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Chapter 9: Does a Bright Future Mean Death?

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Ryder had never been so happy to see the old nursing home again. She looked forward to speaking with Felipe and G again just for the fact that someone else was alive outside of their little group; the thought of that made her day a little bit brighter. They were on the outskirts of Atlanta when Rick had decided to stop here for tonight, so everyone could get some rest and think of their next move. Ryder grabbed her pistol and her rifle. G probably still had her other one that she never found when they kidnapped her. Of course, her knives were in the pouch around her thigh as always.

Ryder stepped out of the car, putting her gun in the back of her pants and slung the rifle over her shoulder. She grabbed a knife from her pouch and caught up with the group, Cole right by her side.

"I bet they're barely hanging on,"

Andrea mumbled as she looked around in almost disgust. Ryder just glared at her.

"Makes you wonder if they'll take in strangers."

Andrea's attitude towards the people she hadn't met really hit on of Ryder's buttons. Ryder wasn't the type to appreciate that, whatsoever.

"With the guns we gave them, they'll probably throw us a party."

Daryl walked next to Rick with his crossbow up and ready to fire. Ryder walked next to Carl beside the brick wall, doing her best to take in her surroundings.

"Good call. For once."

Daryl told Rick. It brought a smile to Ryder's face to see them getting along. Daryl took the lead and led the way into the nursing home's yard. It was weird, though, that no one from the Vatos had bothered to say anything to the group. Ryder figured they'd have guards everywhere.

"Where are the look outs?"

Glenn asked as if reading Ryder's mind. She let out a sigh of relief; at least someone else thought it was weird. It smelled awful here, as well, like the blood, but that was probably from the walkers. Daryl took a turn and everyone stopped at the sight. Ryder's breath caught in her throat as she tried not to scream. Carol and Lori hid their children's face from the sight. The men gasped. Cole began to whimper at all of the negative energy.

Walkers were gnawing on the bodies of some of the Vatos and elderly. Ryder felt like she was going to puke. The sound of ripping flesh and chewing of raw meat filled the Nursing Home's courtyard. The walkers began to realize a new food source was standing near by and all began to hiss as they stood up in a wobbling fashion. Ryder put her knife back in her pouch and drew her pistol. There was a good many of them; enough that they couldn't take out with knives and such.

"To hell with the noise."

Rick stated. That was enough to send Ryder into a firing frenzy. She aimed at a walker's head and shot, blowing bits of its brain out. She aimed at another, then another, and continued till her pistol was out of rounds, each having the same fate. Ryder bit her lip hard. How could they have been overrun with the amount of artillery they had been given? That just didn't make sense by any means.

They continued into the building. Ryder had put her pistol back, grabbed a knife again, and walked in with Daryl. Both of them ready to strike at any moment. The building was dark except for the little bit of sunlight that was able to come through the windows. Dead bodies littered the floor and rooms. It was like a scene from a horror film, except this was real. Ryder was doing her best to swallow the lump in her throat. If this was how the building had been so far, there was no way Felipe and G made it. There was no more Mr. Gilbert with his asthma; no more Felipe's grandmother who had a heart of gold, no more any body. There was no more bright future that G and Ryder had talked about before. Sophia let out a cry at the sight of another dead man, which brought Ryder out of her thoughts.

"Put a sock in it!"

Daryl whispered in a harsh tone causing Sophia to cry more.

"You leave her alone!"

Carol whispered back, holding her daughter closer to her.

"Shut her up or I will."

Ryder took her elbow and slammed it into Daryl's stomach. He let out "oomph," and doubled over as he tried to catch his breath.

"Back the hell off, right now!"

Lori scolded him, but Daryl was glaring at Ryder who had turned her focus forward again.

"Lil bitch."

Daryl grumbled as he caught his breath. Ryder just shrugged. She understood where he was coming from about Sophia, but he could have been nicer about it. She was just a child for heaven's sake.

