- Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows guys. I'm so excited. This story is on my mind almost all the time. I've been at Disney World this week, so I'm a little later than usual putting up the new update...Still reaching my quota though. :D Continue to review please! I love hearing from you guys! And if you're a silent reader, please continue to do that too! -
Chapter 11: Arrival
Michonne stood in shock. She wanted to chase after the bus but her survival instinct was telling her not to. She was surrounded by walkers who would give chase, the bus had already reached full acceleration, and her injuries left her vulnerable to not being up to par to fighting twenty of them off at once. After seeing the bus leave, she ducked inside the library to find some hint as to why her friends would leave in such a hurry and the shock of seeing Tyrese's dead body was something that wouldn't be leaving her any time soon. Just who was it that would do such a thing? Michonne became alert that there were dangerous human foes around the area as well. Wandering amongst the walkers that were filling their temporary safe haven, Michonne fought through her shock and grief to look for any food that may have been left behind. She would need it if she wanted to catch up to them. They would probably choose to put miles between themselves and the coming herd before they risked stopping and fortifying again.
That meant they would be putting miles between themselves and her as well.
Fear crept up into Michonne's heart but she squashed it down. She would find them. She would catch up to them. She knew their plan and she knew where they were heading. It was just a matter of narrowing the distance. And for that, she would need a vehicle of her own.
Michonne limped through the library, fitting in perfectly with the passing walkers due to her injuries. Not only were searing pains shooting through her ankle with each step but the cramp in her stomach was throbbing more painfully as well. She was starting to think she may have pulled something. She was about to give up looking for any food that had been left behind when she caught sight of something in a woven basket dressed with a blanket. Recognizing the basket as the one Rick had been letting Judith sleep in lately, she peeled back the blanket to reveal three Twinkies all lined in a row.
A chuckle left Michonne's lips just as a pain born from memories of happier times from just that morning tore through her heart. She fought down the lump in her throat and collected the Twinkies. 'I'll catch up to them,' she reminded herself again and again. 'I'll find them.'
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Rick stared out of the window as trees rolled by; Judith was sleeping against his chest. She had taken her medicine and was now dozing off the effects.
His mind couldn't stay off of Michonne. He felt guilty for leaving her behind. He knew that the choice he made was for the good of the group as a whole but was it the right choice? If she was stuck in the tree with no hope of getting down and no supplies...he had left her to die. And if she did manage to get out of the tree and make it back to them...he had left her with no explanation as to where they had gone or why they had left.
'She'll see the bullet holes,' he thought. 'She'll know we had no choice...' But then that thought made him feel sick to his stomach. If she made it back, she would be coming back to a wrecked library and Tyrese's dead body. She wouldn't know what to think...maybe that they were all taken hostage or killed.
Rick got up with baby Judith and walked to the front of the bus to talk to Abraham. "How far are we from the next town?" he asked, sitting in the front seat.
"Probably about eight miles," Abraham said. "Why?"
"I think we should stop in the next town. Find a new place to hold up in there until the herd passes." Abraham glanced back in his rearview mirror to see Rick with an ashen palor.
"Rick, you look like you need to get some rest," he said sympathetically. "When's the last time that you had a good night's sleep?"
"I can rest when we get to the next town," Rick said.
Abraham sighed. "We can't stop in the next town," he said matter-of-factly. "We need to put as much distance between us and that herd as we can. Give us time to find another building, find more food, and fortify correctly. We can't risk rushing things and losing people." Rick's hand shook. Abraham glanced at him by way of the rearview mirror once again. "I know you didn't want to leave her behind," Abraham said gently. "None of us did. We just...had to. Michonne's tough. It's possible that she can make it and find her way back to us. But the next town just won't do. It's not safe."
Rick knew Abraham was right but he didn't like it. His mind raced, trying to go through every possibility of how they could possibly wait for or go back and rescue Michonne. Abraham seemed to know what he was thinking because he said gently. "Rick. That herd is just too big. If we go back, or if we sit and wait in an unsafe place...we'll be committing suicide. We keep moving forward. That's it."
Rick heard him but his mind kept racing through options anyway. There had to be something. He kept telling himself that as they rode straight through until the nighttime.
