Tomorrow Will Come

Forty Three

Michonne left that next morning, a group of them trudging through snow and ice, whilst Mary kept the fire burning for herself, Judith, and RJ. That night, Jennie, Toby, and Nira piled into the house, hoping to save some firewood, and they all slept together in the living room, Mary shivering all night.
"Can't sleep?" Toby asked, walking over to Mary boiling some water over the fire.
"No. I'm so so cold." She replied in a whisper, terrified of waking up the kids - Jennie was under a pile of blankets with RJ clinging to her, the two having became firm friends recently, and Judith was curled up on one side of the fireplace like a cat seeking the suns warmth through the window.
"Tea?"
"Read my mind." Mary smiled, letting the boy grab some old dried leaves and put them in the pot. She poured the water inside, letting the mixture diffuse in silence.
"People are going to die," Toby said sombrely, "no joke. It's too cold. I don't get why it's this cold this year. But some poor kids going to die."
"Aaron said we'd have to all move into shared houses if it gets worse. I think that's now. Tomorrow. More people means more warmth, more wood."
"It's days like this that juts make me want to move further south."
"We're from Georgia originally," Mary grinned, remembering the memory, "I don't know if I ever told you that. And, and I remember the first few years of... Of this. It was always so hot. Half the time we couldn't drink enough, and it was so hard. But the sun never stopped shining."
"It sounds nice."
"I miss those days. Even though it was awful, and we were always hungry and tired and had no home, I'd give all this up to have those days back."

