Okay, let's kick things off with a news update:
My laptop had contracted a virus. A nasty little MFer that prohibits the use of my mouse and constantly restarts my laptop at an almost constant 5 minute interval. Yes, that is correct my little Interweberz, I have lost every single chapter I ever created for Alice in Walkerland. All of my already posted chapters as well as the 5 chapters I had written in advance. All of my little blurbs of ideas…gone. With that being said, I am currently writing this chapter on my older brother's laptop which I…procured through completely legal limits. I am in the process of finding and purchasing a new laptop, but it may take some time. Until then, my posting has been limited to the computers in the school library and my brothers.
HOLY CRAP GUYS! SEASON FOUR! WHOOOHOOO!
I bit my lip as I watched the group drift towards the house, all of them hovering nervously around Lori. I felt the absence of Rick and Glenn strongly as I watched the confused and unsure camp shuffle away, barely keeping themselves banded together. I was abruptly disrupted from my thoughts when I heard the crunching footsteps coming up behind me.
As I turned around, I caught sight of flannel and jeans. As Daryl approached at a mildly lazy pace, I could already see the question in his eyes. He came to stand beside me, Riddick rolling around in the dirt a few feet in front of us.
"So, I take it the search didn't go to well?" He asked sarcastically.
I let out a sigh of exhaustion and leaned back against the car, still warm from the road.
"We found her, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." I muttered, glaring in the direction of the lit up house.
Daryl waited for me to continue, his arm cradling his still tender side. "And?" He prompted
I popped my lips and looked at him. "She's pregnant." I offered.
Daryl only nodded. "'Kinda saw that coming." He admitted.
"Did you now?" I asked sarcastically, eyeing him in disbelief.
He didn't say anything else, just spit in the dirt and looked skyward. A few minutes of silence passed between us before he spoke up again in a gravelly voice. "This group's gone to shit, Alice."
"I know." I said quietly, looking down. "We're pretty fucked up, aren't we?"
"More than I ever thought we'd be." Daryl grunted, pushing away from the car. "But, if we can pull our asses through this, we can survive anything."
"Is it sad that that is probably the most moralizing thing I've heard since all this stuff went down?" I joked, copying his movements and stretching my arms in front of me.
Daryl just snorted and clapped my shoulder lightly. I returned the gesture with a shoulder nudge. We stood there a few moments, just observing the scenery before meeting each other's gaze. A look of understanding passed between us and I couldn't help the small smile that tugged at my lips.
"Night, Daryl." I said.
"Night, Alice."
We separated and the redneck began the long trek back to his camp. I watched him go silently, scuffing my feet lightly in the dirt. My stomach growled hungrily, but the fuzzy feeling in my head overpowered the slight discomfort. As I made my way to my blanket I laid down, feeling the comfort of Riddick's back pressed into mine.
AIWAIWAIWAIWAIWAIWAIW
I awoke the next morning to the sound of people talking and a hand shaking my shoulder.
"Alice, can you wake up?" I heard Shane ask.
I groaned and rolled over, hearing Riddick let loose a groan of his own as I squashed his tail. I placed an arm over my eyes to shield from the light before looking up at him groggily.
"Shane." I whispered. "Why do you hate me? What monster wakes a woman up at this time of day?"
Shane, who had crouched down beside me, raised an eyebrow and smiled. "It's nearly noon, Als."
My eyes opened completely at the news and I bolted up right. "What?"
"Yep. We let you sleep in, actually." Shane responded, pushing himself upright and offering me a hand. "But now we need you up. We're heading into town to look for Rick and Glenn."
"And Herschel." Patricia said acidly from nearby.
Shane inhaled slowly and nodded. "Yeah, and Herschel."
I took his hand and let him haul me up, my bones creaking in protest. I did a quick 360 and took note of who I saw. T-Dog and Andrea were throwing some small items into the cab of the green car and Daryl was straddling his motorcycle while he adjusted the arrows on his crossbow. Dale looked on with a worried look as we prepared to leave.
I was just slipping my gun in my pants when I heard the sound of crunching tires heading our way, growing steadily louder the nearer it got. All of us turned simultaneously to see the rapidly approaching car. I could faintly make out Rick behind the wheel as he pulled into the empty space before us. Lori and Carl filed out of the house, followed by Patricia, Carol, Maggie and Jimmy.
Rick opened his door and caught Carl in his arms as the young boy ran to him. Lori pulled him into an embrace before shooting me a venomous look. I ignored her promptly and moved closer to the red vehicle.
As the car emptied, I sighed in relief when Glenn pulled himself from the backseat, apparently unharmed. Maggie ran forward in excitement, completely dodging around her father as she threw her arms around Glenn. He looked passed her blankly and slipped from her embrace, stonily moving away.
Herschel eased himself from the passenger seat and began barking orders as the Greene family all made their way inside.
"Who the hell is that?" T-Dog asked, staring in confusion into the backseat. I made my way over slowly with the rest of the group and stood on my tiptoes to see over his shoulder. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw the young boy sitting in the seat, blindfolded and apparently unconscious. I could smell the metallic tang of blood.
"That's Randall." Glenn replied.
"Is he bit?" I asked, struggling to see any bites.
"No, not bit." Rick informed, "Just hurt. I'll explain later."
Later turned out to be nearly 2 hours after when we could finally all meet up.
"We couldn't just leave him behind." Rick said from the head of the table. "He would have bled out, if he lived that long."
Everyone had gathered in the dining room of the house, some standing and some sitting.
