Changing To Adapt ➵ TWD

➵ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ

"Lucas?" Rick ducks around the counter, his voice bursting through the white noise in Lucas's ears. He doesn't holster his gun, but keeps it at his side. The last time Rick thought the threat to be gone was a mistake, he wouldn't slip-up again.

Lucas drags himself until he's leant against the cupboard, handle digging into his shoulder blade, and winces, "Yeah," he says, short and sharp. Unsure.

Rick grabs his jaw, pushes his hand out of the way and examines the small, splintered cut himself. Every jab sends a wave of pain through his skull.

"You good?"

Lucas squints up at Rick when Hershel takes his place, pulling napkins from the bag to wipe the blood from his eyes. "Feels like someone played ping-pong with my brain."

He takes Rick's offered hand.

They stare at the dead among them, breathing heavily in the suddenly silent room.

"Glenn?" Rick asks.

Glenn looks away from Tony's body, laid still in a puddle of his own piss, and nods hesitantly. His eyes are wide.

"Hershel?"

Stopping his examination, Hershel pulls away from Lucas. He glances around the bar, lips pursed, then back to Rick. He nods.

"Let's head back."

True to Hershel's words, Rick leads them towards the exit, gathering the guns on the way out. But the sound of tires against the asphalt has them freezing in place.

Rick ducks, and the others follow.

The car almost drives by the bar - to which Lucas holds his breath, pressing harder against his forehead.

But the vehicle parks on the road, multiple footsteps landing just outside. "Dave? Tony?"

Lucas curls further into himself, avoiding the windows. He looks over at Rick and the others, breathing deeply through their mouths.

Eventually, the footsteps fade, moving to the next building.

Rick rises with it, pulling the curtain back with a single finger. He drops into another crouch and slides up beside Hershel.

"Why won't they leave?" Glenn panic whispers.

Hershel looks at him, "Would you?"

"We can't sit here any longer." Rick whispers, "Let's head out the back and make a run to the car."

Lucas wets his lips and nods. "I'm with you."

The second his foot leaves the panel of wood underneath, comes a round of rapidly shot bullets outside. Lucas widens his eyes at Rick, who's peeking through one of the windows.

They're close enough for Lucas to hear them talk.

"I cleared the buildings. You guys get this one?"

"No."

"Not this one."

He flicks out his switchblade and drops the cloth from his head.

The door starts to open, Rick lifts his gun and -

and Glenn dives for the door, sitting himself heavily in front of it so it slams shut. Rick looks at him, eyes wide, jaw tense with no plan to follow.

"Someone pushed that shut. There's someone in there."

Lucas inches forward.

"Yo, is someone in there? Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends." The first man keeps talking.