The Walking Dead

Chapter 11

Diamond blinked her eyes open, rolling her neck with a groan. Willie Mae's head was on her legs, and she brushed the hair out of the girl's face gently. Her brother was driving, while Ellis rested in the passenger's seat. It was around seventeen hours to the Seattle area where they were headed, and Diamond wasn't looking forward to it. Why had Sloane and Henry taken a different car? Even though she could see them in the rearview mirror, she didn't like it.

"How are you doing, Dalt?"

Dalton's eyes were expressionless, and dark circles added to them. "Fine."

Diamond's eyes tightened when she heard no life in her twin's voice. She looked down at Mae, probably the only reason she wasn't out of it. Seeing her mother like that...Diamond shuddered. She had taken her mother's necklace, the one she wore every day, no matter where she went. No one understood why she had mixed silver, gold, and diamonds all together in one piece, but Di did. "Dalt...you can talk to me, you know."

She saw his jaw clench. "I don't want to."

Diamond pursed her lips. "Come on. Talk to me."

Dalton's hands tightened on the steering wheel, he was white-knuckling it. "About what, Di? The fact that our parents were a couple of those...things? No thanks. That since Sloane left me and our parents are dead I'm practically alone in this world? That the only one I have left is you, and sometimes it feels like even you hate me?"

Di was taken aback. "I could never hate you, Dalton."

Dalton sighed. "I don't want to think about any of it. So I'm not going to. I'm not going to think, or feel, or anything. I'll just be -- here."

Diamond took a breath to speak, but at that moment, Willie Mae started twitching. She whimpered, and Diamond shook her gently. "Mae?"

The little girl's eyes shot open wide, and she took deep breaths. "It was just a dream," she whispered. But then she stuck her face into Diamond's shoulder and began to cry.

"Oh," Diamond sighed. She hugged the girl close. "Its alright."

"It was so scary," Mae sobbed. "I could hear the walkers all around me, and no one else. I called out for everyone -- Ellis, you...But no one came!"

"Its okay," Diamond said. "It was just a nightmare. Don't worry, I'm here. I'll always be here."

Mae sniffled and looked up. "Always? Even with the monsters?"

"Always. No walker is going to get you as long as I'm around."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Diamond smiled reassuringly even though Mae couldn't see it.

Willie Mae seemed to let out a relieved sigh and rested her head back on Di's lap. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep herself.

--

Diamond rode shotgun as Ellis drove, leaning her head against the window. Mae was surprisingly still sleeping, and Dalton had passed out as soon as he got back there. She hummed under her breath, not knowing how she could be so awake without an iced hazelnut coffee. Ellis glanced over. "What is that?"

"Run Devil Run." He stared at her incomprehensibly. She laughed. "It's K-pop. Girls' Generation. I like Exo and Shinee too."

"K-pop?" Ellis asked curiously.

"Yeah!" Diamond exclaimed. "Korean pop music. I love it."

"You are a strange girl," Ellis chuckled.

Diamond smiled slightly. "I'll take that as a compliment."

He shook his head with a silent laugh. "Hey...are you okay? With your parents and everything...?"