Don't Fear The Reaper (R. Grimes & D. Dixon)

37

Kit was walking down the road almost to their target area, where Aaron told them two vehicles should be. Abe, Glenn, Maggie, Michonne, and Rosita were with her, "eyes open to everybody. weapons up, you see someone coming at us, you fire," Glenn said

"correction only if their hostiles." kit said, just casually walking with her gun; she chose to be relaxed. Aaron gave her no untrusting indicators or any reason to be on edge. She was, however, damn thankful she left her jacket at the barn. the sun beating down on them was so excruciatingly hot her body felt like it was in a sauna

"copy that," Abe said

"he said he was watching us since the bridge. after everything we've done, why would he want us to join his group?" Glenn asked. Kit wasn't sure either; she had a lot of blood on her hands, more than probably anyone in their group. Well, maybe not Abe. He was a soldier, after all.

"people like us saved a priest. Saved a girl who rolled up to the prison with the governor. saved a crazy lady with a sword." Michonne said

kit snorted, " a fence hugging crazy lady with a sword. pretty sure Aaron has much better manners than you did." Michonne shook her head, chuckling 

"definitely more well-mannered. but he still had to of seen that."

"I don't know what he saw." Glenn sighed

it didn't take them very long to find an RV and a white Cadillac trapped by blown down tree branches of varying sizes. "he was telling the truth," Michonne said, looking over to kit as she holstered her gun.

"I liked him," she said, walking forward Abe and Rosita, dispatching two walkers that stumbled out of the shrubbery. There was still no sign of the husband or anyone else, so they went ahead and moved the tree branches and took the vehicles back to the barn, where everyone was waiting outside as they pulled up.

"he wasn't lying," kit said when Daryl and Rick approached her, the rest forming a half-circle.

"fully stocked with food, too," Abe said, holding up a can of spaghetti O's

"it's ours now," Rick said, moving forward; kit stepped in front of him to block the door to the RV

"We are going, rick-" she crossed her arms "- he could have lied and hurt us. But he didn't; he had ample time to have done so. But he didn't. We need this; the kids need this. So you and Daryl's options are to go check out what could be our new home or go back to the cramped space of the house almost 100 miles away, but I'm done. pick one, but we are all going." T-dog sent her a sly thumbs up that she could see just over ricks shoulder

"I don't know, man. that barn smells like horse shit." Daryl sided with her

"yeah. yeah, we're going," Rick agreed, eyeing them both and nodding before walking back to the barn entrance "we decided to go, so where are we going? where's your camp?" rick asked Aaron

"well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back. I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet."

"you ain't drive'n. So I suggest you start talkin," merle said, annoyed as rick layed out a map.

"go north on route 16."

"need more than that," merle scoffed, eyeing the blade attached to him

Aaron swallowed hard. "I'll tell you more when we get there."

"we'll take 23 north. you'll give us directions from there." rick said

"that's - I don't know how else to say it. That's a bad idea. We've cleared 16. it'll be faster."

"look, Aaron, this isn't our first rodeo with a group playing Venus flytrap. we're taking 23." kit backed rick

"We leave at sundown," rick said 

"we're doing this at night?" Sasha asked

"look, I know it's dangerous. But it's better than riding up to the gates during the day. if it isn't safe, we need to get gone before they know we're there."

"no one is going to hurt you. you're trying to protect your group, but you're putting them in danger." Aaron pleaded kits mind going to the terminus. They had told several people the same thing. Then I ate them.

"tell me where the camp is; we'll leave right now." rick tried; Aaron shook his head, and rick nodded, standing. "everyone eats, rest. It's going to be a long night." he ordered before going over to the car; kit followed.

"I'm going to take merle, Glenn, and Aaron in this car. The kids will be safer in the RV." rick said. Kit whispered an okay, studying him for a minute

"thank you," she said honestly

rick pulled her in for a tight hug, "you were right. We need this. we can't let our guard down though

" I know," she whispered. Rick pulled back, cradling her face, staring into her eyes before kissing her until he had to pull back before he took her right there. "sometime tonight, we will have to decide if it's safe enough to bring our family in. I'm going to need you and Daryl to use those eyes; you two see things the rest of us miss; we're going to need that."

"course," she whispered; rick pecked her lips. "I love you so much, kitten."

Things that night didn't go as planned at all. The RV got separated from the car, and the road to packed full of walkers. Kit and Maggie were practically restrained to stop them from running off to find them as they found a new place to hide. A flare had shot out right where they were headed to a couple of buildings in a neighborhood, possibly hard to tell in the dark. The good news was they found the husband, whose name was Eric. Bad news they had to kill walkers to get him out from under the car he was hiding under, and he had a broken ankle. The vehicle must have been in neutral, and the walkers rolled the tire over it. Kit, of course, was able to use some materials lying around the shop they hid in to stabilize it till she or their surgeon in the community could take a look at it with better resources. Eric warned her, however, that the guy had a bit of a drinking problem but was good at his job at least. When ricks group finally showed up exhausted after the commotion, they caused they had to wait it out till morning.

At first light, they all loaded up kit, rick, and the kids in the car; they had to stop halfway when the RV battery died, Glenn having to fix it. It felt very reminiscent to a couple of their fallen companion dale, which made kits' memories extend further.

"Mom, you okay?" Jody asked. Rick looked beside him in concern as she wiped a few stray tears away.

"Yeah, sweetheart. Just memories, that's all" she squeezed Jody's arms gently, reassuring him, and rick kissed the side of her head.

When they pulled up to the gate and turned off the car, kit almost cried just hearing kids playing inside. she looked over to rick locking eyes with him as he was already watching her with a small smile of his own "you ready, baby?" she whispered he nodded before grabbing Judith, her three other boys moving to stand close to her as they caught up, Daryl with a possum in hand. The wheels of the gate slightly squeaked as they opened.