𝓗𝓮𝔂 𝓐𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓵 | 𝓓𝓪𝓻𝔂𝓵 𝓓𝓲𝔁𝓸𝓷

Chapter 33: No Home

Loud honking rippled through the air emanating from Rick's car that was now at the back of our little convoy. Daryl and me having taken the lead on the motorbike a few miles ago.

"You out?" Daryl questioned as I got off the bike stretching my sore limbs.

"Running on fumes," Rick replied as the group gathered together.

"We can't stay here," Maggie spoke up gripping her shotgun and scanning the area. 

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn pointed out with a sigh.

"We've not got a lot of choice at the moment. As Glenn said we can't all fit in one car. Best we can do is stay here and find gas in the morning," I huffed pulling the thick leather jacket closer around my body.

"Lilith's right. We ain't got much of a choice," Rick agreed with a curt nod.

"Spend the night here?" Carol seemed unsettled by the idea.

"I'm freezing," Carl complained wrapped up in his mother's arms.

"We'll build a fire," Lori offered.

"If you go out looking for firewood, stay close. Only got so many arrows. How are you doing on ammo?" Daryl asked.

"Not enough," Rick said passing about a little with a solemn look on his face.

"I grabbed the last of what I could at the farm before I left. Think I've got some you can use. " I said shrugging off my bow then the bag and opening it up. After rummaging around for a few moments as the others continued to debate over what to do.

"Glenn and I can make a run now. Try and scrounge up some gas," Maggie proposed only to be immediately shot down by Rick who insisted on us staying together where there was the least risk.

"I know it looks bad," Rick went on. "We've all been through hell and worse but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure, I-I really wasn't but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." It made me feel just a little worse seeing Glenn, not chipper and the voice of optimism.

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we can fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it," Rick declared determined and set on the belief there still had to be more to life than what we had now.

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure for how long. Look at what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe," Maggie pointed out, bringing up the farm only seeming to hurt her more.

"We won't make that mistake again," Hershel assured.

"You're both right," I said looking between Rick and Maggie. "We can't fool ourselves into thinking that staying say and alive will ever be easy but we can't give up hope altogether. We can't resign ourselves to a life on the road living in fear," I spoke up drawing all attention for a moment. "I can't resign myself to that kind of life again," I muttered to myself, my fingers brushing over my locket. A small hand made its way around mine I glanced to see Carol looking at me with sympathy and offering me a small smile.

"We'll make camp tonight, over there. Get on the road at the break of day," Rick decided.

"But what if walkers come through here or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked. The young girl looked terrified at the notion.

"You know we found Randall," Daryl cut in. He turned but he wasn't bit."

The look on Rick's face put me on edge. Something between recognition and realisation. The way he turned away from us all unable to meet any of us in the eye.