"But," I spoke up from between Glenn and Dale. "he shot at you." Even I could hear the confusion in my voice.
"Couldn't just leave him there." Glenn said quietly next to me.
"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked.
Before Rick could respond, Herschel arrived. "I've repaired his calf muscle as best as I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage. He won't be on his feet for at least a week."
"When he is, we'll give him a canteen, take him out to the main road and send him on his way." Rick spoke with finality.
"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the Walkers?" Andrea asked.
At that moment the screen door squeaked open and Daryl made his way inside, leaning up against the farthest wall.
"At least he'll have a fighting chance." Rick responded.
"So we're just going to let him go? He knows where we are." Shane said.
"What if he finds his people?" I asked.
"And sends them back here?" Carol piped up.
"He was blind folded the whole way, he isn't a threat." Rick reasoned.
"How many did you say there were?" Shane asked. "You kill three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just aren't going to come looking for him?"
"They left him for dead; no one is looking for him." Rick said, annoyance coloring his words.
"We should still post a guard." T-Dog suggested.
"He's unconscious right now and will be for hours." Herschel reassured.
"You know, I'm going to go get him some flowers and candy!" Shane growled sarcastically, pushing himself away from the wall and heading angrily for the door. "Look at this folks! We back in fantasy land!"
"Hey!" Herschel shouted. Shane halted suddenly. "You know we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn!"
Shane turned around slowly, obviously trying his best to keep his cool as he faced the older man.
"Let me make this clear, once and for all. This is my farm. Now, I wanted you gone, but Rick convinced me otherwise, but that doesn't mean I like it. So do us both a favor, keep your mouth shut."
Silence followed and I kept a hand pressed firmly against my mouth as I stared at the confrontation with wide eyes. Shane managed a cold smile before nodding his head and continuing out the door, sighing heavily.
"Look, we're not going to do anything about it today, let's just cool off." Rick tried, mediating the situation.
Andrea rolled her eyes before following Shane out the door. As everyone began dispersing, I pushed away from the table as well.
"Alice, wait a second." Rick's voice halted me.
I looked at him curiously. After sharing a brief look with Herschel, the old man vacated the room as well, leaving just the two of us. Rick gestured back to the seat I had been sitting in. Cautiously, I retook it. He sat across from me and met my gaze evenly.
"When we met the two guys in town-,"
"Tony and Dave?" I interrupted, faintly remembering the names from his rundown of the town incident.
"Yeah. We had a conversation before things took a turn for the worse. They had…been to Fort Benning about a month ago."
My eyes widened and I sat straighter in my seat. "Really? Did they say anything about my brothers? The name Mason at all?"
Rick gave me a pained look. "Fort Benning is gone, Alice."
My heart stopped and my fingers felt cold. I swallowed heavily and cleared my throat. "Gone?"
"It was overrun. Taken by the dead." Rick said quietly, trying to keep eye contact with me as my eyes fell to the table.
"Gone." I repeated quietly. "And you believe them?"
"What reason would they have to lie about that?" Rick asked me gently.
I knew he was right and my hands clenched into fists on the table. Rick placed a hand gently over one of my trembling fists.
"I'm sorry, Alice. I just thought you should know."
I nodded my head quickly at him, the burning in my eyes becoming almost unbearable.
"I know. Thank you, Rick. I need a moment." I choked.
Rick nodded and with a final squeeze to my hand, he stood up and walked outside. Only then did I allow myself to bury my face in my arms and let loose the tears I had been holding back since the entire disease started.
AIWAIWAIWAIWAIW
A week had passed since Rick told me the news about Fort Benning. It was still hard to think about it, so I busied myself with whatever I could do. Wash some clothes? Ok. Fetch a pail of water? Sure thing. Collect some eggs from the devil hens? Not a problem.
The thing that bothered me most was the way everyone acted around me. Soft voices were used in conversation and the lingering touches by the women as they attempted to show their sympathy. But how could they know? Carol had her daughter and Lori had her son. Maggie had Beth, Herschel, Patricia and Jimmy.
The only one who I could really connect with was Daryl. It was one of the things we had in common, the loss of out siblings. But I wasn't about to go pour out my feelings to the feeling-impaired Dixon brother. So, instead, I took every opportunity available to me to get away from the pity filled stares.
Which is why when Rick asked me if I'd like to go with him and Shane to drop off Randall, I immediately agreed. As I took a long swig from my water bottle, Riddick pawed nervously at my leg. I'm sure he could sense my impending departure. I reached down and rubbed his ears comfortingly.
"It'll be okay, Riddick. I need this. Beruhigen." I cooed to him as he pressed his face into my abdomen.
"Alice! You ready?" I heard Rick call.
Turning around, I saw them stowing Randall in the back of Shane's car. He had duct tape over his mouth and a blindfold over his eyes. As I got closer, I could hear blaring rock music emitting from the earbuds that were taped to his ears.
"Yeah. As soon as you guys are." I responded, nudging Riddick away from me slightly.
"Load up, girl." Shane said, slamming the back door down and moving towards the passenger side door.
Looking back down at Riddick, I bent down halfway to place a kiss on his head. "I'll see you later." I promised him.
When I straightened back up, I caught Daryl looking over at the car. I lifted my hand in a goodbye motion, which he returned after a second. Rick honked the horn and I felt a slight smile tug my lips.
"I'll be back." I whispered to Riddick, running towards the car. "It's just a simple desertion mission."
If only I knew how wrong I was.
