"Rick." Sonora stepped up so she was beside the former cop. They were outside looking around at the ground, finding a good spot to try and plant some vegetables and other food stuffs. She had been planning on talking to him now for about a week, after she, Daryl, and Conner had come back from that shopping trip with stuff the group needed, and stuff they had missed.
"Yea?" Rick turned to Sonora, his beard catching hints of light from the sun.
"I've been meaning to talk to you, come with me." She gestured for him to follow her and then started walking towards a small table that had what seemed a jillion little packets of seeds on it. She'd laid a map of the states over the packets and then had one of the Hawaii islands to the right of the original map. Once they were at the table Sonora pointed out a red marker line she'd drawn over the U.S. map. "I've been thinking, and I want you to hear me out on this one, what we have here, with the fences and all of that, is great. But there is still the chance of a herd or something coming this way and tearing those fences down." She stopped for a moment, drawing Rick's eyes to the map and to the line her finger had been tracing. "This is a route going from where we are here to San Diego, California. I figure we could make it there in about a month or maybe, hopefully, less. Given the meager supplies of food and gas. I know we could make it to California in general in about three days in my eighteen wheeler. But since we have to worry about the group it would take longer, much longer. Say we fit everybody in the trailer, counting food and all of that, shouldn't be a problem. But we have to worry about fuel stops, and I had been talking to a friend I had before all of this, and he says an eighteen wheeler needs at least four fuel stops, probably five, along the way, providing we don't run into too much traffic, and with the route I have planned out we shouldn't." she stopped for a breath and Rick shifted in closer to the map, seeming to actually be considering the possibility for a few moments.
"Sonora, I'm not entirely with you on this… why would we want to go to California?"' he asked, eyes shifting along the map and noticing several places that had been circled, probably small towns where they could rest and gather more supplies.
Sonora lifted her right hand and reached across Rick, tugging on the top map and pulling it so that it was directly on top of the one he'd been looking at. "To get a plane or boat so we could get to here." She pointed to the Hawaii islands. The four larger islands were circled, and Sonora tapped the biggest one. "It's secluded, probably doesn't have too many infected on it, and would be easy to grow food and other things on it. From what I've heard it doesn't get too cold, though it does snow there." She pulled the map at each side, making it unfold and revealing the bigger picture. "I'm just suggesting this to you, so you can determine whether or not you want your group to go. I'm going, and I think Conner is going with me. I am just seeing if you would want to join us. We could clear out the islands and make them a paradise." She finished.
Rick frowned, straightening up as Sonora put away the maps and then straightened the seed packets. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?" he asked.
Sonora shrugged. "Not totally, there's still the matter of piloting a plane or a boat. I don't exactly know how to do either one of those. But I figure a plane can't be too much off from a big truck, I mean right is left for a truck, and left is right. So I figure up is down on a plane, and down is up. Shouldn't be too hard." She told the man. She was hoping to pick up someone who could fly a plane along the way to California also, but she didn't mention that to Rick.
He sighed. "Give me some time to think about it, I'll discuss it with the group later as well…" He glanced around, but no one was about except for Glenn and Maggie, both were standing in the guard tower keeping a look out. "Have you seen Carl?" he asked, remembering that he hadn't seen his son since early that morning.
"Last I saw him; he was taking my keys to go watch a movie in the truck." She pointed over her shoulder at the black monster parked alongside the other cars and smaller trucks.
"Can you go get him? I'd like to get him to help me go check the perimeter." Rick turned back to the land he had been surveying.
Sonora shrugged. "Alright, gotta make sure he doesn't run down the batteries anyway." She stated.
Sonora walked to the eighteen wheeler and opened the door, her ears immediately picking up the sounds of laughter and what sounded like Bambi. She shook her head and climbed in, looking towards the sleeper and the young boy who was lounging back and watching the old Disney movie. She looked towards the TV and saw Bambi with his head stuck in a tree limb and Feline licking his cheek. Ah the end of the movie then.
