Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The truck rumbles to a stop with the others, surrounded by abandoned vehicles on all sides. Neither brother said a word but perhaps they haven't had the time to really think it through. I ask them both not to tell, worried more what the others will do when they learn that I have powers. Some may not react badly but they've also proven, many times, that they will follow the more volatile Shane and Lori. I have no desire to be burned at the stake, something I could see Lori and Shane urging the group into doing, simply for being born as I am. I say as much to the brothers, lest they mention it in front of the others.
I follow Merle out of the side door, pulling Asher with me. Merle gives a nod that his brother mirrors but still offers no comment. Asher presses close, not needing to be told that it's too dangerous to wander around.
Rick is shouting down the line for Merle, "The RV overheated again! We need you to come fix it."
"Why is he so loud?" I ask quietly but besides Daryl's snort, there isn't an answer.
If we're here, we may as well scavenge. There is still some room in the gym bag, mostly because nearly everything at the CDC was in large bins or palates, making it easier to shrink down. The cars here were left in a hurry, many with doors open and dead bodies on the ground, so they probably didn't take their stuff with them.
"We should search for supplies," I say just a bit louder so the clustered group can hear, since they seem to need someone to tell them what to do.
Daryl grabs a couple empty red jugs and a long rubbery hose from the back of his truck. Lori complained that it's not right, like stealing from a graveyard. The others seem to take their cue from her and stay back. Honestly, how do any of them plan to survive?
Asher helps me search. The first trunk I open has two brown paper bags full of boxed and canned food. I hold my bag open, letting him fill it. Opening the door, stabbing at the corpses we come across if they still have a head. The last thing we need is one of these bodies reanimated and grabbing us while we're distracted.
Slowly, a few others join us. On our third car, I notice Glenn searching his first, giving an excited shout when he finds a case of bottled water. The man everyone calls T joins him, pulling out two plastic grocery bags filled with canned goods. On our seventh car, Mrs. Carol joins in while her daughter hovers nervously by the RV. By the time Rick shouts for everyone to get ready to leave, only Lori hasn't checked any cars.
Looking ahead, I cant help the heavy lump of fear settling in my stomach. The road stretches ahead, farther than the eye can see. All along it are cars, trucks, and vans left behind. Some still on the road, some pushed off, some wrecked and others look pristine. It doesn't look dangerous, but...
Rick yells again, "Come on, People!, let's get this show on the road!"
He's too loud. They all are, honestly, and no matter what you tell them they don't listen. They're dangerous not out of cruelty but incompetence, which is the worse of the two in my opinion. No, they're not bad people, but going with them isn't safe.
Asher hasn't left my side, making no move to follow Rick's order. If I hadn't grabbed him at the CDC, would any of them? Would they have noticed him sitting in that chair, scared half to death while they panicked? Would they have remembered him before it was too late?
Going with them isn't safe and I... I promised to keep him safe. We can't travel with the group. Just like Rick left me in Atlanta, not just Merle, I can't trust him not to leave us again. I can't trust him not to leave Asher.
"Harry," Rick calls again too loud, "let's go!"
"We're not going with you," I tell him, loud enough to be heard.
"What?"
"It's not safe."
He opens his door, waving at his wife as she hisses annoyingly at him. I can hear the excuses before he says them. I can see how he's already dismissed my concerns without letting me voice them.
"You didn't just leave Merle in the city."
He flinches back, looking back as if I slapped him. He never looked for me, none of them did. I wasn't hiding, they could've shouted my name and I would've come to them. He opens his mouth but I don't want to hear excuses.
"You forgot about me the moment I stepped away."
"If you have stayed close..."
"I was gathering SUPPLIES!" I interrupt him angrily, "Not a one of you grabbed so much as a single drink from the multiple fridges near nearly EVERY register while I cleared EVERY vending machine that I found!"
Others have climbed out of their vehicles, watching but saying nothing. I shake my head, done with the lot of them, "You are too loud, too dangerous. We are not going with you."
Rick takes off his hat, rubbing at his head, "I know you're scared..."
"I'm not scared," I interrupt again. "I mean to survive. I don't think going with you will help me there."
