signal | the walking dead

5 • rises the moon

| days seem sometimes as if they'll never end |

The hot sun followed Bea, one step ahead always, digging it's heels to taunt her. It was almost as if the days were becoming longer and longer, and she felt like the times she'd see the moon rise were lessening in time more and more. Maybe it was meant to be some odd blessing in disguise. That she wouldn't be so terrified at night in case other walkers approached, but the heat was constantly causing Bea to feel one more step away from dropping down in exhaustion. But that would be no good, she wasn't exactly looking to be walker bait.

Half the time she felt as if she didn't know what she was doing. The phrase "no matter what" feeling like empty words when the woman who said them couldn't do anything but growl and groan and snap her teeth. Bea did what her gut insticts told her to do now.

Survive.

And survival to her meant finding that safe space once again, that safe haven that she felt with her loved ones around her. She was able to carry a piece of that with her when Ruth was there, but now each step that replaced her own in the muddy woods left a rotten trace of agony. Hasty footprints with longing and hope were smudged away by mindless drags of a shell of a human being. However, Bea struggled in reminding herself that Ruth was no longer a human being. She could never shake off her love, her appreciation, her guilt, making it that much harder to simply move on.

"Please, Ruth, I don't wanna leave you like this," Bea quickly wiped a tear away, not letting it blur her vision as the walker continued to follow her.

Yet Ruth followed along like a lost puppy. Like a little duckling after its mother. Like a shark going after it's bait.

She wasn't quite as horrifying to look at from an outside point of view. Any bite marks were hard to trace because Ruth had covered it up from the young girl, but she had regrettably seen the fatal incision on her lower back. Ruth's hair was more tangled and her eyes were sunken with that lifeless look.

She seemed an ordinary fresh walker to the naked eye.

That was what made it more heartbreaking for Bea. The determination they had to make it together, shattered by a hidden truth. Broken by fate's hand.

As Bea dizzily made her way down the highway, she hoped Ruth would get lost amongst the maze of cars. Maybe then she could keep going and not have to look at her again.

She came across one car with a sign on it saying 'Sophia stay here, we will come here everyday.' She didn't know who the girl was, but Bea couldn't help herself in taking some of the snacks that were on there. It couldn't hurt, could it? Starving, was one word to describe her current state, so she was sure that when this Sophia returned, she'd certainly enjoy the Jolly Ranchers that were neatly arranged and left behind with some other snacks too.

The groaning returned, this time too close for comfort.

"You always did like Cheetos, didn't you Ruth?" Bea tilted her head sadly at the walker, dropping one on the ground as an offering but of course she didn't care about that no longer. Ruth was a walker now so all she wanted was blood and flesh.

She continued to weave her way between different cars, running ahead sometimes to gain some distance and have enough time for looting. And with that she played along with her makeshift system. In one car, a small eagle badge lay on the dashboard. There was no reason for Bea to take it, but she knew they often gave off strength and courage, and she needed some of that at the moment.