyone began to freak out, more walkers approaching us by the second and we had nowhere to go.
"We'll think of something," Rick fought back and for the first time, he looked scared. He didn't know what to do.
As everyone fought back and forth, some trying to pull us away to start leaving, Daryl and Glenn fighting off some of the walkers that trailed in, I knew that I couldn't do this anymore. I needed to get myself and everyone else inside. Looking around aimlessly I saw something.
"The camera, it moved!" I yelled, breaking up their fighting.
"You're imagining it," Dale shook his head.
Growing angrier by the second at the thought of someone in there watching us as we struggled to hang on, I just lost it. "You're killing us!" I screamed as I banged on the door repeatedly while staring into the lens of the camera. "I know you're in there! I know you can hear us! Please!" I pleaded and everyone yelled at me, trying to pull me away, as I was being too loud and attracting walkers. Finally, Shane picked me up, dragging me away as I screamed one more time, "You're killing us!" My desperate screeches were then cut off by the loud sound of the metal shutters rising, a bright light from inside blinding us.
We were safe.
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