(TW!! Mentions of S/H and Drug usage!)
I haven't been able to sleep all night, I've just been laying on my cot, staring at the top of the tent.
My guess is that it's around 8 o'clock A.M.
I look at my wrist, gashes still carved into it.
A sigh leaves my mouth as I continue to stare at my wrist. The edges have started to scab very lightly and it's taking everything in me not to pick at the scab.
"Like why? It's the middle of the summer and I'm gonna be wearing short sleeve shirts."
The zipper on my tent unzips and Glenn steps into the tent.
"Hey, um..." Glenn says softly. He tugs at his earlobe awkwardly. "I just, wanted to make sure you were okay and your um...marks weren't like...infected."
I roll my eyes though I think it's kind of sweet that he cares since not many people do.
"Yeah." I look down and pick at my cuticles. "Yeah, my wrist is fine." I look at Glenn again and he nods.
"Okay well uh-I'll just-" He points to the entrance to my tent, signaling he's about to leave.
I nod in response, not verbalizing anything.
"Alright then, um...see ya'." Glenn puts his hand up awkwardly as a wave and turns to head out of the tent.
"Wait uh-Glenn?"
"God I can't believe I'm about to do this."
"Yeah?" He responds, turning his head and looking at me.
I hesitate, not wanting to seem weak.
"Tha-uh...thank you."
A genuine smile grows on Glenn's face, his pupils slightly dilate when I thank him. While this is happening, I realize how rare that is for me-to thank someone and to genuinely be nice(ish) to someone.
"Yeah, of course." He response, turning and walking away.
Without noticing it, I find myself smiling at the excitement in Glenns eyes when, for the first time ever, I said thank you to someone in this group.
Glenn doesn't think I'm weak for saying thank you...right?
"Yo! Adrian, we're cleaning up out here." Daryl yells from outside of my tent.
"Okay." I say with attitude.
I stand up and grab my bag of Fentanyl pills, open the bag, and reach in and grab a pill. I make sure to look around so that I know nobody is watching me and unsheathe my dagger. I place the Fentanyl on my cot, cut it super small and then crush it with my fist. I lean down and inhale through my nose, the crushed-up pill entering my system.
I stand up straight again and take a deep breath, already feeling the euphoria in my system.
I wipe the white powder off of my knife and put it back in its holster, grabbing my gun at the same time.
I grab my only black converses and run out of the tent quickly.
My eyes immediately land on Andrea over Amy's dead body, still.
My hands begin to shake, and I can already feel my brain become foggy. "What if Amy doesn't turn and all of the Walkers were just a big group of people playing a big joke and we just killed a bunch of people?" Yep. The Fentanyl kicked in. I smile at the feeling; it feels like nothing is going on around us...minus the occasional paranoia.
My eyes land on Rick walking over to Andrea to get her to leave Amy's body. I see my dad, so I walk over to him, the world slightly spinning and my brain barely able to think clearly.
I approach my dad, Lori, Carol, and Dale all sitting around the bonfire pit.
"Hey." I mumble. Before Shane has a chance to respond, I see his body tense up and his eyes narrow. He's staring at Rick and Andrea.
I swivel my head around, the world moving in slow motion as I do, and look at Andrea and Rick.
She has a gun pointed to Ricks face as he's slowly backing away.
"Oh my god, she's fucking crazy." I whisper.
Rick approaches us again and says, "Let's just wait it out."
Daryl follows closely behind, "Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl eat us? That dead girl is a ticking timebomb." "Well what do you think we should do?" Rick asks.
"Take the shot. Clean, through the brain. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."
"No. Jesus, just let her be." Lori says, staring at Andrea and sitting back down.
"Yeah, until Amy rips us to shreds." I mumble, not even realizing what I was saying. Everybody's heads quickly turn to me.
"Sorry, didn't realize I said that out loud." I look at the ground. "But it's true." I mumble. Rick looks closely at me and my eyes, squinting.
"Are you feeling alright?" I look around confusedly. "Uh...yeah?" Rick look at Shane and then back at me.
"There's no way he knows...right? I don't have any physical signs...right?"
Daryl scoffs and walks away, helping Morales with a body.
I plop down on a chair, barely able to feel my legs. It feels like I've been standing for hours.
"Adrian, honey, your face is really red. You should go get something to drink." Lori says, leaning in to get a better look at my face.
I pick at my cuticles again. "No, I'm good. Just um..." A wave of tiredness flows over me, and I can feel myself doze off. "Just hot."
