Blood Doesn't Mean Family

Chapter Eight: Run

The group had been at the house for over a week. The food they had found in the house as well as the neighbouring buildings was almost gone. Even with rations it went quickly when there was so many mouths to feed. Five kids, four men, and five women, one of which was nearing eight months pregnant.

"I'm gonna go up the road for a look tomorrow. See how far it is until the next town," Rick stated to the group as they huddled around the fireplace in the living room. Darkness was falling quickly outside. "Glenn and Raven have already volunteered to come along as well."

"I want to go too," Carl said, from across the room.

"No." Lori responded quickly.

"Why not? She can go with one arm," Carl wined pointing a finger in Raven's direction.

"I said no Carl." His mother hissed.

"It's only a scouting trip. If all goes well, we can take more people the next day. With the gas taken from the few cars we found, the RV should almost be full, but I don't want to waste that driving into the unknown," Rick justified looking around the room at all the tired faces. He could tell everyone was becoming restless being inside all the time. "It maybe good for some of you to go back over the houses again, making sure nothing was missed."

"Then what?" Lori asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"What do you mean?" Rick asked.

"Are we staying here? If so for how long?" She questioned. It seemed like all she ever asked him were questions.

"Not much longer. As soon as we have more food, we will keep moving North." Rick informed the group.

"Why North?" Hershel asked.

"It's as good as any direction. The cold slows down the walkers and hopefully that will mean less of them. Unless someone else has a better option." Rick looked around the room, but no one offered any other options. Rick nodded his head standing. "North it is then. I'll take first watch." Rick said leaving the room. Raven and Duane quickly followed after the older man.

…

The trio left at first light. Morgan, Duane, Hershel and Maggie where the only others awake when they left. Rick was worried about leaving the group alone, but he knew Morgan would take care of things. If the trip went smoothly, they could be back in a matter of hours, but in this world, nothing seemed to ever go as planned.

There were no walkers outside the house when they left. It would have almost been more comforting to see a couple dead wondering around. It was quite there, the lack of noise made Rick feel uneasy. It took them over ten minutes of walking before they spotted the first walker of the day.

Glenn pointed ahead where a lone walker stumbled down the road. It was a good hundred meters or so ahead of them. Raven looked up at Rick, a question in her eyes. He nodded and she picked up her pace to reach the walker first. Glenn seemed to stiffen when he realised the girl was volunteering to take out the Walker.

"Is that really safe?" Glenn asked Rick in a loud whisper. Raven was halfway between the walker and the men by then.

"She's fine," Rick reinsured him. It was only one, a small walker that seemed well rotten with one arm missing. Rick continued forward and Glenn followed a step behind.

Raven lifted her screwdriver as she stepped within reaching distance of the walker. The walker lifted its remaining arm trying to grab Raven, but she simply stepped to the side. With one swipe she pushed the screwdriver into its eye-socket, and the walker went stiff. Raven tilted the screwdriver and the body slipped off falling to the ground with a thump. She wiped the gunk off the screwdriver and onto the walker's shirt before slipping it back into her belt.

Rick walked past the dead body and Raven fell back into step beside him. Glenn looked wearily at the dead body. He didn't like the little girl having to do things like that, but he could see she knew what she was doing. Maybe a few more in their group needed to step up like she had to. The more people able to handle themselves around the dead, the safer the group would be. The safer Maggie would be. That was all the mattered to him anymore.

The sun was fully up by the time they reached a small town. Most of the shop doors were smashed and there were two crashed cars in the middle of the road. Other then that it looked quiet.

"Should we check out some buildings while we're here?" Glenn asked. Looking around the streets seemed clear.

"Yeah, looks pretty luted but maybe the houses still have something good." Rick led them away from the main road towards a few streets of small houses and high fenced back yards. They walked by two houses where doors hung open before stopping out front of a seemingly untouched house.

"If no one comes to the door, Glenn you take the right, Raven you go left. I'll clear the upstairs. Food and medication are most important, don't take anything else." Rick said, making sure they were all on the same page. Raven nodded and Glenn copied her, but he was sure his face didn't have the same confident look hers did.

They approached the house and Rick knocked four times on the front door. The trio waited for any sign of movement from inside the house, but nothing came. Rick pulled out his knife before reaching for the door handle. He tried the handle, but the door was locked.

