ORDER (sequel to Trouble) [TWD]

oasis

"I don't buy it," Sakiko denies at once.

Ryan tilts his head back and forth a couple of times, reading back over the sign once more.

"How the hell does anyone expect to promise 'sanctuary' in a time like this?" he echoes her thoughts.

Sakiko looks around as if people were lying in wait to take them out after reading the sign.

"I don't like it," she rephrases.

"Yeah," Ryan drags out, "Me either."

"Come on," she pats his arm, "I saw a sign for a gas station about a mile out from here."

Ryan nods, looking at the words 'TERMINUS' once more before scoffing at the premise and following behind Sakiko.

--

Daryl was not one for crowds. If it wasn't his own group- his own kid, he could throw in that he wasn't one for people in general.

These men were no exception.

"Yeah, she was a sweet little piece of ass," one of the men, Keith, remarks.

"C'mon man, this ain't a circle jerk event. Keep your thoughts to yourself," Joe rolls his eyes as he walks by.

"I'm just saying," Keith holds his hands up in surrender, "Them young 'ens.. They make your whole year worthwhile."

"How old we talking?" Len questions.

"Well, she said she was eighteen."

There's a ruckus of laughter and Daryl feels his two-bite worth meal threatening to come back up.

"What? You a virgin or some shit?" Len knocks his boot against Daryl's leg.

Daryl has to fight the urge- no.. need to knock the creep's teeth down his throat.

Beth, wherever that car with the cross on it had taken her, had to have been lucky. Things would've been far worse than he could comprehend if these 'men' had laid their eyes on her.

--

"Do you think this will ever end?" Sakiko wonders.

Ryan props his head up on his free arm, the other already being laid on by Sakiko as they look up at the stars.

"Think what will end?" he asks.

Sakiko plays with his fingers, humming as she finds the right words, "The walkers and all.. All the running and fighting.."

"What, like.. Go back to life before?"

"Not exactly.. More like a better life than before. A safer one. A happier one."

Ryan smiles gently- forgetting what hope sounded like when coming from her. He places his chin on her head hugging her a bit tighter.

"This world is whatever we make it."

"That sounds like a cop-out answer," she blames.

"It might be," Ryan chuckles.

Sakiko rolls closer to him until they're both on their sides, her face in his chest. They'd made a pallet on the roof of the gas station- the stars their only company for the night after they'd cleared the walkers from the inside of the store.

"I used to just.." Sakiko pauses, "Just try and get by. Making it through a day was okay. Then, I had to gear up for the next."

She pulls at the strings on his hoodie, the unfamiliar feeling of tears in her eyes making her hesitate.