Make it Till You Don't

Leaving Everything Behind

I stayed back at the house as the others piled into cars, shooting and luring away as many Walkers as they could away from the house. My aim was horrible to say the least and I quickly ran out of bullets. Only having my knife on me, I took down Walker's that were strayed around, all while trying to stay out of Hershel's range of fire.

The number was growing too large so I told Lori, Beth, Carol, and Patricia to make a run for it. I turned back around to cover them as long as I could when I heard a scream. Turning back, I saw Patricia caught in the arms of a Walker from behind, a few others gathered at the smell of blood.

I kicked a Walker close to me away, plunging my knife into its head as the truck T-dog and Andrea were in came up. Andrea jumped out, letting Lori and Beth get in while she went to help Carol. Seeing they were fine, I went back near Hershel, helping him as best as I could.

"Hershel, we can't stay too much longer..." I glanced around seeing the cars beginning to drive off. "We're the only ones here, we got to go!"

"I'm not going anywhere, you go." Hershel replied stubbornly, causing me to groan.

"Hershel, the farm is done for." I spoke up, gesturing around. "Look around you, Beth and Maggie got out, isn't that more important?" Seeing he wasn't hearing me, I sighed and began looking around. There's nowhere to run, much less a way out. Rick has the keys to the car behind us.

I closed my eyes for a moment, knowing it was no use and that this was it. "Then I'm staying too." I told him, opening my eyes and glancing to Hershel, seeing a Walker behind him. "HERS-"

I was cut off by a gunshot, flinching from the noise as the Walker dropped to the ground. I looked to see Carl and Rick, relief flooding through me as I made my way over to them.

"Where's Lori? Did you see Lori?" Rick asked.

I nodded my head. "She was with Beth and T-Dog, though I don't know what happened to them.

"We have to go." He said, looking from the two of us to Carl. "Find mom and the others."

"It's my farm!" Hershel yelled in defiance.

"Not anymore!" Rick yelled back, yanking Hershel to the car. "Come on!" The four of us piled into the car, taking off. As we pulled off, I glanced at the farm from the window as it grew smaller.

———

A couple hours later, we pulled up to the same spot on the highway where I met the group. I got out of the car, walking over to where we set food out for Sophia, frowning. "Wait, where's mom?" Carl asked, looking at Rick. "You said she'd be here." Rick didn't reply, making Carl panic. "W-We gotta go back for her."

"Carl-"

"No. Why are we running? What are you doing?" Carl cut him off, getting frustrated. "It's- It is mom. We need to get her and not be safe a mile away."

Rick told Carl to stay quiet, trying to calm him down. I felt for the boy, really. He has to grow up in this shitty world, while trying to figure out how life works. He doesn't understand that if we go back to the farm... we won't make it back out.

I watched as Carl walked off before looking at Rick. Then there's Rick. Having so much stress on him all the time, making sure his wife and kid are safe while trying to lead the group. It's gotta be taking a toll on him.

As we waited here for the others, I couldn't help but to wonder, what now? If anyone did make it out, where do we go next? I shook the thoughts off, looking around and saw a Walker not too far away. "Rick." I whisper shouted, gaining his attention. "Walker." I pointed.

He looked to the Walker, then to Carl and Hershel as I joined them. "Stay low, and quiet." He told us, the four of us leaning against the side of a car.

The growling grew louder as it passed, walking along the other side of the car. "Okay. Come, come, come, come." Rick motioned us to walk around to the back of the car. As he watched the Walker, I looked in the opposite direction, to make sure it didn't have any friends lagging behind.

"I don't know how much longer we can stay here." Hershel told Rick.

"I- I'm not leaving without mom." Carl countered, not liking what they were saying.

Rick looked to Carl for a moment, agreeing about not leaving yet. "So we're just gonna walk away? Not knowing if my wife, your girls, are still out there? How do we live with that?"

"You've only got one concern now- just one." Hershel nodded down at Carl. "Keeping him alive. Nature may be throwing us a curveball, but that law is still true."

Pondering Hershel's words, knowing he was right, Rick knelt down in front of Carl. "Carl, it's not safe here. I'm sorry. We'll-"

"Rick." I cut him off, looking behind us. "Someone's coming."

As the sound of an engine started getting closer, I could see it was cars from the farm. I walked behind the others as the cars stopped, everyone filing out of them and reuniting. I looked around and saw just about everyone was here, astounding me. Just who the hell are these people?

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked, looking at Daryl for an answer.

"Well, those guys' taillights zigzagging all over the road- figured he had to be Asian driving like that." Daryl replied, pointing to Glenn.

Glenn let out a chuckle at Daryl's poor excuse of a joke. "Good one."

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked Rick.

"We're the only ones who made it so far." Rick replied.

And that was true. Patricia, Jimmy, Andrea, and Shane were gone.

———

We were on the road for a while, when we had to stop due to Rick's car running low on gas. "We'll make camp tonight." He glanced around before pointing to the side of him. "Over there, get on the road at the break of day."

Carol nudged my shoulders, causing me to look at her. "Does this feel right to you?" I just shrugged my shoulders, not sure what's right and what's not.

"What if Walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked Rick.

"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl mentioned to Rick. "He had turned, but he wasn't bit."

"How's that possible?" Beth questioned.

Lori looked to Rick, wanting answers, much like the rest of us. "Rick, what happened?"

"Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to." Daryl added.

Lori looked at him. "And the herd got him?"

I shook my head. "Couldn't have been. If that were the case, they would've ran into the herd long before it showed up at the farm."

Rick was silent for a moment before speaking up. "We're all infected." I glanced over to Rick, not understanding what he was talking about. "At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

"And you never said anything?" Carol questioned him in disbelief.

"You knew this whole time?" Glenn was shocked, somewhat betrayed from the information being withheld.

"How could I have known for sure?" Rick was quick to defend himself. "You saw how crazy that moth-"

"That is not your call." Glenn cut Rick off. "Okay, when I found out about the Walkers in the barn, I told for the good of everyone."

Rick tilted his head to the side. "Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." Rick walked off, Lori following.

"I hate to say it Glenn, but even if he did tell you right away, would it really have made a difference?" I glanced over to him before continuing. "Would you want to live, knowing that anyone can turn at any moment just by dying? It would've caused panic and distrust within the group."

"He still should've told us." Glenn replied back, frustrated.

"Personally, I wish I didn't know." I looked down to the ground. "Because now I know, no matter what, we'll turn into one of those things... Bitten or not."

———
Published: 04/16/2024