Pincushion and Beanpole Take On The Walking Dead

Wildfire

Rachel and Emma had wriggled under the RV, unable to find a place where sobbing couldn't be heard. They lay awake there all night, holding each other's hands as the dog's slept between them. They should have been terrified, but instead they just felt numb. It was as if after having to feel so much in the last couple days, they had exhausted all emotion and now there was nothing to feel. The terror they felt last night was still so fresh. Rachel lay there in silence, listening to Emma as she relayed the day's events while she had been in Atlanta.

It hadn't come as a surprise to hear that Ed had apparently been beating Carol and possibly even his daughter, Sophia. Nor had Shane's breakdown in which he beat the living daylights out of Ed. What did come as a surprise was the apparent acceptance the people in the group had. Especially when it came to who she had thought were the more upstanding people there, it boggled her mind why someone wouldn't have stopped Ed from beating her after seeing her with bruises even once. It never had made sense to her why people ignored the signs of domestic abuse even before the apocalypse. But now? What good did it do to ignore Ed beating his wife? Of course, she didn't expect Shane to do anything about it; but what about Lori? Or Dale? Even though Shane beat the crap out of Ed, based on what Emma told her about his and Lori's conversation, it was clear that it hadn't been for Carol's benefit. He'd just been blowing off steam.

After a while they just listened as Andrea cried over her sister and the children sniffled in their parent's tents. Their disconnect was so complete, they hardly reacted when Rick climbed up onto the roof of the RV just as the sun peeked over the hills. Rick stared out at the sunrise bathing the city of Atlanta in a golden glow as he tried to reach someone on the walkie-talkie. Static screeched through the audio receptor as he played with the knob, tuning the radio to the correct frequency.

"Morgan, I don't know if you're out there. I don't know if you can hear me. Maybe you're listening right now. I hope so. I found others... my family, if you can believe it. My wife and son, they're alive. I wanted you to know that. There's something else you need to know. Atlanta isn't what we thought. It's not what they promised. The city is... Do not enter the city. It belongs to the dead now. We're camped a few miles northwest, up by a big abandoned rock quarry. You can see it on a map. I hope you come find us. But be careful. Last night walkers came out of the woods. We lost people. Watch yourself, Morgan. Take care of your boy. I'll try you again tomorrow at dawn."

"Who do you think Morgan is?" Rachel whispered. She shifted onto her side as Kuzco worked to burrow underneath her. "Damn it, Kuzco! Your elbow is digging into my ribs!"

Emma shrugged and snickered, making cow eyes at her own dog who was still sleeping peacefully in her arms.

    After dislodging Kuzco's paws out of her spleen, Rachel flopped onto her back, wincing at the lingering ache still worming its way through her head. She could hear the camp starting to awaken around them and inch out of their tents, the mood subdued as the chatter stayed low. Sighing, she stared up the RV's undercarriage. Even though she knew they needed to get up and help with packing up the camp she didn't want to deal with the day yet.

    She made up her mind and tapped Emma on her hip. "Come on. Let's get up."

Emma groaned.

"Come on."

As Rachel shimmied out from under the RV, a cursory glance to the side let her know Andrea still continued to keep a lonely vigil over the body of her dead sister, Amy. She grimaced as she watched Lori come up to her, instantly knowing what she was going to say. She only hoped the broken woman wouldn't attack her.

"Andrea. I'm so sorry." She put a gentle hand on Andrea's shoulder, pausing for a moment when Andrea gave no acknowledgement of her presence. "She's gone. You got to let us take her. We all cared about her and I promise we'll be as gentle as we can."