Broken Bars

Girl's Hunting Trip

"About that hunting trip..."

I groaned, throwing down the dirty laundry I had been planning on washing. "Ugh, Andrea-"

Andrea held her hands up, a smile already making its way onto her face. "I know, I know. But you need the distraction."

"I'm needed here."

Surely she had to see my point? Daryl, Bob, Tyreese and Michonne had headed out for the medicine and probably wouldn't be back for a while. Meanwhile, Carol and Rick had head out elsewhere, scouting for other supplies we could need. It left very few healthy people in charge, and I was more than a little uncomfortable with going outside the fences right now.

Andrea sat down, the lines under her eyes becoming more apparent. Her hair was tied back in a very messy ponytail. She looked up at me with tired eyes. "I can't keep sitting around and waiting. Nothing good ever comes out of waiting. We can't do anything for the sick people, but we could at least find them something to eat for when they get better."

"If they get better," I corrected her.

She closed her eyes. I could almost see them rolling beneath her eyelids. "They're gonna get better. I trust Caleb and Hershel."

"Its not about trust Andrea, its about facts. And the fact is, this flu is killing people. How long before Hershel and Caleb are overrun with walkers, or become sick themselves?" I ran a hand through my hair, chewing at my lip furiously. I understood her, I really did. I also hated waiting around. But right now was not the time to be disappearing. It meant leaving Maggie on her own to deal with everything, and with her loved ones sick or in danger, I didn't want the farm girl under more pressure.

Andrea, of course, was able to counter that thought without me even expressing it verbally. "Maggie already said it was fine. She's stronger than you think."

And that could well be true. Maggie was a tough woman, and definitely the fighter in her family. I'd seen her take down walkers twice as large as her. She's survived something nobody else but Andrea and I would understand: the loss of your siblings.

I sighed. There was no convincing Andrea. If her heart was set on it, she was doing it with or without me.

"You still up to bringing Sophia with us?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "If she wants to go. She might wait for her mom to come back with Rick."

I doubted that. Carol had taught Sophia to be independent. She was a completely different girl now than the child she had been on the farm. Sophia back then cried, and couldn't hold her own. Sophia now was capable of dealing with her shit as well as any adult could.

Maybe I did need the distraction. I couldn't do anything here for Josie. And as much as I'd liked the relaxing period of time I had been going through, I missed being needed. I was used to being the first to pick up a gun and begin shooting. Having to sit back and let the others handle problems was making me nervous, causing me to become paranoid and sick to my stomach.

Sophia wasn't with the other children. Since she had been around her mom and Josie a lot, she was considered more 'at risk' than the others. That and, like me, she couldn't stand to be kept away from the danger.

Andrea followed me to find her, though she wasn't hard to find. She was stood at the fence, staring out into the dead air in front of her. There was a wistful expression on her face, and I wondered what Sophia was thinking about. Was it her mother? The people sick and dying in their beds?

"Andrea has an idea," I started. The lost look in Sophia's eyes faded away as she turned around. "You fancy coming outside the fence with us on a little hunting party?"