Mushaboom • Daryl Dixon

7

~Another long one. Enjoy!

Rachel

"We shouldn't take everything with us.. not until we know it's legit." I looked up at Ricky and he nodded. I shifted the rifle nervously, and looked forward. We were a bit past the trees, just watching the place. It seemed to be alright. People walked by the fence line every now and then, scouting, and others seemed to be carrying out chores. This place was huge, and it seemed safe and secured.

"And if it's legit?" Milo asked.

"Then we have an emergency bag, just in case." I looked grimly at Mi, and he looked back to the community.. We all shared a can of mixed fruit, then sorted out our stuff and packed it all away. Ricky was still very quiet. Mi and I had been taking a bit more the last day, you think it would be the other way around, but Ricky lost something back there. I just knew he needed time.. We all needed time; none of us wanted to talk about it.

Ricky put our hand guns, some cans, four water bottles, and our small box of pictures and personal stuff into Milo's bag. I placed the bag into a bush; we tied one of our rags above it so we'd know where we left it.

I stood up and looked at my boys. We all looked unsure, but this was our only real option.. We made our way back to the front that had 'TERMINUS' across the top half of the building, and started for the gate. We pushed through the first gate. To my surprise, it was open. I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. If they were strong and secure enough to keep it open to anyone, or if they were careless and weak. We walked through carefully, our rifles raised. There was vegetation and even past the gate we were walking up to. We approached a second gate with a sign that read:

LOWER YOUR
WEAPONS
YOU WILL BE MET
YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT
T E R M I N U S

I looked to Ricky; I was scared. Scared to trust anyone, scared of taking this chance. But we needed this. He pinched his lips into a hard line and lowered his rifle. We both looked to Milo and he followed, he looked just as unsure as I felt. But we were ready.

I lowered my rifle and took the first step forward. I pushed open the gate and Ricky stepped in first, I followed after Milo. It was almost silent, and there was no one to be seen. In the pit of my stomach, something felt off, but as we rounded the corner, a few people came into view.

Two people sat at a table, cleaning weapons, and a lady was walking across the open space, carrying a tray. She was a bit older, and had long brown and grey hair. When she saw us, she stopped and smiled, "Oh hi!"

To my surprise, Ricky spoke for us, "Hi."

He spoke softly, almost as is being cautious. She scanned the three of us very subtly, and nodded to herself, "I'm Mary, are you here for sanctuary?"

Ricky nodded, "We've followed the tracks. We wanted to check this place out. " I looked around and saw a couple of people going about their business, as if this was the norm. I returned my focus onto Mary. She smiled, and her eyes met mine, "Then you've come to the right place.. You look like you've had a rough time out there."

I forgot that I must've looked pretty messed up after the other day. "We managed." I said without missing a beat. I kept my expression and tone neutral, I wanted her to see we were capable, that we weren't weakened by what we had gone through.