S1E12 - Cover Story

And we did exactly that. Daryl cleaned the deer while Merle disappeared off to wherever meth addicts go. Alabama probably. The group still has some spices stored away, and Daryl is great at cleaning game, so the gamey taste of the deer is muted. As I finish eating, I realize that I'm still hungry. But, I don't wanna seem like a pig so I stay quiet about it. But, the familiar face of Dale comes out from behind me with another paper plate of meat and veggies. He says,

"Go on, eat. You've been unconscious for three days, you at least need to get some meat in you."

Three days, huh? At least it wasn't a month-long coma like poor Officer friendly. I give him a smile,

"Thank you. I'm Penny, by the way." He gives me a smile and a nod, "I'm Dale. Don't hesitate to ask if you need something. We're all a big family here. A dysfunctional one with a bit too many crazy uncles, but a family nonetheless."

With another mutual nod, Dale heads back up to his perch on top of his RV. As I finish off my plate, Amy comes up to me, she stands in front of me, clearly quite shy, and says,

"Uhm. Hi. It's nice to meet you. My name's Amy, by the way."

I scoot over on the log and allow her to sit by me,

"I'm Penny. The pleasure's all mine. Thank you again for the extra clothes, I'll get you another pair next time I'm in Atlanta."

She shakes her head and says,

"It's no problem at all, I'm sorry you've gotta wear hand-me-downs."

I chuckle and say,

"Bah, it's better than wearing the same pair of dirty clothes three days in a row. God I hope it rains sometime soon. I really need a shower."

She chuckles and says,

"Why would you wait for that? We have a lake behind the RV, you know?"

Oh shit, that's right! A smile slowly creeps its way onto my face as I realize this. I sigh in relief and say,

"Gosh I'm so happy now. It'll be my first bath in a week!"

Amy laughs and says,

"Sadly, it won't be a comfortable one, but it should be enough to keep you feeling fresh."

I laugh,

"Heh, I wish I would've started out around Yellowstone. I'm sure there's at least a few comfortable hot springs around there."

Amy faces up into the sky and closes her eyes,

"Haaaah, that sounds so nice. I hope we can take hot showers again one day. I never thought that would be the thing I miss the most."

We continue with our talk for a good five minutes, chatting about random things before Shane goes to gather the entire camp up. Daryl and Merle are noticeably absent, however. Shane gathers everyone by the RV and begins talking,

"Alright everyone. As you may have noticed we've got a new face around town. Andrea and Morales found her being attacked by two men, and brought her back here to help her recover."

He motions to me, so I step out from the crowd and turn to face them. I notice most of the faces are familiar, but some are completely unknown to me. Most likely the extras that are killed during the attack. I wave my hand and give a smile,

"Howdy, I'm Penny. I'm not much of a housekeeper, or chef, but I'm pretty good at taking down walkers and scavenging for supplies. And, I'm not opposed to some physical labor either. It's nice to meet you all!"

I see some smiles, some frowns, particularly Ed the wife beater. Dale comes up to me during this,

"So, how've you survived for this long on your own?"

Oh shiz. Time to make some shit up.

"I was a film major at UG, and specialized in the survival genre. A lot of the stuff shown in those movies can be of a big help. Though, those movies are generally about surviving in the wild, not against walking dead people trying to eat you, but they cover the same stuff."

I put my hands on my hips and continue,

"Anyways, when the whole thing happened, school got canceled and the dorms were eventually locked down when the first walkers started pouring onto campus. The army had already set up a disaster relief site there, but they quickly turned when people started dying."

My smile disappears,

"To keep the sick from turning, they started killing everyone around the site that wasn't military. Luckily, I was already a little skeptical of the army there, so I snuck out using a pair of bolt-cutters to cut through the fencing around the baseball fields."

Looking around, I see people holding their mouths in shock. I continue on,

"I managed to get one of my friends out with me. After a few hours of walking, we came upon a car covered in blood. I found this,"

I motion to my pistol on my hip,

",on the ground near it. I wanted to get back to Louisiana to my family, so we decided to take the car. We drove the car for a while, but eventually got stopped due to traffic. 'Course, where lots of people are, trouble follows. The military went through, shooting cars up. 'Course, this is America, and this is quite a different evacuation, so people fought back."

I look a little down as I say,

"My friend and I got separated. I ended up jumping from house to house after that, and ended up in Atlanta."

After a few seconds of silence, Jim, the guy who gets bit in the first season, asks,

"So, if you don't mind me asking, how many geeks've you killed in total?"

I look at him confused, then remember that for some reason people call them geeks in the first season,

"At the very least, ten. I know, it doesn't sound like a lot, but most of those were in Atlanta. The rural parts are pretty walker free. Though, I definitely have noticed more walkers coming from the city recently."

Jim nods his head. Everyone else asks some basic questions and introduces themselves. With that, I find some time to myself and head down to the lake. In my hands is a towel, shampoo, and soap. Yep. I'm taking a bath!

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AN: yeh, i know, useless chapter blahblahblah.

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