《Running >> TWD, C.G》Seventeen
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later on in the morning. The sun was out but it was still cold and frosty. Followed behind them was Glenn and Maggie, and behind them was Lori, Beth and T-Dog.
The Grimes and the Greenes had a tearful reunion while Addy leaned comfortably on her dad with her hands in her pockets of Sophia's old jumper.
"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked when he had finished hugging his wife and son.
"Well, he's got his taillights zig-zaggin' over the road, figured he had to be Asian drivin' like that." Daryl answered, effectively lightening the mood as everyone let out a chuckle.
"Good one." Glenn chucked, shaking his head.
"Where's the rest of us?" Rick sighed at Daryl's question,
"We're the only ones that made it so far." It was only when Addy glanced around the group she realised they were missing some people. Andrea, Shane, Jimmy, Patrica.
"Shane?" Lori stood up from hugging her son and looked at Rick with confusion seeping into her voice. Rick shook his head and sighed.
"Andrea?" Glenn's brown eyes darted from Rick to Daryl.
"She saved me and Addy then we lost her." Carol looked to Daryl and Addy unconsciously sunk further into her father's chest when a lot of eyes landed on her and Carol.
"We saw her go down." T-dog spoke sadly.
"Patrica?" Hershel asked from his place beside his two daughters.
"They got her, too," Beth responded tearfully after a few seconds, "Took her right from me, I was - I was holding onto her, daddy. She just -"
The blonde girl cried and buried herself into her father's chest, "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"
"He was in the RV. It got overrun." Rick nodded sadly. Beth sobbed and sank into her father's chest again, Maggie holding her hand tightly.
"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked T-Dog.
"There were walkers everywhere." Lori answered for him.
"Did you see her?" Carol asked the man again, ignoring what Lori just said. T-dog looked at the older woman and sighed,
"We'll go back." Daryl nodded and gently pushed Addy off him to get on his motorcycle, but Rick quickly dismissed him,
"No."
"Can't just leave her?" Daryl sounded confused and somewhat hurt.
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"But we don't even know if she's there." Lori sided with her husband.
"She isn't there, she isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her."
"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked incredulously. Addy didn't want to leave one of their own out there, but she agreed with Rick and Lori - there wasn't anything they could do for her now.
"We gotta keep moving. There've been walkers crawling all over here."
"I say head east." T-Dog raised his eyebrows and glanced around at the group members.
"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road, the more assholes like this one," Daryl grabbed his crossbow from his motorcycle and aimed it at the oncoming Walker, "I got him."
......................................................
Carl and Addy held hands as Lori ushered them out of the car and onto the road where the others had stopped before them.
"You out?" Daryl asked, noticing the two kids holding hands and mentally scoffing.
"Running on fumes." Rick nodded.
Addy shivered and shoved her free hand deeper into her jumper pocket. It was freezing, and none of them had appropriate clothes for the winter time.
"We can't stay here." Maggie said, worry and fear seeping into her southern voice.
"We can't all fit in one car." Glenn argued. It was true, Addy had to be squeezed in the middle of Carl and Lori on the way and that was uncomfortable enough.
"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick answered, his tone almost snappy.
"And spend the night here?" Carol's voice wavered.
"We're freezing." Carl spoke for himself and Addy as he squeezed the girl's hand. Lori wrapped her arms around both the kid's shoulders and glanced over her shoulder,
"We'll build a fire, yeah?"
"If you go out looking for firewood, stay close. Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo." Daryl said as Rick walked over to Carl and Addy and took of his jacket. Lori moved so Rick could shrug the jacket over both the kid's shoulders, and when he did Addy smiled as a 'thank you'.
"Not enough." Rick answered as he walked away. Carl and Addy subconsciously moved closer together for warmth. Thankfully Rick's jacket was way too big for either of them so they fit in it perfectly - with one of Carl's arm in one sleeve and Addy's in the other.
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"Well, we can't just sit here with our asses hanging' out." Maggie spoke up.
"Watch your mouth," Hershel told his eldest daughter sternly, "Everybody stop panicking. Listen to Rick."
"Alright, we set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushin' on." Rick told his people, confidence surging in his southern voice.
"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie offered, her grip tightening on her shotgun.
"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car." Rick shut her idea down quickly.
"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn sighed tiredly.
"I know it looks bad. We've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure, I - I really wasn't, but we did. We're together. We keep it that way."
As much as Addy wanted to believe in Rick, the situation they were in was bad - really bad. Lori's motherly instincts had already been kicked into high gear, so when she felt Addy's uneasiness she didn't hesitate to kiss her and Carl's head and rub their shoulders comfortingly.
"We'll find shelter somewhere," Rick continued, "There's gotta be a place."
"Rick, look around," Glenn sighed again, "Okay, there's walkers everywhere. They're - they're migrating or something."
"There's gotta be a place, not just where we hole up, but that we fortify," Rick was adamant on not giving up hope, "Hunker down, pull ourselves together. Build a life for each other. I know it's out there, we just have to find it."
"Even if we do find a place, we think it's safe, we can never be sure for how long. Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe." Maggie tried to make Rick see sense.
"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel assured his daughter.
"We'll set up camp over there," Rick gestured to some old ruins, "Get off the road at the break of day."
"But what if walkers come through or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked shakily.
"You know how I found Randall, right? He turned, but he wasn't bit." Even though Addy already knew what Daryl was saying, it was still scary just the same.
"How's that possible?" Beth asked.
"Rick, what the hell happend?" Lori's voice shook slightly as she rubbed the kid's shoulders again.
"Shane killed Randall," Daryl spoke, not taking his blue eyes off of Rick, "Just like he always wanted to."
"And then the herd got him?" Lori assumed, looking at her husband with wide eyes. Rick stood still for a moment, contemplating his next words,
"We're all infected."
Addy's heart dropped and her eyebrows furrowed. Addy's mind flashed back to the CDC when Jenner had quietly told Rick something, but Addy would never have guessed it would be something like what Rick was telling them.
"What?" Daryl voiced everyone's thoughts as they let the information sink in.
"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."
"And you never said anything?" Carol's voice shook as she spoke, and Addy couldn't help but agree. She knew Rick had a lot on his shoulders, but keeping something this big from everyone? Addy thought it was insane.
"Would it have made a difference?" Rick shrugged as if it was nothing.
"You knew this whole time." Glenn trailed off,
"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-"
"That is not your call. Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told for the good of everyone." Glenn spoke.
"Well, i thought it's best if people didn't know."
Nobody said anything after that, but Rick walked off further down the road and Lori quickly followed after him. Hershel patted the kid's shoulders as the woman walked away and Carl gave Addy's hand another squeeze of comfort. No words had to be transferred between the boy and girl, they both knew they were there for each other, no matter what.
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