And here is chapter 2! :) I see you all reading this. Go ahead and leave me a comment and let me know what you think. ;) I'll be updating tomorrow as well. Also, if you want to know the episodes that these are taking place in, this one is season 5, episode two.
R.
"Are ya comin'? We gotta catch back up to them." I was out of breath as I followed the two men through the trees. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, exhaling sharply when I found myself about to run into the man with the crossbow. I ended up tripping over a tree root and landing face first in the ground in front of a group of people with their guns cocked. "We surrender," the man spoke sarcastically, holding up his catch in one hand and his crossbow in the other.
The man in the front kept his gaze on his companion, not even taking a second glance at my brother or I. I watched him look at him and the next thing I knew, I was being pulled to my feet by Mason. I didn't even notice the pain that was coming from my ankle until I went to take a step. I fell again. This time, everyone was watching me.
"Who are they and why did you bring them here?" The man, who I now assumed was the leader asked.
"They were in the train car that we opened. They followed us. They need people too. I couldn't let 'em just stay out there," the other spoke.
"Daryl, we don't just bring in strays."
"We're all strays Rick. We need people just as much as they do. Give 'em a chance. He's a good tracker. He tracked us all the way from Terminus," Daryl replied, causing him to gain a glare from who I now know as Rick. He gave a slight nod and continued to walk. "Stay close, don't get too far. We ain't stoppin' to find ya if you get left behind." Mason nodded and Daryl went to catch up with the leader.
"Guess we've got some names to go with those faces now. You made a terrible choice Mason. This was a mistake." I cringed with every step, clinging to the cloth of my brother's shirt for support. "I don't know how far I'll be able to go," I whimpered.
"You're going to go as far as we need to. We can't get behind. Kora, we need this. Like Daryl said, we need people." We were stopped by a whistle, making both of our heads jolt up to the sound.
"Are there more of you?" Rick interrogated.
"No sir, just us." Mason replied, using more manners than he ever had before.
"Daryl said you were watching us last night, but he had a feeling there were more out there in a different spot. If there are more of you, we will kill every single one of you. Don't mess with us."
"Rick, sir, my sister and I are the only ones. We are all we have." Rick nodded again and went back to talking with others in his group before making his way back to the front. There we had it, another sound. There was never a dull moment in this world. Someone was screaming for help. Rick stopped the group, but the kid, who I assumed was his son, persuaded him to go and help whoever was screaming.
By the time I reached the group, all of the corpses were on the ground, completely dead. Mason was back by my side when he noticed that I had made it. He also had a knife now. I watched as what looked to be a priest, make his way down off a huge rock. Everyone was surrounding the area, keeping watch, while Rick talked to the priest. He was petrified. I tried to listen in on their conversation, but I got caught up with the woman standing with the Asian. She was walking toward me.
"I'm Maggie, Glenn is the one who opened your train car," she spoke, pointing over to the Asian man, who gave a slight nod my way. "He's my husband. You mind letting me take a look at that ankle? I'm not much of a doctor, but my dad was a vet. He used to patch this group up quite often."
"Okay," I spoke quietly, sitting myself down on the trail. She gently slid my shoe off and slowly moved my foot around.
"There's quite a bit of swelling, but it doesn't seem like anything is broken. You took a pretty nasty fall back there. I'm surprised you managed to make it this far. I'll talk to Rick and see about getting us a place to rest for the evening." And with that, she was back over with Glenn, talking to him. I put my attention back on Rick and the priest. He was basically interrogating him, asking him every question in the book. He had only asked us one question, why did he feel the need to question a priest more than us? He had a strange way of leading this group, but I suppose its worked for them. I rolled my eyes as the priest asked for food, but the kid handed him some pecans, which wouldn't be filling, but it was a kind gesture. It was silent for a bit, but then Rick searched the guy for weapons and right after that we were walking with him to his church.
When we reached the church, I stayed outside with the priest, along with Mason and a few others while the rest went and searched in and around the church.
"The joke you said earlier, about the squirrels. It was funny. I laughed." I said, sending a small smile toward the priest. Mason rolled his eyes, but the priest, Gabriel was his name, smiled back.
"Are you a believer?" I nodded. That wasn't something I spoke about, but I did. I believed in God, I believed that there was a heaven. "That's good. It's hard to believe in something that is so good when there are so many bad things happening right now. If you ever need to talk, you can come to me." I nodded again. I wasn't much for talking, especially to strangers, but he seemed okay. He was much more polite than Rick and some of the others.
We heard the whistle again and every met back out in front of the church. There was a little bicker here and there, but ultimately we all were led inside to the pews. I immediately laid myself in the very last pew and closed my eyes. I listened to Rick and Gabriel talk, along with little conversations from the others, but before long, I was sound asleep.
"Hey, up and at 'em," I heard someone say. "Get up, you're coming with us. You may be hurt, but you can carry a water jug." I groaned, and stretched out my arms, looking up into some beautiful blue eyes.
"That's nice to wake up to," I mumbled before I could stop myself. I shot up and was met by an awkward standing Daryl. "I am so sorry. I don't know what I was saying," I apologized, standing myself up. I cringed again as I put weight on my ankle. It wasn't as bad as this morning, but it was still pretty sore.
"Carol and I are goin' to get some water, and we need you to carry some jugs, so come on," he answered, walking out of my pew and out of the church. I quickly followed behind him, grabbing the jugs along the way.
I stayed behind, not only because I couldn't keep up, but also because they seemed to be close, I looked like they were in a pretty serious conversation. I was the one to notice the car that was pulled over on the side.
"Hey, should we check that?" I asked, my voice a little louder than I had planned. Daryl glanced back at me and then Carol went to check it. I stayed close to her, I hadn't seen a car since before shit hit the fan, so it was cool to see one again. "My dad had his own car shop. Mase and I would always walk there after school and hang out in one of the broken down cars until he got off work. It was like a second home." Carol just stared at me. "You know, I get it. You don't want to be here. You don't feel like you belong with them. You just want to leave. That's why you're so bummed that it's not starting, because you were hoping you could leave in it." Her eyes shot up at me from the drivers seat.
"Why do you think that?" I shrugged.
"I see the way you distance yourself from the group. I know you saved them from Terminus. Something bad happened, I can see it in your eyes. But you're here now though, and you have people. So shouldn't you want to stay?"
"Shouldn't you? You looked just as bummed, if not more than I did when this thing didn't start up."
"Let's check the trunk. Maybe they've got something we can use to get her started up. Will you open it?" I heard the trunk unlock and made my way to the back, Carol not far behind.
"Hey, we ain't dead," Daryl started. "Whatever happened, happened. Let's start over." I pulled out an emergency starter from the trunk while I continued to listen to their conversation.
"I want to," Carol replied softly.
"Well, you can." Carol was silent after that, looking over at me and then to the emergency starter. I clicked the button to see that it still worked and put it back.
"We should keep this here for backup, just in case things go south at the church." I nodded in agreement and Daryl just watched us. We picked up our jugs and after my first step I wobbled a bit from the pain.
"You want me to carry one of those?" Daryl asked, trying to point to one of my jugs, dropping his in the process. I looked at him and then to the ground.
"No thanks," I giggled, shaking my head. Carol let out a little laugh while Daryl stood there looking embarrassed. He brushed his hand over his face before picking his now empty jug back up and following behind us as we made our way back to the church.
