Blood Doesn't Mean Family
Chapter Six : Safe for Now
The truck rolled to a halt as the fuel tank finally ran dry. It had been almost two days since the farm was over run. Fourteen people had made it off the farm, seven others were still missing, and Rick assumed they were most likely dead by now. Rick looked across the cab at Raven. She was asleep, the pain killers had worn off long ago, so it wasn't a peaceful sleep. Rick climbed out of the cab trying his best not to wake the girl.
"We're out," Rick said, looking at Morgan and Duane in the back of the truck.
"The RV can't have much left in it either. We can't be out in the open with this many people Rick," Morgan said looking at the RV behind them. The other car they had left the farm with had already been drained of fuel and left behind yesterday.
"Yeah, I know," Rick sighed walking up to the RV driver's window. Glenn was behind the wheel.
"We're out of fuel. Looks like there's some buildings up ahead, should be able to find somewhere there safe to rest for the night." Rick looked past Glenn into the back of the RV, he could feel eyes on him and instantly found Lori glaring at him from one of the seats.
"Yeah sure, sounds like a plan, might be some more fuel there," Glenn said, sounding very positive considering the situation they were in.
"Yeah maybe," Rick nodded.
"We'll make some room for you g-"
"Nah, I think we'll walk, it's not far," Rick said, cutting Glenn off.
"You sure?" Glenn asked.
"Yeah. Just honk if you have any trouble but looks pretty clear haven't seen many walkers for a while."
"Okay, yeah, sure thing," Glenn nodded. Rick walked back to the truck and watched as the RV pulled onto the other side of the road and drove past them up the road. Morgan had already climbed out of the back of the truck and was now grabbing out the few bags of supplies they had left. Duane now sat in the driver's seat watching Raven.
"This isn't going to end well Rick. We'll be out of food tomorrow, fuels gone, to many people, not enough weapons. Even if we had more weapons most of them wouldn't know how to use them," Morgan said quietly to Rick.
"We can't just leave them," Rick replied.
"Why not?" Rick looked up to see Raven was now awake, looking at him through the back window of the truck. "If we leave now, we can get a head start." Rick walked around to her side of the truck pulling the door open.
"We aren't leaving them. We have to at least stay with them until your healed," Rick said looking at her banged arm.
"And if they get us all killed before that?" Raven asked.
"They won't, not another word about leaving, you hear me," Rick warned. Raven nodded her head slowly but didn't look pleased. She looked pale, dark bags under her eyes and a pained expression on her face as she got out of the truck. Rick gave Morgan a warning look as well, he didn't want the other man putting any ideas in her head. They were going to stick with these people, not because they wanted to but because it was the right thing to do. At least for now.
Rick grabbed one of the bags from Morgan and the four of them began walking after the RV in silence. Raven held her bandaged stump to her chest and tried to keep pace. It took them around ten minutes to reach other others. The buildings they had seen in the distance ended up being half a dozen small houses. There would probably be a larger town only a few more miles up the road. For now, this looked like an okay place to rest.
The RV was parked outside one of the houses and a couple people wondered around outside. Rick and Morgan dropped their bags and left the kids by the RV before going to the closest house. Glenn stood at the front door to the house.
"I knocked and couldn't hear any movement inside, there's a large fenced in yard out back looks fairly secure. Rick pulled out his knife and knocked on the front door as well.
"I'll go left, Glenn you go right and Morgan you clear upstairs, knifes only. We want to keep this quiet," Rick said, looking back at Morgan. Both of the other men nodded in understanding. When ready Rick turned the door handled and pushed it open. There was nothing waiting for them on the other side of the door. That was always a good sign.
Rick went left and the other two guys followed in after him. The first room Rick came to was a formal living area, it looked fairly untouched just a lot of dust. Next Rick entered the kitchen, most of the cupboard doors were open and shelves bare but it didn't look like anyone had been there recently. Rick could see through the kitchen windows that the back yard was surrounded by a tall wood fence and the grass was very overgrown. But everything looked clear. He went back out in the hallway to find Glenn waiting for him.
"All clear on this side," Glenn said. Rick gave him a nod.
"Yeah same." Rick looked up stares as Morgan wondered back down to them.
"Four bedrooms and two bathrooms all clear, looks like someone left in a hurry but otherwise good." Morgan said.
"Okay, let's get everyone inside. We'll stay here the night, have to cover up the windows but looks like a good place. Might even be some food still in the kitchen," Rick said, sounding pleased. They left the house and Rick went for a quick walk around the outside of the house and yard. By the time he got back around to the front of the house everyone seemed to be inside.
"You can't just open something!" Rick heard Ravens voice say loudly from the back of the house. Rick moved quickly to the kitchen a few others followed him to find out what was going on. The small blond girl, Sophia, stood by the kitchen table where a small stack of tins and packet good were piled up. She had an open tin in her hands and a scared look on her face. Duane looked to be emptying the kitchen cabinets with the help of Sophia's mother, but they had now all stopped to look at Raven. She stood on the opposite side of the kitchen leaning against the wall for support.
