Fine Lines

Blair had forgotten what it was like to be stuck in a car with a bunch of other people—and a dog. The only upside to having Titan in the truck was that he was right beside her, Blair behind the wheel, to act as a buffer from anyone taking that seat. She didn't drive often as it was, but she probably wouldn't have been able to do so well if she had someone crammed in directly beside her. Other than the dog, only a small child would have fit in the middle seat. She was at the lead of a train of cars, Daryl the one directly behind her on his bike. Rick was sitting in the passenger seat, absentmindedly scratching between Titan's ears as he watched the road, Carol and Sophia in the back seat with T-Dog staring out the window solemnly.

A few hours had passed since they'd first set out on the road, Blair having been volunteered by Shane and Rick to lead the way. Sitting behind the wheel and no longer able to feel her butt, she was regretting the decision to agree.

Glancing up into the rear-view mirror, she immediately switched her foot from the gas to the break, slowing the truck abruptly and causing all within to lean forward. Rick jerked next to her, having been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed what could have caused her to stop. Turning to Blair, she was twisting her torso to look around her seat, looking through the back window.

"Why'd we stop?" T-Dog asked from behind her, his hand resting on the seat where it had shot out to catch himself.

"They stopped behind us," she answered. Daryl was a couple of yards back, having stopped probably just before Blair did, with the Jeep that Shane was driving even farther behind them. "They must have run out of gas." Turning back around just long enough to throw the gear into reverse, Blair twisted around again to keep an eye on Daryl's bike as she approached. The man himself had stepped off and was watching her approach—he signaled her to continue closer, having a better vantage than the woman in the driver's seat.

When Daryl held his hand up, Blair stopped again and flipped the vehicle into park. "So what, we're going to stay here tonight?" Carol asked meekly, glancing at the wooded area they had stopped within.

"That or figure out where to go from here," Blair answered calmly while glimpsing between the seats to meet Carol's gaze, Sophia huddled into her mother's side. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out. We knew gas would run out before we reached the mountain, so it's not too much of a surprise."

"Well, we ain't gunna decide on anything in here," T-Dog grunted, popping his door open before further discussion could be made. Blair did so next, keeping the door open long enough for Titan to jump down after her. She could hear the slamming of doors on the other side as the remaining three followed suit. Standing for the first time in hours, Blair released a long sign before she lifted her arms to crack her shoulders and back, arching her spine just a bit as Titan stretched beside her.

Standing to the side, the observing group found their actions rather amusing.

Finally, Blair motioned for Titan to go to the woods, calling a 'hurry up' that he recognized as 'go pee' without her needing to say it. Immediately, the black and white dog disappeared amongst the trees while Blair approached the gathering group in front of Shane's Jeep.

"Who's low?" she called from a couple of yards away.

"Me and Hershel," Shane answered as he leaned against the hood. "Daryl says he could maybe make it another hour; you?"

"Another hour, ninety minutes if I were to push it," was her simple response. Tucking her hands into her coat, she debated internally whether she was partial to or against the cold air. She always did like fall, even though most people preferred the warmth of late spring or summer—she probably brought it over from her time in Scotland. Everyone else was hunching against the wind, hands stuffed in their pockets or arms crossed tight against their torso. She was relaxed and standing at ease, her hip cocked just slightly to the left and her coat undone.

Apparently, Lori noticed. "How are you not cold?"

Blair's white teeth flashed with her laugh as she sheepishly looked down at herself. "Scots are cold-blooded, don't you know?" she teased. It only made Lori shake her head, but a smile still turned at her lips. "So, we're nowhere near a town, but someone could take the truck up and hope to find some fuel nearby."

"It'll be dark soon," Rick pointed out immediately, his eyes following along the line of bared or colourful trees. "Might be best if we try and find somewhere to hunker down for the night."

"Where?" Maggie asked first, looking around the forest that surrounded them. "There's no houses anywhere near here, we haven't passed a building or road in a couple miles."

