Heaven and Hell

I woke up and looked at my watch. It was 3 in the afternoon and noticed Glenn was still sleeping. I nudged him and sat up. He was still in the same position he fell asleep last night so I poked his side. "Wake up Glenn." He muttered in his sleep and I shook him. "Come on. Let's get some food in your system."

Glenn moved and when he sat up he put his hands to his head. He groaned loudly. "I'm never drinking again."

I laughed at got out of bed. I walked to Glenn's side and pulled him by his hand. "Come on. We'll get some food and then go back to sleep. I'm still tired."

He yawned loudly and finally stood up. "What time is it?"

"After 3," I told him. We both started walking towards the kitchen and it was empty. Glenn sat down at the table and put his head down, groaning again. I found a loaf of bread lying on a counter. "Want a sandwich or just bread?" Glenn mumbled and I ended up just bringing the bread to the table.

I started eating a slice and kicked Glenn with my foot. "Come on Glenn. Eat some bread."

"Are you kids just getting up?" Dale asked as he entered the kitchen. I nodded my head and Glenn finally sat up to eat a slice of bread. "Do you want me to make you guys something? It's not exactly breakfast time anymore but I could make you some eggs."

"I'm good with just this. Thanks Dale."

"I can't even chew," Glenn said.

"Shut up Glenn. You're not that hung over."

"Rick's been looking for you Olivia," Shane said as he walked in. I scoffed and started chewing another piece of bread. Dale looked over at Shane and then at me. I glared at the piece of bread I was chewing. Shane came over and sat across from me.

"Well I'm going back to bed," I said. I grabbed another piece of bread and starting walking out of the kitchen. I was able to avoid another person as I went back into Glenn's room. I shut the door, threw the bread on small table and went back to bed.

We had now been at the C.D.C. for three days and my dad had been getting restless. The time I actually spent awake and not avoiding Shane, I saw him trying to press Jenner for answers but Jenner hadn't said a word.

"Are you finally well rested?" my dad asked me.

"I could do with another few hours of sleep," I joked. My dad however wasn't amused. "I'm kidding. What is it?"

"Jenner seems to be a little more open with you. I was thinking maybe you could ask him what he knows about all of this. Or at least try to butter him up."

"Butter him up?" I repeated. "Dad, I barely remember the man. Apparently I went to his house a few years ago but to be honest I don't even remember half of my teenage years."

He sighed loudly and crossed his arms over his chest, "Can you at least try? While you've spent the last few days passed out I've been trying to get through to him but he hasn't said anything."

"Fine." I huffed loudly as I started walking towards where Jenner's work area was at. He was staring at a black computer screen and I cleared my throat. "Hi there." He turned around in his chair and flashed a tired smile.

"Nice to see you." I leaned on his table and looked down at him.

"I'm not going to beat around the bushes but what the fuck is going on?" He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples.

"I'm guessing your father put you up to this," Jenner said. I nodded my head and Jenner opened his eyes and let out a long breathe. "I guess I might as well tell you all what's going on."

"That would be nice," I told him. He leaned over towards a microphone and spoke it to it calling everyone towards his work station. I looked up at the clock that was ticking behind us. "It's one o'clock already?" I looked down at my watch and it said it was almost 12 in the afternoon. I shook my watch as the entire group started walking in the room.

"There's nothing wrong with your watch," Jenner told me. I stared at him weirdly but didn't think much of it.

"Are you finally going to tell us what's going on?" Jacqui asked.

"If all it took was that girl to get it out of you we should have woken her lazy ass up days ago," Daryl said.

"He still hasn't told me anything," I told him while making a face at him. "And if I saw correctly you were passed out for a while too."

"Vi, show me TS-19," Jenner called out. On the large screen in front all of us showed what looked like an MRI. It showed a human brain. And if I remember correctly from what I've seen on TV it was a functioning normal brain, lite up and all. Everyone stared at it mesmerized and unsure of exactly what they were looking at.

"What exactly is that?" T-Dog asked.

"It's a person's life, experiences, memories. In all those ripples of lights it's you; the thing that makes you unique. It's everything a person does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." He was staring up intently at the screen and took a shaky breath. Nobody bothered to notice how upset he looked.

"Why are we watching this?" Shane asked. "Is this supposed to show us what is happening out there?"

