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The Hunter Within

TS 19 Part One

“The camera.” Rick whispered desperately as the group turned back to the cars. Sophie’s mind was in a panic. She had woken up this morning to packing, chatter of the C.D.C going ahead. Morales and his family had decided to head off on their own instead, choosing to head north, or south, or even east or west. Sophie couldn’t remember, all she knew was that they liked their chances better on the road.
The thought of coming back into the city had been frightening, but Sophie decided that it was her best shot. Not wanting to be left to her own devices again, she had climbed into the passenger seat of Daryl’s Ute and hoped that he would let her stay.
Sophie watched the camera hopefully, trusting Rick’s instincts. Her eyes narrowing in on the lens as the others panicked around her, her heart stopping as she saw it too. “It moved.”
“You’ve imagined it.” Shane growled, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Both of ‘em?” Daryl questioned, glancing back from his aimed crossbow for a moment.
“It moved.” Rick said with clarity this time, sure of what he saw. He looked to Sophie for backup again as the others gathered around. “I promise it moved.
Shane started begging for Rick to listen to him. Fort Benning got thrown into the mix again. He forced Rick to look at their surroundings and the carnage that it held. “You need to let it go, Rick.”
He didn’t listen. Instead he started banging on the shutters, making even more noise and exciting the approaching rotters. Sophie chewed at her lip nervously, her knuckles going white around her staff. Lori was yelling now too, trying to help Shane drag him away from his violent attempt. Sophie edged closer to Daryl as the three yelled back and forth. Sophie couldn’t help but feel drawn to him and his often-quiet demeanour in this boisterous group she had stumbled upon. He watched the desperate exchange with the same alert, silence as herself, sparing countless glances towards the impending dead.
“Please, we’re desperate. Please help us.” Rick yelled into the camera, everyone fell silent to watch him. “We have women, children. No food and hardly any gas left. We have no where else to go.”
Sophie watched as Glenn paced nervously, getting ready to fight his way out of the dead end. Rick continued to yell at the camera, accusing anyone watching for killing them all. Sophie’s heart raced at the solemn thought, her eyes flickering back to the rotters and she heard the screaming off metal. Light poured from the building and she shielded her eyes, unaccustomed to artificial lighting.
Every stared in surprise for a moment before Shane made the first move, directing Daryl to cover the group as they rushed in, taking their gear with them. Sophie entered with caution to find a middle-aged scientist and his gun pointed towards the group. She paused where she was, watching his movements carefully. “Any body infected?”
“One of our group was.” Rick spoke softly and somewhat sadly. Sophie spared a thought for Jim. He hadn’t been able to take the bumpy journey any longer. She had watched as the others said their goodbyes, smiling sadly at the stranger as she turned to leave. It was then that the trip took a turn; silence consuming Daryl’s Ute. Sophie had wanted to say something, but the words escaped her. Old Sophie would have known what to say. She tried however, racking her brain for something more meaningful than ‘sorry’. Before she could figure it out, the Ute had come to a stop behind the convoy of travellers, the C.D.D looming before them, the broken attempts of the military laying all around. “He didn’t make it.”
“Why are you here? What do you want?” The scientist pressed, annunciating with his gun.
“A chance.” Rick whispered hopefully, the others watching on in silence.
“That’s asking an awful lot these days.” He sighed before lowering the gun. “You all submit to a blood test. That’s the price of admission.”
Sophie cringed at the thought of needles, almost laughing at her absurd fear. That’s what your scared of? Do you want to go back outside for a refresher?
“You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed.” He spoke seriously, glancing up at nothing in particular before speaking to someone else. “Vi. Seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here.”
Sophie watched as Daryl backed into the build as the door closed, firing a single bolt at an incoming rotter before the rattling stopped and the group was secured. Rick introduced himself to the scientist, Dr Edwin Jenner, as they followed him towards the elevator. Sophie was blow away by the idea of having power again, the movement of the elevator seeming unnatural to say the least.
“Doctors always go around packing heat like that?” Daryl questioned as the group piled in. Sophie laughed at the observation.
“There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you all look harmless enough.” He paused for a moment, looking Rick’s son up and down. “Except you. I’ll have to keep my eye on you.”
The elevator came to a halt and the group continued to follow Dr Jenner down a narrow hallway, the walls almost too white and the lights definitely too bright.
“Are we underground?” The timid lady asked. Carol, Sophie remembered, making a point to put more effort into remembering names. Now that she was sicking around.
“Are you claustrophobic?”
“A little.”
“Try not to think about it.” He answered indifferently and Sophie raised her eyebrows at the man’s weak attempt to comfort the woman. Instead, she dug deep to find the person she once was and lifted a hesitant hand to the lady’s shoulder and squeezed in a way that was supposed to be comforting. She smiled softly, silently telling Carol that it would be all right. Her efforts earn’t her a genuine ‘thank you’ in return and Sophie’s heart swelled with a sense of pride. Maybe the new world didn’t completely kill old Sophie.
“Welcome to Zone Five.” Jenner announced as they entered a big, wide room, lights slowly turning on as he had asked the mysterious Vi
“Where is everybody?” Sophie whispered, intending it just to be heard by the people close to her. Instead her voice carried much more loudly than expected. She paused for a moment, considering hiding behind her hair in embarrassment before deciding otherwise. “The other doctors, the staff?”
“I’m it. It’s just me here.”
“What about the other person we were speaking with?” Lori pressed on. “Vi?”
“Vi, say hello to our guests.” Jenner looked up at nothing in particular again. “Tell them… Welcome.”
“Hello, guests.” A computer generated voice replied. “Welcome.”
“I’m all that’s left.” Jenner restated as he continued down the runway, leading them out of the big room and into one off to the side. The group lined up for the turn to be checked for infection.
Sophie had waited nervously for her turn to give a blood sample, even more so as she watched the needle pierced her skin, biting down on her gums so hard they bled. She wouldn’t show the group that she was scared of something as trivial as a needle. If she had showed fear in the presence of a tiny needle, why would they ever trust her with more horrifying tasks? Jenner withdrew the needle and stored in for testing, Sophie sat where she was, terrified that his she stood her weak knees would give way.
“What’s the point?” Andrea sighed, crossing her arms from where she stood. “If we were infected, we’d be running a fever.”
“I’ve already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me at least me thorough.” Jenner turned to look at Sophie. “All done.”
At that point, she thought she had calmed down enough to stand. Lifting herself to her feet slowly, Sophie realised how wrong she had been. To proud to sit back down, she made an attempt to move only to stumble over her feet.
“Are you okay?” Jenner stood as Jacqui made a move to secure Sophie on her.
“She hasn’t eaten in days.” The lady replied for her and Sophie ran with it. That was an answer that everyone could accept without any embarrassment on Sophie’s behalf. “None of us have.”