"Carl, your dad wants you to help him with perimeter runs." She said, standing, by the bed and watching as Carl nodded and picked up the remote, stopping the movie and then getting up. He picked his hat up and then put his gun in the belt he wore.
"Alright, thanks for letting me come in here and watch the movie, I haven't been thinking of walkers or danger since I came in here." He stated.
Sonora smiled. "I try." She said, turning to the TV and pressing the power button on it and then the one on the DVD player. Carl left the truck and Sonora sat on the mattress for a moment, running her hands over her face and then taking the maps and looking at them for a moment. She knew it was crazy to try and take off for Hawaii, but she knew it might be a good safe place to go. Start over again.
But it could also be a death sentence. Who knew if there was anything on those islands besides walkers? They could step off that plane, or boat, and be immediately overrun. She also didn't know anyone, who probably wasn't a walker by now, who could fly a plane or drive a boat. She drew in a breath and then let it out slowly, steeling her thoughts. She knew that they might, and that was a very slim might, run by someone on the road to California who did know how to do one of those two things. It was a very slim chance, but Sonora had a little hope.
Hope was a very powerful thing these days. Look where it got her with the truck, she glanced around the interior and then nodded, standing. She had hope that they would get to Hawaii, and hope is what she would need.
Sonora exited the truck and turned to see Conner walking towards her. "How'd he take it?" was the first thing out of his mouth.
Sonora shrugged. "He said he would think about it, so we'll have to wait and see. Personally I think he might do it, but you never know. He may just want to stay here and farm for the rest of his life. Which is probably what we'll have to do on Hawaii anyway, but at least an island is secluded, unapproachable on all sides except by boat or plane." She explained, turning and locking the door to the cab. She slipped the keys into her pocket and the two walked towards where Carol and T-Dog were.
"Hey, what's up?" Sonora asked, stopping in front of the large man and shifting into a casual stance. "No walkers… besides the ones locked in the secluded parts of the facility?"
"Nah, actually Carol and I were just talking about taking down these walkers in that enclosed area behind us. Want to join us? Could let off some steam and build teamwork, and all that other stuff." He smiled slightly, Sonora turned to Conner, eyebrow lifted.
"What do you say Con? Taking down a few walkers seems like a good idea right about now." She suggested, hand lowering from her hip to her pouch on her belt, fingering a few kunai.
Conner nodded. "Yea, let's do it." He stated, hand falling to his gun.
Sonora shook her head. "No, you'll waste your bullets, may need those later." She opened her pouch and withdrew her trench knives. "Take these, double the shots. We know those things like pushing their heads again the fence, well… let's take advantage of that." She handed them over and the group of four turned and walked off to the fenced area by the main door the group used to get inside the prison.
"I think this may constitute as community service guys." Sonora joked, walking slightly behind T-Dog. "At least we'll be doing the other guys a favor; we won't have to do this later."
T-Dog chuckled, and the four rounded the corner, immediately T-Dog stopped walking, the other three followed his example and Sonora looked around his shoulder. "What the hell?" he said, staring at the open gate. At least twenty walkers had come out of the fence, shuffling around aimlessly.
Sonora shook her head, edging closer to T-Dog. "Dude, how did that fence open?" she whispered.
He shrugged, every muscle in his body suddenly tense. "I don't know, but what I do know is that we need to get it back shut, and we need to do it fast." He turned slightly, the other three shifted as well. "Carol, you and Sonora take you pole and sword and cut down the ones you see outside of the fence, Conner and I will try and shut the gate before any more come closer." He stated, gesturing for Conner to follow him.
As the two silently made their way to the fence, and therefore the gate, Sonora and Carol looked at one another. Sonora pulled her sword from it's sheathe. "Are you ready?" she asked the gray haired lady.
Carol gripped her pole and nodded, albeit in a slightly scared sort of way. Sonora lifted her free hand and gripped Carol's shoulder for a brief moment before lifting her sword and placing it above her other hand on the grip.
"Let's do this." She said, walking forward and facing the threat to the people she had fallen in with.
