𝙀veryone left to check the town near the church. That left Adalyn, Tyreese, Carl, and Judith inside. Abraham was working on the bus with Rosita.
Rick, Bob, Sasha, and Gabriel returned with carts full of food. Adalyn smiled at the sight.
When the time came for food, Adalyn sat on the floor beside Rick. Everyone was laughing and talking as they spooned food onto paper plates. Rick was smiling as he opened his mouth to let Judith feed him. Adalyn giggled at the sight, reaching over to ruffle Judith's hair.
She looked up at the sound of Abraham speaking. "I'd like to propose a toast," he said, and the chatter quieted as all eyes went to him. "I look around this room... and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title." He held up his glass of wine. "To the survivors."
"Survivors!" everyone echoed, raising glasses of their own. "Cheers."
Adalyn offered him a smile before she took a drink from her glass.
"Is that all you want to be?" he continued, and while everyone kept eating, their interest was definitely piqued. "Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip. Eugene, what's in D.C.?"
Everyone looked to Eugene now. He answered slowly. "Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."
Abraham nodded. "However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us." He looked at Rick, who patted Judith's back as she fell asleep on his chest. "Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there... who don't got nothing left to do except survive."
Silence for a moment. Adalyn looked at Rick, who, finally, reacted. He let out a chuckle. Judith cooed at him, and he leaned toward her. "What was that?" he asked. Adalyn started to laugh as Rick continued. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."
Everyone joined in the laughter. Adalyn clasped Rick on the shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Yeah," Tyreese said, clapping his hands. "Let's do it."
Rick got to his feet, Judith in his grip. Sasha followed, taking the baby in her arms.
Adalyn leaned back against a bench, taking a deep drink from her wine glass. For the first time in a long time, she was actually happy. She could actually sit among friends and be calm and relaxed, not hiding from danger around every corner.
She wanted to feel this forever. Happy and content. She knew it wasn't possible, not anymore, but it was nice to dream.
And so, for one night, she was going to let herself dream.
Rick joined her on the floor after a while. Everyone settled into comfortable conversation. No one noticed that Bob was gone. No one asked questions.
Adalyn finished her first glass of wine, and, after a little totally not pathetic begging, she was able to convince Rick that a second glass wouldn't hurt her. "Imagine getting drunk on communion wine," she joked as she took a drink. "That's got to be some kind of a sin."
"It's not blessed," Rick said. "So I think in God's eyes, you're all set."
Adalyn chuckled at that, taking another sip. "Two glasses wouldn't get me drunk anyway," she said. "Not wine, at least. Whiskey, now, that's a different story."
Rick laughed faintly. "Yeah?" he asked.
Adalyn nodded. "Yeah," she said.
"What kind of drunk are you?" he asked.
Adalyn hesitated a moment, taking a long drink, nearly draining the glass. "A happy one," she said finally, and that was the end of it.