Lori spouts something about me being ungrateful while Glenn tries to say that they're all trying their best. I shake my head, "None of you are THINKING! There have been many opportunities to gather supplies, so many things you passed, and you're all waiting for someone to give you the order before you DO anything."
Rick steps closer but I take a step back, "I don't trust you."
He actually stumbles back a step. I don't want to hurt him, but it's the truth. Maybe he will wizen up in time to keep the group alive. It's just not a risk I can take, for Asher or myself.
"You ungrateful bastard!" Lori snarls out, "After Rick took care of you!"
"I knew him less than a whole day when he left me behind!" I snap back, fed up with the woman that reminds me too much of my aunt to ever be comfortable near her. "I threatened to KILL Merle and he still, not a half hour later, came BACK to help me when too many dead crowded too close, while still high on drugs at that! When I went into the alley for Asher, Merle doubled BACK for me without knowing WHY I stopped."
Several glance over at the Merle sitting behind the wheel of the big truck of his. He waves back, a cigarette hanging from his lips and a knife in hand tapping a rhythm on the steering wheel. They dismissed him and dismiss him still but if anyone is going to survive this, it will be him.
"How long do you expect to survive out there on your own," Shane asks doubtfully.
I answer honestly, "I spent a month on the run, helping those I came across. I found and fortified a place, brought in survivors. I only left because..."
I can't just tell them I left because I felt useless there. I left because the people I brought in turned to the first person they could follow that wasn't me. I can't tell them that it hurt, how everyone wanted someone else, anyone else, to take my place because they didn't want me.
"We're going with the kid," Merle pipes up, blowing smoke out and smirking at the group.
The group erupts at that, many scared that their main source of food will leave. Lori and Shane both try to placate the group with assurances that they will be better without the Dixons. They both praise Rick's leadership, brushing off my concerns as the fears of a spoilt child.
"The kid didn't leave me, or kill me, even when he had reason an opportunity. The kids got instincts, which not a one of yall have."
"Why'd he threaten to kill you?" Glenn pipes up, bringing the rest of their attention back to us.
"When I found Mrs. Vanessa and her daughter Kayla, there were three men. I had to kill them," I explain vaguely. A few of the group are looking at me like I'm a monster but a couple seem to understand.
"Describe em," Merle orders, waving a hand from me to the group.
I shake my head, "The men were strong and cruel. They pointed weapons at them, rode their motorcycles around them knowing the noise attracts the dead, just to scare them. They murdered Mrs. Vanessa's husband and sons. They were a danger, too much of one to allow them to live."
Merle again blows out smoke, tossing the end of the cigarette away, "Kids got the right of it. Some folk are too dangerous to let live without damning others. I can respect that."
"You're going to follow a kid?" Shane asks scathingly.
Merle grins back, throwing a wink at his brother when he stares at him, "Kid's proved that he'll protect what's his without being stupid about it. He ain't afraid to make a decision and back it up. He's got good instincts an he's smart."
Rick keeps looking back at me betrayed. The group starts arguing more, still too loud. Lori's scathing voice rises over the others, damning them for their disloyalty.
"You're too loud," I try to warn the group but they still don't listen.
Nothing for it, really. They can't say I didn't try. I pull Asher over to Merle's truck, helping him up and scooting over so Daryl can climb in. Daryl doesn't look too pleased but Merle is grinning, far too amused.
"Where to, hoss?" Merle asks louder than necessary.
"We need to backtrack," I twist in my seat to look behind us. North seems the better option so I tell him so. He barely has the truck in gear when we hear a shout, "Wait!"
Carol comes running up, her daughter clutched close. Merle waves her on with a call to the others to mount up if their coming.
Glenn helps them climb up into the truck, whispering to them as he does. Merle calls out, "You can come too, chinaman, if ya want."
Glenn doesn't have time to answer before Lori is calling him back. No one else takes us up on the offer but I didn't expect them to. I'm honestly surprised that Carol and her daughter came.
Merle drives backwards for a while, until he reaches a place to turn around. The other group are scrambling into their vehicles as a small cluster of dead shambles out of the trees, drawn by all the noise. They'll be able to get away but how far is up to them. What's that saying?, 'Not my circus, not my monkeys.'