Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

|7|

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The fucking bird was driving me insane. The damned thing must've been directly outside, determined to wake me up from the dreamless sleep that I was oh-so enjoying. I squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to open them, and turned onto my stomach, wishing the land of sleep would claim me again. But, alas, I continued to prove that I was unlucky when sleep's sweet embrace didn't welcome me with open arms. Finally, after a few minutes of trying to sleep and failing, I opened my eyes. I didn't recognize my surroundings, but I was in a tent. Impossible since I didn't have a tent of my own. So where the fuck am I? I shot up and searched wildly for any indication of where I might be until I heard voices outside the tent.

"How is she?" I heard a familiar voice ask, Rick's voice.

"Still out cold." Daryl's harsh one answered, "What the hell happened out there?" I heard one of them sigh loudly. It was definitely another man... Shane, maybe?

"I don't know." Rick muttered, "Could it be from exhaustion or something?"

"Man, did you see her go last night?" I heard the voice I couldn't place before saying. Yup, it was Shane. "You know how many walkers she took out single-handedly? Damn impressive; Never seen a girl fight like that."

"Which leads me to believe it was exhaustion," Rick said, "We ran nearly all day yesterday and didn't have much to eat."

"I don't know, man," Daryl muttered, "She bawled her eyes out there with Andrea, and she didn't even know Amy too well. Then when I got her in the tent, she kept repeating something about summer." That was my cue. I crawled towards the tent's entrance and let out a whimper as my muscles screamed in agony. I'm feeling all that running today. I opened the tent and looked at the three men: Rick, Daryl, and Shane. I smiled weakly at them and shielded my eyes as I rose to my feet, grabbing Daryl's leg to help me. "You okay?" Daryl asked me, his eyes scanning me over.

"Yeah," I moaned, stretching my legs, "Just sore, is all."

"Not what he meant." Rick said, his ocean-blue eyes examining me, "What happened last night?" Nope. Not gonna touch on that subject right now. I refuse to.

"Walkers attacked the camp." I shrugged nonchalantly and stretched my arms above my head, feeling a satisfying pop.

"After that." Shane said, "The whole scene with Andrea and then you just..."

"Look," I started, interrupting him, "I'm fine now, and I rather not talk about it, okay?" The three men nodded, and all looked down at their feet. I pointed to the tent and smiled, "So, who did I crash with anyway?"

"Me." Daryl answered, "Ain't got to worry, just let you sleep, is all. Kept to myself on the other side of the tent." I smiled at him and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him while he stood awkwardly.

"Aww, Daryl!" I teased, "I knew you liked me!" With a grunt, he shoved me away and cleared his throat before stalking away. I chuckled at his discomfort and rubbed my arms, trying to massage the knots and soreness away.

"Time?" I asked the men, still chuckling to myself.

"7 on the dot." Shane answered me, "Listen, you don't have to do anything today. You can just sit and do laundry or something, relax." I shook my head and made an unpleasant face, feeling somewhat offended that he would even suggest such a thing. Plus, laundry wasn't even all that relaxing with all the scrubbing and all. No, no, thank you.

"Hell no." I answered, "Might as well put a bullet through my head now if that's what you want me to do." I walked away from Rick and Shane, looking at the chaos around me. There were bodies, both the dead and our people, scattered everywhere in our camp. I noticed almost everyone was awake and doing something. I guess most couldn't sleep after what happened last night, and I don't blame them. A large part of me couldn't help but feel guilty for passing out. I unbuttoned my flannel, wrapping it around my waist, and turned, my eyes landing on Andrea.