CAMILA DIDN'T KNOW how to feel anymore. Her body felt numb. As blood and dirt covered her tan skin she felt numb. Sometimes she'd forgotten she was even walking. Or where she was even walking to.
Her father was dead. Her mother was God knows where. And her brother was gone. He was probably back at camp. Leaving her to be stupid.
So stupid. Why was she so stupid?
Camila had a stick in her hand she found from the woods. She had sharpened it the best she could with absolutely nothing but mother nature.
Her stomach growled as the warm sun fell on her scalp. Sweat covered her forehead as her clothes that had holes in them began to stick to her skin.
She was exhausted. She hadn't slept since that night. Which was almost two days ago. She hadn't eaten for almost three days.
Her stomach was begging for nutrients, nutrients she could not provide it. Her skin was slowly beginning to burn from the sun, begging for shade which she could hot offer. Her dry mouth was begging for water, which she could not offer.
She couldn't even shed a tear about her father. She had to find shelter of some kind.
Camila eyed the ground. Hoping to find trash that could come to use. She found an old soda can that had dirt on it. Camila picked it up before smiling slightly.
Turning her hands into a scooper, she began to scoop dirt into the can. Maybe it could be used as a weapon? The girl had an image in mind as she filled the can with dirt. Her skin was already covered in it so why not add to it?
It was slightly heavier than before when she picked it up. She began wandering the forest some more, not knowing where she was even going.
She found leaves, sticks, plastic but it was nothing she was looking for. She found acorns and grabbed a couple of them. She didn't have lots of storage left as she only had her bare hands and the pockets of her pants.
The acorns slightly poked her skin through the cloth with each step she took. It was expected.
It didn't hurt though. It was as if her skin was made of jello.
The girl looked up when she found a man. He was snarling back at her, his eyes foggy with yellowness, his skin dirty, his clothes covered in holes. He was hanging from a tree. He had taken his own life.
Her grip tightened on the stick as her hand held the tip of it as she struggled to reach the man's height in the sky, or even kill it.
When that failed she grabbed a rock, throwing it at its head until its brains exploded. She than used the stick to bring the body down. She needed that rope.
The rope was about three feet in length. Once she got it she held the acorns onto the can before wrapping the rope around it to hold it steady. Once the acorns were stuck to the can she used to stick to try and cut the rope in a another peice.
When successful, she tied the rope around the cap of the soda can. She left some of the rope hanging off as she made knots to make a grip.
When her weapon was complete, she smiled. She held it by the rope, swinging it around. The heavy can and the acorns would be enough to distract walkers from eating her and even kill them. It'd help her from them getting so close. Almost like Michonne's knife but very different.
She swung it in her hand as she walked, her stick hanging out of her pocket. The can barley weighed a pound so it was easy to lodge around.
The girl needed to find shelter and something to eat. Also water.
The girl was so desperate for food that she'd eat anything. So hungry that when her eyes laid on a slug she couldn't think of anything else but to eat it. Slugs were animals, it was food. But it was also disgusting.
As she picked it up in her fingers, it got all slimy. The girl than closed her eyes before quickly throwing it into her mouth. She immediately spat it out when it moved inside her mouth. Her hands wiped over her tongue to get the slimy residue off as she cringed in disgust.
She wasn't thinking straight. She needed real food. How did Daryl and Merle do this?
Suddenly a low growl came and she looked up again when her eyes landed on ten walkers. She held her can dirt weapon in one hand and her stick in the other, smirking before charging to fight to the death.
The swung the can into a walkers skull, stabbing the other walker with her stick. She repeated the process and than stabbed the other walkers she hit with the acorn to be sure incase the acorn wasn't enough to puncture the skull.
She continued walking when the trees disappeared. She looked to see dead grass. She looked around and her eyes lit up when her eyes landed on a house.
She laughed as she began running towards it, not believing her eyes.
When she made it to the porch she began banging on the door. "Let me in! Please let me in!" She cried out desperate.
A woman opened the door but not the screen door. "Who are you? How did you find us?" She had blonde hair and blue eyes. Her face was wrinkly as she faced the child.
"I just found you, I dont know! Please just let me in! I'm starving and I need help" Camila begged the woman.
"You bit?" Another woman asked. She wore cowboy boots, a lacy shirt and some jeans. Her eyes were a Hazel color and her hair was a brown, short.
"No. I'm not"
The blonde and brown haired girl shared a look when a man entered. "What are you guys doing? let the poor child in!" He opened the door as Camila entered the home.
"Otis!" The brown haired woman exclaimed.
"What? There is a child at our door begging for our help and we aren't gonna let her in?" Otis argued before turning to Camila. "I'm Otis. This is Maggie and Patricia."
Maggie sent Otis a glare before looking down at the child, smiling slightly. "Oh my god, what happen to you?"
"Seriously, you are stinking up the house" Another boy entered. He was younger than the others. He eyed her with disgust.
"This is Jimmy" Otis said with a smile.
Camila smiled as she looked down at her worn out shoes.
"My goodness you look awful! Let's get you some clothes and some food!" Another girl entered. She looked younger than Maggie, blonde hair and blue eyes, a smile on her lips.
"And this is Beth" Otis said with a smile.
"Thank you for letting me in, Otis" Camila thanked as Jimmy rolled his eyes, going upstairs to his room.
