A Painful Place (Walking Dead Fanfiction)

Chapter 6: The Hazard of Living

Tilly was more than a little surprised that Rick asked her to take first watch that night. Though the only person she had really spoken to at length was Daryl, it seemed they were beginning to trust her.
If he has that much influence they must really respect him, she thought as she sat on a large rock beside the tracks, shotgun in her lap.
“What’s on your mind, lady?” Lana asked. She had volunteered to keep watch with her friend, mostly so they could finally have some time to talk about the events of the day.
Tilly picked the gun up off of her lap and leaned it against the side of the rock. “I’m just trying to make sense of everything right now. Terminus, these people… It’s just a lot all at once.”
“You’re tellin’ me,” Lana nodded. “They seem like decent people, though. I had plenty of time to talk to them since Rick had you running off with Mr. Crossbow all day. You didn’t seem to mind much, though.” Lana grinned at Tilly.
“It’s not like that, you loser,” Tilly cast a sideways glance at her. “The last thing I’m concerned about right now is finding a new boyfriend.”
“It may be dark, but I can still see you blushing,” Lana teased. She was right, not that it took much to turn Tilly’s pale face red. “He’s cute though, right? You might be in warrior princess mode, but you still have eyes.”
Tilly sighed, “Yes. Ok? Yes, he’s cute.”
“He didn’t argue with taking you out in the woods eith-“
“You better drop it unless you want me to tell everyone that the real reason you’re staying up with me is because you snore so loud you’d draw geeks for miles,” Tilly threatened.
Lana laughed and raised her hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, don’t blow my cover.”
“Anyway,” Tilly sighed, “why don’t you give me the low-down on the rest of the group. I still don’t think I’ve met everyone.”
Lana turned toward where the group members slept and pointed to everyone as she filled Tilly in. “That’s Glenn, he and Maggie are together, but I’m sure you noticed that. Your fellow ginger over there is Abraham, he’s with Rosita and they’re trying to get Eugene to Washington because apparently he’s smarter than that haircut would lead you to believe.”
The girls both chuckled quietly.
“Tyreese is over there, he and Sasha are brother and sister. There’s Bob, he’s a medic.”
“Very useful nowadays,” Tilly added.
“Very.” Lana continued, “You’ve met Carol. Rick’s son and daughter are over there, Carl and Judith. And your fellow she-warrior over there is Michonne. I think that’s everyone.”
Tilly pointed back toward a sleeping form Lana had skipped over, “Who’s that girl with the short hair?”
“Oh, sorry, that’s Tara.”
Tilly couldn’t help but notice that she was sleeping a little farther away from the others. “What’s her story?”
“I’m not really sure,” Lana answered, “but Glenn met her on the way to Terminus. She’s a little bit of an outsider too, I guess.”
“At least we’re not the only new kids.”

The next few hours continued uneventfully, Lana eventually resigning to her exhaustion and leaving to get some rest. “Sleep on your side so you don’t wake the dead!” Tilly called after her as she left.
“Little late for that!” Lana replied, flipping her off as she walked toward an empty spot in the middle of the group.
After that, Tilly sat in silence with her thoughts, trying to make sense of her current situation. She had only been with Lana and Joseph since the incident in Memphis. They had come across a couple of other groups since, but had done their best to avoid contact, scared to trust anyone. They had gone toward Terminus out of desperation. They were out of food, running low on water, and they were starting to lose hope. When they saw the signs they thought they had found their safe haven.
We were wrong, though, Tilly thought as she remembered the events leading up to their rescue. We were so, so wrong, and it cost us Joseph.
Lana hadn’t wanted to talk about Joseph when Tilly brought it up. She was either in denial or had just accepted that that was the hazard of living in this world. It was hard to tell. Whichever, she seemed to be taking Tilly’s advice about putting on a brave face to heart and she was proud of her friend for staying strong.
“Mind if I keep you company?” Tilly jumped and automatically reached for her gun at the sound of the soft voice behind her.
“Oh, sorry,” she said once she turned around, relaxing and placing the shotgun back beside the rock. “Of course, Carol.” She scooted over to give Carol somewhere to sit, thankful for the chance to talk to the woman.
“It never gets easier to get a good night’s sleep out here,” Carol said, attempting to make small talk.
Tilly nodded, but she wasn’t one to beat around the bush. She had questions, and Carol seemed like the one to answer them.
“Hey Carol, back in the woods everyone was talking about a virus. It didn’t seem like they were talking about the outbreak. Was there something else?”
Carol nodded. “About a week before the Governor attacked there was an outbreak of some kind of flu in the prison. It wiped out nearly all of the people we had taken in from Woodbury. We almost lost Sasha and Glenn, too.”
“And you tried to stop it?”
Carol’s eyes grew wide, seemingly surprised Tilly was being so forward. “Yes,” she answered. “The first two people to come down with it were Tyreese’s girlfriend Karen and a man from Woodbury named David.”
That explains why Rick looked to Tyreese when making the decision to let her back in.
She took a deep breath and continued, “We quarantined them in the tombs but I knew it would still get out. They were both near death anyway, and someone needed to do something to protect the rest of us. I killed them both while they slept and burned the bodies.”
Tilly studied the woman’s face, taking in her story. She didn’t look ashamed of what she had done. Her face was strong and resolved. She didn’t regret her decision.
“Obviously it spread anyway, and when Rick found out it was me who killed them he sent me out on my own. I understand why, but I’d do it all over again if I thought it would help.”
“You did the right thing,” Tilly said, surprising the older woman. “You can’t hesitate or wait for approval when it comes to protecting the people you love.”
A small smile crossed Carol’s lips. “You and I, Tilly, I think we’re a lot alike.”
“Why is that?” she asked.
“Because you understand that what happens to your family is more important than what happens to you. These people are my family. I have a feeling they’ll become yours soon enough.”
Tilly smiled, and Carol placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze before heading back to her makeshift bed.