Surviving Terminus (BOOK TWO IN THE SURVIVING THE WALKING DEAD SERIES)

Pigs To Slaughter

     Maggie, Sasha, and Bob stepped forward and stood beside Glenn. "You're here." Rick said in complete shock. Abraham looked over at me and finally let me go, and I slowly made my way forward. Rick's eyes instantly landed on me. "Oh, my God. I-" Rick ran his hand through his hair. "I- I thought- I thought he killed ya."

     "He almost did." I smiled. A figure gently pushed past Rick and looked at me as they stepped into the light. My legs nearly gave out with euphoria. "Daryl?"

     "You're- you're here." Daryl's jaw trembled. "You're alive." Tears rolled down my face as I nodded. Daryl walked up to me and lifted me into his arms, quietly crying into my shoulder.

     "I'm here." I pressed my lips against the side of his head. "I'm here." I looked over my shoulder as Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, and Tara stepped forward.

     "They're our friends." Maggie explained. "They helped save us." Daryl lifted his head and looked at the others before finally putting me down.

     "Now they're friends of ours." Daryl nodded.

     "For however long that'll be." Abraham scoffed before turning away. I limped over to Rick and wrapped my arms around him.

     "I was worried I wouldn't see everyone again." I smiled.

     "I worried the same thing." Rick stated. "What happened?"

     "Everyone followed the plan... to some extent. I stayed behind and finished The Governor off. That was when I ran into Tara." I motioned towards Tara. "She was the girl in the ponytails, didn't want anythin' to do with what happened."

     "What about the others?"

     "The tall one's Abraham." I pointed over to Abraham who was leaning up against the wall before pointing to to Rosita and Eugene. "And that's Rosita and Eugene. They've been with us for a while." I decided it was best to wait until we got out of here to tell them all about the farm, we needed to come up with a plan and not get distracted by hopes of returning home.

     "You helped 'er?" Eugene nodded. "Then, you're friends of ours. Thank you." Eugene smiled and looked down at his feet. I limped my way over to Michonne and Carl, embracing them in a tight hug.

     "Have you grown?" I smiled at Carl. "Either you've grown, or I forgot how tall ya were." Carl and Michonne smiled. "Wh- Where's Judith?" Carl instantly looked away. "Michonne, please tell me she's with someone else."

     "Rick and Carl found her carseat, it was covered in blood." Michonne explained.

     "No." I rested my arm against the wall, forcing myself to fight back tears. "GODDAMN IT!" BANG! I slammed my foot into the wall. "SON OF A BITCH!" I instantly fell to the ground, holding my leg in pain. Daryl and Bob instantly rushed over to me.

     "Michaela, you need to rest that leg." Bob insisted.

     "What happened to 'er?" Daryl asked.

     "She got shot when we tried to run for it."

     "They weren't tryin' to hit me, one just got a little too gun happy." I grunted as I held my leg close to me. "I didn't know what it was. The food. I didn't know what it was until it was too late. We tried to leave after that, that's why we're in here."

     "What is it?"

     "Human." Rick answered. "I saw the pile of bones when we were runnin'."

     "You ate it?"

     "I took a bite, had no choice but to swallow it. I knew it was human after that." Rick walked over to the train car door, peering out the crack.