(TW!!! Mentions of drug usage and S/A!)
It's already been almost two days since we left the CDC. We've been holing up in random stores for the past two nights. The plan is to go to Fort Benning but by the way everything's been playing out, I don't think we're gonna make it that far.
Shane had to leave the jeep, so we're all piled into the R.V. We're driving down a highway that's littered with abandoned and flipped over cars.
Shane's sitting across from Andrea at the table, cleaning his gun and Alyssa and I are sitting on the bed in the bedroom. T-dog is leaning up against the nightstand.
Alyssa and I are making bracelets out of string, her idea.
"Adrian?" Alyssa says, without looking up from her bracelet.
"Yes'm?" I look at her, setting my half-completed bracelet on my thighs.
"How are you so brave?" I smile lightly at her words. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're not afraid of any of the Walkers, you're willing to kill any animal, and you were willing to rip Dr. Jenner's head off when we found out that he was trying to kill us...kind of."
I shrug and look back down at my bracelet, weaving the shades of red, yellow, and blue string around each other.
"Well, I'm not afraid of the Walkers because if it gets down to it, they walk, we run. Killing animals is easy as long as it's not in any pain. Just one shot to the head and they didn't know what hit 'em." Alyssa winces at my words. "And for the Dr. Jenner thing, I can't go to jail for it. He needed to know that what he did was wrong, and I was willing to show him-well, me and Daryl."
Alyssa didn't get a chance to respond before Dale says, "Oh jeez." Catching everyone's attention. T-dog steps out of the bedroom to see what Dale was talking about.
"Aw, no." He groans, looking at a fallen semi-truck.
Daryl turns his motorcycle around and pulls up to Dale's driver's side window. "See a way through?" Dale asks. Daryl nods and cocks his head to the side, driving off.
Glenn begins talking to Dale about possibly just turning back but Dale shuts his offer down by saying how we can't spare the fuel for that trip.
Dale begins to drive and weave around cars, there's so much suspense in the air I could cut it with my dagger.
A loud bang noise comes from the grate on the front of the R.V and thick, white smoke starts to spew out of it.
Dale groans and stops the R.V while Alyssa covers her ears.
"Jesus, that's not gonna attract Walkers." I murmur.
Everyone steps out of the R.V and out of Ricks car and walks to the front of the R.V to inspect it.
"I said it a thousand times, didn't I say it? Dead in the water."
"Problem, Dale?" Shane retorts.
"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" Dale stops abruptly and looks around at all of the thousands of cars surrounding us.
"Okay, that was dumb."
"If you can't find a radiator hose here-" My dad starts, looking around.
"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl says, looking through the trunk of a car.
"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-dog says, walking away.
"Maybe some water." Carol speaks up. "Or food." Glenn adds. "I like that idea. I'm pretty sure my stomach is going to start eating itself here shortly." "Ew, Adrian." Alyssa gags.
"This is a graveyard." Lori points out. Everybody stops and looks at her.
"I don't know how I feel about this." It's quiet for a minute.
"All right, all right, here we go. Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." Shane says, walking to a car and opening the door.
Everybody begins to disperse, looking in and around cars for anything they can find.
"Alyssa, stay close by, alright?" I add, looking through the dashboard of a van.
"Kk." She replies, walking to the next car over and searching through it.
I open the center consul and find a mini container of Sour Cream and Onion Pringles. "Oh, sick. Jackpot." I whisper, throwing it into my backpack.
After I search through another car, I move on to a pretty nice, light grey Porsche. "This better be good." I open the driver's side door and open the center consul. It was like heaven presented itself when I lock my eyes on a bunch of orange pill bottles and bags of pills with labels on them. It's everything from coke to Adderall. I smile at the sight, "Fuck yeah."
I grab two of the unlabeled bottles and throw them in my backpack. I reach for one of the bags when Alyssa's voice startles me.
"Adrian?" She says, looking up at me with wide eyes. "Jesus, Alyssa. You scared the shit out of me."
"What are those?" She points to the pills in the Ziploc bag in my hand.
I sputter a little bit before dropping them back into the consul and replying, "Tylenol."
Alyssa's lip begins to quiver. "Sissy..." Her voice cracks as she speaks. "Please tell me you're not-" "I'm not! I'm not." I kneel in front of her and put my hands on her biceps as tears roll down her cheeks. My heart shatters at the sight.
"I promised you that I would leave drugs alone-" Flashbacks to the other day after Amy died where I was on Fentanyl flood my mind. I inhale a shaky breath. "And I will never do them again."
"So you have done them!" Alyssa yells, shoving my hands off of her. "You promised!" "'Lyss-" "LIAR!" She screams shoving me back.
"Alyssa-" My voice breaks and tears well in my eyes. "You promised! You pinky promised and you never break pinky promises! Liar!" She screams again, her eyes look like two waterfalls as tears flood her vision and stream down her cheeks.
"Let me-" "Wh-what kind of person could l-ook me in the eye and pinky promise me and still go and do what they said they would never do?!" Alyssa backs away from me, still crying. "You could die Adrian! You could die!"
"I know, I know." A single tear drops from my eye but I blink back the rest of them. At this point, everybody is looking at us as Alyssa sobs in front of me. From everybody's eyes on us, to the orange pill bottles in my bag, to Alyssa sobbing in front of me, I crack.
