stone cold |twd|

chapter 15

Shane and Rick came over, setting their guns down, with Marcie and Dale not far behind,

"I've been, uh... I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no... There are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that." He looked around at everyone before making eye contact with Rick, "I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"

Vivian ran her fingers through her hair. On the road with a two year old? But Shane had a point, they needed to stay together. 

She needed to do that. For Liam. And Jillian.

"Hey." Glenn sat next to her, "Are you alright?"

She smiled over at him, "If one more person asks me that, I might burst into tears or shoot them in the face."

"Sorry." He tickled Liam slightly and the toddler giggled, "You're coming to the CDC with us, right?"

Vivian nodded, "Safety in numbers."

Glenn gave her a sad smile, "You're not in this alone. We'll all protect Liam with you."

"Thank you for saying that." She laid her head against his shoulder, "I don't know what'd I do if I was alone."

"You're strong." Glenn sighed, "Jillian knows you'll try your best."

"What if my best isn't good enough?"

"Then we're all screwed."

Vivian spent the night packing up her and Liam's things. For her it was a few shirts and a pair of jeans, but for Liam, it was all his clothes that he still fit in along with diapers plus his baby photo album. Jillian would kill her if she left that behind.

The next morning, Marcie stood by a pile of photo albums that she collected from most of the tents of the dead campers. She grabbed a bunch of photos from each album before hiking up the hill.

She spotted Rick in his spot again, holding the radio to his mouth, "We're moving out, leaving the quarry. If you heard me yesterday, you may be coming here. If you are, we'll be gone by the time you arrive. I'm leaving a note and map behind for you taped to a red car so you can follow our trail. We're heading to the C.D.C. If there's anything left, it's got to be there, don't you think? Morgan... I hope you were right about that place. I need you to be."

Rick stood and turned to her, "No response."

Marcie sighed and glanced down at all the photos in her hand, "Not everyone was meant to survive this world."

He helped her go around, digging small holes and placing the photos in the dirt on top of everyone's graves. She wasn't sure if they matched each grave, but it was better than nothing.

They heard footsteps and turned to see Vivian walking up the hill with Liam and a photo in his fingers. "Hey." She said quietly, giving them a smile, "I, uh, just came up to say goodbye to Jillian."

The two nodded and stepped away as they watched the brunette walk over to a grave. She crouched down and dug a small hole and placed the photo in it, "I'll take care of him, Jill. Don't worry." Vivian whispered.

She reached for Liam's hand, "Say goodbye to your momma, buddy."

The little boy waved, "Bye, momma."

Vivian knew he didn't quite understand. He was up last night crying for Jillian. All she could say was that she was going to be gone for a while.

But he still cried.

Vivian moved to stand next to Rick and Marcie, "We didn't even know them." Rick commented,