FALLING APART daryl dixon

t w e n t y - n i n e - The Sheriff and the right hand woman.

The mood changed now. It was personal, for all of them. Glenn shifted uncomfortably beside Alycia, putting himself in front of her. Rick Grimes was in a high alert state, and even Hershel, who was drunk at this point, was more sober.

- Alycia. Alycia Clark - She answered, halting her tapping fingers. Her head was tilted downwards to where her eyes had to be rolled back to look at him.

- Pretty name to a pretty girl - Tony interjected. Dave rolled his eyes.

- Grimes, huh? - Dave repeatedly looks between daughter and father. The man nodded, pushing his glass across to the other side of the table, reminding himself not to drink too much. When he did that, the gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans showed itself. He saw at the corner of his eye, Rick and Alycia looking suspiciously between him and the gun in question.

So, he pulled it out to show.

- Not bad, huh? - Dave laid it out on his hand to show them, crossing one leg over the other. - I got it off a cop.

- I'm a cop - Rick said immediately.

- This one was already dead - Dave was fast to counteract, he smiled, trying to keep the mood from getting darker if he could.

The man would be lying if he said that nervousness didn't get shot through him every time Alycia and Rick blinked at him.

- Your fellas are a long way from Philadelphia - Rick said.

- It feels like we're a long way from anywhere.

- What drove you south? - Alycia asked.

Calculated and cold.

- Well, I can tell you it wasn't the weather - Dave pinched the bridge of his nose, recalling his colder hometown. - I must've dropped thirty pounds in sweat alone down here.

- I wish - Tony interjected.

- No, first it was DC. I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed, we never even got close - Dave remembered. - We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, and keep hauling ass. Every group we came across had a new rumour about a way out of this thing.

- One guy told us there was a coast guard-center in the gulf, sending ferries to the island. The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country, Kansas, Nebraska.

- Nebraska? - Glenn spoke up.

- Low population, lots of guns - Tony answered.

- Kinda makes sense - Glenn said looking at Alycia.

- You ever been to Nebraska, kid? - Dave tilted his head. - The reason they call 'em fly over states.

Dave gave his friend a smile, looking back down to his lat.

- How about you guys? - Dave asked.

There was silence. Nobody knew what to say exactly.

- Fort Benning, eventually - Rick said.

- I hate to piss in your cornflakes, officer, but - Dave said. - We ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning, he said the place was overrun by lamebrains.

Glenn's face dropped.

- Wait, Fort Bennington is gone? Are you for real?

- Sadly, I am - Dave said, biting his lips before answering. - Ugly truth is there is no way out of this mess, just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab a hold of you when you sleep. Yeah, it doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You hold it somewhere else?