Zombie States of America

I decided to sleep since the next morning we would be going to find my sister and bring her with us, I walked into the tent that Rick let me have for the night. I was incredibly thankful for these guys saving me and my sister.

The next Morning

I was awakened by someone unzipping my tent, I felt someone shake me with their boot, “Hey, get up we’re going for your sister” was all he said before leaving. I groaned and stretched my arms above my head, I had slept in the clothes from yesterday since I didn’t have any extra clothes with me, I walked out and saw that Rick, T-Dog, Shane, Glenn, and Darryl were waiting for me by the car. I walked up to them, “I’m here” I said, Rick nodded, “Now this is going to be a little hard since there are going to be some walkers around, but I am going to need you to focus, okay?” I nodded; I knew I had to do this for my sister.

The guys and I jumped in the car that was going to be used to get my sister; I gave directions to T-Dog who was driving. We were able to avoid walkers on the way there, which I was confused about, but Rick said that they might have not found any more human and moved on. I was glad at that point, but then my smile left my face thinking that maybe my sister had been taken and turned. We made it to our home, it looked deserted, abandoned, unwanted, “Jess, stay behind me okay, and if anything happens aim for the head” Rick said, I nodded understanding. Darryl and Glenn were the first ones to walk in, T-Dog stayed by the car just in case we needed a clean get away. “Coast is clear” Rick and I hear Darryl and Glenn say, I immediately walked up the stairs and pull on the small string peeking out of the stairs.

I didn’t go up yet, but instead, “Val?” I say I hear shuffling, and I get a little worried, “Jess?” I hear her say peeking over the ledge, I sighed in relief, “Are you okay?” I ask, she nods and slowly walks down the stairs, Rick said, “Before anything we have to make sure you’re not infected” my sister was not ashamed of her body so she took off her shirt and pants quickly, and turned around to let them see that she wasn’t infected, Glenn looked away blushing.
After my sister put back her clothes, the guys went through the house to get things they needed just in case we couldn’t go into the city for a while. We headed back to the camp with my sister, once we made it I saw Rick go straight towards his family, Darryl towards the trees, and Shane, Glenn, and T-Dog, went over to their respective tents to have some rest. Andrea and Amy walked up to us, “Hi, I’m Amy and this is my sister Andrea” she said, to my sister, my sister shook their hand, “I’m Val” she said, “And you know my sister obviously” we chuckled, “Hey come one food is almost ready” I nodded, and followed them to the camp fire they had up.

Once everyone was surrounding the fire, Andrea asked, and “So what were you doing before all this happened?” she asked me and my sister, I cleared my throat, “I was working three jobs” I started, “And my sister was in her senior year” “Oh my” I heard Jacqui gasp, “Why so many?” “Hospital Bills” I said, “My mother is or was in the cancer ward, and I was going to visit her the day the guys saved me” I felt Dale’s hand on my shoulder, “I’m sorry” I shrugged, “What’s happen, happened, and I have to move forward, I still have my sister and it is my duty to protect her” I said clapping my sister on her shoulder.

It seemed that my answer pleased them, causing them to change the subject, “Well, I think it’s time for us to hit the hay, we have a long day tomorrow” Rick said, and once he said that everyone started to clean up and head towards their respective tents. Rick walked up to us, and said, “There is an empty tent waiting for you, how about I show you” I nodded, and let my sister walk in front of me while Rick walked beside me. “I never got the chance to thank you for helping me get my sister” I said, he smiled and waves his hand in dismissal, “It’s okay, you would do the same if I was in your situation”

“Now get some sleep, tomorrow we’re leaving” he said, and I nodded, “Bright and early sheriff” I teased and he chuckled. I closed the tent and lied down next to my sister, “I’m glad you found me” Val said, I sighed, “I know, go to sleep we have to be up early” I said she nodded and closed her eyes. Once her breathing slowed I knew she was asleep, it seemed I couldn’t sleep every time I closed my eyes I would see myself in the hospital again.

