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.・゜-: ✧☾ ☽✧ :-゜・.
Glenn wiped the sweat from his forehead, glancing around at the group. "We need more water."
Stella yanked her water bottle over her face, leaning her head back as she let the last drop fall on her tongue.
"There's a creek up the road a few miles southwest of here," Rosita said.
"Yall go, I'll stay here," Maggie said, nudging her head toward Eugene.
"You sure?" Glenn asked her, the woman nodding.
The remaining members of the group gathered their weapons and the water barrel and walked off. The fresh air was a welcome change from the putrid stench surrounding the fire truck. They walked in relative silence for about an hour until they stumbled upon a fallen tree, where three walkers wriggled and snapped their jaws, pinned beneath the thick tree.
"Ouch," Stella said as she passed them.
"Just stay here guys," Tara teased the walker.. "Don't get up. There is nothing for you in Washington."
"That's not funny," Rosita shot back.
"It's not, not funny," Tara muttered. Stella turned around, grinning at the girl who walked with the walking stick that she had found earlier.
"Hey, I get that we're all dealing with things in different ways..." Glenn spoke up.
"Listen, I don't know what to do without DC anymore," Tara cut him off. "But I'm not dealing with it. I'm over it. I just want him to be okay."
"I just wanna go back," Stella said under her breath.
"Look, Eugene wasn't strong. He isn't fast. He doesn't know how to use a weapon." Tara rambled, and to Stella, it almost sounded like she was listing every reason to leave him behind. "The truth hurts, but he's useless," Tara continued. "He had one skill that kept him living. Are we supposed to be mad at him 'cause he used it?"
"Damn right." Glenn and Stella muttered at the same time. They exchanged a glance, the frustration shared between them.
They walked in silence until the distant sound of rushing water reached them. Relief flooded Stella's body as they neared the creek, but as they approached the edge and tried filling their bottles, they realized the water was muddy and undrinkable.
"Perfect," Glenn sighed in exasperation.
"You think it's any cleared upstream?" Tara asked.
The sound of fabric ripping made the group turn their attention to Rosita who pulled off part of her sleeve. "Probably not. Doesn't matter." She grabbed the bottle from Glenn's hands and built some make-shift filter with the fabric as the group watched in amazement. Only a couple of moments later, the water was slowly dripping clearly from the water bottle into the barrel.
