Torn (TWD Fan-fiction)

Keep It Together

I groaned, "Ahh. My head." I rub my forehead, I can feel dry blood in my hair. I hear someone shout, "Andrea, she's awake!" The sound of footsteps echo in my ears. I can hear Andreas voice, "Jacqui, here give her some water."  As I open my eyes I start to make out a face, it was the woman named Jacqui. My head was resting on her lap. She smiled at me as she gave me a sip from the water bottle. The water felt nice going down my dry throat. "Thank you." I said as I sat up. My head started spinning. I closed my eyes for a minute. "Hey there lil lady." I opened my eyes and looked around for Merle, fighting the dizziness. I relaxed once I saw him handcuffed to a metal pipe. "What happened to you?" I asked him as I sat back against the wall. Jacqui went to join the others at the ledge of the building, they were looking over it for some reason. Merle just winked at me and smiled. "Tell me, Merle. Are you just really kinky or did Rick do that to ya?" I gave him a cocky grin. Merle's face got serious, he leaned forward a bit and said, "Ya'll just wait to see what I got in store for your lil sheriff." I held my breathe. Suddenly Morales points out to the street, "There." Merle looks over with a bewildered look on his face, "That asshole's out on the street with the handcuff keys?" Asshole?... Oh no, Rick.

I get up as fast as I can and run over to Morales. "Can I see those please?" He hands me the binoculars. I look around on the street until Morales guides the binoculars towards where Rick and apparently Glenn are walking. I bite my lip. I can hear T-dog on the radio talking to someone, someone named Dale. But I'm far too worried about Rick and Glenn to pay any attention to who he's talking to. "Are they wearing walker guts?" I ask out loud but before I can get an answer I hear Morales' voice, "Oh man." Rain starts falling from the sky. Slow at first but faster as the seconds pass by. Morales takes the binoculars and says, "It's just a cloudburst. We get 'em all the time, it'll pass real quick.", before continuing to watch what's happening down on the street. Without the binoculars Rick and Glenn look just like any other walker. My hands clasp the ledge of the building as I see a walker run at Rick, he quickly puts an ax in its head. I hear Morales, "Come on, come on, come on, come on." I release my grip as I see them make it over the fence. Ricks shooting at the walkers, then he gets into a white loading truck with Glenn. As they drive off Andrea starts to freak out, "They're leaving us." I turn to look at her, "No. Rick wouldn't--" She cuts me off as her voice gets louder, "Can't you see? They're leaving without us!" I can hear Merle start to panic, "What? What?" They all start talking at once, panic running through each one of them. 

Jeez, these guys need to get a hold of themselves. I whistle as loud as I can to get their attention, it works. They all turn to look at me. "Hey, now is not the time to fall apart. Keep it together. Now I know Rick and I trust him. He wouldn't leave like this, he must have a plan or something. Trust me, he wouldn't leave." Andrea rolls her eyes and scoffs, "Yeah? What has Rick done for you? Hmm?" I looked at her and put my hands on my hips, "He brought me with him. He had a choice to leave me alone... He had the choice to leave me out there by myself while he came to look for his family, but he didn't. Who knows, I could've been dead by now.." Andrea did not seem impressed, "Look around. We are dead. Thanks to you. Thanks to Rick." Morales walks between us, "Calm down. Andrea there's no need to point fingers." Andrea scoffs, "No need? Morales do you understand that you may never see your family again?" I see Morales's face change, he stares up at the sky before looking over at me. "She's right," he looks over at Andrea, "but Rick seems like a good guy." Andrea looks surprised, she starts to argue some more. Pretty soon they all begin to talk over one another. I just sigh and sit back, waiting on a signal from Rick. Andrea is arguing with Morales while Jacqui tries to keep the peace between them. T-Dog is arguing with Merle while Merle is yelling at him to uncuff him. It's total chaos.