My eyes were slowly dropping, when I heard the unmistakable sound of a walker, my heart started to beat faster, I didn’t want to wake my sister and scare her so I stayed silent as I could, placing my hand on mouth as to not attract the walker towards us. Then, instead of hearing one walker, I heard many, my eyes widened, it knew it would wake the others, and scare them, but I knew I had to stay quiet in order for them to not know my presence, and in this case I knew I had to wake my sister. So as I quietly as I could I shook my sisters shoulder, she was about to groan when I covered her mouth with my other hand. She opened her eyes wide; I shook my head, took my hand off my mouth and mouthed “Walker” and placed a finger on lips indicating to be quiet.

We were both lying down so that our shadows could not be seen; all of a sudden a scream was heard from the other side of the camp causing all the walkers to run towards the sound. I turned to see my sister crying silently, we knew we couldn’t move because we had nothing to defend ourselves with. Soon, the whole camp seemed to be awake, gun shots were heard, yelling was heard, and walkers moaning and groaning was heard. It seemed to take forever when the night was once again silent, I didn’t want to take the chance and look outside just in case the walkers were still out there, I held my sisters hand tightly hoping we were going to get out of this alive.

We stayed closed together when we saw a shadowy figure outside our tent, my eyes grew wide, it couldn’t be possible, it slowly started to unzip the tent, and I closed my eyes hoping that our death would be quick and painless. The figure outside our tent started to unzip it, when I heard, “Are you guys okay?” I heard Shane say, I let out a breath of relief. “Oh my god” I exclaimed, “I thought you were a walker” Shane chuckled, “it’s going to take more than a small herd of walkers to kill me” he joked, I didn’t really find anything funny about that, but I gave him a fake laugh. “Did you guys sleep through this?” Jacqui asked, I shook my head, and explained what had happened, “That was smart” Rick said, “They would’ve have gotten to you first and wouldn’t be able to save you” I grimaced at the thought.

“We’re going to have to place look outs from now on” he said, “Let’s clean up, it’s almost sun up, so might as well get ready to leave” everyone agree and began to clean up the mess the walkers had left. There wasn’t any casualty from our side, so we were grateful. We packed everything as quickly as we could and started to drive away from our campsite, “Where do go now?” Carol asked, Rick sighed, and “I don’t know at this point it seems we have to keep moving to stay alive”

My sister then decided to whisper, “Why don’t we tell them about grand papa’s estate?” she asked, I furrowed my eyebrows, “I don’t know I mean it’s pretty far off, and in the middle of nowhere” I said, “Come on, you know how he was, paranoid, weird and old” she started, “Daddy said that his estate is surrounded in walls of large rock and cement, his gates are protected by electricity and the house is huge” I sighed knowing my sister was right, “Should we tell them now?” I asked her, she nodded her head, and “I think I know where we can stay” I said, the group turned towards me causing me to blush in embarrassment, “Well, get on with it” Darryl said.

I cleared my throat and said, “My grandfather was rich and paranoid before he passed and he left his estate and money to me” I said, “Okay, but how will that help us” Lori asked, “My grandfather’s estate is large, but surrounded with large stone brick walls, the main gate is protected by an electric current, the house itself is somewhat of a mansion size” I explained. “Where is this place?” Rick asked unsure, “It’s in Nebraska, at the outskirts of Lincoln” “No, we should go to Fort Benning, I mean we don’t even know if it’s infested or not” Shane said, “And Fort Benning isn’t?” Valeria retorted. Shane didn’t really like what my sister insinuated, “Come on Rick, you’re not going to listen to them are you?” Shane said
Rick sighed, he wasn’t sure what to do, Nebraska was a lot closer and even being at the outskirts of town they could get what they needed from there. “I say we take vote, I mean it’s not just my decision now it all of ours” he said, “So all in favor for Nebraska say aye”, Val, Lori, Carol, Glenn, Andrea and I said aye. “All in favor for Fort Benning” Rick asked, Shane, Darryl, Dale, T-Dog, and Jacqui had voted for Fort Benning, “It’s unanimous, Nebraska we go” Rick said, everything was placed in the vehicles, Shane wasn’t happy, and he made it very clear to the rest of the group. Dale and Glenn were in the RV and led the rest of the group towards their new destination, there wasn’t any space but in Daryl’s truck and she wasn’t sure if she was welcomed in it.