"It's either sleep in the trucks, all crammed together like sardines, or we camp out," Blair answered her. "Over there." Jutting her chin in the direction she was looking, the others turned to notice the faint shadow of ruins. "Building's long gone, but from the looks of it that's brick foundation. At least we'll have something of a cover for the night. Other than that, someone will be on watch."

"I'll take first watch," Daryl volunteered without further prompt.

Blair glanced over to him briefly before she nodded and turned her eyes over to Shane. "Sound good with you, lad?" she questioned, her tone almost patronizing. The muscles in his jaw jumped beneath the skin as he clenched his teeth, Adam's apple bobbed at his throat. But he didn't speak.

She took this as a good sign, but didn't prod further and only nodded her head.

"Good; I've got to go wash the rest of dead people's blood off me and if my ears speak true, there's a stream over there," she pondered, mostly just voicing her thoughts aloud as she turned in the direction Titan had headed off in, the dog sitting beside the truck now. On her way passed the vehicle, she remembered to grab her machetes. Mostly just because she dearly needed to clean them.

Titan followed after her, tail swishing from side to side.

Her brother teased her to that day that she didn't need a dog, her keen senses always took her where any dog could lead her. She reached the stream in less than a minute, a small waterfall shortly down the way. From here, she could even get a better glimpse of the ruins she had pointed out to the others. Unsheathing each machete, she cringed at the state of the blades and, therefore, the casings. She set to work cleaning the cases first, soaking them until the water ran clean, before she leant them upside down against a bolder to dry, moving on to the actual blades. Soon, those were leaning next to the black casings. Titan was beside the waterfall, trying to catch the falling water in his jaws like a playful pup.

When footsteps sounded from the direction of the road, he noticed first. It only took one glace for him to recognize Rick, but he still chuffed once to alert Blair of the approaching person. Her coat was lying next to her and she was checking her arms to any sign of walker blood, water glistening on her hands.

"Hope I'm not intruding," Rick stated in replace of a greeting.

"Not at all," she answered, motioning next to her in silent invitation. "I don't mind the company. Titan will certainly beg for your attention."

Glancing to the dog, he was already staring at him intently, tongue lolled out of his mouth as he panted. Rick took her invitation and sat down on the rocky ground beside her, Titan immediately saddling up beside him for attention. Rick began to absently pet the collie's head, watching as Blair wrung the bandana she was using, pink water returning to the once clean stream.

"What do you guys know about the dead ones?" she asked suddenly, causing Rick to jerk in surprise. "Walkers," she corrected a moment later, remembering the term they used for them.

There was a faint flutter in Rick's stomach, something unsettling that almost made him want to be sick. "What do you mean?"

Blair sat back slightly, cupping the cloth in her hands as she looked over to the man beside her. There was something in his expression, something that told her he knew more than was being let on—he knew more than he wanted the others to know.

Rick looked into her eyes, the dark blue making her eyelashes and eyebrows appear lighter than the black of her iris. They were a deeper blue than his or Carl's—he found himself unconsciously making the comparison that they had been shadowed over, years of horrific sights staining them dark. Her skin was pale, naturally, with freckles doting her nose and forehead from sun exposure—when light touched her hair, it bloomed red beneath the rays but someone glimpsing it could pass it off as light brunette.

When she spoke, her teeth were white and straight, attended to meticulously. Her lips, however, were chapped and bitten, less cared for—like they were less important.

"What happens when we die?"

Rick blinked and leaned back, the abruptness of the question drawing him to pause. There must have been something in his reaction because she tipped her head just slightly toward him, her eyes narrowing.

"You know, don't you? You're aware of all our fates."

Swallowing thickly, Rick turned is eyes away from her to stare into the stream. It was almost like he felt shame; should he have said something to the others? Would it have mattered? That was something he had battled with since he'd first been told by Jenner that all of them were infected—not just their group, but the world. They had thought that so long as they weren't bitten, they were safe, but now it turns out they would all end the same way.