Suddenly the radio goes off and we hear Glenn's voice, "Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street-- meet us there and be ready." We all immediately grab our things and head down into the department store. The walkers snarled at us through the front doors as we ran past them. From the looks of it, it wasn't going to be long before they broke through that door. I got to the roll-up doors first, followed by Andrea then Jacqui and then Morales. No sign of T-dog or Merle. We all waited anxiously as we heard what sounded like a car alarm going off, getting louder and louder. "What is that?" Andrea asked as she was trying to catch her breath. I shrugged my shoulders. We were waiting for a couple minutes before we heard the dreadful noise of glass shattering. "They made it through the glass door." Jacqui said with fear in her eyes. We all jumped as T-dog came running in screaming, "They're here! Let's go! They're in here!" Suddenly there was banging on the roll-up doors. We all started pulling the chain as fast as we could to get the doors open. 

Rick was waiting on the other side with the truck. As soon as we all started piling into the back he ran to get into the drivers seat. We all held on waiting for Rick to start driving, adrenaline coursing through my veins as the walkers all piled through the door trying to rip the flesh off our skin. Morales pulled down the door to the back of the truck as Rick started driving. Andrea and Jacqui were sitting behind Rick while Morales sat in the passenger seat. I was sitting closer towards the back of the truck. We all looked at each other, our eyes eventually landing upon T-dog. He was sitting behind Morales, his face full of guilt. He looked down but not before saying, "I dropped the damn key." No one said anything. We drove for a good while, I eventually dosed off only to be woken up by a car alarm. I sat up as I saw Glenn racing by in a red muscle car. "Hey, how'd you sleep?" Rick looked over his shoulder to give me a smile. I stretched as I said, "Nothing was trying to eat me so I'd say pretty good." Rick and Morales chuckled. Morales handed me some water as he said, "We're almost there. I can't wait to see my kids." I looked around, everyone else was sleeping. Giving Morales a smile I replied, "I'm sure they can't wait to see you either."

About 20 minutes went by before Morales said, "We're here guys. Wake up." Everyone started waking up and stretching. I got closer to the front of the car to try to catch a glimpse of their camp. All I could see were cars and an RV. Morales patted Rick's shoulder, "Come meet everybody." They all got off and went to be reunited with their loved ones. I stayed behind in the truck with Rick. I placed my hand on his hand, "Hey. You okay?" He looked down and  sighed, "I'll be okay Ellie. Thank you." I wanted to comfort him, to hold him and tell him everything was going to be okay. I was just afraid of ruining what friendship we had...But in this world, we had to take risks. I gently placed my hands on each side of his face, turning his face towards mine. "Rick, I'm here for you." We were inches apart now so I went for it. I leaned in and ever so gently kissed his soft lips. He kissed me back and then pulled away. "Ellie. I like you. I do." He paused. I continued the sentence for him, "But you have your wife to think about. I know." I looked away, my heart sinking into my chest. He was determined to look for them, that much was clear. "How do you even know she's alive?" I said as I looked out the passenger window. I was still holding his hand but he pulled it away quickly. "Because I do. I know she's alive. I know Carl is alive. I can feel it. Don't you ever imply anything like that again." I turned to look at him, his face was turning red from anger.

"Rick, I'm sorry. I just--" He cut me off as he opened his door and got out of the truck. I watched him walk away slowly before stopping right away. He started pacing for a bit before quickly running towards the camp. I got out of the car and went after him. I knew I had to apologize for what I said. I ran out from behind the truck, "Rick, wait!" I called out to him, only to stop in my tracks. My heart sank deep into the pits of my stomach as I saw Rick hugging a small boy and a woman. It sank even deeper once I saw the woman kiss him. I quickly turned back around and walked back to the truck. "Hey, Ellie. Where are you going?" I heard Glenn calling out behind me. "Uh, forgot something in the truck." I yelled back. I rolled up the back door to the truck and sat down. Staring off into the hills. I wasn't going to cry. I wouldn't let myself. 

I jumped as a woman's voice behind me said, "Hi there. I'm Lori." She stuck her hand out. I forced a smile and awkwardly shook her hand, it was awfully bony. "I'm Ellie." And I kissed your husband... twice.