Full Time Job

The light had finally begun to shine through the broken windows of the derelict office building that we had chosen for shelter the night before. I hadn’t been able to sleep whatsoever, I was constantly on edge, waiting for a walker to come in and try to eat my flesh at any minute.

My nephew, Vinny, who was almost three years old, snuggled into my chest and I watched as his eyes fluttered open and I smiled down to him as we made eye contact.

“Good morning, handsome,” I said, ruffling his hair and kissing his forehead. We both sat on the tiled office floor behind a heavy metal desk that we had slept under. I reached for my backpack that rested against a leg of the desk and pulled out an energy bar and bottle of water for Vinny. I placed them in his hands and told him to eat his breakfast and stretched, yawned, and peeked around the desk behind me. No walkers. I stood up and began to look through the desks nearby for supplies. I was pulling some abandoned Tylenol, fruit snacks, and water bottles from an unlocked drawer when I heard a door slam shut on one of the floors below us.

“Zia?! What was that??” I heard Vinny ask, terror rising in his voice. I quickly ran over to him, pulling him under the desk with me, and lightly placed my hand over his mouth.

“Vinny, we have to be really quiet…remember how good you did last time?” I whispered quietly into his ear as I wrapped my arms tightly around him. I felt his head nod and we sat in silence as we heard movement below us that seemed to be growing louder.

We sat quietly, listening to the sounds below us creeping closer until the door to the room that we were in had swung open and I heard numerous pairs of footsteps creep in. The sounds of their footsteps led me to believe that they weren't walkers. I’ve heard the uneven and heavy footsteps of a walker before. These steps were even paced, light, and purposed. I could hear them walking towards the center of the room and stop completely. Vinny whimpered lightly.

“Who’s there?” I heard in a gruff, deliberate voice. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest..that wasn’t a walker. My thoughts began to race and my focus was now on whether or not I could trust who else was in the room with us. The steps began to move more frantically until I saw a pair of legs in brown polyester pants and black work boots stop at the desk in front of us. I held Vinny tightly as I watched a man with a brown sheriff’s hat kneel down and peer under the desk at us.

“Are you okay?” I heard him ask, looking directly at me, extending a hand towards us. Relief washed through my body as I relaxed my grip over Vinny’s mouth and held him close to me as we crawled out from under the desk. I took the man’s hand that helped me to my feet.

“Thank you,” I said quickly, nervous, and pulled Vinny into my arms and placed him on my hip. There were a few other guys with him, all with their weapons trained on me. They relaxed their stances when I turned to face them with my nephew snuggling my shoulder, hiding his face.

“What’s your name?” the man in the sheriff hat said. I turned towards him and studied his face. He looked as scared as I was but had kind, trusting eyes. I fidgeted Vinny in my arms and answered, “I’m Gianna, and this is my nephew Vinny… We were just passing through here…” I said quickly and the man in the sheriff hand extended his hand for me to shake. I adjusted Vinny so he sat on my left hip and shook his hand.

“My name is Rick. This is Glenn, T-Dogg, Daryl, and Shane,” he said, motioning towards the herd of men standing on the other side of the desk.

“Are you alone?” Rick asked, letting go of my hand which I instinctually wrapped protectively around Vinny.

“…Yes,” I answered truthfully.

“It’s not safe for you to be out here by yourself,” the tall, dark haired guy behind the desk said gruffly. He had broad shoulders and was wearing a worn hat that said police across the front and was putting his weapon into the back of his pants. I nodded, looking at the other two men. One had dark skin and wore a tan shirt, who was looking towards Vinny and I sympathetically. The other had sandy short brown hair and intense lightly colored eyes. He carried a crossbow, to which he had rested the tip of on the tiled floor at his feet.

“We were just out looking for supplies, we’re on our way to Fort Benning now, also just passing through the city. Just left the CDC… there’s nothing left,” Rick said slowly, “We have a group of about ten, and you’re welcome to join us.” I contemplated for a moment. I knew that I couldn’t survive for much longer with Vinny. I was also not sure if I could trust these people. The man with the crossbow looked at me as if he wasn’t sure if he could trust me either and appeared to be angry that Rick had invited me to come along. I understood completely. I was another mouth to feed and came with a two year old.

“Gianna?” Rick asked, tearing me from my reverie.

“Uhm, yes, we would love to come, thank you…” I said, making the decision as soon as I had said it. I was still unsure.