"Are we staying or going?"

Lori asked, looking towards her husband for answers.

"We don't have the fuel."

He shook his head, rubbing his face with his right hand. Everyone was about to panic.

"We harbor here for tonight. We're going to make a sweep. The rest of you, barricade those doors."

Shane ordered. If it weren't for the situation, she would have rolled her eyes with disgust at him. Luckily, no one asked about the bruises on her neck that Shane had left because Ryder didn't know whether to lie about it or not. Ryder followed Daryl, Rick, and Shane to help make a sweep of the place; Daryl and Ryder took the lead. They ended up in what looked like a ministry room. It had a small stage that was under a purple tapestry with a cross on it. So, many people in this room were dead. Flies infested the room and the dead bodies. The stench was enough to make Ryder want to high tail it out of there. She followed Daryl with Rick and Shane behind her to the upper floor. Daryl opened a door quickly to check inside. Ryder stopped to read what it said.

"Prayer changes everything."

Daryl must have read it too because he shook his head at the dead man next to the cross in the room.

"Guess that didn't work fer ya, huh?"

Ryder looked towards Daryl to notice he was staring intently at the body in front of him. Ryder slowly turned her gaze to the body. It stood out like a sore thumb what he was looking at. The man's head had a bullet hole on the left side of his forehead. People that committed suicide shot themself either in the mouth or the temple, never the forehead.

"Do ya see a bite mark?"

Daryl's voice was uneasy and Ryder shook her head. She pushed into the room closer to the body. Cole remained at the door and whimpered. He knew something was wrong. The dead guy was an older man, a patient of this place. Ryder examined his body the best she could without touching him. There weren't any bite marks on his neck, hands, or any exposed skin that she could see.

"Do you think?"

Ryder's voice cracked. This wasn't an overrun. This had been a massacre. Daryl grunted as he walked in to the room and gently grabbed Ryder's arm to pull her out.

"We're gonna tell the others."

He whispered as he pulled Ryder back into the ministry room. Everyone was filing in now, but she couldn't help but let her eyes wonder to see one body in particular. Her breath caught in her throat as she broke away from Daryl's grasp. Please, no. Please. Ryder knelt down to her knees next to the body.

"G."

The letter passed her lips in a choked fashion. She could hear Rick talking in the background about upstairs rooms. All she could pay attention to was the dead man's body in front of her. His face actually looked peaceful, besides the huge bullet hole in his head. Maybe this was the bright future he had been talking about. Death.

"Are you lying to us, like all the times before?"

Ryder heard Carol ask Rick. The question made Ryder's blood boil.

"How could you say something like that?"

Ryder turned around and shouted, shocking everyone that had forgotten she was there.

"You're alive ain't you? So don't complain."

Ryder huffed. Carol's eyes were as round has dinner plates. Rick had been laying everything on the line for this group and that's what she has to say?

"You know that isn't fair."

Lori seconded Ryder. If Lori hadn't have had an affair with Shane, Ryder probably would have liked her after that comment.

"What the hell happened?"

Glenn asked and Andrea quickly answered.

"What do you think? They got overrun."

Andrea had her arms crossed and her tone was full of attitude that Ryder wasn't appreciating. Andrea sure wasn't paying attention to the details. Everyone had been shot in the head! Daryl scoffed as he looked over more bodies.

"Got something to say?"

Andrea asked him.

"Yeah, how 'bout observant."

Daryl snapped at her. Ryder could tell that he was getting fed up with her bull crap, as well. She let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Observant. Big word from a guy like you. Three whole syllables."

Andrea used to not be like this.

"Walkers didn't do this. Geeks didn't show up 'til all of this went down. Somebody attacked this place. Killed 'em all; took whatever they wanted. They're all shot in the head execution style."

Ryder watched Rick kneel down next to a body and noticed the bullet hole. Ryder began to dig in her back pocket pulling out pistol ammo to refill the cylinder. She pulled her gun out and reloaded the gun.

