Chapter 16 "Friendly"

Day 37

The new group seemed to be great, all but the obvious one being very friendly. Selenis and Gabriel seemed to be the nicest, with Oscar and Shakira seeming to mostly keep to themselves, like shy children. Abi-Maria stayed to herself, as well, but she literally stayed to herself. No one spent any time with her, and when they did, she would either complain or insult them. To her group, she tried to convince them that it was time they got moving. She would taunt and tease some people of Hershel's group. Originally, she tried to convince a few of them - namely Robert, Xavier, Sierra, Jessie, Patricia, and Beth - that they should leave with her and her group, often promising things way too great to be real, such as a huge, safe community up north, and reunion with people they had lost.

It was really quite pathetic. Even the people she had been traveling with had grown to hate her and spent as little time as possible with her. She absolutely hated it here, and loathed the thought of staying here with a bunch of hillbillies - or 'heelbeellies' as she called them. She hated Otis, Shawn, and Hershel the most. They were three hicks that she didn't want to spend the rest of her life, let alone five minutes, with.

Lyrik had realized that Gabriel was in fact her and Robert's old Spanish teacher from Hobbs. "So, how did you get here?" Robert had asked him, the three of them eating breakfast on the front porch.

"Well, back in Hobbs, things quickly fell apart. Marina," his wife, "and I got out of there with Emilia - you know, Ms. Navarette - and we made it to a survivor refuge set up by the government in Lubbock."

"So, you were in Hobbs when it happened?" Lyrik asked, curious about the state it and others were in.

"Yeah, I was. I saw a lot of people die before I left, though," Gabriel said sadly.

"I know it's hard to think about, maybe even to remember, but," Robert said hesitantly, "do you remember seeing anything? People we know getting out, or even dying? Or getting bit?"

"Um," Gabriel began. "I know I saw LaRissa's parents die. They got devoured. Mya got out with her mom and little brother, but I think her mom was bitten. Ryan and Tanner got out, but I'm not sure about their parents. Anastasia's parents died, but I know she made it out with some of her friends. I think maybe her brother, too. I know she had Skyler with her. Lily's family got out. Robert, I'm sorry, but I think your mom died. I don't know what happened to your dad. Lyrik, I can't remember if I saw any of your family. I saw Tari and Kari and their whole family die, though, along with a pretty much everyone else. They were in Walmart and a lot of walkers were on the way, and somehow the whole place went up in flames. Hundreds of people must have died there. It was awful to watch," Gabriel said, drifting off.

He was obviously haunted by these things. They couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him. Robert slightly regretted asking about it, and was tempted to apologize, but there was no reason to. He was just thankful that he knew how things turned out. "So, you were saying? About Lubbock?"

"Right. Lubbock. That's where Marina, Emilia, and I met Selenis, Oscar, and Shakira. We left a few days before it was apparently destroyed, because we went back and it was in ruins. Us and about seven other people made it out of Texas, and we met Abi-Maria and one of her friends not long after. We stayed with another group of people, but we found out they were murdering innocent people they met, for no reason. We tried to escape, but they killed my wife and a few friends of ours. We barely made it out, and we've been on foot ever since, sleeping in small houses or making little camps at night. Everyone else died as we made it this way. How did you guys get here?"

"Well," Lyrik started, "it was kinda my idea. Not sure how smart it was, though, thinking back on it now."

"Lyrik planned for me, her, Lily, and LaRissa to have a senior trip. We left like a week before this all started. We were in Georgia when it happened, and we met Hershel and his family. Then we met Seth and some of his friends, and he was followed by people he had apparently stolen from. They burned down Hershel's farm, and forced us out onto the road. We were constantly traveling ever since, and we met Xavier and Sierra, and they had apparently taken care of one of Seth's people's kids. Ron in there. They were at the same refugee camp Jessie was in, and they were the babysitters. They took care of Ron ever since the place was overrun."

"Wow," Gabriel said. "I guess we've all been through a lot, huh?"

"Yeah," Lyrik said.

"So, where are Lily and LaRissa?" Gabriel asked casually, and regretted it instantly when he saw their reactions. "Oh, no," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," Robert said as Lyrik grabbed his hand to comfort him. "We're not the only ones who lost people. You lost your wife."

Gabriel solemnly nodded his head. "I did," he paused, and thought back to it. "She was shot right in the back, trying to help one of our friends who had been shot in the ankle. I had no choice but to leave her. I still wonder sometimes, what if I had gone back? She could have made it. I was so selfish."

Robert stared blankly at Gabriel, understanding the pain. "You can't blame yourself," Lyrik said. Gabriel wiped a tear from his eye and looked down to his food. He wasn't hungry anymore.

"LaRissa was the first to go," Robert said, blankly looking into the woods behind Gabriel's head. "Some jackass basically threw her to walkers. Let them bite her."

"But he sacrificed himself to them right after," Lyrik said. "So that we could escape safely."

Robert stayed silent for a few more moments as Gabriel and Lyrik sadly looked on. "Lily died about three weeks later. We went scavenging in a supermarket, and we made the mistake of all splitting up. Solo. Lily was attacked by two walkers. She died with this," Robert said, pulling his white-handled machete out of the holster he never took off. "She found it in there, and tried to use it to kill the walkers, but I dunno. I guess she just couldn't get it. So I put her down, and I took the knife for myself."

Gabriel nodded his head and pulled out a pistol from his holster. He turned it around so Robert could see it had a pink trigger. "Marina found this in the armory of the place we were staying. She used it to kill her first walker. She put it in my bag when we escaped. 'For just in case,' she said. Now it's the only pistol I use. Gave mine to Oscar."

Robert smiled slightly to Gabriel. "Recycling," he called it. "I think that's beautiful."

Lyrik smiled, and jokingly said, "When you die, Robert, I'll take your machete and that semi-auto you always carry around. Recycling!"

Robert and Gabriel laughed. "That sure is comforting," Robert said, smiling. "That's dark, bitch."

"Is that a black joke?" Lyrik said, and they all shared a laugh.