Ain't a world for the living

1.3 - The gang

Two days later

The run yesterday went well. Even though we were driving out to a small village that you could consider 'Road with five houses' village, we found food. Peaches, beans and some old crackers. But no medicine or ammo. So right after we got back, Rick told me to go with Glenn and Maggie to a small military camp down at I-23. Meaning that I had two empty bags and my poker and waited for Glenn and Maggie to get in the car. Carl, Carol, Tyreese and Rick stood at the gate, killing some walkers right before Maggie started the engine. I caught a glimpse of Carl watching me.

"You are actually not that bad, y'know." I stiffled a laugh. What was he trying to tell me? That I should stay, or what? "Carl?" "Forget it." He jumped to his feet, spilled the can of peaches and ran into the house. He left his hat...

"Something is wrong here. Terribly wrong." Glenn continued his mantra for five minutes now. He was right. No walkers, no bodies, no cars or other remains of people. The street was quiet and tidy. My heart trembled and I felt a cold shiver running down my body. "This isn't good at all. Stop the car." Maggie stared at me bewildered through the back mirror, her hands gripping the wheel even tighter. "Stop the car. I feel like-"

The car stopped. Roughly 90 ft ahead of us stood a RV, two men sitting in it while one aimed a gun at our vehicle from a look-out. Two bikes convoyed the massive caravan. "Oh shit." Guess what Maggie, you're right. Five of them against three of us, they were armed like they ransacked a camp for...oh. "They took the weapons from the military camp." "What do we gotta do?" "Talk." "That's stupid! We can't talk with them, look at their weapons!" They looked at each other. One of the bikers got up and motioned us to leave the car.

"We want your stuff." said one of them. He had a thick southern accent and his arms were full of tattoos and scars. "And that girl." "No." said Glenn. "You're not in charge here." They were all on the street, ready to shoot us. "Last chance. Your stuff and that girl." Maggie moved back to my side. "I won't-" "No, Maggie. I'll go. Get back and don't tell them that they got me. Tell them I got bitten or whatever." I answered and made sure she understood. "I come with you." I raised my hands, got a bag of food and water bottles and walked towards those men. "Welcome in the gang, girl."

Glenn's P.O.V.

As I saw her bravely strutting over to those guys I had a feeling in my gut that we'd see her again. Sooner or later. But all we could do right now was to get into the car and leave. "We need to tell Rick." "And then do what?"

We turned around, heading towards the town we were staying in. "Go back and bring her to the group." "What if they drive away? Maybe they'll kill her off. It's not our problem anymore." Maggie hissed. "We lost many good people, Glenn. We can trust her, believe me." I just huffed and replied:

"She is just a girl. We need adults, not kids." "Carl is-" "Carl is with us since this happened. He's a reliable member of our group." "But-" "End of discussion. We'll talk to Rick, ok? I promise."

I held my promise. Just after we arrived and got our bags and Josephine's poker, I saw how some of our people's faces saddened immediatly. "What happened?" "We ran into a group of men. They threatened us, so she went with them." Rick stared at us in shock. "What?" "We had to let her go! They could have killed us all!" I argued back. Carl who held his sister in his arms walked up to his father and looked on the ground. "What if we-" "Even if we get her the group might be larger. Or they could have more weapons." "How many?" "Five. Three in a caravan, two on bikes." It went silent. "Let's make a deal. We wait until...the day after tomorrow. We'll drive to the military camp and see if we can do anything. If not, we go back to the house and get ready to move to Augusta. Got it?" Everybody nodded, except for Maggie and Carl. They seemed unhappy and moved into the house as soon as possible.

I found Maggie in the kitchen, opening a can of peaches. I slowly approached her and put my arms around her waist. "What is going on?" For a brief moment she stopped, the knife trembling in her right hand. She turned around, her green eyes full of grief. I loved her more than anything, that's what I knew for months, but I wanted to protect her. That stupid girl will get us all killed or turned. Or worse. "I don't know, but I feel like...all we do is running. Taking supplies, hoping for the best and mistrusting everybody that we meet." "We're with Eugene, Rositha, Tara and Abraham." "I know." she smiled and kissed my cheek. "We will survive, Maggie." She nodded, finally opened the can and looked down.

Third person P.O.V.

The atmosphere in Rick's group became miserable and oppressive by the minute. The salon was warm and filled with the fire licking at the logs. Tara and Carol were nearly asleep, Judith mumbling in her sleep, clutching Carol's vest. Abraham and Daryl were absent, checking the environment for walkers or unbidden guests. The topic of the evening was Josephine's rescue.

"I'm sure they got their weapons from the camp." "Meaning that we find tracks once we get there." assumed Carl and looked at his father. He sighed and propped his hands on his hips while walking to the fire place. He threw some branches into the flames and kneeled down, staring into the heat. He was thinking. All he knew was that taking care of another teenager was risky these times. Hormones running wild, dump decisions to be done...Okay, Carl was the typical teenager in the group while Noah was more sincere. It was a tough decision. "We could find tracks, Carl. It doesn't mean they didn't hide their tracks. But we need to be cautious if we want to save her." "So in two days, huh?" interrupted Daryl. He sat in the armchair Josephine sat two days ago and polished his crossbow. "She's gonna be dead by then, Rick. We either do something now or wo don't do anything at all." This sentence was literally burned into the people's minds. They felt ashamed or clueless.

It was the time of the second watch this night. Nearly everybody was asleep. Sasha, Tyreese and Tara were in kid's room on the first floor, Rositha and Abraham lied in the other kid's room, Glenn and Maggie were in the parent's room. The rest of the group was sleeping in the living room. Michonne, Noah and Rick stayed up, talking then and now about insider stories and their past. Chuckling every few minutes they realised how Noah and Michonne grew tired. "I'll keep watching. Get some rest." Thankfully they nodded and made themselves comfortable on the floor, moving slightly until Rick saw just their calm breathing and two feet shuffling and then his son taking a seat next to him, fiddling his thumbs and then watching his father with concern in his eyes.

Good evening guys! Yeah I know I've been pretty inactive lately buuuuuuuuut - the last two parts (yesterday and this one here) are a late christmas present to the four people that read the story. As you've seen I just edited some stuff because I watched the show until midseason 5 (I can't wait till February ._.)...Sooooo...there it is :) I'm in such a good mood as winterbreak is until January 7 and I'll write the next part today, maybe gonna upload tomorrow. Have fun reading it and vote, comment, share with your friends :3 Have a great day peeps! :))

~Panda