Destination Life or Death

7.

A few weeks went by, we were two teenagers alone, in the apocalypse. We would share canned food and tell stories of what our life used to be like. We ended up finding a small ghost town that had barely been raided and camped out there. We would keep watch while the other slept, or stay up all night listening to the growls of walkers that had been stuck in the wire traps when set up outside the building, an old apartment complex. We tied cans to the string so we could hear it, we didn't think it would matter until we both fell asleep and woke up one morning to at least 20 walkers prying their way through the front door of the apartment complex. "The noise from the first walker must've drawn the rest here" I said looking out the window of the room on the third floor we had been staying on. "What do we do?" He asked, looking at me and then around the room. We had no ammo for the two pistols we did have. All I had was a sword Michonne had found that matched hers she gave to me. And Carl had a machete. We had nothing, no way of fighting our way out. I looked out the window past the few buildings that lined the street to the edge of the treeline and something caught my eye "What're you looking at Dez?" The nickname he had given me rolled off his tongue like he'd said it a thousand times. "Look over there, do you see that?" I said pointing to the edge of the town and looking at him. "Is that-" he paused for a moment and waited to see the two people we saw get closer. "My dad?" he asked, squinting, trying to make out the people. "And Michonne," I said excitedly. I looked at the window seal and then unlocked the window and opened it slowly, as it felt almost glued shut. "RICK! MICHONNE!" I yelled with Carl yelling "DAD!!" right after. Their heads shot up to the window we were standing at. They had a ready stance, ready to fight but they lost that when they saw us. Almost as excited then we were. They ran to the door, killing as many walkers as they could while we ran down and started helping. Within minutes they were all dead and we were having a group hug in a circle of dead walkers. I took a breath. Breathing in the smell of all the people around me. Rick had wanted to cry and I think started to, "I thought I lost you Carl" he said pulling him into a hug. I smiled at the love Rick had for Carl, it reminded me of the love my dad had for me. Michonne pulled me into a hug "Don't ever leave my sight again, kid!" she said with a large smile and tears filling her eyes. I didn't expect to mean this much to someone again. I never knew someone could love me as much, if not more, than my own mother did. I started crying as I hugged her back and then pulled away and looked at all of them. "Have you found anyone else?" I asked. They shook their heads and sighed "We didn't even think we would find you guys at this point, you just disappeared" Michonne said while looking at both me and Carl. "We've been following the train tracks and need supplies, we have run out of what we could grab from the prison" Rick said shrugging and then looking at Michonne "Have you seen any signs saying to go to Terminus?" Michonne asked with an eyebrow raised. I looked at her confused, and shook my head no. "Terminus?" I asked quickly looking at her. "No we haven't" Carl said. They shrugged and sighed "That's where we were going, we thought you guys would be there, but we saw Maggie's message telling Glenn to go there" Rick turned to go walk into another building, what looked to be an old store. Carl and I waited for them to get what they needed. "I'm so happy we found them,'' I said, closing my eyes and smiling. "Me too" he said in the same raspy voice as I remembered the first day we met on that car filled road.

After we made it to the railroad tracks, I saw a small metal storage shed with the words written in blood saying 'Glenn Go to Terminus - Maggie' We stopped and looked at each other "How many of these signs have you seen?" I asked, pointing to it and then looking at them again. Michonne shrugged "This is probably the third one now" she said walking over to it and touching the letter G in Glenns name. She turned to Rick and smiled a little bit. "Still warm" she said, almost excited we had proof they made it out. As we were talking about if everyone else had seen this and possibly made it to terminus, we heard a low yet feminine voice "Michonne? Dezzy?" I turned quickly to see Sasha running up. She looked bloody and tired. We sat down with her and gave her the rest of the water we had. "What happened to you?" I asked looking at her shirt that had now been practically covered in blood. "It was a group of walkers, I barely made it out but I just kept running '' she said shrugging before taking a drink of water and looking up at me. "What happened to you? Were you with Rick and Michonne?" she asked looking at the small group standing behind us talking about the rest of the journey. I shook my head "No, Carl and I ended up together." I looked over at the boy who had been facing me but looking at his dad, I was trying to make out what they were saying but it got cut off. "I didnt think I'd find you guys'' she said shaking her head. "I left the prison after the explosions.'' She looked at me and said, "You were gone before the Governor died, huh?" I looked at her and shook my head slightly "Carl and I ended up outside the gate and watched from the tree line" I paused and looked at the boy again "I still don't know why he wanted to leave so fast, I think he was more scared than I was" I said chuckling a little bit and looking back at Sasha "He was scared" she paused "I think we all were" she shrugged and then stood up giving me her hand to help me up. "Plus he probably didn't want to be alone" she said shrugging again and winking before making her way over to Carl, Rick and Michonne. Once nightfall came we set up camp over in the trees, so we had a little cover. Rick and Michonne were together while Sasha sharpened the knife I had seen her carry around the prison. I sat, back up against a tree, while looking through the leaves that sat on the branches. I took a deep breath and sighed. I could see the stars, something you could rarely see before in the city. I looked around at everyone. I looked at Rick who was talking to Michonne, it looked to be about something important. I looked at Sasha, who seemed to survive more than any of us at this point. And then my eyes met Carls. He had been sitting against the tree directly across from me. He smiled and moved next to me. He looked up at the stars with me, as if we both were amazed with the diamond filled sky. He took a breath and then looked down at me "Do you think we can trust Terminus?" he asked. I looked up at him, meeting his eyes and shrugged "I don't think we have a choice in trusting them or not '' I looked down at a knife I had pulled out of my belt loop and had been fighting with. He shrugged again "I don't know...." He paused "I mean look at the Governor, look at how that turned out" he said breaking his gaze and looking into the sky again. "We can't think everyone is evil Carl" I said nudging him "I didn't turn out to be bad" I said smiling at him, trying to lighten the mood. "You were different Dezzy" he shook his head "you weren't the Governor, you were alone." His voice sounded frustrated, almost unsure. I sighed knowing he was right. "What if I wasn't alone that day?" I asked, looking over at him. "You trusted me, trust again Carl" I said smiling before leaning my head on his shoulder. "You're my best friend, you know that? Right?" I questioned looking up at him from his shoulder while he peered down at me. "Well you did make a pact without my knowledge" he said chuckling before leaning his head against the tree once more. I could hear his breathing slowdown, and the quietest snoring. It made me feel safe. We both fell asleep, we needed it.