Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

07: A Night in the Woods

After the failure at the CDC, Rick decided it was best for us to head to Fort Benning.

Things were going nicely for a few days. We were just riding on the open road. We had enough food and water, not much, but enough. We had a few walkers here and there, nothing major, though. I had even successfully killed my first one during that time. I wouldn't say I was, "proud," but I could definitely say I felt a little less frightened around them.

But, for the most part, everything was calm and peaceful for those few days.

That was, until we came across the roadblock.

While we were driving, we came across a very crowded area of the highway we were riding on. There were cars parked all across the road for as far as we could see. There definitely wasn't enough space to fit a car through it, let alone Dale's RV. But, the one vehicle that was able to maneuver through all the abandoned cars was Uncle Merle's (now Dad's, I guess) motorcycle.

While Dad was scoping out the scene, I hopped into the RV with Glenn, Dale, and Andrea. They were all doing separate things, with Andrea cleaning her gun, Dale checking the radiator hose, and Glenn trying to decipher a map. As for me, I just sat down at the booth seat across from Andrea and looked out the window, surveying the scene. There wasn't really much to look at, though, besides abandoned cars and trash that had found its way onto the freeway.

After a few minutes, Rick popped his head into the RV door. "We're gonna move some of these cars outta the way, try and clear a path. Sidney, I'm gonna let you, Carl, and Sofia look in the cars for anything useful, alright?"

I nodded and gave Rick a small smile as I hopped off the seat. I was excited that I finally got to pitch in, and do something to benefit the group. I dashed out of RV and made my way over to where Carl, Sofia, and Lori were, smiling happily.

"Oh, hey, Sidney!" Carl greeted, grinning at me.

"Hi, Sidney!" Sofia followed, also smiling.

"Hey, guys! So, have you found anything useful in the cars yet?"

"No, not yet. But, now that you're here, we can get a lot more done. Come on!" Carl said, beckoning Sofia and I to a row of cars off to the left.

"Hey, kids, stay where I can see you!" Lori yelled after us.

"Okay, Mom!" Carl yelled back.

Once we reached the cars, I worked with Sofia and Carl worked on his own as we looted them for any supplies. There wasn't much to find, considering most people didn't keep food, water, or medicine in their cars, but we did find some things. Sofia and I found a pretty large pocket knife and four full bottles of water, while Carl found an unopened jar of peanuts and a half-empty bottle of Ibuprofen.

We were pretty happy with our findings, and were going to go show them to everyone, if it wasn't for something I caught sight of in the distance. It took me a minute to figure out what it was, but after I did, my eyes grew wide.

"Guys, we gotta get under the cars, now," I said quietly, grabbing both Sofia and Carl's shoulder and pointing them towards what I was looking at. I could feel both of them tense up dramatically, and Sofia even whimpered.

"Okay, get under the cars, and don't make a sound," I told them, ushering them to the cars. Carl willingly dove under his own car while Sofia and I got underneath another. I kept making glances back at Carl to make sure he was okay, since he was by himself. He obviously looked frightened, but seemed to be keeping his composure well. Sofia, on the other hand, wasn't doing so great. She was making small, quiet whimpering noises, almost in tears, so I laid my hand on hers in an attempt to calm her down.