to her, the world was silent.
she couldn't hear the birds sing, the leave rustling in the breeze, the crashing of a waterfall.
she couldn't hear the pained cries, the moans of the dead, the sound of the knife breaking through skin.
whether she was b...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
HARLOW STARED DOWN AT HER BOOTS AS THEY WALKED THE TRAIN TRACKS.
They found a sign a few miles back for a place called Terminus.
Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive. Survive.
The group thought that if other people from the prison saw that sign, that they would follow it, too. It would be the only way for all of them to meet up.
She was walking behind the others, looking for footprints or anything that pointed to someone, a human, being on the path they were on.
In front of her, Michonne and Carl were walking on the metal railings, trying to keep their balance.
Nora walked in front of them, next to Rick. She glanced back every once in a while to make sure they were keeping up,
"I think we got about a day's worth of water left." Rick stated from his spot next to Nora, "We're lucky it's cooled off a little bit, but..." He paused to look back at the others, spotting them in the middle of their competition, "What are you doing?"
"Winning a bet." Carl answered, trying to keep his concentration,
"In your dreams." Michonne shot back,
"I'm still on." Carl replied, trying to reach over to push Michonne over, but began loosing his balance,
The darker skinned woman chucked, "You spoke too soon, wise guy."
Nora smiled at the duo. It was nice to see a smile on Carl's face, especially after his sour mood the day before. Her gaze moved back to Harley, who was still staring at the ground with a frown on her face.
Nobody was fooled, they all knew why she was upset. But she just needed to have faith and keep hope that he'll find them.
Rick approached them, "This might go on a while. Maybe we can speed this up."
"Yeah, you're right. Shouldn't be fooling around." Michonne replied, "We should probably- Carl!" She shouted, trying to make him loose balance.
Instead, she fell off. Nora knew she did it on purpose, letting him win
"I win. Pay up." Carl grinned and he held out his hand,
Michonne dug into her backpack and Nora and Rick shared an amused look as she took out two candy bars, "Is that really the last Big Cat?"
"Oh, come on." The samurai sighed as he went for the brown coloured candy,
"Hey, but you said winner's choice."
Michonne gave him a small smirk before putting the other candy back into her bag, "Go ahead, take it. It's yours. You won it fair and square."
They continued their way down the tracks and Carl caught up to Nora, chewing on his Big Cat bar. He held out a portion of it. Nora gave him a small smile, "I'm good, kid." She glanced back at the red head that was still lagging behind, "Why don't you give it to Harley? She could use the pick-me up."
Carl nodded before pausing, waiting for Harley to catch up. He held out the piece of chocolate bar towards her while signing, pointing a finger to his head before pointing at her, "For you."
She stared at him for a moment before giving a small, kind smile, trying to make an effort. She took the chocolate bar from his hand and signed, "Thank you." Before taking a small bite,
Carl hesitated before attempting to sign, "We will alright."
Harley's smile widened as she corrected him, "We will be alright." She stared at him for a moment before nodding, "I know."
When the sun started setting, they went off the track and set up camp in the woods. They took wires that they had looted and wrapped them around trees, making a perimeter for their camp.
Nora went out to gather some firewood, and Rick went with her to set up some snare traps in hopes of getting some protein,
"How is Harley doing?" He asked as he set up the trap and Nora stood with some sticks in her hand,
She shrugged, "I think she will be. She never got to say goodbye, you know? Daryl went to go get something and never came back."
"He's out there." Rick stated as he stood and faced her,
"I know." Nora gave him a smile, "I think a lot of us are out there. We just have to find each other."
"Like how we found each other." He smirked, walking up to her,
"Yeah. Like how we found each other." Nora repeated, patting his chest before moving on.
When they got back to camp, the perimeter was completely set up and the others had started to make a fire pit. Nora put kindle and wood in the pit, and Michonne lit the fire. Carl dug through the duffel bag he had, and grabbed a few cans of food.
It wasn't much, but they needed to ration.
"How hungry are you, scale of one to ten?" Rick asked them, breaking the silence as they cooked the canned beans and veggies over the fire,
"15." Carl answered first, pushing coals around in the pit with a large stick,
"28." Michonne added, causing all of them to smile,
"Well, it's been a while." Rick stood, putting his stick down and standing, "I'm gonna go check the snares."
"Can I go with you?" Carl asked his father,
"Well, how else are you gonna learn?"
Carl, Michonne, and Rick went to check the snares while Nora and Harlow stayed behind. They haven't had a chance to discuss what happened back at the house where they were holed up.
"You killed one of them?"
Nora nodded, playing with a twig and moved her eyes to the fire in front of her.
"Do you think they're after us again?"
The brunette shrugged, "I don't know. Potentially. We've killed a lot of their men."
"What are they going to do to us if they find us?" Harley tried to keep her hands from shaking. Those men left a permanent scar on her mind. There wasn't a night that goes by where she doesn't think about what happened.
"Let's not find out."
Harlow nodded and turned her gaze to the woods. She felt like at any moment, those men could appear from the trees.
She had never truly gotten over the events. Daryl had always helped, had comforted her.
And Nora? She never really seemed affected. She was never awake in the middle of the night, tears running down her face, cheeks red. Harley had never seen fear in her eyes.
She was so much stronger than Harley.
But Harley didn't know how to get stronger, how to move on. Perhaps she'd never move on, not while those men are still alive.
