Ash was glad she was blind in this moment. Lori had dragged Rick off and everyone was whispering and laughing. T-Dog sat beside her, telling her what was going on. "I swear, you two looked like a married couple. Lori is so angry."
"Shut up...it's nothing like that. We aren't...he doesn't even like me like that."
"Uh huh. Sure. That's not what it looked like from where we were all standin'."
"T, stop. It's not like that. I am just a person he found on the side of the road and he felt sorry for me and let me tag along. That's all it is."
"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Glenn says as he ruffles her hair. "The rest of us know the truth."
"Hey! That is the truth. Y'all are just crazy."
"We heard what you said in the car." Maggie says with a smile. "You were so worried about him. All you kept asking was, 'Where's Rick? Is he alright? Where's Carl? Are they alive?' Come on, girl. We can all see it."
"You were asking about me?" Carl asks and Ash smile softly.
"Of course I was. I was worried about you. About all of you."
"More worried about Rick, though." Glenn mutters.
"Shut up!"
Ash smiled even though she seemed irritated. It was like...a family. Teasing and laughing with each other. It seemed to good. But at the same time, it felt like a punishment.
When the world wasn't a piece of crap, she had no family. Her dad an abusive jerk, her mom to much of a coward to love her, her sister gone, and her brother in prison. It just didn't make sense that when the world ended, she got a family.
She shouldn't be complaining and she knew it. She just didn't feel right with this situation. It seems like the universe is trying to make her life miserable.
Her life before sucked and her life now sucks but add in the blindness, paralysis, oh and the dead walking the streets.
Whatever, at least she can be semi happy with her new family.
"Who was worried about me?" Ricks voice rings in her ears as he approaches.
"Nobody." Everyone mutters with grins.
Scratch that, at least she can be really happy with her new family.
__
They drive for a while, everyone grouped in different cars. Daryl and Carol rode on the bike, leading the other two cars. Maggie, Glenn, Hershel, Beth, and Ash ride in the first car behind the bike. Lori, Carl, T-Dog, and Rick ride in the last car.
Rick honks his car and the other two slow down until all three vehicles stop. Everyone gets out of the cars except for Ash. Glenn rolls the window down so she can hear what's going on.
"You out?" Daryl asks Rick as they all group up beside the cars.
"Running on fumes." Rick replies.
"We cant stay here." Maggie says.
"We can't all fit in one car." Glenn counters.
"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning." Rick says.
"Spend the night here?" Carol asks.
"I'm freezing." Carl says to Lori.
"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori suggests.
"You go out looking for some firewood, stay close." Daryl says. "Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?"
"Not enough." Rick replies.
"We cant just sit here with our a**es bouncing out." Maggie says.
"Watch your mouth." Hershel snaps. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."
"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies." Rick says. "We'll keep pushing on."
"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas." Maggie suggests hopeful.
"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car." Rick says.
"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn deadpans.
"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure -- I really wasn't -- but we did. We're together. We keep it that way." Rick says determinedly. "We'll fine shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."
"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." Glenn says.
"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know its out there. We just have to find it." Rick says.
"Even if we do find a place and we think its safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe." Maggie says.
"We won't make that mistake again." Hershel replies.
"We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day." Rick says pointing to a little area with stone walls in random places.
Carol walks up to Daryl. "Does this feel right to you?" She asks quietly.
"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth asks, walking up to Rick.
"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl says and everyone looks at him. "He had turned, but he wasn't bit."
"How's that possible?" Beth asks Rick.
"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asks.
"Shane killed Randall." Daryl says, once again drawing the attention away from Rick and to him. "Just like he always wanted to."
"And then the herd got him?" Lori asks.
Its silent for a moment until Rick speaks again.
"We're all infected."
"What?" Daryl asks.
"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."
"And you never said anything?" Carol asks walking up to him.
"Would it have made a difference?" He asked.
"You knew this whole time?" Glenn asks.
"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-"
"That isn't your call." Glenn says, cutting Rick off. "Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."
"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know." He said. Nobody said anything and Rick walked off, away from everyone.
"You a**holes."
Everyone turned towards Ash in shock, forgetting she was there and for cussing, which she never did. "What did you just say?" Lori asks.
"Do y'all really think he would have kept that to himself if he knew it was true? How could he be sure? Glenn, I love you, but don't talk to me." Ash says, cutting Glenn off from arguing with her.
Lori storms off to Rick and everyone else just starts trying busy themselves, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves by Ash.
YOU ARE READING
Into The Dark
Fanfiction[Currently Under Rewrite] She was lost. She was alone. She was scared. She was surrounded by the dead. Ashley Grant was thrown into the terrifying world of the dead walking the streets. All she wanted was to go to the grocery store but she ran into...
