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Leaving
Four Weeks Later
"I need you to get yourself and Nicky over to Lori's place. I'm gonna meet you there after I get Rick," Shane said with a panicked look on his face, holding Natalie's arms.
Natalie nodded. Things had gotten worse in the time that Rick had been unconscious. The disease had spread to Georgia. Dead people were coming back to life and the military was taking over hospitals. Shane wanted to get Rick out of the hospital before anything happened to him. Shane grabbed her face gently and kissed her passionately on the lips, trying to say goodbye the best way he knew how. He wasn't sure what was going to happen.
"Be careful, Shane," Natalie pleaded.
"I love you," Shane said.
"I love you too," Natalie said as she shuffled Nick out the door.
She quickly loaded all of their bags into the trunk of Shane's car. Shane wanted to go up to his grandmother's property in the mountains. He thought it would be safe there. He wanted to bring the Grimes family with them. He felt like he owed it to Rick to keep his family safe. They were going to go to a refuge in Atlanta, but Shane found out that it didn't actually exist. Natalie sped off towards Lori and Rick's house. When she got there, Carl and Lori had their stuff packed and ready to go.
"Don't forget to grab all your family photos. I don't know how long it'll be before we come back. You're gonna want them," Natalie suggested.
"Good idea, Nat," Lori said, panicking.
Lori ran around, picking up all of the picture frames laying around the house while Natalie grabbed the photo albums out of the cabinet.
"Nat, look at this one," Lori said, stopping what she was doing.
The picture in her hand was from their senior year of high school. They were in their cheerleading uniforms, posing on the football field. Natalie smiled. She hadn't seen that picture in forever. All of a sudden, Shane burst through the front door. Rick wasn't with him.
"Shane?" Natalie asked frantically.
"I-I couldn't get him," Shane said, obviously very shaken.
Lori didn't break down crying, as Natalie had expected. Natalie knew that Rick and Lori had been having marital issues, but she still thought that Lori would've dropped a few tears at his expense.
"We have to go," Shane said.
Natalie nodded and helped Lori get the rest of her things together. Shane helped them all load up into his truck. He took off speeding towards the highway. They immediately hit bumper to bumper traffic.
"Dammit!" Shouted Shane, hitting the steering wheel.
Natalie put her hand on his back, rubbing small circles between his shoulder blades. She turned around to look in the back seat.
"I have an idea," she said with a smile, trying to distract the boys.
"Let's play a game," she suggested.
"What game, Mom?" Nick asked.
"Remember when we went on that road trip last summer?" Natalie asked her son.
Nick nodded.
"Let's play the license plate game. There's plenty to see right now. Let's see if we can find all 50 states, shall we?" Natalie said.
"I see a Florida plate!" Carl exclaimed.
Lori smiled.
"Nice one, Carl! Oh I got one! I see a Tennessee plate," Natalie said.
"Where?" Nick asked, looking around.
"Look at that Jeep up there," Natalie said, pointing the car out to her son.
Nick groaned. He hated it when his mom beat him at games. Natalie laughed and stuck her tongue out at her son, making everyone in the backseat laugh.
"I'm gonna go see what's going on. Stay in the car," said Shane, pecking Natalie on the lips quickly before stepping out of the car.
A few minutes later Shane came back to the car. He was angry.
"If we're stuck, we might as well get out of the car," Natalie suggested.
"I think it would be good for the boys to get out for a bit," Lori agreed.
Shane didn't look overly keen on the idea. He wanted them all to stay in the car where it was safe, but he knew he would lose the argument, so he nodded, giving them all permission to get out of the car. Natalie didn't stray too far away from the car. She didn't let Nick go too far away either. Shane wanted them close to him so that he could protect them, just in case. Natalie walked over to the car next to them, where a woman stood with her daughter who looked to be about Carl and Nick's age.
"Hi, I'm Natalie. Natalie Walsh. I figured since we're gonna be out here a while, I should introduce myself to some people. Might make the time go by faster," Natalie said with a smile.
She held out her hand for the woman to shake, but when the woman saw Natalie's hand move, she flinched. Natalie's eyes drifted to the woman's husband who was still sitting in the car. She wondered if this woman was an abused wife.
"Carol Peletier," the woman introduced herself.
"Over there, that's my husband Shane. And that's our son, Nick," Natalie said, pointing them out to Carol.
"This is my daughter Sophia," Carol said, putting her hand on the little girl's shoulder.
"It's nice to meet y'all," Natalie said with a smile.
Suddenly, explosions shook the ground.
"Nat!" Shane called, wanting to keep his wife close.
"Nicky, get Carl and get in the car," Natalie said, wrapping her arm around her son's shoulders and nudging him towards the car.
She walked over to Shane, who put an arm around her.
They watched as Atlanta was ravaged by napalm.
Tears started slipping from Natalie's eyes. She couldn't watch anymore. She hid her face in Shane's chest.
He put his hand on the back of her head, rubbing softly as he watched the city being blown apart.
