A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.

Chapter 60-Crash and Burn

They drove through the night with Rick driving a few hours so JR could rest. There were more walkers on the road than they had expected so he drove slower than they had anticipated. By sunrise, they had found a safe place to stop in Tennessee just south of the Virginia border. They cleaned up and fed the babies and ate a quick but light breakfast. Dani packed up her backpack with a full can of formula, one of the extra bottles Taylor had found at the church and four bottles of water. Rosita watched her as she hung her backpack on the back of the seat in front of her.

"If you put that under your seat you'll have more room," she said and Dani shook her head.

"If somethin' happens I want to be able to grab this quick." Rosita frowned.

"What do you think's gonna happen?" Dani shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe nothin'. I just wanna be prepared." JR sat in the seat across from her drinking his water and smiled at her.

"That's my blood. We're always prepared." Dani rolled her eyes at her cousin's mocking tone but couldn't bring herself to join in. She put Jesse back in the car seat and he started to fuss. She hated keeping him strapped in for long periods of time but didn't want to risk holding him like she had been doing. There were too many walkers out there and they were going to be getting close to cities today. Cities meant more walkers but they also meant car wrecks, stalled cars from traffic and possibly even more people like they'd already ran into. Maggie dug around in her backpack and handed Dani a pacifier.

"I grabbed it when we were at the drugstore. Everything that happened I just…I forgot I had it." Dani smiled and squeezed her friend's hand. Maggie smiled back and leaned back against Glen. Daryl squeezed Dani's shoulders.

"You ok?" Dani nodded.

"Yeah, I just have a feelin' somethin's gonna happen today." Dani felt him tense up.

"Like what?" Dani shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just bein' paranoid over everything that's happened the past few days. Terminus bein' a false sanctuary, losing Abraham then Beth and Taylor…" she trailed off and shook her head. "Each time we got the rug yanked out from under us. I'm not lettin' that happen again." She looked out towards the rising sun as JR took his place in the driver's seat.

"Hey Glenn," he called back. "We're staying on the same route right?" Glenn inspected the map.

"Yeah. Take the back roads as much as we can but we're not going to have much choice in getting on the interstate eventually." JR nodded.

"Alright. We all loaded and ready?" This time, no one cheered or commented or made any sign of excitement. The previous day was too raw even if DC and the hope of a cure was on the horizon. JR started up the van and headed out on the road.

Early afternoon, they were well into Virginia. JR was nervous about the number of walkers he was having to avoid and keeping an eye on the fuel gauge.

"I need these walkers to break up so we can stop soon," he called back over his shoulder. "Or I need a place to turn off." Glenn looked over the map.

"Can you make it another twenty miles or so?"

"Yeah we can manage that." Glenn walked up to the front of the bus with the map.

"Great. You'll want to get off here. It's still a big highway but I think that might be our best shot. There's a lot of small highways on the map but I've never been up here so I don't know what conditions the roads are in." JR nodded, weaved around a larger herd of walkers and sped up to get down the road. He could see the walkers had turned to follow the bus and he wanted to put as much distance between them as possible before they had to stop. A half hour later, they were clear of walkers and JR felt safe to stop. He pulled into a long driveway to conceal the bus from the road and JR, Daryl and Tyreese got off the bus to inspect the area. A farmhouse was further up the drive and looked abandoned, but they didn't need to get any supplies. Once the area was clear, everyone got off the bus. JR filled up the bus while everyone ate and stretched. He looked at their diesel supply.

"That should be enough to get us to DC," he said confidently. Eugene fiddled with his radio nervously. JR smiled at him.

"We're almost there!" Eugene nodded.

"Yes I…I see that. We are getting very close to Washington DC." Eugene looked around and saw that most of the group was watching him intently. He held up his radio and walked away from the group. He was just out of earshot but still within sight and appeared to be holding the radio up to his ear. Michonne walked over by Rick and leaned in close.

"If he's makin' this up," she whispered. "he's either a sociopath or the biggest moron on the planet." Rick nodded and squinted over at Eugene.

"Yeah I know," he whispered back. "What do you think?" Michonne shrugged.

"Guess we'll find out soon enough."

Glenn moved to the front of the bus to sit by JR as neither one was familiar with the area they were travelling. Glenn looked up ahead, frowned and stood up.

"JR stop." JR looked at him.

"What are you talkin' about? We're almost…"

"Stop! I said stop! Just stop!" JR slammed on the brakes and Glenn opened the doors, scrambling off the bus with the binoculars. Rick hurried up front.

