Chapter 1

874 17 3
                                    

The next morning, I skip breakfast, instead, I head out to go on walker patrol. We have so many walkers at the gates now that people have to kill them, and I am one of the people who do it every day.

"Hey," Karen asks, "Can you take over for Ben?" He's been here since four."

I nod. Ben is a young, scrawny boy with crazy red hair. I thinkt that he's younger than myself, but he's so earger to show that he is strong, he overworks himself.

I take his place, stabbing at one. I don't know why we had such a buildup. I mean, I get that we had lot of people, but we never get this many. Something must be going on. "Hey, Karen? Does anyone ever go out at night?" She shrugs. "I'm not sure. I don't have night duty this week."

I nod, stabbing another walker. I glance over my shoulder, at Rick and Carl. They're talking, and then turn to look at me. I smile and wave, and they wave back. I turn back to the walkers, my face heating up. "Young love. Never fails to amuse me." Karen teases me, and I laugh.

We have people going out on a run, since food is getting sparse. Bob, Sasha, Tyreese, Glenn, Michonnie, myself (which Carl was not happy about), and Beth's boyfriend, Zack, are all going. Daryl had to bring back a deer today, since we're pretty much out of canned food.

"Isabelle! Let's go!" Daryl calls out. I set down my weapon, walking up to him. I grab my pack from him, and sit down behind him on the motorcycle.

The breeze whips my face, blowing strands of hair around. I don't bother attempting to fix it. It'll just come out of anything that I put it into.

After a little while later, we pull up to a store. As we get off of hte motorcycle and the others get out of the car, I note that there are fences. Daryl explains why. "Army came in and put these fences up," he says. "Made it a place for the people to go. Last week, when we spotted this place, there was a bunch of walkers behind this chain link, keeping people out, like a bunch of guard dogs." He adds.

"So they all just left?" Bob asks, confused. "Give a listen," Sasha calls out.

There's music playing on top volume a little ways away from the fence.

"You drew 'em out." Michonnie says. "Put a boom box out there three days ago." Sasha says. "Hooked it up to two car batteries." Glenn adds.

"Alright, let's make a sweep." Daryl cuts in, slipping through the fence. "Make sure it's safe. Grab what you can, we'll come back tomorrow with more people." he adds.

I check two army tents. All clear, except for one walker that's too weak to even growl. I stab it quickly, finishing up.

Daryl pounds on the window. "Just give it a second," he says. We wait, Daryl, Michonnie and Zack talking. I stare up at the sky.

"You don't have to come on these runs, you know." Rick says lowly. I turn to face him. "Yeah, I know. But if I don't, then who will?" He nods relucantly with my statement. It took weeks to convince the group to let me go on runs. Daryl eventually took up on my side of the debate when I said that I felt like a caged in animal behind the fences all of the time.

Some walkers come up to the window, making Zack jump. "Relax. It's not like they can power through the window." I tease, and he turns red. Apparently he isn't used to people younger than him teasing him about walkers. Daryl and Rick kill them, and we drag the bodies out and then head in.

We spread out, grabbing stuff. I shove a first aid kit and two cans of soup into my pack. Thanks to the walkers keeping out the other people, this store is suprisingly untouched.

A wine shelf falls, and Bob gets trapped under it. Daryl, Zack and I struggle to lift it, and he pulls himself up.

Suddenly, the roof falls in. Walkers begin to rain down. Most get caught and dangle from the ceiling, or splatter onto the floor, but a few come down whole and stagger toward us.

I stab one that almost falls on top of me. Blood splatters my jacket, and I back away.

I back into a shelf, surveying the area. Bob is still trapped, and the others aren't doing so well, either. a walker grabs me from behind, and I pull myself to the side, breaking its arm off. It lunges toward me, and I sink my knife into its skull. It falls to the ground, tripping another walker, and I stomp on that one's head.

A helicopter that apparently crashed on the roof slowly begins to sink in, and I back away, watching it with wide eyes. Maybe that's why no one came in.

A walker grabs Zack, biting his ankle. He falls, screaming, and the walker bites his neck. I run to the walker, stabbing it. I attempt to pull the shelf up, and he clutches my ankle. "G-go. Tell B-beth I l-love her." he chokes out. I shake my head. I can't do that. I can't tell her that another person has died that she cared about.

Daryl grabs my arm, and when I resist him, he grabs me around my waist. "He's gone! Let's go!" he shouts in my ear, lifting me up as I kick my feet. He sets me down, shoving me to get me running for the exit. The others are already out of the store, running back. The helicopter collapses, just barely after Daryl and I get out.

We ride back to the prison in silence. I think about how I could have saved him. It seems like every death is my fault. There's always a way that I could have saved the dead person.

We enter the prison grimly. I jump off of the motorcycle, ready to go take outmy anger on some walkers, but Daryl grabs my arm, forcing me to stop and face him. "Zack's death ain't yo fault. Could'da happened ta anyone. Don't torture yo self with his death."

I wrench my arm out of his grasp and toss him my pack. I unsheath my knife once I reach the outer fence, and begin stabbing the walkers.

I don't understand why every death seems to be my fault. He wans't even my boyfriend, he's Beth's boyfriend. I just feel like I should be able to keep everyone alive, but I know that that is not going to work out. I just don't want everyone to die the way Sage did.

-

That night, I lay on my bunk. I do a rerun of the day, thinking of how many ways I could've saved Zack. Again. It just won't exit my mind.

Carl comes in. "Hey. How was the run? I heard....." He lest the sentence trail off.

I force myself sit up. "Yeah. There were walkers and a crashed helicopter on the roof. They came down, and we had to run."

"I'm sorry," he says, reaching up and holding my hand.

I have to smile, even though I don't feel like it. "Go to sleep. You have to farm."

He makes a face, releasing my hand. "Ugh. I hate farming. I want my gun back."

I lay down, closing my eyes. I'm beyond exhausted, even though I have a feeling that today was just the start of our problems.

Poor Zack. Poor Beth. I wonder how Beth will deal with his death. I would go insane in Carl was killed like that. I wouldn't be able to live. But he's not dead, thank God.

"Isabelle, Daryl said that you tried to save Zack. Every death isn't your fault." Carl adds after a moment.

I open my eyes, glaring up at the cell wall. "Feels like it, thought."

"They aren't, though." he objects, and I close my eyes. "Goodnight, Carl." I say softly.

"Goodnight, Izzy." I smile at my old nickname.

~AN~

So, how do y'all like this edited version? It's longer, and I think that it means more.

Sorry about not updating, but I just kind of lost interest in this book for a while. I totally understand if you don't want to continue the series any more, but I'm going to be editing each chapter.

I've been getting some questions on whether I'm going to make a season 5-6 book, and the answer is yes. As long as The Walking Dead goes on, I'll make a book for each season.

I hope that you all bear with me while I edit! Thank you ao much for reading, commenting and voting!

Love y'all!!!! <3

The Walking Dead Season 4Where stories live. Discover now