Status: active

To Keep You Close to Me

We Don't Kill The Living

Andrea was still by Amy’s side in the morning when everyone woke up. Lori went over to talk to her for a short while but then left, so I decided to pay my respects. I walked over and kneeled down beside Andrea.

“Hey,” I said awkwardly. I feel like I was the last person she wanted to see. “Look, I’m really sorry about Amy. She was a good friend, and I’m sure a good sister. They’re starting to pick up the bodies, they’ll want to get her soon.”

Andrea remained quiet as she caressed her sister’s lifeless face. I had nothing else to say, so I stood up and helped move some of the bodies. Daryl was in charge of smashing the brains of everyone. I was assuming he was just taking out all of his anger because he even smashed the heads of walkers. After Daryl was finished with a body, T-Dog, Glenn and I would carry them to two separate piles: one for walkers, one for our people.

As we worked, Lori, Shane, Rick and Carol sat and watched. It pissed me off, and I knew Daryl was pissed as well. He barely spoke as he went from body to body. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rick approach Andrea, but before he could say anything, she pointed her gun directly at his face. He backed off and let her alone.

“Amy’s going to turn soon,” I whispered to Daryl. He looked over at her briefly and then walked over to Rick.

“What we gon’ do ‘bout her?” Daryl asked.

“Leave her alone,” Lori muttered.

“Dead girls a time bomb,” Daryl said.

“What do you suggest?” Rick questioned.

“Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey in between the eyes from this distance,” Daryl said.

“No, for god’s sake, let her be,” Lori intervened. Daryl walked off angrily. I followed behind him, ready to move another body.

“Wake up, Jimbo, we got some work to do,” Daryl called as he walked past Jim. He then helped to move another body into the walker pile.

“This is for geeks,” Glenn pointed out. “Our people go over there.”

“What’s the difference?” Daryl asked.

“Our people go over there,” Glenn repeated. “We don’t burn them!”

“Glenn’s right, Daryl,” I spoke. Daryl scoffed at both of us as he moved to body.

“Suit yourself!”

“Shut up, man!” Morales yelled.

“Y’all left my brother for dead! You had this comin’,” Daryl yelled to the group and stormed off. Jim and I went over to yet another body and picked it up. As he leaned down to grab an arm, I noticed blood on his shirt.

“Are you bleeding?” I asked.

“Just got some on me from the bodies,” he explained.

“That looks fresh, Jim. Were you bit?”

“No,” he answered. “Got scratched during the attack.”

“You got bit, didn’t you?” I questioned. I knew the situation was dangerous and the group needed to know immediately. Jacqui must have overheard our conversation because she announced to the group that a walker got Jim. The group dropped what they were doing and faced us. Daryl ran over, demanding to see the bite. Jim grabbed a shovel, ready to fight off anyone who approached him. As Shane and Rick yelled for Jim to show us, T-Dog ran up behind him and secured his arms. Daryl ran over to Jim and lifted his shirt up, revealing the wound.

An outline of teeth adorned his chest. The area around his wound was red and swollen. Jim swore over and over again that he was okay, but we all knew that he wasn’t. The rest of us huddled together in a tight circle to discuss our options.

“I say we put a pick axe in his head and the dead girl’s and be done with it,” Daryl offered.

“Is that what you’d want?” Shane asked him.

“Yeah, and I’d thank you while you did it,” Daryl replied.

“And what if it were Val? Huh? You’d want us to put a pick axe in her head as well?”

“Leave her outta this!” Daryl yelled.

“I’d hate to say it, I never thought I would. But maybe Daryl’s right,” Dale said.

“Jim’s not a monster, Dale,” Rick said. “Or some rabid dog.”

“I’m not saying that,” Dale argued.

“Where do we draw the line?” Rick asked.

“Line’s pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers,” Daryl added.

“What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure,” Rick suggested.

“Heard that too,” Shane agreed. The two men debated back and forth on whether or not we should travel to the CDC. Rick was for the CDC, Shane was for Fort Benning. Fort Benning was further away than the CDC. Rick and Shane continued to go back and forth on the subject.

“You go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do. Somebody needs to have some balls and take care of this damn problem!” Daryl yelled as he ran towards Jim with his pick axe. Rick darted after him, cocking his gun.

“We don’t kill the living,” Rick spat.

“That’s funny, comin’ from a man who just put a gun to my head,” Daryl growled. He lowered his pick axe down to the ground.

“Daryl,” I called, chasing after him. “You need to work on your anger.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” he yelled.

“Don’t yell at me!” I yelled back. He quickly turned around and glared at me. “You’re gonna scare these people. Do you want them to tell us to leave?”

“I could do better on my own,” Daryl spat.

“What do you mean on your own?”

“My own, as in by myself!” Daryl stormed off without another word. I couldn’t believe him. I can’t believe he would actually leave me. I took a deep breath and went back to moving bodies. After getting the last one, I started walking back towards the RV. As I passed Amy, I heard a weird groan. I stopped in my tracks and looked down. Amy’s arms were twitching and her breathing became more rapid. The group watched as Amy’s hand lifted up towards Andrea’s head, grasping at her hair. I was worried that Andrea wasn’t going to act quickly enough. If she didn’t, she could get bit, or Daryl might see and decide to take Amy out himself.

But before Amy could rise up from the ground, Andrea wrapped an arm around her, whispered something in her ear and put her gun up to her head. The echo from the gunshot radiated around camp.

Daryl drove his truck up to where we had the bodies piled up. T-Dog and I started throwing bodies in the bed, preparing to bury them. Once all of the bodies were loaded onto the truck, Daryl drove up to the site where Shane and Rick had been digging. Instead of driving up with Daryl, I walked to the site with the rest of the group. I was still mad at him for what he said. If he wanted to be alone, so be it.

Two people carried a body and carefully dropped it into one of the dug out graves. It only took about half an hour to get them all in. Amy was the last body to be buried. Andrea insisted on doing it herself, but Dale eventually went over to help her lower the body. It was too much for her to handle.

After the burials, the group huddled around the fire pit. Rick and Shane were arguing about the CDC once again, but I think that Shane’s finally starting to come around because he announced to the group that he trusted Rick. I trusted him too. We had no other plan so the CDC sounded like our best bet.

“The most important thing,” Shane went on, “is that we stay together. For those who agree, we leave first thing in the morning.”

Later at night, when we were all eating dinner, Daryl had retired to the tent earlier than usual. I wasn’t ready to go to sleep, even though I should probably get a good night’s sleep. I stayed out by the fire for a good hour and a half, silently listening to the sounds of nature. Once I began yawning, I decided to call it a night. I walked to the tent and carefully unzipped the side. When I took a step in, I saw Daryl laying on the opposite side from which we normally slept. I also noticed that he only had two blankets, one to sleep on and one to cover him. Sighing, I picked up another blanket and carefully layered it on top of his sleeping body. I then cuddled up on the other side of the tent and quickly fell asleep.
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Okay, okay. So now that I see that so many people enjoy this story, I won't be taking it down. Updates will keep coming as long as you guys comment.

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Thank you so much you guys! I was so surprised to see all of your comments! And I'm so glad you guys enjoy this story so much!