FATAL IMPACT

[ 004 ] our old friend, death
[season one, episode four]

Tessa had fallen oblivious to the mindless chatter around her, her eyes remaining on the small campfire that crackled away in the middle of the group.

Most of her company had turned to partying thanks to Andrea and Amy (who'd caught enough fish to feed a small army). Everyone wore cheerful smiles on their face and laughter occasionally scattered through the group.

Tessa had become oddly mute after her attack on Ed unsure of what to say or who to say it too. She'd noticed how Carol had tried her best to avoid her, whether out of fear of her or Ed, she didn't know.

Luckily no one else seemed bothered by her violent tendencies. They all worried about the state she was in. She'd torn her stitches in the fight as well as accumulating several more bruises and scratches on her knuckles, wrists and arms. The colours had begun to become exciting and she must've sat for at least an hour whilst all the children inspected her injuries.

"You want some fish?" Sophia asked, her eyes wide as she offered a plate to Tessa.

"Yeah. Thank you." Tessa smiled at the young girl, glad that she didn't hold the attack on father against her. The innocence of children would always be a beautiful thing and Tessa was glad that adults cared enough to try and protect the humanity of their offspring even in such trying circumstances.

"I've got to ask you man." A grin crossed Morales's face as he turned his body towards Dale. "It's been driving me crazy."

"What?" Dale replied, confused laughter slipping through his lips as he waited to hear what Morales so desperately wanted to know.

"That watch." Morales pointed at the small watched that adorned Dale's wrist. "I see you every day, same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass."

"I've wondered this myself." Jacqui smiled, a cheeky tone filling her voice. "Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end."

"She's got a point." Tessa laughed. "I mean there ain't really any sense in winding it now, is there?"

The bearded man rolled his eyes as if the answer should be obvious; "Time... it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least."

"Maybe if you have appointments to get to or children you gotta drop at school but what are we countin' for anymore? Nowhere to be. No one to see. Ain't much left." Tessa's voice became slightly more serious as she pressed the matter, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Dale looked thoughtful for a minute, his hand going to the watch. "I like... I like what, um, a father said to his son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my fathers before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment, now and then, and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it'."

"William Faulkner, right?" Tessa asked unable to hide the scholarly knowledge that came with being a teacher. "I think I taught that to a sixth grade class once."

The group laughed but Dale just shook his head like he knew something they didn't. Tessa smiled at the man, impressed with his capacity to memorise the passage (something that none of her students had managed).

"You two are so weird." Amy giggled.

"The world may end but knowledge lives on." Tessa said dramatically, fork in the air, eliciting more laughter from the people around her.

As the group fell into a relaxed silence Amy stood and turned to leave, being stopped by her older sister before she could get very far. "Where are you going?"

"I have to pee." Amy remarked just loud enough for the others to hear. "Jeez you try to be discreet around here..."

No one tried to hold back their laughter at the interaction; in amongst the terrible times, nights where all you'd do was eat and laugh were a welcome relief. Even the silliest of conversations would be fuelled by thoughtless giggles and stupid comments.

Running her hand through her hair, Tessa glanced across the campfire where Shane was watching her with a careful eye. She sent the man a cheeky smile before placing a piece of fish onto her fork and flinging it him with such ferocity that it hit him square in the forehead.

Shane was quick to reciprocate the attack, a large chunk of fish finding its way into Tessa's hair.

"Asshole." She laughed, picking shattered pieces of fish from her blonde locks.

"Children. Children. We don't play with our food." Lori chastised but she was unable to hide the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips.

Tessa shook her head with a giggle. She pretended to go back to eating, secretly reloading her fork. This time the fish was aimed for Lori. And Tessa wasn't one to miss.

"You little-" Lori was cut off by an ear splitting scream and the entire group turned, their faces contorting in horror as they caught the tail end of a walker sinking its teeth into Amy's arm.

The sound of skin tearing was enough to send the survivors into inevitable chaos. Every mouth let out terrified shrieks and wails as the once happy party were disrupted by the dead who had slipped into the camp under the silence of the evening.

Tessa barely had time to react before someone's arms shoved her to ground, feet trampling over her body. She didn't allow herself to waste time, crawling away from the chaos to find a weapon.

All around her she could hear shouts of fear and desperate sobs as people watched the dead tear into their loved ones. There wasn't time to stop and worry about her own injuries; peoples lives were at stake and she'd promised Rick that she'd watch his family. She'd promised him to keep the people in the camp safe.

A sigh of relief tumbled from her mouth as her hands found a large rock on the ground ― as weapons went it was better than nothing. She didn't hesitate to stand, her eyes roving over the masses of running people until she found what she was looking for.

Carl and Lori were cornered by a trio of walkers and, even as Tessa watched them, she knew the terrified mother and her child would not be able to defend themselves. She bolted over to the pair and her concern for her own life seemed moot as she slammed the jagged rock down on the skull of the first walker.

It burst easily, blood spraying across Tessa's face and body. The worry of infection didn't deter her and she went for the second, receiving similar success. Each brutal attack seeped her energy and by the time she reached the third walker, her arms ached and her head spun.

She was unprepared for its attack, its skinny, bleeding fingers clawing at her skin, forcing the rock from her hands. Poppy red liquid foamed in its mouth as it snapped its teeth at Tessa. She could barely keep hold of the rotted body but she refused to give up. Pressing her hands into its soft skin in attempt to hold it back Tessa felt its blood run down her fingers. She felt its ribs, its organs, its rotting flesh, being pulled from its body as she grappled with it.

"Run!" She screamed, momentarily diverting her attention from the dead to Lori and Carl. "Get the hell outta here!"

She noticed the reluctance in their movements, the way Carl looked back at his mother as if unsure whether to leave Tessa alone and defenceless.

"Go." She was begging, crying, as she kept the walker at arms length. "Get him out of here Lori."

Exhaustion slurred her words but she knew that Ricks family understood, taking off in search of Shane and a place to hide. As Tessa watched them she could feel herself losing strength. She had pushed her arms almost entirely through the walker, a thin layer of decaying skin the only thing separating her from death.

She could hear Shane firing his gun and screaming at people to get to the RV and she wondered if all her efforts had been for nothing. What if Carl and Lori died anyway? What if Rick returned to a camp of torn bodies? So much could be lost in such little time.

She was ready to give up, let the snapping teeth of the walker take her, when an arrow sliced cleanly through the it's skull, rendering the creature limp. Tessa dropped to her knees with a sob, shoving the dead body away from her.

"Get up." Daryl growled, his hand going to Tessa's arm, tugging her away. "Get out of here."

She didn't hesitate, her breathing shallow as she stumbled over the rocky ground to the RV. The air had begun to still again, screams dying out against the flesh of the quarry. The scene around her was the remnants of a massacre. Blood soaked the ground, twisting over rock and dirt, coating almost everything. Bodies took the place of trees and rock formations; a new nature.

Tessa could only sob as she looked at the scene drawn out before her. Each of the dead had a name, a face, a family yet they had been reduced to little more than a feast. Veins and organs crawled from their bodies, tendrils of innards reaching for the ground.

Very little remained of the cheerful camp that had been sitting only moments prior. The smell of death suffocated the air forcing the lone survivors to breathe deeply through their sobs and screams. Tessa wondered if the event would finally show those in denial the catalyst that was false safety.

⋆ ★

this chapter hurt to write ngl.
tessa deserves so much better and i promise i'll be nice to her . . .
one day