Shane studies me, watching my movements and how I speak.
I groan and toss my head back, barely able to hold it up. "What if they catch on?"
"I should have never pulled an all-nighter last night." I mumble. Nobody responds. I, very slowly, lift my head up to make sure I'm actually talking to people and sure enough, they're all still there, staring at me.
"Y'all need something?" I say, looking around, the world still moving in slow motion.
Shane hesitates, "No."
"Well okay then," I very slowly, struggle to stand up. "I am gonna go find Alyssa." And with that, I walk away, still slightly struggling to stay awake.
I walk into the woods, I have no idea where I'm going, I'm just walking since my brain is too foggy to actually think about anything.
"Alyssa!" I call, looking around. "'Lyss!"
All I hear is birds cawing and...sticks cracking behind me.
"Alyssa?" I ask, turning around.
As soon as I turn around, I'm met with a Walker; not Alyssa.
The Walker pins me up against a tree and begins trying to take a chunk out of my shoulder. My arms are way to heavy and weak for me to fight it off. "Jesus, what do I do?" I whisper to myself.
Before I manage to think anything else, a knife plunges into the Walker's brain and it falls onto me, sliding down on the ground.
Behind it stands Alyssa with a look of pure horror and excitement in her eyes.
"You did it!" Carl calls from behind her. Alyssa giggles excitedly and looks at me. "I killed a Walker!" She exclaims.
"You did! Good job!" I say, slowly holding my hand out for a high five. Alyssa smiles warmly and high fives me.
A gun shot catches all three of our attention.
"Did that actually happen?" I turn to look at Alyssa and Carl. "Y'all heard that too, right?" Alyssa nods, not looking at me. "We should probably go." Carl says, starting to run up the hill. "Yeah, I-yeah." I grab Alyssa's hand and run up the hill with him.
I can barely move my legs and I can tell I'm running slowly but we aren't very far from the camp, so it doesn't matter too much.
"What if someone's dead?" Carl whispers, breathing heavily.
"Then we'll deal with it when we get there."
That doesn't seem to reassure Carl, but I can't think clearly so I don't say anything else.
Once we make it back to camp, nobody seems distressed or sad. Well, other than Andrea.
"Oh." I say, looking at Amy's head. Turns out that Amy turned while I was in the woods and Andrea shot her.
My legs feel like they're about to fall off, so I plop down in the same chair I was in when I was sitting at the bonfire pit.
I throw my head back again, not being able to hold it up. "Jesus." I whisper, starting to doze off.
My dad walks over to me and crouches down in front of me, I don't have the strength to lift my head.
"Adrian." He speaks. "What's up?" I ask, my head still tilted backwards.
"What the hell are you doing?" "Relaxing, bruh'."
Shane sighs, "What the hell did you take?" "Nothin'." "Really?" He does not sound convinced at all.
"Yep." I pop the "p" when I answer. "Because Rick and I have been talking and we both agree you're flushed, your pupils are contracted, you move weirdly slow, and you're nodding off."
"Nah man, I'm dozing off since I..." I begin to doze off again, but I wake myself up. "Sssince I pulled an all-nighter last night."
"Jesus Adrian." Shane groans. "Your speech is slurred too. God damnit I can't deal with this today." I finally have enough strength to lift my head.
"Then don't. I'm twenty-seven years old, Shane. I don't need you telling me what to do." "Well when we're dealing with grief and your high on drugs, I feel like I should be telling you what to do." "I can handle myself."
"Dad! I killed a Walker that was about to bite Adrian!" Alyssa giggles, running up to him.
"Great timing." I whisper.
Shane groans and turns his head to Alyssa. "Have you noticed anything off about Adrian?" "Mmm...she was running slower than me but that's like...it." Shane nods, "Okay, thanks. Go play with Carl alright?" Alyssa nods and walks away.
"Adrian." Shane says. "Look, dad." I start, standing up very slowly. "I'm fine. Worry about people who actually need it like Andrea."
Shane looks around, "Jesus if they find out that you're on drugs right now." "Good thing I'm not." And with that, I walk away.
(Summary:) Adrian pulls an all-nighter much like everyone else in the group. Glenn checks on her to make sure her marks on her wrist aren't infected and for one, Adrian says "thank you". Adrian then decides to take the Fentanyl that she has in her backpack. People begin to notice but the only person who asks her about it is Shane. Alyssa saves Adrian by killing a Walker from behind with Carl and that's when they hear the gunshot Andrea fires, killing Amy's Walker-self.