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MURPHY HELD HER KNIFE HIGH as the group entered the pet store. The room reeked of the smell of dead animals, familiar in a world where death often prevailed. The darkness was blinding, and the streams of light that peaked through the boarded windows did little to help. As she scouted the room, the horrible sight of rotting pets in cages made her eyes water. Much worse things had happened in the last years, she knew, but it still hurt her.
"What, never eaten a steak before?" Heath whispered with a pained expression.
Murphy scoffed in disgust, "I'm vegetarian. Well, I was."
Glenn looked at her with wide eyes from his spot beside her, "How are you and Daryl together?"
Murphy chuckled under her breath at her friend's antics. A ghost of a smile fluttered over Glenn's face, but it quickly dissipated as the reminder of reality set in.
"Since the world ended, it doesn't seem to matter. I've done worse things than eat a dead cow," Murphy quipped, a sarcastic but somber tone in her whisper.
Glenn and Heath looked at her with a skewed understanding. Michonne made her way over to the three and Nicholas approached as well.
Michonne spoke lowly, "We stay quiet. Murph, you patch Scott and Annie up. Then we get out of here."
Murphy nodded in agreement, looking around the room nervously. Her eyes fell upon the three injured Alexandrians who rested on the tiled floor, leaning against the shelves. She feared for them.
"Those walkers in the alley and down the street..." Heath interjected. "They're blockin' the way out of town."
"We can't take them on. Not in the state that we're in," Michonne reasoned. "We'll have to lead them away if we have to."
"Because that's been working well lately," Heath replied bitterly.
"Hey," Murphy whispered, her voice both gentle and stern. "We're all trying to get home."
Glenn set a soft hand on her shoulder and pressed closer to the group, "I was thinking, if we can find a way to distract the herd coming in, then they won't make it back to the community."
"How?" Heath asked.
Glenn lifted a flare into their sight and nodded, "Burn one of the buildings... hopefully more. They'll get drawn to it, and they'll stop here."
"I'll do it. You stay with them," Michonne insisted.
"It's my plan. It's on me," Glenn argued.
Michonne was silent for a moment before continuing, "You have a wife, Glenn."
Murphy heard the pain in her voice and looked to Glenn for his rebuttal, "... That's why I'm doing this. You've got to get everybody back. You're the ones who can."