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Michonne had fashioned herself two new pet walkers and leashed them with the chains she and Abraham had previously used to keep the roof of the library safe. Now she walked through the streets of Greensboro looking for a vehicle. She had checked for the vehicle that Rick had taken from the guys at the gas station but it was no longer there. And she was quickly finding that a good, working vehicle was becoming harder and harder to find. Of all the cars she checked, either the gas had already been siphoned, it had been stripped of parts that enabled it to work, or it was locked and she couldn't find a silent way to get inside.
The growing sound of groans drew Michonne's eyes to the street behind her. The heart of the herd was coming up on her. She knew she couldn't stay on the street for much longer. The way those things were packed together, not even her two walkers or her gore-stained body would be able to conceal her scent for long. They would be too close. There would be too many. And there would be no way to escape.
Michonne looked around herself. The milling walkers were filling the street. Even if she were to find a car, she wouldn't be able to move fast. She would be blocked off. And then surrounded. And then killed. Michonne's heart crashed to her stomach and hope crashed with it. She wouldn't be catching up to her friends as soon as she had hoped. She didn't allow the disappointment to still her for long, instead she looked around for a place to stay. Seeing a hotel, she went towards it. She realized the irony of choosing a hotel because she had shot down the idea of staying in a hotel before. But circumstances were different now. She now had dead friends instead of live ones and she was now on her own.
Yanking on the two separate chains to get her pets to start walking, Michonne led them to the doors of the hotel. Surprisingly, they were open. She figured as long as the herd didn't suspect that she was in there only an average amount of walkers would continue to go in and out of the hotel. And as long as it was an average amount, she could move freely with her pets. And once she was upstairs in a room alone, she could lock up and fortify that sole room for protection. With her pets by her side. She would be completely surrounded by walkers, but as long as she continued to be careful and kept her pets by her side...she would be safe.
As she suspected, only a few walkers were walking aimlessly on the first floor. She easily surpassed them and went up the stairs to the third floor. A few walkers ambled up and down the hallway. Avoiding them, she quickly found a room that had a door which stood slightly ajar. She pushed the door open and carefully stepped inside to look around, the two walkers shuffling behind her. Nothing was immediately in front of her so she closed the door behind herself, not wanting anything to come in behind her. The door automatically locked.
Checking through the room, Michonne saw that the room was pretty much untouched; it was only in a state of slight disarray as if the previous owner had left in a hurry. It was a slightly fancy room with a sofa, a king bed, and a high definition television set. Michonne went into the bathroom and saw that it was empty as well. Getting slightly more reassured that nothing was in the room, Michonne moved a center piece table across the room and pushed it against the locked door as an added barrier. She then tied her walkers to the bed posts at the end of the bed.
Needing to check one more place, she pulled out her sword and went to the closet near the bathroom. Ready to fight if anything was in there, Michonne was still surprised when she threw open the door and was greeted with a six foot two male walker. Michonne sidestepped when it lunged toward her and easily sliced through his brain. It lay on the ground in very disproportionate pieces.
After wiping her blade clear of the mess of her kill and sheathing it once again, Michonne bent down to attempt to roll the large male walker into an area that was less in the way. But her stomach pain went through the roof at the strain and she quickly stopped. After taking a few breaths, Michonne was about to just fight through the pain and attempt it again when a realization stopped her altogether.
Suddenly she knew. She hadn't pulled anything from jumping through that roof earlier. She wasn't suffering from sudden, unnatural menstrual cramps. "No, no, no," Michonne whispered. She stood up and placed her hands on her stomach, her eyes wide. She suddenly knew with the surety that only a mother could have that she was pregnant. And she was threatening a miscarriage.
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Judith babbled happily as she was passed from Rick's arms to Glenn's. Maggie stared at the baby with a sad smile. "At least someone is happy," she said to Rick.
Rick couldn't even summon the energy to respond. He just laid a weary hand on Judith's head and went towards the back of the bus to talk to Carl. "Carl," he said, when he reached his kid's seat and stood over him. He didn't get a response. With a sigh, Rick sat down on the seat beside his son. "Carl," he said again. "I know you don't like what I did. I don't like it either, but-"
"I know," Carl interrupted. "You think you had to do it."
"I don't think. I know," Rick pressed.
"You didn't," Carl said quietly, his voice hard. "You didn't have to leave. She was on her way back."
