In the Very End: Book One

Chapter 25

I exited the little room into the hallway, flipping my flashlight on. Instead of following me, Quinn went the opposite direction. I heard a shuffling noise down the hall and turned around.

We entered a room with a half door, a noise coming from a closet. I readied my crossbow as Quinn prepared to open the door. She quickly flung the door open to see a good-sized possum. An arrow quickly whizzed through it.

"Hello, dinner," I said, the flashlight hanging out of my mouth.

Quinn sighed. "I am not puttin' that in my bag."

I opened up another cabinet and found two tubs of baby formula inside. This would do until we could find more. And for this baby, for Lori, we would find more.

___

Beth mixed the formula with somewhat hot water as I held the baby. She made her way over and handed me the bottle of milk.

"Shh," I cooed. When the baby finally latched, I looked up and smiled. "She got a name yet?"

"Not yet," Carl answered. "I was thinkin' maybe Sophia, or Amy, or...Lori. I dont know."

"You like that, lil' ass kicker? That's a good name, right? Lil' Ass Kicker. You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?"

Nobody said so, but I knew they thought it was a good name.

___

Quinn's POV

The next morning, I walked down to Lori's grave. I squatted down in front of it and placed my hand on the makeshift cross. I stood up and headed back to the prison after saying a few silent prayers.

___

We all sat around the kitchen eating oatmeal. Hershel, Maggie, Glenn, Beth, and Carl were eating around a table while Daryl and I ate on the stairs.

I heard that familiar southern drawl: "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah, we are," Maggie answered.

Rick opened the gate and made his way inside.

"What about you?" Hershel asked.

"Cleared out the boiler block," Rick replied.

"How many were there?" Daryl asked.

"I don't know," Rick responded. "Dozen, two dozen. I have to get back, just wanted to check on Carl."

"Rick, we can handle takin' out the bodies," Glenn assured. "Okay? You don't have to."

"No, I do."

Rick walked quickly over to Daryl.

"Everyone have a gun or a knife?"

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, runnin' low on ammo, though."

"Maggie and I were planning on making a run this afternoon. Try to find a place where we can find some bullets and formula," Glenn informed.

"We cleared out the generator room," I said. "Axel's there tryin' to fix it in case of an emergency."

"I wanna sweep the lower levels as well," Daryl added.

"Good, good," Rick said as he walked back over to the gate, swinging it closed behind him.

"Rick," Hershel called, trying to stop him.

I sighed. "I'll go talk to him."

"We better leave him be," Hershel said. "He needs time."

"Well, I need to talk to him," I said, picking up my pace.

"He'll listen to her over any of us right now," Glenn said quietly from behind me.

I popped open the door and peeked inside. Rick looked up at me and let out a sigh. I continued down the stairs.

"May I?" I asked.

Rick shrugged so I leaned against the desk.

"She was sorry for the things that happened," I started. "Take your time, whatever you need. You carried us, you didn't give up, you got us here—"

"It's not enough, it's not safe enough," he opposed.

"There isn't anywhere else," I notified. "I know you want to get away from this, but nowhere is safer than where we are right now. We've run so much already. We need to stay settled for a little while. It'll do us some good."

"I got a call."

I stared at him. "What?"

"Someone called on this phone." He slid an old phone in front of me. "A woman. She was young, she was part of a group. She said they had a safe place."

I picked the phone up and put it to my ear. All I heard was silence. No dial tone, no voices, nothing...just silence.

"She said they were just dialin' numbers and I picked up. She said they'd be callin' back. If it sounds right, I wanna talk 'em in to takin' us in."

"Did she say where they were?" I asked.

"No, but it doesn't matter. If it's safe, we'll get there." Rick paused. "Don't tell the rest of the group, not yet."

"I'll sit here with ya," I offered, wanting to see that phone ring for myself.

"No," Rick said plainly.

I nodded my head in understanding. "Alright," I said, pushing off of the desk.

"Quinn?"

"Yeah?" I questioned.

"Thank you."

Without another word, I jumped up the stairs and left. When I came back into the kitchen, I saw everyone was gone.

"Where is everyone?" I asked Beth.

"Daryl, Oscar, and Carl went to search the lower levels of the prison, and Glenn and Maggie went out on a run," she responded, shifting the baby in her hands.

"Ah," I answered, grabbing a bottle of water.

I hope everyone would be okay. I couldn't stand to lose anymore people.