SEASON FOUR, EPISODE FIFTEEN
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"SPEAKING OF VIDEO GAMES, WHAT KIND OF GAMER WERE YOU?" Eugene asked Tara.
They had been walking for a long time. They were now following some train tracks. Vienna's legs ached more and more with every step.
The sun had set. They had found a place to chill for the night. They had dinner and then it was dark.
Tara volunteered keep watch, but Abraham didn't want to leave Eugene's life in her hands. Everyone else was fast asleep.
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"BEEN RUBBING ME WRONG, IS ALL. I'm an even-Steven type gentleman. You help me find the supplies, we'll share the battery and whatever juice we scarce up, minimal as it may be. Deal?" Eugene was talking to Tara.
They were on the move again. Vienna had slept somewhat decent.
There was no response from Tara. When she looked up she something and sped up. At that moment Glenn saw it too and took off running.
It was a map for a place called Terminus. On the map some stuff was written in dead one blood. It read "Glenn go to Terminus." It was signed by Maggie, Sasha, and Bob.
Tara looked back at Abraham, Vienna, Rosita, and Eugene.
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GLENN HAD SLOWED SOME BUT WAS STILL MOVING QUICKLY. The rest of the group had caught up with him.
"Hold up!" Abraham walked off the tracks by a building. "We're stopping here. Tired is slow. Slow is dead."
"It's barley noon." Glenn replied.
"I don't give a monkey's left nut. None of us has slept more than a couple hours straight since we went all Casey Jones. This place looks safe. We have to rest. I get it. You have to find her. Well, Rosita, Vienna and me, we got a mission, too.
"Who's Casey Jones?" Vienna whispered to Rosita.
"A railroader." she replied.
"It's keeping that man alive, getting him to Washington, and saving the whole damn world. So we're going in that tower and we're going now!"
The sound of uglies filled their ears. They all looked up at the tower.
"Oh, crap" Eugene said.
"Hey, hey, hey, watch out!" Glenn started running towards Eugene.
"Go, go!" Abraham shouted as he saw a walker emerge from the tower. "Go!"
"Move, Move!" Rosita pushed Vienna away.
Tara fell to the ground. The ugly walked off of the tower. It died for good.
"Are you okay?" Rosita asks Tara concerned.
"I'm fine." Tara said not sounding fine at all.
"Doesn't sound like it." Vienna whispered to herself.
"We got stay here. Who's gonna help me carry her up?" Rosita said.
Glenn walked over and helped Tara up. "You wanna stop or you wanna keep going?"
"No, I wanna keep going." Tara replied.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Yeah."
"Look, if she can keep going we can all keep going." Glenn stated. "Or you guys can stay here. You don't need us, we don't need you. It's okay."
"Wow, you're an ass. She will do whatever you say because she thinks she owes you. Man up. Stay here for a few hours." Rosita scoffed.
Glenn walked over to Abraham. "You just care about keeping Eugene safe, right? That's the only reason you want to stop? We go until sundown, I give Eugene my riot gear right here, right now. Everybody wins."
"Except her." Rosita pointed out.
Abraham looked at her. "You're not her mama. She says she can walk, she can walk. The only one you should be concerned about is Vienna." Abraham looked back at Glenn. "You got yourself a deal."
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THEY HAD BEEN WALKING A WHILE WHEN THEY APPROACHED A TUNNEL. Glenn ran to the wall of it. There was another message. "We're gaining on 'em. Still wet."
"We sure as Shinola can't go up and over. How about around?" Abraham suggested.
"No. That'll take a day, maybe more. If Maggie went through, I'm going through. We're close." Glenn answered.
"Shut up a second." Abraham ordered.
Vienna heard the sound of uglies.
"You hear that? That there is a long, dark tunnel full of reanimated corpses. I don't have full on certainty that I can get Eugene through there alive. My recommendation would be take the day, make the detour and play it safe, but I know you're not gonna do that. So this is where we've got to part ways. I'm sorry. You're on your own." Abraham said.
"No you're not." Tara told Glenn.
Abraham handed Glenn to cans. "No, no, no. Those are yours. You guys will need them for your trip."
