Chapter 10-The Road, Kid Games, and The Dead

Day One

I sigh as the quiet sound of my watches beeping woke me up. Shutting it off, I sit up listening for any sounds of danger while looking over the group. I only heard faint sounds of the others breathing and saw they were still sleeping, other than T-Dog, who was on watch and had just looked back at me for a second, gave a nod, and turned back. With a relieved sigh I placed the knife back in its sheath at my side, which I had kept at my side just in case, before getting up and stretching.

I fix my disheveled clothes and while running a hand through my tangled hair I carefully make my way over the others on the ground to him. He looks at me again so I motion behind me, signaling that I'd take over so he could relax a little before the others got up. He gives me a grateful smile then before carefully moving to the spot he'd claimed for himself when we were all corralled into the guest room for the night.

Luckily I was able to sleep some because of this. There was only one way in, and it would be through locked and barricaded doors or locked windows and then up the stairs. Though I would have preferred to close the door to the room itself, barricade it, and have my family shut in the closet instead of the whole group scattered on the floor, minus Lori, Carl, and Beth on the bed; but whatever danger would make more than enough noise to wake me in time for me to wake my family and get us away from it.

No need to worry about who was on watch falling asleep. I might even wake the others. I'd even take care of waking the watcher in that situation, though with a gun to the head before throwing them to whatever danger it was. Well that is unless they were part of my family…and well Glenn. Though I would wake him with a gun to the head.

A rustle brought me out of my thoughts and my attention behind me to the group. Finding it was only Daryl, sitting up and putting his vest back on; having used it as a pillow. I watch as he grabs his crossbow at his side before turning my attention forward again. The others are sure to be waking soon and we have days of traveling ahead of us.

Day Two

"How you holding up Nai?" Maggie questions me soon after we started moving again in the morning, so I respond "Fine. You?" "I'm fine but are you really fine?" She responds emphasizing you, so I sigh and tell her "Actually, yeah. I had a catharsis the other day. Merle can handle himself. We'll find each other again. Besides when I met him he'd just cut off his own hand, was going through withdrawals, and fought deadheads, but was still alive. This time he just had to deal with deadheads." She releases a small laugh and says, "I guess if anyone could've made it out alone it would be him huh?" "Yeah an' when I see that big child again I'm gonna kick his ass for making me worry bout it." I tell her giving her a small smile causing Hershel to scold "Nai."

"What?" I question playing dumb causing him to sigh and the others to laugh before Glenn pipes up with a "After Merle shuts Daryl up of course." This earns a grin in his direction as I state "Of course, I ain't dealin' with his bitchin'." "Nai." Hershel scolds again this time in his dad voice so I mutter a "Yeah, yeah." And direct my attention to my window as Beth and Maggie giggle, having heard me, all while Hershel "dad" sighs.

Day Three

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!" Beth and Carl shout from next to me followed by a "Ha!" from Carl meaning he won the round. Carl joined us in the morning, swapping with Hershel designating this the "child" car, after being too board and he and Beth started playing rock, paper, scissors to keep occupied after running out of things to talk about. "I'm still winning." Beth singsongs, which was the case as it was now 5-2 in her favor, earning a frustrated sound followed by a "Let's go again." "Okay." She singsongs followed by them both shouting "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!"

When it was silent I looked toward them to see they'd both done weird things with their hands instead of any of the normal choices. A second later the two were practically rolling on the floor laughing at their antics. A smile breaks out on my face as I shake my head and turn my attention back to the passing scenery. It was a good thing they could be normal kids if only for a few hours.

Day Four

"Is it a person?" Beth starts off so Carl answers "Yup." "Are they in the car?" Glenn asks which earns a simple "No." "Are they in the other car?" Maggie tries only to get another "No." "Are they on the bike?" Glenn asks but also gets a "No." "Are they alive?" I ask which earns a "Yes." "Are they Nai's friend?" Beth asks earning a "That's not fair!" "Oh? So it's Merle." I say causing the boy to shout in frustration "I thought it'd take longer!" "You kind of gave it away." Glenn says earning a sighed "I know."

Day Five

"Princess's. One, two, three, Carl!" Beth calls so the boy starts "Cinderella! Glenn!"

"Ariel! Maggie!"

"Belle! Nai!"

"Pocahontas. Beth."

"Snow White! Nai again!"

"Mulan. Glenn."

"Shoot! Jasmine! Carl!"

"Oh! Uh, Tiana! Maggie!"

"Aurora! Last one Beth!"

"Oh! Uh, Uh-" Beth stumbles so I whisper to her "Mononoke." This of course earns a quickly shouted "Mononoke! Ha!" "Nai! I heard that!" Maggie shrieks causing Beth, Glenn, and I to laugh at her before Carl questions "Mononoke?" "She's from Princess Mononoke from Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation studio. Nai likes their movies." Beth explains to him causing him to say a long "Oh."

