Chapter 26:
Convoy
Lori's hand still ached something awful, she had cut it whilst diving to pin Carl down from the gunfire at the station, she still had no idea what it was that actually cut it but she had lost blood afterwards, she had even passed out after she had given rather forceful CPR to Duane. She had been so worried that Carl would panic but he had taken care of her, the bandage around it felt awfully constricting.
That wasn't her biggest concern though.
Directly across from her sat her husband… the one that Shane had said was dead, completely dead, not just in a coma but dead. There he was, reading a road-map like it was any other road trip.
She was still reeling.
When she had first seen Rick she had been completely stunned, she remembered looking at him and thinking 'That's it… I've finally lost my mind.' But he had been real, she remembered looking over Rick's shoulder and seeing Shane standing there completely white in the face. She knew as well as he did that Rick's return was a thorn in their sides.
A thorn Lori wanted to keep.
Lori felt guilty… she hadn't exactly spurned Shane's advances when he'd tried it on. She just felt vulnerable… now she couldn't even look Shane in the eye without feeling that burn in her chest that let her know she did something wrong, something filthy.
She felt the burn resurface in a fit of emotion within her chest, she felt the almost searing rawness start and she felt like crying all over again. She had managed to resist the feeling and look as happy as she really was but she felt so guilty… she had had sex with Shane whilst Rick was still alive… not only had she sullied the sanctity of her marriage but now she was kicking it whilst it was down by pretending everything was alright.
She hadn't said two words to Shane since she had first seen Rick… she was afraid that if she said one word to Shane the floodgates would open and she would tell him what she really felt…
Rage was the only word to describe it…
"Mom, do we have any food?" Carl asked her, Lori was brought out of her though process by the voice of her son. She had to talk to him as well… a lot had happened in the space of a few days and she knew she needed to talk to him… there was not a lot of time.
"Sure, um… You're in luck. I still have a few Twix's from the vending machine. Give one to Sophia and Jamie as well." Lori said with a smile as she ruffled through her backpack, she gave him the chocolates but his only response was a muted 'thank you' before walking towards the back where the three kids were hanging out. Ever since they had gotten to the hospital Carl had become more… withdrawn from her. He wasn't the most outgoing kid to begin with but he was at least sociable, maybe the last few deaths had really hit home?
She desperately needed talk talk to the kid, his world had been turned upside down in matter of three weeks. First his dad dies, then his friends die, then his dad comes back to life…
In any case once they found this fabled campsite Lori would sit him down with Rick, with the return of his father Lori felt a family discussion was in order, maybe even leaving Rick and Carl alone for a father-son chat.
"Everyone on the right channel?" Shane's voice came from the walkie that Rick was wearing on his belt, he was in full uniform… some things never change.
"RV's good." Rick said in very cop-like manner.
"Cruisers online." Hannah's voice replied.
"We're here, Mr Magic." Merle's voice drooled.
"Great." Shane replied simply, on the bright side everyone was online.
Lori looked out the window again and saw that they were turning onto the highway on which they rode into King County on when they first arrived. The sign still had a smear of blood up it and a rotting corpse lay at the feet, Lori turned to look out the back window and saw the children doing the same… it seemed much more real now she was leaving her home… the world really had ended and now she was running off to God knows where whilst placing her trust in some rednecks.
"Still not used to it?" she heard a voice say next to her, she turned and saw Jamie sat next to her, Rick was talking to Carol about the map and Lori saw Carl and Sophia talking in the back of the RV, she wondered what the young girl had to talk to her about.
"Used to it?" she asked somewhat confused.
"Used to this whole mess… It still doesn't feel real does it?" Jamie said, Lori was surprised by the girl's maturity, she hadn't really spoken to Jamie and didn't know a lot about her, all she knew about Jamie was that she was 13, rather emotional and was Hannah's daughter.
"Um… I guess. Then again we can't forget it's real can we?" Lori said trying a smile, but Jamie just shrugged and looked out the window as they kit the highway.
"It's kind of sad… knowing you're going to die." She said suddenly, Lori frowned and moved a bit closer to her.
"Why do you think that?" she asked slightly scared, Jamie looked at her with honest eyes.
"Well… so many people I know are dead, only a matter of time before it happens to you and me." She said in a matter-of-fact voice that made Lori cringe inside, although she wanted to inquire into how this thought process came about she felt it was more Hannah's job than anyone else's. She wouldn't be too happy if someone she had only known for a few weeks started acting like a parent to Carl.
