Death Of Me

xiii

"PRETTY MUCH DEAD ALREADY"

what comes after death?

         Bad dreams were now becoming common for Venus. Waking up scared and traumatized was nothing new for her now. She could only be grateful that she didn't wake up the whole camp by screaming. It was the same dream each time, but there were little things tweaked everytime. This night everything went the same as it always does, her holding Jasper tightly as they are reunited. Only for him to suddenly turn to dust. This dream, he didn't. She looked down at him only to see a rotted face with black teeth grinning at her. The hollow white eyes taunting her. That was enough to jolt her awake.

     Fortunately, it seemed the sun was coming up, so she woke up in good time. Laying down for a little longer, she waits until Caspian wakes. The memories of what he had told her slips in her train of thoughts and her tongue goes sour. The feeling of dread slivers through her body as she thinks of the fact that they have been sleeping next to a barn that is filled with walkers. Stirring comes from the two sleeping bags in the tent and she takes that as her cue to get ready.

    After getting dressed, she makes her way out of the tent, seeing the rest of the group starting to slowly trickle out of their tents. Venus joins Carol at the center where the firepit is at, and helps her light it back up, grabbing the firewood as Carol lights the match.

   As more and more people wake up and come out, they assist with breakfast. Caspian glances at Dale as they all start to settle down, waiting for breakfast to finish. Dale nods subtly, his eyes wide as always. Glenn stands next to Venus, watching Caspians moves.

   "Um, guys." He starts off, everyone turns to him, giving him their attention. Carol hands Venus a plate of food and she takes it to Arrow. "So.." everyone watches him silently, waiting. "The barn is full of walkers." Immediately, the already quiet group gets quieter. Arrow stares at Venus with wide eyes, fear swimming in her eyes. It's like everyone was frozen until Shane moves first, stalking off towards the barn. Everyone follows him quietly, the tension increasing.

    Shane gets up close to the barn doors, looking through a small gap in between them. He stumbles back when he sees a walker get too close, growling at him. He turns around and walks towards the group.

     "You can't tell me you're alright with this." Shane brushes past Rick.

    "No I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick seethes through his teeth. He felt betrayed from the family that had helped them.

     "This is our lives man!" Shane shouts as he stops walking past Rick and turns back towards the group.

    "Lower your voice!" Glenn snaps, grabbing Venus' hand.

    "We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea points out, her arms crossed as she stares at the barn with narrowed eyes. Caspian fidgets nervously, knowing this might cause a rift between him and Maggie.

    "It ain't right. Not remotely." T-Dog speaks out. He wasn't going to say it out loud, but he was terrified.

     Shane starts to pace, taking his hat off and putting it back on repeatedly, "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time-"