Chapter Text
"No matter how many times I've watched this, I'll still be awestruck at the way Carl shot Shane. No hesitation, just straight bang." You said to yourself, right arm slacked against the back of the couch, behind your cousin.
"As long as you're not spoiling the story, I guess.." Camille, your cousin commented.
"It's not a spoiler if she's just commenting." Yasmin, your youngest sister, said as she plopped down to your lap.
"I won't spoil anything, unlike someone." You said, side eyeing your other cousin— albeit younger than you for a few years, but gets along with you just fine. You wrapped your arms around your little sister and pulled her closer to your body, cuddling her.
"I didn't spoil anything!" Lawrence interjected, clearly knowing that you're talking about him.
"You did! You were the one who said that Otis will die!" His sister, Camille, exclaimed while reaching out to him to smack his left arm.
"Atleast I didn't lie and gave you false hope." Lawrence shot back, "Unlike someone."
"She wanted reassurance." You shrugged, "I gave her one."
"Sissy's right. Basically telling Otis would live and comeback is assurance. It's also not a spoiler." Yasmin backed you up, smiling cheekily towards your and her cousin.
"See? That's false hope!" Lawrence exclaimed.
"You guys are traitors! I can't choose who's better than who!" She dramatically cried out as she run a hand down her face, "Atleast I know who I should trust."
A playful scoff escaped Lawrence's throat, "Obviously."
"Not you." Camille sent a glare at her little brother's way.
"Then who?!" The young man exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air, "As if you can trust anyone else than your own brother!"
"Yeah." Camille dismissively agreed and nudge her head towards your way, "Her."
The two of them watched as a smile creep into your lips when your favourite character showed up in the screen. They watched with fascination before a quiet laugh escaped from them as you physically deflated when the said character left the screen. Yasmin was doing her best to stay still as you shift on your seat, clearly upset.
"Why must I suffer like this?" You let out an exaggerated sigh, tugging your little sister's shoulders and shaking her. "I just want to see my favourite character, come on!"
"Well, I'm sure all of us trust her." Lawrence absentmindedly agreed as he slumped back on his seat. He really can't argue with his big sister when it comes to you, there's a reason why you're the favourite big sister of your family among the grandchildren.
You're the second oldest among the grandchildren and every person present and near you are younger than you. You have two little sisters and very much close with them. Camille's only a year younger which is the same age as your little sister, Lawrence's younger than you for twelve years who's also the same age as your youngest sister.
You literally took care of your baby cousins and watched them grow up, you were there on their first crawls, first steps, first words, first memorable moments. Your aunties and uncles are all busy buddies, always working over time to give their kids whatever they need, leaving you to take care of their children while looking out of your younger siblings as well. Those baby cousins of yours has grew fond of you and Lawrence is one of those baby cousins.
"I also trust and like her, you know?" The young man murmured and watch you get giddy at the appearance of Carl, who cling to his mother as the screen show Rick let himself pour out the buried feelings he held in for so long which is the last episode of season 3, "She's really genuine in her own way."
"Like.. Look at her, getting so worked up just by watching how Lori mistreated her husband." Lawrence pointed out, "It's as if she's Rick's sister or something."
"I'm worked up right now, too. Just holding back." Camille stated as she leaned back on the couch, eyes trained on the screen.
"You guys are really emotional, aren't you?" Lawrence sighed deeply before looking away, "(Name)'s pretty emotional, too. Snapping at us out of nowhere then hugging us the next.. Sheesh."
"Well, sorry for being emotional." Camille scoffed, "Atleast she knew how to keep the atmosphere light despite being moody and snapping at us every now and then, unlike someone who acts like he got his man period everyday which doesn't make sense at all."
"I don't have period!"
"And here we go again." Camille sighed.
You snapped out of your concentration when you heard the siblings arguing. You merely glanced at them, seeing that Lawrence started smacking his big sister and Camille reaching out to get vengeance, your lips turned into a straight line as you heaved out a sigh through your nose.
