Apocalypse

Twelve

"Lori" I see Lori by herself in the tent, she looks up at me "I'm making the decision for us to leave, Rick only wants us to stay because your pregnant but in reality...we need to go"

She nods her head "I'll talk to him, make him understand that leaving is the best option" Nodding my head, I am about to go when she asks "How did you know?" Looking at her "about the baby?"

"Bryce and I" shrugging my shoulders "we can hear it"

"You hear it?" Tears well in her eyes, placing her hand on her belly "the baby...is it"

"Strong heartbeat and healthy" she smiles as I am about to go when I say "I've practiced being a midwife before and in neonatal stuff, so I can help make sure you, Aisha and Amelia are healthy for delivery"

She lets out a laugh "Is there anything you can't do?"

I think about it "Keep Shane in line" leaving her, I see Rick coming over to me "I don't want to hear it Rick"

"What do we do?"

"The plan I've been saying" I tell him as we walk over to the others who are by the dead bodies "we go to Virginia or New York and start new, fresh from there"

"But Lori"

Stopping, I look at him "I'll keep Lori safe Rick, every decision that is made will not be taken lightly. Okay?" He nods his head and we go to the others who look at us.

"Do you want us to start sorting them out?" T-Dog asks

"Sorting?" Jimmy asks

"Blood typing" I tell him "I can make the blood edible or...useful, I can make sure the blood can be used for both humans and vampires" looking at he others "Hershel's stepson and wife along with Sophia I'm not going to harvest their blood"

Nodding their heads "So do we go bury them?" Andrea asks "cause if we do, we need a service. Carol would want that"

"We burn the bodies" they look at me shocked "we can't contaminate the lands anymore than necessary with this virus"

"She's right" Rick agrees with me

"Let's" Lori who came over says "let's build some pyres for them, if we aren't digging a grave for Sophia and Annette and Shawn"

"Let's get to work" I say, Lori goes to Rick and brings him aside as the others and I begin our work with making sure the blood is good.

After hours we have a service for them, then I throw a fireball on them. Maybe we could convince these people to come with or something cause if we can then we can get the chickens.

Going over to the walkers, I start using my magic as  Andrew says "We got lucky, if we burn anymore we could've been overrun"

"Good thing Shane did what he did" T-Dog praises Shane "when he did"

"You can't tell me this was right" Dale shakes his head

"It wasn't" I agree with Dale "we should have left, if we had left" they look at me "Carol would have had some sort of hope that her daughter was alive and alright, but this?" Waving around "I'm grateful for the blood we are adding but it wasn't right"

"What do we do now?" Rick asks "I mean this cost us with Hershel"

"He'll come around" Andrea nods her head "see we had no choice. I shot too, this wasn't all Shane"

"I think" speaking up "we need to convince them to come with us, survive with us. If we can then we can bring the chickens and I can possibly make the cows, horses, pigs smaller and put them in a coma like I did with the others before leaving"

"Yes, but" Dale shakes his head "we created a panic, there is no way Hershel will want to come with us"

"There's no point" Lori says "about arguing this, but your right. Hershel might not want to come"

"But the others might" I say, everyone disbands as I get to work on these walkers. I can't believe Hershel had thirty walkers in his barn. This is like fifteen gallons of blood, minus three since his late wife and stepson and Sophia of course.

"Phoenix?" Looking over at Rick as he comes over "I need to go talk to Hershel, he's in town and...can you come with?"

"Why?" I ask

"I need to talk to someone" he says "and I can't look at anyone around here, much less Lori or Shane. Glen is coming on a supply run"

"Sure" standing up, we go to my truck—I notice Glen in the backseat—which is empty in the back before we go to town

"Bryce is going to try to convince the others to come with us, if Hershel's not coming" Glen breaks the silence

"I'll say it" shaking my head "Shane needs to go"

"Phoenix" Rick sighs

"I'm not debating this or discussing this" being firm about this "something isn't right with him. He is more destructive and it's not healthy. He could have gotten someone killed today because of the stunt he pulled"

"She's right" Glen agrees with me "we've all seen it, it's very worrying. Aisha and Amelia don't want to be around him nor do they want their unborn children"

"What should I do then?" He asks "cause I don't know what to do"

"He's too dangerous for anyone" I say "we need to kill him"

The ride is silent as we start to pass by some buildings "Phoenix?" Glen asks, I hear his heart beat rapidly as he begins to sweat "um...I know this is weird and all but...um...I would like your permission to...ask...Bryce...out"

I'm silent before I start to laugh, I stop the truck and laugh at this "This isn't a good sign" Rick tells Glen.

Looking at him "You can date her, I'm laughing because we're in the middle of the apocalypse and I'm finding it funny that your main objective right now is asking for my permission to date my daughter"

"Uh" is all he says. Shaking my head, I start to drive again laughing still.