"Y'all are worried about walkers, I'd be much more worried 'bout the people who came and did all this."

Daryl slung his cross boy over his shoulder and sneered.

"Go get a dictionary. Look it up. Observant."

He said as he pointed to his head and walked off.

"Andrea?"

Ryder called. Andrea turned around to face her. Ryder just threw her pistol for Andrea to catch.

"People are getting tired of your bullshit. If you are that pissed that you didn't die, then go ahead, take the shot, and join them, but don't sit around here like dead weight and make everyone miserable."

Ryder walked off after Daryl.

"Oh and when you're finished, I want my gun back."

Andrea stared after Ryder in completely disbelief, as did everyone else in the room.

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Ryder sat on the staircase a couple steps below T-Dog with her back against the wall. Andrea had rudely given her the gun back before going into the room with everyone else. Cole was curled up in a ball next to Carl in the other room, which she was happy for. Cole brought Ryder happiness, so maybe he could bring the kids some tonight. Ryder just needed her space from the large group and it was always nice being around T-Dog.

"How you holdin' up, cowgirl?"

Ryder couldn't help but to smile.

"Well, I'm alive in the apocalypse, so I'm holdin' up better than most."

T-Dog laughed and patted her back.

"Your optimism was always nice."

Footsteps came from behind them causing Ryder to turn her gaze to see Dale with three plates and three bags of potato chips. He handed T-Dog and Ryder a plate with chips. He sat down next to T-Dog with a loud sigh. Cole came rushing over at the sight of his master with food. He stuck his head in between Dale and T-Dog, panting softly.

"Dale will you put this behind you, please?"

Ryder asked Dale and he nodded. He placed the plate of peas in front of the dog who ate them greedily. Ryder was happy to know he at least had something in his stomach now. She opened her bag of potato chips and popped on into her mouth.

"She'll come around. Give her some time."

Ryder said once she finished her chip. Cole then lay between Dale and T-Dog again, but he was well trained enough not to take their food and not to bother them. Dale let out another sigh as he played around with a bean on his plate. Ryder gave Cole a chip before eating another one. T-Dog patted Dale on the back.

"Everything will be fine, man."

Ryder nodded.

"Hey, look at what kind of story we will be able to tell people on day when we make it out of this!"

Ryder giggled while Dale just shook his head. A small smile spread across his face. The old man couldn't not smile for long. He was just that type of happy person and would always be the conscious of the group. Ryder's face fell. She knew everything coming out of her mouth was a lie. None of them would be making it out of this apocalypse. Everyone was already infected. Ryder cleared her throat.

"I'm going to get some shut-eye. Y'all get some too, okay?"

They nodded in agreement, but truth be told, there wouldn't be much sleeping. Ryder maneuvered her way between the men and made her way to the room everyone was in. She walked to the corner that no one was occupying and sat down leaning her head against the wall. Cole circled around a few times before laying down next to her. She absentmindedly ran her hand through his fur. His body was getting thinner and thinner each day; everyone's body was. The lack of food was causing everyone to slowly starve. Ryder looked down at her bag of chips that she hadn't finished.

"Hey, Carl?"

Carl looked up from whatever he was doing to look at his aunt.

"Share these with Sophia, okay?"

Carl rushed over and took the bag.

"Thanks Aunt Ryder!"

He exclaimed and went back over to Sophia to share the small bit of food.

"Thanks Ryder."

The little girl smiled at her. Ryder grinned back. They were the future if there ever was going to be one, so she'd rather them eat more than herself. Ryder closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep, until a hand rested on her shoulder.

"Ya need tah eat."

Daryl's rough voice caused her to open her eyes to see him kneeling in front of her.

"I'll be alright."

He took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Just eat next time."

He moved to get up, but Ryder caught his hand to hold him there for just a second.

"Thank you."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Fer what?"

Ryder let go of his hand and closed her eyes once more.

"Everything."