Apocalyptic Love

Chapter 20 Light in the Darkness

They spent all winter on the run, but at least with Daryl and Kagome's hunting skills, the group was relatively well fed. Sophia had become a skilled hunter as well; after getting over her initial shock of killing an animal, it slowly became more comfortable for her. Now that Andrea was gone, Amy took her role of protecting her new family very seriously. With Daryl's help, she became an expert markswoman with a pistol and rifle, but unlike her sister, Amy helped the others as much as possible.

Kagome and Rick's relationship started to grow despite Lori's growing belly and demands. Lori tried for months to win Rick back, but it didn't work. She finally realized halfway through winter that all hope was lost when she saw Kagome and Rick kissing and holding hands when they thought the others weren't watching. Her spirit finally broke; they stayed in a house, and she saw them in the other room holding each other. They were whispering and laughing quietly. A tear ran down Lori's cheek when she saw how happy Rick looked and how his eyes filled with love for the woman in his arms. She had never seen his eyes filled with so much love, not even for her.

After that, Lori kept her complaining to a minimum and even let Kagome examine her when it was necessary. The only good thing they had during the winter was that no one got sick. Kagome told the entire group about her past and what she had been through; they didn't believe her initially, but when Rick cut his hand, and Kagome healed it, they were convinced. If she could that, she did have the power to purify demons and travel back in time. So Kagome was able to keep them healthy with her healing powers and herbal remedies.

As Winter turned to Spring, and Lori's time was getting closer, the search for someplace more permanent became more urgent. They stopped on the side of the road to take stock of what they could do next. Amy, Carl, Sophia, and Dale surrounded the vehicles to keep a lookout, while Rick and the others looked at the map to discuss where to go next. “We've got no place left to go,” T-Dog said as he looked at the map.

“When this herd meets up with this one, we’ll be cut off; we’ll never make it south.”

“What do you say? It's about 150 head,” Daryl asked.

“That was last week, could be more by now,” Kagome answered.

“This river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this.” Hershel informed them.

“Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way,” T-Dog added.

“So, we're blocked,” Maggie said.

“Only thing to do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville,” Rick told the group.

“We picked through that area already; it's like we spent the winter going in circles.”

“Yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan, we’ll push west. Haven’t been through the area. We can’t keep going house to house. We need to find a place we can hold up for a few weeks.”

“Lori's time is getting close, all this moving around isn't helping,” Kagome said, “I can deliver the baby if I have to in the car, but she told me that Carl was a c-section and she thinks that this one will be too.”

“Can you prevent that,” Rick asked.

“I can try, I can't cure everything. But it would be better if we did have someplace where I can do the surgery if we need to.”

Rick kissed Kagome head, “I know you can't, Baby. I know you'll do your best.”

By this time, everyone had accepted that Rick had moved with Kagome, and they were all happy for him. After all, he deserved to be happy, and it was apparent to everyone that Kagome and Rick made each other happy. The group felt bad for Lori for a while, but after everything she tried to do to get Kagome kicked out, sympathy didn't last long. They tried hard not to treat Lori like an outsider, but sometimes it couldn't be helped. The only one that kind of empathized with Lori was Carol and Dale. Everyone else felt uncomfortable around her.