"You don't know that, Carl."
"I do."
"You don't. And I would appreciate it if-" Rick was cut off when Carl met his eyes with a steely gaze.
"She was going to come back, Dad," he said. "She promised she wouldn't leave us. And she didn't. We left her."
Carl's statement kept playing in Rick's head as they drove on. Everyone was falling asleep around him but he stayed wide awake. Sitting on a seat up front, by himself, he looked over in slight surprise when he felt someone slip onto the seat next to him. By the light of the moon through the window, he saw that it was Jessie. He turned back to the front to focus on the seat ahead.
"I'm sorry about your friend," she started. "It's my fault that he's dead. Negan was going to kill me instead-"
Rick closed his eyes against her words. He wasn't in the mood to hear her apologies or even that man's name right now. He wanted to be alone. "Let's not talk about this right now," Rick said, turning to face her. "I'm not in the mood."
"...Okay," Jessie said, slightly taken aback. She was about to get up and leave when she thought of something. She sat back down. "I just wanted to tell you that...I felt safe with you there. Even bound and tied up on my knees like that. I know I'm not part of the group yet but...with you as the leader, I'm sure everyone feels the same way I do. You do your best to keep everyone safe. And that's all we can ask. As long as you continue to do that, you're doing what's right." Jessie couldn't tell if he was listening to her. He only continued to stare straight ahead. "I just wanted to tell you that because you've been walking around looking burdened...but...you don't need to be."
Still not getting a response, she decided to cut her losses for the night and went to stand up. But Rick's voice stopped her. "You don't need to feel guilty," he said. "About surviving. Don't ever feel guilty. If you do, you've let this world win."
A small smile lifted Jessie's lips. She was reassured by his words and the fact that he had even deemed to say something to her at all. Knowing that his words didn't need a response, she continued rising from his seat and went to her own empty one at the back. Slow but steady would win the race.
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Carol approached Daryl in the middle of the bus. He was draped low in the seat. His arms crossed against his chest and his forehead leaning against the window. She couldn't tell if he was asleep or awake.
"Psst!" she whispered. "Are you awake?"
There was a moment of silence and then Daryl responded. "...Yeah," he said with a quiet grunt.
"You okay?" Carol asked, sitting beside him.
Daryl didn't respond immediately. That meant he wasn't okay. "I'm okay as I can be considerin'..." he finally said.
Carol laid her hand on his shoulder. She knew what was on his mind.
"I made the call," Daryl said. "I was the first one to say we needed to leave. I keep thinkin' about what we maybe could have done different...so we didn't have to leave her-"
"There was nothing we could've done," Carol said. "You made the right call. You were just thinking about the good of the group. There's nothing wrong with that. Michonne would understand." A stoic sullenness washed over Carol. "I've been separated from the group before..." she said. "I know it sucks. But I made it. She can make it too."
Daryl was quiet for another long moment. "I was with Joe's group..." he said finally. "A group of rapists, theives, and murderers. I mean...I didn't know all that about 'em but...I knew they weren't exactly good people. But I was with 'em just so I wouldn't have to be alone out there."
Carol kept her hand on his shoulder, not knowing how else she could comfort him. "She'll make it," she repeated again. "She has to."
Further somewhere in the back of the bus, Father Gabriel approached a dejected Sasha who had been weakened by tears and hopelessness. She was slumped against the window of the bus and only gave Father Gabriel a careless glance before descending back into her quiet misery. The timid priest sat beside her. "Would – would you like me to pray for you?" he asked.
Sasha didn't respond.
He took her hand gently in his, but she pulled it away. "I'm not into any of that," she said, her voice hoarse.
Father Gabriel was hesitant but he reached for her hand again anyway. "Still..." he said. "Let me try. You never know when he'll choose to bestow his blessings on you."
Sasha rolled her eyes, but she didn't pull away again. She didn't have the energy. She could only sink into her misery as Father Gabriel started up a whispered prayer next to her. The words of the prayer were familiar to her but the meaning and hope she once felt upon hearing them were lost to her.
"Our Father, who art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth, as it is in Heaven..."
Tears leaked anew from Sasha's eyes as the priest's meaningless words droned on into the darkness of a world that could no longer hear them. It seemed that Rick wasn't the only restless and sleepless person on the bus that night.
