Destination Life or Death

33.

I went with Spencer for a while to watch the walls but he stopped me quickly. "Hey Dez?" he spoke, stepping in front of me to face me. "Well, if you didn't already have plans, I was thinking of making my beef jerky stroganoff." he spoke with a smile, I nodded and walked past him slowly with him following. " I'm good, thanks." I said smiling slightly and then thinking about the conversation I had with Carl. "It's not exactly a nice porterhouse. But I promise it's better than it sounds." he still had a smile on his face. I stopped and faced him. "I'm sure it is." I said, nodding but losing my smile. "What?" I asked as he just stared at me. "What are we doing?" he asked looking at me. I shook my head, "Spencer, I thought you were just trying to be here for me like I was for you." I said shrugging. "It's good either way." he said shrugging but losing his smile completely. "Spencer, listen." I said pausing as I saw Carl standing behind him waiting for him to leave. "I'm in love with Carl. I'm about to start a life with him and I thought you knew that." I said shaking my head. "Thank you for asking me but I think you should find someone better." I said smiling slightly and then putting my arms out to hug him. "You truly are a great friend Spencer, and I'm sorry." I said hugging him slightly and then looking over to Carl who was now walking up to me as Spencer was leaving. "Hey." I said smiling at him. "What was that about?" Carl asked, looking at Spencer walk away then back at me. "Oh nothing, it's fine now." I said shrugging and then turning quickly as a door to the house I was standing in front of opened. "Denise?' I asked walking towards her. "Rosita is having lessons in the cul de sac." I said smiling. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you guys." she said, nodding and handing us a map that had a red circle drawn on it. ""Do you want me to get Rick?" Carl said looking down at the map and then Denise again. "Oh no, it's fine. I just, after I got out of D.C., I just drove. I remember seeing it right when I had no idea where I was going. Edison's Apothecary and Boutique. It's just this little gift shop in a strip mall, but if it's really an apothecary, They would have had meds." She said, looking at Carl and me while talking. "How do you know they still have some?" I asked looking at the map then her again. "It isn't that far. I just wanted to check. And you and Carl aren't out scavenging or pulling shifts." she said shaking her head but not looking away from us. I looked back at Carl and then back at her. "Okay, yeah." I paused. "We'll go." I added to myself quickly. "I wanted to check. I just wanted to help." she said quickly. "How much time have you spent out there?" I asked nodding past the wall. "None." she responded quickly to me. "Denise, I'm willing to go out there for you but you're not risking yourself." I said shrugging. "I can ID the meds and I know how to use a machete now. I've seen roamers up close. I'm ready." She said nodding while not taking her gaze off of us. "You good with this?" I asked looking back at Carl, who had been standing closely behind me. "Not at all." he said, shaking his head. "I'll go alone if I have to." Denise said looking at me. "You'll die alone." I said shaking my head and raising my eyebrows. "I'm asking you to make sure I don't." she said looking at me while I shared a look with Carl. "I would've asked Rick, But I know you guys took control at Hilltop and you are easier to approach." She spoke trying to fill the silence. "Fine." I said putting my hands in the air. We drove in a small pickup truck, me on the left, Carl on the right and Denise in the middle. We stopped when we hit a tree in the road. "Stay here." I said, looking at Denise while Carl and I got out of the truck. "This happened fast." I said while pulling out my katana and slicing a walker through the head as he crawled on the ground. "Come on." I said, opening the door for Denise. "What did you find?" she asked looking at me as she got out of the truck. "Bottles of booze, any takers?" I asked looking at her. "No thanks." she spoke, shaking her head. "Kinda my parents thing. That's why it's not mine." she spoke while looking down at the map. "Well, I guess I'll put them in our pantry." I said, winking at Carl then putting them in the backpack I had been carrying. "Come on, let's walk." Carl said while stepping over some of the branches from the tree in the road. "Wait up." Denise said quickly. "It's a straight shot if we follow the tracks." she said looking at me then Carl. "No," he paused. "No tracks, we'll take the road." he said walking down the road. "That's almost twice as far." I said, giving him a confused glance. "Go whichever way you like. I'm not taking any tracks." He said walking up into the tree line into the forest. "I don't know what's got into him." I said quietly while shaking his head. "He just wants to be like his father, Dez." Denise said softly as we followed Carl. "Yeah but he's turned into a dick." I said, shrugging and then hanging my head when she didn't say anything back to me. I turned quickly and started down the tracks. I knew where I was going, and I'd meet them there. I was stopped by a group of three men. "Dezzy, Dezzy, Dezzy." One of the men spoke as the other two stood behind him. "Or should I say Desiree." he said, leaving a long creepy smile painted on his face. "Who are you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do you know a little lady named Trix?" he asked, walking up to me and picking up the ends of my hair in his fingers. "No, I don't." I said shaking my head and then stepping back away from him. "Oh...." he turned his back towards me. "You probably know her as Trinity." he said smiling then walking back to where he was before and faced me again. My mother, she is doing this. "Where is she?" I spoke with anger. "Oh, Desiree, I just have a job to do" he said, pulling a machete out from the back of his waistband. "Oh, you're gonna regret this." I said shaking my head then pulling my katana from its saya and running quickly towards the man lifting my blade and letting it drop on his skull, before pushing him to the ground and shoving my katana through the front of his head once more. "I've got a message for 'Trix'." I said while one of the men started running up to me, but before he could hit me I dropped my katana and pulled out the pistol I had put in my belt loop and shot him in the head. "I'm leaving you alive." I said aiming my gun at the other man they were with. "Now, go tell my mother...." I paused. "That I will find her, even if it's the last thing I do." I said looking at the man with pure anger. When he didn't move I shot at his feet. "Go!" I said sternly. When he ran, I turned around and pulled my katana off the ground. With a sigh, and I kept walking.