the great war (r.g)

two

"here." cora walked over to where rick had stayed the night and dropped food in front of him. it was midday, probably, when cora and izzy got back from their hunting trip. they were successful in finding a new water source and three rabbits. a few biters were out there, but not anymore.

"i can get my own food," rick said. he was stubborn and did not like when other people did things for him. cora gathered that in just 24 hours.

"i don't doubt that. take some water." in just 24 hours, cora learned to ignore it and force her help onto him.

"i need to get back to my people, my friends," rick insisted. he grabbed onto the side of the tree he was staying under and pulled himself up. there was a poorly concealed grunt in the process of steadying himself.

"i'd like to see you try," cora said. she walked away towards the little garden her and izzy kept, with rick limping behind her.

"you can't keep me here," rick said once they stopped at the trough's that were filled with vegetables.

"i'm not. i would just like to see you try limping your way back to your friends. fighting off bitters with a bum leg."

rick's response was cut off by an ear piercing screech. cora knew it was izzy so she dropped her tools and ran in the direction of the scream. izzy was relatively good at killing the bitters but there was a swarm of them around her. cora grabbed her knife rather than her gun to avoid attracting more. rick had his hatchet that was holstered on his belt.

"there's too many," izzy called out. she was right. more and more walkers were swarming to the trio.

"we need to fall back. now," rick said. there was an urgency to his voice that made cora feel like she needed to follow him and his instructions.

"okay. okay, lets go," cora gave in and followed the hobbling rick in through the woods.

***

cora didn't know how long they were walking, she lost track of time. the whole time, though, izzy was talking ricks ear off about everything and nothing at the same time. cora could tell rick was a dad just by the way he wasn't brushing izzy off. eventually, he led the trio to a road where a bunch of people were sitting.

a young boy, about izzy's age, noticed them first. "dad?" the boy ran up to rick to hug him. cora was right. after the initial shock, it seemed, the group collectively got up and surrounded rick. asking him if he was okay, what happened, and if he was alright. from the reactions of the group and how rick carried himself, cora figured he was their "leader".

"who's this?" one of the women asked.

"oh, my names cora and this is izzy. we had a camp a few miles into the woods. i helped stitch ricks gunshot wound up then biters attacked the camp and now we are here." the same woman that questioned cora eyed rick. the two seemed to talk with their eyes.

"she saved my life and to repay her, cora and izzy can come with us," rick announced to his group.

"did you ask them the question?" one of the guys asked rick.

he was quiet for a moment, then turned to face cora and izzy. "how many walkers have you killed?"

weird question. who would keep count? its not like you kept track of simple, everyday things before the world ended.  "a bunch. definitely more than i can count."

"and people? how many of them have you killed?" rick asked. this was a better question than the first. this is something someone might actually keep count on. not cora, though. not anymore.

after a group of survivors attacked their camp weeks ago, cora didn't know how many people she killed. she also didn't care. why should she care who died when the people she killed didn't care? "a handful."

"why?"

this question laid heavy and hung in the air for a moment. "to survive" was the only answer cora seemed to settle on.

whatever test rick and his group just gave cora, she seemed to have passed because rick turned away from her and said "lets keep moving," before turning off and walking the opposite way from cora and izzy's camp.