"Oh… why don't you talk to Carl and Sophia a bit before we reach Atlanta?" Lori said, Jamie turned to the back of the RV and giggled.
"I will, if I don't stop them there's gonna be babies all 'round." She joked, Lori couldn't help uttering a small laugh when she knew she was joking about Carl and Sophia. Neither Lori nor Carol had mentioned it but they knew their kids were slightly sweet on each other, Lori didn't want to embarrass Carl by mentioning it…
However Jamie's words sunk into her, '…knowing you're going to die.', that was brutal. Lori couldn't shake the thought that the little girl was right… Lori's Mom was probably dead… nearly everyone's were. Not to mention Ed, Rosie, Billy, Fred, Cindy, Lambert, Duane and every one of the walkers Lori had seen around King County…
"You ok?" Rick asked from the front of the RV smiling at her, Lori smiled back and kept her voice.
"Yeah, she just wanted to know how long the trip would be." She lied, she never liked lying to Rick… then again if she was going to keep her marriage together then she would be lying to Rick a lot. He seemed satisfied with the answer turning back to the front, Lori looked past him to see they were driving up the highway which only had a few cars on the path.
Lori breathed in deep knowing that the coming days were not going to be easy.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"I swear baby brother, we better be goin' to heaven for the good we're doin' these people." Merle vented from the passenger seat, the lit cigarette in his hand blowing smoke towards Daryl. Daryl had never been much of a smoker but after Merle tried to start him up when he was 10 he'd never completely shook the habit.
"Swear all you like, Merle, wouldn't be that much change." Daryl sniped from the driver's seat. He was peeved about the entire deal with this group, the Atlanta Group had disrespected Daryl and Merle heavily even though they did all the work, it had been Daryl who had mentioned off-hand that they should go but it had been Merle who had started the engine.
"Don't act all high-and-might, Darylina. Let's not forget that you've got a mouth that'll make a hooker blush." Merle chuckled, although he was a handful to travel with Daryl still admired Merle's optimism even though the world had gone to shit.
"Screw you, so what's the plan then? 'Cause as far as I can tell the group we left won't be layin' out a parade for us." Daryl said as the highway started to clear of abandoned cars, Daryl knew that for the next two hours or so they would be treated to some peace and quiet… if it wasn't for Merle.
"You know the plan baby brother, give these assholes what they want then we collect payment."
"Collect payment? That what you call robbing a group of their supplies?"
"It's what I call gettin' a just reward for hard services provided." Merle explained in his oh-so-sophisticated language.
"I don't think that's the best idea. In case you haven't noticed, we're traveling with three cops." Daryl remarked keeping his eyes on the road.
"Don't worry about them, they don't have the power anymore, we do! The days when a pig would put you in handcuffs for beatin' some asshole who really deserved it is gone. It's the revolution, baby brother! This is our time!" Merle yelled out with glee.
Daryl sighed as he then recognised that, sometime during the day, Merle had, once again, decided to get high.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Paula sat in a rather muted silence as she felt the tension in the van boring its way into her head. She and Shane had barely said anything after Paula had asked if everyone was online, she was searching frantically for things to talk about but eventually she just caved and accepted defeat.
"So… Rick coming back? Miracle, eh?" she said, Shane looked at her and gave what could be called 'World's Worst Fake Smile'.
"Tell me 'bout it, I thought he was dead."
"Yeah, you told us." Paula cut over him, she couldn't help herself, she wanted to at least throw some half-hearted sarcasm at him until she knows that someone has exploded at him… All Paula could think about was the pain Shane caused the family.
"Somethin' wrong?" Shane asked in a painfully patronising way, Paula felt the invitation for an answer all too tempting.
Well, he asked for it.
"Now that you mention it there is something tickin' me off, why did you tell Lori and Carl that Rick was dead?" Paula asked trying to keep her tone steady, two weeks of Shane-related repression was begging to be unleashed and his attitude wasn't helping.
"I thought he was dead Paula, you sayin' I knew he wasn't dead?" he asked with a touch of anger in his voice.
The repression had failed.
"Well it's pretty easy to tell if someone is dead, Shane! They either have a pulse or no pulse! Did you even check?!" she seethed with venom in her voice, Shane couldn't glare at her since he was driving but he heavy breathing and the fact he was shaking his head was a giveaway.
