wastelands → the walking dead ¹

[ 005 ] the first of many.

— CHAPTER FIVE.
the first of many.

WITH A CONCUSSION AND her head pounding, Odessa manages to skin only three fish before throwing up.

The Harrison sisters have saved the day with catching enough fish to feed them for at least two days. Odessa knows she can always, always count on Andrea and Amy.

She isn't allowed to do anything around camp, per Jacqui's orders. They are worried she may strain herself too hard. She tries to argue that it's her head and that she hadn't lost an arm. They argue back that it's isn't just a small cut on the back of her head, it is a concussion.

So she just sits around. She draws in a notebook, she write her thoughts in a journal she'd brought with her from her old home in King's County. She wonders if her dad and the others are okay in Atlanta. She makes a doll for Eliza— Morales's daughter. She loves it. She hugs Odessa tightly and even gives her a kiss ok the check.

But other than all of that, she wonders why the hell Jim has been digging graves. Shane has tied the man to a tree after he attacked him at his gravesite.

Odessa argues that he hadn't been hurting anyone. Dale tells her that he was hurting himself. Odessa says if he wanted to, then let him. It's his choice to dig those graves.

So now Odessa is sitting in a tree branch not far from camp. She is whittling with a pocket knife and another stick. It isn't a talent or a hobby. She's just bored.

She is carving a snake wrapped around a bat. She doesn't know the significance— just thinks it's cool. She's going to give it to Glenn when he gets back.

"Odessa?" A voice calls up to her. She jumps at the sudden voice and looks down.

"Hey, Dale," she calls down to him.

"What're you doin', kid?" He asks.

"I'm just trying to waste time. Got nothin' to do." She answers. She shows him the knife and snake around the knife.

"There's nothing but time in this world, Dessa. There's a lot of time to waste so why don't you come down here. Dinner's almost done and it's gettin' dark. We don't want you far from camp at night." The old man says to her.

"Who's we? You, my mom, Shane?" She scoffs.

"Me, Amy, Andrea, Carol, Jacqui, Sophia, your brother. We're all worried about ya." He says.

"I'll come down before it gets dark, Dale, promise." She nods. He does the same before walking back to camp but not before sending a concerned glance back at her.

She stays in the tree for at least thirty more minutes before climbing down the fifteen feet. As soon as her feet hit the ground, a rat scurries across her feet. She shrieks and jumps back. She presses her hand to her chest, trying to call her breathing.

She returns to camp just as the fish finish cooking. She sits between Carl and Carol and is handed a plate of fish. She is also given a bottle of water.

She is quiet, she doesn't feel like speaking around her mother. She picks up a piece of fish with her fork and chews on while Morales asks Dale, "I've gotta ask, man. It's been driving me crazy."