CJ had spent most of the car journey with Carl resting by her side with his head on her arm. None of them spoke for the whole car ride, all of them lost in their own thoughts. Hershel was thinking of Beth and Maggie, hoping and praying that his two daughters had made it out. Rick and Carl both thought of Lori and the baby. CJ thought of everyone. Glenn, T-Dog, Carol, Daryl... She worried for him more than the others. They all went off either in pairs or groups but he went alone. No one to have his back.
The pain from her ankle was still radiating up her leg. She just hoped it was just a sprain and nothing more serious. There was no time to be seriously injured right now. Even though it should've been the least of her worries, she couldn't help but feel disappointed about her swords. In all the mess and the panic of escaping, there was no time to pick them back up off the ground.
It was daylight by the time they reached the highway. They all got out of the truck, CJ using the empty shotgun as a support as she tried to step out of the vehicle.
"You need to sit down, Clara-Jane," Hershel told her. He took her free arm and lead her to sit down on the hood of of the the abandoned cars.
"It's not that bad," she replied unconvincingly. It was pretty obvious she was lying when Hershel went to examine her injury and she winced in pain.
"It's just sprained," he informed her. She nodded in relief that it wasn't anything worse. "Any other day, I'd tell you to rest it."
"But that's not really an option today," she chuckled dryly. "I'm okay."
Carl and Rick walked slowly over to the car that was still stocked with the supplies that CJ and Carol had left for Sophia when she first disappeared. None of the other's cars were there.
"Where's Mom?" Carl asked his father. "You said she'd be here! We gotta to go back for her."
Rick held his hand out to his son. "Carl-"
"No! Why are we running? What are you doing?!" Carl exclaimed, cutting Rick off before he could speak. "It is Mom. We need to get her!"
"Shhh you need to be quiet," Rick whispered, putting a hand on Carl's shoulder. "Alright? Please."
Carl sighed and looked away from Rick for a moment before meeting his eyes again. "Please. It's Mom," he repeated quietly, close to tears.
Rick looked over at Hershel and CJ for a second before kneeling down to Carl's level to look him in the eyes. "Carl, listen-"
"No," Carl muttered as he walked away angrily.
Rick went to follow him but CJ held her hand up as she slid off the car bonnet. "I got him," she said softly. Rick sighed but sent her a nod before turning to talk to Hershel.
She hobbled over to Carl and sat next to him on the front of a truck. "It's not fair," Carl shook his head. "Mom is missing and he doesn't even care."
"Now, kid, you know that's not true," CJ replied. "When your mom had to leave without you, she had to have faith that you were okay, that she'd find ya. You gotta have that same faith that she'll get here. That they'll all get here."
"But... but what if they don't ?" Carl asked. "What if no one else made it and they're gone?"
CJ sighed to herself. The same thoughts were in the back of her mind too. "Then we'll work it out," she said. She didn't want to lie and assure him that everyone got out when they had seen no signs of anyone since they drove out of the farm's gates. "I'll help you out, the same way you helped me by killin' those walkers last night. Thanks for that by the way," she nudged him gently.
"Couldn't let them get you," Carl murmured, looking up at her. "You're like my best friend."
CJ tilted her head with a small smile and held her arms out to Carl, pulling him into a tight hug which he returned. "You're mine too," she whispered, taking his hat off to kiss the top of his head.
A couple of hours later and there was still no sigh of anyone else. The four of them were still waiting but it was becoming dangerous. Lone walkers kept passing them down the road and they were forced to hide behind the cars and truck to avoid being seen. They all had their guns slightly raised just in case. CJ had her pistol on one hand as she continued to use the shotgun as a crutch.
"I don't know how much longer we can stay here," Hershel whispered as another corpse passed them.
"I'm not leaving without Mom," Carl shook his head, looking up at Rick.
Rick sighed, looking around the car they were behind to check on the walker before replying. "So we're just gonna walk away?" he asked Hershel. "Not knowing if my wife, your girls are still out there? How do we live with that?"
"You only have one concern now, just one. Keeping him alive," Hershel replied, nodding to Carl. "Nature may be throwing us a curveball, but that law is still true."
"Rick... we don't know if they made it," CJ said regretfully. "Hershel's right. I'm sorry," she whispered.
Rick looked at her for a moment before turning his head to look around the highway. The look on his face said it all. He didn't want to give up, but he might not have a choice. He got down on his knees and looked up at Carl, who already knew what was coming.
"Carl..." he began before taking a long pause, hating what he was about to tell his son. "It's not safe here. I'm sorry-"
"Do you guys hear that?" CJ asked, cutting him off. They all went quiet as they heard the faint hum of an engine, growing louder as it seemed to be getting closer.
