salvation → g. rhee

beside the dying fire

Rick and Carl watched as Aubrey wordlessly got up and approached.
Rick stepped back a few steps, worried she was going to attack him again, but she merely squatted down next to Shane and searched the collar of his shirt. Her fingers curled around the cold metal of Shane's number twenty-two necklace; after twenty years of sweating, showering, and sleeping on it, the clasp gave away with a few strong tugs.

Aubrey looked down at it sadly, brushing a few droplets of blood from its surface with her thumb, before she shoved it into the front pocket of her jeans. She trailed behind Rick and Carl as they walked back to the house in a solemn parade.

〄

"I'm going after them," Andrea said suddenly, standing up.

"Don't. They could be anywhere," Lori said. "And if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here."

They looked over as the door creaked open and Glenn and Daryl walked in.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked, scanning the room quickly.

"No," Lori answered. "Where's Aubrey?"

Daryl looked back at Glenn, who looked over his shoulder, wide-eyed.

"I-I don't know. She was with us in the woods," Glenn said, swallowing the bad feeling in his throat.

"Maybe she saw Rick and Shane and ran off," Jimmy suggested.

"Aubrey's smarter than that, she wouldn't just leave without lettin' us know," Daryl snapped.

"We heard a shot," Glenn said lamely.

"Maybe they found Randall," Lori suggested, also swallowing down the bad feelings she had.

"We found him," Daryl said gruffly.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker," Daryl informed her.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked.

"No. Aubrey discovered his neck was broken and she found no bites on his body," Glenn said.

"So he fought back," Patricia shrugged.

"The thing is," Daryl started, "Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other, and Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and Aubrey, and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori asked, stepping up to Daryl.

Daryl nodded. "You got it."

"Thank you," Lori said, squeezing his arm briefly as he headed back out the door.

〄

"Bre, are you okay?" Carl asked softly, looking back cautiously.

"Leave her alone," Rick chided him quietly.

"I'm sorry," Carl mumbled.

"Oh, my god," Aubrey cried out, making them both whip around.

A massive herd of walkers was making it's way through Hershel's fields, and towards them. Rick shoved Carl forward, and reached back and grabbed Aubrey's shoulder.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Rick urged, pushing them both ahead of him as they started sprinting through the too-tall grass.

Rick pulled them down behind a tree.

"We-we gotta get to the house," Carl whispered. "Tell the others."

"We'll never get through that," Rick hissed. "Can't go around. Carl, Aubrey, stay close. Go!"