Andrea

I stood up and followed Andrea outside. I heard noises from the camper; a shuffling and then someone crying. I made my way to it and stopped right outside. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to see her crying. So instead, I waited for a bit until the crying had subsided to sniffles then knocked on the door.

More shuffling and a clunk, then the door opened. Andrea stood there with red, puffy eyes. She had her pistol in her hand.

“Last clip.” Her voice quivered, “Found it in there, I knew Dale must’ve been hiding something from me.”

“Can I come in?” I asked.

“Of course.” She turned back into the camper and I followed her.

We sat at the table awkwardly, not making eye contact, until she spoke up.

“Dale treated me like a child; like I wasn’t capable of making my own decisions. And yah know, for a while, I… I just hated him. Hated him for taking away my choice; but now that he’s gone… I just really want him back.” She bowed her head and sniffed. “The way he looked at me before he died… I couldn’t say anything to him that could express how sorry I was. And I think he knew that. All I could do was cry…”

I reached out and touched her hand, “I’m…I’m really sorry. We all knew Dale was a great person; he held onto humanity while the rest of us all let it go out the window. He could be annoying at times, but you’re right… I miss him too.”

She grabbed my hand and held it.

“I was also awful to you; and I never got the chance to apologize for it.”

I looked away and bit my lip before speaking, “It’s okay. I understand; you’ve been through a lot, and a girl just showin’ up out of nowhere… I didn’t really expect anyone to take to me kindly.”

“Well I’m sorry; and I hope my actions last night proved it.”

“Letting me fight was definitely something I was happy about.” I chuckled, “but tell me… why were you so… upset with me the day we met?”

“I never told you?”

“Well… not exactly…”

And as she started explaining to me what happened to her at the camp and the CDC, I still had the day when Daryl had saved me from the walker on the highway in the back of my mind. When he had introduced me to the group where I had met everyone…

Flashback

“You look like her.” Andrea said after finishing her story, “’cept my sister had blonde hair.” She put her hand up to my dark brown hair and twirled it in her fingers.

“I’m sorry about what happened to her,” I said softly, “I wish I could’ve met her.”

“I wish you could have too.”

We sat there in silence for a minute.

“I couldn’t look at you for days because every time I did I would see Amy. It just freaked me out… I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I completely understand, it must be weird and I’m sorry I look like this.”

We both chuckled. Andrea let go of my hand and stood up. I got up as well and we both headed out the door.

We met up with Daryl and Rick at the front of the house.

“Ready?” Rick asked us.

“Not really…” I mumbled, realizing I hadn’t brought a gun.

“Well…” Rick hesitated on taking something out of his back pocket, “You can have this. It was Lori’s and she’s obviously not using it now.”

He handed me a small revolver and I took it. I pushed the cylinder open and found that five out of the six rounds remained.

“Good enough.” I said as I flipped it shut. We headed down the stairs and into the car that had once been Shane’s.

Andrea Continued...