Rick stood up and they all looked over to see two people on a motorbike: Daryl and Carol. They were closely followed by Maggie's car and T-Dog's truck. The four of them shared a look of relief and made their way over to where the group had pulled over on the road.
"Oh thank god!" Lori cried as Carl and Rick rushed over to hug her, the three falling to their knees as they embraced each other. Beth and Maggie ran over to Hershel. Daryl and Carol climbed off his bike and Daryl came over to CJ, noticing the way she walked with the shotgun.
"What happened?" he asked, taking her free arm and helping her stand straighter.
"Sprained ankle," she shrugged. "It's good to see you," she breathed out as she smiled up at him.
"Yeah, you too," he replied with a small smile. He lead her over to the others and helped her sit down on his bike, subconsciously keeping his hand on her shoulder as everyone broke apart from their hugs. "Where are your swords?"
"Ugh, dropped 'em at the farm," she frowned. "I don't wanna talk about it," she pouted as she crossed her arms dramatically, making Daryl chuckle quietly at her antics.
In all honesty, she didn't care about the swords that much... okay that was a lie. She was annoyed. But the fact that the group had survived and reunited certainly made up for it.
"How'd you find everyone?" Rick asked,
"Taillights zigzagging all over the road," Daryl replied. "Figured he had to be Asian, drivin' like that," he said jokingly.
"Good one," Glenn chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.
"We're the only one who made it so far," CJ answered.
Lori stood up next to Carl. "Shane?"
Rick looked to the ground and shook his head. CJ didn't ask about Shane during the car journey from the farm. Given the whole thing with Randall, she had a pretty good clue that something serious went down. She didn't need to know, or want to know, the details.
"Andrea?" Glenn asked.
"She saved me, then I lost her," Carol informed them.
"We saw her go down," T-Dog said.
"Patricia?" Hershel questioned.
"They got her too," Beth said quietly. "I was holding onto her, Daddy, but she just..." she trailed of and cried for a seconded before looking around at the others again. "What about Jimmy?"
"He was in the RV," Rick told her. "It got overrun."
"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked.
"There were walkers everywhere," Lori said.
"But did you see her?"
Everyone stayed quiet for a moment. "I'll go back," Daryl announced as he went to pick up his crossbow.
"No," Rick said sternly.
"Cant just leave her," Daryl argued.
"We don't even know if she's there," CJ countered.
"She isn't there," Rick said. "She's either somewhere else, or she's dead. There's no way to find her. We gotta keep moving."
"There have been walkers crawling all over here since we arrived," CJ added. "We need a plan."
"I say head east," T-Dog spoke up.
A walker growled as it began to make its way over to the group and Daryl reached for his crossbow again. "Stay off the main roads. Bigger the roads, the more walkers. More assholes like this one. I got him." He raised the crossbow and shot an arrow into the walker's eye.
Everyone agreed to the plan and started piling into the cars as Daryl retrieved his arrow. As CJ went to get off of Daryl's bike, he came over and pushed her shoulders and she sat back down.
"You're ridin' with me," he said.
"I am?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Yup," he responded simply as he climbed onto the bike to sit in front of her, turning on the engine.
"Aww, you missed me that much, huh?" she joked as she wrapped her arms around him.
Daryl rolled his eyes. "On second thoughts, maybe you should walk," he shot back, the smirk clear in his voice although she couldn't see his face. "Or limp, pegleg."
"Wow, rude," she chuckled.
"Hold on tight and don't fall off," he said as they slowly started moving.
"Sir, yes sir," she replied sarcastically.
With Rick leading the way, the group began their convoy in the hope of finding somewhere safe, or at least safe enough, to spend the night.
An hour or so into the journey, CJ felt herself getting tired. The events of the last twenty-four hours paired with the throbbing pain in her ankle, shooting it's way up her right leg was finally getting to her. It was as if her body knew that this was a really bad time to fall asleep, being on the back of a motorbike in the middle of nowhere wasn't exactly a safe place to take a power-nap.
She had a battle with her eyelids in an attempt to keep them open as her grip around Daryl's middle began to loosen. Noticing this, he took one hand off of the handle bars to grab CJ's wrists. "Hey, you good?" he called out over the hum of the engine.
CJ's eyes opened widely and she quickly tightened her grip around Daryl when she felt him grab her. "I'm awake, I'm awake," she yawned.
"Yeah, seems like it," he said sarcastically, taking his hand off of her wrist and holding the handlebar again. "You fall asleep back there and fall off, I ain't turnin' around to pick you back up."
"Hmm, what a gentlemen you are Mr Dixon," she shot back, rolling her eyes with a smirk.
"Just stay awake for me, alright?" he replied softly, ignoring her comment. "Hopefully we'll find a place to crash soon, before it gets too dark."
"Alright," she responded quietly as she rested her head on his back and sat up straighter on the seat.