Age 28: Today.

I was really getting tired of the weather here in the south, it was like the most erratic thing in the world. I have never left the state of Georgia in the entirety of my short twenty eight years of life, so this was all I knew. It was like I switched the air conditioning and the heat every other day, and it wasn't cheap on my pocket since mother nature couldn't quite make a decision. So here I was freezing my ass off in my bedroom since of course it was ninety degrees outside today and we had the air conditioning on, but now that the sun set and it was now a chilling thirty degrees here I was freezing until the heat warmed the house up.

I had my bedspread wrapped tightly around my body, and my laptop open in front of me. Something weird was going on, some virus had broken out and people were starting to freak out wondering what was going on. I was reading about this guy who went crazy and bit some homeless man in Atlanta, talk about drugs gone wrong was all I could think about. Personally I thought everyone was panicking over nothing, after everything I had been through in my life I was never one to sweat the small things or get worried over nothing. 

I closed my computer not wanting to read about another news article about how everyone should evacuate their towns over nothing, I personally wasn't going to leave the warmth of my bed for anything. I set my laptop on my bedside table and flicked off the lamp and curled down farther into my bed. Merle and Daryl were out on another hunting trip tonight, so it was just me all by myself in this big ole house....it wasn't big but you know what I mean. We still lived in this same house we have lived in for years, it was perfect for us and we had no reason to move. 

Not too much has changed over the years with me and the Dixon's, other than the fact than once Merle turned thirty he started doing even more drugs so he looked a lot older than he actually was. Daryl was still well....Daryl and I still continued to love him from afar. The guys still worked down at the auto shop, while I continued to work at the bar, and life for us wasn't anything spectacular except living our lives the best way we knew how. 

It was getting late now, and I knew the guys would probably just camp out in the woods like they normally did on a hunting trip. I just left my door open since I didn't have to worry about them stumbling in at night, and curled up comfortably on my fluffy pillow. I could finally feel that the heat had kicked on throughout the house so I didn't have to wrap my blanket so tightly around me, and instead just pulled my bed sheet around my waist. After a long week of work, I fell asleep quickly.....

Something breaking in the kitchen made me jump out of my peaceful slumber. I shot up in my bed and quickly grabbed the small revolver that was in my bed side drawer. Merle had gotten a few guns for the house a couple years ago when someone tried to break in. I heard shuffling around in the kitchen and immediately knew something was wrong, none of the lights were on and if Daryl or Merle broke something then they would have turned a light on and I would have heard them cursing at each other. No, someone or something was in my home....

I softly walked down the hallway of our home, careful not to draw attention to myself. When I made it down to the kitchen I could see the dim light of the refrigerator shining through the room, and a figure was hunched over on the ground eating something. I felt the breeze from outside and turned in the living room to see the front door wide open. I furrowed my brow in confusion before slowly and carefully flicking on the kitchen light. 

I gasped when the figure turned around to look at me, and stood straight up the second the light was turned on. The figure was our neighbor and friend Jess, an older man than liked to go hunting with Merle and Daryl. He lived about a quarter of a mile down the road, closer to the highway to Atlanta, but this wasn't the Jess that i knew. He had been chowing down on a freshly skinned deer i had in the refrigerator, and I'm guessing the door wasn't closed all the way seeing as it was clearly open. But why was Jess eating raw deer, sure he was like Daryl and would eat pretty much anything but deer was a different story....you don't eat raw deer without expecting to get sick.

Jess growled at me, a deep frightening sound from deep in his throat. His once brown eyes were glazed over and he looked sick. He had blood, human blood, smeared across his mouth and bright Orange shirt. I could see what looked like a large bite wound on his left arm, and when his eyes caught me he stumbled in my direction. "Jess, whats wrong? What happened to you?" I asked quietly feeling myself subconsciously backing into the kitchen wall. 

Jess ignored my questions and pleas of telling him to stop where he was, and just continued to stumble to me. I could feel my body shaking with fear and suddenly wished I wasn't so stubborn and listened when the news said to get out of town. This must be the virus they were talking about, the one where people were sick and tried to eat their friends. I was trembling and physically unable to move away from Jess, who was now only a foot away. I could feel tears running down my face, tears I haven't cried in years. "Please stop" I whimpered as Jess's physical appearance was frightening me more and more with every second that passed.

Jess just growled, his dirty arms outstretched towards me. I held my arm out once me got closer, holding his snapping face from doing what he looked like he wanted to do.....eat me. His jaw was snapping, and his once white teeth were brown and looked rotted almost. "Get off" I groaned trying to shove him off of me but failed miserably as his face only came closer to mine. "I'm sorry" I whispered and pointed my revolver into his stomach, pulling the trigger. 

I gasped when the bullet didn't even faze him, he didn't even jump when the bullet shot through his abdomen and hit the kitchen wall across the room. My eyes went wide realizing this had to be a dream, this couldn't possible be real. This felt exactly like all those horror movies that Daryl and Merle liked to watch, the ones where the dead rose from the grave and reeked havoc on the town. But this wasn't a dream, this nightmare was unfortunately real and i needed to kill Jess in order for me to survive. 

