Chapter 8-Misstep
Daryl and Alicia walk away from the others. "Shouldn't you have a gun?" Alicia asks him.
"I got my crossbow, and it sounds like this kid is only after your brother and maybe you," Daryl says. Alicia stops for a second and runs her hands through her hair. "You okay?"
"I almost lost my brother, and it's hitting me like a bag of bricks," Alicia says.
"It should. If Shane weren't there, he wouldn't be breathing," Daryl says. "And the thing is you're still gonna hunt the vultures even after this,"
"How do you know that?" Alicia asks.
"Your brother killed that man. And your friends won't stop until they are dead. Neither will you or your brother," Daryl says as he starts to walk.
"Why do you think that?" Alicia asks. Daryl stops and turns and looks at her.
"Because if the Governor made it out of the prison. After what he did to Hershel. I would have hunted him to the end of the Earth to kill the bastard," Daryl says.
"Does that mean you'll help us?" Alicia asks.
"Nah, I've been in a war before. A few weeks ago, I ain't looking for another one. When it comes down to it, I stand with Morgan and John," Daryl says. "I'm starting to learn revenge is a fool's game,"
"What if the vultures killed Rick or Morgan?" Alicia asks him.
"Then you wouldn't have the chance to kill 'em. It may be stupid, but I would kill them," Daryl says as he stops at the end of the building. "She's gone,"
"You sure?" Alicia asks. Daryl nods as he points to the tracks heading away from the building.
"Ran off that way. She might come back with friends, let's get out of here," Daryl says. Alicia nods as she follows him back to the others.
They stop in front of them. "She's gone. But we should get out of here," Alicia says as they hear a growl and see Ennis's walker. Daryl raises his crossbow and shoots him in the head.
"I don't feel like waiting for her either. Let's go," Daryl says as he walks towards the van. Strand looks at Nick, who gives them a nod as they get into the van and leave.
The group drives down the road. John and Morgan sat in the front. Shane sat beside Alicia and Strand. Luciana was beside Nick and Strand. Daryl and Al sat across from them. "Let's get this over with," Strand says.
"We-we can wait. Give you all a moment to breathe," Al says as she looks at Nick.
"You took us there. We'd talk. That was the deal. Ask what you want to ask," Strand says. Al turns the camera on and points it at Strand.
"How did you end up here?" Al asks.
"That's a big question," Nick says.
"Sometimes those are the easiest ones to answer," Al says.
"There was one day...when we could have stopped all of this from happening," Luciana says.
"Let's start there. Tell me about that day," Al says.
Before
Luciana looks through binoculars at the vultures as one of them gets out of a car. She looks at Mel. "How long had it been since they'd showed up?" Al asks in the present.
"A couple of weeks," Luciana says. In the present, she sees Charlie laughing with Ennis and puts the binoculars. "We started to stretch our rations with cattle feed," Luciana says to Al.
"Have you ever eaten cattle feed? Lemme tell you-it's an acquired taste," Strand says. Back in the past, Luciana cuts her food.
"You okay?" Nick asks her. She sets her knife and spoon down and looks at him.
"I'm fine," Luciana says. Cole, Strand, and Alicia looked at them. Strand opens the syrup bottle.
"Allow me to be of assistance," Strand says.
"No, let's save it. It's the last we have," Luciana says.
"Yeah, when the pancakes are better," Alicia says. "For when things get better," Alicia says.
"That's right. This is far too significant a condiment for cattle feed pancakes," Strand says. They laugh. Naomi sat by them. "For when things get better," Naomi looks away and drinks her coffee. "That can happen,"
"It already did for us. Even if it feels not like that right now," Alicia says.
"Things will get better," Naomi says.
"Shouldn't we be eating cattle before we eat their feed?" Cole asks.
"No one's killin' anything that moves today," Madison says as she comes over with Shane.
"We're sailing out even farther? We've already been everywhere within 50 miles of here," Strand says as Madison hands them paper.
"Everywhere we thought there might be food. We started to get creative," Shane says.
"We thought of places our friends in the parking lot may not have hit," Madison says.
"Bowling alleys?" Alicia asks.
"Who knows? Maybe they have nachos. Cheese that comes from a can,"
"Where are we goin'? Cole asks.
"We?" Strand asks.
"No one goes out alone, and Shane and I still have half the county to grid," Madison says as she walks away with Shane.
"Let's go," Strand says as he walks away. In the present, Al looks at Strand. "Going on runs that day...that was our first misstep," Strand says. Back in the past, Strand and Cole walk through a greenhouse. "Now remember-no spines, no purple, no black,"
"You know I went to A&M, right? Spent more times smokin' the plants than I did studyin' them, but...I know which ones are safe to eat. All right, I told you somethin'. Now you tell me something," Cole says.
"About what?" Strand asks.
"About you," Cole says.
"I didn't go to A&M," Strand says. Cole chuckles. "Look here. It appears our search has borne fruit. I'll see if there's a cart," Strand says as he walks away. Cole follows him into a building.
"How long are you gonna keep doin' that?" Cole asks.
"Doin' what?" Strand asks.
"Acting like you're afraid of me," Cole says.
"Ah. I assure you, that is not the case," Strand says as he sets his gun down.
"Well, then what is it?" Cole asks.
"Were you afraid of him?" Al asks in the present.
"No. Of course not," Strand says.
"What did you think of him?" Al asks.
"I thought we were talking about Nick," Strand says.
"Talkin' about you," Al says. In the past, Strand moves a cart.