"It's a playback of someone that was infected," Jenner said. Andrea was standing next to me getting completely emotional.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"Test subject 19. She volunteered to have us record everything she went through after she was bitten. Vi, go to the first event." The brain scan showed the woman looked like she was struggling with breathing or having some sort of seizure. The lights weren't a bright blue but it was mixed darker colors; like something horrible was eating away at the brain. Everyone stared up with disbelief as they watched the brain go dead. "It attacks the brain, the adrenal glands hemorrhage, your brain shuts down and then your major organs." He looked up at the woman admiringly and looked back then. "Then death occurs. The person you were or the person you might have been, all gone."

"Is that going to happen to us?" Carl asked. Jacqui who was closest to him grabbed him by his hand and squeezed it.

"Vi, show us the second event. The resurrection times seems to vary. It can take as little as three minutes to eight hours. TS-19 was two hours, one minute, seven seconds." I was looking at Jenner more closely now. This woman he was showing us had to be his wife. There was no doubting it with the amount of pain and hurt that was all over his face. We all looked up at the screen that was now showing the brain looking like it was turning back on.

"It restarts your brain?" Carol asked.

"No, just the brain stem. It makes them able to stand and walk."

"Are they alive?" my dad questioned.

"You tell me," Jenner said. "The frontal part of the brain, the part that makes you you isn't lite up." He shrugged his shoulders while everyone continued to watch. A quick line went through the skull that if we were blinking we would have missed it.

"What was that?" Jacqui asked.

"He shot her in the head," I said. I looked at Jenner who broke his eye contact with me quickly.

"Shut everything down, Vi."

"You don't even know what this is, do you?" Shane asked.

"It could be anything; viral, parasitic, some twisted joke being played by God."

"So if you can't help us, then who can?" Andrea asked. "There has to be other places, right? You can't be the only person working in a place like this around here."

"I lost communication over a month ago with anyone outside this facility," Jenner said.

"Are you saying this isn't just happening here?" Dale asked. "This is happening everywhere?"

"Most likely," Jenner said. The entire group broke out muttering different curse words. Everyone was in disbelief.

"I need to get shit faced again," Daryl muttered as he turned away shaking his head. "This is bullshit." I looked over at the clock now and the numbers looked lower than the last time I saw them.

"Wait a second, why is that clock counting down?" I asked. Everyone now looked at the clock and back at Jenner.

"We run out of fuel to run this place," he said.

"And then what?" my dad questioned. "We're just going to be stuck in the dark or something?" Jenner started walking away from the group and up to his office.

"We're going to go down to check out how much fuel is left," my dad said. "Liv, take Carl with you. Shane, T-Dog and Glenn, y'all come with me." The four of them headed out and the rest of the group started leaving the room to most likely go back to their own rooms.

"Carl, come with me," I said as I held his hand and went towards Jenner's office. He wasn't going to ignore the questions anymore. I was going to find a way to get it out of him. We reached his office and I told Carl to wait outside for me. I opened the office door and shut it behind me. "What really happens when the clock reaches zero?"

Jenner was sitting at his desk looking at a picture frame. I walked closer and took it out of his hand. It was a picture of his wife. I remembered her now and Jenner. It was starting to come back now. I remember how upset Dean was when he was in high school and had to go back and forth between his parents. He never liked Jenner and whenever he was forced to spend the weekends at the Jenner household he always wanted me to come.

"Well?" I asked again. "What's going to happen? Are you going to force us to leave if there's nothing running this building?"

"The building is going to be decontaminated," he said. "H.I.T.s are going to deploy."

"Excuse me for not taking chemistry or being a rocket scientist but what the hell are you talking about?"

"Think about it Olivia. Do you know what this place is? Do you know the stuff we work with every day? The stuff we keep safe from the public?"

"Decontaminating… Are you…"I could finish my sentence. It what he was insinuating was true it sounded like he was going to burn the place down or something. "What are you talking about Jenner?"

"H.I.T.s is high impulse thermobaric fuel air explosives. It has a blast wave-"

"What the fuck is your problem?" I screamed at him. I put my hand over my mouth and felt sick to my stomach. "You're going to kill us?" I was so upset that I could probably stab Jenner but he was our only way out.

"Clock's running down," Jenner said. It was like he really didn't care about any of us. He let us in to this death trap but I wouldn't allow us to blow up with him. I ran out of his office and grabbed Carl.

