CHAPTER XI | WILD FIRE
LYLA COULDN'T SLEEP, she couldn't settle her mind. She sat in the middle of the camp knees pulled into her chest, arms folded over them, resting her head on her arms with her sword in one hand. She cringed as she heard Andrea let out another bone chilling cry. Her eyes floated around camp to the numerous bodies laying on the ground, some walkers and some are her people who just got devoured. She couldn't understand how the group is just sleeping, not even moving the bodies. The smell was enough to keep Lyla awake.
Lyla spotted a woman name Jocelyne not too far away. Her inner organs were splayed out on the ground infront of her, the Walker responsible dead not to far from the body either. Lyla sighed and stood up. She walked slowly to the body, dragging her sword with her. As she approached she noticed how quick the body lost its color, she assumed it was from the lack of inner organs. "I'm sorry," She whispered and placed her hand over face and closed her eyelids.
"Hey," Daryl's deep rough voice called out to Lyla. She wasn't expecting to hear anything, so she jumped as soon as he spoke.
Lyla turned to Daryl and gave him a soft sad smile. Daryl was perched on a large rock, a bottle of moonshine in one and a cigarette in the other. Lyla stared at the bottle for a moment, she hoped he'd share. "Can't sleep?" She questioned as she walked up to him, shielding her sword.
Daryl grunted in response and took another long drag of his cigarette. In truth, he wasn't sure why he called out to her. He wasn't even in a mood to talk, he never was. She just seemed sad, he thought. Then he began to think maybe it was the moonshine. "Me either," She spoke sadly. She typically did all the talking when they were together.
"What happened with your brother?" She asked, turning to look at him. She reached for his cigarette. With Daryl you don't ask, you just have to take or he'll say no she learned.
Daryl watched the cigarette leave his hand. He watched her tiny little hands reach out and grab it right from him. She always does this, he thought. He thought it was weird, but let her do it anyways. He then watched her bring it up to her lips and take a drag. Daryl brought his empty hand up to his mouth and began chewing on his thumb.
As Lyla inhaled she felt the familiar burn in the back of her throat and the immediate calmness that came with it. She flicked the ash out of it with her pointer finger. Lyla watched the small stream of smoke fly off the cigarette. As Lyla was about to ask Daryl again what happened, he answered. "He cut off his own hand. Trail went cold," He said, his voice extra scratchy and deep.
Daryl simply sat and watched the girl. Her face barely illuminated from the moonlight, but one thing he could see was the giant black bruise on her face and he became angry. He couldn't imagine who would want to bruise such a pretty face. "What the hell happened to your face," Daryl grunted out as he reached out and cupped her face, turning her head so the bruised cheek was facing him.
Lyla flinched as his hand darted out quickly towards her face. She thought back to yesterday and Ed's completely pummeled in face. "Ed," was all she had to say.
She watched his face, the anger brewing underneath it. "He already got what he deserved," She spat out to him. Lyla handed him back the cigarette. She then grabbed the moonshine, took a giant swig and passed it back. "Goodnight," She said and jumped off the rock and headed towards her tent.
She was halfway back to the tent by the time Daryl had finally mustered enough courage to say goodnight back.
When Lyla left her tent that morning she knew it would be different. Things would change, they'd have to leave the quarry. As Lyla began walking to the middle of camp, she saw Andrea still hunkered over Amy's body, holding her bloody hand. She watched Adonis walk over to Andrea and begin speaking, she couldn't hear from this distance.
Lyla felt sorry for Amy. She was one of the sweetest people she had encountered thus far, and it broke her heart that she died such a gruesome death. What really made her heart hurt is she knew Andrea was waiting for he reanimation, and Amy didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve become one of those things even for a moment.
Lyla furrowed her eyebrows as she watched them stab Walker heads. She didn't understand why they were over killing them, if they were worried about them reanimating why did they let them sit the whole night.