I struggled to get my gun farther up but did manage to get it under Jess's chin, and when the shot rang out, Jess fell dead onto the ground. I sobbed and fell down beside him wondering what the fuck is happening right now. I gently closed his eyes with my fingertips, and cried harder realizing I was now covered in someone who used to me a friends blood. I heard more groans and growling echoing outside, and rushed to close my front door. I shut it quietly and locked the three locks that were on the door before sliding the couch in front of the door. 

I heard banging on the door and looked through the peep hole to see three of those monstrous people slamming their decrepit hands on my front door. I looked through the small window in the living room to see two more of them wandering around the front yard, bumping into Daryl's truck in the process. I know I needed to get out of here fast, and remembered the news saying something about refuge in Atlanta. I knew Merle and Daryl would be able to handle themselves out in the woods, and maybe there wont be many of them in the middle of the woods.

I scribbled a quick note and stuck it on my bedroom door, basically telling the guys I was alive and heading to Atlanta...I would only pray they would be alive and come home to be able to see it. I reloaded my revolver and grabbed a few boxes of ammo that Merle kept in his bedroom. I grabbed a couple bottle of water, several cans of food and my bow and quiver of arrows that was in the garage that i rarely used. I knew how to shoot it since Daryl taught me how when I was eighteen, I just hated hunting and didn't feel the need to use it until now. I grabbed enough supplies for myself, but left plenty for the guys if they were to come home and needed to make a getaway. I slid in several pairs of extra clothes and put on some hunting boots before closing my bag.

I grabbed my bag and slid it onto my back along with my weapons, except my revolver which was firmly in my hand. I grabbed my car keys and went through the garage and through the door to the side that faced the wood line. I quietly sneaked around the house and smiled seeing none of those infected were around my car, i hit the unlock button on my keys before sprinting to the drivers side and locking me inside. Those freaks were still walking around aimlessly on my front porch, and I sighed realizing I would never come back here. I would never have a cookout with the guys, where all of our friends passed out drunk on the front lawn, never yell at Merle for forgetting to shut the bathroom door, or would never crawl into Daryl's bed when I had a nightmare.....my old life was gone and everything I ever complained about seemed silly now.

I tossed my bag into the backseat before quickly pulling out of our driveway and headed out of town and towards highway 85 in the direction of Atlanta. It was a long drive, and i was suddenly grateful I had filled my car up the day before. I drove on an old country rode for around an hour until I pulled off onto the interstate along with a few other cars, and it wasn't until about ten minutes later that I found myself in bumper to bumper traffic. The car in front of me had two children playing checkers in the trunk ,and seeing as how nobody appeared to be in their cars right now, I decided to shut mine off. 

I rested my head on the steering wheel for a few moments to let my adrenaline run down, but the yelling and chatter of the other people on the highway pulled me from my thoughts. I put my keys in my pocket before climbing out of the car and closing my door over in case I needed to get in quickly. The car to my right had a young woman around my age, and a larger man who looked maybe the same. "Do you know what's going on?" I asked walking up to the two of them. The woman game me a small smile while the man grabbed her hand and looked me up and down before smirking. 

The woman looked confused at the man before gently pulling her hand away from him. "Im not sure, some sort of virus I guess, Atlanta's supposed to be refuge" The woman said crossing her arms and leaning back against her car. "Yeah, It's definitely some sort of virus, those fuckers were all over my house" I said shaking my head remembering I had killed one of my friends. "I'm Lori" The woman said smiling and holding out her hand. "Savannah" I said gently shaking her hand. "Shane" the man said nodding to me. I just gave him a small smile and stood beside the two of them leaning against their green jeep. 

"Mom, Im hungry" A young boy in the car in front of mine called over. Lori looked down before nodding to the small boy, "I know Carl, we all are" She said with a shake of her head. I had to wonder how long they all have been out here, the traffic was obviously not moving, and hadn't moved in hours. I walked over to my car and grabbed the bag of deer jerky I had stuck in my bag. I walked over to Carl who was still playing checkers with another girl, and grabbed a few pieces out before handing it to them. "Hope you like deer" I said with a smile as he eagerly took the bag. "Ive always wanted to try deer" The young girl said as Carl handed her a piece. 

Carl ate several pieces quickly while the young girl seemed to be savoring the one piece she was chewing on. "What's your name sweetie?" i asked the young girl, she was simple adorable with shoulder length blonde hair and a line of freckles across her nose. "Sophia" She said shyly. 

I noticed behind her an older woman with very short grey hair smiling down at Sophia, and i was guessing she was her mother. "Nice to meet you two, I'm Savannah" I said smiling down at the children who looked more than grateful for the small amount of food I was able to provide. "Thank you so much" The older woman said who had come closer and placed a hand on her daughters shoulder. "I'm carol" She said timidly before giving me a smile. I smiled at her and handed her one of the pieces of jerky I grabbed she gave me a grateful smile before sitting in the trunk with Carl and Sophia. 

I walked back to Lori and Shane and handed them each a piece of jerky as well, before eating the smallest piece myself. "Thank's so much Savannah" Lori said before slowly chewing the food in her hand. I walked back to my car and climbed onto the roof like I always did and layed back to watch the stars. I could only think about Daryl and Merle and just prayed to whomever was out there that they made it out alive...I hoped with everything I had that yesterday wasn't the last time I would see the two of them...