xii. the butterfly effect

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ELEVEN. the butterfly effect








The feeling of panic had become a familiar one, the harsh beating of hearts in chests and the sounds of weapons being raised

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The feeling of panic had become a familiar one, the harsh beating of hearts in chests and the sounds of weapons being raised. The worries you had before changed desperately. Adeline Grimes remembered the way her heart dropped to her stomach when she accidentally left her keys in a locked car, and that same feeling racked her body when the snarls of a walker grew close. Everything changed - everyone's life had flipped a switch and was forever put on the line. You never knew when your last words would be spoken, and you never knew what monster was lurking around the next corner. For Adeline, she worried that the monster would be herself.

"Get away from her, Jim." Shanes' voice tore a tear through her train of thought, sending it off of its rails. Adeline pulled herself out of her own mind and noticed the pale and now worried body of Jim standing in front of her. His proximity had changed slightly, only one step back had been taken. But the fear that radiated off of him, it was impossible for the girl to miss.

Reluctantly, the infected man moved away and allowed Adeline to escape his panicked wrath. Jim was far from dangerous - a bite was the worst thing that could happen to you. Unless you ended it early, it was a slow and painful death. Boots skidded against the dirt ground as Shane reached his hand out to his wife and pulled her behind his back, aiming his shotgun at the man with sharp eyes. The rest of the camp went on alert, Daryl rushing to the scene with his pickax - "Show it to us!"

Jim became spooked at the number of weapons pointed at him, people he knew turning on him within a second. He hurriedly grabbed a shovel and started waving it around to anyone who came too close for comfort. "Grab him!" The order was shared around the group, T-Dog being the first to listen seeing as he was already behind the man. Rushing up on him, he wrapped his arms around Jims and held him back - the shovel clattering to the ground as Daryl discarded his pickax to lift the mans' shirt and revealing the fresh bite mark.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay." Jim assures the group, the men releasing him and letting him stumble around with eyes full of lost hope. "I'm okay." He repeated, tears welling in his eyes.

Adeline felt the guilt of announcing his bite to the group hit her, knowing it was in best interest but wished her fear hadn't of controlled her actions. So, she curled her fingers around her husband's arm and stepped out from behind his protective stance - "Hey, Jim. How about I get you cleaned up, yeah? Okay?" She offered the sick man, letting go of Shane only for the man to hold her back with careful eyes. Her eyes met his, "I'll holler if I need you. Just figure this out." Words of assurance left her lips before she stepped away and guided Jim to the backside of the RV.

Tiredly, he sat against a red toolbox and leaned against the metal. Adeline had retrieved after her medical bag that Rick and the others had brought back, half of the supplies missing due to them exchanging it for Glenn. Apparently they had run into a group that called themselves the Vatos, and they kidnapped Glenn right off of the streets. This caused half of their guns to be given away and half of the medicine Adeline had packed. It didn't leave her with a lot to work with if something serious happened, so she only used alcohol pads and a small roll of bandages plus gauze to clean up Jims' wound. Reluctantly, she had given him a pain pill - but she knew she would regret that decision in the future seeing as he was a lost cause by now.

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