I stare blankly at the two men ahead of me. "Zombies?" They nod, I sit on the cold hard floor making the two exchange yet another look. "Are you ok?" Rick asks before I burst into tears, "I survived all this, I killed him and I was too late? I did all this for nothing?" I was supposed to see my family today, I was supposed to be free to finally live my life. Turns out there's not much to live for.
Rick stands there awkwardly watching me whilst Daryl decides to deal with the dead body. He sits by me as my cries begin to quieten down. "I'm so very sorry that all this happened to you." He begins making me look up at him, "but you're more than welcome to join us, you can become a part of our group and we'll look after you."
"How many people are in your group?" I ask thinking it over, Rick seemed like a good man and so did Daryl, I wasn't sure about Shane though and so I wasn't sure about the rest of the group. "There's eleven of us." That was a lot of people but then again safety in numbers was a thing. "You can meet everyone first, is it ok if we spend the night here? This house it's more secure than others." I nod hesitantly and am left alone as he goes to speak to his group.
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"Hey, Rick's called the others, you comin?" I'm still on the floor when Daryl comes back to get me, I nod and so he helps me up off the ground and leads me up the stairs. I hesitate on the top step, "I know Shane was a lil rough with ya, but the rest of them, they're good people." He whispers from behind me, "can you go ahead of me?" I ask making him nod. It wasn't so much that I was afraid of the others but I hadn't left the basement in eight years. I got out once on my second year here, he came home early though and caught me hiding upstairs.
"Everyone be gentle with her, we don't know what she's gone through here and we don't need to scare her even more." I hear Ricks voice travel through the room as we begin to approach. "You understand?" He asks the room who chorus a yes to him. "Shane?" He questions separately and I hear Shane scoff.
"Look man I didn't know, she looks like a walker, blood on her face, her arms and legs all different shades of black and blue. Then she says she killed the guy and-"
"Shane." Rick cuts him off firmly, "I ain't gonna do anything to her." Shane spits back. Daryl then walks into the room, he turns and sees that I'm not following. "Selene," my ears perk, I hadn't heard my name from someone other than myself in such a long time, it sounded odd. "Come on." He uses his hand to call me over.
I follow after him and once we enter the room I grip the back of his shirt tightly. I did not like all the eyes on me, he looks back at me but doesn't say anything, instead he steps slightly to the side so that he was shielding me from the others. I still see their wide eyes as they roam over me, they try and hide the shock but I see that they find it hard.
"This is Selene, she is being gracious enough to give us shelter here tonight." Rick introduces me to the others, I feel a bit more at ease seeing the three women and the two kids. "Um feel free to help yourself to anything, from what I've been told about the outside it's been hard on you guys but there's plenty of food and stuff here. We have perishables in the freezer and then non perishables in the storage closet. I don't know much about upstairs but everything works downstairs, plumbing, electric it was originally built as a bunker... in case something like this happened I guess."
Everyone nods as I speak and look like they're waiting for me to say more so I keep going, "It's fully soundproof down there as well, so if the walkers? Do manage to get in, everyone just head down there and you should be fine. From what I remember there's three bedrooms upstairs and there should be a pullout in the office. I don't care where you go but I'm not sleeping in the basement, I'll uh, take the couch."
"You sure you don't want a room?" I shake my head at Rick, "I'm good with the couch." He nods. "I'm gonna go and get cleaned up, but after that if you need anything feel free to ask." I say, "thank you," the brunette woman says softly making me nod before I turn on my heel and leave. I can hear them beginning to talk about me immediately.
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Once I'm done with my shower I head back upstairs to see everyone sat together. "Do you happen to have any clothes we could borrow?" The blonde woman asks approaching me, I nod "mine are in the boxes downstairs." She thanks me then turns to the others and says she's having a shower first, I smile slightly as I watch them argue with her in good nature, she laughs and runs down the stairs.
I don't know what to say to these people. It's like I've forgotten how to just be me. I didn't even know who I was anymore. "Is anyone hungry?" I was good at making food so I guess that's all I could really offer them. "You don't have to do anything for us Selene." Rick tells me but I shake my head, "it's ok I don't mind."
"I could eat." I'm thankful that Daryl speaks from his corner of the room, I nod at him and turn back to the others who give in and admit that they were hungry too.
"I'll help you." The brunette from before offers, getting up and walking over to me, "me too." The last women says as she joins us. I simply nod and lead them downstairs. I pause for a moment as we get back in the basement, feeling the last decade hit me like a ton of bricks. "You ok honey?" I jump when I feel a hand on my arm, I look to see the lady with the short hair looking at me sympathetically as she removes her hand from my arm. I nod again, "I'm Carol." She tells me, "I'm Lori." The brunette adds. "Selene." Even though Rick had already told them I felt like I had to say it.
"Is there anything in particular you want to make?" Carol asks me, I shake my head. "Um the closet is there or you can look through the freezer and choose whatever." The two share a look, "do you want to go back upstairs?" Lori asks me gently. I shake my head, "no, I'm fine." I spent ten years down here I could spend a few more hours.