Waking (The Walking Dead)

1| Silent

1| Silent

Claire Starning doesn't know what happened. She can barely remember what happened just before everything had gone black. All she had done was open her eyes and find herself on the bathroom floor, completely naked. The shower is still on, and the water is completely cold. The side of her head feels like it had been shot.

Claire peels herself off the tiles and reaches her shaky hand over to the shower handle. As she turns off the water, she realizes that the water bills were going to be through the roof, and her mom was going to be so cross with her. Thinking of her mom, Claire remembers that her mom had run to the grocery store, but she said she would have only been a few minutes. She wonders why her mom hadn't came in? Surely, she would have heard a loud thud and the water running for an awfully long time?

She quickly slips on her bra, underwear, black tank top and shorts that she had left laying next to the sink for after her shower. She catches a glance of herself in the mirror. Upon further look, she notices the bloody hole on the side of her head. She tries to remember what happened. That's when she notices the white bar of soap on the shower floor.

That's it, she thought to herself, remembering exactly what happened. She dropped the soap and when going to pick it up, she slipped and hit her head. But how long had she been out for? She thought for a moment. She had a shower at ten, just before bed. Claire stumbles over to the window, pulling the curtains apart. The sun shines straight into her eyes, nearly blinding her. The trees rose up high, making it impossible for her to see any further out- she can't see all the broken down cars and bloody roads.

When she opens the bathroom door, she is immediately engulfed in silence. She peaks down the corridor, and hesitantly calls out for her mom. There was no answer. She steps out and slowly walks down the stairs. The walls were cracked and the photo frames had fallen off and were on the floor. Claire bends down and carefully picks away the glass shards, and pulls out the photograph. She smiles to herself. It was a photo of her mother and herself, on Claire's thirteenth birthday. Her mom's arms were draped around Claire's neck, who was sitting in front of a giant chocolate cake. It hadn't always been just her and her mom. Claire's father was an abusive alcoholic who left them just before the photograph was taken. Claire also had a little sister, named Quinn, who was just one years old when her father left and had taken Quinn with him. Quinn would be six years old now.

The sound of someone walking around in the kitchen broke Claire's thoughts. She shoves the photo in her pocket and continues to slowly descend down the steps. Claire slowly makes her way to the kitchen, wondering why the house was completely trashed. "Mom?" She gently calls out, peaking her head into the kitchen. She can smell the putrid meat.

She nearly screams when she catches a unrecognizable woman eating a bone out of the fridge. The creature looks up at her, it's eyes still human, but it's body half eaten. Blood and meat hung from her lips. Claire stares into the eyes of the creature. They were brown and full of sadness.

"Oh my God!" She screams. The creature begins making it's way towards her, arms out and grumbling. Claire feels herself back up into a wall, unable to move. Was this a dream? This couldn't be real.

Just as the creatures grip tightens around her arm, Claire is brought back into reality. She slips out of the monster's grip and runs out of the kitchen. She shoves past the front door that was open, and runs down the garden. She immediately stops running when she catches sight of the broken-down cars, abandoned houses, and similar creatures with their guts hanging out, walking around.

Claire turns around and notices that the thing from inside her kitchen was beginning to walk down the porch. Claire doesn't know what to do, or where to run. They were everywhere. Should she risk running past them? Claire took a deep breath in and began running as fast as she can, dodging the monster's hands trying to grip onto her.