Deadland

Chapter 27- Nomads

(TW!! Mentions of drug usage and suicide!!)

I lay awake on the ground, laying on the prickly grass. Ricks car had broken down, so we decided to stay in this stone area for the night. It looks like the stone walls were handmade and there's no door or ceiling, just walls. 

A fire is crackling in the middle of the area, the air is brisk and cold. 

Alyssa is laying on my stomach and Damien is sitting to my right. 

Lori comes back from talking with Rick and sits behind Carl, behind my head. 

My leg feels like it's going to explode, every few seconds I wince from the pain of the throbbing flesh. 

Alyssa stands up and sits with Carl and Lori, not saying anything. 

I feel like everyone is keeping distance from us, from me. Nobody will even look at me.

Sticks crunching catches everyone's attention. "What was that?" Beth asks. 

"Could be anything." Daryl says, standing up. "Could be a raccoon, a possum." "Walker." Glenn offers. "We need to leave, what are we waiting for?" Carol begs, looking around. 

"Which way?" Glenn asks. "It came from over there." Maggie answers, nodding to the left of us. "Back from where we came." Beth says. Maggie agrees with her and cocks her gun. 

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark." Rick grunts. "We don't have the vehicles, nobody's traveling on foot- Adrian can't even walk without the help of somebody else." A few people look at me but when they meet my eyes, they look away.

A branch snapping catches everyone's attention again. "Don't panic." Hershel reassures. "I'm not- I'm not sittin' here, waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move, now." Maggie pants, looking around nervously. 

"No one is going anywhere!" Rick growls. "Do something." Carol says. "I am doing something! I'm keeping this group together, alive." Rick speaks through gritted teeth. "I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people for christ's sake!" 

My heart stops, heat rises through my body. "You what?" I warn, standing up. It hurts to stand but I don't even care at this point. 

"You saw what he was like, how he pushed me. How he compromised us, how he threatened us." Rick looks at me as I stand up. "He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice! He was my friend, but he came after me." Alyssa and Carl both cry into Lori's chest. "My hands are clean!" Rick says. 

I exhale a shaky breath, "Your hands are clean?" I repeat. "You killed my- our father and you think you were doing us a service?!" "He hit you!" Rick spits. "That's not an excuse to kill him!" I approach Rick, limping slightly. "You are a sorry excuse for a man. How come we could keep Randall alive after he shot at you but not my dad? HUH?!" 

Nobody says or does anything, they just watch. 

"He was our dad...not some criminal!" I slap Rick. He doesn't flinch, he just turns his head to the side and doesn't say anything. "He was going to kill me." "So was Randall! And you spared him! You fucking spared him even after you knew that he was a perverted freak! But you couldn't do that to my dad because you were worried he was gonna take your fuckin' wife away from you, weren't you? Yeah, yeah you were." 

"He was my best friend!" Rick yells. "He was my father!" My voice is hoarse and raspy from crying. 

Rick goes silent, he just looks at me. "He was my father." I repeat quietly, my voice breaking.