"Run Carl," I shouted back at him. His legs were shorter than mine so he wasn't running as fast as I was. "Hurry up Carl!" I pulled his hand so we wouldn't get separated. I had to find everyone and get us the hell out of here. "Dad!"

I ran towards the way I saw the four guys walk earlier and hoped they would come up soon. I was about to run down a flight of stairs when I saw Glenn and Shane walking up the stairwell.

"The fuel is down to E," Glenn said. "We're going to be in the dark soon."

"Where's my dad?" I asked.

"I'm right here," he said. He was right behind T-Dog and looked worried and anxious. "What's wrong?"

"He's going to blow this place up, Dad. We need to get out of here now!"

"He's what?" Shane shouted. "He told you this?"

"He said this place is going to have some huge fucking explosion and he was talking about air explosives or some shit. Can we please leave?" Carl was practically in tears when he heard everything I just said.

"I need to talk to him," my dad said. "Tell everyone and get your stuff, okay?"

"No, don't leave dad," I was practically begging him, "Leave with us."

"He needs to open the door," my dad explained. "He can't do this to us. If this is true he has to let us out."

"We're wasting time," Glenn said. "If we're going to blow up I do not want to be anywhere near this place."

"Like I said, get your stuff and meet me in the front. Shane, make sure she listens to me." He started walking towards the main room where Jenner was. Glenn started tugging me by my arm while T-Dog and Shane went running ahead of us to warn everyone else. We reached our room and quickly grabbed everything. Everyone wasn't sure what was going on but Shane made sure everyone followed him out towards the lobby we came in.

"What is going on?" Dale questioned.

"Jenner told me this place is going to blow up when the clock reaches zero. He's sick if he thinks this is the solution from escaping the walkers," I told them. "We need to get out of here."

"Where's your dad?" Daryl questioned.

"Trying to convince Jenner to open those doors. We can't just stand here and not do anything. We need to get the hell out of here." Daryl went towards the window and started hitting it with an axe. He made no dent on the window. I completely forgot what the time was on the counter when I last saw it. I knew it had to be less than half an hour by now. "He should be out by now." I started running back towards the main room and Shane was yelling for me to stop. I ran and found myself stopped by a large door blocking what I thought was the entrance to the room. Did I take a wrong turn?

I kicked the door and banged on it. "Dad? Are you in there?" I put my ear to the door and heard nothing. I banged on it again. This had to be it. Did Jenner lock him in there? "Jenner, open the goddamn door!"

"What's going on?" Shane questioned. He looked at the door and back at me. "He's in there, isn't he?"

"We're not leaving him," I said. I started crying as I continued kicking the door that wouldn't budge in any way. "We can't leave him." Most of the group started making their way towards us.

"What's going on?" Dale questioned. "Where's Rick?"

"He has to be in there." I told them. "I'm not leaving him." Daryl walked to the front where Shane and I were standing and pulled me out of the way. He started hitting the door with his axe and it had the same effect as when he tried it with the window.

"We need to get out of here," Shane said.

"I'm not leaving! What part of that do you not get?"

"I'm staying too," Andrea said. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Me too," Jacqui said. "There's nothing out there for me. My family is all gone. I have nothing."

"We are not discussing this," Shane yelled. "Nobody is staying behind. We need to open a goddamn door and get out now!"

"Carl, give me your bag," I said. I quickly dug my way through Carl's bag and found the grenade I found a few days ago when I was digging through the gun bag dad had brought. I stood up and handed it to Shane. "Here, use it. Get out."

"You're going with us," Shane said again. He looked at Jacqui and Andrea, "You two are coming too. You'll get over this bullshit."

"You're not telling us what we can do," Jacqui said. "I'm staying."

"Jacqui is right," Andrea said. "Without Amy I'm all alone."

"You have us," Dale said. "Please don't do this."

"I've made my choice," Andrea said. "It'll be quick and painless."

"You don't know that," Dale said. "Please Andrea." Shane had heard enough and ran quickly towards the front lobby.

"So if you stay behind what about your brother?" Daryl asked.

"Carl can stay if he wants," I told him. "Or he can go. I'm sure he'll be fine with you guys."

"I lost my brother," Daryl said, "You already thought you lost your dad."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you do what you want. Losing him twice will be a bitch." We all heard the grenade explode and everyone was looking at me.

"Get out of here everyone," I told them.

"I want to stay with you," Carl said. He ran over and wrapped his arms around me.