"I didn't have time to check! There were walkers all around that hospital!" he yelled making Paula jump, the surprise threw her off but she held firm.
"So instead of making sure he was alive you ran?! Real brave, Shane!" she argued back, he slammed on the brakes and pulled hard to the left, the car stopped hard on the grassy side of the road as he turned to face her.
"Whoa! Hold up guys, Shane's pulled over." Leon's voice said over the walkie, Paula looked ahead to see the pick-up and the RV start to pull over but Shane got her attention.
"Where you there?! I don't think you were! You were still sat in your house with your husband and daughter waiting for nothing! You would be dead if it wasn't for me, I made the choice to leave Rick because I thought he was dead!" Shane yelled but Paula felt the anger bubble within her burst, a rogue tear fell down her face as she opened the door, unclipped her seatbelt and jumped out with the machete in the foot-well in hand.
"Well, sorry! Thankyou,Shane! Thanks for letting me experience the pleasures of the Goddamn apocalypse!" Paula screamed as she slammed the door in his face and marched away from the van, they had stopped near a diner and Paula needed a minute alone, the diner looked deserted but Paula was holding onto the machete with one hand whilst brushing her watering eyes with the other.
"Paula?!" she heard Lori yell after her but she wasn't stopping, she was sick of everything.
She was sick of the walkers, the death, the people patronising her, treating her like the group's basket case.
She was just sick of it.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"What did you do?" Rick asked as Shane jumped out of the van driver's seat, everything had been going smoothly until, without any warning the van had pulled over, Rick had looked out the back to see Shane and Paula shouting at each other, Paula then jumped out, shouted at Shane what looked and sounded like a scathing reply before marching off towards the diner, Leon had ran after her with Lori in pursuit, Rick had tried to stop her but felt that a discussion with Shane was more important.
"I dunno, man. She just started getting riled at me, accusing me of knowing you were dead, I got mad, what can I say? She shouldn't dish it if she can't take it." Shane said looking slightly ashamed, Rick sighed. He always knew Shane was a hothead and needed some time to cool sometimes, he nodded and patted him on the shoulder.
"I'm sure Lori will straighten it out." He said reassuringly, the stopping meant that the whole group had gotten out to stretch their legs, the wide open highway meant that they could see in all directions so a walker attack was easily visible.
"Can you go on top of the RV and keep watch? I'll take the van with Paula and you look after everyone in the RV." Rick said, Shane nodded and moved towards the ladder for going on top of the RV, Rick sighed again and looked towards the diner where Leon and Lori were already going inside, Rick looked around and saw Jamie, Carl and Sophia examining a fallen-down road sign and she saw Carol and Hannah talking to each other against the RV in hushed tones whilst Morgan just leant against the cruiser. Merle and Daryl were now talking whilst Merle smoked a cigarette, Merle started laughing loudly as he punched Daryl in the shoulder.
He turned to the diner once more and saw Leon and Lori inside, he nodded at Morgan who nodded back and withdrew his gun as Rick started a light jog towards the diner, his dressing still tugging slightly against his skin.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
As Lori walked into the diner she saw a walker falling backwards from Paula with a machete buried in its head, Leon had his rifle raised but it seemed that the walker was the only thing in the diner, Paula sat down on one of the stools by the bar and put her head in her hands, Lori turned to Leon and nodded her head towards the back of the diner and Leon nodded, he walked into the Staff Only portion of the diner out of view as Lori sat in the seat opposite Paula.
The woman's red hair was matted around her face as Lori realised she was actually crying heavily, Lori pulled her into a hug which Paula returned, they embraced hard before separating.
"Are you okay? What did he say?" Lori asked concerned as she wiped some hair off Paula's face, Paula took a deep breath before replying.
"He was just so loud. He's been been patronising me for too long now, I don't care what he wants to say. I never want to talk to him again, I'm not kidding Lori. If he even tries to talk to me I will punch him in the throat." She seethed as she banged the counter as she said 'throat'. Lori comforted her as Rick walked in, Lori heart leaped slightly as he gave a thumbs up behind Paula's back.
"Just talked with Shane, he'll go in the RV and you can go with me in the van." Rick said, Paula nodded and took another deep breath before exhaling calmly.
"Okay, that sounds okay." She said, she grinned at Rick and stood up before wrenching the machete out of the walkers head.
