Wings

Fishing

"Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." —Henry David Thoreau

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REMY

As the group made it into town and split off, Remy noticed that Gabriel still hadn't settled. She could understand that. He'd pastored there, he was bound to see familiar faces...or lack thereof... And he had been sheltered. He said he had scavenged but she still didn't understand how that was possible without ever killing them. Did he just hide and run? Maybe he did. She had never been very good at it. That's why she just started living off the land when she got separated from her family.

She tried to make conversation, to ease him but he wasn't having it. His discomfort became more apparent as Bob started a conversation with Rick.

"When you say they don't get to live," he began, "you weren't wrong. We push ourselves to let things go. Then we let some more go and some more and pretty soon there's things we can't get back. Things we couldn't hold onto even if we tried. Washington's gonna happen, Rick." 

Gabriel had visibly grimaced at the "when you said they don't get to live," part.

"I haven't decided if we're goin," Rick told him.

"Yeah I know and that's cool, but you've seen Abraham in action. He's gonna get there and Eugene is gonna fix all this and you're gonna find yourself in a place where it's like how it used to be. And if you let too much go along the way, that's not gonna work. 'Cause you gonna be back in the real world."

"This is the real world, Bob."

Gosh I hope not, she thought.

"Nah. This is a nightmare. And nightmares end. I'm sorry. I'm callin it. Washington's gonna happen. You're gonna say yes. Already too much momentum. You can't fight city hall. Maybe that's just one  of those parts of not letting go."

Bob's words were so encouraging. They were words of a future. One that could be promising. Remy wanted to believe that the way Bob did, but she had serious doubts. She believed Eugene when he told her that D.C. was the best bet, but she had serious doubts about a 'cure'. Maggie had told her about how they were all infected, bitten or not, and how the bites just served to jumpstart the process. Remy figured it was probably due to the bacteria from the corpses. It was a safe bet.

—-

Soon, the six of them were standing in front of the county food bank. Gabriel had said that it served the whole county and all the cans at the church were gonna go there.

The ground floor was mostly cleared out. There were a few racks of clothing. As they stepped farther in, a hole in the floor revealed a flooded basement full of waterlogged walkers. Nasty.

The smell was like nothing Remy had ever experienced.

"If a sewer could puke," said Bob, "that's what it'd smell like." It was an accurate assessment by her estimation.

Metal shelving units held cans and bins that looked promising, but the question was, how would they get past the tide of walkers?

Sasha, always with the sharp wit, and quick thinking, suggested they use the shelves to block the walkers. It was a great idea. Still, they'd have to wade through corpse juice. Gabriel tried to hang back, and Remy thought she might like to beg off too, but she knew that they couldn't. It was time to get their hands dirty, like everyone else. Gabriel was certainly in need of a trial by fire.