"I can't find him!" Judith shouted angrily, her wording shooting hot red anger at Mary.
"Judith," Mary snapped, "I know you promised Daryl you'd look after Dog, but right now, we've got to look after us! Dog will be fine."
"I don't care. I want Dog!"
"Judith, we'll find him. Calm down, and come and sit with Gracie." Aaron sighed. So many people had piled into his house; Mary, Judith, RJ, Rosita, Negan, Siddiq, Eugene, Gabriel, Jennie, Nira, and Toby, plus a few other Alexandrians.
"I wanna find him now!" Judith roared, making RJ clamp his hands over his ears.
"It's okay baby." Rosita whisperer, wrapping her arms around the tiny boy.
"Tough shit!" Mary snapped back.
"Oh my god, you sisters drive me fucking crazy. Always arguing." Negan retorted, rolling his eyes.
"You're lucky we didn't leave you to freeze to death." Mary snapped, her fists clenching just at the sound of his voice.
"Oh, but that's not what daddy Rick wanted, was it." Negan laughed, making Siddiq grab Mary before she could lunge at him.
"Not worth it." Siddiq whispered into Mary's ear, as the girl spat at Negan's feet.
"Mary. Not worth it." Jennie repeated, and Mary scuffed her leather boots as she walked away, grabbing RJ and sitting him on her lap.
"It's alright, baby. In through the nose, out through the mouth." Rosita whispered, catching Jennie's eye as she sat on the other side of Mary.
"I swear to god I have memorised every square inch of the room. And it still feels like a party." Negan chuckled, his sole intention to annoy everyone in the room.
"A never ending party from hell." Rosita laughed fakely.
"I mean sure, alright, it smells like a goddamn barn in here, all bored shitless, but..."
"Language!" Judith hissed, making Negan laugh.
"Sorry. Sorry kiddo. You'll have to get Mary to apologise too, I guess. But I mean, we've got ourselves this hot little love quadrangle here to entertain us. It's like Christmas to me."
"Well maybe they're just as miserable at Barbara's or Kieran's." Siddiq replied tiredly.
"Gabe, your girl's Doc is also your girl's baby daddy, which kind of begs the question, do you ever wonder what the hell was going on in there when she has her appointments?" Negan teased. Rosita tried to hold in her mix of anger and embarrassment, but Mary could feel it radiating off her skin.
"You could try to be a little less predictable." Gabriel retorted.
"That hurts Gabe, truly."
"You know, we're all grown ups here and none of us would ever let that ruin the long-standing friendships and mutual respect we have." Gabriel lectured, making RJ screw up his face.
"I'm a kid! And Judy and Gracie."
"Sorry RJ. Most of us." Gabriel corrected tiredly.
"You know, you're right," Negan nodded, "That's a very mature point, Father-not-the-father. Is that unpredictable enough for you?"
Eugene laughed a little at that, making Gabriel glare at him.
"Bucket loads of fun. In a room with three men in love with my aunt." Mary mumbled in amusement to Jennie.
"Jude, don't sit so close to the window." Siddiq ordered, making Judith move away and sit by Nira, closing the curtain on the way.
"We're bored! Judy? Right?" RJ whined, hoping to get Judith to agree with him.
"Not really." Judith shrugged.
"Here," Siddiq offered, rustling through RJ's bag, "okay with this."
Mary smiled as Siddiq passed RJ a couple of toys; she knew he was going to be the best dad.
"Hey kiddo you still worried about that mutt?"
"Daryl told me to take care of him while he helped the Kingdon move to Hilltop. I don't know where he is, and Mary won't let me find him!"
"Does anyone else smell something?" Negan asked, changing the topic, uninterested.
"Can you stop being such an asshole." Siddiq hissed, exhausted of the man.
"No he's right, something does smell funky in here."
"It's stinky in the fire!" RJ whispered to Mary, getting up to go and smell it, following Siddiq's lead.
Suddenly, all the clogs fell into place in Eugene's mind, and he ran to the fire, pushing RJ back. The boy began to sob, as Eugene shouted, "Get away from there!"  As if on queue, the fire exploded to his words, making RJ scream even more.
"It's okay, baby." Mary soothed, grabbing RJ as quickly as possible. Gracie had begun to cry too, but her and Judith were already cradling each other.
"He hurt me!" RJ whimpered, holding out his grazed hands.
"He was pushing you away so the fire didn't get you," Mary soothed, holding RJ into her chest.
"I'm cold!" The boy roared, and Mary grabbed the last blanket, wrapping him up tightly.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry baby."
"As I suspected," Eugene explained, "the chimney flue is completely gunkified. What singed your nostrils earlier was no doubt a toxic mixture of creosote and H2O. Blizzard's done some tearing and blaring. And our chimneys ventilation capabilities are nil to none. It'd be unwise to spark your another blaze lest we plan on ceasing all respiratory functions aka smoking and choking."
"God," Negan laughed scoffingly, "I missed you Eugene."
"I can't say the same."
Mary wrapped Judith, RJ, and Gracie in their blankets, bundling the three of them together for extra warmth, then walked over to Gabriel, Rosita, Siddiq, Nira, and Eugene, holding Jennie's frozen hand.
"You know, without a fire we'll never get these people warm enough." Siddiq said quietly, Rosita nodding.
"Yeah, we should leave before the temperature drops any lower."
"Okay folks," Gabriel announced, "contingency plan. We're going to Barbra's house. It'll be tight quarters but we'll make it work."
Everyone began to line up, as Negan scoffed.
"Seriously? Not one of you assholes is gonna untie me?"
"We could tell Michonne it was an accident,"
Rosita pondered, but they untied him, everyone getting into a line and holding a long cord to keep them together.
"It's gonna be okay," Mary whispered into RJ's hair, the boy tied onto her body like a baby.
"It's okay. It's okay." Jennie said gently, kissing the back of Mary's head. Judith was just ahead of them, her and Gracie sandwiched in between Rosita and Siddiq, and they began to walk forwards slowly, the wind and snow slapping them like a thousand tiny knives.
"I wanna go home, Moo!" RJ whimpered, the snow attacking cheeks.
"Soon." Mary breathed back, the cold air paining he back of her throat.
Suddenly, a bark came out of nowhere, sending a chill through Mary's spine.
"Dog! Dog, No!" Judith screamed, running into the distance to follow the sound.
"Judith! Back here, now!" Mary screamed, louder than she ever had before. "Get the hell back here! Now!"
But the girl wasn't listening, and carried on running into the blizzard, following the dog's barks, away from her sisters screams and threats.