Dead Man Walking | Rick Grimes

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The crunch of the snow beneath my feet was deafening against the utter silence that surrounded me – there were no animals, no signs of other human life, and no signs of any walkers in the area. The best thing about the wintertime is that the walkers were drastically slower, and the few we've encountered so far have been frozen in place.

I zipped up my leather jacket – an authentic badass jacket that Daryl found a few weeks before the cold weather fully hit us – and stuffed my hands in my pockets, the feeling in them nearly gone as the cold continued to bite at them. I used to say I was a winter gal before all this, but now I think I'm a spring person. The summers are too hot, and the winters are too cold now that we don't have A/Cs or heaters, so spring is the perfect combination. I rolled my neck and shoulders, feeling intense tension from sleeping on hard floors. Ever since winter started, we've been house-jumping. We don't stay in a place too long since the resources are non-existent in the area, and we can't move as quickly as we want to since it's too damn cold.

The sound of crunching snow approaching me made me stop dead in my tracks, my heart beating in my ears as I prepped myself to make a run for it. With the resources depleting, we've had to ration as much as we could; The lack of food and the number of calories I burn daily... let's just say I have no energy to take down a walker right now. Rick emerged from the surrounding trees, his hand tightly clutching his gun as his eyes landed on me. It took him a few seconds to fully register that it was me until he loosened his grip on his python, a small smile on his lips. I smiled at him and slowly started walking, deciding to keep making my way to the small town we were by.

"Didn't find any animals?" I asked him lowly as I passed him. He shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets, his guard dropping as he realized we were all alone. I did tell him it was too cold for any animals to be out, but he insisted otherwise. When are these guys gonna learn that I'm almost always right?

"It's dead out here. Too cold for any squirrels or birds to be out and about." Rick shrugged. We kept quiet as we continued walking, our breathing the only thing audible as one of us occasionally huffed from exhaustion.

"I don't think we're gonna find anything, Rick." I finally muttered as the trees cleared away, revealing the deserted town. "We've already torn this place apart; we need to move on." Rick let out a heavy sigh next to me, knowing that I was right. Two weeks is a long time, and we've cleared almost every building except one.

"We had a good two weeks in that house Glenn found, but you're right." Rick agreed, "We should just try finding some food and prepare to jump to the next town."

"Who knows? Maybe Daryl and Glenn managed to find something good in that gas station they found yesterday?" I suggested, desperately trying to lift the mood between us. Rick nodded, a defeated smile spreading across his cracked lips as he turned to me.

"Maybe." He smiled, and after a pause, he said, "You know what I miss?" I continued looking at him, waiting for him to enlighten me. "I miss just being lazy around the house. A cold beer in one hand and a movie playing on the TV with the heater on high."

"That sounds amazing." I exhaled longingly as I pictured the exact same scenario but with me relaxing in the recliner. as we stepped onto the first street of the town. "Wait, wait, wait, the main question here is: What kind of beer?" I asked, smiling up at him. His bottom lip caught between his teeth as he thought.

"I'm gonna butcher the name on this one," He warned, "A few years ago, we took a family trip to Mexico, and there was this beer that was just awesome. Bohemia?"

I could literally feel my mouth water at the name alone. "That's my favorite beer," I informed him, "I'm willing to lay my life on the line just for one last taste of it."