Malevolent. The Walking Dead

[ 015 ] each day dies

015: each day dies

There was a short lived bliss in Joey's sleep. Maybe it was her change of mind, the way she held herself, and the way she allowed herself to relax that prompted the possibility of her going an entire sleep without any semblance of a nightmare. Her sleep was undisturbed, she held onto Finn like a vice, and he seemed to do the same. Everyone else seemed calm as well. Although, the euphoria was short lived before her sleep was interrupted by Eugene's gross, monotone voice. Joey thought she was about to have a nightmare just from the sound of it. Finn was still dead asleep against her even when she stirred beside him.

"Morning, sunshine," Tara teased, leaning over to tap Joey's foot. The redhead furrowed her brows. "You're a snorer,"

"You needed the sleep," Maggie cooed, a soft smile on her face, which comforted Joey in the slightest when she first woke up. Not to mention that it was a different story from the scowl that was on all of their faces earlier in the day.

"Eugene, how long will it be?" Maggie asked, turning around to look at him. "After you get on that terminal and do what you have to do?" Joey pondered that herself. She contemplated if they'd be waiting for years for any semblance of sanity within the world again. She didn't want to set herself up for disappointment, but it seemed to be inevitable in a world like this. Joey moved her shoulder and Finn stirred before waking, rubbing his eyes groggily and looked at with annoyance.

"Depends on a number of factors, including density of the infected around target sites worldwide," he answered, and Joey and Finn looked at each other. It seemed as though there was a level of understanding between the pair of them ━ they only needed to look at each and they knew they were on the same page. Target sites? It sounded like they were in a sci-fi movie.

"Wait, target sites? Are you talking about missiles?" Glenn questioned, which seemed to be weighing on all of their minds. But, the beat of silence following the question and the noticeable bobbing of Eugene's adams apple didn't settle any of their nerves. "That's classified," he muttered, and Joey looked at him with a permanent scowl. "I thought we were over that," Glenn countered, and the sweat seemed to intensify on Eugene's forehead.

"What if we all live?" he asked, and Joey rolled her eyes. "Well, we're going with you, so I'm hoping we all live," she spit, looking at him with narrowed eyes. Eugene didn't waver, but Joey could tell he was nervous. But, she couldn't blame him ━ they were all nervous.

"The secrets will matter then?" Glenn breathed, nearly ignoring Joey and her rebuttal.

"They might," Eugene answered, "Anyway, the speed with which things normalize depends on a number of factors including worldwide weather patterns, which were modeled without the assumption that cars, planes, boats and trains wouldn't be pouring hydrocarbons into the atmosphere this long. Changed the game quite a bit when it comes to air-transmissible pathogens," he laid out, as if any of them were following. Joey wasn't even sure she understood half the words that were spewing from his mouth.

"Why the hair?" Glenn asked after quite a few seconds of silence, which seemed to lighten the mood a bit.

"Because I like it. And no one is takin' scissors or clippers to it anytime soon. Do you hear me, Miss Espinosa?"

Rosita smiled and laughed. "Yes, loud and clear,"

Joey released a short laugh, leaning back in her seat as Finn readjusted to go back to sleep. Bill seemed to be nodding off behind them as well.

"Y'all can laugh all you want," Eugene muttered, and Maggie shook her head. "No one's making fun,"

"The smartest man I ever met happened to love my hair,"