"Jesus, you're really staying?" Glenn asked. His eyes started to water and he hugged me tightly.

"Thanks for saving him once," I told him.

"We were supposed to ride this out until the end."

"Please go," I told Glenn. "All of you." Sophia started crying as her and Carol ran away. T-Dog gave Jacqui a quick hug and turned to follow them. Glenn sniffed and turned away and walked slowly. Daryl nodded his head at me and walked off with his axe dragging behind him.

"Dale, go," Andrea said. "You need to get out of here."

"Why?" Dale asked. "I lost my wife too. I have nobody. I have every right to stay here too."

Shane reappeared once again and he looked even more upset. "You're coming with us. I don't care if I have to drag you by your hair Olivia. You can't do this to Carl."

"Carl wants to stay," I told him. "You can't change his mind. That's my father Shane, not some stranger on the street. I can't do this without him."

"You did before! Goddamn it Olivia." Shane reached down for Carl and slung him over his shoulder. He started reaching for my arm but I pushed myself as close to the door as I could. "Stop being like this!"

"If you consider my dad your best friend you'd find a way to get him out but you haven't! You don't give a shit about him."

"I love your dad like a brother and he wouldn't want you two to do this." He finally got a grip on my arm and started pulling me. "You'll thank me later."

"Shane let go!" I shouted at him. I had to give Shane some credit. He was holding Carl and dragging me along and had even managed to pull me a good distance while I fought back. "Stop it Shane!"

"We're running out of time Olivia," Shane said. "Stop fighting it." He continued pulling me when I heard the door being opened. I turned my head and saw my dad practically run into Dale.

"We have 90 seconds," he shouted. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. Shane was still holding on to Carl as he ran in front of us. We made it to the lobby everyone was gone; most likely all in their cars. We ran out of the building and ran towards where the cars were parked. "We need to take cover!" My dad pulled me around towards the other side of the RV and Shane did the same. I wanted to peak on the side of the RV. I was praying desperately that Dale, Andrea and Jacqui had changed their minds and followed us out.

I didn't even have time to check when I heard a voice shout out, "Dale, hurry up!" I hoped Dale had at least made it far enough because before I knew it the place had exploded. It was the loudest noise I had ever heard in my life and from where we were I could practically feel the air getting hotter than what it already was. I turned towards my dad and hugged him tightly.

I let go and stood up to walk towards the RV where Glenn was. Before I could even open the door it swung open and he flung himself right at me causing me to almost fall.

"Thank you for not staying," Glenn said. He squeezed even tighter and since I was already winded from the running I couldn't even breathe anymore. He let go and smiled. He was looking behind me and I turned to see Dale and Andrea walking towards us. "Where's Jacqui?"

Dale shook his head. He too was winded. Andrea didn't bother looking at anyone and went inside the RV. "She didn't want my blood on her hands. Jacqui's mind was already set so there was no talking her out of it."

"But if Andrea's dead she wouldn't know your blood's on her hands…" Glenn said. I stared at him and shook my head. "What? I mean you're dead. It's not like you actually have feelings and stuff."

"So what's the plan now?" T-Dog asked. The rest of the group came out of their cars and joined us. "Where are we going now? I think we should head for Fort Benning."

"What if it's the same shit as here?" Daryl asked. He stood behind everyone and he was shaking his head. "This was good for a few days but now we're fucked again."

"Fort Benning is south of here," my dad said. "We might as well try and see if they're still operating. If not we can try the coast. Glenn, you want to find us a route on the map and get us there?" Glenn nodded and went back into the RV. Everyone else started walking back to their cars and I walked after Daryl. I grabbed his arm to turn him around and gave him a hug.

"What's that for?" he asked. He patted my back once and went stiff right away. I pulled away and shrugged.

"Just happy to see you," I told him. He huffed and I put my two index fingers up to the corners of his lips. "Smile Daryl." Daryl removed my fingers from his face and tried to contain the tiny smile I saw creeping on his face. He turned away and walked back to his truck. This time instead of driving with Daryl I went inside the RV. Glenn had already found a route towards Fort Benning. He gave the map to me and told me he was going to drive for a while. I sat next to him and we took off.

"So did you finally break down the door?" Glenn questioned.

"No. I guess Jenner opened the door for my dad. His prick of a friend was practically dragging me though. I almost had to leave without my dad."

"Hmm…"

"That's all you have to say about that?" I asked.