"Will you two stop it?" You asked, turning your head to look at them.
Yasmin crawled off your lap, she was quick to retreat from the couch and sat down on another chair. Just watching the scene unfold infront of her. The siblings continued to throw their hands at each other and she took notice how your right eye twitched when you saw them continuing the argument, as if they didn't hear what you said.
"Stop it, you two." You said, louder this time. Yet, they made no sign nor indication of hearing a thing of what you said and continued bickering. Lawrence accidentally throw the container of fries that he was eating at you and his sister accidentally smacked your arm using the back of her hand.
At this point, you paused the show to face them.
"I said stop it!" You yelled which successfully caught the attention of the two, "We're supposed to be watching season 3 in peace! Why are you two arguing?!"
"Why are you yelling?!" Lawrence yelled back after regaining his composure— well, not really.
"Because you two won't stop!" You shot back, "And why are you yelling at me?!"
"Because you're yelling!" Camille butt in.
"Stop yelling!!" You screamed at them.
"No! You stop it!" They screamed at you in unison.
Yaica, your another little sister, had stopped in her tracks on the doorway and tightened her grip on the plate she was carrying. She raised an eyebrow when she saw you and her cousins yelling at one another. She could only shake her head and continued her way inside of the room before placing the snacks on the table in front of you.
"Stop it." She said, voice low and tapping the table.
Yet, no one showed any sign of stopping. You raised your hands up and reached for Lawrence to smack him, but he was quick to dodge and smack you instead. This caused for her eyebrow to twitch.
"Sis already tried to stop them." Yasmin piped in, watching as her other older sister tried to break out the fight that dragged you.
"Guys, stop it." She said a little louder this time, ignoring Yasmin's statement.
The screaming continued, it even escalated to Camille and Lawrence kicking each other out of irritation. A sign that they successfully got onto each other's skin. You? You're so close on kicking them, too. The fact that one of them might cry is the only thing that's stopping you.
"Stop it!" Yaica screamed, making you and the other two stop yelling, "Why are you three arguing?!"
"Why are you yelling?!" You screamed at her, throwing the nearest object towards her.
Yaica gasp and dodge the dirty rag coming her way, she barely dodged it and she was quick to pick it up then threw it at you.
To say the least, the night ended with you four being scolded by your grandmother. Yasmin was excluded because she was only watching.
"I don't feed the four of you to just waste those energy fighting! Do you want your grandfather to come up here and scold you himself?" Your grandmother asked, making all of you disagree in unison, you didn't want to disturb your grandfather— much less make him disappointed.
Now, you're on your bed with your little sisters laying beside you with you on the middle. They're already knocked out while you're still scrolling through your phone.
A particular post has caught your attention which pertains to the missing cases in your city— one of the missing person had shown themselves into the station, claiming that they were in a apocalyptic universe where aliens and monsters existed, was what it reads.
Apocalypse? Hah, if you were in a apocalyptic universe, you're hoping that it won't be the zombie apocalypse. Especially similar to resident evil or the last of us, if you were in that universe, you're sure you'll be dead before it begins.
"I'll probably look for Yaica and Yasmin to keep myself going.. Probably will look for Cams and Laws, too. I mean.. What's the point of being alive if I have no purpose in life?" You murmured to yourself and sighed, imagining yourself to be alone in a apocalyptic world.
You've been surrounded and have been dependent on your little sisters to keep you going in life, they are your pillars— the ones that made you change your mind when you wanted to end it for once and for all. You can't live knowing that they died, is what you thought. Being alone frightens you and they are the only ones that you can lean on without the fear of being judge.
Your hands reached out to touch Yaica's hand and she was quick to hold yours tightly. She stirred in her sleep, blinking the sleep from her eyes.
"You alright?" She whispered, "Nightmares?"
"No." You answered, "Go back to sleep, just wanted to hold your hand, dummy."