Sophie reached out almost hesitantly, letting her fingers touch the cool tap lightly before smiling to herself. This is totally real, she almost giggled, turning the water on and stepping into the shower. As the water warmed up, the pool at her feet went murky with the grim and blood that had made itself at home on her skin. She greedily pumped the soap from the dispenser and, not caring if it was soap or shampoo or condition, she lathered it on all over.
As she soaped up her tired body, her mind wandered back to dinner. She had eaten much more than she was use too and definitely drank more wine than she should have. The celebrations had come to a screaming halt when Shane voiced the thought buried deep in everyone else’s mind. What happened at the C.D.C?
“We’re celebrating, Shane.” Rick had moaned and Sophie downed the rest of her glass, preparing herself for what was to come. “Don’t need to do this now.”
“Whoa, wait a second.” Shane spoke confidently as the mood simmered. Daryl took a seat on the table next to her, his drunken buzz fading away to make room for visible irrigation. Sophie took the half empty wine bottle from him and poured herself another glass. She was going to need it to sit through what was to come. “This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we… Well, we found him. Found one man. Why?”
“Well…” Jenner considered, more politely than he had too. He didn’t owe Shane, or any of them for that matter, anything. It was quiet the opposite actually. “When things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted.
“Every last one?” Andrea piped up, fuelling everyone’s drunken curiosity.
“No… Many couldn’t face walking out the door. They…” Jenner searched for the word although Sophie knew what he was about to say. “Opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That wasn’t a good time…”
“You didn’t leave?” Andrea continued, Shane just sitting smugly, observing the interrogation he started with pride. “Why?”
“I just kept working, hoping to do some good…”
“Dude…” Glenn sighed, standing from his position near Sophie to fetch another bottle of wine from the table. “You are such a buzz kill, man.”
What had just been the most enjoyable moment of the last three months of Sophie’s life was lost. The chatter and laughter had died down until Jenner took matters into his own hands, clearing his throat and asking if he could show everyone around so he could turn in for the night. It was hard to deny such a gracious host.
Sophie’s heart had swelled with the mention of warm showers and a soft couch to sleep on, maybe even a cot if she felt like exerting much energy after she forced herself out of the shower. Remembering the comment about saving hot water, Sophie slowly cut the water and stepped out into the brisk bathroom air and into the softest towel she had ever felt.
After clearing the foggy mirror, Sophie examined the new face staring back, now free of blood and dirt. Her eyes were somewhat sunken, big bags giving a physical indication of how tired she really was. Her hair was severely unkempt, the only attention it had seen in months had been simply throwing it into a bun to avoid blood splatters, after all. She poked at her dry, flakily lips with a dirty finger. She remembered back to the days where her nails were manicured and painted. None of that mattered anymore, vanity seemed to have been thrown out the window when the world went to shit. No, not vanity, old Sophie was never vain. She just took pride in herself.
New Sophie had pride too. It however, came in the form of killing rotters and surviving on next to no food. She could run all day, ignoring the pain that would shoot through her body every time her feet hit the ground. She could take care of herself at the world’s end, and that was something she would let herself be proud of.
With one last look in the mirror, she threw a set of clean clothes on, thankful for what she had shoved into her backpack. Wishing she had a toothbrush, Sophie swung open the door and went in search of a vacant couch. Doors were closed all along the hallway, up until the very end. Sticking her head in to see it empty, Sophie let her happiness bubble out, almost breaking into giddy laughter.
She was setting up for the night when someone entered through her open door, stumbling into the wall drunkenly. Her hand flickered towards her staff for a moment before remembering that she was safe here. Daryl corrected himself, standing tall to look Sophie up and down. The pair stood in silence, Sophie just watching him carefully as he turned to leave, biting back a giggle.
“You are with us now.” He turned back, stumbling over to the couch. He dropped to the floor and rests his chin on the arm of the chair. He is so drunk, Sophie laughed, watching his droopy eyes. “You always go to say somethin’ and then you just don’t. Like you don’t think what you have to say is ‘portant.”
Sophie considered his slur, crossing her legs up to her chest. “I just don’t feel like it’s my place.”
“You would’ve been with us as long as Rick.” He sat a little straighter. “If they didn’t leave you and my brother behind. An’ his made ‘imself at home.”
“He has family here.”
Daryl tried to seriously consider her words through his drunken state, shrugging when he couldn’t think of anything of value. “Just sayin’. You know your shit. Don’t just sit by and pretend you don’t.”
Sophie nodded, watching him rise from his seated position and look down at her with his intense blue eyes. He chewed at his lip for a moment before turning away, shuffling towards the door in search of a vacant room. “Thank you.” Sophie whispered after him.
He paused at the door and waved it off, looking down the hallway for a moment before turning back to her and laughing to himself. “That little girls name is Sophia, not Sophie, by the way. Jus’ so you know.”
Sophie bit back a laugh and nodded with all the seriousness that she could muster, listening to his heavy footsteps as he left her to her own thoughts.