Carol's footsteps were light behind hers, and then Sonora ceased to listen to the other woman, her sword rising and falling in an arc, sweeping towards the first walker she had come to. Its back had been towards her, and she was thankful for that as her sword made contact with the things head, slicing it almost in half before removing the silver instrument of death. She turned and did the same to the walker a few feet away. Then things got hairy, the other walkers around her noticed her, and she had to be quick about the death blows she was dealing out. Carol had moved so that she was a few feet away, killing walkers in her own way.
Sonora turned and swung, sidestepping one walker to kill another, and then bringing her sword around to kill the one she had avoided. Rattling to her right sounded, but her mind was on the things in front of her, kill them before they killed her. She quite enjoyed it, actually, but not too much. Only on a small level, enough to feel a tad bit better about the way her mother died and how she hadn't been able to get the one that had killed her. Sonora swung again, hacking at a walker that had gotten too closer, taking it down before giving it a death blow. She then turned and chopped the next one in half, the sword heavy in her hands but her heart pounding out a merciless beat. Kill them; take their lives for her mothers.
Sonora slowed for a moment, her eyes falling on a walker that neither she nor Carol had killed. It was almost the only one left, as she'd taken down at least half a dozen, maybe a few more, and Carol, T-Dog, and Conner had taken on the others. But this one, it was hers. She waved away the others, her feet shifting into a stance, her arms lifting, raising the sword above her right shoulder. It glinted in the little sun that landed on it, a black substance covering the blade. She watched as the walker ambled nearer to her, and then she struck, whirling left and swinging the sword, giving her arms one hell of a jolt as the instrument slid through decomposing skin, and bone, to rest inside the chest. The walker's head had been sliced into two, each half staying on the body by way of the parts of neck that were still attached.
Sonora held on as it buckled, down to the ground on its back, the tip of the sword sliding a little tearing more skin as it burst free from the weight. She glared at it before lifting her eyes and glancing around at the faces of the people around her. Carol looked shocked, but T-Dog and Conner merely looked a little confused, probably wondering if this was really anger she was exerting, or something else.
She didn't give them any answers.
She didn't have time to give them answers.
At that moment a loud blaring alarm had started, ripping through the air and making every single one of them jump.
"What the hell?" Sonora glanced over to T-Dog as he made that statement, her own thoughts mirroring it. The four raced across the building, turning the corner to see the other members of the group, plus one Hershel, standing there, looking confused. Carl and Rick were on the other side of the fence with Daryl and Glenn.
"Where's that noise coming from?" Sonora yelled, looking over at Lori, Hershel, and Maggie. The three stood together, the two women supporting Hershel, with Maggie holding a weapon. Beth was standing near to her father, looking around in a frightened way.
Rick, Daryl, Carl, and Glenn came racing up at that moment, yelling into the confused group of people. Sonora looked at them and then looked around for the source of the noise. Rick found it first, he lifted his gun and started shooting, needing about two to three shots each. Sonora watched as the others with guns followed Rick's example.
He turned to the prisoners, they had come out earlier and had been locked outside the second gate, leaving them in the dog run but protecting them from the rest of the world. Sonora quickly stepped up behind Rick, standing behind him as he questioned the two men, Daryl stood to her left behind his leader. Sonora was reminded of a pack of wolves at the moment, she shook her head to try and get her mind back where it was supposed to be.
Suddenly Daryl touched her shoulder, jerking his head after Rick and then pushing her towards where their leader and the two prisoners were running.
"Everybody stay here! There aren't any walkers!" Rick shouted, Sonora lifted a hand and swiped some hair away from her eyes, her sword arm close to her body.
She mentally agreed with Rick, but she knew that there would have been walkers, had she and the others not discovered the opened fence.
She, Daryl, and Glenn hurried after Rick and the prisoners, all of them holding onto their weapons in a protective sort of way. Sonora jumped over a fallen stool, gaining a position just behind Axel. Daryl jogged up beside her, his crossbow held in both hands.