“Great. Pack your stuff,” Rick instructed, and I began to pack away the small amount of things that Vinny and I had had as the four men began to form a plan to get back to their people. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and picked Vinny back up. He wrapped his small arms around my neck and I approached Rick and the group.

“Don’t you have a weapon?” T-dogg asked, looking at me quizzically.

“No,” I said, looking down at the floor and Vinny said, “My Zia can run REALLY fast!” Rick chuckled and the man with the crossbow looked towards me angrily.

“Well, then Rick will lead us, T-Dogg, then Daryl, then you and your baby, then Glenn, and I will follow last. We stay in this formation guys. No matter what,” the guy I figured to be Shane said, by order of elimination. I nodded and followed as we exited the room and descended the stairs. We walked silently most of the way as to not attract any of the walking dead. We stepped outside of the building and had walked a few blocks when a pair of walkers stumbled their way into the street ahead of us. Daryl quickly stepped ahead of Rick and shot each perfectly in the skull with his crossbow and my stomach churned at the sound of flesh ripping and bones snapping.

He walked back into his spot in the line we had been moving in and yanked his arrows out of the walker’s skulls as we stepped over them. We were walking further and further from the city and Vinny had fallen asleep on my shoulder and I kept having to switch which of my arms held onto him, as he was getting heavy and we were walking farther and farther along.

“Want me to take him?” I heard Shane ask from behind me. I definitely was not ready to trust any of them enough with my nephew, even if they did just take us in with no questions asked.

“No, I’m fine,” I answered quietly and we continued to walk in silence. We had finally reached a pick up truck and van that the men had approached and began to dump their bags into. I stood quietly as Rick politely removed the bag strapped to my shoulder with a smile and placed it in the back of the work van.

“Well, I think it would be safest for you and your nephew to ride in the cab of the pick up with Daryl. That way he can be buckled into a seat belt. We have about a thirty minute drive to where our people are.” Rick said, motioning to Daryl, who was moving supplies into the back of the pick up truck. Rick walked with me over to the pick up and he opened the door for me and explained to Daryl that it would be better for us to ride with him. He scoffed, reluctantly agreed, and climbed up into the driver’s seat of the cab.

I hesitantly climbed in and placed my sleeping nephew beside me and worked to buckle him in. His head drooped to the side as the buckle clicked close, and I could feel Daryl’s glare on us both as he waited for me to buckle him. The truck roared to life and followed the work van the others were in onto the main highway out of Atlanta. Daryl didn’t say anything for a few minutes and the roar of the engine had woken up Vinny.

“Zia, where are we?” he asked sleepily, looking out of the window of the truck.

“I’m not sure,” I said quietly, looking over at Daryl, who kept his eyes on the road.

“Zia, who’s he?” Vinny asked, looking over at Daryl, who looked down at Vinny, a smirk emerging on what had been a stern, unmoving face.

“My name’s Daryl Dixon, little man, what’s yours?” he said in a rough southern drawl. I smoothed Vinny’s hair and smiled down at my nephew as he answered.

“Vinny,” he answered matter of factly, before continuing, “this is my Zia, but her real name is Gianna,” Vinny said, patting my thigh. I was still smiling when I looked up to lock eyes with Daryl. He looked down at Vinny and back to the road as Vinny continued to babble, “sometimes people call her Gia.”

“Well, ‘s it Zia or Gia?” Daryl asked in a light voice, humoring Vinny. I hadn’t had any real human contact in weeks and watching this scruffy, southern, rough man talking to my nephew was bringing back emotions I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I hadn’t felt human in a long time.

I chuckled and answered, “Zia is Italian for aunt,” I explained and Vinny repeated, “Zia is Italian for aunt, Daryl Dixon…”

“Well then,” Daryl answered, and we had been quiet for the rest of the car ride to wherever we were going.

We had slowed to a stop behind the work van in front of us, and Daryl turned off the truck and jumped down in silence, shutting the door behind him. We were in the middle of the highway. An RV was parked in front of us with a few people standing outside of it, and a man with a white beard stood on top, holding a set of binoculars. Behind them was line of car after car after car. All were abandoned. I sat in shock for a few seconds when I had realized that all the people that had owned these cars were all gone. I slowly opened the door, unbuckled Vinny, jumped down to the pavement, pulled Vinny from the truck, slinging him onto my hip as I walked slowly behind Rick and Shane and timidly approached the group of people in front of me who were all eyeing me and Vinny suspiciously.

