This Night

Chapter 232

Author's Note: I am really not getting the feelings that these Alexandria's have any brains what so ever. Except MAYBE Deanna and Aaron. Deanna's off spring are just weak and stupid. Well, I'm giving her one smart one. But you are just going to have to wait! Two reviews away from 1,000! Please review.

David, Tara and Eugene's POV:

David glanced at Tara as they saw Eugene looking at something and heard moaning coming from another area of the bookstore. "Please tell me he isn't doing what I think he's doing."

Tara sighed. "He is," she said as she walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Dude."

Eugene turned around. "Cards on the table, I was watching them," he admitted.

"Yeah, we saw that," Tara told him.

"Seriously, does the word privacy mean nothing to you?" David hissed at him.

"I believe they know I catch an eyeful on occasion, which isn't to say it's their thing. It's not mine either. It's just that I enjoy the female form and I consider this a victimless crime that provides both comfort and distraction," Eugene explained.

David raised his eyebrow at him. "You do realize that being a peeping tom was a crime before this right? That there is nothing victimless about it?"

Eugene looked at him. "Were you a lawyer?" he asked.

"Law student, not that it matters now. But common decency does," David told him.

Tara shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe we um can move on from here. I was looking for you to say thank you for having my back at the bus," she said.

"Don't know about that," Eugene told her.

"From what I saw, you did. I wasn't close enough to do anything," David told him.

"Well, if I did, then you provided the context for me doing so," Eugene told her.

"What?" Tara asked.

"I was screwed either way, so I went with the choice that helped someone. I thought it trite, but it turned out to be true, point to you," Eugene told her.

"You have this. Even if you didn't before, you do. Look, I'm- I'm the same way. I bet David here gets scared too," Tara told Eugene as she looked at David and tilted her head at him.

David glanced at her then at Eugene. "Yeah, I do. I've been mostly alone for a long time, and I was ready to end it. But, if I did, I wouldn't have found Joe and all of us wouldn't be heading to save the world," he told the other man.

Eugene didn't say anything as he looked down at his feet.

David snapped his fingers. "Hello, Earth to Eugene?"

"Um, did you hear what we just said?" Tara asked.

"The bus crashed cause of me," Eugene told them.

Tara laughed. "No it didn't," she told him.

"Yes it did," Eugene informed them again.

David looked at him. "Tara, I think he's serious. What did you do?"

"I put crushed glass in the fuel line. Light bulbs I found in the church. The vehicle should've failed before it ever got to the road," Eugene answered.

David ran his hand through his hair. "What the hell?"

Tara put her hand on David's elbow, afraid that he would hit him. "You would've killed us. Jes was sitting on the floor, she got hit in the head. She's lucky that it didn't cause something more serious."

"It wasn't supposed to go down like that, not hardly, not half. The glass wasn't supposed to wear out the fuel line next to the spark plugs. We fully pulled the short straw on that one," Eugene told them.

David glared at him. "You think? What the hell is wrong with you."

"David just calm down, please," Tara told him. "Eugene why did…Eugene? Why did you do that?" she asked.

Eugene hesitated. "Um…" he answered.

"I better hear something come out of your mouth real soon that sounds reasonably like a good answer," David warned him.

"Answer me!" Tara told him.

"I appreciate the positive affirmations and looking the other way on the perversion, but I know empirically and definitively I cannot survive on my own. I cannot," Eugene told them.

"That doesn't sound like a good answer," David said as he took a step forward.

"David, back down," Tara warned him. "So you killed the bus?" she asked Eugene.

"If I don't cure the disease, if I don't save the world, I have no value," Eugene informed them.

David looked at him. "What the hell does that have to do with trying to kill us all?"

"David!" Tara yelled at him. "Of course we would. We're friends. We have each other's backs. That's it. That's how it works. Don't tell anyone else what you did, we'll keep your secret. Won't we David?" she asked turning to the man.

David looked at her. "He tried to kill us."

"And he knows he was wrong. So we'll keep his secret and we'll keep going," Tara insisted as she turned to Eugene. "You know you messed up. You're trying, but, dude, you can't do something like that again."

"I won't," Eugene told her.

"You're stuck with us like we're stuck with you, no matter what," Tara told him. "Right David?"

David let out a breath. "Right."

"I don't know why I told you," Eugene told them.

"I do. Welcome to the human race, asshole," Tara told him.

Rosita, Jes and Abraham's POV:

Jes walked in to what had been the reading room as Rosita was wrapping Abraham's hand. "How's the hand?"

"Hurts like a bitch. Your head?" Abraham asked.

"Same," Jes asked. "I heard what you guys were talking about. Rosita has a point, you know?"

Abraham looked up at her. "You gals planning on startin' a book club? Or a knittin' club? Is that why you both want to sit on your pretty asses and stop the progress."

Jes looked at him. "Ford, watch your mouth. You're all about the mission, I get it, trust me. But Rosita's right, you're hurt, I'm hurt. Going out like this, that only makes thing riskier. I'd never send men out hurt in the field because if they weren't 100% that's what got someone killed or hurt even worse."

Rosita looked at her then at Abraham. "Thank you. She has some sense."

"Every minute we waste getting him to Washington, people are dying," Abraham informed them.

"You think I don't understand that? After everything? You see, I want us to actually get there," Rosita explained.

"No, you want us to sit around. You want us to stop," Abraham shot back.

