ch.36

crossed

we soon ended up at an abandoned book store, where we decided to take shelter for the night.

i wondered through the rows of book shelves as everyone else secured the place and situated themselves.

"melanie?" rosita called out, causing me to turn around in confusion. seeing her figure appeared from around the corner.

"come on, i'll stitch you up" she stated, looking down at my hand. i nodded my head, giving her a slight smile before following.

  she led me back down the halls among the bookshelves, my eyes wondering through all the dusty books, having a quick remembrance of dale.

light shined around the corner as we turned, revealing eugene and tara. i waved before sitting down across from rosita.

  i watched as she cleaned the cut area, wincing from the sting of the alcohol. a hand landed on my shoulder causing me to look up,  seeing a very handsome glenn.

"you okay?" he questioned, looking down at my wound, "mhm, always am." i assured, giving him a small smile only to receive an unsure look.

   "all done" rosita mumbled, getting up from the chair. i whipped my head around, breaking glenns stare.

"what?!" i exclaimed, shocked i didn't feel any pain. "you're all done, only took a minute or so." she smiled at my reaction.

   "i didn't feel a thing.'' i started, standing up to move with glenn, "look how nasty it looks"

i moved my hand in front of glenn's face, earning a disgusted look as he pushed it away, trying not to laugh.

  "stop, nasty" he smiled,  stepping farther away from me, resulting in me running up behind him, grabbing his hand in mine.

   he chuckled before leading me away through the bookshelves into a back corner where a little makeshift bed was set up.

   "what's this?" i asked, sending him a small as i looked over the area.

   "i just thought this would take our minds off leaving the rest of the group behind." he replied,  frowning a bit when he mentioned them.

    i moved to the bed, pulling glenn down beside me.

"i was a little mad in the beginning, yes, but i wouldn't want to be anywhere without you." i started, setting my head on his chest as we laid down, "... and im sure rick and the rest will catch up."

   "have you thought about them?" he questioned, turning his head to look down at me.

"yeah, i feel guilty." i uttered, staring up at the ceiling.

   "hey..." he started, turning my attention back to face him, "hey, we get to have... a little vacation on bookstore floors."

he let out a little chuckle looking down at me. i smiled back, tracing his facial features with my eyes, "we're living for something else, and they don't get to right now"

   "well, we did almost die today. and we don't have a car. and we're drinking toilet water." glenn noted, causing me to smile.

"it just feels really good having this...because it's not what was. not last night, it's about what it's going to be."

glenn shook his head, "you don't need to feel guilty about that"

   he paused before leaning down, planting a gentle kiss on my lips before pulling away. i smiled, reaching up to cup his face with one of my hands.

   i watched a fast grin release from his lips but before i could admire it, he flipped over now hovering on top of my body.

i bit my lip, placing my other hand on his face, pulling his lips to join mine again. little moans escaped both of our mouths as we deepened the kiss.

   my hands slowly made their way down to his belt buckle, unbuckling it. he chuckled at my actions before tugging on the bottom of my shirt.

i grinned between his lips, lifting my hands above my head, giving him access to take it off.

   "damn, i love you" he whispered, breaking the kiss for a short second to catch his breath. I smirked, "that shirt on you just won't do."

   he shook his head in disbelief as i pulled the shirt off his body, throwing it on the floor next to us. with that he grabbed my body close to his, rejoining our lips. ____________

   the next morning i woke up quite early, placing a gentle kiss on glenns head before leaving the small corner.

"good morning sunshine" eugene greeted sarcastically, "seems like you and glenn had a fun night."

   i choked a little before scratching the back of my messy hair, trying to play it off.

   "just a walker or two we forgot in the back." i stated, looking between all of my chuckling friends.

   "oh yeah? just a walker" rosita snarked, causing me to shake my head in embarrassment.

   "morning guys." i heard a musky voice say from behind me. i turned around to see glenn yawning with tara by his side.

   i smiled at both of them, soon taking a seat on a chair by the rest.

   "this town isn't in bad shape. this store wasn't even touched." i started looking to abraham, "we could make a good base here, and we could spend one last day doing a sweep for supplies."

   rosita shook her head, "we'll sweep as we go. we've done it since houston. we're not stopping now."

    i nodded looking to where glenn was, sending a smile in his direction.

"you heard the lady. we're taking it north." abraham announced, causing me to turn my attention back to him and the rest.

   "broad river is five miles west. at the very least we stock up there before we find wheels." tara commented, watching as abraham stood up from his seat heading towards her.

   "we got a vehicle... and it just so happens it's got 500 gallons of water on it."he stated, as we all looked out the window seeing a fire truck across the road.

   i smiled at them, seeing the red truck in my view. abraham tilted his head toward all of us, motioning for us to get our gear.

   i felt a hand slip into mine after gathering our stuff. "you ready for this?" i questioned glenn, giving him a small smile.

   "what aren't we ready for?" he asked, leading me to follow the rest of the group to where the fire truck was.

   our hands soon broke away from each other's when we neared the truck. while someone of us packed our stuff in the back, abraham and a couple others tried the engine.

   "you and glenn are good together." rosita commented, grinning towards me as we slowly walked to the front of the truck.

   i nodded my head, "yeah, we are... you and abraham too." i smiled, earning a shoulder squeeze.

   "they're what keeps us going." she stated, before we joined with the rest. the engine revved causing us all to smile in happiness.

   "about time things started going our way!" abraham shouted above the loud engine.

we stepped to the side, allowing eugene and abraham to move the truck, only to be disappointed when the engine stopped.

   i small sigh left my mouth, as i followed glenn to the front.

"we'll find another ride" glenn assured, trying to give encouragement to abraham who was pissed about the engine.

