𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙨 ♔ 𝙙.𝙙𝙞𝙭𝙤𝙣

6

JUMPING OUT OF THE vehicle, Aria refrains herself from sending her sister the finger. Having argued with her a total of three times, she's surprised T-Dog didn't kick the two out. Swatting some flies away from her face, Aria looks around, her nose scrunched up at the smell of rotting corpses.

Hooking her thumbs in her belt loops, she walks behind everyone, stepping over bodies. Biting her lip, she glances around warily, feeling very uncomfortable. Something about this place puts her on high alert, maybe it's just the dead corpses all over the ground and the rotting smell.

Raising a hand to cover her nose and mouth, she does her best not to gag. "Keep it together—come on!" Rick whispers harshly to everyone, glancing behind him every now and then. Walking quicker, she almost breaks out into a sprint as she realizes how far she was from the group. Stupid of her to think she should stay farther back away from them, she couldn't fight away a herd of walkers by herself if they happened to show up. In this world, it's hard to survive alone.

She blows out a breath as she catches up with the group. Almost running smack into Daryl's back, she abruptly stops, saving herself from the embarrassment and the pain. Rick rattles the shutters only to discover that they are locked shut. "Great." She utters under her breath, rubbing her forehead. "Walkers!" Daryl shouts, alerting the group. Feeling herself being pushed closer towards the group, she almost stumbles to the ground from the sudden movement. A hand grasps Aria's and she glances up to see Carol holding onto her and Sophia, tightly.

A walker in camo moves towards them and Aria furrows her eyebrows, staring at it. As the bald and bloodied walker closes in, an arrow files through the air and pierces it through its brain, killing it instantly. "You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yells over the whimper of the children and the women. Daryl marches over towards Rick, anger covering his face. "He made a call." Dale tells him, holding his gun in his hands tightly. "It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl exclaims, his glare set on Rick. Shane rushes forward to the aid of his friend.

"Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up—shut up!" Shane snarls, shoving Daryl backwards. Carol's grip on the female's loosen for a second before tightening again. "Where are we going to go?" Carol sobs out and Aria squeezes her hand in reassurance. "She's right. We can't be this close to the city after dark." Carl's and Sophia's sobs and cries sound over anything else and Aria bends down, looking into their watery eyes. "Hey—hey. I know y'all are scared but you're going to be fine." She trails off, looking between him and Sophia.

Sophia reaches over and grabs ahold of her hand, moving closer towards Aria. Raising to her feet, Aria watches the commotion closely, her heart racing but her face showing that she's calm. She has always had a soft spot for kids, even when she was one herself. They were innocent human beings who were still learning about life. But now, she feels for the kids who have to grow up in this fucked up world where death is becoming a normal thing.

As Shane begins to push the group away from the CDC, fear starts bubbling up inside Aria's stomach. "The camera—the camera moved!" Rick calls out, stopping the group in their tracks. Swiveling her head around, Aria raises her gaze up towards the black camera, seeing her reflection in it. "You imagined it." Dale shrugs him off, beginning to usher the group back towards the cars.

Rick starts to bang on the shutters and Aria closes her eyes, her breathing beginning to quicken. As panic sets in, her eyes snap open and she clenches her fists at her sides, her fingernails puncturing her palms. Movement infront of her causes her to look forward and she bites her lip, tears welling up in her eyes. Walkers are beginning to close in and there is no way they'll be able to make it to the cars in time without losing anyone or even everyone.

Lori quickly pushes Carl in Aria's arms before running towards Rick trying to get him away. Carl hides his red, wet face in her shirt, sobs taking over his body. Rubbing his back and trying to prevent her own tears from falling, Aria pulls him closer, hugging him with one arm and her other arm accompanied by Carol. As Rick begins to leave, the hope in the group begins to fall, that is until the shutters clang open and a white light glares in front of them.