Barely Alive // TWD // Daryl Dixon

Chapter 51 - We Brought Dinner

After less than the sixty minutes Rick had given, Rosita communicated with him and told him they had found the cars and they were on their way back to Rick. And as soon as we saw them parking them close to the barn, Cecilia and I made our way back and helped to carry inside the barn all the food and supplies they had found. It was basically a treasure.

Cecilia hadn't eaten in days, we had eaten the dogs but she hadn't so I opened a can and gave it to her. She only looked at me confused.

"This isn't the time to eat," she whispered to me but I forced her to take the can and eat.

"This isn't someone's pet," I grunted. "So eat."

"This, this is ours now," Rick said as he glanced at all the cans we had basically stolen.

"There's more than enough," Aaron said as he nodded.

"It's ours whether or not we go to your camp."

"What do you mean?" Carl asked his dad. "Why wouldn't we go?"

"We need this," Michonne said as she glanced at each one of us, slowly. There was an edge in her voice, like she was close to crying. "So we're going, all of us." Sasha, who was next to Michonne, nodded. "Somebody say something if they feel differently."

I turned to look at Rick, he didn't say anything, he was very stunned, I suppose. But I was very taken aback that he didn't argue, as if he trusted Michonne's judgement. Something had happened while they spent time together after the prison, it was so unusual for Rick to just stay quiet.

I then looked at Cecilia, she had taken some spoonfuls of the food I had given her. The only reason she wasn't so pale was that she was sunburnt. Her face was red, especially on her nose. But she looked so frail, when I cuddled her every night I could feel every rib, every bone. If her clothes weren't as loose, I would probably lose it at the sight of her boney body. She needed this, even if it was only for a while.

"This barn smells like horse shit," I commented. Refusing to give an absolute yes but basically letting them know I agreed with Michonne. Cecilia turned to look at me surprised but I refused to look back at her now, I knew she had her doubts.

Yeah," Rick said as his voice broke and his eyes shined, almost crying. He looked defeated. "We're going."

I could tell many members of our group felt relieved by his words and nodded at Rick. Cecilia was one of the few who didn't nod. She might not be totally in, but she needed to recover, we would die out here, probably in just a matter of days. I wouldn't give any of us more than a week in our current situation.

"So where are we going?" Rick asked Aaron as he turned his back to us to face the stranger. "Where's your camp?"

Well, every time I've done this, I've been behind the wheel driving recruits back. I believe you're good people. I've bet my life on it. I'm just not ready to bet my friends' lives just yet."

"You're not driving," Michonne said sternly as she walked to him, damn, even I was a bit intimidated by her. "So if you want to get home, you'll have to tell us how."

Go north on Route 16," Aaron said as he sighed in defeat. Rick got out a map and started to check it. "I'll tell you the rest when we get there."

"We'll take 23 north," Rick said, obviously not trusting the guy. "You'll give us directions from there."

"That's... I don't know how else to say it... That's a bad idea," Aaron told him. "We've cleared 16. It'll be faster."

"We'll take 23," Rick said, completely ignoring the guy. "We leave at sundown."