"Do we try the back door?" Glenn whispered. Rick picked up the door mat and Raven started looking under the collection of coloured pot plants that lived by the front door. After a few seconds of looking their search produced a silver key from under the water tray of a pink flowered plant. Raven passed the key to Rick and the door clicked opened a moment later.

Inside the house the air was stale. There was an old rotten smell to it but after a quick search they found two dead cats who looked to have starved a long time ago. Glenn had to excuse himself for some fresh air as the smell of the cats and their old faeces was a bit much for him. Raven held a cloth over her nose as she searched that area of the house. Trying to adapt to life one handed wasn't easy. She repeatedly reached for things with her missing arm only to wave her arm through the air in front of her. She hung her cloth in the collar of her shirt as she took a few tins of food from a shelf. She knew she could adapt herself to doing everything one handed but it would take time.

As she left for a better smelling part of the house a distant buzzing noise caught her attention. Moving quickly for the front door she grabbed Glenn by the back of his shirt pulling him back into the house. He wasn't expecting it and stumbled backwards a few steps. Raven shut the door quickly dropping to the ground and out of sight of the glass window at the top of the door.

"Why did you do that?" Glenn asked.

"There's something coming this way." Raven didn't waste anymore time explaining as she scurried up the stairs. Glenn stared at the door for a moment more before following her up the stairs. Raven found Rick already crouched at one of the front facing windows. The pair joined him by the windows, staying low and out of sight.

"Two trucks, look like they were military," Rick informed them.

"That's good isn't it. If they are military, they will have weapons and know how to use them," Glenn felt relieved as he peaked out the window at men in green army uniforms and their trucks. Several well armed men and two army trucks were stopped in the street only a few houses down from the one they sat in. It was only when Glenn looked back at his companions and their hard expression that he realised this wasn't something they were happy about.

"Odds are they just stole the trucks, not the willingness to help others," Raven said. Slipping her backpack off she pulled out a small pistol before putting the bag back on. She held the gun with her remaining hand and looked ready to use it.

"There are not many honest people left in the world anymore Glenn. We have seen other groups of army want to be's mow down living people for no reason. It's not worth the risk." Rick said with a hard expression.

"They could be part of a bigger group in the area," Glenn said.

"Exactly. Rapist, murderers, lots of them." Raven said and Glenn realised just how out of place his intentions were in this world. People did not mean safety.

"We go out back. Heads low. Keep quite." Rick whispered as he backed away from the window, keeping his head low. The other two followed in his footsteps. They grabbed their things and left through the back door. The yard was a maze of stepping stones and potted plants. It was overgrown and they took their time weaving through it.

A small truss of cherry tomato's hung from a pot. The plant had seen better days and looked in need of water. Raven paused to pull the small plant from the dirt and slipped it into the side pocket of Rick's bag. He gave her a disgruntled look that she took no notice of. Raven slipped past Rick to be first inline at the back gate. She pulled a small makeup mirror from her pocket slipping it open. Glenn looked on in confusion. Raven slipped the mirror out through the gap between fence and gate. She moved it up and down for a moment before flipping it around and doing the same motion again.

"One walker to the right," Raven hissed. She stepped back and Rick readied himself at the gate, pulling a knife from his belt. He swiftly opened the gate and went to the right. Rick had his knife through the dead one's eye-socket before Glenn could get out the gate.

They moved quietly to the left, keeping low and looking both ways before making a break for it across the road. They hadn't seen anyone but apparently luck was not on their side today. Just as they reached the next alley way a shot was fired in their direction. Rick cursed under his breath.

"Go into that yard and keep going," Rick hissed pointing to the closest back gate on his right.

"Come on," Raven grabbed Glenn's arm pulling him along behind her. He dragged his feet, confused why Rick was staying behind. Raven had been in similar situations before, and it was pointless trying to talk Rick out of it. The pair ducked through the back gate, Raven shutting it behind them.

"What's he doing?" Glenn asked, following Raven around the overgrown back yard of an old brick home to the front of the house. As they passed a closed window something inside slammed against it. Glenn jumped but Raven kept moving forward, faster.

"We were spotted. Since they seemed to be the shoot first and ask questions later type, they would likely try following us. He's holding them off." Raven had barely finished speaking when a round of gunshots went off behind them. "We go across the street and into the next yard. We will do this until we get close enough to the forest to run for it."

