MAD MAX, the walking dead

ten: THE ROAD AHEAD

"WE DON'T STOP. WE DON'T GO BACK. WE'RE AT WAR AND RETREAT MEANS WE LOSE."

***

For the first few miles, she thought of Carol. Of what her mother would think if she knew Max had left her neighbor behind. But the ugly truth was, Carol had been missing for days. She was probably already dead. As if the world hadn't taken enough.

Then her thoughts shifted to everything else. She hadn't ridden in any kind of vehicle since the beginning of the outbreak. In that time, Max had seemingly forgotten the amount of thinking that went on when she had nothing else to do.

Before, her thoughts would have been comforting. Remembering summer, when the crops were high and the sun was low, and all Max had to worry about was her chores and making sure the boys didn't get in too much trouble. Trying to ignore the taps of Chris' little feet on the seat behind her. There was a time when Max's thoughts didn't make her squirm in her seat. Now she was faced with the discomfort of fleeting memories from a past life. Now her thoughts were filled with blood and walker guts.

"We're about ten miles out, so get comfortable." Abraham called out from the driver's seat with a grin. "It's gonna be a long ride."

Max leaned forward, hitting her head against the glass window with a quiet thud. She caught the reflection of her face in the mirror. It'd been a while since she saw herself in daylight. The scar that ran from her eyebrow to her chin was healing, forming a large scab. What she noticed for the first time in that moment was the thick layer of skin forming under the scab that indicated the marking would be there forever. Max sighed deeply. At least it didn't hurt much anymore.

"What'cha thinkin' about?" Tara asked from across the seat, eyeing Max's defeated expression with her ever-present uplifting grin.

"Nothin'." Max answered simply.

"Nothin'." Tara repeated back, imitating the low, southern drawl of Max's voice. Max rolled her eyes, shifting positions so she was facing the front of the bus again, her back leaded properly against the seat behind her.

"Dangerous thoughts, I'm sure." Eugene mumbled from a few seats in front of them.

"Hey! The hell's that supposed to mean?" Max said, a sharp, joking edge to her voice. Eugene spluttered out some unintelligible reply, getting laughter out of everyone in the back.

"Max, stop messing with him!" Abraham called from the driver's seat. Max's grin grew wider.

"Gonna be a long ride, Abraham." Max projected, a grin still present on her face. "I get hungry enough, I might just have to eat your scientist here for dinner."

Eugene laughed awkwardly, getting peals of laughter from Maggie, Glenn, and Tara, much to Max's enjoyment. Even Rosita cracked a rare smile.

"Do you enjoy scaring people?" Eugene asked after the laughter died down, the noise of the bus nearly drowning out the discomfort in his voice. Max just tilted her head back and laughed, letting her body move freely with the bumps of the bus. When she looked over at Tara again, she was smiling.

They could barely hear the song Abraham was playing from the back of the bus, but both Max and Tara had a plain sight view of Rosita's fawning over the man. She ran her hands through his hair until she could do it with ease, whispering sweet nothings into his ear. Abraham had this total badass completely wrapped around his finger. Max visibly cringed, getting another snort out of Tara.

"Hey...maybe Rosita can give you a little trim while she's at it," Tara said to Eugene, who was staring forward silently, his eyes tracking the road ahead. "Party's getting a little long in the back." Max's shoulders shook with laughter. "Or is it your source of power?"