Chapter twenty-four: Better than a chance.
"Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."
Night one in the storage unit went smoothly, no one that didn't need to be awake got up for any reason other than to pee and we weren't roused by the people on watch to run from Walkers; we had full bellies after finding proper food around the site and there was a stream with fresh water that we'd boiled. It was a good day that we woke up to as well, the sun was shining high in the sky, chasing away the winter chills that were starting to set in and there wasn't a Walker in sight.
Raising the door of the unit Andrea and I were sharing with T-Dog, I stretched out and yawned; people were milling about already, getting water and food prepared. In the tree line, I thought I could see something moving.
"Where are you going?" Glenn called and I turned my head and smiled, walking backwards.
"Nowhere special, why, are you gonna tell on me?" I replied cheekily and he grinned before letting me go. There was a glint reflecting off a piece of mirror hanging from a tree branch about three trees in, I took the shard in hand and frowned; a twig snapped behind me and I whirled. "Jesus Christ."
It was just a Walker, which I took down before doubling over; the Walker was dressed in cargo pants and a denim jacket, a denim jacket that looked fresher than the corpse wearing it. As I shucked the jacket, I checked it and found initials stitched into the back.
P. D. Tomlins.
In the pockets of the jacket I found petty change, a strawberry chap stick and an old family photograph; it had been taken years ago, back when we all lived at home. Swallowing, I searched the Walker for anything else useful and found a packet of gum and a cartoon of smokes; sitting down, I felt my nose start to sting and my eyes well up. As I sniffed, I wiped at my eyes to stop the tears from falling before their time; time on the road gets to you like nothing else and after a few minutes, I heard another set of footsteps and turned my head.
"Are you alright?" I nodded and turned away from Hershel again.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied coarsely, scratching at some dried blood on my jeans. "I just stubbed my toe takin' down the Walker…smarts something awful."
"Rick's got people looking; Glenn said you went this way." The old man sat down next to me, taking the stump that I'd ignored. "Whatever weight you've got, I've got time to listen…might even have some good advice?"
"Yeah…I just thought I'd have found them by now." I whispered and Hershel looked down at the jacket. "Another jacket they've left behind, this one belongs to Phineas so they must have been attacked by this guy before he died because there isn't a bite mark on it."
"You want to find your family, but don't want to leave this one behind." I nodded.
"Feels like they're right here, right around the corner but every time I reach out to grab them it's just smoke." Getting up, I rubbed my hands on the backs of my thighs and looked around. "The Walker came from the direction; I'll bet that's the way to go." Hershel gripped my arm before I could leave him.
"You should bring this to the group rather than running off with only a half-baked idea in your oven and a knife in your hand." Shaking free, I took another step, hearing Hershel coming with me and turning with a groan. "If you're going then I'm coming with you." I shook my head.
"Why're you doin' this? They're not your problem Maggie and Beth are…I'll come back if I don't find anything." But Hershel kept following me and eventually I sighed and stopped, turning in my tracks and taking him back to the storage yard. "You can't watch me all day Hershel, at some point I'm gonna sneak away."
"Do you want to slow up and think about this group?" He suggested and I stopped again, a few metres from the rest of the group, who were now watching with interest. "What if we're attacked while you're gone? What if you're attacked and we can't help you? What would you tell Sophia and Daryl if you went running off into the sunset chasing people that might not be out there?"
"What's goin' on?" Rick called and Hershel put his hand on my shoulder.
"Found another of her brother's jackets on a Walker, the man had stolen it before succumbing. Ellie wants to go chasin' smoke in the woods on her own." He explained and I sighed, feeling all the fight going out of me.
"No one goes anywhere alone; it's bad enough you wandered off in the first place." Glenn reminded and I nodded, breaking away from Hershel and going to sit back in my unit, pulling the door down to have a little more privacy. In the dark, I stared blankly at a box labelled 'jumble clothing' before pulling it closer and opening it up; the box was filled with perfectly good clothing and I picked through before sighing and laying back.
"Ellie, I know you wanna find your brothers, but goin' off on your own is not the answer." Rick said through the door and I ignored him, a beam of light coming and going as he opened and shut the door. "Hershel is right about this, they ain't out there, they're somewhere else or they're dead."
"I can't just let this go they're my brothers." I replied miserably, sitting up and meeting Rick's eye as he nodded.
"I know it's not easy but it's the right thing to do but I promise, if they're out there we'll find them together, as a group but we have to find somewhere permanent first, we can't stay here." He implored and I sighed, feeling his hand taking mine and removing the jacket from my grasp. "We're family now and all of us want to find your brothers."
"I'm sorry Rick; but I just don't feel like myself at all."
We stayed in the storage units for two weeks, recuperating and planning our next move; we were nearly out of fuel and we had barely any ammo either. Lori was starting to struggle with the constant travelling and Hershel and Carol never left her side; things between the Grimes family had become more and more strained with every passing day, it was a dark cloud that crushed our spirits. A while ago, I'd come to terms with being unable to find my brothers and gave up, throwing myself into hunting lessons with Daryl and finding water with T-Dog.
We stopped by the side of a road one day, getting out of the cars and setting up a perimeter.