She huffed but walked over to a stray body and began pulling it towards the other pile of bodies. "Let me help you," Glenn called out to her as he began jogging over to her.
"I got it!" She called out to him as she continued pulling it towards the pile. Glenn ignored her and picked up its feet, making the body a lot lighter for her.
Once the body had been dropped off Lyla grunted and dusted her hands off her pants. "She's gonna turn soon," She said bitterly while glaring at the sisters.
Glenn looked towards Andrea as well and bitterly said, "yeah."
The pair watched as Rick approached Andrea and begin telling her they need to move the body. "Well this isn't gonna end good," Glenn said as he moved his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. He stuck some work gloves in the back of his pants, they bounced as he shifted.
"There she goes again," Lyla laughed loudly to Glenn and shook her head as she saw Andrea pull her gun on Rick. She knew it wasn't a funny time, but she did think it was humorous how often she tries to shoot somebody.
Daryl angrily paced back and forth, eyes set dead on Amy's body. "Y'all can't be serious! Letting that girl hamstring us!" He shouted at Rick.
Rick furrowed his eyebrows, eyes quickly following Daryls pacing body. Daryl reminded Rick of a wild animal, or a cat, he was very quiet and meticulous. "What do you suggest?" Rick said just as angrily. His tone sounded belittling, knowing full well he wasn't going to do anything he suggested.
"Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance!" He yelled pointing to his temple.
Lori folded her arms and sternly said, "No, for God's sake no. Let her be."
Lyla chuckled and scoffed loudly. "Do you have something you'd like to say to me?" Lori asked her, placing her hands on her hips now.
The tone of Lori's voice set her off. Lyla spit on the ground and took a step closer to Lori, her jaw tense. "Lori how in the hell do you even get an opinion on this. You don't protect this group. If Amy turns you're going to be crying for one of us to put her down," Lyla told her, jabbing a finger towards her.
Lyla narrowed her eyes as she watched Lori's mouth drop. She heard Daryl chuckle from her side. "She just lost her sister Lyla! What if that was Aiden?" Lori stabbed back.
Lyla's jaw tended even harder as she took another step forward. She was surprised Rick hadn't stepped in yet, or Adonis. "I'd already have put him down. I'd never let my family become one of them," She scoffed.
"That's enough," Rick quickly interjected as Lori was about to reply. "We're not doing anything yet and that's final," he said towards Daryl and Lyla.
Lyla couldn't believe they were willing to risk their safety because Andrea couldn't let go. All she had to do is a quick stab to the brain and she could still sit there with the body if she wanted. Lyla didn't want to risk anybody in the camp getting bit, and she knew she sounded like a villian. "Hi baby," She cooed to Moose as he happily stuck his tongue out as she scratched behind his tall erect ears.
"Alright. Back to work buddy," She told Moose giving him a final pat on the head.
"We don't burn them!" Lyla heard Glenn scream in anguish as Daryl tried moving one of our own people into the fire pit full of burning walkers. "We bury them!" He cried out.
Lyla's heart twisted watching her friend's heart break right before her. She didn't know the man Daryl was dragging personally but he saw him around camp a few times – seemed like a good guy. She turned away from the scene and continued to pull her dead Walker towards the fire.
"Jim's bit! Jim got bit by a Walker!" Jacqui screamed loudly in pure horror. This was the first person in camp to get bit by a Walker and not die immediately.
Upon hearing the words, bit by a Walker Lyla hastily dropped the walkers feet. She stood tall and erect, staring at the man with fear in her eyes. Were they going to kill now? Or would they wait until he turned to kill him? Lyla questioned in her mind.
"Show it to us!" Daryl's deep voice snarled out.
She watched Jim become increasingly more terrified as all the men in camp begin to circle him like a lion pride with their prey. He looked quickly back and forth between all the men. "Jim, just show it to us," Adonis spoke out calmly, hands raised towards him showing the man he meant no harm. It was something the FBI teaches you, deescalate the situation. "I'm okay," Jim assures while eyeballing a shovel near him.
