No Tomorrow

*

"There should be some houses along the track at some point, the rails cut through a city like ten miles back.."

I almost tripped again and this time I stayed down, the sun beating down on the crown of my head, my right cheek was pressed into one of the warm metals and I wanted nothing more then to stay here and cry, zombies be damned. So far we hadn't seen anyone from our family and my heart thudded a painful meter when I tried to think of Daryl, I didn't know if he made it or not but I refused to believe that he died back there.

"Belle, come on. Only a few more miles to go and then we can rest for the night in a house along the way."

He waited for me to get up but when it was clear that I wasn't going to Jay just sighed and picked me up like a sack of turnips, hefting me up onto his back so that I was attached to him like he was giving me an ordinary piggy back ride; he started walking on this way with his arms looped to hold my legs at his sides and my chin rested loosely against his left shoulder. He didn't seem to mind though, I knew my weight was next to nonexistent to him.

"Have it your way."

His feet crunched over loose pebbles between the wood planks of the tracks and I just sighed and shut my eyes, I don't know if my body was going into shock or not but all of a sudden all of the muscles in my body felt like hot led. It reminded me of the painful time when I lost my baby several months back.

"I know what you're thinking, it's been written all over your face you know."

He chuckled and held onto my legs just a little tighter.

"As much as telling you not to worry would be pointless, you really shouldn't. They're tough, all of them...and I bet that he's still alive because he's the most stubborn son of a bitch that I know."

A few more miles of nothing but silence and he stopped walking so I decided to reopen my eyes, blinking when the bright sun blinded me for a brief second. He mumbled some words and it took me a good bit to be able to see what he was reading.

"Terminus....santuary for all...safe place for those who need it.....Do you think that it's real?''

He walked closer to the sign and balancing one of my legs closely against his hip bone he was able to wipe at the dirty sign and reveal a map that seemed to follow the track's path with red marking. I dropped down from Jay's back and gently touched a few fingers to the weathered that showed the markings of the prison a few miles back.

"I don't know....maybe? This sign looks pretty old- but is anything real anymore?"

He came up behind me and put a hand down on my left shoulder.

"Maybe, but think for a second. If our family is alive and taking these tracks like we are they might see this and follow it. Worse for ware we could check the place out and wait for them- but we're branching off first."

My fingers wiped away the rest of the dirt caked onto the map and I touched the chain around my neck that held my ring still yet, I didn't want to put it back on just in case I needed to change on the fly. I had an idea...there was enough space to the side of this sign for a small message on a tiny electrical light box.

"Fine, but hang on a sec will you? I'm leaving something behind just in case they do come this way."

I turned away from the sign and bent down to paw at some of the dry grass until I saw dirt, I kept pawing away at the same spot with my nails until I finally felt some moisture in some of the dirt.

"The hell are you doing?"

I poked and pulled at the dirt until I had enough to form a thick muddy paste and kept kneading at it even as I got back up to my feet.

"Leaving a message....you don't have a marker on you so I'm doing what little bit that I can."

Balling the paste into my left hand I dipped two fingers into the mixture and traced words onto the metal until I had no room left, I flung the rest of it back onto the ground and wiped my hands on my thighs before he came up behind me to look at my work.

"Belle, Jay, safe....for now....here. Following the tracks, be careful. Hm...sounds simple enough."

I took the chain off my neck and draped it over a metal corner so that my wedding band was visible close to the message before I bent a piece of the corner back to hold everything in place, finally satisfied I stepped back and leapt onto his back with a tiny huff and pointed over his shoulder.

"That's just in case someone else finds it that's not them- do you mind? I don't wanna fall again."

He grinned and turned around before he gripped my calves with his elbows and veered us off the tracks to the right in favor of a patch of asphalt that was peeking through the trees, cracked and overgrown with weeds from even here.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight like I made the mistake of last time girly, let's go get some rest and maybe find some food and MAYBE make plans to leave in the morning."

I managed to smile before resting my chin on his shoulder again and I poked at his cheek opposite of my face with my pointer finger until he snorted and tried biting at it.

"You make it sound like I'm a chore- but you love me regardless, I just know it."

"I never said that I stopped, did I?"