GONE, walking dead

002 ━ showered hopes

"You okay there?" I asked with a small chuckle, glancing down at the man. 

Rick's face was painted with sweat and he squinted up at me, shielding his eyes from the sun as he said, "I need a moment."

I nodded, giving him the time to catch his breath. "You said last night you don't live far from here?"

He nodded. 

"Want to check it out?"

He looked at me and nodded, instantly. It seemed just that one little statement was enough to get him going again. I would've been hesitant because what if we found bodies? What if we found his wife and child in one of the bedrooms? Would he be okay with seeing that? Seeing what he lost?

Would you?

He soon stood, a little more life in his step now with the destination in mind. He led us down the street and when we finally approached the home, I was surprised to know I recognized it, just slightly. I never knew who lived here and Conner never mowed their lawn, but it was funny, how close we all were to each other all this time.

Could we have run the same paths in the morning? Had we all gone to the same grocery store and stood in the check out line behind one another? 

I watched the man tear up the front steps, mindful of his wound as he kept a hand pressed against his side. Once he got to the door, he let out a small gasp as the door opened. It was unlocked. Never a good sign. 

He tore the mask from his face and entered the home with terrifying speed. By the time Morgan and I had entered, a little more cautiously than he did, he was panting inside the kitchen with a bewildered smile on his face.

"They're alive," he told us, breathing hard. "My wife and son. At least they were when they left."

"How can you know?" I asked, frowning at the mess across the floor and the overturned chairs. "By the look of this place–"

Rick grinned. "I found empty drawers in the bedroom, they packed some clothes. Not a lot, but enough to travel."

"Anybody could have walked in here and stolen some clothes, right?" Morgan said to him before giving me a long look because I'd understand better than Rick.

"See the framed photos on the walls?" Rick asked.

I looked around, seeing none. He was right. The walls were bare save for small nails left where pictures might've once been hanging. It was funny, seeing how different our homes were. Where were my family photos before all of this? Where were the smiling faces?

"Neither do I. Some random thief take those too?" he asked. "Do you think?" He walked over to a small cupboard, opening it. "My photo albums, family pictures, all gone."

Morgan laughed. "All gone?" He sat down, smiling. "My wife, same thing. There I am packing survival gear, she's grabbing photo albums."

I frowned. My family's photo albums were still where they always were, save for just a few pictures missing from inside. Even then, the albums were lacking. We didn't have any family photographs on the walls, not like the ones I was picturing for Rick's family. 

We had one professionally done when I was a kid, long before Conner was born. It was hung up in the living room like some act to show people how happy we were, how perfect, how horrifically unsurprising we were. But that frame was still hanging with the photo still inside. It held fake smiles and plastic eyes, there was no truth in there.

Rick looked to me as if I would say 'me, too' but I held my tongue and his brows furrowed just slightly to show me he was concerned before it fluttered away. I didn't need him, this god amongst men, to know how broken my family had been while his was still moments away from being whole again. He was a cop, his concern would never be the type I was looking for.