Beth grabbed Camila's wrist and took her into the kitchen. "This is my daddy Hershel. He'll check you out while I make you some food, would you like that uhh"
"Camila"
"Camila. Would you like that?"
Camila nodded with a soft smile as Hershel stood from his seat, placing his dish in his sink. "Hello child. Follow me" He said In such a gentle tone.
Camila followed as he brought them into a room. It had a bed and a small table that had items on it. "Please sit on the bed" He directed.
Camila did as he said.
"Have you been bit or scratched?"
"No sir"
Hershel nodded as he pulled out a thermometer. "Place this under your tongue"
She did as he said. They sat in silence until the thermometer beeped. Hershel took it out of her mouth and eyed it. "You have a fever of 101."
"Oh" Camila mumbled. This wasn't necessarily going off to the best start.
"Now, I'm going to check your blood pressure" He said as he grabbed a blue thing before wrapping it around her bicep. "This might feel a little tight" He warned.
He did not lie. It squished her arm like nothing. Once it released she felt as if she could breathe again.
"Blood pressure is good. Do you have any conditions? Such as diabetes or anything?" He asked the girl.
"If I had diabetes I'd probably be dead by now without insulin" Camila spoke.
"Is that a no?"
"Yes"
Hershel nodded before grabbing another tool. "I'm gonna hit both your knees with this, alright?"
"Okay"
He did as he said and than set the item down. "Are you in any pain physically?" He asked.
"My arm hurts a little bit. And my ankles but that's from walking so much" She explained.
Hershel nodded. "I'm going to touch your arm now" He spoke before doing as he said, holding her bicep as he observed it. "Oh my."
"What?"
"Did you fall on an acorn or something?" He asked the girl.
"No but I made a weapon out of one. I can show you it later. I left it on your porch. Thought it'd be rude to get blood on your carpet." She explained as Hershel chuckled slightly.
"Well you might've hit yourself with it as you have acorn torns in your arm" Hershel explained before grabbing tweezers. "Stay very still. This won't hurt"
Camila closed her eyes as she tried to think of a happy place.
"Draw the letter P" Carl told her.
She did as he said as his face lit up once she was finished. "You did it! Good job!"
"Alright you're done" Hershel spoke and Camila turned to her arm and than looked at all the acorn torns that was on a napkin next to the tweezers.
"Thank you" She said with a smile.
"No problem young child" Hershel spoke with a soft smile.
The door than opened. "Lunch is ready!" Beth said with a happy expression as Camila happily left the room and entered the kitchen. "I made you a ham and cheese sandwich with strawberries and a glass of milk"
"Thank you, Beth" Camila thanked.
"Of course!" She than left the kitchen as Camila slowly ate her food, admiring the home.
***
When Camila was done eating, Beth had already had an old outfit of hers that no longer fit her and a towel to clean herself. Camila went into the bathroom and took a shower. She was happy because they had warm water somehow.
Once she had left the shower she had barely touched her face so a little blood was still there. She had ripped some toilet paper off and scrubbed it until gone, making her skin very red.
The outfit Beth gave her was a little too big but it was comfortable and clean and had zero holes which is all the girl cared about as she left the bathroom.
"I cleaned out a room for you" Beth told her.
"Wait! She's getting a room too?" Jimmy argued.
"Well Jimmy she is a child with nowhere to go. It's not safe out there" Hershel told the boy.
"Yeah but it's also hard for us as we don't need another mouth to feed" Jimmy argued as Camila looked down.
Maggie walked down the stairs after hearing the commotion. "Jimmy, it is not up to you. It's up to my daddy and he's choosing to let the child stay. If you got a problem with that you can leave or suck it up" Maggie told him as Jimmy glared at the child before going upstairs in his room.
Beth grabbed Camila's hand and went upstairs. The room wasn't big but wasn't small either. All that was in it was a bed, a closet, and a dresser. "This was my brother Shawn's room."
"What happened to him?" She asked.
"Got bit" Beth answered. "Which is the new normal I suppose" Beth said sadly. "Miss him sometimes"
"I'm sorry" Camila apologized.
"Don't apologize. Wasn't your fault. Get some rest." Beth told her before leaving the room.
Camila turned to the bed and immediately climbed in it. She stared at the ceiling for a long moment before falling asleep.
-----------------------------------------
Words - 2057
Written - April 13th 2024
Published - April 13th 2024
A/N: Chapter seven published! If enjoyed comment and vote as it keeps me motivated.
I had two ideas for this chapter. My first idea is what I did, the finds the farm. My second idea was her finding the sanctuary and having Negan take her in. But there's multiple reasons why I didn't do that. A. The Sanctuary is much too far away from the farm. B. I have plans for season five-six that don't evolve Negan at all. C. I plan for Camila to get close to certain people and if she's away from those people it wouldn't necessarily make sense. D. If you follow my tiktok, a long time ago I made a post about tropes in my books and the one for this one was fake dating. And the idea I had in mind is when the group first comes to Alexandria, Carl gets close with Enid. I was thinking of having Ron ask Camila if they could act together to make Enid jealous 😭 idk about that tho. I'm not saying anymore because I don't want to spoil the rest.
I always had beef with Jimmy. I just never liked him. I wish they gave his character more like...characteristics but nope. He was just there. He probably had three lines throughout his one and only season😭
Anyway, have a good day/night!
Tiktok - skyeereadsswp
Insta - skyeereadsswp