"You will, too." Abraham replied.
Tara took them after a moment of silence.
"Thank you." Glenn said.
Then Abraham gave Glenn a flashlight. "Sorry I... hit you in the face." Glenn apologized.
"I'm not. I like to fight." Abraham then walked off.
"Good luck." Rosita hugged Glenn. "Try not to be an ass." Then she hugged Tara.
Vienna also hugged Glenn and Tara.
"You're both good people. I have to say that you are seriously hot, Tara." Eugene said.
"Yeah. I like girls." Tara responded.
"I'm well aware of that."
Tara moved farther away from Eugene.
"Say you get into trouble in there. You turn around. We're doubling back to the first road we crossed. Maybe you find us before we find the right ride." Abraham stated.
"Thanks." Glenn replied.
The group of four then walked away.
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"YOU GOT HIM? I got her." Abraham then opened a car door and killed the ugly in the vehicle.
They were looking at vehicles, trying to find one that they could drive to Washington.
Abraham got in the car and started it. "Gonna need to air this baby out."
"Good, it'll give us some time to figure out how to get back on track." Rosita pulled a map out of her bag. Eugene came over and tried to take it from her. "Yo, no no."
"I'm the navigator." He said.
"Then learn to navigate. Remember Thompson?"Rosita responded.
"I'm formally requesting a straight up do-over on that one. I guided us here from Houston to northern Georgia without incident."
Vienna smiled to herself. There were some incidents.
"I wouldn't say without incident." Abraham joined the conversation.
"Minimal incident. Navigation-wise at least." Eugene corrected himself. "Please. I cannot abide a reality where you were the chosen navigator over a son of the South who has successfully negotiated the travails and vagaries of journeys both real and virtual."
Rosita laughed. "All right. We're going north. Got it?"
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ABRAHAM WAS ASLEEP IN THE BACK SEAT WITH VIENNA NEXT TO HIM AWAKE.
"Turn left." Eugene said in the front seat.
"This is the third left turn you've made me make in the last five minutes. "You're lost." Rosita said questioning Eugene's directions.
"I'm not." Eugene replied. "Turn left."
"If you're lost, please just tell me. The gas in this tank is worth more than your ego."
"If you want to talk fuel efficiency, we could talk-"
Rosita cut him off. "We are not rolling up the windows. It smells like a damn carcass in here."
"Stop the van." Eugene ordered.
"Why are we stopping?" Rosita asked. "Ugh, liar!"
"Nope." Eugene responded.
"This wasn't your plan? Why you insisted on navigating? Why you told him to go to sleep?"
Vienna sat in the back quietly watching the two argue.
"Nope I never claimed otherwise. Now how about you apologize for the slander and we call it square?"
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"If Glenn and Tara were still alive and there were no significant delays and they continued traveling at approximately three miles per hour and I timed it correctly in my head, they might be somewhere around here." Eugene explained.
"Those two are not the priority. The only priority is getting you to Washington."
"But they could help." Vienna said.
Neither of them acknowledged that she spoke. They continue to their conversation.
"After I save the world, I still have to live with myself. I'm not leaving them behind." With that Eugene tried to get out of the car, but his seat folded back on Abraham, waking him up.
"Oh! Son of a bitch!" Abraham exclaimed. He looked out the windows. "Why the hell are we stopped?"
"If they made it out of that tunnel, they'd be somewhere around here." Eugene explained.
"You're kidding me, right? What's your problem?" He looked at Rosita.
"My problem?" She asked.
"You're the one in the driver's seat. You're the one who put your damn foot on the brake."
"He told me to stop."
"You don't stop! You never stop!" Abraham shouted.
Vienna sunk into her seat. She covered her ears. Flashbacks of her parents before they got divorced came flooding back.
"I know the rules." Rosita said.
The memory of her mother came back. "I know the rules, Phillip."
"If you know the rules, the rule is never stop!" Abraham yelled.
And the memory of her dad came back. She remembers how scared she was. Not for herself, but for her mother. "If you know the rules, then follow them!"
Vienna felt it was hard to breathe tears rolled down her cheeks.