Adonis is quick. Quick to take notice in the mans hard stare. "Watch the shovel!" Adonis yells a beat before Jim lunges towards the shovel and holds it up threateningly.
"Jim, put it down," Shane tries yelling at the poor man.
"He's going to die," Aiden spoke grimly next to Lyla. The older sibling visibly jumped having no idea he was even remotely close to her. She looked at his face, he was becoming depressed she thought.
"He is," She said sadly to her brother. "It doesn't mean you will," She whispered to him, saddened by the fact he was hurting so much internally.
"We all do," And with that he turned on his heel, towards the tent.
Lyla wanted to run after him, beg him to be okay. But she knew she couldn't do that, she couldn't guilt him into being okay. He had to find the strength in himsself to be okay.
"What are we going to do now," Lyla yells out as Daryl is holding Jim's shirt up revealing an angry bite mark on the side of his ribs.
Shane escorts Jim to the side of the RV and tells him to stay put. The group gets together just a few feet away.
Lyla awkwardly shifts her weight on her feet as she bites her thumb nail, an anxious habit she picked up. "I say we put a pickaxe in his brain and the dead girls and be done with it," Daryl spits out.
Lyla agreed that it was quick and efficient but it wasn't the right call. "Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane counters.
"Yeah and I'd thank you while you did it"
"I hate to say it.. I never thought I would but Daryls right - " Dale begins only to be cut off by Rick.
"Jim's not a monster Dale," Rick angrily voices "or a rabid dog."
Dale looks completely horrified at the thought of Rick thinking he would even begin to think something like that. "I'm not suggesting," he begins to say but is cut off again.
"He's sick! He's a sick man!" Rick pleads.
"The lines pretty clear. No tolerance for walkers or those to be," Daryl points out.
Lyla could tell Rick is getting stressed out. "We can't just kill him in cold blood," Adonis says. Ah, there was her moral boy Lyla thought with a small smile. Adonis always did the right thing, it amazed Lyla all the time.
"I agree. What if we get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure," Rick tells the group.
Lyla tilted her head and made a disapproving sound. "Everything else has fallen what would make the CDC any different?" She questioned.
"Just what if the CDC was up and running," Rick continues pressing.
"'Man, that is a stretch right there," Shane tells him. Lyla had to agree.
"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they? I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection..."
"Rick.. I don't think there is any government left," Lyla told him softly.
"I have to agree. We all want those things man, but they're gonna be at Fort Benning," Shane tells the group his idea.
Lyla didn't think any of those things would still be operational, but at least the base may have guns and ammo, maybe some MRE's. "That's a 100 miles in the opposite direction," Lori chimed in for the first time. Lyla internally scoffed. Both places were far, it didn't matter.
"That is right but it's away from the hot zone," Shane pointed out.
"Rick, we were in Atlanta when it fell. Right at the start. It's not safe to go into that city," Adonis pressed, remembering the sheer terror he witnessed on that day Atlanta fell.
"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They all got overrun, we've all seen that. The CDC is our best chance," Rick stubbornly continued.
"Even if there's nobody there, their guns and ammo could be," Lyla pointed out to which Shane nodded, as she was furthering his point.
Daryl decided he'd had just enough of the bickering and decided to take things into his own hands. He launched towards Jim, pick axe high in the air ready to slam down on his head until he heard the cock of a gun. He begrudgingly slumped his shoulders, letting the pick axe fall to the ground with a large thud. "We don't kill the living," Rick bit out.
Daryl stubbornly took a step towards the gun, pressing the barrel against his head. "Funny comin from a man who's pointed a gun at my head, twice," he growled.
"Come with me," Rick told Jim, grabbing him by his under arm.
"Where are you taking me?" Jim asks scared of Rick transporting him just to kill him.
"Somewhere safe," Rick told him.
Lyla jumps as she hears a lone shot ring out. She knew it was Amy. She had finally been put to rest.