"But I'm hungry," whispered Sophia. She would be around the same age as Raven but at that moment she looked a lot smaller than the other girl. Her kid eyes round with fear.
"Everyone is hungry, get use to it. You can't just open cans as you please, you have to share it between the group Just thinking of yourself is how people go hungry," Raven said, glaring daggers at the other girl. Carol grabbed her daughter who was now in tears and pulled her out of the room.
"Control that girl," Carol hissed at Rick as she passed him.
"She's right. Food needs to be split evenly; we don't have enough just to open it as we please. There is to many of us here now to just do as we want." Rick heard some whispers of agreement and disagreements from the people behind him, but he didn't stick around to talk things over with them. He grabbed Raven by her shoulder and pushed her towards the back door. She pushed away from his touch and moved outside. Rick shut the door behind them. "I want you to say sorry to Sophia."
"What?" Raven asked confused. "You said I was right though."
"Yes, but you didn't have to yell at her."
"Whatever," Raven rolled her eyes going back into the house. Rick shook his head looking around the back yard, not wanting to go back inside to face everyone just yet.
...
It was dark outside now. The windows had been covered up and the group sat huddled around the living room fireplace.
"There will be two people on watch all night, one at the front of the house and one at the back to ensure all entries are covered. Morgan and I will do first watch, Glenn and Maggie have volunteered to take over in a few hours." Rick explained from his seat in one of the recliners. Morgan was already on watch at the front of the house. There were two dead ones wondering down the road when he checked in an hour ago but they left them and they seemed to have wondered on.
"How long will we be here for?" Lori asked. She sat on the lounge next to Carol both woman had their children curled up against them. The young Hispanic girl sat between them as well. Since losing her family on the farm she had stayed close to the two mothers. Rick had yet to catch the girl's name, he only knew her father was Morales and had been out in the forest with Shane when the walkers attacked.
"As long as we need to. We'll clear out the other houses tomorrow. Hopefully there's still a bit of food in this area. Since this place wasn't ransacked badly, I think we should find a good amount of supplies, possibly some fuel." Rick was trying to be optimistic but a few of the other faces in the room showed doubt.
"I want everyone to carry a knife from now on. This place may seem safe, not many walkers around, but nowhere is safe anymore," Rick hardly had the last word out of his mouth before disagreeing voices responded.
"The children can't have knives," Lori responded.
"I don't think I would be comfortable carrying one around either," Carol said quietly.
"I don't expect them to use it but just in case-"
"They could fall and hurt themselves on it," Lori said.
"Fine, but they aren't allowed out of the house without one." Rick settled quickly moving onto the next topic. He talked about food rationing, and how they would need to find a water supply as well if they planned on staying in the area for a few days. Then he moved onto the big question of where they would go from here.
"Why do we have to go anywhere?" Amy asked from her place on the ground by the fire. "There doesn't seem to be many walkers around." This was the first time she had spoken since leaving the farm, it seemed she was slowly coming out of the shock of losing her older sister. Andria was one of the many people Rick didn't know from the farm who was missing after the horde attacked.
"If a horde came, past this place would be overrun just like the farm. Especially with the forest around us. We have no way of seeing what's coming until it's too late. We need to find somewhere safe." Rick explained.
"What about the coast? Water on one side as protection, if we could find a boat, we could move everyone to an island," Maggie said with bright eyes like no one else had considered this idea before.
"The coast isn't safe!" Raven hissed leaning against the chair Rick sat in. She looked like a feral cat trapped in a corner, skittish and unsure as eyes turned to her.
"We went to the coast thinking the same thing." Duane responded looking at Maggie. "But it seemed like everyone else had the same idea. The coast is over run, roads clogged with cars, the water line is covered with broken boats and dead bodies. It's near impossible to find clean drinking water, we almost died of dehydration searching for a boat that could be fixed. A group this size would never make it there."
"Where were you four heading before we found you?" Glenn asked.
"We heard of some large camps in land, we were trying to find one of them. See if the stories were real." Rick said.
"Who did you hear the story's from?" Beth asked, confused.
"There are people out there, other than us. Not all bad but definitely not people you want sleeping under the same roof," Raven said rubbing at the bandage on her arm.
"Shane always wanted to go to Fort Benning, said if there was still an army it would be there," Lori said. "That's where he would be going."
"To far to travel in just the RV, if it broke down, we would be sitting ducks. But could still be an option in the future if we found a better vehicle." Rick said not knocking the idea completely. "Everyone should get some rest, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow."
AN: Thank you to everyone who has read this story sorry it has taken so long to update it I'm sure some of you thought I was probably dead by now as none of my storeys have been updated in not just months but years. Currently dealing with drought and some large life problems. I have returned to writing after a long break as it seems to be helping me de stress so hopefully, I will keep writing.
Please review if you would like more as reviews really keep me motivated, please remember fanfiction is not something we get paid to do. It's simply a hobby and any feedback is very appreciated.
I hope you are all well and saft please stay strong in these hard times.