Her breathing slowed some.
"Breathe kid. You're okay. You're safe." Abraham whispered gently. He hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder again.
This time Vienna just hugged him and sobbed into his chest.
When Vienna finally calmed down, Rosita was going to ask what that was about but Eugene interrupted her.
"Guys!" Eugene said to get everyone's attention. "Guys!"
Everyone looked out the windows. Vienna wiped her tears while looking.
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NEXT THING VIENNA KNEW WAS THEY WERE DRIVING INTO THE TUNNEL. Abraham had given Vienna a gun.
They had found other people. She assumed they were Glenn's people. They all squeezed into the vehicle.
"Get down!" Abraham shouted. as everyone got out of the car. Then everyone was shooting the uglies that surround Glenn and Tara. Once all the dead one's were dead, a girl ran and hugged Glenn.
That must be Maggie she thought. She watched them hug and and cry. And then they kissed. "Ew." Vienna made a gagging sound.
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VIENNA WAS SITTING AROUND A FIRE WITH SOME OTHERS. Abraham had his arm around her shoulders. Rosita went to check if the tunnel would be safe for the night.
"Are you going to tell me what the hell that was about back there?" He asked.
"It doesn't matter." she replied. She then saw Rosita walking back. She quickly got up and ran over to her. Rosita was talking to Tara, Maggie, and Glenn.
"We didn't get to officially meet." Maggie said to Tara. Maggie was very pretty. No wonder Glenn was so in love with her.
"Oh I'm sorry. Tara this is Maggie. Maggie, Tara." Glenn said.
"Hi." Tara said.
Maggie smiled. "Hi."
"He's a big fan of yours." Tara told Maggie.
"I met Tara on the road. Couldn't have made it here without her." Glenn explained.
Maggie hugged Tara. "Thank you."
Vienna could see the guilty look on Tara's face.
"When she heard what I was doing, she said she had to help me. She's just that kind of person." Glenn told Maggie.
Tara smiled and walked away. Rosita and Vienna
followed. Then Glenn grabbed Maggie's hand and they followed also.
When they got over to the rest of the group Sasha stood up. "What's up?" Glenn questioned.
Sasha pointed at Abraham. "He said said that" she then pointed to Eugene,"he knows what caused the outbreak."
"Yeah." Glenn let go of Maggie and put his hand in his pocket. "He does. Let me guess. He asked you to go to DC with him?"
"I'm downright tickled y'all found each other. Should spend the rest of the night celebrating. Because tomorrow there's absolutely no reason why the nine of us don't stuff ourselves in that van and head up to Washington." Abraham said.
"He's right. I'm gonna go." Tara announced.
"No, he's wrong. We're 55% of the way from Houston to Washington. Up until now we've had an armored military vehicle for transport and we lost eight people." Eugene explained.
"That wasn't our fault." Rosita commented.
"They're gone." Abraham stated.
"I can't imagine we'd have better luck with that grocery grabber we picked up. We're a day's walk from Terminus. Who knows what they've got there?" Eugene suggested.
"Look, it couldn't hurt to check. Load up on supplies, maybe even recruit some of them to come with." Rosita told Abraham.
"I'll go with you guys, but after. I have to see Terminus. My brother could be there. I got to know." Sasha said.
"Me too." Bob agreed. "On both counts."
"He tells me I'm wrong. I listen. Tomorrow we go to the end of the line. Then Washington." Abraham concluded.
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THE NEXT DAY THEY MADE IT TO TERMINUS. When they entered the gates they had their weapons ready. On the next gate there was a sign that said to lower your weapons, so they did that.
When they were walking through the area they saw plants growing. It seemed safe. The group approached a friendly looking lady who was cooking.
"Hi. I'm Mary. Looks like you've been on the road a while." said the lady when she saw them.
"We have." Maggie replied.
"Let's get you settled and we'll make you a plate. Welcome to Terminus."
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AUTHORS NOTE: Thank you so much for reading the second chapter of I Love You So. I hope you enjoyed. I can't wait to get deeper into Rosita and Vienna's relationship. Also please give me feedback and any suggestions you have. Thank you <3