"I've been, uh... I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no... There are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning," Shane tells the group, but Lyla could see it in his eyes he didn't believe a word that he was saying.
Lyla didn't agree with the CDC, but she liked this group. They had potential to be strong. Lyla and Adonis looked at eachother, he gave her a slight nod. The nod signifying wherever this group goes, they to will go.
"Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane instructs the group.
Lyla rested up against her Jeep as Adonis finishes loading up all their gear. She nodded her head to Shane, telling him she understood. "We're uh.. not going," Morales sadly reveals.
"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people," His wife tells them.
Lyla sadly shook her head. Chances are they were gone, just like all her friends were gone. Lyla moves off her Jeep and walks over to Morales. "Be safe. Don't trust anyone," Lyla whispers to him while giving him a side hug.
"You are one bad ass chick Lyla, watch over them will you?" He told her, nodding his head to the group.
"I got them," She told him and then moved to hug his children and wife.
"Be safe man," Adonis told him, walking up behind Lyla. Adonis held his hand out, Morales placing his hand in Adonis'.
"The box is half full," Shane told him while handing him a box of ammo and a gun.
Lyla headed back to her Jeep as the rest of the group said their goodbyes to the kind family.
"Channel 40 if y'all change yalls minds," Rick told them, hoping they would.
"Come on! Let's head out!" Shane yells slapping the edge of his car.
"You think we're gonna find anything?" Aiden asks eagerly from the back seat, poking his head in the middle of the two seats.
"I hope little man," Adonis told him with a smile. Lyla gazed in wonder. Adonis was truly a wonder. He was always positive, whereas most of Lyla's positivity was fake. He was charming and everything you could want in a person, everything Lyla wished she could be. It was hard trying to live up to his expectations.
"Woah," Adonis said as he slowed to a stop. He saw white smoke flowing over top the RV. "Radiator went out again," He cursed softly to himsself.
The beige and white RV sputtered to a stop, a loud whining noise coming from the engine. Lyla sat up and looked closer at the RV, and shook her head when she concluded it was indeed the radiator again.
"I told you we'd never get far on that hose! I said I needed the one from the cube van!" Lyla hears Dale tell the group as she shuts the door to her Jeep after Aiden climbs out.
"Can you jury rig it?" Rick asks.
"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose, and I'm all out of duct tape"
Lyla chuckles at Dale's statement. Shane holds his favorite pair of binoculars up to his eyes, hoping to spot anything worth while. "I see something up ahead," He tells them – binoculars still held up to his eyes.
"Gas station if we're lucky," Shane says finally removing them from his eyesight.
"Let's go see what we can find," Lyla told him.
After a tedious, hot, long walk up the hill they finally arrived at the gas station. Which was entirely run down. Multiple vines grew along side the gas station. The once red illuminating sign cracked in the middle and slouched over against the side of the store. A large oak tree had collapsed and broke in the back of the gas station. The gas pumps line were thrown out on the floor, forgotten about.
As they approached Lyla looked at the store with a grimace on her face. "Well.. this looks.. safe?" She questioned out loud to the boys.
Shane scoffed and tossed his shot gun onto his shoulder. "Let's just get what we need," Shane told them sternly.
Lyla informed the boys that she'd stand watch while they grab what they needed. It's not like she knew what was needed anyhow.
"He says it's what he wants."
Once Shane, T-Dog and Lyla get back from the gas station Rick informs them that Jim wants to be left behind. He doesn't want them to end it, he wants nature to take its course. To be with his family. Lyla could understand the sentiment behind it, but she just could never do that for herself, or to her family. However, she was pro choice in all matters. It wasn't anybody's place to tell Jim what to do with his own body.
"And he's lucid?" Carol squeaks her gaze shifting to the RV where Jim laid.
Rick places a hand on his forehead and croaks out, "he seems to be. I would say yes."
