Here We'll Remain>>C.G

Part 27

Thea's PoV

      Abraham kept on driving. I stayed put on the floor with Carl gripping my hand like it was a lifeline. Who knows? Right now, maybe it was. Rick was standing above us, leaning against his arm on the wall of the RV. He had a faraway look in his eyes as he continued to twirl the lock of Michonne's hair in his fingers. He looked utterly exhausted, and I didn't blame him. I was so focused on looking at Rick; I didn't notice a draft on my bare stomach. Not until I felt warm fingers running over it. My head snapped down to where my shirt had been lifted and my torso was visible. 

"What are you doing?" I whisper-yelled at Carl, the culprit. He shrugged as he concentrated on his fingers dancing around my stitches. 

"Just seeing if you were okay. You wouldn't tell me even if you were hurt," he complained. I sighed, a faint smile on my lips. 

"The stitches are almost gone. At this point, the only thing that would ruin them is if someone hit me or shot me again," I reassured him. He glanced back up at me and frowned. 

"Don't say that. You'll jinx yourself," he told me. I rolled my eyes and shrugged. Anything you say nowadays can jinx you. I'll take my chances. I leaned in a pressed a quick kiss to his lips, all the while pulling my shirt back down over my stomach. I pulled away and finally saw a smile on his face. He leaned in again, but was interrupted when the RV started squealing out of the blue. 

"What's that sound?" Sasha asked. She beat me by one second. 

"Undercarriage could've caught a bullet. Or could be transmission. It could be nothing," Eugene assessed. All of what he said just flew over my head. I had no idea what any of that meant. I didn't know anything about fixing vehicles.

"They were firing at our feet. They blocked the road, but they weren't trying to stop us. They want us in this direction," Rick spoke up, bringing all of my fears out into the open for everyone to hear. Rick knew what was going on, and he knew that we were playing right into Negan's hands. 

"Barton Road takes us north, but they gotta know we wanna go north," Sasha told him, glancing down at the map that lied in front of her and Eugene. 

"Meadows. Could take us east a piece, but we can get back on track on Mayhew," Eugene told everyone, him and Sasha coming up with yet another new plan. 

"We're down to a third of a tank. We could top off at the next stop, but no refills after that," Sasha said quickly. 

"Alright," Rick sighed, turning to Aaron that had rushed up to him. 

"She's burning up," he said urgently, referring to Maggie, who lied in the back of the RV. In the same bed that I had been in when I was shot. Rick looked to the side, a hand pressed to his forehead. He was growing frustrated. He was running out of options, and Maggie was running out of time. Rick slowly nodded his head, his eyes fixated on something. I followed his line of vision and saw that he was staring at a spray of bullet holes that had penetrated the side of the RV. 

"Rick," Abraham called out from the drivers seat. My head turned in that direction. By the sound of his voice, I knew it could only be one thing. It had to be more men. I doubted they would try another walker chain, so it had to be another blockade of people. 

"Go back," Rick told him as he knelt beside him. I got up from my spot on the floor to see how many stood in our way this time. I looked over Rick's shoulder and my stomach dropped. There were at least thirty of them, spread out onto both low and high ground. Just waiting. 

"Where?" Abraham asked, turning his head to look at Rick, who kept quiet. He had to be trying to come up with another solution. We had come to a stop, and were just staring at them. My heart raced, waiting for them to just open fire and get it over with. I hated that they were dragging this on for so long. 

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"Are we close?" I peered down at an almost clueless Maggie. I put on a fake smile and knelt at her bedside. 

"Yeah, we're...we're getting there," I told her, grabbing her hand and running my thumb over the back of it. 

"Were there...I heard shots." My eyes widened. I couldn't lie to her. She was to smart. 

"Yeah, the Saviors, but they're gone. We are. We are going to get you there," I told her. Okay, maybe I would just avoid certain truths and not lie to her completely. 

"I know." She tried to smile, to be strong, but I knew better. She was in so much pain. I couldn't even imagine. She even looked like a newly transformed walker. You know, the one's without the decaying skin and blood everywhere. I heard shuffling in the doorway and found both Rick and Carl standing there with faint smiles on their faces. 

"Your're going to be okay. The baby's gonna be okay. This isn't it. This isn't it. There's more. There's gonna be more," Rick spoke up, Carl and I nodded along to his statement. His smile faltering for a second when the RV squealed again. 

"I believe in you, Rick." Her words brought tears to my eyes, and I squeezed her hand tighter. Staring down at her right now, I remember why we're all in this RV together, fighting to get to Hilltop. We couldn't quit our mission now. Negan's men may have numbers, but we have sheer determination. I was going to get Maggie to a doctor and that was final. Or I was going to die trying. Whichever one came first.