"Ohh, man," Strand says as they see walkers. "Heads up!" Cole pushes one back with a cart as Strand stabs one in the head. Cole grabs garden shears and stabs another in the head. One grabs him. Strand pushes one back with another cart. One takes Colt behind a street and onto woods. Some of the thorns on it were in Cole. Strand stabs the one on the cart and kills the one above Cole. Cole groans as Strand pulls the walker off.
"Thanks," Cole says as Strand helps him up. "Pricks,"
Nick and Luciana
Nick stops the van outside a library. "Saw it on my map when my mom brought us out here. I know it's crazy, but it felt like a sign," Nick says.
"Of what? We're not gonna find food in the library," Luciana says.
"I know," Nick says as he gets out with his bag. "You coming or not?" Nick shuts the car door. Luciana gets out.
"I went because he wanted me to. I thought it would be good for me," Luciana says.
"She thought it would be good for me," Nick says. Back in the present, they walk into the library. Nick whistles and doesn't see or hear walkers. He walks up to a poster and takes it down.
"You really taking that?" Luciana asks. "Nick, what are we doing here?"
"Books. We need books," Nick says.
"For what?" Luciana asks.
"For a library. People need a reason to fight, Lucy. People need a reason to want to stick around. It can't all just be about food," Nick says as he walks past here.
"Nick, there's nothing left," Luciana says.
"There's gotta be something," Nick says as he walks through the library.
"This is about her, isn't it?" Luciana asks.
"She thinks they're lookin' out for them. She thinks they're like family," Nick says as he looks around.
"I was just like her. At the Colonia, I believed in what we were doing. I thought it was a good place to be, but it wasn't. I just couldn't see it. And you helped me. And we'll help her-just not like this," Luciana says.
Before
"But you couldn't help her, could you?" Al asks in the present.
"She almost killed Nick and shot Shane. What do you think?" Luciana asks. John looks at Morgan.
"Hey, you know, I used to be a police officer," John says. Morgan looks at him. "And I knew a guy back on the force. He'd drink a bottle of rye whiskey for dinner every night. Day in, day out. Then one day, he survived a close call with a suspect. Stole a garbage truck, squashed his patrol car flat as a pancake. You know, he only went one week without that rye. What I came away with was, takes more than one bad afternoon-or a good one-to turn somebody. So I'm guessin' once we get to where we are going, you're gonna be on your way, huh? You and Daryl back on your old course. I'm tellin' you...I'm tellin' you. I'm gonna find her. I am. And I want you two with me when I do. I want you two to meet her. I want her to meet you," John says.
"Yes, I will be on my way. Man, I'm better on my own. Or just with him," Morgan says.
"We can stop...if it's too much," Al says.
"Too much?" Alicia asks.
"It's okay...if you just...want to stop," Al says.
Alicia and Naomi. Before
Alicia and Naomi get out of a truck. "Man, I used to love these places," Alicia says as they look at the water park. "You ever been?"
"Been a while," Naomi says.
"Just you?" Alicia asks.
"No. Places like this...they make really good churros," Naomi says as they get ready.
"Yeah, they did," Alicia says. They walk towards the park. Naomi walks to a car.
"This is a good one. We should take this back with us. Height's good if you get caught with the dead around you. Run-flat tires. Gets mileage but holds a lot of gas," Naomi says as she opens the door. "It's even got a tape deck," Naomi looks through the car. "No keys, though," Naomi shuts the door.
"How do you know so much about cars?" Alicia asks.
"I don't know that much," Naomi says.
"Come on," Alicia says as she goes into the park. Alicia holds her gun as they walk around. They see a base up top.
"Looks like people lived here," Naomi says.
"Until the fences gave," Alicia says. They walk over bodies and keep walking around the pools. They see the stairs blocked off and walk past them and see a walker. Alicia pulls out her knife and stabs it as Naomi stabs another one coming towards them. Alicia pulls her knife out. Naomi pulls out Binoculars and looks at the top.
"Whoever was camped here moved to higher ground when the fence went down. Looks like they barricaded the stairs," Naomi says.
"There," Alicia says as she points at a slide. "That's how we get up,"
"Think we can make it?" Naomi asks.
"Yeah, we can make it," Alicia says. She goes over to the water and walks over a tube. "So what's your record of churros in a single visit,"
"Four. I was having fun," Naomi says. "May have been high on chlorine," She comes across, and they climb a fence. They get to the pool.
"Well, that's worse than band-aids in the water," Alicia says as they look at the walkers.
"Then what happened?" Al asks in the present.
"I just wanted to do the right thing," Strand says. In the past, he drives with plants in the back of the car. "There's a reason why we haven't been on a run before," Strand says.
"Hey, if you don't like me, you can just tell me," Cole says.
"I do. That's why I didn't want to give you a chance to get to know me. I've, uh, done things," Strand pulls a rock out of his pocket. "I keep this to remind me that I don't want to become that man again," Cole grabs the rock.
"Just looks like a piece of rock to me," Cole says. Strand grabs it.
"It's not," He says as he puts it into his pocket.
"So going on the run brought you closer together," Al says in the present.
"Of course it did. We were the only people there still breathing," Alicia says.
Thanks for reading. Another fun chapter to do. This one and the next will focus on the stadium, and I will most likely be doing Luara even though I won't change anything if you haven't seen the Fear 6x14 teaser. Watch it. It made me so happy to see it and made this story even better when we get there. Also, would you guys ever want to see this story break away from the Fear story and go into its own? As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.