Somewhat Safe (The Walking Dead Fanfic)

Chapter 23 - On the road

3 people exited the vehicle, 2 men and a woman. It was clear who was in charge of this little trio. One man stood further ahead with the other 2 either side of him, making a sort of triangle formation. It was kind of funny to witness this cliche in real life.

 The man in front was hefty and had ginger hair a slight shade darker than my own. He kind of resembled my dad, apart from the handlebar mustache this man was rocking. The second man that stood to the right of the first had a dark brown mullet, that complimented his round podgy face. Finally, the woman was also brunet with her hair pulled into 2 low ponytails on either side of her head. She wore a worn-out grey cap and had 2 large hooped earrings that hung from each of her ears. If those earrings weren't already a hazard in our day and age, for some odd reason, she was wearing booty shorts and a crop top, giving walkers more skin to chomp down on. Not a good idea in my opinion.

"You got a damn mouth on you know that?" The first man spoke in a thick southern accent. "What else you got?" he asked looking directly at the woman who had just called him an asshole.

"Who are you?" said the woman, still trying to catch her breath. 

"I'm Abraham, this is Eugene and Rosita. We are on a very important mission to make it to Washington D.C."  Abraham said, determination visible shown through his body language.

"Then why'd you stop then?" the woman asked.

"We saw the way you took down these dead ones." Rosita took a step forward as she piped up. "We could use your strength if we are gonna solve this thing." This confused me. What does she mean 'solve this thing'?

"I'm sorry but we have a mission ourselves, we need to find someone and I'm pretty sure she won't be in Washington. So thank you but no thank you," said the woman and she started to make her way back over to Glenn and me.

"Suit yourself," Abraham shrugged. He turned away and made his way back towards his truck, signaling the others to get in.

I looked down at Glenn for a minute. He was out cold. I decided we couldn't sit here and wait for him to wake up. 

"WAIT!" I called out to the 3 before they drove off. Abraham slowly rolled down his window and leaned out to listen to me. "Please... don't go yet. Can you just..... give us a minute?" I asked. Abraham nodded and sat back in his seat, not bothering to turn off the engine.

I turned towards the woman who was now kneeling on the other side of Glenn. "Think about this," I said, my voice low enough that Abraham and his companions couldn't here me. "Glenn's here passed out and 3 people show up in a vehicle and offer to drive us. We may be looking for someone, in fact, I have someone of my own I need to find, but that doesn't mean we can't go with them. Waiting here for Glenn to wake up is just gonna put us all in danger. What if a heard passes? If we sit in the cargo bed of that truck we can look out and you never know we might just pass Maggie on the way, but we can't just stay here."

The woman sat and thought about what I'd just said. I could tell she got where I was coming from. "You have a point......" She took a deep breath and stood back up. "We're coming with you!" She called out towards the car.

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We had been driving for a good 20 minutes. Glenn was still passed out in the cargo with me, the woman, and all our shit. The woman wrote down every turn we took on the back of her hand just in case we wanted to turn back.

We sat in awkward silence, the only sounds were the engine and the tires rolling against the gravel road. 

"Who is it you're looking for then?" the woman asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh.... his name's Carl," I answered. "I spaced out in anger and lost him. But I know he got out... I can feel it... Same thing with Maggie." I clutched my locket in my hand, running my fingers over the pattern. "I'm sorry about your sister..... I know how it feels.... to lose a sibling" I came out with. The woman gave me a half-smile and starred at her feet.

Well done Leigh! You just made this so much more awkward than it already was! Quick, change the subject!

"I'm Leigh, by the way," I said, finally introducing myself.

"Tara," she replied, looking up to meet my eyes. Her brown eyes were watering as if she was about to cry. Somehow she was managing to stay strong.

I felt my eyes begin to droop. It had been a long ass day. "I'm gonna take a nap," I said as I lowered myself down into a lying down position.

I used the orange bag that was previously on my back as a pillow and full lay down. I drifted off to sleep still clutching my locket.