Three Orphan Pilgrimage (The Alternative to TWDG's Final Season) [Walking Dead]

66. Tulsa

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" asked Sin.

"They sure as hell didn't put up any signs in Miami," answered Patty.

"The only signs we ever saw in Houston were ones warning people to keep away," added Jet.

"We sorta saw one like this in Baton Rouge, on the side of a truck they used to block the bridge," said Sarah. "But it said 'Turn off your engine and don't move' or something."

"Just because it ain't telling us to fuck off doesn't mean it's good news," interjected Anthony as he adjusted the strap of his machine gun. "I mean, if I wanted to set up an ambush, I'd leave a sign like this hanging in front of the biggest highway into town."

Clementine kept rereading the words of the weathered banner strung up on the overpass ahead of them: DOWNTOWN TULSA ABANDONED - FOLLOW SIGNS TO CITADEL. The crudely painted letters had faded and the white tarp they had been written on fluttered in the cold wind along with a few of its ropes that had come undone. Beyond it, there were nothing to suggest anyone had been here since the start of the outbreak, just more fields of grass killed by the winter surrounding a now desolate highway.

"Clem, you ever see any towns with signs posted outside with something like this on them?" asked Patty. "Instructions on where to go?"

"No, but I saw some that said 'stay out' for a neighborhood in Georgia," recalled Clem. "They also piled up walkers to block the road, and left a few alive stuck on spikes."

"Shaffer's did that?" asked Patty.

"No, this was another place in Georgia I never want to go back to."

"Shaffer's had a huge wall; Valkaria had a barricade of cars blocking the road," listed Sarah. "We always see stuff trying to keep things out, not invite people in."

"All the more reason to think these people put up a friendly welcome sign to guide gullible dopes into a trap," stated Anthony. "What better bait than sending out a rumor that they were the one safe place left on the planet."

"So what exactly do you suggest then?" asked Sin, his normally stone-faced expression faltering as he spoke. "We came all this way, just to turn around once we actually got here?"

"The lead up to Tulsa hasn't exactly been encouraging," said Patty. "Clem and I had to hack our way through a few walkers yesterday just exploring the outskirts. There wasn't many of them, but it's not a good sign, especially considering there wasn't a speck of food to find either."

"That lack of food means people are here, collecting it," concluded Sin.

"There probably were," spoke Clem in a disappointed voice. "But if there are walkers this close to town, there's probably no one left or they'd kill them anytime they went out."

"Yeah, when I left Miami, I didn't start running into the dead until I got as far as Boca Raton," added Patty. "The troops were always having to push further away from the heart of town to find more food, and they always killed any stray walkers that would wander in each time."

"It was the same for Valkaria," added Sarah. "The road leading up to them was just completely empty. The closest we found a lurker was at a gas station far away from town, and Clem killed it."

"So we should just leave then?" asked an irritated Sin.

"I didn't say that," insisted Patty. "But, going into Tulsa is a risk, and odds are we're not going to get anything out of it."

Sin slowly eyed the entire group, seeking out possible supporters perhaps. Clem wish she could muster a more uplifting expression to show the man, but everything she had seen suggested they were still no closer to safety. Even Jet appeared discouraged, a small frown tugging at the corners of his mouth as he stared down at the cracked asphalt.