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XLVI

We had officially been free from the Sanctuary for twenty-four hours. Daryl drove through the night, only stopping to refill the car using the extra gas in the trunk, and switching to another car when this one finally ran out of gas. It was probably a good idea anyway, if they saw that car they'd know it was us, so now we were in a run down mini-van, that had half a tank of gas when we found it, and was easily refilled at the next pile-up we came across, and since it was easy refilling the extra gas containers, we would probably be good for another twelve hours. 

"Where are we going?" I whispered to him, watching the sun rise higher into the sky, and trying not to disturb Dale who was sleeping soundly in the back. 

"I'm trying to make our way back to Alexandria, where the rest of the group is, but I'm having to go the long way, to try and avoid any of Negan's group. It's not going well. We're still probably a day or two out if we have no complications." He mumbled back, staring out at the road. He looked disgusting. His hair was greasy and wet from sweat, his scruffy little beard had grown out, his sweats were covered in fluids, but I didn't even want to ask what they were, and he smelled like a really nasty porta-potty from before. I don't even want to look at myself, I probably look just as bad. 

"You hungry?" He asked, after a long moment of silence where I realized he had probably been waiting for a response form me, but I was too caught up in staring at his filth. 

"Not really, but I'm sure Dale is." I whispered, and he nodded. 

"Right, well... next town we'll stop. Try to get some supplies. Weapons, food, gas if we can." He stated, and I just nodded, knowing that this was probably the best thing to do, and just then realizing that I'd never see my weapons again. 

"Damn it." I grumbled, thinking of my gun, sitting prettily in it's holster on my bed-side table. We should have grabbed it. Would have made everything easier, and it was right next to the wives' room. 

"What?"

"I left my gun, the one from my dad. And I had a bow, and Dale had a crossbow, and I had some really cool swords back there too. We should've grabbed them. Would have made things easier." I grumbled, looking out the window at the trees speeding by, but I could see Daryl staring at me in the reflection off the window. 

"You taught Dale to shoot a crossbow? How? He's three!" Daryl asked, glancing between me and the road in confusion. I shot him a smirk and glanced back at him. 

"He wanted to help. He was tired of letting me do everything, so he learned. We found this tiny little crossbow at an Academy, just sitting there. It probably wasn't meant to do much damage, but I made some alterations, replaced the string, got some good arrows, and he actually was very good at it. Killed more walkers than me after awhile." I whispered, glancing back at Dale who was still sound asleep, proud of his accomplishments. 

"You learned to shoot a bow too?" Daryl questioned, and I nodded. 

"Yeah, it was a lot easier than a gun, I thought anyway. And I couldn't just go around killing them with knives, and I couldn't afford to bring more down on us with the guns. So I learned. Got a nice compound bow about a week after I left Morgan. Was catching squirrels with it in a month. And then I found the swords, they were super awesome. Great in a pinch." I explained simply, watching as the cars started to get more grouped together and I knew we were either coming up on a pile-up or a town. 

"That's... real impressive Ri. I'm proud of you." He whispered, glancing over at me, and when I saw his hand flinch on the wheel, I knew he wanted to touch me, he was just holding himself back. If... if everything hadn't happened, I probably would have let him. But I couldn't, I couldn't get physical with him yet. I still don't trust him, but all of that is overshadowed by the itchy feeling of David's hands on my skin. 

"I think we're coming up on something." I said, nodding at the cars, and he nodded, slowing down a little bit so he could see anything weird pop up. But nothing happened, and ten minutes later, we were pulling into the square of a deserted-looking town, and a moment after he parked, we got out, I fetched Dale, and we started the search for weapons, and food, water, and other supplies, not necessarily in that order. 

A/N: Sorry it was short, I'm studying for an exam today and I just wanted to take a break from it for a minute so here ya go! I'll try to post something longer tonight or tomorrow night!