"What's going on?" JR shrugged.

"Beats me." They both looked at Glenn standing in the middle of the road. Rick walked off the bus.

"Glenn?" Glenn turned around as Rick approached him.

"Rick, you gotta see this." He handed Rick his binoculars. In the distance, Rick could see a herd of walkers. They stretched out for miles. They didn't appear to be heading in their direction but seemed to be wandering aimlessly. Rick looked over the binoculars to see what Glenn had seen and saw the walkers were a dark line along the horizon. The wind shifted towards them and Rick thought he could hear the distant moans and could smell just the hint of rot he had come to associate with a herd. Glenn walked closer.

"It's a herd, isn't it?" Rick nodded.

"Sure is." Glenn swore.

"Can you see a way around it from here?" Rick shook his head.

"No. We have to turn around and find a different way."

"Hey Rick?" Rick turned to see Daryl had gotten off the bus with Tyreese and JR. "What is it?" Rick handed Daryl his binoculars.

"See for yourself." As Daryl looked at the herd, Rick ran his hands through his hair and jerked his chin towards the bus. "How much diesel do we have left?" JR frowned.

"What's goin' on?" Daryl handed JR the binoculars and turned to Rick.

"No way we can go 'round that. It stretches out for miles." Rick nodded.

"We've got to backtrack to the interstate and find a different way." Glenn returned from the bus with the map.

"I think the safest thing to do is go back to the interstate, turn off here, head north into West Virginia and then try to come back down." JR turned on them.

"That'll cost us hours if not days! We don't have the diesel for that! And you don't know how far this herd stretches out. Why don't we just head back south aways and cut over to the east. Quantico is right there. I'll bet there's someone there that can put Eugene in touch with his team." Rick frowned.

"Has he told you that?" JR shook his head.

"No but it makes sense. There's gotta be someone holed up there if they're gonna be anywhere between the FBI, Air Force, Marines, the DoD and all the other government offices there," he turned to the bus and whistled.

"Eugene! Come on out here!" Eugene cautiously stepped off the bus, noticeably nervous. JR waved him over and pointed to the map.

"We can't keep going this way because we got thousands of walkers up ahead. Glenn wants to go all the way back and try to cut through West Virginia but I'm thinkin' we head over to Quantico." Rick watched Eugene closely and thought he could see the wheels turning behind the expressionless face. As a deputy, he'd been trained to watch people for tells that they were lying and he'd already noticed Eugene's. He was positive that Eugene was lying. Michonne, Tyreese and Daryl all thought the same when they had talked but hoped that JR, who had been with Eugene longer, would have already called the man on it if he suspected that D.C. wasn't their salvation. Now, Eugene was nodding.

"It is within the realm of possibility that I would connect with the appropriate people in Quantico Virginia," Daryl frowned.

"Then why were you sayin' we had to go all the way into D.C.? We've been headin' this way for hours when we coulda gone a whole 'nother way around." Eugene looked at Daryl.

"The wider metro area of Washington D.C. also includes many areas outside of the city itself, including Quantico." Glenn frowned.

"So we could've gone there this whole time? Then why did you let us take this route?" Eugene started to speak but JR cut him off.

"Y'all knew his mission was classified from the beginning. Hell, Eugene hasn't even gotten all the details himself just yet, have you Eugene?" Eugene nodded.

"Staff Sergeant Lahane is correct on that front. The full details have not been disclosed to me so as to protect the full secrecy of what we are workin' on," He looked around the group and cleared his throat. "I can check in and make sure we are making the correct assumption." JR nodded and waved him off.

"You go do that Eugene," he turned back to Glenn and pointed at the map. "If he confirms that we can go to Quantico, we just have to backtrack about an hour and cut across here on some of the backroads. That'll put us right at the back of the Marine base and we can follow the base roads in." Glenn frowned.

"Are you sure?" JR nodded.

"We can ask Eugene but I'm sure it will work. It's rural and I'll bet the military evacuated most of the people out to the camps further from the cities. That's what they were doin' in Texas and from what y'all have been sayin' that's what they were doin' in Georgia too." Glenn started to object when Eugene walked back over.

"Quantico is confirmed to be our new destination." JR smiled.

"See? That's our plan. You ok with that?" He looked pointedly at both Rick and Daryl, pulling himself up to his full height and obviously daring them to disagree. The two men exchanged looks. Neither one was familiar with the area they were in. Against both of their instincts, they had chosen to join JR on his mission to get Eugene to Washington. Scared for their children and unsure where to go, they'd allowed themselves to join him because he was Dani's cousin even though neither one trusted Eugene. Without many options, they'd left an area they were familiar with and traveled to a state neither had ever been in. They didn't know the area and felt they had no choice but to stay the course and hope they could find a safe place to build their new home. Rick sighed and looked at JR.

