Epidemic

Chapter 15

Gazing up at Daryl I watched him carefully. His hand still covering his eyes as he looked away from me.

"She's bit?" Shane asked, coming over and kneeling down looking at me. When he saw my bloodied shoulder, he stood up shaking his head. "We have to take care of her now." He turned to Rick, talking with him. Trying to keep his voice hushed but he wasn't doing a great job of that, given the fact I'm less than two feet away.

"I'm right here Shane, I'm still alive!" I angrily shouted, getting pissed that he was already trying to off me.

"Well you won't be for long Hadley!" His hands fell onto his waist as he came at me again.

This time Daryl put himself between Shane and I. Stretching out his arms, as he blocked them from trying anything.

"Ain't nobody gonna touch her." He growled, his voice low and demanding.

As he kept the others busy, my hands went down trying to pull the straps of my chest plate off. But they were stuck and I couldn't get them off my body. With my hands fidgeting relentlessly against the straps, I began to get frustrated.

"I want this fucking thing off me." I huffed as my hands kept frantically clawing at the straps, desperately trying to get it off still. All I wanted was this thing off and I couldn't even manage that.

"Here." Daryl said, his eyes not looking at me as he finished cutting the straps loose. Setting the knife down, he slowly pulled my chest plate off.

Heaving a sigh, I pressed my back against the rock. Tilting my head up to the sky, I stared up at the stars for a few moments. My eyes wandering over the beautiful scene, taking everything in for the first time in a long time.

"You ever notice how many stars there are now?" I asked, trying to keep my mind off of other pressing matters. "Never really stopped to look at them before." A small chuckle left my dry cracked lips as I looked back down at everyone.

"Had, maybe we should clean your shoulder up." Rick finally spoke up. With his hands raised in defense he slowly made it by Daryl who was back to standing between me and the rest of the guys.

"Yeah." Standing up, I fought the urge to cry again. They didn't need to see me do that again, and frankly I didn't want to see myself cry again. It means you're weak, which I am. I just didn't need to confirm it again.

Feeling Rick gently take hold of my upper arm, he slowly lead me away from the group. My eyes on the ground, watching where I was stepping. Making sure my feet didn't step on anything that would snap and alert walkers nearby of our presence.

After a few minutes of walking we were next to a small stream. Turning to look at me Ricks eyes told me everything I needed to know. As they panned my face, sadness radiated from them.

"Just do what you need to do Rick." Giving a weak smile, I dropped to my knees in front of him. Dropping my head down, I realized that I had to die. That my time was finally up.

His feet shuffled against the rocky bank of the small stream, as he stood there thinking. Both this hands were resting on his belt, the machete I gave him early positioned in one of the loops for easy excess.

"Hadley I just want you to know that I appreciate everything you did for us. You didn't have to do anything you did, but I thank you greatly." He said, his voice calm as he talked. I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but I wasn't ever going too.

"No problem Rick." Looking up at him our eyes meet. He stared at me until he tilted his head up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I can't do this." He shook his head, crouching down next to me. "I just can't Hadley."