wastelands → the walking dead ¹

[ 007 ] parting ways.

— CHAPTER SEVEN.
parting ways.

THEY LEAVE FOR THE CDC the next morning. After a sad parting with the Morales family, the caravan pulls away from their first ever safe haven in the horrible new world.

Odessa has yet to change, though she is experiencing cold sweats and passing migraines. She also holds a new anger inside her.

She is curled into herself in the back of the Grimes and Peletier vehicle. Carl sits beside her, his head resting on her shoulder. He keeps glancing at her right arm, terrified of what his sister— his best friend— could become.

The journey into the city is a dreadful one. She has cried and mourned over the losses they experienced. She grieves over the Morales family leaving them, she enjoyed their company. Morales is her friend and now she would probably never see him again.

Odessa is trying to prepare herself for whatever the CDC plans for her. She was bitten. She is dead. She would be an experiment to them.

Then the RV breaks down.

Odessa Grimes continues to whittle Glenn's gift as she sits on the hood of the SUV, her legs curled under her body. Her eyes move up when Jacqui rushes out of the RV, "y'all, Jim— it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

When all the adults gather in a huddle, Odessa sneaks into the RV. She moves to the back room where Jim's eyes peel open and move to her.

"Is this what's gonna happen to me?" She whisper. Jim van see the fear in her blue eyes. He doesn't blame her, he'd never been in so much pain in his life.

"No," Jim shakes his head. "You're gonna survive this, Dessa." He nods his head at her and she examines his pale face and sweaty body.

"I may not." She shrugs and sits beside him on the bed and grabs his hand. "I heard you tell my dad you want us to leave you here."

"I do," he smiles weakly at the girl. "I just want to be with my family. My wife and my boys."

Tears blind her as she nods, "I understand. I do." She then pulls out the gun she'd hidden away in her waistband. Jim glances at it. "I'm gonna kill myself when we get to the CDC," she informs him.

"You don't want your family to see you as a walker." Jim tells her, concern taking home in his fading eyes.

"No." She argues gently. "Carl doesn't deserve to see me like that. Neither does my dad."

"What 'bout your mom?"

Jim feels Odessa's body tense beside him. Lori. Her mother clouds her thoughts so very often. She questions what she did to make Lori hate her. She wonders why Lori loves Carl more than her. She wants to know why Lori allowed Shane to try to take the role as their father before Rick came back from the dead.

After a couple seconds of thinking, Odessa finally speaks up. "I hope she sees me as a walker," she nods to herself, blinking. Her tears finally fall. "I hope she sees me when I'm dead."

"You don't actually wish that," Jim says sadly. "The last thing a parent wants is to bury their child before them. I didn't even get the chance to bury my boys."