   "if there was a ride worth a shit in this town, we'd have seen it." abraham snapped back only sending him into a frenzy of bunched words.

   he soon stopped as we all watched a tired roll on the ground beside us, followed with loud growling sounds.______________

  one minute we were all watching abraham yell a storm of words, and the next we were fighting a swarm of walkers.

   i grabbed my knives from my belt loop, gripping them both in different hands as i held them up in front of my chest.

   i ran up, slamming my knife into the walkers skull hearing the cracking sounds which still made me cringe.

    i pulled the knife out hard, hitting the next walker, only to feel a rip in my hand. "shit" i mumbled to myself, looking down to the red blood spilling out from my hand.

   i pulled my eyes away from the cut, feeling a bony hand grab my shoulder. "melanie!" glenn screamed at me, watching the walker almost bite into me.

   i swung my knife around, stabbing it into its head before its teeth met my flesh. glenn shook his head at me, continuing to fight off the rest.

   "there's too many!" i yelled to the others who were also struggling with the amount of walkers coming at them.

    rosita ran my way, grabbing my arm as she pulled me away from the herd. i gave her a dirty look, which caused to her to point out eugene who was on top the truck.

   i knitted my brows, watching him struggle for a second, soon blasting water that came from a hose, wiping the walkers out.

   i scoffed, slightly grinning up to eugene once the water stopped running.

    "there was a goodwill over there by the bookstore." glenn started as we rung out our wet clothes, "it's pretty blown up, but there might be some supplies, some dry clothes, maybe?"

   i nodded my head in agreement, looking up to abraham who was now on top of the truck.

     "not necessary. i can clear that intake in two shakes."

   while the others tried to dry themselves. i tore a piece of my shirt, wrapping it around my wound so it wouldn't get infected.

    i stood with my back against the bus, waiting for abraham to clear the intake. rosita came up beside me with her hands across her chest, "do you believe in him? abraham."

   i nodded my head, "i have to believe in someone, abrahams pretty convincing." i stated, assuring her i believed in him, along with the rest.

   "that's good, you should..." she started, looking at the ground, "i just saw your expression back at the church, and i wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

   i turned to look at her, "i have my doubts, everyone does."

    "yeah, i know." she started, giving me a slight smile, "i like you, you're a tough son of a bitch. i'm the one who wanted you on our team."

    i chuckled, "i'd want you on my team too."

    before she could say anything else, the engine revved, causing us to push our backs off the truck, now looking towards the front.

     glenn and tara walked our way with smiles, "it's go time." eugene yelled, as we climbed in the back._____________

id say we were on the road for about twenty to thirty minutes before the truck broke down again, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere.

   i sighed, fiddling with the ripped cloth on my hand as i sat on the ground next to glenn. his movements catching my attention when he pulled my hand into his.

   i smiled for a minute but it quickly faded as a stench hit our nostrils, making us both cringe.

"whoa, what the hell is that?" glenn questioned, putting his free hand over his nose.

   his reaction causing me to giggle as i stood up, "whatever's making that stench, it ain't nothin nice." abraham scoffed, appearing out of the truck.

   "but we're not stoppin." he stated, walking in the direction we were heading with the truck.

  "i guess were walking." tara uttered, earning a small smile from me, trying to give her a little encouragement as we walked.

   we all made it up the little hill, stopping in place when seeing a huge herd of walkers in the distance.

  "let's go." glenn mumbled, shaking his head as he turned back around.

   everyone turned but me and abraham. i stayed, listening to him whisper words of wisdom to himself, "melanie. abraham."

   i turned around, joining at rosita and glenns side. looking back to see if he was coming, but his figure still stood in the same place.

"we gotta go." i sighed, trying to make him budge.

   "no. no, we don't. they can't hear us and they see us. not from here. we're fine." he stated, causing tara to roll her eyes.

    "yeah, this is the definition of "fine"" she nagged, glenn shook his head at her before stepping up to handle it.

"we need the map there's got to be a detour." he suggested, turning to get the map only to be cut off by abraham.

    "i'm not doing it. i'm not playing that game anymore." he sneered, making the group send glances toward each other.

   "we are not going through this, okay? i'm not taking my wife and the others into danger. it's not gonna happen." glenn urged, walking closer to abraham.

   "we don't go back. we can't go back."

    i looked at the ground knowing if we continued through the herd we'd all die.

   "i'm not talking about going back. just south a few-" before glenn could continue, abraham cut him off, "no"

   the group tried to plead with him, but he wasn't gonna change his mind.

"we can get through. i know it! and that means we are not going south, going around, or going back!" abraham yelled,  causing me to finally break.

    "then we are not going." i started, causing abraham to quickly turn around and look at me, "i will not put my family in danger."

  he paused before slowly turning back, nodding his head. i looked to glenn to see his expression.

the brown eyes met mine as he nodded his head, informing me i made the right choice.

   my eyes soon flickering to where abraham was, watching him turn around, quickly walking to where eugene was, grabbing him by the arm.

   my eyes widened, walking behind him as he pulled eugene with him. "what are you doing? stop." rosita exclaimed chasing after them too.

   "hey! let go of him!" glenn roared, still not stopping his actions. tara ran up pushing his chest back, only to be shoved away.

   this caused us all to yell, anger erupting inside all of us. "hey, you are done! you're done!" glenn shouted, grabbing abraham.

   "do not! do not!" abraham yelled back, making me yell even louder as i tried to pull them apart.

    abraham kept pushing glenn back, which caused me and rosita to fall to the ground beside them.

     we sent each other looks, shaking our head in disbelief of the fight that was happening in front of us.

________________________________3/9/2021