"Alyssa stop it!" I finally yell, hitting my breaking point. She immediately stops crying and looks at me, heartbreak in her eyes.
"Look," I kneel in front of her again, showing her that she has the power right now. "Yes, I did do them. But I have not done them since, and I don't plan on doing them any time soon okay?"
"I don't believe you." "That's fine! You don't have to. But you have to understand that getting rid of an addiction and staying away from that addiction is so difficult. Yes, I relapsed. Yes, I broke our pinky promise but I regretted it immediately after."
Alyssa inhales and wipes her tears, still slightly crying. "I don't forgive you." "Good. Don't. Because I don't deserve it, 'Lyss. All I want is for you to understand. And I know that's hard since you've never been through it. But at least try." Alyssa hesitates but then nods, looking down at her feet. I sigh a breath of relief and nod. "Thank you."
"Uh...Adrian." She whispers, looking to the left of us. I look and see a whole herd of Walkers stumbling towards us.
"Shit, get under the car, now!" I yell shoving her down to the ground and under the car. I throw my backpack under the car and climb under, gripping my dagger. Alyssa's hands are shaking and she's covering her mouth to keep from breathing too heavily. "Don't...make...a sound." I whisper slowly.
Almost immediately, dozens of feet begin to walk past and around the Porsche that we are under. Growls, snarls, and claps of teeth fill the air as Alyssa, and I hold our breath.
I can see so much genuine fear in her eyes, it's heartbreaking.
Once the last pair of feet pass us, Alyssa and I remain in our position just in case.
"I'm gonna check. Stay here." I whisper, starting to climb out of under the Porsche. Once I'm out, I look around and realize that the coast is clear. I reach under the car and grab my backpack, signaling that everything is good for Alyssa. She climbs out and we begin walking to where everyone is.
They're all crowded around one of the fences, watching the woods. Her and I quickly walk over there to see what's happening.
Lori is hugging Carol and she's sobbing; Rick and Sophia are missing.
"Sophia?" Alyssa whispers. Carol whimpers at Alyssa's words.
After what feels like forever of waiting, Glenn and Shane come back out of the woods. Rick had asked them to go and help him look for Sophia; Rick and Daryl remain in the woods. My dad told everyone to begin searching through cars again. Alyssa decided to stay with Shane because "she missed him" but I think she's still angry with me.
Without thinking, I find myself back at the Porsche, looking into the center consul at the drugs again.
"Jesus, Adrian." I whisper to myself shaking my head. Before being able to have a second thought, I close the center consul and close the driver's side door, walking away. I smile to myself, proud of myself for being able to resist the urges of putting every single one of those pill bottles in my bag.
Lori and Shane arguing catches my attention. I throw my backpack over my shoulder and sneak up closer to them so I can hear them better. I crouch behind a car and listen closely.
"You forget what happened at the CDC? Your little meltdown in the rec room slip your mind?" Lori asks, putting her hands on her hips. "This is gonna be good."
"When you tried to-" "What? I tried to what? What'chu think that was?" "I think it is pretty plain what that was. Shane-" Lori inhales quickly, "Adrian practically witnessed it. She knows about it all." Shane stops, "Adrian knows about it?" "Yes, Shane. Adrian knows about it. She was the one who comforted me when you left you asshole." Shane scoffs and nods.
"That's why she's been giving me the cold shoulder. Jesus." He whispers.
"I made a mistake, Lori. One that I admit to. I-I have a few mistakes under my belt, Lori. So do you." He says as he walks away. "No debate there but-Shane we need to stop this."
"Why do you think I'm prepping my new ride? I'm leaving." My heart stops at Shane's words.
"Leaving?" Lori repeats. "As in gone for good. I'm gonna quietly slip away, first chance I get."
"What about your kids?" Lori questions. "They won't care."
"'They won't care'?" I finally come out of hiding and step closer to them, closing the distance between us. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Shane's face drops as I come into view.
"You're just gonna leave Alyssa-leave me because you made a mistake at the CDC?"
"Look Adrian, it's difficult as it is-" "No! No! You don't just get to pick up and leave whenever you want!" "You're twenty-seven, you don't need me." "Alyssa does!" "You're more of a parent to her than I am." "So? So that means that you don't matter to her? What the fuck is-" I groan, frustrated. "Never mind. Go. Fucking go. But don't come back after you leave because I don't ever want to see your face again." And with that, I turn and walk away, banging my fist into a nearby car.
I find myself back at the familiar blue Porsche, stuffing all of the pills into my bag. I don't plan on using them but...just in case. I turn around to walk away and I'm met with Glenn, staring at me with wide eyes. I don't say anything, I just narrow my eyes and walk away.
(Summary:) The group has been gone from the CDC for almost two full days. They're on their way to Fort Benning and they have to get past a highway covered with wrecked cars. Alyssa finds out that Adrian broke her promise not to use drugs anymore and in the middle of their fight, a herd of Walkers puts everybody under cars. Sophia goes missing and Daryl and Rick stay out until sundown looking for her. Adrian finds out Shane is leaving, and Shane finds out Adrian knows about what happened in the rec room.