For You // R.G.

Chapter 71

I was standing across the road from him, he was watching us three as we stared back at him. He was breathing heavily, he bowed his head, done with looking at us. He then says to us in a raspy voice,

"We leave in three hours. Get some sleep." He goes to the other side of the truck and I assumed he sat against it since he didn't appear from the other side at all. I turned around eventually to see Daryl getting his crossbow off the ground, he locked eyes with me.

"You ever see that in him?" He asked me, I shook my head silently. I was speechless

"I don't think he's ever seen that in him either." He adds, he then goes inside the truck, I assumed he was going to get some shut eye. I looked over at Carl who was sitting against the front of the bumper, I went over to him.

"Carl, are you alright?" I asked with great concern. Michonne was walking around, making sure every body had been stabbed in the head. I sat down next to Carl, he had an expressionless face which made me believe that he was in some type of shock. I wished this didn't happen to him,

"Carl..."

"I'm fine." He says plainly. I patted his knee,

"Hey, if you want to talk, I'm here." I assured him. He looked up at me, he still looked like he was in shock. I decided to leave him alone. Michonne looked at me, her face was grim. We locked eyes for a few moments until she asks,

"Rick killed someone?"

I looked back at Carl to see if he could hear us, even if he could he wouldn't care. I turned back to face her,

"I guess so. I need to talk to him." I say. She nodded,

"I've never seen him like that."

"No... I think something in him snapped..." My words hung in the air with an unpleasant feel to them. Michonne patted me and went into the truck to sleep. I looked down the misty, dark road, I got goosebumps and chills thinking about the dark events that just unraveled in the last few hours. I felt a darkness build up inside me, I knew that things would be different from here on out. But I felt an overwhelming amount of exhaustion come upon me, I wanted to go into the truck to sleep but the two Grimes boys were sitting against the truck in the damp, cold rain. I sighed, knowing that they'd sit there until they got pneumonia. I went over to Carl, he was still staring blankly in front of him. I decided to stop being his counselor and to start being his friend, so I extended my hand out for him to take. He looked at it then up at me, confused. His hair was starting to stick along his forehead from the rain, I felt myself becoming more and more wet as I stood waiting for him to take my hand.

"What are you doing?" He asked

"Come inside the truck, it's dark and wet out." I urged. He hesitated, he looked down then finally grabbed my hand.

"The driver's side is open." I say to him as we he stood up. I opened the passenger side and I was hit with a musty smell and I was faced with many layers of dust and dirt everywhere but it was warmer and drier than outside. The sound of rain hitting the roof made a calm and homey feel, I felt safer here. But when I realized that Carl had fallen to sleep, I knew that I had to go get Rick. I looked back at Daryl who was still up,

"I'm going to talk to him." I say, I just wanted to let him know. He nodded, understanding why

Rick was sitting against the side of the truck. He stared blankly in front of him, much like how carl was.

It was gradually getting lighter out, the clouds that enclosed the sun were becoming more gray and less black. It felt like it would be dark forever a few moments ago. The rain was still going strong, I stood there, my boots were soaked and my clothes clung to my skin. I was shivering and my hair stuck to my face, he looked up at me. He didn't have the usual sparkle in his eye when he saw me or the loving gaze. He didn't have a concerned expression drawn on his face, he wasn't himself. His usual self would immediately give me his jacket or a blanket so I wouldn't be cold or wet, but he let me stand there.

"Hey." I say in a quiet voice. I sat next to him. He had his elbows propped up on his knees which were bent against his front side. I saw the rain droplets take the blood away from his hands, his beard was a light red. He would've looked like a threatening monster to anyone else but I only saw how broken he looked. I sighed, knowing he wasn't going to do much of the talking.

"You saved us, Rick. I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to live another day during all of that..." I confessed. He blinked, he didn't look at me.

"You looked scared." He said.

"I mean, yeah. I was terrified."

"No, I meant scared of me."

I hesitated, I didn't know what he wanted me to say so I decided to tell him the truth.

"I've never seen you do anything like that before and it did scare me. It scared all of us but what you did wasn't cold blooded."

He looked at me, his eyes were glossy,

"You did it to protect Carl... To protect us." I tried to make him realize that he wasn't a monster. He looked in front of him again,

"Carl's asleep?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yeah... He wanted to sit out in the rain just like you are but I told him he should get some sleep." I say. He then smiled, I felt myself smile knowing he was feeling better.

"You should go in the truck, get some rest." He says. I shake my head, I saw a cloth on the ground, I started to clean his beard from the blood.

"Just leave me out here, the rain is starting to settle anyway." He says. He was right, the rain was a light drizzle now.

"I'm okay."

He looked over at me, I stopped cleaning his beard. He hugged me, I hugged him back. He held me in his embrace for moments, enjoying the feeling of it.

"I love you." He whispers

..

The next few hours I spent inside the truck sleeping. Rick and Daryl were talking outside, Rick finally got me to go inside the car and rest. After three hours, we all picked up where we left off and kept walking to Terminus. Rick and I walked together, Daryl walked with Carl and Michonne trailed behind to cover the back.

"I hope they have showers there... You need to clean up." I told Rick, he looked over at me and smiled.

"I thought you cleaned me up back there." He nodded his head back in the direction we came from, motioning that I tried to wipe him off with the towel the best I could.

"You're still dirty." I say, he nudged me with his arm. I nudged him back. Although what had happened last night was dark and twisty, we were all good. We smiling and exchanging meaningful glances with one another, if anything it made our bond stronger. But that all ended once we reached a sign and it told us we were only a mile away from Terminus. Rick stopped us,

"We have to approach this place with caution... We don't know who these people are." He tells us. I agreed, after all we've been through for the last month, we could use some strategic planning when meeting new people. Rick told us that the plan was to go from the outskirts of the building instead of entering the main way. Once we saw the huge, red brick building with ten or so windows painted with black paint to say TERMINUS, Rick looked back at all of us, exchanging glances with everyone then stopped at me. We locked eyes for a moment, we both gave each other supportive vibes, saying that we're all in this.