I tapped Daryl’s shoulder causing him to turn around with a scowl on his face, “What?” he grunted, “I was wondering if I could ride with you, my sister is in the RV” I saw him sigh and roll his eyes, but nodded. He climbed in the driver seat and I in the passenger seat and began our journey towards my grandfather’s home. The window on my side was rolled down and I let the cool breeze blow through my hair, as we made our way down the empty side of the highway, I couldn’t help but take a glance at Darryl. I felt like a total creeper, but I couldn’t help it, he is all man and I couldn’t help but be attracted to that. I started with this hand as one clenched the steering wheel and the other lied limp on the window, as I looked up his arm I saw how his taut muscle flexed unconsciously, his face help a stony expression, his somewhat high cheekbones and unshaved face.

“What are you looking at?” I was taken out of my thoughts by his question, in which I bumped and had realized that I went from glancing at him to shamelessly checking him out. “Uh, nothing” I said, he snorted, “Sure, look doll, now that you’ve joined our little group, here are some shit you need to know” he started, “One: I would stay away from Shane, he’s an asshole. Two: Stay away from me. Three: Try to do something while there is nothing to do because you will get bored and finally number four: Don’t get bitten or we’ll kill you” my eyes had widened at the thought of being bitten and killed, but what made me want to hurt him was that he bluntly told to me to stay away from him, but also from Shane, because so far Shane has been nothing but be nice to me and my sister.

I decided to let it go, since I was in his car, but once we made it to our next stop I would give him a piece of my mind, I glared at him and turned my head out the window. After that he didn’t speak again, after driving a while Daryl and I noticed that we were slowing down, I furrowed my eyebrows, once we made a complete stop Rick and Shane walked out of their respective cars and stood on the sideline talking. I tried hard to read their lips since I had taught myself to do it, but their lips moved fast for me, “What are you doing?” Daryl asked, “trying to read their lips” I said, “But all I got was house, dangerous, sleep, else” I looked around to see any houses when Daryl pointed through my window, “There’s a driveway there so I am guessing it’s the house at the end of the driveway” I squinted my eyes and saw the dirt driveway, I tried not to let his closeness get to me, but it was a little hard not to.

So, I tried to focus on Shane and Rick, but they had already stopped, and walked over to the RV, it was already getting dark, so I’m guessing they were looking for a safe spot to stay for the night, once they came out of the RV they walked over to us, and said, “We’re heading down this driveway and we’re staying there for the night” Rick said, “Are you sure it’s safe?” I asked, “I don’t know, but it’s a chance I am willing to take since its getting dark and being out here in the dark isn’t the safest place” Rick led us to the end of the drive way to find a cottage like house, it was small but I assumed it would do for now.

Darryl was the first one to jump out the car to check out the small cabin like house, Rick right behind him, after 20 minutes they cleared it. It seemed the group of survivors were divided, the women were in charge of the chores and keeping some kind of stability, while the men did what they did best and that was protect the people and do the hard labor. The women immediately made their move and began to make a home out of the cabin, Lori and Carol decided to make dinner with what we had. There were only two bedrooms, so Carol, Sophia and her Husband Ed were going to be in one room; Lori, Carl and Rick in another and the living room would be for everyone else.

Darryl and Shane were both on the porch that night keeping watch for walkers; I walked to give them both hot chocolate that I had taken from my home. “Here you go” I said placing them on the floor near their chair. “Thanks Jess” Shane said with a smile, I blushed lightly; Darryl on the other hand grunted and turned his back on me. I sighed and walked back inside, but Shane held my wrist, “Hey” he said scratching his neck nervously, “Would you mind if I lied down with you when we change” I blushed heavily, “I don’t know” I said, but with the look on his face I nodded, “Thanks, I really needed some comfort” I nodded and walked back inside. If I had known today what I knew then, I know I would have said No, I would have avoided everything from death, drama and hurt.