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[ season one, episode six ]
A newfound sense of hope corrupted the group from inside out as they piled into the building.
Marley loosened her grip on Sage, looking around the gargantuan entrance hall in disbelieving awe. It was dark and silent, lacking the lustre a home would provide, but sheltered from danger nevertheless. There was a deep blue tint to the air, and thick speckles of dust covered every inch of the soulless building, which was evident enough to show it hadn't been occupied ( or cleaned thoroughly ) for a long time.
There was nobody here.
"Hello?" Rick called out hoarsely.
In the deepest part of the hallway ahead, a narrow corridor smothered by shadows, Marley heard the distinct patter of footsteps. Apparently, she was the only one to catch onto the sound of an approaching person, and she wondered if she was beginning to imagine things. Dale told Shane to close the doors, Andrea gawked up at the high ceiling, Carl and Sophia held onto their mothers, Rick tried to calm his erratic heartbeat, and everyone else swallowed their nerves.
They all simultaneously flinched when a blonde man turned the corridor and greeted them all with an unwelcoming frown and a rifle pointed their way.
"Anybody infected?" he asked hesitantly.
Rick shook his head immediately, gulping. "One of our group was. He didn't make it."
Marley's head dropped at the mention of Jim. The words 'he didn't make it' hit her like a sizeable truck, reality finally striking a burning match of acknowledgment in her mind. Jim was truly gone. There was no bringing him back — no resurrecting him from the dead — and he would stay pushed up against that tree for the rest of eternity.
"Why are you here?" the man in the white shirt asked, his gun still pointed at their lumbering figures. "What do you want?"
Everything and nothing.
"A chance." Rick said.
The lone man raised his eyebrows, a small shake of his head soon following the sceptical gesture. "That's asking an awful lot these days."
There was a beat. A pause.
All Rick could think to say in those few moments was, "I know."
