𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 ↠ 𝘤.𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴

42: Promise

Why would you make a promise that you're not even positive that you can keep? Because it makes you and the other person feel better about what's to come. Elle made a promise she doubted she could keep. She promised her best friend that she would find him even though she has no idea where to look. She was stuck with one person at the moment, and it's the last person she wanted to be stuck with. She has no idea where her brothers are, so that's a mystery as well. She sighed at the invading thoughts, and looked down at the ground to see something that caught her eye.

"Sarah," Elle said, getting the other girl's attention. "footprints." There were footprints in the mud. Using the skills that Daryl Dixon had taught her, she realized these footprints belonged to a living, breathing person. They were neat and evenly spaced. Not dragged out and all over the place like a walker's would be. There were two sets. A set about the size of the girls' feet, and what appeared to be adult sized shoes. Elle had an idea as to who it could be, but she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Do we follow them?" Sarah asked. Elle only nodded instead of giving a verbal response and started walking.

❀❀❀

They had walked throughout the night, and they were tired. Their feet ached, their stomachs craved more food, their dry mouths needed water. The sun was starting to rise, giving off its morning glow to cast upon the two girls. Elle looked up from her feet and her eyes met with a small building. It was a diner. Diners have food. "Sarah." She said quietly, leading the girl off the road and towards the building. The gravel road crunched under their swollen feetas they walked closer and closer to the door.

"Stay out here." Elle warned before stepping inside.

The floor creaked with every small step she took. There was a wall made out of chairs and tables that took up half of the space in the room. On one of the tables was a peice of paper with writing on it.

Please do what I couldn't. -Joe

Elle recognized the writing, vaguely. She looked around the room she stood in. Joe's Diner. Her family ate here every once in a while. This diner made the best waffles and bacon that anyone could ask for. She recognized the writing because Joe was always the one to write the specials on the boards. She shifted her body, slightly, so see a dead walker. It had a bullet hole through the side of its head. She touched the blood and it was still wet. This walker was killed no more than a day or two ago. Elle walked around some more, into other rooms. They were all empty. No walkers. No food. It was all gone. She sighed before making her way back outside. Whoever killed that walker must've already cleared the place. All that was left on the shelves was hot sauce.

"Anything?" Sarah asked. Elle shook her head.

"Nothing we need." She mumbled. She and Sarah started walking towards the road again, their feet still aching and longing for rest. But they had to keep going. Once they got back to the road, they were trying to follow more footprints, but they were starting to get lighter and harder to see. The road only lead in one direction, so they continued to follow it anyways.

"How do we know these are our people?" Sarah asked from behind Elle.

"We don't. We'll find out soon enough, but it won't be easy to get away if we keep making noise." Elle explained, hoping Sarah would get the hint to just stop talking all together. And she did. The two walked silently, exchanging no words. Every once in a while they would swat away a mosquito, but other than that, they just followed wherever the road was taking them.