Janie's Got A Gun (A 'The Walking Dead' Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Russian Roulette

Breath in,
Breath out,
Breath in,
Breath out.
Janie finally knocked on the door and a voice called out from behind it.
"Who is it?"
"Janie." She said back, her voice breaking as she did. The silence that followed felt like an eternity and she slowly started to step away.
"Come in."
She opened the door to see Carl sat on his bed sharpening a knife, he didn't look up as she entered and sat down on the chair in front of his desk.
"Can we talk?" She asked and he nodded, still transfixed on his knife. "Ever since, well you know, the image of you dying instead of Abraham and Glenn hasn't left my mind." She studied his unchanged face for a moment. "I wanted to apologise to you and Enid for what I did, not just in the RV, the whole time I've known you. You were right, I am jealous, I've never really had a friend before and when you started to hang out with Enid, I was scared you were gonna forget about me."
"Jane." Carl finally looked at her. "Don't be so stupid, I would never forget about you."
"I know." She whispered. "I'm sorry."
"How come you've never had friends?" He asked as he put down the knife.
"I'm a bitch." She mumbled. "Everyone at school used to bully me but I wasn't afraid to stand up for myself so I'd beat them all up and then everyone would be scared of me. When I was like 11 I would hang out with my older sisters boyfriend and his friends, I would always steal my parents drugs and alcohol for them."
"How old were they?" Carl asked, a concerned look rising onto his face.
"Like 20."

Four years earlier
"So you got the gun, yeah?" The first man asked as they trudged through the forest.
"Yeah but-"
"And its a revolver like we asked?" The second man asked.
"Yes but why-"
"And one bullet?" The third man asked.
"I've got it all-"
"We're here." The fourth man said and they all came to a stop in front of a rickety wooden house, the upstairs looked like it had been blown up leaving only the bottom floor, it was partly burned down and the parts of wood that weren't charred were rotting. They entered through the doorway which had no door on it to reveal a small room, in the centre was a damp carpet that smelled like a wet dog and was starting to grow mould. Leaning against the far wall was the front door which had satanic symbols and profanities carved into it and the floor was strewn with empty bottles and cans, some mouldy underwear and cigarette butt's.
The group sat in a circle around the carpet and Janie placed the revolver and single bullet in the middle. One of the men picked it up and put the bullet inside before spinning it and placing it back in the middle.
"Know what we're doing yet?" He asked and Janie shook her head.
"Russian roulette."
"Go on then." One of them said and the man nodded and picked up the gun before loading it. Slowly he raised it to his head as his friends giggled around him.
"Pull the trigger." One of them said.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" The rest chanted and Janie joined in apprehensively.
The sound of a metallic click interrupted their chant as the man lowered the gun.
"I survived." He yelled and the group applauded.
He handed the gun to Janie and she looked down at it shaking in her hands, she exhaled before raising the gun up to her head as the chant started again. She closed her eyes and squeezed them tightly together as she pressed down on the trigger and there was another metallic click.

They were almost round the whole circle and so far no one had been shot. The last man was handed the gun and the whole group laughed hysterically.
"Hey, Jane." A voice spoke and Janie looked up at the man next to her. "You having fun?" He asked and she nodded timidly. "You're quiet aren't you?" He said as he reached his hand out and stroked her cheek gently. Janie's chest tightened as if her heart was vacuum packed and she felt her stomach bubble in discomfort. The man chuckled as he removed his hand. "You're so cute-"
Janie jumped as a ringing became clear in her ears, she watched as the men stood up, still laughing hysterically and ran towards the door. Janie slowly looked beside her to see the gun lay on the floor next to an empty bullet casing. Her eyes continued to wander until it fell upon one of the men, he was face down on the floor and blood was leaking from the bullet hole in the side of his head.

- Princexiero xx