"Well, we're here. Might as well give it a try." JR smiled.

"Alright then. Let's get back on the road."

"I'm not so sure about this road," Glenn said as he watched JR maneuver around the stalled cars and walkers. JR frowned in concentration.

"Lot more walkers than I thought there'd be that's for sure," he turned slightly to look over his shoulder. "Everyone hang on!" Dani looked down at Jesse asleep in his carseat and then behind her. Everyone looked scared. She turned around, took her backpack off of the seat in front of her and wore it on her front. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to look at Daryl. Neither one said a word but she could tell he knew what she was thinking. That this was not going to go well. JR sped up to get around a group of walkers when they all heard a bang and the bus spun out of control, flipping onto its side and slid along the road. When it finally came to a stop, the smell of burning diesel immediately filled the air.

"Everyone out!" Daryl yelled and helped Dani get Jesse out of the car seat. Dylan was crying and Judith coughing as the smoke started to fill the bus. JR kicked out the front window and reached for Rosita.

"C'mon honey," he said as she grabbed his arm. He helped her out of the bus and they both began helping Dani and Jesse get out. Dani immediately backed away from the smoke and watched in horror as one by one, her friends were pulled from the bus. Carl got out quickly with Judith followed close behind by Dylan then Andrea and Alice. Tyreese was next, helping an injured Father Gabriel. Michonne came out next followed by Glenn and Maggie, each with a backpack they'd managed to grab before the fire spread. Rick and Daryl were last with a coughing and bloody Eugene. JR hurried over to him.

"You alright?" Eugene nodded and JR noticed his hands were empty. "Where's your radio?" Eugene looked dazed.

"I think I dropped it." Without hesitation, JR ran back onto the bus, ignoring Rosita, Dani and Rick yelling at him to stop. Coughing through the smoke and wincing at the heat of the flames, JR hurried to the back of the bus and saw the radio. He grabbed it, burning his arm in the process and turned around. The smoke was thick and he couldn't see. Disoriented, he fell over the seat he was climbing over and then realized his pant leg was on fire. He struggled to maintain consciousness when hands grabbed him. Daryl and Tyreese hauled him out and dragged him away from the bus. The flames exploded through the front window moments after they were clear.

"Keep goin' and look out!" Daryl yelled as walkers walked out of the woods, drawn to the noise and fire. They took out the walkers that came close to them, keeping the kids in the center of the group, as they hurried down the road. They finally found an open clearing and took a moment to regroup and assess injuries. Dani and Daryl checked Jesse over. He was awake, alert and angry and thankfully unharmed. Dani pulled a prepared bottle out of her backpack to try and settle him down. Glenn wrapped a bandage around Maggie's arm, his lips a tight line of anger. Rick picked up Judith and hugged Carl close.

"Everyone ok?" he asked as he looked around. Alice was looking over JRs burns.

"Probably second degree on his leg," she said and started to pour her water bottle over it but he stopped her.

"Don't. We need that to drink. I'll be fine," he got to his feet and limped over to Eugene. He handed Eugene the radio. "I don't think it's damaged. I got to it before the flames did." Eugene nodded.

"Thank you JR."

"Why don't you get on that thing and call your group to come get us?" Glenn said, glaring at Eugene and JR. "We lost the map and have no idea where we are so why don't you call someone to come get us?" Eugene swallowed hard and JR glared at Glenn.

"This wasn't his fault." Glenn stood up.

"The hell it wasn't. We only came this way because he decided that we should go to Quantico and then you insisted we take these backroads because it was faster." JR glared at him.

"Now you hold on! Our mission has been to get Eugene to…" Glenn cut him off.

"Oh fuck your mission! My mission has always been to protect my family. We don't even know if this is even real JR!" Glenn turned on Eugene. "So make the call. If you're in touch with anyone, make the damn call!" Eugene cowered on the ground and held the radio in front of him.

"It is classified communication…" Glenn wrestled the radio from Eugene's hand and popped off the back revealing an empty battery compartment. He held it up and then slammed it onto the ground. JR stared down at it in disbelief. Eugene got to his feet and started to back away, his hands shaking.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry." JR looked up at him, his fists clenched in rage.

"It was a lie? All of it?" Eugene nodded and cowered in fear.