"Well, if I say what I want to say you might hit me but if I say what you want to hear you might create a plot against Shane or something and drag me in with you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about half the time." I leaned back in the chair and stared out at the open road ahead of us. There were abandoned cars here and there but they were easy to maneuver around. My dad popped his head in the front and looked down at me.

"Carl said you were going to stay behind?" he asked.

"You were the one that told me you didn't want me leaving your sight."

He sighed and crotched down, "That doesn't mean I wanted you to get yourself blown up for me."

"Shane wanted to leave without you," I told him. I turned to look him in the eyes to see his reaction but he just stared at me with little emotion. "Your best friend didn't care about helping you all he wanted to do was get Carl and me out."

"He did the right thing."

"He did not! He doesn't care about you dad. Sometimes it's like he wants you gone or something. This proves it."

He shook his head at me and I couldn't believe him right now. I told him that Shane was willing to leave him to die and he had nothing to say besides Shane was right. I turned away from him and stared out at the road.

"You know when you were gone," I started but didn't know how to spit it out, especially with other people nearby. "Shane's not the guy you think he is. Shane and me…"

"Orange car!" Glenn shouted and whacked me in my arm. I stared at Glenn. "Did you forget we were playing that game before?" I noticed in the distant that there was a bright orange car that was parked headed in the opposite way. When we drove closer I noticed it was an orange Challenger.

"Wait, stop the RV," I told Glenn. Glenn kept driving and I hit his arm again. "Glenn, stop driving." Glenn pressed the brakes lightly and eventually we stopped.

"I know it's a sweet car but it's probably dead," Glenn said.

"That's not it," I said. I stood up and my dad stood up too. He was giving me an unsure look as I grabbed my gun off the dashboard, pushed past him and left the RV.

"Olivia, where are you going?" I heard him shout after me. I ran in front of the RV and jumped over the cement barricade that separated the lanes. "Olivia!" I ran towards the car and my hand reached for the driver's door. I held my gun out in front of me as I opened it. There was a body lying in the seat with a blanket over it. Before I could remove the blanket, the body moved. I gripped the gun tighter and took off the blanket only to get a gun pointed at my face too.

"Dean?" It almost didn't look like him. His normally clean, slicked back hair was all messy and wet. His cheeks were flushed but the rest of his face was pale and glistened from sweat.

"Holy fuck," he said as he got out of his car and stood in front of me holding on to the car door. We both lowered our guns and stared at each other. I wasn't sure what I was feeling besides numb. "I thought you were dead."

Glenn and my dad were both running out towards me now. The rest of the group was all standing along the barricade.

"Olivia, what did I say about running off?" my dad growled. He stared at Dean and glared at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Well shit," Dean muttered, "I thought you were dead too." He looked back at me, "Are you going to say anything?" His hand went up to my face and I hit it away. "What are you doing down here? Were you going to see Jenner?" He looked over my shoulder again as he leaned on his car, "And you're with the delivery boy? Since when did you pick him over me?"

"His name's Glenn," I told him. "You should know that, Dean."

"Yeah, whatever," Dean replied. "His name isn't at the top of my list of people that I need to remember."

"Dean?" my dad asked. "As in Jenner's step-son?"

"As in your daughter's boyfriend," Dean said. "Unless you moved on to this one?" Dean was pointing at Glenn. "So you know Jenner? Did you guys see him?"

"He's dead," I told him, "So is your mom. She wasn't at the C.D.C. though. She was infected."

"So now I'm an orphan and your dad's been practically raised from the dead," Dean said. "Perfect."

"Why are you being such an asshole?"

"Why am I being an asshole? Don't be such a hypocrite when you're the biggest asshole there is. All you ever did was talk shit about your dad and how you wanted to leave so much yet here you two are. You had your chance to leave when he was lying in that hospital bed and you decided to get weak and guilty. You and I were supposed to be together and you just told me to fuck off at the hospital? You need to check that attitude of yours."

"I never said I wanted my dad dead."

"You might as well have," Dean said.

"Rick, what the hell is going on?" Shane asked. He was the only one that crossed the barricade to join us. "Who's he?"

"Olivia's boyfriend."

"Is he coming with us or what?" Shane asked uninterested.

"No," I said quickly.

"So you're just going to leave me out here?" Dean asked. "You're going to leave me all by myself while you get to cruise in that fancy ass RV? I haven't left this spot in two days. My car ran out of gas and I haven't had the energy to leave. There's nothing out here for me. I'm hungry, cold, tired and thirsty."

