Chapter 13: Continuing our Journey

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by __thedynamos__

by __thedynamos__

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-Erica's POV-

"How's the arm, doc?" I ask as Arthur redresses it in the bandages he found in a nearby shop, "Cause it looks better," I tell her sitting down on the milk crate next to her.

Arthur pats the clean bandages and stands up, "She's my best patient yet," he jokes as George calls him over. Her eyes stay on the two guys for a little before turning to me. I think she's worried about them. The two of them have been putting on a brave face for Harry and Chris to give them time to grieve. I think the guys have this unofficial code where they feel obligated to look after Kyleigh and me. It's nice...honorable even but we can take care of ourselves.

"I'm fine. The wounds starting to scab over which sounds gross but is a good sign," she says as I smile, "What's the plan for today?" She asks since she missed the small meeting we all just had.

I slap my legs before standing up as she follows me into the main room of the small building we snuck into last night, "Harry kind of blew us off so we decided to continue walking until we find a secure place to stay," I explain. It wasn't like Harry had to be there but I'm worried that if he strays off for too long his grief is going to take its toll on him.

"While also scavenging anything that seems useful on the way," Chris adds as he walks past us. He winks at me when Kyleigh isn't looking making me smile.

"Let's get a move on then," she says as she goes to grab her things. There isn't much for everyone to grab but we have to make sure we have everything. We can't waste days going backward. With Kyleigh still healing, I feel like the group's mother and I hate that role. She was so much better at it. She and Harry had the leadership thing down. Well, I guess Harry, Chris, and Kyleigh are the leaders of the group. I think Arthur, George, and I are fine being told what to do.

I throw the medical bag over my shoulder that Arthur left and see the gun sitting on the small table in the middle of the room. Chris gives me a look as he walks over and takes it from me, "You are the last person we would want with this," he teases as if I don't know how bad of a shot I am. We can't waste bullets so I can't practice with it.

"You," I smile shoving the bag into his arms, "Are an ass, " I tell him as I start walking away. I can't help but smirk as he follows behind me.

"Yeah but I'm a cute ass," he states before walking off to find Harry. He's not wrong and I hate that he's not wrong. Everything about him is wrong. It doesn't take long before the small group of us are on our way to our new home. We have no idea what we are looking for but I think we will know it when we see it. I'm optimistic. All bad things happen in threes; Chip, Ethan, and us ruining our base. Luck has to be on our side. We have already hit rock bottom.

I think the groups starting to get tired. Arthur made up an excuse to stop so he could look at Kyleigh's bandages. George disappeared right away to go pee behind a building as Harry looked over the map. We have just been following his lead cause nobody wants to question him and even before the incident I wouldn't have either, "How are you feeling?" Chris asks as I lean against a brick building.

"Tired and...tired," I complain as he leans in closer. I look behind him and let my head fall onto his shoulder, "How much longer do you think we are going to continue for?" I ask.

He looks at Harry and it's hard to tell what he's thinking anymore, "It should be getting dark soon. Maybe another two hours if that," he says giving me some hope for relaxation. I lift my head and he squeezes my hand as we walk back to the group, making sure to drop it when we get back. He walks next to me for the majority of the trip. He doesn't say anything until he sees me looking around every couple of seconds.

He holds us back so that Kyleigh and Arthur pass us, "You okay?" He asks as I turn to look at his face, "You've turned around almost seven times in the past five minutes," he adds.

I shake my head and he eggs me on to tell him what's on my mind, "I think we are being watched. I don't have any reasoning behind it but I just have this feeling," I tell him.

"We have been through a lot the past couple of days. It makes sense you're on edge. I assure you we are fine. It's probably just some walkers stuck in buildings and shit," he assures me making me feel a little bit better about walking out in the open. I still can't fight the feeling creeping up the back of my neck. Chris backs away from me for a little when we see Kyleigh looking at us. She swaps places with Chris and walks with me for a little toward the end of the trip. We didn't see anything that wasn't completely picked over all day.

"Harry it's getting dark. We shouldn't be out and about at this time. You know how active it gets at dusk," I point out. He doesn't even turn around to acknowledge me before the others agree.

"Fine," Harry says. That makes three words he has spoken all day. The first two were "Let's go,". Kyleigh and I dramatically walk inside to try and lighten the mood but it only works with George and Arthur. I slowly open the door to the small business in front of us. Everyone splits off into pairs are we check out the entire store. There are a couple of small rooms we can sleep in that are by windows and then a main and back door. Everyone piles their stuff into the middle of the room. I pack the gun away in the medical bag so we can carry everything to where we are sleeping later. There's no point in keeping it out if we are locking up the place. I'm pretty sure George and I are the only ones that avoid it like the plague.

"We should get some sleep," Harry says making everyone frown.

"Come on we should use tonight to plan tomorrow out," Kyleigh says. He immediately shuts her down and says he's going to bed. I guess no dinner for tonight. We need our energy but we have been running low on food. We used today's rations for lunch which made today kind of barrable, "I guess we should. Today has been a long day. We should have someone take watch," She says looking defeated.

"I'll take it. George stayed up last night and everyone needs their rest," I smile. The others look relieved that I offered. George was stuck with his last night cause he pulled the short piece of grass. Kyleigh and Harry were exempt for obvious reasons.

"I'll bunk with you to keep an eye on your wounds," Arthur says which makes Chris eye him up.

"I guess that leaves us," George says putting his arms around Chris and I. Kyleigh just laughs as she grabs her bags again to follow Arthur into a small office. He drops his arms once they are gone...well he dropped his arms from me, Chris pushed him off, "Don't worry love birds. I'll be in the room next door. Just don't wake any of us up," he says walking off with his bags. I look at Chris and he just pushes me into the room.

"I could sleep for a year," I whisper as he sets up a makeshift bed. The room is freezing from a small crack in the top of the window. It looks like it's been there for quite some time. I'm not too worried about it. The sun is barely in the sky making it difficult to see Chris's full face.

"Should I be worried about Arthur?" he asks with a breathy laugh. I shake my head and he reaches up pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes.

"I'll wait until you fall asleep and then I'll go into the main room," I tell him as he stares quietly into my eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want company?" he asks. I shake my head and he just turns on his back putting his arm behind his head, "Tomorrow will be a better day," he says as I nod my head knowing he can't see me.