It felt like I was riding the horse for an hour. I could tell that my body was very tired since my eyes kept trying to close on me. I shook my head to keep myself awake a little while longer. I could see the highway in front of me and as I got closer I heard Daryl say, " We ain't going anywhere without Sam!"
" We're not leaving, we are just trying to figure out how we are going to find her." Rick said as I came around the corner to see them standing there right in front of me.
" You don't have to look too far. I'm right here." I said as I slid off the horse and started to walk over to them. Daryl turned to look at me and then he ran over to me and wrapped his arms around me as I hugged him back. I pulled away from him to look at him but Daryl crashed his lips into mine.
After kissing me for a bit, we stopped breathing to catch our breaths and we both held each other, " You had me worried there when I didn't see you with Rick." Daryl said as he looked me in the eyes.
" I know. But you can't get rid of me that easily." I said as I smiled at him.
" I love you." Daryl said as he let go of me and then he interlaced his fingers with mine as we walked over to the group.
" I love you too." I said to him as I brought his hand to my lips and kissed his knuckles. I let go of Daryl's hand and I ran over to Rick and hugged him as he held me close to him and then I felt something wrap around my leg and I looked down to see Carl hugging me as well. I smiled and I placed my hand on top of his head and rubbed his head. After hugging everyone else I looked around to notice that we were missing people.
" So where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked as he looked around as well and looked at me and then at Rick.
" We're the only ones who made it so far." Rick replied as he held Lori and Carl close to him.
" Shane?" Lori asked as she looked over at me and Rick and I shook my head to her.
" What about Andrea?" I asked even though I didn't really care for her, she was still a part of the group.
" We saw her go down." T-Dog said sadly as he leaned against the car.
" I saw Patrice go down…. Took her right from me…. Did anyone see Jimmy?" Beth asked as she looked at everyone.
" He was in the R.V. but it got overrun." Rick said sadly to her. I didn't know he was driving the R.V. I felt so bad for Beth.
" You definitely saw Andrea go down?" Carol asked as Beth began to sob quietly into Hershel's chest.
" I might have not liked her, but we should go back for her." I said as Daryl nodded his head in agreement with me as he walked over to his bike.
" No." Rick said as he looked over at Daryl and stopped him.
" Dad, we just can't leave her." I said to him but all he did was shake his head no to me.
" She's not there, she's either alive or dead. We gotta keep moving. There are walkers all over the place. We'll head east and stay off the main roads. We don't need that. We need to go now." Rick said as he looked at everyone. We started to gather last minute things from the cars and also took the supplies that we left for Sophia long ago. I walked over to the horse and grabbed my crossbow from the horse and strapped the crossbow over my shoulder and I patted the horse on the side and then I walked towards Daryl as he hopped on his motorcycle. I climbed on behind him, wrapped my arms tightly around his waist.
" Think we can survive this without a place to keep us safe, supplies?" I asked Daryl.
" We're going to be fine. We can find another place and start over. We just have to keep moving. We're survivors, Sam. We can all make it together." Daryl said as he started the engine and started to take lead with the others following right behind us.
' Daryl is right, we are survivors. We're going to be fine.' I thought as I watched a walker coming towards us, but we were already ahead of it.
We were on the road for a while till I heard a car horn and I turned to see Rick waving his hand at us. I tapped Daryl's shoulder, which made him pullover and we all stopped. I got off the bike and walked over to Rick, " What's up?" I asked him.
" Car is out of gas. Been running on fumes." Rick explained.
" We can't stay here." Maggie protested as she walked over to the car.
" Yeah, but we can't all fit in one car." Glenn said as he pointed at all of us.
" We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick decided, which form everyone wasn't happy about.
" Spend the night here?" Carol asked as she looked at Rick.
" Where else do you think we should go? This is the best choice we have right now." I said as I looked over at her.
" Dad, I'm freezing." Carl said leaning against his mother's side, his whole body was shaking from the cold air. I felt a hand rubbing my back to keep me warm and I turned my head to see that it was Daryl. I leaned against his body to keep warm.
" We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori said as she took off Rick's jacket and placed it on Carl's shoulder's to keep him warm.
" If you go out lookin' for firewood, stay close," Daryl says as he looked at everyone til he looked down at his arrow holder to see how many arrows that he had left and there wasn't much and he looked up at me and I shook my head to him, " Me and Sam only got so many arrows. How you doin' on ammo?" Daryl asked as he looked over at Rick.
" Not enough." Rick answered as he grumbled under his breath.
" Well, we can't just sit here with our asses hanging out." Maggie said as her tone of voice turned angry.
" Watch your mouth." Hershel said sternly to his daughter before turning back to the others, " Everyone needs to stop panicking and listen to Rick." Hershel said, as he looked at Rick and nodded his head to him.
" Alright, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies and then we'll keep pushing on." Rick said as he pulled out his gun.
" Glenn and I can go and make a run now to try and scrounge up some gas, " Maggie volunteered as she looked over at Glenn, who nodded his head in agreement.