With a bullet through the brain.

"I haven't told the others," Rick answered finally, Blair having kept the silence as she waited for him to compose his thoughts. "Shane knows now, after last night, but not the exact truth."

Watching him out of the corner of her eye, Blair couldn't really blame him. He'd done what he thought was best for the group. Not everyone would react well knowing they were all destined to turn at some point, unless you had someone with you that loved you enough to kill you for good. "I'll tell them," she offered softly, giving a faint smile when he looked to her in mild confusion. "They might react badly if they think you were trying to keep some big secret from them. So, I'll tell them that while we were…comparing notes, so to speak, I told you about the…disease? I dunno what to call it."

The old Sheriff huffed out a mocking laugh. "I'm starting to think that it's the only truth in this world."

"I learned a long time ago that truth is rare. Most of the time it's just telling which lie is the smallest," Blair countered dimly, turning her attention back to the river as she dipped the bandana in the stream. The movement let Rick see a couple of specks of blood on her neck, probably out of sight when she'd been checking in the car's mirror, just below her ear.

"You've got some on your neck," he warned, motioning to the side of his own neck when she glanced to him.

Wiping at the mentioned place, some of the blood wiped off but the more dried on stuff lingered after the brief scrub. Reaching out, Blair froze for a moment as her eyes fell on his outstretched hand, making for the bandana. He hesitated a moment, before carefully extracting the ruined material from her hands, lifting the cloth up to her neck again. Applying a bit more pleasure, he wiped at the red stains a couple of times to remove them.

"Thank you," she mumbled, taking back the offered bandana once he was finished.

"Sure," he replied, clearing his throat as he transferred his attention back to the dog beside him, beginning to scratch the canine behind the ear.

Blair watched him for a moment, amazed that he could show so many different characteristics at the same time. He was easily caught by certain things, overwhelmed even, and yet at the same time he took so much of his efforts and thought about others first. Blair had met many men over the years that would sooner toss them under the bus before trying to save them; Rick was a reprieve from people like that—people like Shane.

"You have a good group with you," Blair commented after a calm silence fell between them, noticing that something was putting Rick on edge. She could understand, even though she herself wasn't married, that after one's wife leaves one for the best friend, it would probably throw him off for a while. "I think that they trust you more than Shane."

"He's done many questionable things since I joined the group—apparently staking his claim as Alpha Male," he answered, his voice taking on a darker tone. Blair frowned at the harshness of his tone, but the actual words made her pause and twitch uncomfortably. She had heard that kind of tone too many times through her life and it never got any easier to hear. On someone like Rick, who'd shone her only kindness, it felt out of place.

"I will warn you right now, Rick," Blair started, keeping her tone low but clear. "I won't put up with his shit, and my brother will beat him near to death if he does something like take a swing at one of our—or your—people. He tries any of that Alpha Male crap with Connor and he'll lose a few teeth as a warning." When she saw the concern on Rick's face, she quickly elaborated. "He'd never hurt anyone without reason, he's a bit of a soft-heart for that. But with Shane…he's bad enough for me to want to hit him and I'm not the short tempered one."

Letting out a long, tired sigh, Rick fell back into his elbows with his head tipping backward. The canopy of naked tree branches stretched out above him, a few scattered dead leaves all that remained through the autumn chill. Blair watched him for a moment, knowing that he was processing her words, before she turned her attention to the stream. There was something calming about water, the soft sound that it made, or the human need to ingest it to live. Whether rain or rivers, it always seemed to bring forth peace.

"Things aren't going to be easy," she continued after a long pause of silence. "There aren't any laws anymore, and that's going to bring out the worst in a lot of people. The only thing we can do is save the good ones and hope we don't have to kill too many of the bad ones."

Immediately, Rick's head snapped up again.

"Kill people? We couldn't even…what makes you think we'll have to kill people?" She didn't miss the pause in his words, the almost admitted confession, but she let it slide without comment.

