ch.38

them

"we're out. just like the other one." abraham said, referring to the other car that ran out of gas.

"so we walk." rick stated, ushering for us to get out of the car. we hadn't had any idea of where we were going, we just went.

the group wasn't doing well. from the recent deaths, no food, no water, and no sleep. we were all on the verge of passing out, the only thing that kept us going were carl and judith.

i walked along side glenn in the front, we had been walking for days and still nothing.

walkers had even started following on our trail that we let be,  we didn't have enough energy or ammo to spare.

we waited until we got to a bridge, so we could lead them off, throw the stubborn ones over ourselves.

sasha strayed, stabbing her knife forcefully into a walkers head causing michonne to whisper yell at her, "sasha." she gritted through her teeth, only to be ignored.

"plan just got dicked." abraham huffed out from beside me as we both pulled weapons from our holsters.

i walked closer to the herd, getting close with one. my hand swung to the side, piercing through its ear, causing me to cringe, feeling the blood splatter on my face.

after they were all gone, we continued on walking until we found a few cars stopped on the road.

"i'm gonna head out in the woods, circle back." daryl informed, earning a nod from me before i moved to a car.

i opened the door, sitting myself in the seat, while my eyes wondered around the car. stopping when a silver chain sparkled from the light in the back.

i leaned over the hand rest, reaching for the necklace. a smile spread across my face, seeing a silver circle with a "g" engraved on it.

    "isn't that a coincidence" i whispered to myself, looking down at it. i pulled down the mirror, placing it around my neck.

my eyes soon drifted away from the necklace and to glenn, who was standing in front of the car.

he waved me over, in which i got out of the car and walked to where he was.

  "come on, let's join the others" he mumbled, earning a nod in response. we walked to where the others we sitting.

    i took a seat next to tara, glenn soon joined my side, taking a seat.

"so all we found was booze?" i questioned, looking to where abraham was.

    "yeah" rosita replied, with her head in her hands.

"it's not gonna help" tara uttered in disappointment, looking to the ground.

i looked to glenn who was staring at me, sending him a confused look.

he pointed to the silver necklace around my neck, causing me to remember i found it. i slowly turned to him, showing him the g engraved into the circle.

he sent me a smile, but before i could say anything rustling and growling came from the woods behinds us, causing us all to look in that  direction.

dogs appeared from the woods, sending us all in silent panick when they started barking. i slowly pulled my knife from the holster, ready for them to attack.

i glanced to rick and daryl who gave me a head nod as we slowly started to get up. the dogs whimpering caught my attention, watching as they fell limp to the ground.

my eyes glanced to sasha, who slowly lowered her gun looking in our direction. ___________

"melanie, take a drink" glenn urged, motioning for me to grab the bottle out of his hands as we walked.

my eyes never left the ground, only thinking about beth. "no" i mumbled, slowly pushing myself to walk.

"okay..." glenn started, watching my every move, "how about you just talk to me?"

my eyes finally moved from the ground, looking in front of me to where my sister walked with maggie.

"i never thought they were alive. i just didn't, after sophia, i don't know if i couldn't. after what i witnessed, i hoped they'd be alive... and then finding out beth was and then wasn't in the same day..."

i choked on my tears, remembering the imagine of her body dangling in daryls arms. i took a moment, trying to shake the image out of my head before i continued.

"...seeing her like that, it- it made it feel like everything the four of us went through was never really there."

i gulped, looking down to where my hands fiddled with each other, "i don't know if i want to fight it anymore."

glenn moved his body closer to mine, never taking his eyes off me, "you do. you do. that's who you are." he started, earning a small nod.

"maybe it's a curse nowadays, but i don't think so. we fought to be here, and we have to keep fighting."

"drink." he urged, gently handing me the water bottle. i twisted the cap, bringing the bottle to my mouth, taking a sip.

"are you gonna tell me your secrets on how you trained this stubborn ass?" davina questioned glenn from beside us.

   we both gave her a tiny smile, shaking our heads. my smile soon faded as i looked behind me, watching daryl disappear into the woods.

     "hey, i'll be back. i'm going to look for water." i stated, earning a nod from the two of them.

       "i'll go with you" glenn mumbled, causing me to shake my head, "itll be quick, i have my gun and knife. i'll be safe."

     he paused, staring at me worriedly before reluctantly nodding his head. with that, i moved into the woods, following daryls tracks.

     "daryl." i uttered, seeing him on the ground with his back up against the tree with a cigarette pack in his hand.

     "hey" he whispered, causing my hand to motion a wave taking a seat next to him.

    "want one?" he questioned, holding out a cigarette, only to be declined, "it's not good for the baby..."

      daryl took a minute to process my words before his head shot in my direction, giving me a confused look, "baby? you're pregnant?

    i nodded, giving him a small smile, "at least i think i am. i haven't told anyone beside glenn and you. didn't really think it was a good time with beth and tyreese... i thought i would for sure miscarriage"

     he gave me a little nod before, tears started to gloss his eyes, "i'm happy for you mel, beth would've been happy too..."

    i huffed out a small smile, biting my lip as i tried to hold in the tears, "it feels like it was only yesterday the four of us talked about this... you, me, davina and beth..."

       we both paused, thinking back to when the four of us were together.

    "do you think it's our fault?" daryl asked, breaking the silence.

      i clicked my tongue, looking up to the sky, "i did, i thought that when i first saw her... but i know she wouldn't blame us."

     daryl nodded, "i miss her."

      "i miss her too" _____________

we made our way back to the group only to be stopped by rick before we could even exit the woods.

     he held out a piece of paper, causing daryl to take it into his hand, "from A friend"

    i pulled my knives from my holster, looking around me.