Notes

Comments

Who's here on 2020 for a re-read? :D

Tee- Tee-
4/17/20

@QueenUchi

New readers make my heart sing, especially when they start this journey ten months after I ended it (abit abruptly but we won’t get into that because it’ll make me sad again).

Thank you you so much for leaving a comment. Nothing is more motivating for the unmotivated than a little bit of love. Whenever I get a comment from someone new all I find myself wanting to sit down and grill them with a million different questions.

If youre chasing updates about any eventual stories I write, please follow me on instagram @ sophyl_

Thanks a million again!! xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/28/18

thank you @sanders151 for recomending me this fanfic

Your fanfic has been in the center of my life for the whole month November. Let me just tell you that im in love with everything about this story. Im even at loss of words about how amazing this journey has been.

There have been moments when i actually had to get up and calm down from all the feelings may they be joy sadness or just extreme suffering. Ive been cheering, i've been crying to the point of ugly sobbing, ive been screaming while reading this all.

I dont even know how to tell you how i feel about this fanfic there arent any words for it so ima just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH about it cause thats the closets that i can think off "insert all the feelings i cant express here"

I am just so thank full for all your time and effort and everything youve put into this story. Cause WOW youre an amazing writer and when you do make your original story please do know that I WOULD LOVE TO READ THAT TOO.

This journey has ended but it will forever be in my heart.

QueenUchi QueenUchi
11/27/18

@Sanders151

I was so surprised to see a new notification on this story after all these months. Thank you so much for taking the time
to comment, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read since. Please feel free to leave me updated on your thoughts xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/25/18

Hello,

It's been a looong time since i've read this story. Life got busy and i totally forgot to finish it.

SO i decided to reread everything and lemme tell you...I STILL LOVE IT AS MUCH AS THE FIRST TIME.
Im currently at chapter 62 (right after fort hill) and i can't wait for what is to come.


Sanders151 Sanders151
11/15/18