Side-by-Side

Chapter 27

"You're pregnant?" Dad questions me, looking between Daryl and I.

"Yes." I say slowly, curious of his next reaction.

Dad looks down to my stomach, his blue eyes clouded with thoughts. I looked around the rest of the group. Most people had a bright smile on their faces, but underneath the smile I can see the look of concerns.

"Wait," Dad said, holding a finger up and looking at me, "how long have you known you were pregnant for?" He asked.

"Nearly a week." I told him.

"You knew for nearly a week and you still allowed me to send you on that run? What if something happened to you, Carly?" He was upset with himself, this I could see... but I knew he was mad at me too for not owning up to the pregnancy and telling him when he first asked me to go on a run.

"It was going to be my last run. Daryl and I decided that after that run there wasn't going to be anymore for me and that I was to tell everyone as soon as we came back." I explained to him.

"So now what? We have no shelter, barely any food, you are pregnant, Chase needs more food, as does Carl and we are running short on formula for Judith." Hershel tells us.

Everyone begins to advert their eyes to be and for a second I wonder why and then realize that I have been promoted leader of the group a while ago.

"I guess for now, we just need to keep moving. Siphon fuel from abandoned cars that we pass by, and have someone look at a map at all times. Mark down where crowds and herds are and try to see if they can locate anywhere we can quickly raid and/or crash for a night or two." I took a look around the group for any signs of disagreement and without any I continued.

"Glenn, you are the navigator. I have a map for you in the truck. You are responsible for marking down crowds and herds, and trying to find streets of which we can ride down. Remember, nothing that is a one way and nothing that has no exits just incase." I explained to him as I quickly retrieved the map from the glove compartment in the truck, ruffling Chase's hair in the process.

After handing the map to Glenn, I turned to Dad. "You and Carol are in charge of the firearms, make sure you know who has what and how much ammo we have." He and Carol set off.

"Beth, you are in charge of Judy right now, you are good with her so that's good." I smiled at her and turned to her father, "Hershel, you are good with fairness, so I'm putting you in charge of the food. Carl and Chase have slightly more than everyone else here, please." I quickly mention and try my best to move on the the next people.

"Don't forget yourself, Carly. You need more too." I wanted to argue against it, but I knew if I did I was going to lose the war.

"Fine, but slightly... not too much more and the boys better have more than me please." Hershel agreed with that and set off to the car. Everyone else had found somewhere to pitch in and I took it upon myself to join Glenn.

"Anything?" I questioned him.

"Okay, so we are setting off in the same direction we first came through. If we take this road, it can back lead us and we can be on our way more south." Glenn looked at me with hopefulness that I liked the idea and didn't want him to change it.

"Sounds like a good plan, we haven't gone further south yet. Maybe there's a better chance for us there since the population should get smaller." He and I shared a smile for I continued. "Just try your best to map out a road we can go, avoiding all major highways and intersections, those are usually covering in abandoned cars and places which means that there are loads of herds and possibly a harder chance to make it out without casualties."

Glenn agreed with me and he set off to continue mapping. I made my way to dad and Carol. "Everything marked?" I questioned them.

"Everything but yours." Carol said to me.

"I have a pistol with..." I unloaded the chamber and counted the bullets, "8 bullets intact." After they mark it down they continue their ways around. Hershel was next, and when I got to him, I can see that he was nearly done. He counted the foods up and then began dividing them so some can go in each car just in case we got separated.

"Thank you." I told him. He smiled kindly at me and averted his eyes to my belly.

"Not too big yet are you?" He joked, letting out a raspy laugh.

"No, not yet," I laughed back, it was good to laugh again. I placed my hand over my stomach and looking at him, "still have a while to go."

"It will be over before you know it." Hershel tells me and I nodded my head.

About 30 minutes later, everyone seems to have been done with their assignments and soon we piled into all the cars again.

Glenn had taken the lead with Hershel, Maggie and Beth this time for he was the one with the map, and behind him was Daryl and I with Chase and then behind us was Dad, Carl, Judith and Carol.

We set out north and drove until we hit the road that back tracked just like Glenn said it would, and then we were off. Now, it was time to not only look for places to raid and store, but now we had to find ourselves a new home.