Destination Life or Death

12.

The day after we got Carl back was rough, we didn't really know what to do. "Time for a reality check" the redhead man said, "We all need to leave for DC right now". The man he was with, Eugene, said he had a cure. Did I believe it? Not one bit. Rick shook his head "Daryl and Carol are gonna be back. We're not going anywhere without them" he said looking at Abraham. I looked between them until Abraham spoke again "I respect that, but there's a clear threat here to Eugene. I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier. So if yall wont come, good luck to you. We'll go our separate ways." he said while scanning over the group and then walking towards the door. "Are you leaving on foot?" Rick questioned while watching him walk to the door. "We fixed that damn bus ourselves" the redhead man turned to face Rick again. Rick started walking towards him with the look of anger on his face "There are a lot more of us' 'Rick said, still walking towards him "You wanna keep it that way? You should come." he said looking clearly annoyed. "Carol saved your life. WE saved your life!" Rick said, finally stopping in front of the large man. "Well, I am trying to save yours. Save everyones." he yelled quickly. Rick didn't move his hard stare at all "We're not going anywhere without our people.'' Rick said sternly. "Your people took off," Abraham said. "They're coming back," Rick said quickly. "To what, Picked-over bones?!" Rick pushed him as Abraham hit his hand away. "Do not lay hands" said Abraham. I had backed away, I was scared of Abraham, at this moment he was intimidating. Glenn stepped between them pushing them away "Hey! Hey!! Stop! Now!" Glenn paused as he looked over at Abraham. "Do you really think that you're gonna be any safer leaving right now in the middle of the night?" Glenn spoke calmly yet sternly as Abraham nodded. "Yeah" he said quietly before turning away from Glenn. "What about tomorrow? We need each other for this" he paused, "We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together." After Glenn finished the room what silent. "Come on Abe '' I said stepping in, "We aren't gonna save the world any faster if you leave, just the three of you." I said looking at Eugene. "Well basically two. No offence." I said smiling slightly at Eugene "No Offense taken young lady" he said shaking his head then looking to the floor. "Just stay here and we can all figure it out," I said, adding to Glenn's point. Tara stepped forward and looked at me and quickly looked away, "I have an Idea" she spoke quickly. "You have an idea?" I asked with an eyebrow raised and a slight bit of sass before Carl pulled me down to sit with him on the pew. "If you stay just one day and help. I'll go with you to DC no matter what." She said looking at Abraham. "I say that's a deal! '' I said standing up and being quickly pulled down by Carl again. "Dez" Carl said sternly "Knock it off." I hadn't seen him this serious with me. I huffed and then rolled my eyes "She was with him Carl!" I said quietly to keep the conversation between us. "She was with the ones that took our -" he cut me off. "Dezzy, I could have left you to die that day in the field but I didn't." I laughed a little, "That is totally different" I said shaking my head and then looking away from him. "No, it isn't. Glenn found her at the prison after it all happened, she didn't kill anyone, was just blinded by who the man claimed to be." I looked at him and then her. "She was there, she stayed there alone, and never killed anyone." he paused, sitting up forcing me to look at him "That reminds me an awful lot of the 16 year old girl I found being attacked in that field" he said before getting up and talking to Rick and Michonne. He was right and I knew it. I stood up when Abraham spoke again "Glenn and Maggie too." he said, looking at Rick who had turned to talk to Michonne and Carl. Rick turned to face him again. "No!" he said harshly. "Good luck then, I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here." he paused, not moving his eyes from Rick. "Rosita, grab your gear," he said, still looking at Rick and then looking at the girl. "Eugene," he paused, "Let's go," he said, looking at the man who had been sitting quietly in the pews. "I don't want to," Eugene spoke, still not turning to face Abraham. "Now!" Abraham spoke strictly, deeply, almost robotic. Eugene got up and walked past us, sending me a small smile before standing at the doors. As they walked out, Rick said deeply, "You're not taking the bus!" He stared at Abraham, waiting for a response. "Try and stop me," he said, slightly turning to Rick. The room was silent. You could hear the crickets chirping outside, as we all looked at each other before Rick started walking towards the large man. Glenn ran between them, looking at Rick then Abraham. "You stay," he paused looking at the two, then focusing on the man again, "You stay and help us, and we will go with you." Glenn said pointing to Maggie who was behind him. Rick stepped forward "No!" he said looking at Glenn almost confused. "It's not your choice to make." Glenn replied before turning to Abraham again. "You stay, help us." Glenn said, not changing the tone from the first time he stepped in. He waited for a reply. "Half a day" Abraham paused "Come high noon, we're tail lights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop." He said, not looking away from Glenn. "And we will go with you." Maggie chimed in from behind. "12 hours. Then we go." Abraham said before walking past us all and sitting alone in a church pew.

As Me, Glenn, Maggie, Rick, Michone, Carl, Tara, Sasha and Michonne sat facing Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene, I took a deep breath, breathing in the crisp warm air. "This is our route to DC. We'll stick to it as long as we're able. If not well, you got our destination. Once Eugene gets to the big brains left up there, things are gonna bounce back." Abraham spoke to Rick while handing him a folded up map. "This group should be there for it." He spoke again quickly. Rick didn't say anything. He just stared at the man. "They will be." Maggie spoke from behind Rick. "We will," Michonne said before Rick turned and repeated her. As we gave each other nods, Abraham turned, "Let's go." he spoke quickly. Maggie and Glenn looked at each other before walking past us to the truck. "Glenn let me come." I said, tears starting to fill my eyes. I loved Glenn and I wanted him to stay, I didn't want to feel alone again. "Dez, you'll come to DC and we'll meet you there" he said nodding before hugging me and getting into the bus. As we all stood there watching as they pulled away, I hugged Carl, who had been holding Judith. I looked as the bus drove away and wiped the one tear that fell down my face before walking back into the church we had been staying in. That night Carl and I stayed up late, talking about what our life had been like before. If we had crushes, what our schools were like. Michonne peeked her head into the door as she was outside on watch. She looked at me and nodded "Go get your Katana" She said peeking past me and noticing Carl, a bit surprised. "Come on" She whispered looking at both of us and then closing the door. I grabbed my katana as Carl grabbed his gun. "What do you think she's doing?" I asked looking over at him and then walking out the door quickly. I was stopped by Michonne, who was at the bottom of the stairs. "Look over there" she said pointing to a large bush that had been moving slightly. "Why do you need us for this?" I asked , looking at her and then the bush again, "It's probably a walker," I said before taking a double take and seeing Daryl walk out. I ran up to him, "Daryl?" I paused, looking at his face that had been covered in dirt. "Where have you been?" I asked, looking around to see if Carol was with him. Before he answered my question, he just spoke loudly "Come on out" he said looking into the bush and then back at me, where Michonne and Carl now stood too.