Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE JEEP.
Liliana clicks her tongue as she leans against the useless jeep, Gabriel pacing back and forth in front of her as she stares ahead, rubbing her lips together.
It's been a full day and a half since David and Tyreese went into town. They said they'd be back by nightfall or the next morning. They never showed. It's just Lily and Gabe, the weak links.
There was the thought they purposely left them for a better chance of survival but after thinking on it just a minute longer, Lily knew that was far from the truth. David loved his brother and Tyreese promised Lily he'd protect her, there was no way in hell they just left them.
Still, even with that reassurance, it feels shitty and there's a heavy feeling of dread in her gut as questions flood her brain. What happened to them? Are they dead? Are they hurt? Did someone take them? Are they ever coming back? All questions Lily couldn't answer.
"Okay, okay, um, maybe...maybe they got stuck," Gabe offers, pausing his pacing to look at Lily, who stares straight ahead at a patch of gas off the side of the road. Little white flowers grow there. Beth would like those, Lily thinks. She takes a deep breath when she begins remembering her friends, how simple life was at the prison.
She's spent so much time thinking of Glenn she never even processed the loss of all her friends––Her family. Rick, Daryl, Beth, Maggie, Carl––God, her eyes get wet when she remembers that little boy and where he might be right now.
"Maybe," Lily says quietly, just to fill the silence she created. Gabe takes a deep breath, looking in the direction he last saw the men go.
"We should try and find them," Gabe suggests but Lily shakes her head. The town is the exact opposite of where she needs to go. She has to find Glenn or someone she knows. Her group isn't dumb, she knows someone is on those tracks.
"I'm staying on the tracks," Lily says sternly, looking the way the men went before looking up at Gabe. "And I'm moving on tomorrow. Staying in one place too long, especially an open one like this, is too dangerous," Gabe looks almost crushed at her words, causing guilt to pang in her chest. She inhales deeply, giving him a compassionate look before shaking her head.
"You can come with me–"
"I'm not leaving my brother."
"You wouldn't be," Lily says calmly, "He'd get it."
Gabe shakes his head, inhaling deeply through his nose.
"I can't," Gabe waves his hand to dismiss the idea, "Not yet. I–He's still out there."
"I get it," Lily assures, "I do. My husband is still out there," There's a look of understanding on Gabe's face when she brings up Glenn, "So, I gotta go. I gotta, Gabe," Liliana whispers, feeling a tightening in her chest when she says it because she has to come with the horrifying realization that she's going to be alone for who knows how long.
There's a horrible fear in her gut when she thinks about how long she'll have to do this alone. If she'll have to give birth alone, if she'll even make it if she'll even remember what Glenn looks like by the time she finds him again if she'll even remember the faces of the people she once loved and protected, there are so many terrifying things running through her mind, she can't help but get misty-eyed.
Gabe's eyes fall to Lily's stomach, staring at it for a few beats before looking back at her face, sad.
"How are you...What about the–"
"I don't know," Lily answers, trying to soothe him more than herself, "But I'll be fine."
Gabe swallows.
"You can't do it on your own," He says quietly as if the walkers would care about their conversation. Lily laughs through her nose, shrugging. She could if she wanted to but does she want to? No. Not in the slightest. Lily hates being alone but with an ever-dwindling group that seems like her only option.
"Yeah," Lily says quietly, "It'll be a lot harder but it's what I gotta do," She shrugs again, "Plus, it won't be too long until I find Glenn or someone from the prison. I'll be okay," She says mainly to soothe herself but also to soothe Gabe. It doesn't. He still looks worried about all hell.
"Please, come with me," Gabe quietly begs, causing Lily's eyes to widen and her heart to ache. She slowly shakes her head, swallowing thickly.
"I can't, Gabe," Lily replies, eyes getting wet again. "I gotta find him."
Gabe exhales as he looks down, slowly nodding.
"We'll just wait until the morning then," He says as he sits next to her, rubbing his dry lips together. Lily looks at him, sniffling before nodding, giving his knee a pat. Gabe smiles at her, putting his hand on her's and squeezing. It reminds her of Andrea. It makes her smile, giving his hand a squeeze as well, just like she did with Andrea.
—
Morning light shines through the windows of the jeep and a whispery growl can be heard on the window Lily's head rests on, causing her eyes to open with a soft groan. She rubs her eyes, moving the backpack she rested her head on to look at the walker pawing at her window, huffing quietly as she looks at the front seat to see Gabe soundly sleeping in the driver's seat.
She digs her knife out of her back pocket, grumbling to herself about how she can never get a moment's peace in this world as she crawls out the other side of the jeep, blinking the sleep away as she hears the walker drag itself over to her, growling and reaching out to her as it moved at a snail's pace towards her. Lily examines the walker's face for a beat, just to be sure, before driving her knife into its softened skull, grunting as she did so. The walker shuts up immediately, body falling onto the concrete with a thud.
Lily takes a deep breath as she stares down at the body, dropping down to slice its stomach open, her face pinching at the disgusting sight and smell of the walker's insides.
Silently, she dips her hand into the blackened blood of the walker, using it to paint on the jeep's back window. She leaves a simple message for Gabe, a simple: LEFT FOR THE TRACKS. GOOD LUCK. THANK YOU. – LILY.
Then she does just that. Quietly, getting her backpack from the jeep and heading into the forest and back on the tracks, sighing loudly when the feeling of fear comes back in. This time, there's no one else around and she could cry without feeling weak.
Silent tears stream down her cheeks as she silently walks down the tracks, alone.
❃
Words: 1218
Published: 24 December 2021
Author's Note !
—————
umm merry christmas eve with this sad ass chapter haha! anyways, i think there will only be one more chapter without glenn bc i miss my bestie. hope you enjoy and don't forget to follow my tiktok @ bambiwps for some fun edits! luv yall see u soon! <3333