Adonis sighs from beside her. He brings his hands up and harshly rubs them through the sides of his hair and then back down onto his forehead. He was tired of seeing death everywhere. "We just leave him here?" Aidan asked quietly to Rick.
Lyla sucked in a breath. She hated these moments. "Yes baby, but it's what he wants, and he has the right to that choice," Lyla explained to him. She hated seeing the solemn expression appear his face.
"We just leave him man? I don't know if I can live with that," Shane scoffs. Lyla watched the subtle expressions twitch on Daryl's face as he intently listens in on the conversation. She could only imagine what thoughts run through that man's head.
"It's not your call, either of you," Lori lectures, pointing a finger between Rick and Shane. For once, Lyla agreed with Lori.
Jim groans as Rick and Shane carry him to a tree just off the side of the road. Lyla grimaced watching the pain form on his face.
"Thank you Jim. For everything you did for us, I hope you find peace and your family," Lyla told him softly, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.
Jim smiled softly through the pain, and coughed a bit. "You.. you watch over them now," He begin speaking. "They need you so much more than they realize Lyla," He spoke his voice hoarse.
Lyla felt the familiar sting behind her eyes and stab in her stomach. She gave him a soft smile, tears welling up in her eyes. "Rest now Jim," She told him and patted his leg.
Here we go, Lyla thought bitterly in her head as they rolled into downtown Atlanta, the CDC in sights. "Aidan you stay glued to me, you hear me? Me or Adonis, you do not leave our side," She turned and told Aidan as sternly as she could. Her fast eyes taking quick note of the amount of walkers they have passed.
"We're serious Aidan," Adonis said worriedly.
"I know guys."
Lyla frowned as she saw the multiple decaying bodies of previous service members. The CDC looked like a war zone. She highly doubted anybody was still alive in there. "God," she whispered to Adonis as he to watched the scene with a sick stomach.
"Make sure your guns are loaded," Adonis said bitterly as he pulled out his pistol, checking to make sure he had enough bullets. Lyla and Aidan did the same.
As soon as they stepped out of the Jeep Daryl appeared seemingly out of no where. Lyla's eyebrows flickered in confusion. "Keep close," He muttered as he turned the other way to watch the back of them.
A soft smile appeared on her face. "All right everybody, let's go. Keep together," Shane instructed as the group quickly bunched together.
Lyla grabbed Aidan's hand with her free one as she drew her sword with her other one. She was constantly swiveling her head, watching for Walkers. "Keep moving," Lyla bit out as Andrea and Lori paused in their walking.
"Shh," Shane told them as a few of them let out cries as walkers started appearing.
As the group reaches the shutters multiple walkers have started flocking towards the group. "Lyla," Aidan whispered in panic and pulled on her sleeve, alerting her to a stray Walker that had started to get close.
Lyla took the initiative and ran forward, slicing the walkers head off. As she looked up from the dropping body she spotted many more than she could handle. "Oh shit," She whispered and immediately ran back to the group.
"We can't stay here," Lyla told Rick harshly while grabbing his shoulder. Lori immediately rips her hand off him.
"They're here Lyla! I know it!" Rick yelled at her. His eyes pleaded for her to believe him. She looked at him deeply and sadly and just shook her head.
"We have to go," she whispered.
From her back side she heard the familiar release of Daryl's crossbow. "You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled in anger.
"He made a call!"
"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl yelled and grabbed Lyla by her upper arm.
"What are you doing?" She protested.
"Get your brother. We're leaving," He said sternly as he continued to drag her.
"Do you hear me Rick! No blame man."
"She's right we can't be this close to the city after dark," Lori told her husband. Rick still continued shouting at the camera and kicking the shutters, drawing more attention.
Lyla runs ahead and begins killing walkers with the help of Adonis and Daryl.
Just as all hope begins to get lost a blinding white light emits as the shutters begin to roll open. Lyla let her sword dangle by her side as she gasped. She couldn't believe they actually opened. This felt like a dream.