"You don't deserve to come with us," I told him. "With everything you've said you really except me to be okay with that? What gives you the right to call me out on my faults when you were the one that always said how much you hated your step-dad, yet you're on your way to see him?"

Dean swallowed once and looked at everyone who was standing behind me. "Apparently you don't care so I don't have to tell you why."

"This is getting ridiculous," my dad said, "You have one minute to come back in the RV Olivia." He turned to leave and Glenn followed.

"Tell me," I said. I touched his arm and he was really hot. "Dean, you're burning up. Why were you covering yourself in a blanket? It's at least over a 100 today." I touched the top of his sweaty head and noticed he was hot there too. "You need some water. You're coming with us."

"Thought you didn't want me," Dean said. I started pulling Dean by his hand to follow me.

"Olivia, I don't think this is a good idea," Shane said.

"Shut your fat mouth." I continued to pull Dean with me. He was a little wobbly as he walked so I tried to help him as much as I could.

"Olivia, he's—"

"Shut up." I continued to help him and once he got over the barricade Glenn came out to help. Dean walked inside the RV and sat down. I found a bottle with some water and gave it to him. "He's dehydrated. Is there any more water?"

"There's toilet water," Glenn suggested. I rolled my eyes at him. "What? He was the one being a prick and I get the eye roll?"

"He's dehydrated," I said. "You know Dean's nicer than this." Glenn rolled his eyes this time "Well, usually… This heat gets to you."

"Oh does it?" Glenn asked sarcastically. He handed me his water bottle and I gave it to Dean.

"You can take him in the back," Andrea said, "So I can sit in the front where Dale can watch me and make sure I don't do anything to hurt myself." She was glaring at Dale and sat down next to Dean.

"Appreciate it," Dean said. He stood up and walked to the back. He sat on the bed and leaned back. "I haven't laid in an actual bed in so long."

"Well, get some rest," I told him. "We're headed towards Fort Benning. Hopefully it's not overrun."

"I don't know why I told you all those things," Dean said. "I really missed you Olivia. I'm so happy I get to see you one more time but you shouldn't have brought me with you guys though."

"If you keep saying things like that I might just throw you out of here while we're moving," I told him.

"Why don't you lay down with me?" he asked. "You look tired."

"I've been sleeping the last two days. I'll just be outside, okay?"

"Just lay with me for a little bit?" he asked. I sighed and crawled next to him, leaving a good amount of space between the two of us.

"No cuddling though," I told him, "You're still an asshole and I don't want you touching me."

"Fine, but wake me up in an hour," he said. I was going to wait until he fell asleep before I could leave but lying in a bed always made me tired. I opened my eyes what felt like a few seconds later but I realized we were no longer moving. The only noise I heard was Dean's ragged breathing next to me.

I whacked him with my hand, "Close your mouth Dean. You sound like a gorilla." He didn't respond but continued breathing weirdly. "You sound like an old man Dean, shut up." I sat up to leave but was immediately grabbed by my hair. "What the fuck?"

I was pulled back to the position I was in and still breathing weirdly Dean moved so he was on top of me. He looked different and not like himself anymore. He was staring at me and his eyes were different, he was no longer Dean. His mouth starting inching towards my face and I tried pushing him off.

"Dad! Someone please fucking help me!"

No matter how much I pushed him off, he barely moved. He was much stronger than the female walker I encountered before. I used my knees to try to kick him off and it helped a little. He staggered to the side and I shoved him completely off me. I practically dove off the bed and felt him grab my foot. I fell to the ground and looked for something within grabbing reach to throw at him but I saw nothing. Nobody was in the RV and I wondered where they were all at. Dean was walking quicker than I was crawling so I picked up the pace and crawled towards the front.

"Dad!"

I saw a book on the floor and threw it back at Dean but I probably missed. I reached for the door handle and before I could pull it open the door flung open and Daryl was standing there with his crossbow. I practically dove towards his feet while he aimed and I assumed shot Dean. His body fell down where my feet were and Daryl reached for my hand to help me to my feet.

"Piece of shit didn't touch you, did he?" Daryl asked. I flung my arms around him and felt him do the same. It wasn't an awkward hug like the first one and it wasn't stiff like the second. It was an actual hug. He let go and turned around to the group that started walking towards us out of nowhere. "None of you knew that douche bag was infected? Y'all left her alone in there and she could have turned into one."

