The Rocking Dead III

Chapter 19: Goodbye

*Uh oh, sad song. You've been warned.*

Tom's POV: Honeymoon is about to end. Boy was it great. Blackie took Jonathon for the week so Eric and I could spend it together. Today's the last day, so we want to go on a little walk in the woods, away from the area the Whisperers confronted us last year. Luckily we haven't seen much of them this past year, so they probably went into hibernation mode. We felt a hell of a lot safer going out knowing this. But of course we still had weapons in case of walkers. Once we came to a clearing, we sat on some rocks to rest.

"This week was incredible babe." Eric said, smiling. I gave him a kiss.

"Thanks to you." I replied, placing my forehead on his.

"This is the life I always wanted." He said, "Given I didn't see myself with you, or any guy at that. But we're married, have a kid. This is everything I ever wanted. And so much more. I love you so much." I wiped a stray tear from my eye. I couldn't have said it any better myself.

The sound of walker gargles snapped us back to reality. Letting out groans, we got up and took care of them with our knives. More and more kept coming. Too many in fact. It was a hoard. Not a huge one, but enough to overpower two men.

"Shit." I said.

Eric and I tried our best to fend them off, but they just kept coming. I grabbed him and we ran slightly to put some distance between us. I started having flashbacks to Jeff and I that day. The hoard, the two of us, him being bit. I didn't want Eric to end up the sane way.

"Go. Now. I'll catch up to you." I said, knifing the walkers getting to close.

"I'm not fucking leaving you Tom! Not now! You're my husband and I'm not abandoning you!" He said, killing walkers getting close to him. I quick pulled him in for a passionate kiss before pushing him away.

"GO!" I yelled at him. He started tearing up. He didn't want to leave, but he needed to. Eventually, he took off, a few stragling walkers going after him. I kept fighting off the ones around me, trying to clear a path, but I was quickly surrounded. While knifing ones in front of me, I had to constantly turn to kick and push others getting too close. I was starting to thin the hoard, but was still surrounded.

Then, it happened.

I felt teeth sink into my shoulder. I screamed at the pain, knowing exactly what happened. After knifing the walkers in front of me, I flung the one off my shoulder and killed it. A few walkers later and they were all dead. I fell to the ground, trying to find the spot I felt the pain at. Sure enough, there was a bite.

That's it. I'm dead. It's over. I've lasted this long, gone through so much loss, and finally found the love of my life, all for what? To be bitten in the end? I never though this would be my downfall.

Using some spare medical supplies in my bag, I cleaned the wound, patched myself up, and slowly made my way back home.

•

Blackie's POV: Eric came running back into Alexandria. Without Tom. That can't be good. I jogged over to him to check what's wrong.

"What happened?" I asked. Sebastian, Jon, Axl, and Bret gathered around as well.

"A hoard surrounded us. Tom snapped at me to go. I didn't wanna leave him but he wouldn't let me stay." Eric said as he started to cry. "God why was I so stupid?! I could've
shot those walkers, I have a gun!"

"Bret, take him back to his place." I instructed. Bret did as I asked. "This is reminding me of the Jeff situation." I said to Sebastian.

"Agree. I have a bad feeling about this." He replied. We waited by the gate for what felt like an eternity, praying Tom would return. Eventually, he stumbled in. Axl and I caught him before he completely collapsed to the ground. He looked exhausted from fighting off the hoard.