"You think there are more of them around town?" Glenn asked after they made it across the next road, into another front yard.

"Probably. But those gunshots are calling every dead in the area. That's the big issue now." Raven's fears were confirmed when the next alley way they passed through had several dead in it, all coming in their direction. They didn't stop to kill any of them or even shut the gate behind them. Raven and Glenn ran as quickly as they could from one house to the next, stepping around debris and the odd dead body or not so dead body in some cases.

The gunshots had slowed by the time they hit the edge of town and Raven hoped that was a good thing. A few walkers stumbled from the tree line heading towards the direction they left Rick. They waited for the closest one to pass by before they raced to the trees.

"What about Rick?" Glenn asked looking over his shoulder as the town faded away behind them.

"He'll be fine, we have to keep moving," Raven jogged deeper into the forest and Glenn followed. They climbed the slight ridge that surrounded the town, only stopping once they reached the top of it. Raven looked back at the town as she caught her breath. It was crawling with the dead. They couldn't see where they had left Rick, but the gunshots had stopped.

"What if he didn't make it?" Glenn asked.

"Then he's dead now and there's nothing we can do about it. We have to get back to the group." Raven put the pistol back in her waistband and pulled out her screwdriver. They had to be quite now to stay hidden both from the living and the dead. They continued into the trees, leaving the town behind without a second glance.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Glenn asked after a few minutes.

"It's close enough, should cross paths with train tracks soon and if we follow them that will get us just down the road from the house." Raven was working off the direction of the sun, hoping she had it right.

"What if those men find the house?" Glenn asked.

"We deal with it then." Raven was getting over his constant questions. She knew as much as he did. "And hope we get there first."

Glenn was pleasantly surprised when they stumbled across the train tracks a few minutes later. Raven led the way only half sure they were going the right way, but she didn't want to tell Glenn that.

"What's the biggest horde you've seen?" Glenn asked.

"We were once stuck in a basement for four days because a horde came past. I only saw the start of it but there were thousands, it sounded like thunder when they hit the house. They were going south at the time. I hope they still are," Raven said, a shiver running through her. The sounds of their moans still haunted her dreams.

"That must have been scary," Glenn said, just the thought of it terrified him.

"The whole world is scary now Glenn, we just have to deal with it," Raven said focusing on the track ahead.

"Look at that." Glenn said pointing through the trees. The pair stopped for a moment, looking through the gaps in the trees at what use to be a prison.

"A Prison?" Raven questioned.

"Yeah, to bad it's over run, lots of walls, would have been a good place to camp," Glenn said as he continued walking.

"Couldn't hurt to look? They would have guns, maybe some other useful stuff. It wouldn't be that hard to clear it out," Ravens mind filled with ideas as she studied the buildings and counted the dead that roamed inside the fences.

"Are you serious?" Glenn asked, his eyes going wide at the idea.

"It has walls and a limited number of the dead, if it fell early on just imagine the amount of food they would have had that no one could reach," Raven smiled at him brightly. "This could keep us alive for months."

"Let's get back to the group." Glenn said and Raven reluctantly followed. They found the road that led to the prison following that back to the main road and then to the house where their group waited for them, minus Rick.

AN:

Thank you 1freakshow for the review it meant a lot.

I have had this sitting in my documents for a while now it was only missing a few filler lines so I sat down today and re read the whole story to get my mind into it again. I did update all the past chapters fixing a few of the mistakes and adding a little more detail, I do need to autio read it all to pick up on more mistakes as my dyslexia prevents me from picking up on some of the smaller stuff when words look similar, I need to hear it to pick up on the mistakes, will aim to do this in the near future. I did do that with this chapter so I hope spelling wasn't to bad.

It's only taken 3+ years for an update so I hope the slightly longer chapter made up for it lol so sorry for the wait. I have been back into writing lately mostly twilight fictions but I have a whole graveyard of TWD stories I would love to post one day. I do love this story and hope you are all still hanging in there. Please review and keep reminding me that you are out there and reading. Every time I get a review I do sit down and add more to a story sometimes just one review can give me enough motivation to post a new chapter.

I love you all, wishing you all a good day, good night, good live.