Chapter 15:
Third Person POV:
"So, you're saying, that me and my son, are the only hope this world has to get back to normal? Why didn't you tell us!?" Avery shouted angrily. He stepped away from his family and advanced slowly towards Rick.
Rick ran his hand over his face, sighing out loud. He looked around at what was left of their group. They had lost a lot of good people.
"Look, I know keeping this to myself was a bad idea. I should have told you, but I-" A fist collided with Rick's chin, his head veering to the side. He wiped away some blood from his lip and nodded, his eyes meeting Avery's. "Alright, I deserved that, but I only had the wellness of this group in mind. If I told you, we most likely would have fought over what to do. Stay alive or get you to that Island."
Lori stepped forward, placing her hand on Avery's shoulder. "I believe I can speak for every one of us, that we want the world the way it was, or at least better than it is right now. I say we go to the island." She spoke, glaring right at her husband. "How could you betray our trust that way?"
Rick clenched his fists. "Like you betrayed me by sleeping with my best friend!?" He roared. "How do I know that baby is mine!?" He yelled, pointing at his wife's stomach.
"How dare you! Yes, he tried after we thought you were dead, but I pushed him away, said no. This baby was made the night you got back. Don't turn this around on me. We will speak about this later. Right now, we need to get this cure, and if that island is our best bet, I say we go." She hissed. "Let's vote."
Rick glanced around at the people he called his family. "This island might not even exist! How can we go out, risk everything, to find something that might not be there?"
Lori opened her mouth to speak but T-Dog cut her off. "How can we not? No matter what, we are risking our lives. The world isn't the same anymore, and if there's a chance to fix it, why not try?"
Hershel gently eased the man back down. "Easy, you're still recovering from that last cut." He turned towards Rick, "My daughters and I, we agree. The island is our best option at saving this world." He glanced over at his two girls, they nodded in agreement as they clung to one another.
Rick glanced one more time at Avery and the man nodded to his leader, agreeing as well. "Fine. Those who are for the Island, raise your hand."
Glenn stepped forward. "We don't need to vote, we're all in, right guys?"
Rick glanced around to see the group nodding. Lori, Daryl, Avery, T-Dog, Glenn, Maggie, Beth, Hershel, Carl and Eren, who didn't even understand what they were nodding to.
"Then we head west. We have quite a few states we need to cross, and I know we won't get there before winter hits. We need gear. We hit any small towns we come across and avoids larger ones and cities. Alright?"
The group gathered closer to the fire, the tension slowly easing. "Who have we lost?" Rick asked.
Glancing around the group he sighs. "Carol, Andrea, Amy, Patricia, Jimmy... Shane... Too many. Alright, get some sleep. At first light we head to the nearest town west of here. Glenn, let's go set route, still have that map?"
Avery sighed softly as he settled down near the fire, Eren curled up at his side with Carl right next to the small boy. Daryl sat down, throwing an arm around his smaller husband.
"You really want to do this, Avery? This Island might not even exist."
Avery turned his face up, kissing just below Daryl's chin. "We have no choice. If the cure is in my blood like Jennings said, we need to get to that island so they can make it." He whispered, lips brushing against his husband's throat.
"Alright, but no one's touching you or Eren when we get there. At least, not without me or one of the others in the room with you." Daryl muffled out.
Avery smiled and closed his eyes. "Deal." He didn't want anyone doing some weird ass experiments on his son.
The young man glanced around the camp at those that were left. The group had waited as long as they could before the fear of the heard finding them forced the group to head a few miles up the highway and into a small clearing, that was luckily out of site from the road. No one should be able to see them, walker or human. The fire was low and barely let out any light through the thickness of the trees that surrounded the small clearing.
Avery had gone through everything that they had not too long ago. They had most of the supplies that they had before, thankfully. They kept a lot of it in the RV in case they needed to bolt. They had the RV, Merle's truck and bike, Avery's Jeep, and the truck that was filled with water, Glenn found on the highway.
Water supplies were better than ever, since they had forgotten about the truck with all that had gone on with Sophia missing and then Randal. We six, four person tents, twelve sleeping bags, 6 pillows, five blankets, and plenty of medical supplies left.
"We'll have to fine more food and clothing as soon as we can. With winter approaching, we need to be prepared like Rick said." Avery's voice carried out to those around him.
Hershel spoke next. "Then we make that top priority. There's room on the other side of the water truck to store canned food and any clothing we can find. Half of the water on that side of the truck were empty. The compartments under the RV can hold plenty still as well."
"The water truck should hold mostly food and water, while the free space in the RV can hold the clothing and other supplies." Lori piped up.
Rick glanced up from the map he and Glenn were studying. "There's a town six miles to the west of here. Tomorrow, we will hit it and search every building. We will face any walker we see. We can't afford to miss a single building or even a cupboard."
With those words, everyone settled down near the fire. No one wanting to set up any tents (except the one they had put an unconscious Avery), in case they needed to leave fast, but also in fear of the events from just hours before.
Avery settled back into his husband's chest, holding his son close and closing his eyes as Daryl's arm tightened around him and held them as they drifted off to sleep.