"At least I didn't know this one." She said grimly before stating to leave, however Leon reappeared with a crate full of plastic water bottles.
"There are 3 more of these in the back, nothing much else really. Looks' like this place has already been turned." Leon said before walking past Paula who held the door for him before going to the back with Rick to find the other crates, Lori wanted to help but with a hand in a bandage and stitched up she felt she wouldn't be of much help.
Lori breathed deep as she was left momentarily alone, she leant against the adjacent table. If Shane was starting to lose his head then she didn't know what he was going to do, with someone like Shane the word 'unpredictable' is a perfect sum-up. Lori felt a tear of her own start down her cheek but she brushed it away.
Suddenly something grabbed hard against her legs and pulled. Lori screamed as she landed hard on her injured hand, she twisted on the floor as she was assaulted by a walker that had been hiding under the table. The once-young woman crawled and writhed whilst holding onto Lori's shirt…
She was missing both legs…..
Lori screamed loudly as the walker was on top of her, the walkers jaws snapped as it caught hold of her hair preventing her from crawling away.
"RICK!" she screeched as she held the walker back by its throat, she felt her arm give way but at that exact moment the walker was jolted aside as a loud gunshot filled the air. Lori crawled out from under it until she hit the counter, she was breathing hard and fast whilst still looking at the abomination before her.
"Lori? Did it get you? Did it bite you?" Rick said whilst crouching in front of her, Lori shook her head as she looked into Rick's eyes, she saw his gun was beside him and she knew he put down the walker. She felt weaker than she had felt in a long time at that moment and she pulled Rick into a tight hug, she clenched her eyes shut to try and stem the flow of tears as she held onto her husband.
"Shit, can't believe I missed him… I'm so sorry Lori." Paula said as she was crouched beside the couple, Lori knew it wasn't her fault, she had been distraught.
"It's okay, I'm fine… It's okay." Lori said in-between heavy breaths, she saw Paula eyes fill will some more tears as the woman turned fast and angrily pick up a container of water before storming out of the shop. Lori got to her feet shakily as Rick continued to hold her.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Rick asked but Lori nodded.
"Not my first time. Are you okay?" She asked Rick, he looked down towards the corpse of the legless woman he put down.
"I'm fine. Had to be done." He said mutely before standing back up and pulling Lori up with him, her breathing had returned to normal as she followed Rick outside as he picked up a crate of the water bottles. In the slight distance she saw Paula still returning with the water bottles, Leon was behind her running towards Rick and Lori.
"What happened? I heard a gunshot." he asked, Lori looked over his shoulder to see most of the group, even Shane, waiting for them to return.
"Walker caught us by surprise, had no choice but to shoot." Rick said in a rather militaristic tone, Lori realised that Rick was blending into the world of walker-killing disturbingly well.
Something about being a cop that makes it all easier, Lori hadn't seen Shane, Leon or even Lam lose focus during the entire ordeal.
"You guys okay?" Leon asked but Lori answered.
"Yeah, it just caught me off-guard. Shouldn't have left my stupid gun inside the RV." She tried joking but it didn't diminish the seriousness of the matter, she reached the RV and Shane, Carol and even Carl was next.
"What happened?"
"We heard gunshots."
"Is anybody bitten?"
"It's okay, we're all fine, nobody's bit." Rick said waving everyone away, the group formed a circle as Hannah spoke directly to Rick and Shane. The circle was fully formed with the only missing spaces being Daryl, Merle and Morgan, the latter still leant against the cruiser eying the distance.
"Shane, me and Paula did an ammo check yesterday, we've just compared it to the number of guns we have and I gotta say… I don't see it lasting us that much longer if we're using guns as much as we do." Hannah noted grimly, Lori sighed and knew she was right, she only had a small number of bullets for her own gun stashed somewhere in her bag, not that she was keen to use them.
"We'll make a run after we find this camp. We gotta cut back on gun use." Rick said taking charge, Lori liked how he would always take charge… make her feel safe.
"Rick's right, we gotta start using silent weapons more, conserve ammo." Shane said.
"Especially if another group of walker's comes through like that one at the station." Hannah noted and there were a few nods, even the kids were in the conversation even though Lori would rather Carl not hear about their gun policy.
"We gotta remember that that… pack of them was only there because those bandits kicked up such a storm." Leon said, it was true, walkers were always drawn by noise.
