Hidden Demons [Shane Walsh + Others]

FOUR

After

She let out a tired sigh as she stared at the woman. Dark circles under her eyes, along with a puffy redness from one to many shedded tears. So tired and miserable, looking to herself in disappointment and fear.

She swallowed another sob and felt a tear cascade down her check as the sight across from her did the same. Her reflections hand moved when she did taking in a shuttered breath as she picked up the brush and ran it through her hair.

She had shelter, she had food, she had the gift of a shower, and a couch to sleep on, she should be grateful. Most people stopped breathing as soon as shit hit the fan, she should be overjoyed by her situation. She even had company, but even with that she had never felt so alone, so drained.

She ran the brush through her hair again not caring about the tangles that pulled at her scalp.

Before leaving the bathroom she examined her reflection one more time, she only prayed to god she wouldn't feel like this forever.

And she wouldn't, she would feel worse.

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"I can't stay here." Rayna said in the middle of shoving clothes into a duffle bag.

"We barely made it out of Atlanta, we barely made it here, you really want to go back out there?"

"Of-course not!" She snapped, "Of-course I don't, but he thinks I'm dead!"

"You don't know that for sure." The man replied.

"Yeah I do." Dax had a stressed look on his face as he ran a hand through his hair.

It had been a month, a month since the world ended. Right after the diner inccident is when chaos had occurred, turns out the monster that killed Mike hadn't been the only one in the city. Rayna soon learned the name of the man she had met In the diner, his name was Daxton Warner and he was one of the reasons Rayna was still alive.

After what happened at the diner, the first thing Rayna did was call her husband, she had explained to him what she had just witnessed and was shocked to find out things were just as bad in Kings County, maybe even worse.

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Before

"What?" Rayna asked with a quiet voice instantly filled with panic.

"Its bad, it's really bad, their all over the place Ray." Shane replied.

"I don't understand, things were fine this morning, how did-"

"Listen to me, you do not come back here-" Shane started to tell her.

"What? What do you mean don't come back? I have to, for you and Carl and oh God- what about Rick?" She asked as her panic began to increase.

"No, Ray do not come back, stay put, we'll come to you." Before she could protest he continued, "There's gonna be refuge centers, in Atlanta, they're supposed to be setting up one right now, go there we'll meet you."

"Shane thats insane, I can't just sit here and wait, even if I wanted to what about Rick, they were supposed to get Rick out of there. There was supposed to be a medevac to move him. If things are that bad, I need come back I need to go get him." Rayna said as she continued to fear for her family's safety.

"No, I'll get him okay Rayna, I promise I'll go to the hospital, and I'll get Carl and Lori, but I need you safe, please go, go the refuge center and stay safe okay, I'll call you when Im on my way."

Rayna could hear the fear in his voice, she didn't think she had ever heard him so scared before, he needed to know she'd be safe, otherwise he wouldn't be able to do a damn thing without losing his mind.

So she did the only thing she could to reassure him, "Fine, I'll go," doesn't mean she meant it.

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After

Rayna and Dax had been lucky enough to get away from Atlanta before the bombings. Rayna didn't want to lie to Shane, her plan was to call him later on, to tell him to forget about a Refuge camp, that they would all make it there together or somewhere else where they'd be safe, unfortunately though by the time she tried to call him again phone lines were down and she had no way to reach him.

So that only left her with one option to head home and hope they hadn't left yet, however just how she feared they already had and she now had no way to find them. Dax accompanied her on her trip home, the two sticking together ever since what happened at the diner.

The woman refused to leave her home for a week, convincing herself that they'd be back, they would see the bombing and come back. She knew she had been in denial, denial that she had most likely lost her family forever.

After sometime Dax had finally been able to convince her to leave, he had an uncle at the CDC they could go there, it could be safe. So they took Raynas truck and went, making a few stops on the way, and when she finally got there all she wanted to do was leave again.

"Your crazy" the man said staring at her in disbelief.

"Im not." she paused, "I lied to him, like an idiot I lied to my husband, so all this time, all these weeks we've been apart he's been thinking I'm dead, that I'm just another corpse in Atlanta! or worse that my body was literally blown up!" She took in a shuddered breath, "I am grateful to you, I really am, that you brought me here and helped me look for them, but I need to go find my family."

Dax finally let out a sigh as he gave up on trying to convince her, "Do you even know where to look?"

"Fort Benning," when she said that she was met with a look of confusion, "Its where Shane would go." She finished before finally going back to packing her bag.

"Give me a few days." Dax said.

"What?"

"Give me a few days and I'll go with you." He said repeating himself, "I just need to get things sorted before I leave."

"No, you don't have to go, you found your family, you have no responsibility to help me with mine." She replied shaking her head.

"The only family I cared about died before we even got here." Dax retorted, referring to his aunt, Jenners wife, that had passed a few days before they had gotten to the CDC, "My uncle- Ed's not the same okay? My aunt died and he doesn't care anymore he's been drinking for day's, he doesn't even speak to me anymore, he never really did before anyway. So just give me a few days and I'll go with you."

Rayna thought it over, two people would definitely be a lot safer than one she thought, "Okay, we leave in a few days then."

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Thought I'd update
with a little something.