Daughter of the Fallen

Last Day on Earth Part 2

Eugene, my mom, and I sat at the table, looking at a map to try and figure out another way to get to Hilltop.

"Logrun Road's a straight shot," Eugene informed.

"We want visibility," my mom reminded.

He reconsidered, looking again. He pointed at a road. "There. You got it on Shelton. Golf course, country clubs, sloping terrain. No bum rush from the Boogeyman. We'd see them from a good piece. It is a longer trip by a third, but we'd get the scenic safety of clear-cut dingles and glens."

My mom gave him a suspicious look. "You're being serious, right?"

"As coronary thrombosis," he assured.

She nodded and looked at me. "What do you think?"

I considered it. "Sounds like a good route. I say we do it."

Rick walked over. "We got a route?"

"Yeah," I confirmed.

He nodded and gave my dad the go ahead and soon we were on the road again.

•••

I was watching over Maggie when the RV came to a halt again.

Going to the front, I squeezed in next to Carl to see what it was.

It was another, bigger, group of Saviors, there cars making a barrier across the road.

"We making our stand?" my mom asked.

"Yeah," Carl answered, causing me to look over at him. "We end it."

"No," Rick denied. "Not now. They've been waiting. They're ready. With one of us behind the wheel, that's six on sixteen. We're gonna plan it our way, how we want it." He turned to look at Carl. "Right?"

Carl hesitated before nodding. "Right."

Rick them addressed my dad. "Alright, go slow."

My dad started backing away as one of the men in the group slowly started walking forward, firing bullets into the sky.

I kept my gun ready at one of the open windows, but we were able to pull away before he aimed the bullets at us.

•••

As we drove, Carl and I sat next to each other in silence while Rick talked to my parents up front.

"I wanna fight, too," I told him, finally breaking the silence. "I do. It's the only way things will go our way with them."

He looked over at me. "You think we'll end up fighting anyway?"

I hesitated before nodding. "Yeah...I do."

The RV came to a halt once again.

I exhaled deeply before getting up.

It didn't look like it was the Saviors this time. It was a chain going across the road with live walkers pretty much woven into it.

"We can't go through it," Rick observed. "Can't risk the RV." He turned to my dad. "Stay behind the wheel, just in case. We'll clear it."

I clicked the safety off my gun and followed Rick off the RV.

We all kept our guns up as we walked over to the chain.

"Putting together a red rover like that takes people," Eugene stated.

No sh*t, Sherlock.

"Come on," Rick ordered. "Let's do this."

"Dad," Carl spoke up, stopping him.

Aaron noticed it, too. He gestured to one of the walkers. "That's Michonne's."

Rick looked over to see that one of her dreadlocks was stuck to its head.

I looked to another one to see arrows protruding from its chest.

"That's Daryl's," I added.

Rick ripped the dreadlock from the walker's head and was about to kill it when gunfire started from the woods surrounding the road.

We immediately started to race back to the RV, shooting blindly at where we thought the sources of the bullets were.

Rick and my mom managed to put all the walkers down.

As I entered the RV, I felt a bullet enter the back of my leg, and I hissed in pain, falling to the floor of the RV.

"Bree!" my dad called, getting up.

"I'm fine!" I yelled. "Keep going!"

He obliged and we drove on.

•••

As I wrapped up my leg, I saw Rick staring at Michonne's dreadlock, despair in his eyes.

I got up and limped over to him, putting my hand on his arm.

"I'm sure she's fine, Rick," I said gently.

We all heard the engine squeal.

"What's that sound?" my mom asked.

"Undercarriage could've caught a bullet," Eugene guessed. "Or could be transmission, it could be nothing."

"Well, is it the undercarriage, the transmission, or nothing?" I asked, challenge in my voice. "You claim to be the expert here." I squatted in front of him. "Which is it, Einstein?"

Eugene didn't answer and Rick intervened.

"They were firing at our feet," he pointed out. "They blocked the road, but they weren't trying to stop us. They want us in this direction."

I went over and looked at the map. "Barton Road takes us north," I informed. "But they gotta know we wanna go north."

"Meadows," Eugene decided. "Could take us east a piece, but we can get back on track at Mayhew."

"We're down to a third of a tank," my mom interjected. "We could top off at the next stop, but no refills after that."

Aaron came out of Maggie's room and went over to Rick.

"She's burning up," he told him.

My heart rate quickened again. There was no way I was gonna let Maggie die.

"Rick," my dad called from up front.

We all went up to the front.

This time, it was probably 25-30 men. Absolutely no way we could fight that.

"Go back," Rick ordered.

"Where?" my dad asked.

What my dad said was true.

How long is it gonna be until we're cornered.

———
AN: we're getting so close to the negan scene i'm so anxious