Not That Bad

5 ~ No Time To Mourn

CODY'S POV

Numb. Devastated. Depressed. Miserable. All words Cody could use to describe how she feels, and yet, none of them seem to fit. 

Pissed. Furious. Irked. Fucking ticked. Her rage battles with the depression, creating a storm inside of her. It's fucking exhausting.

Silence, empty, horrible silence. No one talks, no one moves. A few quiet sobs accompany the sound of the R.V. moving. They all wander to their homes, the somber atmosphere spreading over all of Alexandria. 

Cody lays in her bed, knees to her chest and her arms locked around them. She stays like that for hours, the sun setting in the distance, lighting her room in a hazy orange glow. She closes her eyes and wishes for it all to be a dream. 

A knock on her door startles Cody from her bed. "Come in." She says, sitting up and looking over at her clock. It's morning now. She clearly must have fallen sleep.

Rick opens her door and walks over, sitting beside her. "How you doin, kiddo?" She shrugs back in response. There are no words either of them could say to make things better so why even try?

"I'm going to grab some others and go on supply runs; that way we have stuff for Negan. I wanted to let you know so you could come if you wanted."

Cody stares, dumbstruck. "It's barely been a day and you're already running errands for that monster? Aren't you going to mourn?" She stands, a small tremble beginning in her hands. "We lost Abraham. Glenn. We shouldn't be getting shit for that asshole."

Rick sighs. "Cody I know what we've lost and I am mourning, but I need to make sure it doesn't happen again. I can't give him any reason to hurt you, Carl, or anyone else. Yeah, it's a shit deal, but we don't have a choice right now." He reaches for her hand and pulls his daughter closer. "If you're not ready I won't make you come with us, you have every right to stay here if you wish. I just wanted to offer in case you needed to get out of the house."

She sighs. "No, no. I'll come, just give me a minute to get ready."

He nods and exits, closing the door gently behind him. Cody quickly changes into jeans and a hoodie, grabbing her go bag and hatchet. She turns to leave and pauses, taking a closer look at the shirt she just took off. Dried blood spots the front. Her friend's blood.

She grabs it and shove it into her bag, not wanting  to look at it anymore. She was going to make sure she never saw it again. Cody shakes the thoughts from her head and head downstairs. Those that are going are waiting by the front gate with two cars.

Rick, Michonne, and Cody go in one car and Aaron, Carl, and Rosita go in the other. Each car goes in it's own direction. Just like it was in the R.V., they sit in silence. It's awhile before they stop at abandoned gas station. Rick and Michonne check the pumps for any gas they might be able to siphon while Cody heads inside.

Dust and leaves litter the floor, cementing the fact that the world ended. The shelves stands barren, emptied by survivors desperate for food. It's fairly dark, the only light coming from outside.

Cody runs her hand across one of the shelves as she walks, dust sticking to her hand and turning it a shade of grey. She stops in her tracks as something clanks towards the back of the building. Quiet rustling follows soon after.

Cody pulls her hatchet out and slow my pace, edging towards the back. A bathroom door comes into view, it's handle shaking slightly. The distance between the door and the teen grows smaller and smaller. She takes a deep breathe and grabs the handle.

Cody jumps back, whipping the door open. A walker stumbles out, it's focus quickly narrowing in on her. She takes a few steps back, preparing to swing my hatchet when she's grabbed from behind. Another walker must have wandered in while she was freeing the one in front of herself. 

She stumbles back and trips, falling to the ground. Her survival instincts scream at her, panicking over the two walkers quickly closing in on her body. She rolls to the side, ducking between the shelves, the walkers following close behind. She jumps up and deals with the closest one, chopping off an arm, then lodging the hatchet deep into it's head, dark blood splattering onto her face.

There's no time to react as she feels flesh tearing off of her side. She cries out and turns, burying the hatchet into the second walkers skull, jerking herself away. Blood spurts out, staining the dirty floor. Cody clutches her side and throws the backpack off and digs through it, finding the shirt she had shoved in there. She presses it into the would and leans against the shelf.

With the adrenaline leaving her body there nothing left but fear and sadness. She was bit. Anytime between now and 8 hours she would die from the fever and turn. She had a choice. Does she wait for the fever to get her or take herself out now.

No. No, she was not going to let this take what remaining time she had with her family, she was going to fight this to the very end.

Cody sighs and stands, heading outside. Rick and Michonne sit inside the car, both of crying. Cody pauses and glances down. They were still reeling, it's decided then, she wouldn't tell them until she has to. No reason to hurt them more then they already are.

Cody walks over to the car and climbs in. Rick turns toward her, wiping his face. "Find any- What the hell happened to you?"

Cody shrugs. "I tripped and landing on a shelf, nothing major."

---

Throughout the day Cody finishes the supply run with Rick and Michonne, playing with Judith and reading comics with Carl. She spends time with all she can, her energy giving her strength. But as the day goes on she notices something.  She feels fine. Not only that, but her bite was healing.

Usually, with every bite she's seen, the wound stays open and wet, but hers has scabbed. She checks to make sure she was bitten and not cut by something else, but it was pretty obvious that she was bitten.

It's been several hours as the sun begins to set. Cody goes upstairs to her room and locks the door. She sits against her bed, waiting for the fever, aching, and tiredness to hit her, but it never does.

Cody sits there all night, human as can be. The sun begins to rise when she checks her wound, dry and scabbed. It doesn't even hurt when she pokes it. She runs across the hallway, busting open the door to Rick's room only to shut it again when he and Michonne yell about being naked.

A moment later the door opens and Rick steps out, "Can I help you?"

Cody pulls him down to the floor, "Remember how I got cut yesterday morning? Well I lied. I wasn't going to say anything till last minute but then everything didn't go as planned and-"

He holds up a hand, "Slow down, what about your cut?"

Cody unties the wrap and shows him. His hand cups his mouth as he gasps. 

"No, no, no, no! Here's the thing, I got bit yesterday morning and if you remember back to Dr. Jenner, he said people turn between 3 minutes and 8 hours. But I haven't, not only that but it scabbed over and I feel fine."

He's silent as he touches the wound. "You feel fine?"

She nods.

It's not long till the whole family finds out and they discuss what to do next. They agree on how odd it is and the fact that Cody is still clearly still alive. After an hour Rick goes and grabs Eugene, certified science geek, to look but even he is baffled.

The only conclusion they can come to is that Cody must be immune or reacting late. For the next 24 hours she's kept under close watch, but she's stay healthy.

She wasn't going to turn.