You Found Me

It was snapping and lashing at me from under the water, and it had grown gills and was able to swim; which most of the land walkers hadn’t. As soon as I had locked eyes with the walker, I tried to get away from it as fast as I could. It quickly reached out and grabbed my hand and dragged me towards its hungry mouth eager to feast on my flesh.

I knew that I was losing air fast, and I could feel the undersea world around me began to spin. I began lashing at the water trying to get myself away from it. Just when I started to lose all hope I saw a hand reaching out to pull me away from the water and I quickly grabbed it but the walker was still trying to drag me far under the water, just to take a bite out of me.

Finally, after ages of someone pulling me I was able to lift myself away from the walker and onto the deck, coughing and choking on the water that was pushed deep into my lungs. I opened my eyes to see Daryl leaning over me to make sure I was okay, and after I finally stopped coughing I stood up slowly and fell over.

“Easy now. Steady; steady.” Daryl said catching me and lifting me up into his arms, to bring me back to the farm.

I laid my head onto his chest and the entire world around me fell into darkness.

“Is she okay?! Is she alive? Is she breathing?” I heard multiple voices around me asking.

My eye lids slowly drifted open and I peered around the room and saw that almost everyone was surrounding me making sure that I was alright. Hershel was standing over me as well, he probably checked over me since he is sort of a doctor.

I looked around for Daryl but I couldn’t see him, I knew he had brought me up here and saved me from drowning in the water. Even though the memory was fuzzy, I still know that it was him who saved me; it had to have been him.

“Daryl? Where’s Daryl?” I asked still hardly unable to speak.

“He went off with Rick to shoot something for dinner, he told us to tell you not to worry about him and that he would be back soon enough.” Savannah said squeezing my hand gently.

I started to get up, I wanted to go look for him to thank him for saving my life. As I went to get up, everything went fuzzy and I fell back down onto the bed.

“Stay lying down, you need to rest.” Hershel said placing a hand on my forehead.

I nodded to him, and watched as Lori, Carol, Andrea, Maggie, and Rachael all left the room. Savannah had stayed behind and sat on the bed, squeezing my hand tightly.

“When did Daryl come along? I didn’t notice he was around.” I asked Savannah curiously.

“He said he was off in the woods hunting and heard you scream when you fell into the water. He almost got bit by a walker getting to you.” She explained to me.

I was surprised that he would risk his life for me like that, it almost made it seem like he actually cared about me. I wasn’t sure what he felt for me, not like it mattered anyway.

“Do you want me to leave you alone for a bit, so you can get some rest?” Savannah asked me.

“Could you? Thanks.”

She nodded and got off the bed and made her way to the door, “Do you want me to leave it open or would you prefer it closed?” She asked

“Close it.” I replied.

She slid the door closed and I heard her footsteps make their way outside, the door slammed as she walked out. I lay on my back and thought about everything that just happened. What if Daryl hadn’t shown up, would Savannah have been able to get me back up onto that deck in time? Or would I have not made it? What was with Daryl and saving my life all the time, he’s done it quite a lot and I felt like I owed him.

I lay on my side and allowed my troubled thoughts to loom around in my mind; I closed my eyes and began to fall asleep when I heard the front door open loudly. It slammed shut and I heard heavy footsteps make their way over to the bedroom, I rolled over and pretended to be asleep as I felt someone slowly make their way into the room.

“Hey, you awake?” I heard a voice call out.

I rolled over slowly and looked up rubbing my eyes, it was Daryl.

“I am now.” I said smirking at him.

“Oh, did I wake you?” He asked.

“Nah, I’ve been awake for a while now.” I told him.

“How are you feeling?” Daryl asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I’m feeling alright, thanks for saving me. Again.” I told him.

“Hey, what did I say about thanking me? It’s alright. No worries!” He told me.

“So, what did you catch us for dinner?” I said laughing.

“Hardly anything…a few fish, a squirrel; that’s it.” He said looking bummed.

“You tried your best, that’s all that matters.” I said smiling at him.

He half smiled back and stood up to leave, but I reached out and grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.

“Stay awhile.” I told him.

He looked surprised and didn’t really know what to say, I felt bad for making him stay because he looked so uncomfortable with it.

“I have to go help cook the fish for dinner; uh…I’ll catch ya later. Feel better!” He said getting up and walking out of the room.

