Push and Pull || Maggie Greene

Strangers and Bullets

We ended up splitting up. Rick, Shane, and Carl all stayed back to search for Sophia while the rest of us headed back to the highway. I was upfront with Daryl and Glenn as we all trekked through the woods. I could feel the small droplets of sweat dripping down my face, the hot Georgia sun beating down on us even through the coverage the trees provided.

It was moments like this where I longed to be able to just walk into my apartment and turn on the air conditioning and have a glass of fresh ice water in my hand, though now I guess I would have to settle for making it to the RV and sitting in the shade with some warm water instead, it was better than nothing after all.

"Shit it's fucking hot," I spoke after a few tense minutes of walking in nothing but silence. Daryl's lips quirked up, "You're telling me."

That was the only words passed between us as Carol's voice rang out from behind us.

"So this is it? This the whole plan?"

We all stopped and looked to where she had situated herself on a nearby log, the long walk having made her grow tired and not to mention the emotional weight that must have been weighing her down.

"For now I guess it is," I noted, I wasn't sure what to say to her as I was just following Rick and Shane's instructions.

"Well, I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups," Daryl added his perspective into it.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea piped in.

Lori set her bag down and Andrea looked at her, "I see you have a gun." She observed her eyes then landing on me, "You do too." My grip on my Shotgun tightening briefly at the mention of it.

While I didn't say anything in return to Andreas statement Lori had no issue in saying something back.

"Why you want it?"

Lori took the gun from her bag and held it out for Andrea, "Here, take it." She offered the gun out.

"I'm sick of the looks you're giving me, and I'm sure Ellie is tired of you giving her looks too." I watched as my sister-in-law called Andrea out, my eyes darting between the two women.

Andrea gave her a look of disbelief but she still took the gun nonetheless.

Lori then looked to the rest of the group and muttered, "All of you," as she sat down. It was then I realized just how much this was all weighing down on Lori and I felt bad for not noticing sooner.

"Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through, and I would do anything to stop it, but you have got to stop blaming Rick " Lori directed her words towards Carol now.

"It is in your face every time you look at him, when Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second!" Lori paused briefly, her eyes locking with everyone for a brief second.

"I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions he had to make, or that anyone could have done it differently."

There was once again a pause, no one having anything to say to her speech. My gaze was locked onto the ground, the leaves seeming very interesting.

"Anybody?" She questioned, once again receiving no answer.

He shook her head, "Y'all look to him and then blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, you go right ahead, nobody is stopping you."