"I didn't think you'd help me…didn't think you'd let me stay with you…" JR screamed and lunged at Eugene, tackling him and punching him repeatedly.

"I gave up looking for my brother for you!" Eugene went limp as JRs fist slammed against his nose. Rick and Tyreese pulled JR off of him. Eugene's eyes were closed and Alice hurried to his side. "People died helping you! I let people die…" JR trailed off as it dawned on him. He collapsed to the ground and his shoulders shook as he sobbed in anger and frustration.

Rosita tried to comfort JR but he jerked away from her, walking ahead and ignoring her when she said his name. They hadn't been able to stay long in the clearing. The wreck, fire, yelling and the crying babies had attracted too many walkers. Tyrese poured water on Eugene's face and hauled him to his feet. Glenn glared at him.

"You should just leave him here." Tyreese shook his head.

"We're not like that." Tyreese had supported Eugene as they fled into the woods until the beaten man could walk again.

They walked in as tight of a group as they could, keeping the babies and Dylan to the middle. Alice had checked over both Judith and Jesse and was surprised that neither one had sustained any injuries. Dylan was holding his broken wrist. Alice had stabilized it as best as she could with what they had but the poor boy was in pain. He tried not to cry out loud while they walked through the woods because he was scared of the walkers but tears flowed down his cheeks. Andrea stroked his hair as they carefully stepped over a fallen log. He looked up at her, his eyes hollow and haunted.

"I'm hungry Mom," she nodded.

"Me too. We'll find someplace to stop soon sweetie, I promise." She looked over at Dani who was feeding Jesse as they walked.

"Is Jesse doing ok?" Dani nodded.

"Just have to keep somethin' in his mouth out here," her eyes darted from side to side, looking for walkers the group ahead may have missed. Carl hitched Judith up on his shoulder. The little girl had eaten a bit and then fallen asleep. Carl's eyes were heavy and it was obvious he was exhausted too. He'd hit his head on the bus and had a shallow cut over his left eye. Up ahead, Rick, JR and Glenn stopped and motioned for everyone to get down. They dropped down and Rick turned back, his finger to his lips. JR rose slightly and ran quietly ahead to get a closer look at the movement they had seen ahead. A branch popped, the brush rustled and JR held his breath as he waited for whatever it was to appear.

A doe with two fawns stepped out of the bush, followed by another doe and a young buck. JR smiled slightly as he watched them cross his path and then disappear calmly. They weren't running, weren't spooked and he took that as a good sign. He signaled the all clear and the group slowly got to their feet to continue down the path.

It was late afternoon when they finally made it out of the woods and onto a road. Exhausted, hungry and injured the group came to a stop. Rick looked both ways trying to decide which way to turn. Unfamiliar with the area and without a map, they were completely lost.

"Dad?" Rick turned to Carl who was barely standing and quickly took Judith from him. Carl sat down hard. Rick knelt beside him. Carl's eyes were glassy and unfocused.

"Carl?" Rick shook him but Carl didn't respond. He said Carl's name again and Alice knelt down beside Carl.

"He's dehydrated," she helped Carl take a drink of water. After a moment, Carl was able to hold the water bottle himself. Alice patted his shoulder and stood.

"Rick, we've got to do somethin'. We don't have enough water or food with us and it's way too hot and humid to keep goin' like this, especially for the babies." Rick looked down at Judith. She was alert and looking around but her cheeks were flushed. Her dirty, sweaty romper clung to back and Rick could see heat rash breaking out on her neck, arms and legs. She smiled at him.

"Da!" He kissed her forehead and cradled her to his chest. Rick felt so helpless. He flashed back to that winter before the prison, running constantly, freezing in that storage container while a small herd went past, eating dog food because that was all they could find, Lori…he snapped back to the present. He could see Lori standing just down the road. She motioned for him and she walked away. He began to follow her.

"Rick?" Michonne's voice was concerned.

"This way. There's something down here." He kept walking towards Lori, tears in his eyes. He was vaguely aware that people were following him, more out of concern than trust. All he could focus on was his wife smiling at him. She turned right off the road and Rick hurried to catch up. Out of the overgrown trees and bushes, he saw the sign saying "Evergreen Estates". He stopped and looked up the driveway of a half-built housing development. The homes that were completed had been abandoned, probably during the initial evacuation, and the forest had started to overtake the buildings. The gate had been broken open and graffiti written on the gate house.

WOLVES NOT FAR

"Rick?" Rick turned to Daryl. "How's it look?" Before Rick could answer, a herd of walkers came out of the woods, snarling and reaching for the group.