"You sure?" She squeezed your hand and turned to her sides facing you. "You can cry if you want, they're asleep. No one will hear you." She tugged you towards her and wrapped her arms around you, making you the small spoon.
You let out breathy chuckle, "I'm telling you I'm fine."
You assured her and pat her back, a silent thank you to her, without needing to say the words out loud.
"If you say so.." She murmured, already drifting off to sleep.
Her arms started to loosen around you and this made you huff. You turned your phone off and plugged it on it's charger without moving out of her embrace.
You have an appointment tomorrow and you need your mobile to keep the human interactions as low as possible. You turned around, your back against her chest— you wrapped your arms around your youngest sister, Yasmin and sighed contently before closing your eyes.
Whoever that missing person was, they're probably from the hospital because come on, who would believe their nonsense?
Not me. You mused mentally before drifting off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, your phone turned on. The screen glitching and a red text appeared. The walking dead. The screen cracked, the sound inaudible as the charger got unplugged— leaving the battery percentage in 10%.
Your phone glitches uncontrollably with no sign of stopping, a static sound erupted from the speaker which made you stir in your sleep and almost instantly, the screen turned dark.
Rick opened his eyes, his vision hazy— blurry. Static noises filling his ears, making him let out a groan upon hearing it.
"That vase— that's something special." Rick mumbled, his vision still hazy as he stared at the ceiling, "'Fess up. You steal that for me at Grandma Jean's house? I hope you left her that spoon collection."
He had a fit of chuckles, his lips curling into a small smile after saying his little joke, then his chuckle turned into a collection of small coughs.
He slowly turned his head to the side, eyes blinking away the haziness.
“Shane?" He called out, only to be met with silence. "Shane, you in the John?"
He could vaguely remember that he got shot. He was with Shane when it happened, he can't remember what happened after that.
He had trouble getting up, gasping as he pulled out the dextrose from his hands. He dropped down on the floor, the tiles cold against his skin, causing a shiver to run down his spine.
He could hardly stop himself from shaking.
"Nurse, help!" He gasped out, his chest heaving up and down. "Nurse, help!"
When no help came, he forced himself to stand up and wobbled as he made his way towards the bathroom door. He bumped into the wall, using it as his support.
He opened the door and immediately saw himself in the mirror, his lower body was covered with bandages and his face looked ragged. He huffed a breath through his mouth before leaning against the sink, he opened the tap and quickly started to drink from the running water.
Once he had his fill, he burst out of his room, breathing heavily as he pushed the bed away that was blocking his hospital door.
He couldn't fathom why someone would do that, why someone would block the way with a bed, but he didn't have much time thinking about it— he quickly made his way down the hall and went to the front desk.
He tapped around the desk blindly before his hand grabbed a hold of a match. He hastily lit one match and looked around, then he made his way towards the hallway door, the light was flickering and he unconsciously leaned against the doorframe to support his weight.
He looked through the glass of the door, eyes squinted as he observed. He immediately took notice of the dead body in the middle of the hall— bloody and stomach torn open.
He was quick to turn back and walk away, going to the end of the hall. As he walk down the hall, he noticed the blood on the wall. He passed the broken double doors with the cafeteria's closed doors coming into sight.
Don't open, dead inside.
Was written on the doors. However, that didn't stop Rick from walking near it.
The doors started clanging, the wooden plank between the knobs started bumping against them and the chains on it stopping whatever were behind those doors.
He started gasping, panic cursing through his veins as he stepped back.
He made his way to the elevator, shaking on his feet as he used the wall to support his weight. He breathed through his nose, heavily and heaving deeply, trying to catch his breath and calm his racing heart. While doing so, at the corner of his eyes, he saw a particular door move and shuffling can be heard inside it.
He inhaled sharply before slowly peaking his head inside of the room, only for his brown irises to be locked with a pair of glossy (color) eyes.
“(Last name)..?”