"Enough, we don't have time for a lovers' spat. You want to argue, then go find a back room somewhere. Right here, right now the only thing that matters is the smartest move to make sure we all get to Washington. If you can't think about the whole picture because you're to close to the situation, then you may want to put someone else in charge," Jes told him.

Abraham looked at her. "Are you seriously threatening to take over?"

"She didn't say that," Rosita told him.

"I'm just asking you to look at the big picture, the picture that is going to get us all in one piece to DC," Jes told him.

Abraham started to say something as the rest of the group walked in.

Axel cleared his throat. "We didn't mean to interrupt anything, I mean we could turn back around and try to pick a better time to reenter?" he offered.

Jes leaned against the wall. "Rosita and I were just trying to talk some sense into him about staying another day."

"This town isn't in bad shape, this store wasn't even touched. We could make a good base here. We could spend one last day doing a sweep for supplies," Maggie suggested.

"There's an almost stacked pharmacy a couple doors down, David and I took a look yesterday to get some bandages," Axel pointed out.

Rosita looked around. "We sweep as we go. We've done it since Houston, we're not stopping now."

Jes shook her head but restrained from saying anything.

"You heard the lady, we're taking it North," Abraham said.

"But clearing out the pharmacy would be a good idea, right?" Jes asked as she looked at him.

"Yeah, we'll clear it out," Abraham agreed.

"We tapped out the toilet. Broad River is five miles west. At the very least, we stock up there before we find wheels," Tara said.

Abraham stood up. "We got a vehicle. And it just so happens... it's got 500 gallons of water on it," he said as he looked out the window.

Jes glanced over at him as they started to unblock the doors and started to go outside.

Axel let out a whistle. "Hopefully it works, it's been sitting for a while. There's a reason that it may be still sitting here."

Rosita looked at him. "Seriously Axel?" she asked as Abraham and Eugene got in the vehicle with Glenn stepping up.

Abraham hummed as he started the engine. "Come on," he said as he started to talk to it.

"Why do guys always talk to cars? It's like they think they're going to respond or something," Jes said as she watched him.

"For the same reason that most cars are girls to them," Rosita told her.

"Because they're men," both Jes and Rosita said as the truck started.

"About time something started going our way," Abraham exclaimed as he started driving away.

Jes raised an eyebrow as it stalled out on him. "You were saying Ford?"

Abraham jumped out of the fire truck. "Come on, just once, one damn time."

"We'll find another ride," Glenn told him.

"If there was a ride worth a shit in this town, we'd have seen it. This thing's done some crowd clearing. Right up into the intake. Which means we've got an air filter filled with damn human remains. And there is no damned corner on this damned Earth that has not been dicked hard beyond all damned recognition," Abraham told them.

Axel looked at Jes and whispered to her. "You want to tell him that's not the problem?"

Jes shook her head. "My head hurts enough without him snapping it off anymore."

"Abraham?" Rosita asked trying to get his attention.

"What?" Abraham responded as he picked up a plastic bag to start cleaning the vent.

"That feeds the radiator. The intake for the engine is actually on the roof," Rosita told him.

"She's right. Jes and I didn't want to get yelled at by telling you," Axel said.

David turned as he heard a noise then saw a tire pass him by the door. "I'm guessing there may be a reason that was blocking the door," he said as he saw the rest of the tires came down. "Shit!" he yelled as a group of walkers came out the door and he stabbed one in the head from behind.

"Tara! Maggie!" Glenn yelled.

"One damn time! One damn time!" Abraham yelled as he started killing walkers.

"Save your ammunition!" Jes yelled at them. "Formation, don't try to take them out on your own," she yelled as she looked at Abraham doing his own thing. "Or just ignore me and do your own damn thing. I mean it's not like I know what I'm doing or anything," she hissed as she killed walkers.

"Abraham, wait!" Rosita yelled.

"There's more in the back," Glenn yelled as him and Axel went to go around the back.

"Abe, watch out!" David yelled as he stabbed one in the head as he felt water being sprayed. "What the…" he started to say as he looked up then saw walkers being torn apart by Eugene spraying the water hose.

Everyone watched as the walkers were torn apart and looked up at Eugene.

Abraham looked impressed. "I been to eight county fairs and one goat rodeo. I never seen anything like that," he complimented Eugene.

"There was a Goodwill over there by the bookstore. It's pretty blown up, but there might be some supplies, some dry clothes, maybe?" Glenn suggested.

"Not necessary. I can clear that intake in two shakes. Then the engine will get some wind and so will we. You'll air-dry, we'll roll on," Abraham told them as he climbed up and looked down and started laughing.

Jes glared up at him. "Are you sure you aren't the one that got knocked in the head?" she asked.

They all turned around and looked at the ground where it read 'Sick Inside, Let Them Die," before they all looked back up at Abraham.

"What? This shit is screwed up," Abraham told them.

Jes rubbed the back of her neck. "You know what Ford, you do that. I'm going to go clean out the drug store and I'm going to go hit the Goodwill. If you want to leave without me, be my guest."

"You aint going anywhere," Abraham told her.

"You think you're man enough to stop me Ford? You said we could clear the drug store before we left, so this is me going to clear the drug store. We're going to need clothes one way or another, so I'm going to do that too," Jes said as she started walking away.

"Stop!" Abraham yelled down at her.

Jes ignored him and kept walking.

"I'm going with her," Glenn said. "We'll be back before you know it."

TBC

Author's Note: I had Jes written before I was introduced to Abraham (remember I just started the series last October right before I started writing this) and my first thought was 'Jes and Abraham are going to love each other'