"Everyone this way!" Rick held Judith to him and ran towards the seemingly abandoned homes. Daryl, Tyreese, and JR ran ahead to find a home that was either unlocked or that they could easily get into. About eight houses down, JR found one that had been left unlocked with boarded up windows. He turned to usher the group his way when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. The front porch faced a side street and another horde of walkers that had been attracted by the noise. He noticed this new herd had the letter W carved into their forehead. The graffiti on the gate house flashed into his mind. Filing it in the back of his mind he waved at the group.

"C'mon hurry!" He yelled and pointed at the other horde. As the group ran towards him, a walker lunged from behind an abandoned car towards Dylan. Andrea kicked the walker back and scooped the screaming boy up. Tyreese urged her on and turned to fight the walkers off as he backed into the yard. Alice took Judith from Rick and ushered Carl through the door first. Daryl helped Dani and Jesse in next with Andrea and Dylan right behind them. Eugene ran next into the house, his eyes wild with fear, and Rosita helped Father Gabriel through the door. Michonne, Maggie and Rosita did a quick sweep of the lower level of the house and found it clear. Maggie went to the kitchen and saw a large sliding glass door that looked out onto a shared backyard that backed up to the woods. The fence has only partially completed, leaving the back of the house completely vulnerable. She heard yelling at the front door and ran back into the front room. JR and Daryl were standing half in the door yelling for Tyreese. He was still fighting off the walkers, his hammer slinging gore off of the head into the air as he took out one after another. The horde size wasn't diminishing and for every walker he took out, three more reached for him. Blindly, he kept fighting them to give the group time to escape. He was surrounded on three sides and the hands and snapping teeth grabbed at him.

"Tyreese! Get in here!" He finally backed up close enough that JR could haul him into the house. Daryl slammed the door and the three men threw their weight against the door. Despite the heavy duty security lock, there was no doubt that it wouldn't take long for the dozens of walkers piling against the porch to knock it down. Rick and Glenn ran over to help as the glass of the windows broke. The walkers reached through the gaps in the boards. Rick looked up the stairs. Fear told him to run up the stairs but his instinct knew that would be a death sentence. He glanced around the house and his eyes landed on Maggie. She was yelling at him but he couldn't hear her over the sound of his heart pounding in his ears. Michonne grabbed him by the collar and shook him.

"Rick!" His vision and his hearing cleared. He looked at Maggie.

"Do we have a way out?" he yelled and she nodded, pointing to the kitchen. He could see the edge of the sliding glass door and realized what she was saying. At that moment, the door jamb cracked and the door pushed against them. The men pushed back but the moment they let go, the walkers would be in there. Rosita and Michonne dragged the large chest from under the window and used it to help brace the door jamb. Tyreese turned and threw his whole weight back against the door.

"Y'all need to run!" he yelled pushing Rick away. Rick protested and Tyreese showed him the bite on his arm.

"I can hold 'em off but you need to run now!" Rick met his eyes and looked at JR who nodded.

"Get the kids into the woods," Rick said to Michonne. "We'll be right behind you." She nodded and she began herding the group out the back door. Rick looked at JR.

"Go with them. Make sure it's clear." JR frowned and didn't take his weight off the door. Tyreese shoved him away. JR looked at both men and then followed the group out the door.

"Daryl, we've got to go," Rick pulled on his arm but Daryl wouldn't budge.

"I ain't leavin' anyone else behind!" Tyreese looked down at him.

"Daryl, it's ok," Daryl looked away from the door and saw the bite. He looked up at Tyreese. "Just make sure your boy grows up." Daryl paused a moment and then let go of the door, following Rick to the back door. He stopped in the doorway to the kitchen and looked at Tyreese. He was struggling to keep the door shut, gritting his teeth against the weight of the walkers. He saw Daryl standing in the doorway and waved him away.

"Dammit go!" Daryl followed Rick out the door and ran into the woods.

Tyreese struggled to keep the door closed but he wanted to give them time to get away. His feet began to slide backwards across the hardwood floor and hands reached around the door, clawing at his face and arms. Three walkers wedged their bodies in the crack, pushing the door back even more. He felt something grab his leg and saw a crawler was halfway in the door. He didn't feel its teeth when it bit down into his leg. He struggled to keep the door from slamming open, trying to buy more time for his family to escape. He slid back another inch and he felt his strength fading. Tyreese closed his eyes.

"I'll see you soon Sasha." The door pushed open and the swarm of walkers pulled him down, feeding on his body.