GONE, walking dead

002 ━ showered hopes

But was I even looking for something besides another body to keep me warm? Someone to distract me from all of this? It was hard to picture myself telling someone of all the pain I'd gone through but then again, I'd never admitted it to anyone, not even myself. Even when I'd been with Him, he never knew the true extent. He knew of the bruises I sported that where bone and soul deep, but he didn't know the darkness that I had swallowed down in order to protect my family as if I owed them that. But I owed Conner. 

"I bet both your families are in Atlanta," said Duane with a confident nod.

"That's right," said Morgan, agreeing.

"Why there?" asked Rick and I smiled, he really was clueless.

"Refugee center," Morgan explained. "Huge one they say, right before the broadcast stopped. Military protection, food, shelter."

Conner could be there, but did I believe those refugee centers didn't fall just as the cities? Just as the suburbs and the country sides? Walkers didn't stop because of a little gate, they followed noise and the scent of blood. All those people rushing out there? No way in hell they didn't bring with them the infection or a dead body or two. 

I knew better than these men did. There was nothing left out there except hollow spaces leftover from tragedies.

"They told people to go there, said it'd be safest," he continued.

"Plus they got that disease place," added Duane.

"Center of Disease Control," Morgan told us. "Said they were working out how to solve this thing."

Yes, I didn't believe there was a chance this could be cured or fixed. What could one man in a white lab coat do to stop all of this if everything was already falling apart? I'd heard the last of the radio transmissions before they cut out. I'd seen the television broadcasts and I'd read the newspapers before they stopped coming and stopping printing all together. The dead spread through our cities and towns and homes quicker than anyone could've imagined and there wasn't anything to stop that spread unless we all found a place to hide and never came out.

Rick looked at the two men before turning and walking around the corner and grabbing something off the wall. A pair of keys. I couldn't stop my smile, knowing those keys weren't to this home but to something far more beneficial.

And I was right.

Before I knew it, we were unlocking the doors to the police station. When we entered, it was dark and smelled like something musty, like someone hadn't been inside to let the fresh air in for a long time. Rick held up a flashlight, shining it over empty desks and cluttered floors. They left in a hurry too, like everyone else.

We continued through, following Rick down the hall and towards the back where he opened a door and I really couldn't stop the smile. The bathroom was large and had rows of showers and I was already rushing forward to turn the knobs. There was no way I was leaving here without a shower.

Rick came up to the shower to my right, turning the knobs as I did and just like magic the water came down in perfect clear sheets.

Morgan sighed, shaking his head. "Gas lines been down for maybe a month."

"Cold or not, it's worth it," I said with a laugh.

Rick grinned and my eyes got wide.

"No way," I breathed as Rick's grin widened.

"Station guys are on a propane system," he explained, putting his hand under the water. His voice was giddy, more excited than I expected but, to be fair, the guy had been in a coma for a little over a month and hadn't showered properly either. "Pilot's still on."