They all quickly went to the C Block, finding three walkers in there, Sonora's eyes widened as she thought of her horse. "Shit." She muttered, glancing towards where the outside of the block, the horses were a block over, kept away from the other people to keep them from complaining about the stink. She turned and ran down the hall, chopping down walkers on her way.
A minute later horse screams pierced her ears, she grit her teeth and charged into B Block, cutting down the crowd of walkers surrounding two cells turned stalls. Famine was screaming in fright, or so Sonora assumed, Moon was also screaming, but his had a tone of defiance in it. She snorted quietly, flowing around the walkers, alternately cutting and chopping to rescue the horses. Nothing could happen to those two, if they ran out of fuel one day then these two would be needed to cart her and Conner around.
Sonora cut the last walker down and then turned and looked at the horses. A soft cough caught her attention. Rick and the others stood near the entrance to the block. "Go ahead, but shut the door, I don't need any more walkers coming in here while I calm these two down." She told the others. They nodded, all of them leaving and Daryl shutting the door behind him as he was the last to leave. Sonora took a key from her pocket and opened the door to Famine's stall, letting him out. The horse was definitely scared; he came out and started bucking, throwing legs skyward and letting out snorts of panic. But, Sonora knew, the horse probably remembered going through all of those long months, running towards and away from the walkers. Defeating them with the human on its back, so after a few moments of whirling around the horse came back to Sonora and laid his head on her shoulder.
She placed a hand on his cheek and pressed her cheek against his nose, closing her eyes.
The alarm was still going, and there were probably a lot of walkers still around, but she was right here with the one thing that had helped keep her alive for nearly a year. Sonora opened her eyes and sighed, turning and opening the door to Moon's stall. The stallion walked out, head and tail up, eyes bright and watchful. Sonora was glad Famine was a gelding; otherwise she was sure she'd have a fight on her hands, one that would not end well.
At that moment the alarm went off. Sonora walked the horses back into their cells and then shut the doors. She turned and exited the block, walking towards the outside, where she knew the others would be.
When she made it outside she turned and noticed that the group of people who had stayed were gathered in a loose semicircle, something was down in the middle of them. Sonora tightened her grip on her sword and walked forward, reaching them in a few steps and then stopping and staring, in horror, at what was on the ground.
Lori had gone into labor, and from what Sonora was seeing, had had to have a c section. "What…" she gasped, staring at the bloody body at her feet. Conner turned and stared at her, his eyes shining for some strange reason. He walked over to her and threw his arm around her shoulders; he leaned in, unable to take anymore of staring at Lori's twisted remains.
"She went into labor a few minutes after all of ya'll had gone inside, Hershel and Carol did what they could, but she had to have a c section. She… she knew what was going to happen." He stopped for a moment, turning back to look at Lori, the others, those who were not Hershel, Carol, or Carl, had started backing away. A baby's cry could be heard faintly. Conner steered Sonora towards a set of stairs and sat them both down on it. "She was knocked unconscious, probably the pain, and Hershel took the baby from inside of her…" Conner trailed off, staring over at the three around Lori's body, Sonora didn't need to hear any more of it though, she knew what happened next.
She didn't like the bitch, but Lori was okay, still bossy as hell, as if she still ran the damn show… but still, Lori was a good person. Sonora frowned, and turned her face away from the scene, she saw Rick and the others come out from the prison. She covered her face with her hands and then sighed, rubbing at her face with her palms. She didn't like this world. She had to somehow get these people to agree to go to Hawaii with her. An isolated island only had an exact amount of walkers. Plus there was the possibility that there were other survivors there, and that was something she wanted to know as well, because when it came down to it she couldn't really live with these people her entire life. No matter how short or long it might be.
…
Days later Sonora was messing around with her eighteen wheeler, she'd opened the hood and was checking everything on it. She knew she would have to stop every so often to get gas, and hopefully be able to successfully scavenge other parts for it from other big rigs. But that was for the future, this rig looked so new she was wondering if she could find the bill of sale somewhere in the cab. She hadn't searched it too thoroughly yet, but when she found that sale bill she'd be able to know everything she wanted about this rig. Assuming it came from a company that gave the record papers with the sale.
