the great war (r.g)

nineteen

"are you ready?" cora asked rick as she peered around the corner into his room. he was finishing up getting ready, talking to carl and michonne.

in the two months since the walkers broke i to alexandria, the community had expanded. a new wall was built and more crops have started growing. in the unfortunate events that happened, many lives were lost. cora's friends and family moved out of the one house to other houses. many still lived together like rick, carl, michonne, morgan, and carol. cora and izzy chose to stay in a house with glenn, maggie. and enid. it was easier this way, it made living here a little more normal.

"give me one second," rick told cora. she walked out of the room and sat on the top stair to wait. a few seconds later, carl joined her.

"how's your eye feeling?" cora asked him. after he got shot, carl was in the infirmary for a while. cora visited hime everyday to keep him company.

"it feels the same as last time you asked me," carl said, laughing. "perfectly fine."

"okay, well, in case i haven't told you yet, the bandage makes you look very badass," she told him. "you're one step closer to being like one of those characters in your comic books." carl laughed as he found the statement amusing. "are you coming with us today?" carl, rick, and daryl were going on a much needed supply run. since deanna's death, the resources in alexandria had diminished.

"not this time," carl said. "i'm going to stay with judith."

"you're such a good big brother, you know that?" cora told him. carl didn't have his hat on so she took this opportunity to ruffle his hair, which he did not like.

rick walked out of his room then, heading for the stairs. "ready?"

"i've been waiting on you," cora said to him. she stood up, following rick down the stairs with carl following behind. rick grabbed his machete from the kitchen counter as carl joined izzy and judith on the couch in the living room. "i'll try to find you guys some cool comic books today. just promise me you won't go outside the walls." the two kids promised before rick and cora met daryl outside.

***

daryl called shotgun so cora sat in the back seat while rick drove. "so," cora said, leaning forward between the two guys. "what do you think we'll find today."

"food, hopefully," rick says. "maybe new people."

"we haven't seen anyone in weeks," daryl countered. he wasn't lying, but sometimes you had to be hopeful.

"come on, daryl. think positively. what's one thing you want to find today," cora asked again.

after a few moments, daryl responded with "booze." this made the three of them laugh.

"look," cora said after several long minutes of driving. "a barn. there could be supplies there." rick drove off the road and up to the barn.

"daryl, go that way. cora and i will take the other side," rick instructed. splitting up was the faster way to scavenge the area. daryl took off in his direction, leaving cora and rick to their side. "what are you hoping we find?" rick asked cora.

"food, for sure. i wasn't raised to be a farmer," cora told him. "we need medicine, too. i told izzy and carl i'd find comic books so that would finish off the list."