"Well we should still be quiet, we never know when a load of them are gonna blow through." Rick said but Hannah chuckled drily.
"Load? Pack? Group? What do you call a collective of those things?" she asked, Lori realised she didn't exactly know… nobody had ever thought of a collective noun for the walking dead.
"A… herd?" Shane suggested almost jokingly.
"Sounds about right." Lori said, Shane's eyes locked with hers and she blinked and looked away, she didn't need him looking at her right now.
"Well, whatever they are I ain't keen to come across them again, we gonna keep going or what?" Leon asked, Shane tore his eyes away from Lori and nodded before looking towards the Dixon's who were both muttering to each other whilst surveying the group.
"We'd best do, the natives are getting restless." Shane quipped as he moved off towards the rednecks, he nodded at Rick who followed him as Lori turned around to see Paula glaring after them.
"What exactly did he say?" Lori asked Paula quietly, over her shoulder Lori saw Carol stop for a second on her way to where the kids were going to talk and throw a worried glance her way before carrying on. Paula sucked in a lungful of air through clenched teeth.
"Doesn't matter, I just don't want to be with that man alone." She said still glaring, Lori felt a twist in her stomach as she thought about what he could say that got Paula that riled. Lori looked around and saw that Leon and Hannah were loading the water into the van whilst Rick and Shane were talking to the rednecks.
"Fair enough, just… calm down okay." Lori said whilst still looking around, not really paying attention to her sentence, she looked to see Paula glaring dagger at her now.
"Calm down? I really am sick of people telling me to calm down… Acting like I'm made of goddamn glass…" she muttered angrily whilst breathing heavily, Lori wanted to place a reassuring arm on Paula's shoulder but she looked so angry.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" Lori began but she was cut off by the furious woman.
"Yeah, I know. No-one means to do they?" she asked sarcastically before walking in a furious manner outwards the van and climbing inside. Before Lori could draw breath again Carol was by her side.
"What happened?" Carol asked in a concerned voice, Lori just shook her head.
"I don't know… She's just so snappy." Lori said, she saw the older woman nod and together they watched Carl and Sophia talking together next to the side of the road, Jamie having gone after her mother.
"Well… she's been through a lot. Maybe she's just getting a bit out of hand." Carol said, this comment struck Lori.
"Out of hand?" Lori asked and Carol nodded.
"Sometimes people repress things more than they appear, remember how quickly she got over her husband and little girl? I've got a bad feeling about her." Carol said shaking her head, Lori couldn't say she was surprised… she hadn't really seen Carol and Paula bonding at all.
"Well the best thing we can do is be friends for her, best thing she needs is stability… Something we're not helping with." Lori said contemplating the journey they were undertaking.
"That's why the trip to Atlanta is a good thing." Carol said taking Lori slightly by surprise.
"How so?"
"Think about it Lori, if there is actually a camp there as good as Daryl and Merle say then this could mean the end to our constant moving around. Somewhere where our kids can sleep at night… if there's even a chance for that then I wanna shoot for it." Carol exclaimed, Lori understood completely and she did too crave a safe place to at least set up camp…
"Well I hope that these rednecks are being genuine… I swear to God if they are pulling a fast one on us…" Lori seethed, the near month of stress piercing through into her voice but Carol gave a wry chuckle.
"I think Rick and Shane will be the first ones on them." Carol joked, Lori couldn't help but give a chuckle as Rick and Shane motion to everyone.
"Saddle up! We're moving!" Shane announced, Lori's eyes found Carl and she motioned to him to join her in the RV, he followed with Sophia by his side, Carol motioning the same thing to Sophia. Lori opened the RV door and found herself to be the first one in, her hand still felt stiff underneath the bandage and she felt the stitching pinch in an irritating way as she tried flexing her hand, she seated herself on one of the RV's comfort seats as Carl, Sophia and Jamie moved to the back, instead of Rick Shane took the seat opposite her as Carol climbed in and shut the door behind her, she cast a worried look over Lori and Shane before taking the driver's seat, almost becoming the RV's designated driver since she drove it well during the station shootout.
Lori willed with all of her being not to look at Shane's face, the guilt and almost anger she would feel from that alone would be difficult to contain.
She would rather not have that kind of confrontation in front of the kids let alone Carol.
Hope you liked this chapter. Please review, even if there was nothing wrong.