Sonora checked the oil and then put the stick back into its place, she'd done just about everything else she needed to make sure this particular mode of transportation would run smoothly. She walked around to the front of the nose and grabbed the end of the hood, she lifted and the hood moved, returning back to its place, Sonora went around and latched it securely before wiping her hands on her jeans and walking to the door to jump inside and search the cab for those papers.
She looked around after she jumped into the cab, her eyes catching sight of Rick walking out of the prison and of Glenn and one of the prisoners doing a perimeter sweep. She shut the door to the cab and began making her way around it, opening little drawers, looking into the glove box, checking under the bed. She finally checked under the side seat and saw what she was looking for.
At that moment a knock came to her door. Sonora stood and frowned, leaning forward and looking out of the glass to see the other prisoner standing there; she sighed and opened the door, looking out at him for a moment. "Well, what do you want?" she asked.
Axel stared up at her for a moment before rubbing his arms. "Can I come up? You don't have to let me, I just want someone to talk to while Oscar is Glenn with the rounds." He stated.
Sonora shook her head and then climbed out of her rig, placing the papers in her hand on the seat on the driver's side as she went. She wasn't stupid, people were in prison for a reason, and prison got lonely, from what she'd heard. She didn't want to be in a sleeper cab with a man she didn't know. Sonora turned and locked the door before turning and looking back at Axel. "Well, talk, you wanted to, so here I am." She stated. "But I have to check my trailer, so just follow me around if you want to." She started walking to the back of the trailer, kicking at the wheels as she went along.
"Have you driven a truck for a while? Or did you just start driving when you needed to? Like at the start of the outbreak?" Axel asked, following Sonora back to the end of the black trailer, he glanced up at the emblem on the side of it.
Sonora made it to the back of the truck and checked on the latch, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was padlocked, Axel came up beside her at that point and she saw him gazing curiously at the emblem that was on the back doors. "This was a trailer that carted around furniture, I assume it's empty, but I won't know until I open these doors." She paused and thought about the answer to his question. "I was a driver before the outbreak; it was a pretty nice life. I doubt there are anymore drivers out there now, so that makes the breed of asphalt cowboy a little more in danger of dying out than it was before." She stated, undoing the latch and then swinging open the right door, looking in and then smiling slightly. "I guess it wasn't as empty as I thought." She admitted.
She then turned to Axel, gesturing towards Rick; the man had sat down on the concrete beside the picnic table. "Can you go and get Rick for me? I think he may want to see this." She said before turning back to the trailer and opening the left door, watching as Axel walked away and then climbing inside. She edged around a dresser and then made her way around the other things in the trailer. When she got to the middle of the sixty foot trailer she paused, turning her head and looking at the beds piled up in the corner. She lifted her hand and felt of the plastic coat one of the beds had around it before turning again and continuing to the very back, her eyes adjusting to the darkness to see a few bed frame boxes lined carefully up side to side, stretching to make the most of the space they were in.
At that moment she heard a couple of voices and the crunching of gravel, she turned and walked back to the end of the trailer, sitting down on the edge and waiting for the two men. When Rick rounded the corner made by the door of the trailer Sonora waved a little, jerking her head back so he would get the hint and look behind her. "It's not food, but I guess we have some comfort now, all of those mattresses are top brand." She stated, standing and helping Rick into the trailer. She stood back and watched as he walked among the assortment of things the group might like.
"All of the frames and dressers could be used for firewood, or we could break them down and build some sort of weapon from them." Rick stated, his eyes moving around the home furnishings, they settled on the beds and he sighed, turning back and going to the end of the trailer, he jumped out and then stood up straight. "Well let's get Conner, Daryl, and Glenn over here, and maybe Oscar too." He said, turning to Axel and running a hand through his beard.
"I'll get Glenn and Oscar; I'll do that right now." Axel started to turn and go to get the two on their run but Rick stopped him.
