The Walking Dead: What Rests Ahead

Chapter 12:

(Author's Note: Two updates in one day? Why not? I feel so accomplished right now. Normally, it takes me at least a week to update....so go me! And OMG THIS STORY ALMOST HAS A HUNDRED VIEWS?!?! YAAAAASSSSS!!!!)

I've never seen as many frightening images as when we were leaving Terminus. The sky was an ashy black color, the air so smokey that it was almost unbreathable. I coughed and my vision blurred. It was like someone turned the lights off outside, though I knew the smoke was just making it extremely difficult to see.  My feet hit the soft dirt with tiny thuds. It was almost a therapy for my weary body. Five more steps. Now, five more. Keep going. My only thoughts were of survival. The explosion of the gas tank had made my ears ring and everything hurt. Adrenaline and pure terror kept me going. I focused my gaze on the back of Carl's head and tried to block everything out except moving forward.

A few walkers stumbled towards us, mouths open wide, and burning flesh falling off of their beaten bones. One of their eyes dangled out of their socket and I nearly puked on the spot. Sometimes, I forgot that I was only a teenager...and no teenager should have to see something as disgusting as that. Without flinching, Michonne swung her katana at the eyeless wonder and it's head flopped onto the earth.

The fence in which I had entered lay up ahead. From there, I could scarcely make out a tiny hole in the chains. Our exit. With a final burst of energy, I sprinted to the fence and was the last person in the string of people that I was escaping with. I paused slightly and turned around. A strange compulsion told me to look towards the downfall of Terminus. And so I did.

It was ruined. All of it. Strangely, I felt no pity even though lots of lives, I'm sure, were lost. I didn't care. THEY had killed many people without resentment, so I would kill them in the same way. They got what they had deserved.

I had just been about to start running again when something caught the corner of my eye. A person stood inside of the firey storm of Terminus. Could it be one of our people? I wondered and then instantly forgot it. For I didn't think anyone that was friendly would be doing what the figure was doing. Their shoulders shook and a smile was overwhelming their face as if the situation were amusing.

The person was laughing.

Shuddering, I turned back around. The more distance between that person and I, the better. With long strides, I caught up to Carl, Rick, and the others.

After what felt like hours of running, we stopped. My breath felt caught in my lungs and something hot bubbled in the back of my throat. Gulping air, I bent over slightly so my hands rested on my knees. How far did we run? I questioned silently. Then, I stood up straight, still panting. I couldn't seem weak in front of these people. I hardly knew them. Who knows what they'd do to me?

How could I even trust them?

"We...we need to go back," Rick began, almost as out of breath as I was. He was kneeling onto the ground like it was going to give him some strength to carry on.

"What?" The man named Abraham asked with disbelief on his face.

Rick swallowed and closed his eyes for a second. "We have to go back. It's not over until all of them are dead."

I nearly laughed. "You're insane! We aren't going anywhere near that place."

All eyes were on me.

"I mean," I added with slightly less confidence, "it would be suicide. Did you see how many walkers there were? Like a billion! And the whole place was on fire. I'm pretty sure all of them are dead."

"She makes a good point," the one girl I thought was named Tara, said.

Rick sighed and looked directly at me. "We can't take any chances. They all need to be dead. This whole thing-" he motioned with a grand gesture "can't happen again. Or else all of this is pointless."

I was about to argue until the bushes started to shake as if someone was going to come out of them.