The Anti Hero ⥤ Rick Grimes

[17] The Highway Teacup

The corners of the map curled against the tarnished white painted car. Wrinkled and dirt covered hands quickly moved to smooth it down. After tucking the hair behind her ear as I'd seen her do multiple times, Rosita sucked in the air through pursed lips and then placed her hands on her hips as if she had finally come to a decision.

On either of our sides were tall dark green forests holding habitats and secrets that none dared to unearth. Behind and in front of us was a long grey road smudged with the occasional bloodied corpse of roadkill. There was nowhere to go- and nothing to come. Just distance and more distance.

A stump. And no vehicle to cover the distance.
Michonne sat on the sidewalk, leaning against the car. Sasha did the same. Daryl and Carol had forged into the forest, Daryl looking for game and Carol tagging on. The rest had scattered amongst the road. Waiting. Just waiting.

"Any luck?" Tara asked incredulously, as if she already knew the answer. Rosita raised a perfect eyebrow, shot me a disapproving look and then returned her gaze to Tara. Tara leant against the car hood and stared at the sunrise.

"No," I replied, downcast and my shoulders sagging. Although my attention should have been on Tara, they were on Rick, who sat with Judith by the shade of a tree. He looked up at me as my eyes were on him. He didn't break the gaze. I did. I shied away so fast he probably chuckled to himself.
"We can't make petrol outta thin air...nearest town is miles away. Take us about another day to walk on foot." I answered, watching as Tara studied the map for herself.

"And what does Rick say?" She questioned, looking over at Rick innocently. Rosita smirked.
"Haven't asked him yet. There's another option..." Rosita turned her attention to me and smirked more blatantly than before. It was like she was proving a point, and I guess it had something to do with my behaviour towards Rick.

"There's a manor half a mile left to us. JJ knows the place. Says it's overrun. Could be the best shelter nearby. Clouds say it's going to rain around midday and if it starts raining and we don't have shelter then we'll really have a problem." Rosita explained, still sporting a rather pissed and sarcastic facade.

"And you know this place?" Tara inquired, looking up at me.

I wrapped my arms around my chest and pondered over how I could do this. Nobody really knew about my history with Tarzan except for Rick. Truth was, we were heading right towards the area where Tarzan's men could be. I wasn't scared for the mere fact that his main camp was far from here...but I knew that the areas we were entering were also known to Tarzan. The manor had been overrun when I'd checked it last, on my way to camp with Tarzan. We were still a couple of days away by foot to his camp. Anyway, we were still close enough to give me the chills.

"Yeah. Passed it once or twice. It's old, kinda falling to pieces because of the erosion of time. Kinda place they take kids for history tours. If its still standing, so are the dozens of walkers that were creeping around the area." I bowed my head, sighed heavily and then returned the displeased facial expression right back at Rosita. "But I know you guys. You can kill walkers with 'sharpened buttons and hella confidence'. Nothing you all can't handle. It's just effort. An effort that might not be worth it if you all wanna trek it the way to the nearest town."

"But it might storm..." Tara added. "And who knows how bad it could get. Here surrounded by all these trees. Doesn't seem a good idea."

There was silence as all three of us thought about it.

"Are you down to fight?" Tara asked me, raising her eyebrow and pushing herself off of the white car, which was terribly dead and out of petrol.

"I never turn down a fight." Smugly I answered, grinning as I, too, pushed myself off of the car.