I watched as he walked out, slamming the door behind him as he made his way out side. Why was he acting like this again?

*Flashback*

“Okay that will be 39.99” I told the elderly lady as I rang in the rest of her groceries. “Will you need bags today?”

“Oh no dear that’s fine, I brought my own!” She said smiling holding up her own bags. “With these bags being .50 each I’m better off having my own.”

“Yeah, that’s for sure.” I smiled as she handed me her cash.

I finished bagging the rest of her items and placed the bags in her cart.

“Have a nice day mam!” I told her smiling as she pushed her groceries out the door.

I looked at the clock hanging on the wall by my till, 10 minutes till 9 when I can finally clock out and go home for the night.

“You can clock out now if you want, I know you need to catch a bus.” I jumped as I heard a voice call from behind me.

It was my manager Rayne.

“Oh okay, thanks so much. I didn’t get to count my drawer; if you need me to I can now.” I told her getting ready to clock out.

“Its alright, I’ll take over from here. Have a nice night darling!” She said waving as me as I quickly clocked out.

I ran to the back of the store and grabbed my stuff and went outside to wait for the bus. It was a warm summer night, and the wind was bit chilly. I didn’t have to wait long for the bus, as soon as I got to the stopped it pulled up and I quickly got on and sat near the front as the back was quite crowded.

The bus drove slowly through the busy streets of Atlanta; everyone seemed to be in a rush to leave. I wondered why, it was only Tuesday; where could everyone be headed off to?

Suddenly the bus came to an abrupt stop and I had to hold onto the side of the bus to keep me from falling flat on my face.

“What’s going on?” I heard a lady ask from the back.

“There seems to be a bit of a traffic jam.” The bus driver called back to the lady.

I looked out my window and saw that people where getting out of their cars and running from something. I couldn’t see what, but it was a crazy scene.

We started driving again, and I finally made it to my street and got off. I started walking down my street as fast as I could so I can get home and get ready to go out with my friend Savannah for the evening.

I saw a man stumbling towards me; he seemed to be very angry and was making loud strange grunting noises. As he got closer I realized that his face was crumbling apart, and he had an arm missing and was limping slightly.

What was wrong with this man?

“Hello?” I called out to him.

“Arruuuughhhhh.” He called out back to me.

“Are you alright sir?” I asked him.

He got closer and started reaching for my arm to bite it, I was scared what was this man doing to me? What did he want from me? Why was he trying to eat me alive?

I realized something was very wrong with this situation and turned and ran away from the man, I made my way to my house and ran up the driveway. I saw group of people making their way towards me, I was scared and wondered what they wanted. Quickly I put my key in the lock and tried to turn it but it wouldn’t move, and the people where getting closer and closer.

Finally I made my way inside and locked the door behind me.

“DAD?! CALEB?!” I shouted.

“Down here!” I heard my brother shout from the basement.

I made my way down there and saw my brother was gathering his stuff up and shoving it inside a bag while my father sat on the couch watching the news.

“What’s going on?” I asked them.

“We need to go!” My brother shouted at me.

“Huh? Why? What happening?” I asked worried.

“Watch the news” He said.

“We have been getting some strange reports of people attacking each other in a cannibal like way, the outbreak is currently being investigated by police but the cause of the situation is currently unknown.” The news went on to show a street where multiple bodies were laying under white sheets, covered in blood, and police officers walking around them.

“CTC news is asking people to leave the area as soon as they possibly can, and make it to a safe area, but officials at the CDC have released a statement saying that this is some sort of virus, spread through contact with an infected person. Government officials are warning people about coming into contact with the infected, and say that if you think you have been exposed, you should go to your local emergency room."

“Holy fuck we got to go!” I shouted to my brother and dad.

“You guys go on, I’ll stay here.” My dad said.

Suddenly I heard a window breaking from upstairs and lots of growling noises. Me and my brother ran upstairs and saw that the creatures or whatever they were had broken into our living room and where coming toward us.

“GET OUT OF HERE!” My brother shouted running toward the garage.

The creatures made their way in, and started stumbling their way downstairs where my father was.

I heard my father screaming downstairs, and my brother and I went down there to investigate what happened.

They were biting into his flesh and tearing him to shreds, he was screaming and bleeding from everywhere.

“Pack your shit and let’s go.” My brother told me.

“What about dad?!” I shouted at him.

“There’s nothing we can do, he’s gone now.” He said holding back tears.