"Dean was infected?" Glenn asked. My dad ran up to me and started looking me over.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I'm so sorry I left. You two were asleep and we broke down. It's only been five minutes since we stopped."

"He didn't tell you he was infected?" Glenn asked again. "Are you okay?"

"Stop asking if I'm okay," I said. "He didn't tell me he was infected. I don't know what an infected person looks like. Jenner just said they're brain shuts down he never said what led to it."

"He didn't look right," Shane said, "I told you it wasn't a good idea. You didn't listen to me."

"Do not fucking blame me. If you knew he was infected you could have tried a hell of a lot harder to tell me."

"How am I supposed to tell you anything when you ignore everything I say? Or you tell me to shut my fat mouth? Tell me how I'm supposed to get through to you Olivia? You need to stop being such a–" I had enough of listening to Shane. I clenched my fist and hit him right on his cheek as hard as I could.

My dad quickly grabbed me from behind and picked me up so I was not standing so close to Shane anymore. "Enough Olivia." His grip tightened which was probably the best solution. I was so sick of Shane right now that one punch probably wouldn't have been the last one.

"You are a piece of shit. You don't get it do you? I'm done listening to you. You've done nothing good for me. You lie constantly and tried to leave my goddamn dad behind, and for what? I'm sorry I'm not Carl and I'm sorry that I don't worship you like Carl."

"You need to move on Olivia," Shane said. "I never lied to you about your dad. I don't know how many more times I have to tell you that."

"Are you done?" my dad asked. I didn't say anything so he continued to hold on to me. "Please let this go. We're all stressed and this isn't helping any. Are you listening to me?" I nodded my head and glared at Shane who started walking away.

My dad released his grip on me and I turned around to see Daryl was dragging Dean's body out of the RV. He continued to drag it so it was away from all of us. I went over to him and bent down to look at Dean's body. I pulled his sleeves up and didn't see a bite but when I rolled him to his stomach and looked at his back I saw he had a large Band-Aid there. The wrapping was bloody and I figured this is where he was bit.

I walked back towards the RV and sat down on the trunk of the car that was in front of it. I was wondering why we had stopped in the middle of the freeway but I answered my question as I looked at all the cars that had blocked the freeway completely.

Daryl came and leaned next to me on the car. "So it looks like we're even." I looked at him and frowned.

"Meaning?"

"You shot my brother and I put down your boyfriend. We're even."

"I would have killed him myself if I didn't misplace my gun," I told him. "And there was literally nothing within reaching distance in there."

"You could have stabbed him."

"Do you want me to thank you or something?" I asked. I groaned loudly and leaned back on the car. "What are we going to do about the car situation?"

"Looks like I'll have to leave my truck behind," Daryl said, "At least my bike can move around this shit."

"Looks like me and you can take that trip down to the coast then."

"What about your dad? You were determined to not leave him five hours ago."

"He can run behind us or we can find a side cart for him to ride in." Daryl let out a laugh but quickly went stern face when Glenn walked up to us.

"I found candy in this car back there."

"That's gross," I told him, "It's probably old or diseased."

"It's wrapped up," Glenn said. "Suit yourself. More for me and the kids."

"Did you find anything else?"

"Shane found a water truck up ahead, and there are a few cars with food but not a lot." Glenn shrugged his shoulders as he opened the candy wrapper and started eating it, "It's better than nothing I guess."

"So are we staying here all night?" I asked. "It doesn't even look safe."

"We probably are. It's getting late and unless we move a lot of cars off this highway we're stuck for the night." Glenn continued to eat his candy bar as he walked away.

"Since you're always finding yourself in bad situations you can have this," Daryl said. He was dangling his knife he usually carried in front of me.

"Isn't that yours?"

"Keep it," he said. "You need it more than me."

"Am I supposed to just carry it like that?" I asked. I took it from him and touched the blade gently. "What if I just stab myself or something?"

"Stand up," Daryl said. "You're so damn ungrateful."

I started to laugh and stood up, "What's that supposed to mean?" He reached towards his belt and undid the clip that held his knife before. "Were you really going to carry that around your belt without your knife?"

"Are you going to make me regret giving you this?" He asked as he started to clip the small leather pouch to the loop of my jeans. "If you lose this—"

"I won't lose it."