05/11/17
Wind carrying the smell of salt blows across Rick Grimes and waves crash on the shore. His boots sink into the soft sand as he walks toward the waves. He smiles as Carl plays in the water and acts like a regular kid again. He feels sad that Carl hasn't had more opportunities to be a kid, but is grateful for the few that he does.
Rick looks at the large ship beached on the shore nearby and wonders what caused it to run a ground. He sees the others of the group moving about the decks and looking for supplies. He hopes the find some. He notes the wind is colder and winter is coming.
Daryl slowly walks up to Rick and without looking at Rick he says, "Somethin you should see." He hands Rick the binoculars and points out to see. "Out there. Just follow the surface of the water."
Rick looks through the binoculars, "What is it? Another ship?"
"Somethin else."
"Like what?"
Daryl squints as he looks out to sea, "I don't know. Somethin."
Rick frowns as he continues to follow the surface of the ocean out into the distance and his heart skips a beat when there's no more ocean. His mind races with questions as he confirms with the binoculars the ocean doesn't continue after that point. This isn't right.
Rick drops the binoculars and looks at Daryl. "Have you told anyone else?"
"No. What does it mean?"
"I don't know." He hands the binoculars back to Daryl, "Watch Carl and don't tell the others. Not yet anyway."
The smell of salt is stronger as Rick plunges and oar into the water and propels the raft toward the mystery. Sweat runs down his face and his heart pounds. Maybe the others saw him or maybe they didn't. If they saw him now, they would trust him to figure this out.
The raft makes wet squeaks as Rick stands and looks at were the ocean stops. His heart races, instincts scream at him, and he sees the world just falls away. He drops the oar into the raft with a squeak and looks to see the ocean stops at the same point running as far south and north as he can see.
The raft drifts as Rick struggles to comprehend. How is this possible? Surely there's an explanation. Did this have something to do with the walkers? He notices the raft is getting dangerously close to the edge and reaches for the oar. The wet oar slips from his hands and lands with a splash. It disappears over the edge and Rick madly paddles with his hands to prevent suffering the same fate. It isn't enough and the raft goes over.
Rick falls over the edge of the world and the raft spins as it falls near him. He wonders if the others will stay away. He wonders how long till death claims him. Rick feels fear screaming at him as he looks up at the world he fell from. He sees alien ships moving around the underneath of the land mass.
Something whispers in Rick's mind and tells him its only the east coast of the United States. The idea both relieved and terrified him. Hopefully it meant the rest of Earth is safe from Walkers. The something whispers in his mind that Earth is indeed safe, but he is not. It was an experiment on going and Rick falls.