“Hey Everyone, this is Gianna, and her nephew…” Rick started. “Vinny,” I answered, and Rick continued, “Vinny… We found them alone in the city and invited them to come with us…” Rick explained as I smiled sheepishly to the people in front of me.

“This is Carol and Sophia,” Rick said, motioning towards a middle-aged woman with short gray hair who stood behind a young girl with light brown hair. She looked like she was about ten. “Andrea,” he added, and a blonde woman with blue eyes smiled hesitantly at me. “Dale’s up there,” Rick continued motioning towards the man standing on top of the RV. “And this is my wife Lori and my son Carl.” Rick finished, standing next to a tall brunette with a young freckled boy. Vinny buried his face into my shoulder.

“Hello,” I said to everyone, and the woman named Carol approached me and placed her arm on my shoulder when everyone had dispersed.

“How old is he?” she asked me, smiling at Vinny.

“Two,” Vinny answered timidly, and they began chatting animatedly.

“Well, you are welcome to sleep in the RV until we reach Fort Benning,” Carol started, leading me inside the rickety old camper and I finally felt safe enough to set Vinny down. Sophia ran up to him and they began to play together on the floor of the RV.

“Would you like some coffee?” Carol asked sweetly and my stomach lurched in excitement.

“You have coffee?” I asked, emphasizing every word. Carol chuckled, nodded, and poured a small portion of coffee in a mason jar and set it on the table in front of me.

“I’m sorry, we don’t have any cream or sugar, but it’s still coffee…” she said, holding the mug she had been drinking from under her nose, inhaled deeply, and took a sip. I mirrored her, and pulled the cup up to my face and the simple aroma of coffee instantly grounded me. I sipped lightly, savoring the bitter taste.

“Thank you so much,” I said slowly, and Carol sat in the chair opposite me at the small table in the RV. Sophia and Vinny were giggling together on the floor; Carol was smiling at them and turned towards me.

“How did you two end up alone together?” she asked quietly.

“Well, I was babysitting for my sister and brother in law; they were on vacation in Florida. We are from St. Louis. I decided to try and find my sister, so Vinny could be with his parents… We drove and made it as far as Nashville until I ran out of gas. We’ve been walking ever since…”

Carol shook her head, and said, “I can’t imagine…” She sighed deeply and continued, “Sophia and I were with her father, but about a week ago our camp was attacked and…” she trailed off, and looked at me solemnly. I nodded and understood.

The door to the RV abruptly swung open and Dale and Andrea, who I had been introduced to earlier, had filed in. Andrea sat on the nearby sofa and Dale sat next to Carol at the table and said, “It’s going to be dark soon. Daryl is going take first watch. We have a few tents set up outside, and tomorrow, we continue searching these cars for supplies, and I can hopefully find a replacement radiator hose for the RV.” Carol nodded in agreement.

“Dale, do you know where they put my bag?” I asked shyly.

“Sure, follow me,” Dale instructed, and I stood up and began to scoop up Vinny, when Carol chimed, “Don’t worry about him, dear, I’ll keep an eye on him.” I stood up, looking down at Vinny, unsure if I should leave him out of my sight.

“He’ll be fine,” Carol started, and I nodded and knelt down beside Vinny.

“I’m going to go get our bag, you stay right here with Miss Carol and mind your manners.” I said quickly and kissed his forehead. He nodded and went back to playing with Sophia.

I hopped down from the RV and followed Dale as he approached Glenn, Rick, and Lori standing around the piles of supplies that we had brought in earlier.

“Hey Gianna,” Rick said politely, “How’s your little guy doing?”

“He’s doing fine... he’s finally found a friend to play with…” I smiled and Lori smiled back to me. Dale began rummaging through the packs on the pavement in front of us as I spotted my pack and pulled it out of the pile.

“Thanks, Dale,” I said, smiling shyly, and waved to everyone else. “Goodnight guys, thanks again.” I turned and walked back towards the RV. I peered up to the top of the camper and felt the glare of Daryl Dixon radiating from his spot on top of the RV, where he was doing his watch patrol. I gave him a small smile, but his glare did not change, and he quickly looked away and stared off into the distance.

I climbed back into the RV and began to get Vinny ready for bed; Carol had made a bed for us on the sofa. Carol and Sophia climbed under their blankets and both wished us good night. I laid down behind Vinny and pulled him close to me as I pulled the sheet around us. He rested his hand on my cheek and we drifted off to sleep.