A Shred of Hope (The Walking Dead) (The Final Season Retelling)

15. Dark Tranquility

"Are they in there?" Minnie asked nervously as the cabin presented itself in their sight.

"Yep. I wonder what their expressions will be like," Louis mused. "We went out for food and came back with you. Don't see it getting any better than that."

"I don't know what they're going to say."

"Let's go find out, shall we?" He led them towards the wooden structure, pausing at the door. He knocked, announcing himself.

The door opened and Marlon stepped out. "Oh, it's you guys. We were getting-" The words caught in his throat as his eyes fell upon Minnie. He couldn't seem to make a coherent sentence as he stared, befuddled, at her.

Minnie ran to him, hugging the frozen boy.

"What...?" He mumbled, trying to make sense of the situation.

"It's so good to see you," she said, breaking away. "Brody and Violet are in there?"

"Uh... yeah. Come- come on in."

Clementine watched as the two of them disappeared into the cabin. She sheathed the knife and placed the bag on the deck, trying to loosen up her cramped fingers.

"I'll take the bag in. Come on," Louis said as he lifted it up and walked through the door, followed by AJ.

She eyed the trees, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The wind seemed to be much colder that day as it blew through the trees under the grey clouds, scattering the fallen leaves. She hated winters with all her heart. Cold, dark and snowy, most of her dislikes in one sentence.

She glanced back at the cabin, hearing the excited voices from within. She almost smiled, thinking of how joyful it must feel to have some returned from the dead. Luck had returned Kenny and AJ back to her. She was determined not to lose what she had again.

Deciding it was time to go in, she entered the cabin, finding Minnie being hounded by questions. Incredulous faces surrounded her as everyone gathered around their old friend.

"... Sophie and Tenn?' Violet asked her with hope in her voice.

Minnie shook her head as she confirmed their fear. They'd presumed their friends were dead once, but after finding one of them alive, a hope had naturally arisen that the others would be too. Fate, however, had other plans as she told them that the others were, indeed, not coming back.

"It's just me," Minnie replied as the kids tried to process their friends' deaths.

"So, Delta is who these fuckers are," Violet said. "Where's their camp?"

"A while away from here. They fortified a prison and turned it into a safe place, complete with growing their own food and clean water supply."

"What are they doing out here?" Marlon asked.

"With the war, our supplies were-"

"Our?" Brody interrupted her. "You're not thinking of going back?"

A sudden panic flashed across Minnie's face before it abruptly disappeared. "No," she said. She glimpsed Clementine's eyes fixed on her. "Their supplies are running low with the war. Beth was sending us out further and further to see if we could scavenge supplies."

"Didn't you just say they grow their own food or does evil seep into their roots too?" Violet asked, hatred in her voice.

Minnie was taken aback at Violet's behavior. "I... There was an attack a couple of weeks ago that destroyed a part of the prison. While that gets rebuilt, Beth sent groups out to see if we could find anything to keep us going."