" No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car." Rick said as he shook his head to them.
" Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn said as he looked at him.
" I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other, I wasn't sure we would, I really wasn't. But we did and now we're together. We're going to keep it that way. Okay, we'll find shelter somewhere, there's gotta be a place." Rick said as he placed his hand on his shoulder, but Glenn shrugged his shoulder away from Rick's hand.
" Rick, look around, okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating." Glenn said as he was not buying what Rick was staying.
" There's gotta be a place and not just where we hole up for a day but somewhere we can fortify, we can hunker down, pull ourselves together, and build a life for each other! I know it's out there. We just have to find it." Rick argued back.
" Glenn, look I know things aren't good now. But I agree with dad, there's a place out there somewhere, we just have to find it." I said as I looked over at Glenn.
" We also won't make the same mistake again." Daryl said from right behind me.
" We'll make camp tonight over there, we'll get back on the road at the break of day." Rick said as he pointed towards a little stone structure just off the road.
" Does this feel right? What if another herd passes through another group like Randall's?" Beth asked nervously as she looked at everyone.
" You know, I found Randall, right? Well, he had turned but he wasn't bit." Daryl said as he turned to look towards Rick.
" That's now possible. The only way you turn is when you get bit." I said when I heard Daryl say what he said.
" Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to, but that doesn't explain how he came back." Daryl said and I knew that wasn't what I wanted to hear from him.
I looked over at Rick and noticed that he was looking at the ground for several seconds till he started to shake his head and then he froze as he looked up at us, " We're all infected." Rick whispered.
" What? What did you just say dad?" I asked him, hoping what I heard was a mistake on his part.
" At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is….We all carry it." Rick said slowly to us.
" You knew and you never said anything?" I heard Carol ask Rick as tears filled my eyes and went down my face.
" Would it have made a difference?" Rick replied to Carol.
" You knew this whole time?" Glenn asked Rick.
" How could I have known for sure? You all saw how crazy that ma-" Rick stated till he was interrupted by Glenn.
" That isn't your call! Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone." Glenn said to Rick.
" Well, I thought it was best that people didn't know." Rick said bitterly. He looked at everyone as they went silent and then he scoffed, he slipped his gun into his holster and then walked down the road away from us. I was about to go after him, but Lori stopped me. I looked at her and she shook her head as she pushed Carl over to me and she got up and went after Rick herself to help him calm down.
" What the fuck is wrong with you people? Rick is trying his best for the group. So what if he found out that we were infected. It didn't change anything! Yes I'm in shock to find out like you guys. But I'm not going to hold it over his head, we are still alive, right? We're still fighting, right? He took up being a leader when no one else would. How about you all grow up and help him out then make it worse for him." I snapped at everyone except Daryl.
" He shouldn't have kept it from us." Maggie said under her breath.
" Just drop it and let it go. You heard what he said, set up camp." I said as I grabbed my bag from the bike. I grabbed a hold of Carl's hand and we walked over to the stone structure with Daryl following right behind me. A few hours have passed, we set up with what we had and had a small fire. I looked around as T-Dog was keeping watch and I saw Lori coming back over to me and Carl and he got up and ran over to her and I also noticed that Rick wasn't around which told me that he needed a little time to himself. I leaned my back against Daryl and I shut my eyes for a bit as I was hearing everyone talk about Rick and also about leaving, which was getting on my nerves.
A twig snapped which made me open my eyes and made everyone go silent as Daryl got to his feet, " What was that?" Beth asked.
" Could be anything. Could be a raccoon. Could be a possum, or it could be a walker." Daryl answered Beth's question.
" We should leave." Beth pleaded with everyone.
" The last thing we need is for everyone to be runnin' off in the dark. We don't have vehicles and no one's traveling on foot." A voice said in the dark as a shadow appeared from the darkness and I turned my head to see Rick walking to us.
" I'm not sitting here waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move, now." Maggie declared as she constantly look over her shoulder.
" No one is going anywhere." Rick said as he looked over at her.
" Then do something!" Carol yelled.
" I am doing something! I'm keeping this group together. Alive. I've been doing that all along no matter what. I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people, for christ's sake!" Rick snapped and everyone just stared at him while I was looking down to the ground, feeling bad for him.
" You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing. Led both me and Sam out to put a bullet in my back and either kill Sam or take her with him. He gave me no choice. He was my friend but he came after me and Sam. My hands are clean, you know, maybe you people are better off without me. Go right ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe that's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm foolin' myself again. Well, why don't you go find out for yourself? Send me a postcard! There's a door. You think you can do better? Let's see how far you get." Rick said as he pointed towards the trees. Everyone stayed where they were and Daryl came over to me and placed his arm shoulder and pulled me closer to him.
" No takers? Fine well, then let's get one thing straight," Rick said as everyone was looking at him and waited for him to finish as he looked at each one of us.
" This isn't a democracy anymore." Rick said with a stone cold expression.
End of chapter
Season 2 is finally done. I'm going to start working on Season Three as soon as possible. Thank you guys again, love you guys. See you soon.