𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬 | 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯²

𝖥𝗈𝗎𝗋

Chapter Four,
Four Walls and a Roof

AFTER A HOT SHOWER, everyone gathered in the church, enjoying snacks and wine that Rick and Alli's group had found back at the Food Bank. The last time they had a gathering like this was at the CDC, back when Jim, Dale, T-Dog, Jacqui, Andrea, Lori, and Shane were still among them. Now, they were all gone, replaced by new faces.

Chloe sat next to Rick, playing with Judith's little hands while Rick held her between his arms. Alli sat beside her, trying to get Little Judith to laugh by making funny faces.

Abram suddenly cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. "I'd like to propose a toast. I look around this room... and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors."

"Survivors!" Cody cheered, and everyone raised their glasses.

"Cheers!"

"Survivors!"

"Survivors."

"Is that all you want to be? Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse, and repeat?" Abraham asked. "'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender."

"Now, we get Eugene to Washington, and he will make the dead die, and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip," he continued, turning to Eugene. "Eugene, what's in DC?"

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart," Eugene said.

"However this plays out, however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there," Abraham spoke. "Safer than you've been since this whole thing started."

Chloe wanted that. She really did.

"Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there... who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

Judith cooed in response, causing everyone to glance at her. "What was that?" Rick asked her, making them all laugh. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in."

Everyone cheered and clapped, happy about the decision. Hope is what keeps everyone going."Yeah. Let's do it," Tyreese said from beside Alli, who was smiling at her twin, both looking cheerful.

Just then, Rick stood up and walked away while Tara took a seat beside Chloe and Alli. "You okay?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I just..." Tara started, her eyes moving between the two twins. "I-I didn't know who he was or what he could do. And I didn't know who all of you were. I-- I just wanna say that I'm sorry, again."