Deadland

Chapter 7- Safe Spot

"Jesus," I gag. "It smells like a rotting corpse shoved its dick up my nose." Lori glares at me and then looks at Carl who is giggling. "Shit, sorry."

 A few people snicker at my comment and Alyssa blurts out, "Adrian! Family friendly language!" I smile lightly, "Sorry, 'Lyss." 

"Shush!" Shane shushes, glaring at me. 

Alyssa holds her hand out for me to hold. I cringe at the thought of the physical touch, but I do it anyways, figuring she's scared and wants comfort. 

I cringe but turn my head so Alyssa can't see it. As soon as I feel her wrap her fingers around mine and tighten her grip, flashbacks to Nick feed into my mind. I gasp and drop her hand. 

She looks at me and then looks down at the ground, "Sorry, I forgot." She whispers. 

"Hey," I say softly. "Don't sweat it. I get you're nervous, I'm here right next to you, okay? Holding your hand or not." She nods and continues walking forward.

I fucking hate Nick for what he did to me and how it's been affecting me in the long run and I fucking hate myself for letting it affect me. 

I pick at my cuticles and continue walking, looking at all of the dead Walkers on the ground. 

We finally approach the CDC, the doors and windows have metal doors covering them, blocking us from entering. Shane pounds on the door while Rick pushes the button to the buzzer. 

Nothing.

"Walker!" T-dog calls, Daryl shoots it with his crossbow.

"You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yells, lunging towards Rick. 

"Rick, he's right. It's a dead end. No blame but we have to go." Shane says, holding Daryl back.

"Where do we go? Fort Benning? With no food or fuel?" Dale questions, looking around. 

"There's not many alive Walkers around us, if we slept in the cars for the night, I'm sure we'd be fine." I butt-in. 

Just as everyone starts to walk away, Rick stops; as does everyone else, noticing his movements.

"The camera. It moved." He says, staring into the camera. "It's automated man, it's just the gears." 

"Hey!" Rick yells, banging on the walls. "Let us in!" Shane tries to pull Rick away. 

"We have women and kids here! You'll be killing us all if you don't let us in!" "We're gonna die?" Alyssa says, staring at me with wide eyes. "No, we're not dying." 

Just as Rick turns to leave, the metal walls slide up and a bright white life shines out, blinding us. 

"Jesus." I whisper, putting my hand in front of my eyes to protect them. 

Everybody stands still, stunned. When the bright light dims down, Rick begins to move inside.

"Daryl, you cover the back." Shane says, walking with Rick. They both have their guns ready and pointed in front of them. 

Alyssa side steps closer to me and doesn't leave my side as we walk into the CDC. 

"Hello?" Everybody begins calling, checking to see who opened the doors. 

T-Dog and Carol shut the doors, protecting us from the Walkers outside. 

A man cocks his machine gun, standing at the top of the steps. He's got ginger hair and is wearing blue scrubs.

"Anybody infected?" He yells to us. 

"One of our group was, he didn't make it." Rick answers for us.