"No, let them finish looking out, we'll gather everyone in a couple of hours. Start handing out jobs and beds." He told the man in dirty prison outfit.
Sonora watched as Axel nodded and left, then she turned her attention to Rick, he hadn't left, he was just standing there in the shadow of the trailer with his hands by his sides and his face stony.
Sonora almost sighed, but she knew what it was like to lose someone who you were close to, someone you loved with every beat of your heart and never even getting the chance to say good bye. She'd felt that before, twice. Her mother and her cousin. She hadn't gotten completely over the loss of her mom; it was still a throbbing pain every time she thought about it. Her cousin had died a few years before the world turned to shit, and she was glad for that because she felt that she would have had to protect him from this hell.
"I won't assume to know the kind of pain you're going through because of her death. I do know the pain that death has, I've lost my mother and a cousin, and those were devastating blows to me." She said, looking down and fiddling with the buckle on her belt. "The does get a little easier through time, there's still an ache though, a 'what if' that you'll think about when something happens when you go through something. My cousin was fifteen when he died, I still go through days that I think 'what if he was here to experience this?' but I know he won't come back, and I probably won't get to see him after I go, because of the things I did to stay alive here." She stopped for a moment after Rick turned to her; he seemed to be listening intently. "My mother, I never got the chance to avenge her, because it had been early in the outbreak when she'd been bitten. The walker that did it, did it when she was on her way home from work. I'd just come off of a run, and she'd been in the living room holding a hand to her right shoulder, the blood had been everywhere. She'd died before I made it home, and when I tried to make sure she was alright, she'd tried to bite me. I tried everything to get her to come back to me, but it wasn't happening." A sob cut off her words, she shut her eyes and the old insane smile forced her lips up, she bared her teeth in a grimace. "I put this kunai knife in her head and killed her. I killed my mom and then left." She opened her pack and withdrew a kunai knife, the handle had been covered in red fabric, and crude black stitching had been placed on the fabric, near the end of the handle, the stitching revealed the word 'mom'.
Rick walked closer, trying to keep his eyes off the crazy smile on Sonora's face. He took the proffered kunai and examined it, eyes noticing the way it shined, even in the shadow. He said nothing and handed it back to Sonora, she took it and placed it in the pouch again, zipping it shut.
They sat and stood there in silence for a few moments, Rick was waiting for Sonora to compose herself. Sonora bit her lip to keep the sobs from escaping, but tears were still making tracks down her cheeks. She drew in a few deep shuddering breaths before sighing and then releasing her lip.
"I'm sorry for your loss." She said, sliding down off of the trailer and then shutting the doors. She put the latch on properly and then turned to face Rick. "We have got to get some hats or something, I'm tired of having the sun blind me." That was the ice breaker after talking about sad things.
Rick nodded, getting what she was trying to do. "We'll put hats on the list for Daryl or Glenn to get next time they go out." He said, they both turned and headed for the front of a truck.
"I bet you've stopped quite a few truckers in your day, didn't you?" Sonora asked, nudging him in his arm, patting the dusty door of her sleeper cab.
"I've stopped one or two." He admitted, staring up at the large black monster. "I can't get my mind around it that you drive these things. It didn't seem like a great job to me when I was a cop, the truckers were loud, rude and sometimes disgusting." He stated.
"You've met the butt end of every industry then, there are more, or there were more, decent drivers than the ones you'd met. The ones who would help out anytime, those are the ones you should have met. I was a fairly decent driver, if I do say so." She smiled a little and then unlocked the door to the truck and opened it. "You been in here yet? Check it out and maybe you'll see why I wanted to drive." She gestured.
Okay, she mused, maybe I have it wrong, maybe Rick isn't too bad. She couldn't get herself to like him too much yet, but admitting that he wasn't too bad of a guy was a start. Rick clambered into the truck and Sonora leaned against the front tire to watch the yard.
…..
~Well, there's a chapter, not too much in it, but I did what I could. Next chapter Rick decides whether or not to go to Hawaii. Sonora meets up with someone, and someone shows up that the group thought dead.