Don't Get Dead | TWD | Volume 1

[31] A Poor Excuse for a Road Trip

It was quiet the next morning. Ace didn't get any sleep, which meant that she was approaching her 48th hour awake, not that it was uncommon among the group. The only one that slept more than an hour that night was Carl. Everyone was miserable, and no one had the energy to do anything about it.

Rick split the fuel between the two cars, taking some from the Hyundai and putting it in the Silverado. It was the only way he could keep the group together while keeping them on the move. No one was being left behind, and no one was going off alone. Not anymore. After everything that happened, he couldn't risk losing anyone else.

When he was done, he gathered everyone up, wanting to get on the road as quickly as possible. They were still too close to the farm for his liking, so he wanted to get as far away from the herd as they could.

They drove for almost an hour and found nothing. Rick was becoming worried that they would have to stop and send someone ahead to siphon some fuel, but he would keep going for as long as he could without letting that happen. Sending people off alone was the worst-case scenario at that moment, but the idea of it was becoming increasingly possible.

Carl was so still that he could have been mistaken for being asleep, hugged into his mother's side and sitting in silence as they drove on. After Rick blew up on them the day before, he hadn't said a word to anyone. Carl was still trying to cope with the fact that Shane was dead, that his dad was the one that killed him. And then that they were all infected, that he would someday become a walker.

Lori knew that she would have to tell their son about the affair with Shane soon because she was the biggest reason he was gone. Shane meant too much to Carl for her to sweep it under the rug, and he deserved to know what happened. But she couldn't tell him. Not yet. They all needed some time.

To Rick's pleasure, Ace had fallen asleep on the drive. Her head was against the window, body twisted to the side, so she was resting on one hip. Using the thin coat as a blanket, she was out cold almost as soon as they started driving.

Rick made sure he kept going as smoothly as he could to keep her asleep so she wouldn't see the ever-declining fuel gauge. He wasn't in the place where he could take the comments or criticism that Ace would surely give if she were awake. Rick didn't blame her for it, he'd started to notice her pestering worsened when she was worried or anxious. Those emotions radiated off of her like heat from a space heater, projecting those emotions into something she knew.

"There's a car up ahead," T-Dog motioned in front of them.

"I see it," Rick said, slowing down and stopping on the side of the road.

Before they left the ruins, Ace recommended that the Silverado drive in front, so if they ever needed to stop or slow down, then the others would see them. It had the lowest miles per gallon, so they would almost always be the ones that needed to stop first. It was the only way of being able to stop without using the horn and alerting every walker in the area every time a quick stop was needed.

Just as she said, the other vehicles parked up close behind them.

"I'll stay with the kids," Lori said, keeping her eyes ahead.

Rick didn't answer, and neither of them looked at each other as he stepped out of the vehicle and walked ahead. T-Dog followed him, but not before grabbing the fuel canister and rubber hose from the back of the car.

Glenn and Daryl followed them over to the new vehicle, and they all searched the inside before going to siphon the fuel. As Glenn kneeled down at the back of the car, T-Dog looked at the gauge and turned back to the others.

"It's more than half full," he announced.

"Who'd just leave a car here that's got so much gas left?" Glenn questioned.