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THEY LOST EVERYTHING. Their friends were dead. They may never see their friends until months or years later for it was almost impossible to find all of them again. If they did find someone then that'd be a miracle but to find everyone would take time. If at all, if they were still even alive because there was no telling if they were alive unless they found the bodies if they went back or if someone else watched them go down by those monsters or by the undead. Along with that, their home was gone. The walkers took it again. It was unbelievable to think after everything that it was just gone like that. The prison was the home they built and grew. It was home that was full of good and bad memories, mostly good.
If one could just get into the Governor's brain and try to figure out why he did what he did, why he couldn't simply live with them under one roof. He was the one who instigated everything. It started with his old friend Merle kidnapping Maggie, Glenn and Ella herself, then it grew into him wanting to take down everyone inside of prison for nothing. She still didn't understand why he even did what he did. Maybe he just wanted a group to be enemies with so his name would grow around the United States and people would fear him. That didn't happen though. He wasn't that powerfu, now, was he?
Since they had left in such a hurry, they didn't have jack crap, only their guns and what they wore. If they ran out of ammunition, then they were fucked. They still hadn't even found any neighborhoods. Their situation wasn't a bad one, but it was most definitely worse than most since a lot of people that left the prison were injured and the some of the ones that left actually had some supplies they managed to scrape from houses or from the prison before their own leave from the prison. If only they grabbed something. Anything.
The two walked through the woods with their feet dragging behind them. Both of their faces were having a grim expression from everything that happened the day of. It was a lot for them to handle. Ella carried the weight of the rifle on her shoulder, shifting it from side to side every so often to rid herself of the numb feeling whenever it stayed there for too long. She looked ahead of herself and Brandon, noticing the trees growing thicker. It would make it harder for them to evade oncoming walker hordes.
"Do you see that?" Brandon questioned, glancing sideways between the branches and leaves of the tree. A confused look found its way to her face. She glanced where his gaze was pointed at, noticing a large vehicle on the middle of the road. She moved a tree branch out of the way, peering through the cracks to see it was the bus she left Glenn on.
She glanced at Brandon, relief and happiness erupting in her chest. She was going to be reunited with Glenn once again. She wouldn't be so pressured by the burden of leaving him on the bus. "Is that. . ." she trailed off, her fingers tracing the beads on her bracelet.
He nodded in excitement, a genuine smile creeping onto his face. "I think it is," he paused for a moment, his smile falling from his face. "Why are they stopped though?" he asked the question out loud. A question they should think about before they enter the bus they should've all boarded before it left them.
That was a good question for Ella. Why would they have stopped the bus? What happened? Did they fall too sick to drive? Was Beth or Maggie suddenly exposed and now sick with them? There was really only one way to find out for sure what was going on. Go inside the bus. Ella swallowed harshly. "Let's check it out. I need to make sure Glenn is alright." she whispered, an eager tone to her voice.
He simply nodded again. "Yeah. I hope Maggie's there. She has to be, right?" Ella didn't answer him, she just pushed through the branches and cocked her rifle back in case they died. She needed to her answer, the answer that would tell her of their fates. If they were dead or if they were alive.
She ran up the steps of the bus, stepping over bloodied glass. Her blood ran cold when she saw bloody handprints lining the windows, blood smearing the floor and the seats. She saw bodies sitting upright on the seats or on the ground. She ignored Brandon trying to pull her back from the scene before them, ignoring his pleas to leave the bus. She continued walking down the bus aisle until she reached a body. She turned it over and checked them to see if it was Glenn, Maggie or Beth. She continued to do so for every single body she came across, tears flooding her eyes.
Ella began to cry, stumbling into an empty seat. Brandon put his hand on her arm to pull her out of the bus, she pulled her arm away from his grasp. "He isn't here," she shook her head and corrected herself. "They aren't here. They're safe. . . somewhere." she cried. To Ella, all that really mattered now was that they safely made it out. They might've been the only ones who made it out. Little Judith wouldn't have, Rick who was being choked wouldn't have, Carl disappeared with Daryl. . . so really, it was only those three Ella was really caring for.
"I-I checked the bodies outside. None of them were them either," Brandon sat next to her and let her cry on her shoulder. "They're okay. They're okay." he cleared his throat to stop himself from crying with Ella. He had to be the one to pretend that everything was okay at the moment and they would find everyone else at some point. Gripping onto his shirt, Ella wailed and her tears were coming down harder than ever. His fingers trailed over her back, sucking in a deep breath. "We'll stay here for the night. It's safer than being out there. Tomorrow, we'll continue on. Sound good?" he asked her, watching as she pulled away from him. Ella wiped her nostrils and rubbed her eyeballs basically raw until the tears were gone.
She cleared her throat. "It sounds good to me." she nodded. Sleeping here was better than waking up to find a walker gnawing on their boots or to be spooked by sudden noises from animals out from nature itself. In here, they were the safest anyone in their situation could be right now. It was the only real and good choice they really had right now. Other than the smell of decaying bodies and the smell of blood, it was quite cozy in here.
Brandon slipped off his jacket, wrapping it around her. He stood up and gave the bodies a disgusted look before he found some unharmed blankets and pillows. He set some blankets on one of the seats and gave layered it with pillows. "Lay here." he told her.
"Why?" she pulled the jacket closer to her body.
"You're exhausted." he pointed at the redness swelling up around her eyebags and the puffiness above her eye socket. She touched her eyebags, feeling the swelling underneath her touch. He was right about her being exhausted.
Ella stood up and waddled over to the seat, draping his jacket over the back of the seat she once sat in. She laid down on the bed he made for her and curled herself underneath the blankets to stay warm through the entire night. She gave him a look of gratitude. "You're kind to me, Brandon. Thank you. I'm sorry I'm not-" she began to say.
He cut her off. "I don't care. You're welcome though," he finished making his bed on an adjacent seat from hers. "I'm going to drag out the bodies so we can peacefully sleep tonight. I'll be right back. Stay warm."
Ella smiled as she kicked off her boots. "I will. You better sleep, too. If you don't, we're staying another day so you sleep." she innocently threatened him. He threw his hands up before he got to work on dragging the bodies out again. Ella buried her face deeper into the pillows and blankets, closing her eyes momentarily to get a feeling of just how tired she really was right now. Her fingers touched her lips where she and Glenn kissed earlier. I will find you, she thought.
Trying to find Glenn was what would keep her going through these tough times.