    "if that's a trap, we already happen to be in it." eugene started, looking down at the water, "but i, for one, would like to think it is indeed from a friend."

   davina joined my side, giving me a question look on what i thought about the water. i shook my head looking down at it.

   "what if it isn't? and they put something in it." carol questioned, looking to him.

    i shrugged my shoulders walking forward, grabbing a water bottle.

   "melanie...eugene!" rosita called out, as he joined my side, grabbing one too. before i could open mine, glenn snatched it out of my hands, throwing it to the floor.

   i gave him a dirty look, but turned my head quickly watching abraham smack eugenes bottle onto the floor.

   "i'm already dying from dehydration and hunger. might as well take the chance." i argued, earning a nod from eugene who agreed with me.

   "we can't" rick stated, giving me intense eyes. his glare soon turned away when a loud rumble rang through our ears.

   droplets of water, slowly started to hit my face and body. causing me let out a sigh in relief, taking it in.

    i stood there next to daryl, watching everyone smile and giggle while i felt empty inside, daryl showing the same expression.

   everyone's minute of happiness soon turned cold as the thunder boomed and the sky turned gray.

   "let's keep moving!" rick shouted as i watched glenn stand up and come near me, placing a spot next to me.

   "there's a barn!" daryl informed, earning a nod from me, leading them to where the barn was.

   rick followed behind me, glenn, daryl with our weapons raised as we entered the barn, the rest stood outside, waiting for the okay.

   after we gave the okay, everyone settled in for the night. i sat by the fire, next to glenn and daryl, watching the flames ripple.

   i turned my head, watching my sister snuggle with tara as they leaned up against the wall.

   i felt glenns hand pull my head to his shoulder, causing my body to drift in and out of sleep, listening to rick tell his story to the others about his grandpa.

   my eyes opened hearing the last part, "...we are the walking dead."

   the whole group paused at his last words until daryl spoke up, "we aint them."

   "we aren't them" i mumbled, looking to rick, both of their gazes falling on me. rick hesitantly nodded, "we're not"

   daryls body soon rose, walking away from the circle. my eyes watched his every move until he disappeared out of my view.

   "i'm gonna check on him." i whispered to glenn, who was dozing off beside me.

    he murmured what sounded like an okay, causing me to chuckle as i kissed his head standing up.

   a frown appeared on my face watching daryl peak outside, through a crack in between the doors.

   walker snarls made me roll my eyes, soon watching him struggle to keep the doors closed.

   "you've got to be kidding me" i hissed, running to help him. i frantically shoved my back against the door, struggling as more walkers pushed up against it.

maggie was the first to join in, helping us and soon the others gathered as we pushed all our body weight up against the door.

we did this the rest of the night, until the thunder stopped and sun started to rise.

   my body dropped to me and glenns sleeping place, my body relaxing from the work i had just put in. ____________

my eyes fluttered open from the sun, sneaking through the cracks of the old building.

i pulled myself to sit up straight as i heard shuffling near the doors.

"where you headin?" i questioned maggie and sasha, who snapped their heads around, not knowing i was awake.

maggie straightened herself, "we wanted to see the mess the storm left, wanna come?"

"sure" i smiled, stretching my arms before standing up. i quickly shoved my knives in the holster, walking to where they were.

maggie led the way, me and sasha slowly following behind. our eyes wondered, seeing fallen trees and walker bodies scattered around the grass.

"look at this. should've torn us apart" sasha mumbled, hesitant as she stepped towards a broke tree.

  "it didn't" maggie uttered, ducking under a tree limb.

"i hope nothing ever does again" i added, looking up at the sky in aw, seeing the pink and purple sunrise.

maggie patted her hand for me and sasha to sit beside her on a log, which we both did, admiring the cotton candy sky.

"noah, that kid.." sasha started, breaking the silence, "he said he didn't know if he could make it."

i turned my gaze to her, seeing the tears brim her eyes, "that's how i feel" she uttered, choking back tears.

"you're gonna make it." maggie muttered, after a long pause. i nodded my head in agreement, my eyes slowly drifting back to the sky.

"the three of us will, that's the hard part." i stated, playing with my ring.

me and sashas eyes shot down to the kids jewelry box maggie's was holding, as she twisted the key waiting for the ballerina in the middle to turn.

"you got to be kidding me." she chuckled, when the ballerina didn't move, making us all laugh.

"hey, hi." we heard a mans voice say out of nowhere, causing me to jump up, raising my gun, sasha and maggie did the same.

"i didn't mean to interrupt.." he started, raised his hands, showing us he wasn't a threat, "good morning, my name is aaron."

"step the fuck back" i snapped, causing his smile to frown a bit. he kept stepping forward anyway, the smile slowly creeping back onto his face.

"i'm a friend." he stated, referring to the note that was left with the water bottles, "i'd like to talk to the person in charge... rick, right?"

i raised my brow, looking him up and down, unsure if i should trust him.

"how do you know-" maggie started, only to be interrupted by sasha, "why?" she asked, letting the y hangover.

"stop the bullshit." i raised my voice, earning a slight nudge from maggie.

he licked his lips shaking his head, "i have good news"

i reluctantly looked over to them, nodding my head. i lowered my gun before stepping closer. his hands stayed raised as he watched my every move.

i gave him a slight smile before raising my gun, quickly smacking him in the head.

"melanie!" they both yelled, looking at me if i was crazy, "what? he could be crazy." i stated, turning to face them.

their eyes moved to the man, laying on the ground. "you sure you're not the crazy one?"

i rolled my eyes, realizing i didn't hit him hard enough as i watched his body move slowly on the grass.

   i'm okay" he assured, holding his head when he stood up.

________________________________3/10/2021