Day Six

"Maggie! Would you rather have pizza or Glenn." Beth questions which earns a "Hey!" From him but not missing a beat Maggie says "Pizza." This of course earns a "I'm better than pizza!" from him almost swerving off the road when he looks at her but quickly corrects himself as we laugh at him. "I'm kidding. I pick you." Maggie giggles nudging him earning a "Not fair." From him. "I saw that one coming." Carl says so Beth confirms "Me too." As I nod in agreement.

"Nai. Would you rather have to spend a whole day alone with Daryl or have to spend a whole day eating only fish?" Maggie questioned then looking at me causing me to glare at her as I frown at the thought of either. "Starve." I answer causing all of them to singsong "You have to pick one." I huff in annoyance before grumbling "Daryl." The lesser of two evils since I could just ignore him. "We can't hear you." They sing so I repeat "Daryl." loudly before grumbling "I hate ya all." "Oh we love you too." They say in chorus earning a shout of frustration from me. I'm so over being in this car with them.

Day Seven

After a few hours of travel we had come to a gas station that surprisingly only had three cars at it and no sign signaling no gas. Good chance to find things. Thus our caravan came to a willing stop on the road in front of it. We all get out and group up like before and look at the scene before us. It looked surprisingly normal with the only sign of the world now being a truck's doors being left wide open and there was some dried blood splatter on some of the building's windows. There was no sign of the dead or the living for that matter.

"Alright like before, Hershel, Carol, Lori, Carl, and Beth stay here and keep a look out for anyone coming, if anyone comes honk one of the horns. We'll come running. Maggie, Glenn, and T-Dog check around the outside, especially the pumps and cars. Daryl and Nai you're with me to check." Rick announces then earning different confirmations from the others; a nod here an "Okay." or an "Alright." there. We then split, our collective groups following their "leader"; Hershel, Rick, and Maggie; in silence while readying their respective weapons.

As we pass the cars we send glances inside, since the other three were in charge of actually searching them. It looks like all that will greet them is empty spaces, some long dried blood on the ground, a broken and long dried blood car window, and a decomposing body with a clear type of uniform next to the front door, behind the trash can there. Rick looks at me, so I nod, step forward, and give its leg a good kick. With no response I crouch down, reach out, and move the head to the side, find nothing, move to the other side, and find a clear stab wound, it was truly dead.

I stand, look at Rick, and tap the side of my head with my knife indicating what I found. He nods before he steps forward next to me and knocks on the glass, like I'd done at the house. Oh? Not truly dumb are you Officer Friendly. With no response from inside he turns to Daryl, points at him, motions for him to take the other side of me, turns to me, points at me, motions for me to take the middle, points at himself, and motioning that he would take the right.

Daryl nods in response and moves next to me, so I give them both a nod before turning back towards the store and slowly pushing the door open. Luckily, the bell was electronic, so it was long dead and didn't ring out, allowing me to release a sigh in relief. Stepping inside we scanned the store, the aisles were trashed like a tornado went through it. I look at Rick for instructions and he repeats the same ones, meaning we'd actually split up to clear the store. We give each other a nod before we split up, moving to clear our respective area. See Daryl we can split up to clear.

I carefully move the stuff on the floor to the sides with my foot as I go down the aisles, clearing the way for the others when we collect the usable things. I soon pause when I find some relatively fresh blood splatter on the ground that'd been under a magazine. Humming I scan the ground ahead of me and find another at the end of the aisle. I carefully approach it glancing around, checking for either Rick or Daryl, but don't spot either in the store from where I was. Shortness for the win.

I scanned the ground and soon found another, this time in front of a swing door labeled 'Staff Only'. Approaching it, I tighten the grip on my knife and glance around for the guys again. I still don't see them, so I shrug before slowly pushing open the door. Luckily nothing ambushes me, so I quickly scanned the room and spotted a blood trail leading around a corner. I slowly moved to investigate; the door swinging shut behind me.

There I find a relatively large guy slumped in a chair, bright blood dripping from the distinct chunk missing from one of their arms. A bloody knife was on the table in front of them, but I couldn't get it away from them easily. That is if they were still alive. Not that them being dead would help much. They'd be a fresh deadhead and I'd still have trouble with them. No matter what if I missed a step I'd probably be overpowered. My dead jars won't help shit if I alert it.

Just as I was thinking that Rick's stupid voice calls "Nai?" And just like that its head snaps up with a growl. "Fuck this!" I exclaim as I shove my knife towards the back of its head, but it turns it just in time to only get a scratch. It quickly lunges for me and luckily I jump back just in time before its jaws could snap shut on my arm. Fresh ones are a pain in the ass!

It quickly stands as I hear Rick's gun click so I quickly exclaim "I got it! Don't endanger the others and waste a bullet! God this is so annoying!" while dodging as the deadhead lunges for me again this time with its hands as well. Its half-milky eyes stare me down as it snaps its jaw at me and tries again but this time I slash a hand, sending a few fingers to the ground, before stepping back. This is repeated but this time my foot hits something, knocking me off balance and to the ground on my ass and unfortunately knocking my knife out of my hand and skidding away. Fuck my life.