Better off dead

Chapter 10: Vatos Pt3

The four men and one girl leave the nursing home. "Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat" Delilah teases as she gestures to the hat that's resting on her head while Daryl stares at her seeing that this was her way of asking 'Did you come back for me?'

"Don't tell anybody. Especially Carl, he'd have my head if I came back without his sister" Rick jokes back before pulling Delilah in for a side hug and kissing her temple surprising her, but she melts into the affection "I woulda came back for you with or without the hat, you're my family Lily" Rick murmurs into her hair. Daryl decided to ruin the touching moment by saying "You've given away half our guns and ammo" Rick rolls his eyes and says "Not nearly half."

Daryl continues trying to figure out who Rick Grimes is "For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?" And Delilah pipes up "How long do any of us?" Rick nods in agreement. They come to the spot where their truck was, but it is gone "Oh my God!" Glenn panics "Where the hell's our van?!"Daryl asks angrily "We left it right there. Who would take it?" Delilah asks "Merle" Rick states grimly "He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp" Daryl says and the group starts running back.

Back at camp Carol and Sophia come to see Ed in the tent. Ed's face is bruised and he has been in the tent since the beating he got from Shane earlier in the day when he assaulted Andrea "Why don't you come outside with everybody?" Carol asks and Ed spits back "Hell with them people. Wouldn't piss on them if their heads were on fire!" Sophia goes to leave, but Ed holds onto her "Hey! Why don't you stay here? Keep your daddy company" but Carol said "Ed, she wants to join in. Come on" They both leave, Ed continues to lie down in the tent "Fine. Hell with the both of you. Ain't no need to be bothering me no more the rest of the night!" He grumbles.

Carol and Sophia sit near Carl and Lori while the group enjoys a fish dinner. Everyone is having a good time. Carl is fiddling around with Delilah's locket as he waits for them anxiously, Sophia notices the locket and asks "What's that?" Carl looks up and says "It's Lily's birth mother" he opens it and shows Sophia and Carol. Color drains from Carol's face as her suspicions are confirmed 'Oh, Eva, what did you do?' Carol thinks as she stares at the picture with grief.

"Wow! Lily looks just like her momma!" Sophia says in amazement at the uncanny resemblance between the two women as Carol forces a smile and nods along "She does doesn't she?" Carl shakes his head and says "But Lily's eyes are brown?" Sophia shrugs and says "Maybe she got those from her daddy?" Carl says "Maybe....whoever this 'N' is in the locket must be Lily's dad.." Lori grows irritated with the conversation so she says "I'm sorry I've got to ask you. It's been driving me crazy!"

"What?" Dale asks laughing "That watch" Lori gestures "What's wrong with my watch?" Dale asks and Lori says "I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass!" "I've wondered this myself!" Morales says as a few others nod in agreement "I'm missing the point?" Dale says "Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while" Jacqui states and Morales continues "But there's you every day winding that stupid watch!"

"Time... it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here. I like... I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it' " Dale explains and everyone goes quiet for a moment and Amy speaks up "You are so weird!"

Everyone laughs "It's not me! It's Faulkner! William Faulkner, maybe my bad paraphrasing" Dale says bashfully, Amy gets up from the campfire "Where are you going?" Andrea asks and Amy says "I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here..." Everyone laughs again.

Back at Ed's tent, Ed hears footsteps and sees a figure of a person outside of his tent. Ed thinks it Carol "Thought I told y'all to leave me the hell alone, didn't I? Hey! What'd I say?" The person claws at the tent and Ed opens it to yell at her. It's a Walker. Outside Amy comes out of the RV "We're out of toilet paper?" Amy asks and at the tent The Walker jumps on him and takes a bite right out of his neck. Several other Walkers join in.

When Amy fully steps out, a Walker steps right up to her and tries to take a bite out of her arm, fortunately Delilah smelled the Walkers scent and followed it to camp arriving earlier than the rest "Amy! Move!" Delilah yells before tackling the Walker and stabbing it in the headAmy let's screams of fear.

Drawing everyone's attention, only to see that they're surrounded by Walkers. More screams break out and Andrea runs over to Delilah and Amy and draws out her gun and stands protectively in front of the two girls. Everyone starts to scatter "Mom!" "Delilah!" Carl and Sophia cries out "Sophia!" Carol hollers Shane yells to Lori and Carol "Lori, Carol get them down!" He grabs his shotgun and shoots several Walkers with it.

Nearby, Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, and Daryl hear the gunshots and they run faster "Oh my God!" Rick says panic washing over him for the second time that day "Go! Go!" Glen ushers them, back at camp Jim picks up a baseball bat and crushes a Walker's skull with it. Everyone takes cover and Dale picks up his rifle. Some people are attacked and bitten by Walkers. Morales grabs a baseball bat and kills one of the Walkers with it "Shane, what do we do? Shane?" Lori questions helplessly.

"Follow me!" Morales yells, Delilah pulls away from Andrea's side and starts attacking the Walkers aiming for the heads in a desperate attempt to make a clear path towards the RV. The fight continues and Shane keeps Lori, Carol, and the kids close "Come on! Come on, stay close!" Shane orders "Stay close!"

Morales continues to kill two more Walkers that are trying to get at his family "Come on, y'all! Work your way up here!" Shane hollers at everyone "Right in front of you. Shane!" Lori warns Shane shoots another Walker "Get to the RV! Go!" Morales shouts as he realizes that Delilah managed to clear a path for them and he kills three more before flees for the RV. "Shane! Shane!" Lori cries out in fear "Stay with me. Stay behind me" Shane says "Come on, make your way to the Winnebago!" Rick, T-Dog, Daryl, and Glenn arrive in time to kill more of the Walkers to save their group.

Delilah quickly runs to Rick's side and jumps over him defying gravity as she does and stabs a walker that was behind him in between the eyes. Rick shoots five of the Walkers, Daryl kills four, two with the butt of his rifle, Glenn shots two, T-Dog shoots one and kills another with the butt of his rifle, and Delilah hits two more with the butt of her gun and stabs them between the eyes once they're on the ground "Baby! Carl! Baby!" Rick hollers "Dad?! Delilah?!" "Carl!" Delilah responds. When the Walkers are dead, Carl runs to Rick and Delilah and hugs them.

Jim survives the fight and comes back to rejoin everyone. Andrea continues to stay by Amy's side. The two sisters are frozen in shock as they look at the state of their once safe camp. Jim turns away to see his dead camp mates "I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes" Jim mutters, confusing Delilah 'What the hell happened while we where gone?' Who holds Carl close to her chest and tries to make that purring hum to soothe him. It works like a charm sending Carl into a peaceful hypnotic state.

Rick holds Delilah and Carl close to his chest protectively while Lori glared at Delilah with jealousy thrumming through her veins. Rick and Delilah on the other hand focus more on the state of the camp with several dead Walkers on the ground along with some of their own.

Rick looks down at Delilah and whispers so only him, Delilah, and Carl can hear "How did you get here so fast?" Delilah stops purring and quietly says "I followed the Walkers scent and their was a shortcut. I had that sick feeling and just started running, I knew that I needed to find Amy" Rick nods not questioning Delilah peculiarity and asks "Is the feeling gone now?" Delilah shakes her head and says "I think that we need to keep an eye on Jim, but I don't know why."

Rick gravely nods before looking up at Jim who's as sweaty and exhausted as the rest of them.