"People murdered for pleasure before the world went to shit. It was the fear of what was going to happen to them that kept them in check or they got caught. This world…it is full of fears or opportunities. Insanities will flourish and overtake what remains of mankind if we let it. There is a fine line between order and chaos and most people are already dancing too close to the line for comfort." She was still staring at the water, her dark blue eyes reflecting the rippling surface as the last light of the day danced on the steady current. Rick took that moment to look over her profile, noticing the clench of her jaw and the prominent tendons on her neck. Hearing what she was saying reminded him of her warning about staying off the roads, and why she preferred to keep in the trees.

"What's the worst you've run into?" Rick asked before he could completely think though what he was asking. She glanced back at him, gauging his expression as she thought.

Her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed, glancing just over his shoulder instead of looking him in the eye.

"I went out with Dom, our medic. She wanted to see if we could find more supplies for the infirmary and I didn't want her going alone, so I went with. We came across what was left of a camp, settled only a couple of miles away from where the nearest town was…maybe twenty people, at the most. The women were stripped bare and had been raped, men had their throats cut or shot in the head." She paused to glance back at his face, his complexion having lost all colour and his eyes blown wide with a faint tremble to his shoulders. She knew he was picturing it. "The few kids that had been with the group were tied up and drowned in the nearby stream."

Rick was the first to look away, breathing more heavily as he glared into the foliage around them. "We checked for anyone that may have survived. It was recent enough that those who died without a head-wound hadn't turned yet. We did what we could, but in the end all we were able to give them was a funeral pyre."

The only sound that followed was Titan's soft breathing as he leaned against Blair's side, having moved over to her when he saw she was no longer doing something else. Rick tried to swallow around the sudden swollen feeling in his throat, staring at his boots or the trees or the rocks. He didn't want to look at Blair—he knew that if he did he'd only end up thinking of her standing in the center of a mass of mangled bodies.

"From my years in the military, I never thought there was something that would sicken me more than what I saw then. I was wrong."

"That's why you avoid the roads," Rick commented hoarsely, the rasp of his voice causing Blair to flinch. She knew she shouldn't have said it. "You mentioned people you've run into personally."

"Those were usually small groups, looking for free weapons or food. Not that hard to stop with a headbutt or kick to the—" she stopped there, realizing that talking about kicking a man in the balls, when speaking with a man, may be a bit on the rude side. "Sorry."

Of all things to apologize for, she says sorry for that? Rick found himself laughing at the audacity of their conversation, shaking his head as his grin widened enough to hurt his cheeks. "Don't worry, I don't take offense."

Even through the dim light of approaching evening, Rick could see the change in her cheeks as she gave a faint blush of embarrassment, looking away. Titan squirmed against her, Rick's laughter having brightened his mood as his fluffy tail swishing the dried leaves and dirt around beside her. Blair couldn't stop herself from smiling as she reached down to scratch at his neck and ears.

"We should head back, iron out any other plans before dark," he finally proposed, seeing her blades were clean and she didn't appear to have any other blood stains on her person.

Nodding her agreement, Blair motioned for Titan to move back from her. "You're right. I'll tell the group tonight." Rising to her full, imposing height, Blair slung the sheaths of her machetes over her shoulder, knowing they weren't dry yet, and carried the blades in her hands. The last thing she needed was rusted blades that needed to be replaced.

Rick watched her with doubtful eyes. "So soon after what happened?"

"If I wait they might think I was trying to hide something. I don't want to give anyone ammunition for mistrust on my part. They're already putting a lot of faith in someone they don't know." Nodding his head, Rick could understand her reasoning. "You don't have to worry. I've seen others react to the news; some react to it like having terminal cancer, others aren't too phased about it at all. I think your group has enough to live for that they won't suddenly give up on life or think that it's not worth living."

He had no reason to doubt her, and she'd apparently had to break the news before. He only hoped that her expectations were right.