COLLAPSED ᵀᵂᴰ¹ ✔

67. greatmm

'They have no clue we're here,' Glenn told Tara, looking at her work.

'That's great news for GREATMM,' she said, then added: 'In less great news for GREATMM, we just scraped the bottom of the water barrel.'

Milo frowned. 'What's GREATMM?'

Tara gestured towards the plastic bottles she organised, each with a letter written on the lid. 'Us. Group name. Solidarity. Band of brothers. GREATMM.' She reached for the bottle with the "G" written on it and handed it to Glenn. 'Thinking about getting a tattoo on my knuckles.'

Milo reached for one of the bottles with the "M" on it and despite the situation, the smallest of smiles appeared on his face. But it disappeared as soon as he noticed the bottle wasn't even half full.

'I'm sorry,' Tara sighed, 'I'm just trying to think of something else, you know?'

Glenn nodded. 'Yeah.'

Footsteps approached from his left and he turned to see Maggie and Rosita had come to join them. Worry was written all over their faces.

'Anything?' Tara questioned.

'No,' Maggie replied.

Silence fell as each of them tried to think of the options they had. There weren't many but there was one that seemed like the most logical thing to do, maybe the only thing and it was Glenn who voiced it.

'Should we get him to the church?'

'Moving him could make him worse,' Maggie said, sounding so much like her father that Milo felt his heart clench in sudden, unexpected pain.

'What will make him better?' Rosita questioned.

'Waking up,' Maggie sighed. 'If he doesn't...' She fell silent, her unspoken words hung like a death sentence in the air.

Rosita nodded curtly, then took Abraham's bottle and walked up to the man, probably to try and get some reaction out of him.

Milo turned his back to them, giving them some privacy. The girl could pretend to be tough all she wanted but everytime she looked at the soldier her eyes softened with so much live that it was almost painful to look at. Or maybe that was just his interpretation of it. Whatever it was, it was best left between the two of them.

He walked to the front of the truck, not even bothering to spend a second glance at Eugene. It was that herd, even though they hadn't moved, that had him worried. Walkers could move with a scary speed and even worse, they never got tired. Whereas their group was exhausted, vulnerable and completely out of resources.

'Milo,' Glenn called out his name, walking around the truck. 'We're going to look for water. You coming?'

He nodded, desperate for something to do and get his mind off things. Following Glenn back towards the others, they got their gear and moved into the woods. Apparently Rosita had seen a creek on the map and she led them through the woods with determinate steps.

They crossed a clearing with a fallen tree in the middle of it, pinning down three walkers beneath it.

'Just stay down guys,' Tara told them, 'don't get up. There's nothing for you in Washington.'

'That's not funny,' Rosita said, her voice cold.

'It's not, not, not funny,' Tara countered.

'Hey, I get that we're dealing with things in different ways...' Glenn started but was interrupted by Tara. 'Listen! I don't know what to do without D.C anymore. But I'm not dealing with it. I'm over it. I just want him to be okay. Eugene wasn't strong. He isn't fast. He doesn't know how to use a weapon. Truth hurts but he was useless. He had one skill that kept him living. Are we supposed to be mad at him 'cause he used it?'