Scarlett Greene hadn't spoken since she was twelve. After her Daddy was arrested for abuse when she was seventeen, she is sent to live with her Uncle Hershel. Her life gets better, but the trauma is still there.
When the apocalypse begins, she take...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
looting, sick, passing months
LOOTING HOUSES, KILLING WALKERS, SAVING EACH OTHER, REPEAT. The next months went just like that. The group never found somewhere safe like that motel for the first three or four months after. They went from house to house looting and siphoning gas. Winter was getting to its peak. They had layers and more layers on themselves, more care and attention on Lori and the kids as food was scarce. She was showing about four months into her pregnancy, but Scarlett was worried because she was still so small.
Another month passed, and Carl found a convenience store that was barricaded with wooden planks on all of the windows. Rick, Daryl, T, Glenn, Maggie, and Scarlett got into their normal positions in the circle, taking down any walkers that were inside of the store. Once they checked it, the group outside got the okay to come inside. Lori was glad to be out of the car as the snow began to get harsher the more North they went.
The roof had a small hole in the ceiling, but Rick found it okay enough to start a small fire. Daryl went hunting as normal with Scarlett tagging along.
They made it two weeks there, holeing up against the snowstorm outside. Walkers ruined that tiny home again as a herd approached.
The worst to happen that day was the cars not starting except Scarlett's truck. They watched her say a quick goodbye to the first big-girl purchase she made before they moved on foot.
The next two months were the worst. Lori was eight months pregnant, and they were on foot. It was slow. Torturing.
The only bright side was the cold air slowly melting away. Nights were becoming bearable as they went from house to house again.
Scarlett's rough exterior only grew rougher as she took charge in most situations as Rick was too busy worrying over everything to have a clear head. Whistling the way she always did, they found another block of houses to loot. There were cars on this block, and T-Dog was grinning at that. Immediately, he and Glenn went to the first car and hotwired it. They got Lori into it with Hershel and the three kids. Scarlett and Maggie were already at the next one, groaning when it was out of gas. Glenn took care of it though, finding two more with enough gas to get them to the next town.
A small win, so the next two weeks, they drove to the next town. Parking their cars on the end of the road, they began to go through houses again. Carl had his gun and steely eyes from his father as he protected Sophia each house they went to. Sometimes they would get lucky, but Scarlett figured the cars were their only source of luck that day as the houses they found had jack shit. She knew that to be true about the luck because she was now sick and no one knew what to do.
Getting to the last house on the block, they assumed their positions and went inside again. Each person had a job while Hershel and Beth helped Lori sit down in the living area. Scarlett went upstairs, smiling slightly at the kids room she found. There was baby clothes and other things no one worried about right now. Lori needed these things though, so Scarlett emptied her bag that held some things that were important to her from the farm before filling it up with baby items that she could find. Coughing, she leaned on the wall as a dizzy-spell hit her. Taking deep breaths, she shook her head twice and forced herself to see straight.
Walking downstairs, she saw the others in a circle just breathing and relaxing for a few minutes. Daryl was plucking an owl, Lori was crying but trying to hide it, Carl was trying to open a can of something, Sophia was sharpening her knife, and Rick looked to be contemplating something. Finally, Rick got up and grabbed the can, seeing it was dog food. Carl grimaced as Rick threw it across the room.
They sat there as Daryl roasted the owl over a small, small pile of embers. Hardly called a fire.
He gave majority of the meat to Lori before sectioning the rest for Beth, Carl, and Sophia. Daryl took one measly bite of a piece of meat that was left before he noticed Scarlett's pale frame. He slid the final piece to her, and she took it with shaky hands. T-Dog whistled in Scarlett's secret tone that they all used now gaining everyone's attention. Rick had been about to speak to Scarlett when they both instead glanced up and out the window.
Scarlett growled slightly as the herd moved closer.
They all got up, getting into the cars and rushing out of that town away from the herd.
Once they were far enough away from the town, it was daylight. Maggie honked her horn once causing the caravan to stop. Scarlett leaned her head against the cool window while Rick got out. He noticed her skin was warm before leaving. She needed medication for whatever was wrong with her. He did not know what to do.
Getting out of the car, he noticed Maggie, Glenn, Hershel, Daryl, and T were looking at the map laid over the car's hood.
"We've got no place left to go," T told Rick.
Maggie nodded. "When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off, we'll never make it south."
"What do you say, it's about 150 head?" Daryl asked, looking at the others with concern.
Glenn shrugged. "That was last week, could be twice that now."
"This river could have delayed them," Hershel said, trying to be optimistic. "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this."
T-Dog pointed at the map while shaking his head. "Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way."
Maggie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "So we're blocked."
"Only thing to do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville," Rick muttered absentmindedly as he thought of Scarlett and Lori.
T-Dog noticed his brain elsewhere. "We picked through that already, it's like we spent the winter going in circles."
Rick finally put his attention on them. "Yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through the area. We can't keep going house to house." Rick gulped as he looked at Lori in pain in one car as Scarlett's eyebrows were furrowed as if she was in pain as well in the other. "We need to find some place to hold up for a few weeks."
"Alright. Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? It won't take long. We gotta fill up on water, we can boil it later," he added as Rick nodded to them. "Knock yourself out." They all dispersed except Hershel and Rick. They watched as T got Carol, Carl, and Sophia out to go with him to the creek.
Hershel bit his lip, starting with their problems. "She can't take much more of this moving about," Hershel murmured about Lori.
"Well, what else can we do, let her give birth on the run?" Rick grumbled.
"You see a way around that?" Hershel sighed as his head went to the other female in pain. "How is she?"
"I still think it's a flu variant. We'll find some. I'm gonna go see if she wants to wash up a bit in that creek." He walked away as Daryl stepped forward, pretending to not have been listening to the conversation.
"Hey, while the others wash their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot," he teased softly, trying to get Rick's mind off of the two females he cared most about practically dying in front of him.