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Rick had a plan the following morning.
"We keep driving," he said to Abraham. "Don't stop. We're going to beat the herd to Alexandria and hold them out there. If they're heading there. Whenever you get tired of driving, just change shifts with someone. I've already let Glenn and a few others know of what we're gonna be doing."
Abraham nodded as he listened to Rick. As long as Rick gave him a plan that didn't include sitting and waiting, he was okay with it. He was okay with this. "Do you know how far we are from this Safe Zone?" he asked.
"Not exactly," Rick said. "But if what Jessie and Noah have said is true then I know we shouldn't be far. Maybe a few days...We'll be driving nonstop until we reach it. And whenever we're low on gas...well, just let me know and we'll figure out a plan for a supply run then."
Abraham nodded. "So just keep drivin'," he reaffirmed. "I can do that. Anything to keep those dead, smelly fuckers off our asses a lil' bit longer. And hopefully the pissants at this Alexandria Safe Zone will be able to handle a herd this size...if they're heading that way, as you said."
Rick nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose. This plan was the best he could do in the moment. It would keep his group safe for now and Michonne...she knew they were originally heading to the Safe Zone. So if she was alive, that would be her destination as well. And maybe after a couple of days at this Safe Zone...if she hadn't returned...he could gather a group and head out to look for her. It was something.
He paced down the aisle of the bus, his plan making him hopeful.
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The herd was thick around the hotel. Michonne heard them from where she sat in bed on the third floor. This was the fourth day that she would be stuck in this room. She had managed to search downstairs on the first floor during the second day thanks to her dead companions who now stood calmly tied to her bedposts once again. During that search, she had been majorly lucky to find the storage room of breakfast foods still mostly intact behind the counter area of the hotel. All of the bacon and sausage was ruined, of course, but she had old, stale muffins to eat for days. And she had even found some packs of bottled water.
She opened one of the muffins now and took a bite as she went over what her plan would be once the herd had passed. An atlas she had found in the room helped her make her route plans. It lay beside her now on the bed. She had formed a big circle around Virginia. From what Jessie and Noah had said, that's where the Alexandria Safe Zone was located.
She had given up on catching up with the group in the next couple of days. Her hand went to her stomach. Her body couldn't handle the continuous journey right now. She would take it slow. Catch up to the group at their destination, the Safe Zone. Since that was where they were heading. The problem was that the herd would be between her and Virginia.
"So I'll have to go around," Michonne muttered to herself. She wondered how many days back that would put her in catching up to her group.
There was that fear again. Michonne was beginning to feel it more and more. The fear of being alone in this world for a long period of time. Last night in the very same bed she was sitting in at the moment, she had shamefully let it take over and tears had spilled from her eyes. But she bottled it this time around. She couldn't let that fear make her irrational. Reckless. Especially now. When she wasn't really alone. She had another person growing inside of her to think about.
Resolutely, she began to mark a new route on the map. One that would take a longer time but would also possibly ensure her safety and the safety of the unborn child in her womb.
When she was done marking the map and she had time to lay back and let her mind wonder, she couldn't help but to think about how Rick would take the news of her pregnancy. He would, without a doubt, welcome the child but she also knew that he might feel an extra burden as well. A new responsibility. Someone else to worry about, fret over, and take care of.
Michonne stroked her stomach. Yes. This child may be all of those things and more. But to her, this child was also a second chance. A chance to succeed where she had failed before. This little bundle of life was going to be her world.
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A little more than a week of traveling, hunger, and scavenging for gas made it seem almost too good to be true when Rick's group came upon the walled city they had been looking for.
"This is it!" Jessie called, her eyes alight with happiness. "This is the Safe Zone! Guys, we made it!"
Everyone moved to the front of the bus to view the place they had been working so hard to get to. All they could see was a giant wall. It was blocking whatever was inside. Soon, a large gate opened and two men stepped out. They were both well-dressed and seemed in good spirits. Everyone waited for Rick's instruction.
He spoke after a few seconds of silence. "Let's go talk to 'em."
- I know, I know. No Michonne/Rick scenes! But I'm trying to make sure this is a well-developed story. Stay with me please! Things always get worse before they get better. XD