The Love Shack [Glenn Rhee]

06

W I L D F I R E

Artemis and Andrea were sitting by Amy's body, refusing to leave her side. It was understandable, as they were the closest people to her. Her best friend and her beloved older sister.

The attack from the previous night was horrible, and most everyone had been slaughtered by the group of hungry walkers that had infiltrated the camp.

Andrea caresses her sister's face, not ready to face the fact that her sister is dead. Many of the camp members attempted to console the two and failed. That was until Dale came over to talk to them.

"I came to pay my respects." He says, sitting beside Andrea. "Did I ever tell you how I lost my wife?"

"Cancer, wasn't it?" Andrea finally speaks.

"Yeah. I dragged her to every doctor, every test. After all the surgeries and the chemo's, she was ready. She accepted it, you know? But I never could. And I spent the last few years so angry. I felt so cheated. Since she passed, you three were the first people I cared anything for." Dale admits.

Andrea smiles lightly, seeming to have been comforted by the man's words. Artemis, on the other hand, not so much. He held tightly onto Amy's hand, tears still rolling down his pale face.

Andrea takes out a necklace, which was wrapped in pink paper.

"This is her birthday?" Dales eyes widen.

Andrea nods. "Her birthday was always like a week-long affair. But, I somehow always missed it. I'd be away at college or too busy for kid's parties. I always said I'd make it home, and I really always meant to. But I never made it past that phone call." She looks down at her sister, lovingly.

"I know things are already hard enough without adding guilt into the mix, huh?" Dale says.

Andrea unclasps the necklace before placing it around Amy's neck and closing it off. Dale gets up and leaves tearfully.

"Mermaids, huh?" Artemis speaks up after getting a good look at the necklace. "She always loved those."

"I saw it back in Atlanta, thought she'd like it." Andrea sniffles before caressing Amy's face once more.

"She would've." Artemis nods. "She really would."

The two continue to sit with Amy, unaware of the commotion currently happening on the other side of the camp.

Fairly enough, they were more concerned about the fact Amy had turned. Andrea watches as Amy slowly tries to sit up, chomping at her sister's hand.

"Andrea." Artemis says.

She doesn't hear him, rather, she refuses to. She was too entranced with her sister who was currently rising up from the dead. Amy's moans and groans starts to catch the attention of the rest of the group, leading to people pulling out their guns.

Artemis holds up his hand to them, to get them to not shoot. Andrea pulls out her own gun, clicking off the safety. 

"I'm here now Amy, I'm here." Andrea puts the gun behind Amy's ear, pulling the trigger. "I love you."

Everyone else puts down their own guns, as Andrea begins to caress her beloved sisters face once more.

A little while later, the group begins to get ready to leave the camp. Artemis stands with Andrea, holding her hand, as Shane starts to talk.

 "Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on Channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane says.

"We're uh, not going." Morales speaks up. 

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." Morales's wife Eliza, also speaks up. 

Everyone agrees to let the family go their separate ways, before saying their goodbyes. Artemis didn't know anyone all too well, except for Eliza. He spent time helping most of the women around the camp, so he knew her pretty well. 

Artemis says goodbye to them, wishing them a safe journey and even letting the kids pet his cats one last time. He then gets into T-Dog's church bus with Andrea, as there was no space left in the R.V. and he most definitely didn't want to ride with Shane in his jeep. 

The group had to stop after a good few hours, since Dale's R.V. broke down, once again.  They were now stuck on a highway, with a bunch of abandoned cars.

"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asks the older man.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." Dale responds.

"You should've taken my offer to let me fix it." Artemis tells Dale, a hint of pique in his voice.

"Eh, wouldn't want you to mess it up." Dale waves him off.

Artemis makes a face, as he gets waved off. The man was literally a mechanic, at least, he used to be. And a good one at that. He just walks off, waiting until the R.V. was up and going. 

Once the group left, Artemis had gotten back into T-Dog's vehicle, sitting with his cats. He had been informed of Jim wanting to  be left behind, though he didn't say goodbye. Fairly enough, Jim kind of creeped the ginger man out. Artemis just wanted to be alone for the most part, still trying to cope with Amy's death.

Finally, the group got to their destination. The CDC. It had looked empty, except for the dead bodies sprawled around. The place looked terrible, with a sand bag barricade and trash everywhere. Everyone seemed weary, as walkers had started to notice the very alive people walking around.

As they approached the entrance, Rick attempts to open the security door. 

"Nothing?" Shane whispers, going over, and banging on the door.

Everyone began to protect each other, as the walkers had finally started to reach them. Artemis blocks out their yelling, as his eyes were fixated on a security camera. Rick seemed to have noticed it as well. 

"The camera, it moved." Rick says.

"Rick, it is dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on." Shane tries to convince his friend.

"No, I saw it too. That definitely moved." Artemis speaks up.

"Just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead. Y'all need to let it go." Shane scoffs. 

Rick fights past Shane, going to where the camera was. 

"I know you're in there! I know you can hear me!" Rick yells to whomever was inside, staring at the camera feed. 

Rick continues pleading his case, as Shane keeps on trying to get Rick to leave. Artemis takes out his pocket knife, taking down a walker that had gotten too close to Andrea. 

"You're killing us!" Rick shouts to the unknown person once more. "You're killing us! You're killing us!"

The whole group turns to walk back to their vehicles, until, a bright white light blinds them all. The door had opened. Rick's pleas had worked. 

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Sorry this chapter took so long to get out:') hope y'all liked it